J-Doc

Listen to Wrench. He won't steer you wrong.

Well.......... SOMEONE had to limit it to 1ft intervals only.

First you single me out....I did NOT scalp anyone thank you very much. I just "split the difference". LOL Pair of targets??? My phone mis-interpreted my "voice to text" and you suckers just won't let it die. Man you need more comedy in your life if my phone's mistake is all you have to laugh at. (ha - ha - ha) My prediction is that we will have yet another wet spring. Good for the shad and good fishing but.....I was hoping for low water for selfish reasons. I was hoping to see the Monte Ne pyramids. I can wait though because with low water, comes drought, etc. My prediction is flood gates will open. I believe they open them around 1130 or 1131. I'll go with 1130. Joe Joe Joe..........1137 would be above the road on the dam dude. LOL! We would have some serious issues at 1137.

I cannot confirm or deny these allegations I will say, I was seriously tired. Once I sat down, it felt too good to get back up. That and I just didn't have but a few casts left in me. I honestly don't know how the pros do it for 3-4 days straight and 3 days of practice just before. I mean I LOVE FISHING but after yesterday, I'm done for at least a week! Lol

Or duck migrating patterns around the lake....

Send me your bass logs. I'm not opinionated at all.

I don't think anyone ever "spills the beans" on things like that but rumor is....someone caught 5 fish within first 2hrs on a grub in Van Winkle (don't know any more than that) and upgraded in Cliffty with the A-rig. Another person was rumored to be catching fish in 70ft of water. (That's all I know) I personally think fish are down deep on ledges like they do in the summer but deeper due to the water being warmer down lower (in the 50's). The fish come up at random intervals during the day to the 20ft range or less, feed for a few mins and then go back to the warmer water. After going from Monte Ne to the Dam in the last 2-3 days and covering water all over the place, 40-45ft is the magic depth and you have to find the schools that are packed up like wolves and mark a waypoint. Then figure out what they will bite and stay on them until you fire up the school. THAT is what I would do different. Also, if I had side scan, it could save a lot of time and gas. Structure scan and sonar only see straight down. If I could idle past a bank at 4-5mph and see fish on it, I'd stop and explore more vs. covering an area with sonar and totally miss a good spot because I was too far left or right of where the fish were.

Big bass was 5.59 11th place was about 10lbs Local FLW Pro Greg Bohannon got 11.62 for 5th place Local FLW Pro Travis Fox came in 2nd I believe with about 13-14lbs Winners were Larry and Mike White with 14.45lbs. Jolicious and I roamed around pre-fishing and piddled around Tuesday and never saw much fish on the fish finder. Never got a bite till the afternoon wind picked up around 1-2. I landed two fish with a nice Kentucky on the A-rig in 20ft of flooded timber on a wind blown bank. Text book scenario. Fish came up with the wind. Wednesday was different. Completely different. We were boat #5 and stayed in Prairie Creek till the sun was up and so did about 20 other boats. We went up river (too soon now I've learned) and fished an area that had fish shallow but water was 44. They were biting shad but not terribly aggressively. After 1-2hrs of that, we went to Fords Creek, then Rocky Branch, then Rambo, then Van Winkle. I was so tired from not much sleep the night before and from casting that a-rig all day and jerking on jerkbaits that I sat down the last 20mins and almost fell asleep. I was done. Oh, and all of that and we never got a single bite. The only time we ever saw fish on the graph was up river and they were not very active. While I know there are fish in the 20-40ft range, they move up and down throughout the day for short intervals. Not traveling much. Just up and down. These guys with side scan units like HDS8 and larger have a real advantage right now. You MUST find fish in order to get fish them and then you have to figure out how to make them bite. The local pressure these fish get is incredible. LOTs of pressure all year round. Makes you tougher and stronger I suppose.

I didn't see any debris from Rocky B to Ford's Creek to Rambo and Cliffty. Water temps were 46.5 in Fords, 46 near Cliffty, 46.3 in back of Rambo, 46.7 in Rocky B. As sun was setting, the water temp was dropping. The water temp will be pretty cold come Wed. morning but should warm with the hi sun starting around 9-10AM. I rode about 18miles and idled over spots. I hardly found a fish and I don't think I saw any bait. It's going to be an interesting tournament. Lots of "zeros" and a few hefty bags. Someone will find them. They always do.

