AR Huzgr

Got out for a few hours this morning. Thought I might see some topwater but none to be had. Got a few small smallmouth on a bandit 200 around docks. Then moved to a nearby point and marked a LOT of fish, all in the 35-40 ft range. I tried ned and swimbait with no luck. Switched to a war eagle spoon and aggressively jigged off bottom. Got 2 decent smallmouth right away, then kept at it and got a 20" walleye and the small striper. Not a ton, but fun morning nonetheless with little boat traffic and an eagle sighting to boot. Water temp 76

I've only lived here a little less than a year, so don't have a lot of history on the lake. I did think it took longer than last year to get on summer pattern but who really knows . On the light bite days, I have to switch to jig and crawler and open bail which is the old school way I used to fish for them up north, but not my favorite way to fish. Never tried leeches here and not sure where I'd get them if I wanted to.

Lol, I use half a crawler typically (especially if using slow death hook) so that makes 24 halves, but darn lucky fits me most of the time!

Probably been a month since I last was out. Nice weather this week brought me out of the A/C. Launched from Prairie Creek in a.m. and targeted walleye with bottom bouncer and crawler/spinner rig. Fished main lake structure depth 23-27 range. Water temp 83.7. Caught 5 walleye (biggest was 18). They were aggressive and just grabbed the bait (no finicky eaters today). Dining with the walleye were some nice channel cats. Caught 6 total cats with one 8 pounder, followed by a 4, then the rest were in the 2 lb range. Only had a dozen crawlers so was done by 11, but by then, the black flies found me so time to go! Was good to get back on water.

I come from BV as well. I fish 2/3 of the time launching from Lost bridge north and prairie Creek the other. Both about 30 minutes from house. I agree that not all usace ramps are created equal, but PC can be a rat race at times as well. Rocky Branch not a bad boat ride from PC. My preferred walleye areas are in between prairie Creek and Rocky Branch. However if I'm in a bass kind of mood I usually go to Lost bridge for smallmouth.

I looked up that kalin search bait. It reminded me of a lure I bought about 30 yrs ago when I did a one day charter on lake Erie. The lure was called an Erie dearie. I still have it I think. Maybe I should dig it out! Bottom line, if fish aren't aggressive, real crawler, probably with a simple jig is probably best. Maybe I should start growing my own crawlers.

Put in that prairie Creek today and wanted to do a little experimentation. I was initially targeting walleye with bottom bouncer spinner rigs but using the gulp crawler instead of live worms. I did try both the full crawler two hook set up at about 1 mile an hour, as well as a slow death hook rig at 0.8 mph. I only had a few hits on it, but not enough to make me a believer just yet. I was marking quite a few fish though which I'm sure was a mix of bass and walleye. However all the fish on the bottom were pretty tight-lipped. I kept at it longer than I should have however I was playing around with the new Garmin trolling motor and creating routes along contour lines on points, then just let the Garmin follow the route while I did my thing. TThere was sporadic top water activity all the way till about 9:30. Just some here some there not constant. I managed to catch a fair amount of those spots that way. They were schooled up and you could watch the school chase the caught fish all the way to the boat. Saw one striper in with the spots. Nothing photo worthy just fun size. Off the water at 11:00

I ended up getting a 93sv through bass pro. They had for $699 (with the gt54) and I had a 10% coupon so got for $630. Got hooked up to new Force TM. Am happy with that set up so far. No takers here on the extra GT54UHD so put it on eBay.

I'll probably throw this on eBay next week, but thought I'd offer it here first. New, never installed. I bought a new 93sv to go with my new force trolling motor which came with the same transducer so I don't need this extra one. Comes with what you see in picture in terms of mounting brackets etc. $175, located NWA I'd ship it for 15 bucks, however would require venmo or cash app in advance.

Been several weeks since on the water. Got my new Garmin Force installed so took a trip to test it out and learn how to use. Worked great! In between messing with trolling motor, there was some early topwater then I tried to jig up a walleye. None found but mid morning there was some wolfpacks chasing shad and would pop up for 15 seconds of topwater. This happened 8-10 times and I would toss a pencil popper if I was close enough. They were nice size smallies and spots. Biggest spot was 2.7#. water 82 deg Off water by 1030

Got a new unit to pair with my new trolling motor (needed 12 pin connector, this is 8 pin). I have this cross posted on FB marketplace, NWA area. Works great, no issues. I did pinch the cable about a year and a half ago so you will see a partial splice on cable. $200 plus shipping, if needed. I will also have a gt54 UHD transducer for sale in a week or so but will list that separately.

