Vinsott

My wife and I are going to try again tonight. With a white and a green light out. Just because that's what I have in the boat. I get the politically correct statement now, thank you for the clarification. Hope to keep about 5-10 whites for fish tacos this weekend with the kids coming to visit. I might just skip the fishing and buy some white bass. I know a reliable connection.

I guess I am a bit "obsessed" with the the couple of fish hoarders. I also like to see different peoples responses and opinions on the subject. I do believe that there should be a limit on white bass of 10-20 per person. But I'm not a biologist so maybe the lake can sustain a "no limit", maybe not. My wife calls me obsessive, but a stalker? We were also sitting at the ramp with two Sonic half price shakes enjoying being lakeside. Until the bugs got too bad. I have also always hated the Ron Burgundy movie. Is that your real name? If so no offense to you of course. The "politically correct" statement must mean, this is what we have always done , so mind your own business. These days anything political is probably dealing with something crooked anyways so I guess sit back and let it happen??? Back to the deer hunting scenario with fishing now. There is just no earthly way anyone would need that many fish unless they were doing something with it besides feeding their family of 457 near and dear relatives. Again the Ron Burgundy movie sucks.

Sat at the 12 ramp with my wife at dark to see if I could watch the commericial fisherman come out. At 9:30 when the ramp traffic just about ended here comes the sonoma with the Lowe. I play tourist and go up to them to ask if they can catch anything at night. Older Asian couple with very broken English said white bass and striper. Had a couple of big coolers in the small boat. They must go every single night since April!!! Have to be supplying it for sale or something. I guess legally they could keep hundreds of white bass every night for months. Just aint right.

Who is Bill Ruby? I will drop a tip if it will help do something.

went out at dusk to cast a bit since it was nice out and all the boats were disappearing fast. Lost a couple small whites and caught a small largemouth on a keitech. Kept casting till after dark and saw two boats tie up under the bridge. Slowly trolled over to the bridge and one boat was a family with a green light that I couldn't see until I got close. Of course you know who the other boat was. I got pretty close to listen to them talk. Still couldn't make out what they were saying but maybe asian????? It's a small Lowe flat bottom aluminum maybe 14'. I didn't stay to fish just check them out. So that's a Thursday,Friday,Saturday, and now a Sunday that I have seen them at the bridge. I went to the ramp and only two trucks with trailers. One was a bass boat, and the other was a small trailer being towed by a small GMC sonoma kinda brown looking. I'm thinking they use the fish at a restaurant.

Totally agree. Have never been checked for anything since I've fished or boated on Beaver. I wonder how many people don't even get their fishing license anymore with no fear of consequences. I have been checked often on the Buffalo River fishing for Smallies. Checked numerous times in saltwater in Florida. Have even heard many comments from guys getting walleye that they are "all keepers". I'll just keep doing the right and legal thing and hope it catches on.

I thought about the light and parking right next to them thing, but it usually ends up like it did for me with hunting. After almost getting into a fight with three native Arkansans while deer hunting at my last home on the farm. They were poaching, and I confronted them after they road shot a little buck and had it in the bed of the pickup. Their response was that is what they have always done and to mind my own business. Of course there were many cuss words thrown at me with a bunch of threatening. I became worried that they would start shooting my livestock so I left the scene with a bad taste for hunting in my mouth. I haven't picked up the bow since. Did leave an anonymous tip with the game warden to keep an eye on the area. Well it took until spring turkey season for the same guys to get ticketed for poaching turkeys. One of them was a felon that was not supposed to touch a firearm. The gossip was spreading that I was the guy who turned them in. Small town life. Back to the fishing, I am trying not to let this stuff bother me too much or I will lose the thrill for fishing also. Karma exists.

Stump, we got the bait right under the boat . They were nice threadfin. I had a much harder time catching bait this time then the others?? The "Lake Raper" used a couple of nets that you lower down and leave there and once in a while would pull it up and get out the shad that gilled themselves. I don't think the gilled bait lives as long but it didn't seem to matter with the amount of fish that guy catches. Maybe he owns a buffet restaurant and uses the fish there???? Or maybe he grinds them up and makes commercial cat food. Just bothers the heck out of me when people are so greedy. I do have to say whatever his trick is, he sure knows how to night fish.

