J-Doc

If it was the school I am thinking of, those suckers won't touch my spoon. You sir are a spoon-expert.

Note to self, stay off the river. Lol. They follow me around like an old cat lady has cats. I just don't have use for them. To me, walleye, crappie, and stripers are far tastier. White bass taste better than lake cats to me. And I can't really eat catfish in a restaurant anymore. I blame Scott too. While heartedly. Had I not tried crappie and walleye fishing, I'd still be chunking and winding crankbaits and spinnerbaits every trip. Now, I'm either trolling or getting bored and bass fishing.

Give it a few weeks. Maybe my curse and your curse cross-cancel each other out. I managed to shake the slime disease and haven't caught a catfish in a while. I boasted a few bass in a short trip to Beaver today. Had I known you were out, I would have ran up to meet ya. Bait balls Bait balls Bait balls Bait balls This lake has more bait than one lake should. And that in my opinion is one of the contributing factors that makes Beaver a tough lake to figure out. The biggest problem is it's fishing pressure. It has more tournaments than a teenager has pimples. The fish have seen every lure imaginable chunked at them all summer and they are just tough to entice a bite. Reaction strikes were what worked for me today. Fast retrieves, short pauses and twitches. Sometimes super fast retrieve and then dung it down and then crank it up was the deal. That makes a lot of work on the angler. With bait everywhere, the fish seem to "snack at will". I watched fish after fish swim up, take a snack, swim back down. Odd thing is, they are not gorging themselves on bait which would make some heafty weigh sacks at a tournament. All fish are healthy but not fat pigs. I can't figure that out with the amount of forage. It's a super healthy lake. Lots of craws, minnows, etc. Stripers are roaming around near the dam and upper lake in deep water. All the bass are off the bank and suspending around 18-23ft and "snacking". Wind is a MUST. No wind, no bite. In a few weeks, I k ow some areas where we can limit out on walleye. I'll set something up. ;-p

Wow. That's a big no. I typically never get past War Eagle marina. That end of the river is more of a mystery to me in most areas.

Yeah. Fish from my boat. I must give off sonic frequencies that attract the whiskers. Lol

That's odd. I drag a Flicker Shad thru there and they follow me like mice following the piper. F&F calls them my pets.

I feel better when Terry is not slamming them either.

The clicker was only for those days where you're catching more than 20 because I lose count really fast. He's the one that took too much enjoyment of pushing the button on the clicker. I agree. Stinkbait on his line.

Yep

Good report. I've zeroed my last trip (Ouchita River) and almost zeroed last two trips on Beaver. Nothing worth keeping. I'm finding fish, just not active feeders. I seem to be tuning it wrong and trying for early morning bite when its an afternoon bite. Going out again in the morning with F&F so he can heckle me from my own boat. I'll bet a new Flicker Shad we land a darn catfish. Only one day off left before I start my new job so I need to make the best of it. Having a week off to fish and spend time with family has been nice!

That is true. It's where I buy my oil. I think Tue last gallon I just got was synthetic blend also. It's actually better anyway.

It HAS to be Premium Plus at a min.

According to manual yes. I looked this up specifically for my 115ProXS. Also on the Quicksilver website. DFI gives better long term results. One tank won't hurt anything.

True. And I DID NOT have anything else to do today. Lol!

Very nice?? Why's that. Lol. Well there is a plus I guess. I didn't catch my customary catfish. They finally left me alone today. :-)

Not much to report I'm affraid. Caught a few. Nothing worth keeping. Hooked up trolling several times and the fish would come unbuttoned as fast as they would hook up. My guess is they were small crappie and the hooks ripped through or they just didn't get a good bite on the Flickers. I trolled both Flicker Minnows and Flicker Shads. For a while. I started off using my new spider rig for crappie. located fish and had 8 different color jigs tipped with crappie minnows and still didn't hook up on a big pile of fish. Finally caught a small 4-5" crappie. Turns out, the majority of the fish I was marking was a big school of that sized crappie. Split shot rig got a 16" stripper and a spotted bass. After about 10am the bite just shut down. That's when I tried trolling. After 6-7 passes and no bites I tried my luck somewhere else and bass fished for a while. Couldn't get a bite on Carolina rig, jig, or rattle trap. Then I started moving around checking areas. Found a pile of crappie, dropped a live minnow on the split shot and they would only nip at the bait. No takers. Switched to a Bobby Garland jig and same thing. Nips. Left that area and went to another area that had more bait pods than a bait farm. Bait everywhere. That's been my story the last few weeks. Tons and tons of bait. Hard to compete with the natural choice of food when there is such an abundance. I'm sure tuerebare some who could have had a far more productive day but I never figure out a pattern that would hold. Just before loading I stumbled across a school of whites. Trolled for them and no bites. Come back and dropped the spoon on them. Had one get off at the boat. I thought he was hooked. He just opened his mouth and let go when he saw the boat. Note to self....Bill Dance set the hook next time. Lol Going back in the morning with a retired co-worker. He's never fished Beaver before so I hope I can get him on some fish. Yes not picky. Just happy to be going. I still had a good time today and that's what matters in the end.

Same here. I'm a slime free boater myself. And I don't want a slime trail on my baits. I can prepare them, I just chose not too. Lol

Just wait. I'm going to put catfish guts in your boat. Lol. I'll gladly pass off the torch of "pied piper of cats"

They don't taste nearly as good as crappie, striper or walleye. To my taste buds anyway. When you're fishing for other species and a 15lb blue cat breaks your brand new Flicker Minnow, you learn to get disgruntled quickly. Lol

Thanks!

I am sure glad all my catfish found someone new to play with. I seem to be cursed by catfish because that is all I have been catching the last few weeks. Needless to say the catfish bite is super hot right now. What water temps did you see? I will be out there Thursday. If you see me say hi :-)

Cool thanks! I know a guy that has been looking for a boat about like what you have. I'll send him your way.

Well that sounds like a great trip to me!! A treasured experience!! Congrats! How do you like those H20 rods? I have about 5 i think. I love them. Super light, good sensitivity. I have both spinning and trigger rods.

I wasn't going to say anything. Seemed a bit weird to me. Lol!

Ahh.. "worm roids". Lol!!!