RyanG

Awesome fish! And awesome boat! Winter fishing is relatively new to me, hoping to figure something out next week.

After Christmas I should be back on the lake but I chase the green fish. Although I will never turn my nose on the man in the striped suit either. If I find anything worth sharing Ill be sure to let you know! Although, by that point, its probably old news. Lol. Goodluck!

Well, didn't wanna start a whole new topic to say I didn't catch anything on beaver today so I'll say it here. Didn't catch anything on beaver today. Lol. I only stayed out until around 9:15 this morning Though. The wind was beginning to howl and I threw everything from a topwater to ned rig and only had two small bass chase it to the boat. Headed to swepco and caught a few over there but nothing big. Best fish today was an 7 pound channel cat on an A rig. Can't wait for a full on winter pattern. Should help me find fish easier. Good luck guys and stay safe!

If I work out my battery issues I'll be out Sunday. Hopefully I'll be able to put something together. I'll report back what I find. Very good possibility of that being not much. Haha.

Was that Ryan Toomer by chance? If so I saw that video. Insane!

Thank you for saying that! I can't tell you how many times I get a tip on where the fish are and still can't catch em. Of course I am much more inexperienced than many on here so it makes sense. lol. Thats always something to consider, you can lead people to fish but you can't make the fish bite whatever is dropped on them. Usually. Thanks mike for reporting. I don't chase the crappie but its nice to hear guys catching some fish!

Glad to see you on them Dan! Looking forward to more pics of those beasts!

Well its clear water and the fish were up shallow last weekend. Just think fall transition. Every place I hit had fish. Backs of creeks, main lake even at the dam. Topwater was really good early on secondary points. If wind is blowing throw moving baits and you should get bit but a jig is very hard to beat on that lake. Like I said, they were really shallow last weekend but keep an eye on weather and fish accordingly. If you dont get bit shallow just move off the banks a little and you should be fine, that 10-20 foot range should be good if it stays warmer over there. But that place should be on fire very soon if we have some more cooler weather. I am still new to that lake so wish I could be more specific but its a small lake relatively and full of fish. Good luck!

I have not actually. Only been there three times now but I will be there a lot more I'm sure. I was surprised with how aggressive those smallmouth were. You could catch them however you wanted to. And they were mean. I am ready to start looking for some striper though. I'm a big time bass guy and that will be what I chase the most but this spring I got into the striper pretty good and thats an addicting bite if there is one. I'm definitely gonna be on edge and looking for those striper throughout the fall and winter this year.

I just havent had any real time on Beaver lately. Ive been on 4 different fisheries in the past 4 weeks but was pleasantly surprised to see those bass shallow yesterday! Ive got some prop testing to do this weekend and Im sure ill cast a line while Im at it. Hopefully this short heat wave doesnt put them in too much of a funk. Off topic a little: I was on Tenkiller sunday fishing a qualifier for our college team and the smallmouth were chomping over there. 18 pounds won it and a couple of 13 pound bags. Not too far of a drive if anyone gets that small jaw itch. Just an FYI lol

Got out on the Beav for a bit today. Got out late, around 1030 or so launched out of hickory creek. Just fun fishing with a buddy since we were both out of class for the day. Fished around hickory creek and the war eagle. Had several decent bass on the war eagle buzzbait. Buzzbait was producing at around 1130. Missed a big ol girl on the buzzbait too. Better bite in the dirtier water. Got a good chunk on the spinnerbait and a few dinks on the squarebill and jerkbait and the jig. For only a couple hours in the middle of a sunny day the bite was pretty good. Wind, wood, and stained water could make for a good day right now, seemed that way today. Goodluck fellas!

I seem to be late to the party, I am usually on the beaver forum but decided to take a peek at the table rock forum after fishing it last weekend to see how everyone was doing. Gotta say, seeing this post blow up and some of the things that have been said is kind of disheartening. I'm not a high school angler but I do fish in my college club at the University of Arkansas and I just wanted to offer my perspective on some of the topics you guys have brought up. First, no. No one told me about this forum or showed me the way. I found it, joined, and contribute when I have been on the lake. Even then, usually my reports are pretty bland considering my limited success on Beaver. Secondly, fishing for me is about fishing. I love it. This summer alone it has taken me from dropping a size 20 midge in front of wild rainbows and browns in Colorado to meeting at the ramp at 5am to fish against some of my best buds. I love fishing from the bank, my boat, in a tourney or just for the fun of it. I personally enjoy the friendly competition. It pushes me to learn new things, adapt to conditions and just get comfortable with being uncomfortable sometimes. Rain, cold, heat of summer. You cant pick those conditions but when a tournament Ive been waiting for all year shows up I go anyways and everytime I have had a blast no matter the finish. But thats just me. I always learn something. Third, lets talk boats for a second. Who cares? Why do you care? Every new ranger that goes down the road catches my eye but I love my boat and I am extremely grateful for what I have. My boat is 25 years old and payed for. But my best buddy has a 45,000 dollar phoenix, also payed for with his own money. He works hard, graduated and fishes whenever he wants to now. He has his dream boat and a truck to pull it and that's that. He started in an old skeeter. I started in a 12ft aluminum boat with an electric trolling motor. On the team you'll see everything from an old aluminum boat to a 2014 Ranger and 2016 Basscat. But when it comes down to it, we all love to just fish. On last thing I wanna touch on is the college fishing in general and what it does for people like me who will more than likely never be an Elite Pro. I have met several owners of local companies from bait companies to graphic design companies. Several of us work with companies like 13 fishing, Pradco, santone, and Aftco every week dealing with our teams sponsorship program with those companies. My point is, we are making connections. We are networking constantly. We are gaining experience in sales and marketing in one way or another. These companies open the door to JOBS for us college guys all the time. THATS just one other reason I do what I do. It all started with fishing. And at the end of the day, we all just love to fish. But you have to make a living and doing so in the fishing industry is possible without being an elite series pro. Wrench, I quoted you but this wasn't entirely a response to just you I just thought it would help me reference some of the topics I wanted to talk about. Also, I agree with several points brought up just wanted to offer another perspective. I'm terrible at putting thoughts on paper (or the screen I suppose) so if anything sounds rough I apologize, not picking a fight. I know there is much I didnt address but I wanna keep this from becoming a novel. Also, huge shout out to Champ. As he mentioned he captained for us last weekend and it was a great time. Never underestimate how much help it can be to offer time and your boat to some young anglers. I know how precious time and our boats can be to us so for him to be there and get these guys on the water, that was really cool! Thank you!