Tried again last night but didn't get out there till almost 12am. Didn't do very well again but the same guy that I see every time I go was out again. He has four green lights and uses the nets that you lower down to catch bait. He and a women caught fish continuously all night till I couldn't take it anymore. He caught some very large fish also that were not white bass. While he was bringing in one of the big ones I yelled over to ask what it was. No response. I took a couple of guys from work who speak spanish and they asked in spanish. No response. Then I yelled "Do you speak English?" Heard an indistinguishable mumble. I asked again if it was a catfish or striper? Ignored again. So I summed it up that either they didn't understand what we were asking or were just a couple of a$$$oles. They had to catch 100 or more fish using the same shad we were. Pretty sure they kept them all except for one of the really big fish that took about 15 minutes to get in. Maybe a big gar???? Maybe he sells the fish because there is no way two people would ever need that many fish. Not that many boats out so lots of empty spaces between bridge pilings and for the life of me why do some guys cross under the bridge right between two boats fishing when there is empty places all over. He was so close I might have been able to reach him with my pee stream, well maybe 10 years ago. I'm sometimes tempted to throw a shad at them when they get that close.

Just an observation. I saw some of the same boats fishing each time I went. I'm guessing they caught as many or more fish as we did because I could hear them flopping all over the aluminum boat bottoms. I rarely heard any go back in the water. I think the white bass taste pretty good when cleaned properly and eaten fresh. But , the couple of times I have froze some and ate them later I don't like it. Do people really need to keep that many fish if they don't taste that good frozen??? Or is it just a greed thing?

I ended up fishing 3 different nights on 3 different weekends. I didn't notice much difference between using a green and white light. Caught whites using both. First time with green didn't keep any fish just wanted to see what we could catch. Caught at least 50 whites with most being caught after 1am. Next trip used white light. Bait took much longer to gather but I think it was the conditions because most other light fisherman gave up much earlier then us. We decided to keep some and kept 8. We caught over 60 and a nice walleye. Last trip used white again. Boat traffic was less and so were the fish. Only caught about 15 whites and they were smaller on average then the other trips. So my conclusion is get what you want ,I don't think it matters that much. A friend told me they won't bite with a white light. I read on other older internet forums that on Beaver they don't bite as good with a green light. I also read a 10' tiger shark is a possible catch on Beaver.

I'm glad you got into them today. Persistence is the key to fishing. My wife and I took a walk to Lake Atalanta and I carried a pole with me and caught a big rock bass, or goggle eye or something like that. The water in that lake smells funny?

When I decide what to get I will relay my results back. Thanks for the input.

I see most night fishing lights produced now are green. I have had good luck with the green in saltwater but not so sure if they are the ticket on Beaver. I have an older bass pro fluorescent tube in green that still works, but many of the newer LED lights seem to be much brighter. Just not sure if I should buy a new white or green. Any suggestions? Is the main target of night fishing for white bass? I suppose it depends on where you anchor as to what fish you catch.

Glad you got into some nice bass. I went out this evening about 6:30. Wife lost a striper on a shad. I caught a white bass. When I went to reeling in another shad I had on for bait got hit on a small keeper walleye only about 19". He did taste good tonight though. Saw two boats starting to night fish with lights. Is it too early for that ????

Son and his wife came to visit so decided to take a late afternoon boat ride with some casts thrown in. It was fairly windy so tried to stay on the calm side of things. Tried a small jig on my 4lb spinning set up and caught some babies. A green sunfish, a 7" smallie, a 10" walleye and this whopper of a bluegill. Then I had something "good" on the little jig. Chased it with the trolling motor and finally my son netted my trophy sucker or carp or whatever it was. It was foul hooked in the pectoral fin. It was a great fight. Trolled for a little bit with no results. Grabbed a bait caster and started flinging a keitech toward shoreline. Connected with a 31" striper. Not huge but fun. Everyone was hungry so headed back in to eat and released all fish.

I think I saw you out that day. Tried with a friend for crappie again. Caught 4 or 5 all small ones. Was chilly out for sure. Saw most boats between HSB and MN. If you want company I'll go with you one day. My fishing buddy caught some fat spots on the crappie jigs. I owe him for most, and biggest fish of the day.(only $2).