Here's the screenshot. It's not much. Side scan could provide a more interesting view. The old Prairie Creek Road used to travel through here I believe and these are the remaining piers from the bridge. Not many folks realize there were once school houses (Rocky Branch School house, just off of the East Ramp and Prairie Creek School house between the marina and Deer Island (the North island at 12 bridge). I think I read the Rocky Branch school was relocated up the hill a ways past what is now Anglers Inn. There are lots of old foundations and things under the water. Even cemetaries. Not sure if they relocated the bodies or not. I would assume they did. There's a cemetary just south of the 12 bridge in the middle of the channel. I've idled over the spot but never observed anything. I'm pretty sure they were relocated.

Thanks for the debris report. I'm venturing out today for some scouting. I'll be going slow anyway. No hurry.

Almost that time. Weather is creating quite the upset. COld cold cold next two days. Then sunny and warming?? That will create a lot of boats running around trying to figure out something.

I found my answer. The bridge was loaded with dynamite and KA-BOOM! Then the scrap iron was sold for scrap. http://rogersarkansas.com/museum/photo/hwy12bridge.asp

After reading up on some of the history, the picture of the old bridge when the water was low, you can see the tower of Oklahoma Row in the background. That's one of the only remaining structures of Monte Ne (above water) today. It's now surrounded by chain link fence because someone got stuck in the fireplace in 2011 (goober). Interesting history. Here's a new one (non-Monte Ne related and more about Beaver Lake History) The lumber from UofA's building (Old Main) was cut and sawn at a mill near Van Winkle Hollow. There's a trail system out there now that has some information about the area (I believe this is where I read this). Also, the southern end of the lake (War Eagle) was once occupied by Union soldiers during the civil war as they made their way north back into Missouri. The site of the War Eagle Mill was one of the places where a lumber mill was located (close by) where lumber was produced for locals. The Union soldiers passed through that area on their way to Pea Ridge which is now famous for the Battle of Pea Ridge. A very bloody battle at that.

Here is an erie comparison of the former bridge below looking what I assume is in the opposite direction (facing south). Above is what it looks like now, below is what it looked like before when it was used.

Haha..... I'll locate it now. I was too west of it.

Awesome photo find of the bridge! I have one from a newspaper showing the new Hwy 12 bridge in the background before the old bridge was demolished at home. I heard it was demolished but never heard it stayed at the bottom. Some of you side scanners could tell I guess.

The ugly green house. Bahahahaha I be true owner would appreciate that title. Considering it's under construction. I like this history thread idea. Phill......hook us up please!!

Stump, you got your motor fixed?

Shoot.....now I have a new spot to go locate on the structure scan. Just for the pure interest of finding it. Not for the fishing. LOL! Nice to know of a hidden spot though. Thanks! ANd nice photo too. I love the history of the lake before it was a lake.

Glad you found a new unit. If it's the Elite dsi (structure scan) or the Elite 5 only (traditional sonar, no structure scan), yes its a comparable unit to your older one. Settings menu is a bit different and may take some getting used to. If you need help when you get it, PM me. I've become pretty familiar with my Elite 5. You can do screenshots with that unit too which is pretty cool. Plus track-back so you can see sonar views that scrolled off the screen.

Yep. Every bit of it with current water levels. It has to get really low to see any of it above water and even then, much of it is erroded and deteriorated.

I read JT Crappies report from this week and he said crappie was a bit slow and with rising water as F&F said, it could be challenging. The weather will be beautiful so it really doesn't matter. It will be great fishing weather worthy of getting out. I think the advice above is about as good as it can get. It's going to take a days worth of work to find them. They will be iscolated in an area and grouped tight. Finding them is key. Then the fun happens. Getting them to bite. If you have a good fish finder, look for them while trolling. Spend no more than 5-10mins in a spot. If they don't bite within 30-60 seconds, pull up and recast. Crappie love to see the bait fall. So you should get bit within 30seconds. With cold water, might be longer. Sometimes it has to "soak" to get a bite. You want the active fish so keep it short and sweet and fish the active fish. Don't waste an hour on a brush pile without a bite.

Word of caution. Once you try trolling and have success, F&F will turn you into his whipping boy and try to teach you all kinds of new things. It's an addiction. :-)

I heard mid 40's as of last wee depending on where you are on the lake.