Alumacraft190

I would echo the others, I’ve fished with Don for years and years and he always puts fish in the boat. I would say if your goal is to learn a ton and ask questions and gain knowledge he may not be your guy but if you want a great day of fishing hes as good as there is.

Tanglewood lodge is near water and is in back of a cove where parking your boat on the beach is feasible and safe. Rocky branch marina is in the same cove. Also has a pool for the kids. Coppermine would be other recommendation

I do have to agree with Ron on the attitude part. Don’s always treated us very well, but I can easily understand why others may not have the same viewpoint. I guess I would say if you want your best chance at fish he’s your guy but if you also want to be educated and share some laughter then probably 50/50 with him. There are probably others who look to inform and engage better than him.

Ive been striper fishing Beaver annually for about 20 years now and have used Beaver Fever NUMEROUS times. Don Andreasen knows the lake and almost always will get you on fish without fail. I would say you can’t go wrong with Don, although I would encourage your friend to ensure he is with Don and not one of his guys.

Im afraid thats only half true Stump. A picture did get posted last week of a 40 lb fish but it was a bit of a random post. The background made it clear it wasnt a recent catch and the OP confirmed the catch was from Fall 2017 and not recent. No confirmation on location though. We can only hope the size like that is still around in abundance but I’m becoming less confident by the year in my trips.

I agree Stump, seems they want no part of the mud to say the least which puts them extreme north and extreme south. As much as I want to take credit for limiting that happened only because we had a guide on Friday. He took us further south than I have ever fished. Shad wise You hardly ever marked any and I was there in November when you couldnt go anywhere without marking shad.

Just got back today from a weekend trip striper fishing from Wichita. We debated coming now or pushing back 30 days due to the water condition but ultimately decided to come now. Friday we limited out with 9 stripes and a white. 2 16 lb fish on planer boards in the rocky branch area targeting flats. We marked a lot of fish but it dried up so we went south to fine cleaner water behind the mud. we had to go into the white river side to find clean water. Water temp at rocky branch 53, white river 58. Got into them in the river in shallower water <20 feet on channel bends late in the day. It definitely appeared to be pre-spawn, fish in the river were smaller males, biggest 12 lb while the two at rocky were both female. Yesterday was more of a struggle. We scouted PC and coose areas briefly and didnt mark many fish so we moved on. Lost one at rocky area and could only muster 1 hybrid and 1 stripe on our own. The wind never did lay down and we elected to come home early today rather than fight the cold front. They definitely seem to be on the move with both depth and location.

Thinking about coming in next weekend from Wichita. Curious how the striper have been and whether people feel the lake is stabilized from the flooding or if I’m better off pushing back 30 days and taking my chances it doesn’t flood again? Figure I’ll look this weekend at forecast and what you all think to decide. Also has anyone been having any luck netting bait or was the shad kill pretty significant? Thanks everybody for your insights, this rookie is kind of spooked after some rough weather outings last few years.

Dan your boys have caught more fish in 2 days than my group of 3 caught in 3! Count me in as jealous, nice job buddy.

Water temp at Hickory was 57, didnt go further south than that. With the low temps Saturday into Sunday I would imagine the temps at PC to be about same as I saw between HB and HC

Ill chime in with what hardly qualifies as a report given the results. Came in Thursday night and fished Fri Sat and this morning until 12:15. Friday was a windy day which kept us from hitting the islands around PC hard. Did mark a few fish around the islands but saw more activity into PC. Fri at sunset we got into the whites and one 8.5 lb striper on topwater, they were busting surface. Saturday was miserable, fished 645-2:30 when we had finally had enough. We fished mostly PC before the front rolled in and then moved around the bluff to the east toward coose and the water inlet with no success. Scouted between the islands out of the wind and it was a blank screen. Moved to the south bluff on deer island and marked some fish with less bait, we made 4-5 passes tight to the bluff and didnt pick anything up. By then we were pretty miserable with the weather and called it quits. Sunday we got a bit later start and put in at Horseshoe and went south. All I can say is bait bait bait and more bait. PC had a lot of bait, but nothing compared to what we saw down south. We did pick up 1 striper on a freeline, but too small to take credit for. All said tough 3 days of fishing. Even tougher weather. Ill be back though and get them next time. A special thanks to Dan for taking the time to hang out with a few out of staters, really enjoyed it despite the weather and less than ideal success.

