fishman783

Hello, Will be at Beaver the whole week for our annual trip to visit my father. Wanted to know if anyone could share some insight on where to find some largemouth? We got out this morning and launched at Starkey boat access. Fished quite a bit of main lake stuff closer to the main river channel swings…..caught a few smallmouth, but nothing to brag about. Looked like there was a thermocline around the 24-26ft depth down here on the lower end. Didn’t spend much time fishing in any of the creek arms, but planning on spending my morning running some of those instead of staying out on the main lake. Wanting to try to find some largemouth and wondered if anyone had been catching them lately? Is fishing for largemouth better as you get toward the mid lake to upper end? Thanks in advance. Matt

Hello, I made a post a week and a half ago asking about fishing Beaver Lake this time of year and several people responded to my post which I greatly appreciate. Just thought I’d recap my trip (down from Iowa visiting my dad for the week). Basically was able to get out on the lake from around 6am-10am for most every day while I was visiting. My dad lives around point 5 so we basically stayed down on the lower end of the lake and I primarily targeted deeper offshore fish since it was easier for the other people who I took out each morning to have a chance at catching fish equally. I also wanted a chance to work on dropshotting fish I could see on my electronics that were suspended in tree tops as it is a technique that I don’t get to practice fishing the Mississippi River. My most productive pattern was finding timbered points at the end of bluffs right off the main river channel. These areas seemed to have the largest concentrations of bait and also spotted and smallmouth bass. We were able to catch them suspended in tree tops from 25-45 ft with 3.3 Keitechs counting them down and also dropshotting 3” Berkeley Power Minnows and Strike King Baby Z-Toos. We did not have too much luck on topwaters unless we were able to cast immediately on fish that came up busting bait which we did not encounter too often. When we were able to capitalize on these opportunities a Pop R style bait, small buzzbait, and the small size 90 Whopper Plopper would get bit. When I did sneak up a bit shallower I was able to catch a few largemouth on a swing jig with a zoom UV speed craw. I did not devote a lot of time to try to figure out what exactly the largemouth were doing do to limited time on the water, but I suspect they were a bit shallower than the spots and smallies. I will say that I saw the most bait at Beaver than I have seen in the last 4 years of coming down to visit this time of year....tons of 1.5-2 inch Shad pretty much everywhere we went. I suspect that if I tried to Dropshot even smaller 2” baits (which I did not have with me) that I may have been able to coax a few more bites than I did on the suspended fish. Seemed like I’d be able to catch 3-4 fish out of a school and then they’d quit biting even though I could still see them on my graph. I’m attaching I picture of some of the baits I had success on as well as a few pics of fish. I will say my brother did catch the largest fish of the week, 3.08 lb Largemouth on a buzzbait. Thanks again, Matt

When you say big worm do you mean 10” ribbon tail worm or big trick worm....sounds like a fun bite for sure....thanks for the info!

Thanks, Definitely will be looking for Shad.....seems like there are more Shad this year than I have seen in years past....saw lots of really small Shad yesterday morning, looks like they have benefited from the water being high this season.

I will be targeting mainly the lower end from mouth of Clifty to the dam. (My dads place is right across from point 5). Hoping to run into some topwater fish, but will probably mostly employ a small Keitech on a jighead and cover water till I can find something to slow down and fish more thoroughly with a Dropshot, Ned or Carolina rig. Hopefully we will be able to run into a fish or two this week. I too will mostly be off the water by 9 or 10 in the morning daily. Thanks again Matt

Quick question...I am down from Iowa for the week visiting my Dad who lives on the lake. I was out this morning for a little bit. I am mainly trying to target black bass but would love to catch whatever I can. Does this lake currently have a thermocline? I noticed a lot of fish suspended in the 20-25ft range over much deeper water, so I was just curious if this would be the depth zone that I should try to focus on or not? I know the water is up 6.5ft above normal pool so I ran some bank this morning to see if any fish were shallow, lots of sunfish but not too many bass. Fished mainly in the Big Clifty arm this morning and decided I should primarily focus my efforts off shore for the remainder of the time I am here and target main lake points and humps close to the main river channel as well as similar structure in the large creek arms close to the channel swings. Am I far off with this approach? I know fishing can be pretty tough this time of year so I appreciate the help or advice. Matt

I have had great buzzbait days when it was very choppy as well

I would be willing to guess that a lot of the bigger fish Spawn much deeper on beaver Lake than other lakes with less water clarity. The water clarity of beaver Lake allows light penetration much deeper which the fish eggs need to develop. The larger fish have reached that size because they have learned to adapt to the lake and the water fluctuations over the years. I think the deeper spawners have adapted to spawn deeper to guarantee a more successful spawn by avoiding problems with water fluctuations that way. I think that could possibly explain some of the reasons for the larger fish in the offshore bite during the same time period. Just my two cents