Thanks all! Good idea. Looks like I'll be in the buy and sell market soon!

Put a new Garmin force on boat but my bow chartplotter is an older 73cv. Not compatible with the new transducer (8 pin vs 12 pin). Garmin rep said I'd need to buy the UHD 73sv (or 93). I can't find any place that sells the head unit only, without the transducer, as I don't need that. Any suggestions? Amazon has some refurbished units but not sure I want to go down that route

Great topwater fish! One positive note, this is the earliest you will have to be on water for the rest of the year.

Wow. I think I saw a photo of that on a Facebook page. I'd need a bigger net for that one!

LOL. Fishing memories seem to be half the big ones you caught and half the ones you lost! I changed my net to a rubber one a few years ago.

Got out early to see if I could find any top water striper. The topwater bite was definitely slower than last week but there was some sporadic activity. Caught two smaller ones roughly 3 lb or so each. Had one very large one (estimated over 15) on until I didn't. It pulled my boat about 100 ft or so, made a few strong runs then my leader broke. If you happen to catch a big striper with a pencil popper in its mouth please return it LOL. I was using a 25 lb fluorocarbon leader. I wonder if it had a Nick in it or something, or maybe got tangled up with the hook when fish hit. Bummer to lose that one. At least I got to see it a couple times rolling on the surface. After that decided to explore new areas for walleye. Caught three, two 19 inch and one 17 in. Two on Ned TRD "new money" and other on a rage swimbait. A few other smallmouth mixed in there in the 14 to 16 inch range, so all in all not a bad day minus the one that got away. Water temp about 78.

That is exactly my experience as in the bite shutting down. Didn't know if that was the beginning of a new summer pattern or just related to the current weather pattern. I have the first half of next week to do the early topwater bite, then off the water for 3-4 weeks taking care of spouse post shoulder surgery. Hopefully my Garmin force gets delivered so I can get installed during that downtime. Will help when chasing topwater. Does the topwater bite go away for the summer? Crazy news on that other front. That is a pretty busy area so surprised no one saw anything. I tried the SB South ramp once but didn't like that as much as the north ramp.

Got on water early, wanted to get the early topwater bite. Put in LBV north at 5:30 and got 3 stripers, nothing big just fun size. Got a nice smallies topwater and a few others. TW bite shut off at about 645 and then it was tough sledding with slick calm. Needed some wind I think. Got a few here and there but packed it in at 1030.

Got out early and found some topwater action using pencil popper. Mixed bag of one smaller striper, 2 nice whites ( in the 2.5-3lb range), spots and smallies. There was some topwater stripers popping up randomly in about 40ft water but I couldn't get to the action in time. Once I get my Garmin trolling motor installed, that may help in that regard. Topwater shut down at 7 so moved on to other areas. Ned seemed to be the ticket today. Tried a new color called "money" and really like it. Most around 15-20 ft range. Several good smallies, spots and 2 catfish, each around 4 lbs. 20 total Water temp 72

Got on water at 6. Was going to scan for topwater striper but just a little too much chop so went to an "out of the breeze" shoreline near docks. Threw topwater pencil popper and from 6-7 am got about 9, mostly smallies, but also got my first ever striper. Not a big one mind you, but big enough to count! At 7, topwater shut down so moved around some. No love for Ned today. Got a 20" walleye on a swimbait and then hit the banks with a bandit 200 and got smallmouth that way, nothing big, just fun size. Ended the morning with 16 total.

Nice fish! I need to try for some of those this week, never fished for them as they didn't have them up north where I moved from. Mostly main lake? Or up the river arms a ways?

Got out after the rain. Launched at LBV north and mainly fished areas I hadn't fished before in the dam area. Couldn't get anything shallow on cranks. The fish I did get only wanted the Ned in green pumpkin. I tried a green pumpkin with orange and also tried other plastics to no avail. I also could only find them in areas where there were large boulders or shelf Rock generally about 15 ft. Got 8 total, all smallmouth, nothing huge, this was largest one (I need to get me one of those measuring boards so you don't have to look at my ugly mug in photos LOL) Water temps 69-70

Thanks. That is what I thought, but wanted to verify there wasn't a ramp at a resort or something. Just looking for decent mid lake access. Both PC and LB are about equi-distance from my house.

Just wanted to see if I'm correct, in that the only ramps near the north side of Beaver with docks are Lost Bridge north and south, Indian Creek campground, and then Prairie Creek to the west. None between LBN and PC when coming from north side? (Coming from Bella Vista area). I guess if I want to fish mid lake, PC or LB south are my only options. Usually fish solo so easier to launch/load with dock available.