Just my own .02 and I’m far from a master angler compared to most on this board. the freeline is excellent especially when worked in tandem with downlines. Reason being, my experience and reading is fish will tend to come up in the water column after its food but rarely does it go down. I have witnessed this many times on a graph where a bait at 15’ gets ate and you see the fish on the graph come up after your bait. I can’t say Ive seen it the other way, where the fish goes down. The strength of the free line then is it is fair game to fish at all depth especially in clear water although it isnt as high percentage as say a bait set to 20’ with an egg weight targeting fish consistently marked at 25 fow. This would be why I always fish 2 free lines and sometimes even a 3rd and 4th on planer boards in my setup of 6-10 rods.

Dan once they get going topwater you just let me know and if you can spare a spot in your boat for me I'll come watch you catch fish while I try to catch fish. Lol

Well shoot, since you can't predict weather the least you could do is send me the coordinates of where the big school of stripes will be!! I'll even handicap you to allow for a 50 foot radius, deal? Lol

Im with you stump. Your post made me go back and look, but ai was there November 6 and water temp was 69 at point 6. That trip had me so confused, i made reservations at 3 places as the trip approached chasing the water temp and where I expected fish to be as the trip got closer. Long story short i fished from coppermine to point 6 during those 4 days when I never thought I'd see north of prairie creek. For this year's trip I moved it back to go weekend before thanksgiving in hopes of keeping the main water to target horseshoe or south.

How about the old abandoned campground east of PC, Ventris is the name I'm wanting to say but I may have that wrong. Would there still be access with old slabs? Ive never really explored it but figure maybe something is left over, interesting if nothing else.

I could see that Quillback, especially with the way ours was caught Wed night. We were going to come in and Dan picked the rod up from the holder and thats when he got hit. It was a reaction bite I would estimate, so spoons could certainly help trigger the bite. Right then was also when we saw multiple fish on the graph at that depth, would have liked to have stayed on them to see what we could pattern but they seemed to be gone as quick as they came.

There is a place for you and your fish in my boat any time buddy, had a great time and hope to do it again.

Got out last night with Dan and gave it a shot with the light on the north end. WT 90 thermocline set up at 20' steady everywhere from pt 5 north. Started pt 5, we marked a few fish here and there and set up over the light but we werent liking what we were seeing. With the wind yesterday blowing we hit opposite bank and point from pt 5 and didnt come up with much on the graph. Decided to go north to Indian Creek area. Got a lot more bait working around the boat so we settled in and gave it a shot. Picked up one, but surprisingly we had to go down to 50' to get it. We marked quite all at one time down deep and that was the only one we got to play ball, never did get them up above the 50' range with the light down 16-17'. Was a great evening on the water and enjoyed the good company. I'll let Dan chime in with anything I missed. As usual whether its in his boat or not, Dan is the one holding the fish at the end of the day! This post has been promoted to an article

Yea it definitely is. I had it to myself Thursday and we pulled 2 out of it and broke off on another. Truth be told I just never really felt like I was seeing enough fish to warrant fishing it but there were some for sure. The bait is another story....holy crap theres a ton of bait in there. Friday and Sat there were boats all over that area though. Yesterday I had it to myself again and I kept going back because everywhere else I ran I marked even less except maybe at Monte Ne, and there were boats all over it again. It leaves me thinking the fish are just scattered out everywhere due to a lack of seasonal patterns or the numbers aren't there, I'm hoping its the first option and not the 2nd. Just one guys very uneducated opinion though.

I wish I could say it was all one boat in one day Stump. We had 4 guys in 2 boats the last 3 days and we landed no more than 8 striper total. All on blackburn joe and monte ne areas. There were 6 striper boats in blackburn yesterday and nowhere near enough fish were marked to warrant that in my opinion. Whole weekend felt strange, but never the less I always have hope for the next time. Nowhere Id rather be.

No problem at all Dan, it was great meeting you and I appreciate your willingness to work with the out of staters. Worst case we will have to have that cold one still.

Came in to chase striper wed night, staying south near monte ne. Weve fished/graphed from just south of point 11 at the mudline north to ventris. Graphed around prairie creek quite a bit, and havent marked enough to warrant wetting a line. The only place it seems weve found any fish is blackburn area. We have pulled 4 out of there and broke off on a few occasions. With the wind today blowing us off the water we are left wondering where are the striper?!?!?!?!? Lol.

Don't think for a minute I didnt think about it, but hard to justify the 300 mile drive from Wichita for what they were forecasting. I will be keeping tabs though for sure.