jay bird

Using a bisty tube on a 1/8oz jig fished in 10-15 feet of water off of chunk rock/large boulders on main lake and secondary points. Another good area is transition areas from pea gravel to the large chunk rock. For me big boulders = smallies. I am like you usally alot of smaller fish with one or two keepers on a good day. That fish was the biggest smallie I have had on Beaver, but I have been hearing of more big ones like that caught this year. I just hope that every one releases these big fish and if you are going to mount one try to get a replica.

Went fishing this AM to try for some topwater striper. Saw some spoty top water action, but did not conect with any striper/hybrids. The water temp was 65-69 and has really warmed up in the last week. Did some small-mouth fishing and had several nice fish with one hog of a smally right at 20 inches. We lost several nice fish and my fishing partner lost a really nice one on top water and got broke off on another. RRV will post a picture later on. Great morning, but I hope the water does not get to warm to quick or we will have very little top water action this year. If anything else the quality of smallies on Beaver is great this year.

Bill, Do you think that the cold weather is going to be the end of the white bass or do you think they will make another run when the water warms back up?

Just the wall-mart renegade round 5/8th with the plastic weed guard. I try to fan out the guard to help with hook sets, not sure it it helps or not.

Went fishing out of Eagle Rock last night and had a fair night. About 18 bass 5-6 keepers with one around 4 pounds. No real big ones, but a good time. Black chompers 5 inch with 5/8 oz jig on secondary points worked for us. Good luck.

Bill are you running up the river in a river boat or just fishing from the twin bridge area?

Went down to Hickory Creek Marina and tried our luck with the White up War Eagle. Like so most of my trips most of what I hear is that you should have been here yesterday or last Saturday. The wind was really blowing and no cloud cover made fishing a little hard. The best action came just before dark about 1/2 mile into the War Eagle arm. The whites came up and we had about 30 minutes of top water action. I guess from talking to other boats that the wind really hurt the top water biter yesterday, and also no cloud cover. There where reports of 100 fish trips. We ended up with 20 with one or two small hybrids 3/4 pounds. Great day on the water and it just should get better. FYI if you are coming in at night from War Eagle there is a log just sticking out of the water about 300-400 yards from the Hickory Creek Marina. Thank God we saw it or it would have ruined a great day.

Last year about this time we did pretty good throwing topwater baits at night. It was pretty incredible. We never had anything over 10#s but it was still fun and we did see some big boys chasing shad. Long gravel points seemed to be the key last year that where close to the main channel. Good luck

I am not an expert, but there are some on this forum. If you can get some information from some of the guys on presentation, line weight,leader length, fly selection, etc. it will really improve your chances. Fly fishing for white bass, whipers/stripers is a whole new ball game and there are some definite techniques that can improve your chances.

Went Thursday afternoon out of Eagle Rock Main lake was 52-53, and way up roaring river was 54.

Going out for a Saturday Trip with everyone else in the Ozarks to try out luck with some whies and crappie. Has any one been doing any good? Or just some good advice from the local experts would be great. Thanks in advance will post reports after the trip.

Great fish, and I am with Terry I am still trying to get a big one on my Fly Rod. It is harder than it sounds, last year we went out and only took the fly rods so we would not be tempted to cheat. We where in the fish thick, but could not get one to take the fly. On the other hand there is nothing better than 10-20 pound fish on top water with 14-17 pound test and a bass rod. They hit the lures so hard that if you have any type of heart condition you had better have your nitro patches with you.

Sorry typo, I usally use 1/2 and up on the footballs, some guys I know use the crappie like round head jigs in the small sizes on the river with the chompers and for some reason that was stuck in my head.

I am not an expert by any means and one of the reasons I probably catch fish on this is because of my confidence with the bait, and I always have one tied on. I like to use a 4 inch pumpkin green, or watermelon green chomper on a 3/16 ounce football head jig. I also put a worm rattle in the tail, and give a spray of garlic bang 2-3 times during the trip. Not sure if any of this helps me catch fish or if it just helps my fishing OCD tendencies. I do know that for the last 6 years from the middle of March to the end of April I have caught my biggest fish of the year on this rig. Now for me this is only a five or six pound fish, but I will take one of thoes any day. Also Bill do you think a rattle helps for night fishing?

I will start to post as soon as I get out. I still have a yard to clean up from the ice storm, and I do not think it would go over well if I fished before that was done. Last year in the first week of April I got into a great NIGHT top water bite for stripers and hybrids that beat anything I have ever seen.

I think that a short stay in a running livewell does some good to some of your bigger fish. Bass/Stripers etc. are designed for short burst of speed and a sustained fight causes a build up a lactic acid in their muscles. This is the stuff that causes cramps in muscles. I have found that a little time in a livewell to re-O2 and to let some of that lactic acid decrease makes for a better release. I have found this to be true for Stripers, but I have not been able to try this on anything over 7 pounds for Bass.

Any one else fishing down there.

Boat ramps on the lake are always fun. I try to be as helpful as I can. There has been numerous times on a busy day when some one is struggling backing the trailer that I offer to do it for them. This has happened at least ten times that I can remember and I have never been turned down. Usally the person is so relived to be out of the stress of trying to back a trailer with a ton of other people waiting they are very grateful. I also try to give a quick lesson on backing in a very non-consending way. P.S If your wife/fishing buddy is going to be backing your trailer practice this time of year until they are really comfortable. Trust me this will just save a ton of headaches down the road. Nothing will end a great day on water faster than a very frustating time on the boat ramp.

Well I have gotten the bug and will be trying to do some fishing down there as soon as they run some consistant water. I have not fished for Stripers since the Spring and did not have a good year on Beaver lake last year. (Not sure why everyone else did) Any way my small group will start to post as soon as we make it down there. Trying to find some family stuff to do in Tulsa so I can take the Family down there for a long weekend fish in the AM and do the Family thing in the PM.

I work for St. John's as a Hand Therapist and was just wondering if any of my fishing buddies where working you. I am glad you had a good experience with St. John's and I have heard nothing but good things to say about your Doctor. Good Luck and when Spring hits this Rehab will be a distant memory.

There is that one on the end on H hwy past Viola that is still free. Sport Boats put a fairly nice dock there a couple of years ago and it puts you over there on big/little Indian and the Baxter area.

Hey what is your Physical therapist name that is seeing you?

Les for sure, he is always talking about how safe you need to be out in the wild and how an injury could end your life. Then there is Bear who is always running down a steep hill, climbing a ciff, or something else that is more for show than anything else. I have hunted/fished in some fairly remote areas, where a broken ankle could be a life threating injury you can be sure I was not running down a step hill with loss rocks just for the fun of it.

Sound like we have some people that are fishing Beaver Lake on a fairly regular basis. I think that it would be great if all of us could report our fishing trips. I think that as the season moves on this year if we could all post it would help every one out. One of the reasons that I started posting on this site was the number of people that where willing to post after their trips. I was on a site a couple of years ago where you would have 2-3 people posting, but over 50 people reading your post. What that told me was that there was a ton of people getting good information, but very few contributing that information back. I feel if we could get a good core group of people that where fishing Beaver on a consistant basis that we could really help each other out with our reports. Any way looking forward to a great year. Tight lines!!!!

The large spit-N-image is a great bait, but the only problem that I have had with it when the bass/striper are schooling up is that after one or two misses it always seems to foul up (hooks the line and comes in sideways). I have had good luck with the soft jerk baits, but my two main baits for topwater are the super zara, and the Red Fin. Do you do alot of Fall top water bite on Beaver?