Yeah I had to bring up the schedule. We have an October 23 tournament on Tenkiller and a November 13 tourney on Loch Lomond in belle vista and september 11 on table rock.

Thanks for the responses guys! I will dm you with the additional info if interested! Champ and RPS, I have messaged you guys already and again thank you! If anyone wants to spread the word feel free to do so! Also, if you are on social media check out our FaceBook page Uark Bass fishing. That is a really good way to get in contact with us as well. I sound like a salesman, i apologize for that. But I just want to say that this is helping our club grow to a point that it has never been and any help is greatly appreciated. So thank you guys!

No worries at all. Just getting word out and seeing what the response would be.

So the angler is bring their equipment and if you guys want them to run the front then that's really your choice. the only rule we really have is they can only weigh the fish they catch, which is pretty obvious. So if you guys wanna fish feel free. Whether from the front or back, all we want is a chance for these guys to compete with us and have the experience. Places we are fishing: first up is table rock on September 11 I believe. A week from this coming Sunday. I'll look at the schedule and get you guys more info but we never travel more than about an hour and a half or two at max. Beaver isn't on the list for the fall. You can probably guess why haha. I'll be able to send you guys more info here in just a couple of hours though. Thank you for the responses though!

Thank you! I'll message you soon with some more details so we can work it out!

I am a member of the University of Arkansas bass team and am fortunate enough to have my own boat to fish out of. However, this year we have around a dozen new members that do not have boats and it can be difficult to get them a partner that does. I figured I would test the waters here a little and see if any of you guys would be interested in being a boat captain for one of our three qualifiers for the bass team this fall. We have one tournament a month, usually held on a Sunday (I definitely understand conflicts with church/days off). We have never used this system before but we have no other way to get the non-boaters on the water so we are testing this out. You would be welcome to fish we just have an honor system in place that would keep yall from weighing in fish for them. (also keep yall from just sitting in the boat for the day) Anyways, I can go into more detail and give dates and all of that but first I just wanted to see how many might be interested in something like that. If it sounds like something you would be interested in, just respond down below and if you feel up for the task just pm me and we can work something out! Also, i can remove this post if it isnt allowed. Thanks!

I was out Saturday afternoon just messing around in PC and saw multiple big bass cruising the shallows. Only got a few smaller ones to bite but several had to be in the 5 pound range. They seemed to be roaming the bank chasing those bluegill. Whatever the case, congrats mike!

And I'm meant to clarify I'm not dismissing anything anyone may have told you. I just am speaking from my own experience this year. I worked several of the weighins and personally moved the fish to the tank. So that's why I was a little confused.

My best crappie trip was in the middle of July on Toledo bend almost mid day. Must of had 30+ fish in just over an hour. That place is insane, but when nothing else would bite those crappie were there for the catching.

I'm not sure what you mean in reference to the Everrett tourneys, they have a massive tank that all fish go to immediately following weigh-in. As a matter of fact, the Everett this year did some of the best jobs handling fish I have seen even when compared to the college FLW, BASS, and boat us tourneys I have fished. It's always gonna come down to the individual, and I respect everyone's opinion. However, it absolutely does not hurt to keep bring it up. The information needs to be circulated and this is just one of many great places to do just that. I learn things all the time from this site from tips and tricks to keeping fish alive. The only tournament that I have personally seen fish die off in large numbers has been one of the Friday nighters and to my understanding that was brought up to the organizers. There will always be fish loss no matter the precautions. But the Everett boys have done an amazing job this year and I think if we bring this information to more anglers it can only do good. End rant. lol

That's the truth! Haha.

Thanks for the information! I'm not much of a spoon guy but maybe that should change. It would be good to learn I suppose! I'll have to look around and give it a shot, it's definitely something I have wanted to learn for a long time and beaver definitely has an abundance of deep trees. I'm gonna try to squeeze out tomorrow for a bit while it's still cool and rainy, if so I'll report back. In the meantime I think I'll start collecting some spoons. I almost always have a drop shot tied on this time of year but I struggle with boat traffic, I just lose focus and my fishing suffers. So ready to have the lake back this fall. lol

I never fish trees, mainly because I am totally ignorant of how to do so. You use a spoon usually for that?