I fished Beaver Lake for the 1st time earlier this spring. I think Beaver Lake is a challenging lake to fish, but in no way is it a poor bass fishery. I can't think of many lakes where I could fish the same stretch of water and catch all three species of bass, but I was able to do that on my trip. I think that the water stability factor plays the largest role in bass production on Beaver. Seems that the lake can fluctuate the most from year to year during the time when the bass spawn which doesn't guarantee a successful spawn from year to year. I think that beaver lake is a tough lake to fish and to consistently catch fish shallow because of the clarity of the water(very clear water) and the absence of dense shoreline cover. Fish are very spooky in clear water and are more susceptible to fishing pressure in the shallow water because of that. For the most part in my experience as a fisherman I think shallow fish are more of a resident fish (except during spawn when they move shallow in waves) so they do not replenish like fish will that roam in schools on offshore structure. I think fishing pressure shallow at beaver is more magnified due to the lack of options for dense shoreline cover and water clarity. If you look at the pro anglers that have been the most successful at beaver in past years they are the pros that go out and fish each day based on instinct (fish the conditions weather/wind each day) and don't get locked down to the same stretches of bank each day because that will rarely hold up for 4 days. There are lakes that get far more pressure than Beaver Lake (Lake of the Ozarks and Grand Lake) that produce more and bigger sacks of fish at tournaments, but these lakes water levels are more consistent year to year (=greater potential for successful bass spawn), have more available shoreline cover (promoting larger fish population density), and are not as clear, which I feel allows them to hold up far better to the fishing pressure. I think that Beaver Lake should be appreciated for what it is, a challenge. The angler that is able to adapt his style of fishing the best each day will win. What's the fun in going to a lake and catching them the same way as you do on every other lake. It's just the same in golf when the pros complain about how tough the us open is, the ones that embrace the challenge are often the most successful.

I would definitely spend more time with the kietechs less bites but quality of fish were much better than the megabass 110

Did not fish above marker 5, water temps varied from 47-49, saw some 50 on Wednesday. I could see bottom in 15 ft of water. Most fish were caught close to creek and main river channel swings

Fished yesterday for about 5 hours total, 2 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon. Picked up 2 Spots off a dock in 20 ft of water over a main creek channel in the morning 1 keeper and one short. Fished around the point back into the adjacent cut and caught 1 a short LM and had a couple others follow the stickbait but would not commit to it. Fished for 3 hours in the afternoon, ran a small stretch of bank where I picked up 4 short spots and one short LM on a stickbait. Pulled into a cut and was able to catch 1 keeper SM on a stickbait suspended in the timber over 20 ft of water. I have been targeting cuts and secondary points that are on the north side of creeks and main lake where the creek or main river channel swings by. Megabass 110 Elegy Bone colored stickbait was the fish catcher yesterday had several follow an elite 8 Rouge but they would not commit to it.

Kietechs and above marker 4

Lower end indeed

Was able to get out in the morning for 2 hours, caught one keeper smallie and a keeper eye, went back out for a couple of hours in the afternoon and was able to catch another keeper smallie a nice eye and a nice 5.5lb Largemouth. All on slow rolled swim baits.

New Shadow Raps look like a fish catcher

Skirmish jerkbaits look awesome, have never seen them before

For the week I have tied on: Megabass 110 Ito Wakasagi ,8 lb flouro Rapala Shadow Rap deep, Purpledescent , 8 lb flouro Wiggle Wart Phantom Green Craw, 8 lb flouro 3.8 Kietech Fat on 5/16 jig head, 10 lb flouro War Eagle Finesse Jig, Green Pumpkin Orange, 12 lb flouro Picasso finesse A Rig, with either Zoom swimming flukes, or Kietech 3.5 swim baits Ned Rig or drop shot on 6 lb flouro

New Rapala shadow raps?

Anyone have any info on the bass tourney held on Beaver last weekend? We're the majority of the fish caught up the river, midlake, or lower end? Techniques used by successful teams? Saw it took 20 lbs to win very impressive bag. Heading to the lake for the first time next week and can't wait. Thanks again, Matt

Thanks for the advice, I do have lowrance Hds, but also plan on picking up a paper map as well. I do plan on trying the river as long as the lake stays low and clear. As far as line size goes most of my Rods will be rigged up with 8 to 10 lb test flourocarbon for jerkbaits and cranks, will most likely have 12 lb flouro for my jig rod (throwing small War Eagle finesse jig).

Hello, My name is Matt and I am from southeast Iowa. My family and I are visiting the lake the second week of March. We have never fished the lake before and we will be staying on the lower third of the lake closest to the dam. We are primarily going to be fishing for bass and wanted to know some productive areas of the lake. I am assuming that the water Temps will still be in the low to mid 40's. My plan is to target the Northern creeks and pockets close to channel swings in the mid to lower 3rds of the lake. With the water Temps was assuming that fish would be on a stickbait or jig bite, may try the A rig and possibly a wiggle wart too. Just wanted to see if anyone had any advice or pointers to offer for someone that has never fished the lake before. Thanks for any help or advice. Matt