I think one problem I have is my boat. If there is wind,( which when I go is always) my barge, I mean tritoon is very hard to keep positioned with the trolling motor. I don't have a linked trolling motor to keep me positioned but even in light wind its like trying to keep a sail straight. I just might be a bad captain, but when I see smaller flat and V hulls around they have no problem. I have usually tried with bobby garland type jigs, but have caught as many on a ned rig but not consistent. My boat is on the water so I usually don't travel too far from home port due to distance and slow speed of toon.

Are you sure those aren't the new "crapper" that they have been stocking. That is the crappie striper hybrid of course.

Great detailed report. I just don't have the patience for crappie fishing. I really don't think its the lack of patience, more the lack of confidence in what I'm doing when it comes to crappie. Always enjoy your reports.

Very nice fish.

Glad you caught some. I got your message by the way. Sorry I haven't spoken to you in a while.

I moved from Naples Florida which is about 30 minutes south of Ft. Myers.

Thanks guys. I hope everyone got my last line as a joke. I am very new to this lake and learned most things about it from this site. Has helped out tremendously. I do know the big trick to fishing is putting in your time. When I lived in SW Florida I would often go night snook fishing after closing the restaurant. Often at a popular bridge that many types frequented. At first I would always get mad and jealous of the guys who would always catch the fish. Even when I copied the lures they used I still wouldn't catch fish like they did. But I loved to fish and was persistent. Fast forward a couple years and I became one of the consistent catchers and started releasing most of the snook I caught. By the way it is delicious tasting. People would be very angry with me for throwing back fish that they have been trying hours, days or even longer for. They wanted me to give them the fish, and I just couldn't do it. I'm not sure where I'm going with this thought but thank you guys for all the info, and I will reciprocate to you. I did notice the first ever keeper striper I caught had a fleet of boats there the next day after reporting my luck and location. And I guess like everybody in life there are good, bad, and ok people. I try to be respectful to others on the water but some just don't care. I did say exactly which lures I used, and many can usually figure out where the spot is from the backgrounds in the pictures. And there isn't always only one way to catch a fish. That's why the lure companies have something new out all the time, and get rid of many productive lures. They can all catch fish at some point, but new means money, profit. I'm starting to sound delirious so a salute to all the true fisherman out there.

Wife and I bought a house in January and most all of my free time has been spent moving and fixing up the new home. I have completely skunked my last three outings which have been spread out since Christmas. I just figured it was time for my fishing luck to hit a slump. Started trying to net shad and couldn't find any. After about 5 or 6 throws I twisted my back a bit so said forget it. Started trolling around the islands and over to Ventris. Nothing, so ran to PC trolled all the way to the end and didn't really mark anything and had zero action on the spread. Said time to forget trolling maybe some bass on a ned rig??? Wife caught a fat 2 lb. spot on the ned in fairly dirty water. I caught one a bit smaller and a 16" walleye and a small spot, and the action was over. I said its time for crappie, even though I'm terrible at crappie fishing. Went to a cove with tree tops and fished small bobby garland jigs for a while and caught zilch. I was totally content however because the weather was wonderful and I didn't get skunked. Wife was sorta ready to head in so I said "Lets troll in". I put out a small A-rig, a flicker shad, and a big jerk bait. A-rig got hit and reeled in a 23' striper. Made a circle and same thing. Wife pulled one in the same size but much fatter than mine. Wasn't really marking bait or fish and was in 90' of water. Just never know where these stripers show up. The water was cleaner and had green tint to it so that must have helped. Trolled all the way back and nothing else. The sun had already set and like always I had to try just a little bit more. Threw a Keitech in 10' of water on my spinning rod with 6lb. line and turned the reel to a WHAM!!!!!!!!. Saw a nice splash on the surface and thought huge bass. It started coming right in so I got confused, no more jumping. Maybe a walleye????? Right at the boat the fish surfaced and my wife said "HOLY SH47484YTT" About that time the fish which I saw was a striper realized it was hooked and took off. After a lot of drag screaming and give and take for a while it again surfaced at the boat and that's when I said "Holy sh5555t" That won't fit in our net. I handed the wife the rod and got down on my belly to grab it. All I can say was it was awesome on that 6lb. I didn't weigh it, well cause I don't have a scale on the boat, but it had to be over 20lbs. Needless to say the wife insists we buy a fish scale. The area I caught the stripers was between the dam and 412 bridge.