Quillback

I netted a walleye for a buddy of mine last year that he caught on a top water, and I had one to the boat this spring that I hooked on a top water, but I got a little casual getting it netted and it got off. Both were on Beaver lake.

LOL, that was my first thought. Every tourney director out there has Andy's number blocked.

Thanks guys, I have heard of mulberries but no idea what they looked like. Dunno if I can eat on though now that you told me they are full of bugs. 😀

Congrats on some great fish! Getting out of there at 9AM on a hot weekend is a good idea. A buddy of mine had some family in town and they launched out of Indian Saturday, fished until the afternoon and he said when they came back to the ramp it was crazy. They drug brood minnows around, they caught some nice bass and one small striper. He said they were blowing up around the ramp early, but several boats were already on them so they went elsewhere.

Some kind of berry that came off a tree. Green one and a ripe one. No idea what these are, I bet someone on here will know. They are about 1/2 inch long.

Another one for John @Johnsfolly

Congrats!

Well the Newport gauge is right above 14 feet so they can let water out of Bull and they can also let some out of TR to drain into Bull. Last year the Corps said they were planning to keep Beaver at no more than 1120 because even though they say the dam is fine, they don't want the extra pressure of high water on it. So...I would guess once they get more water out of TR and Bull they'll start letting it out of Beaver. Looks like no significant rain in the forecast so maybe they can get the lake levels down. PBS did a show on the St. Francis dam collapse outside of LA back in the 1920's. St. Francis Dam - Wikipedia

I was fishing on Beaver lake a few years ago up the White river arm and I see a jug being pulled in the water fast enough to leave a wake. It kept on going past me and continued down the lake until it was out of sight, never slowed down. I was sooooo tempted to see what was on it, but I can see it now, just when I pull it out of the water, around the bend comes the guys running the jugs.

Looks like it is fixed even though the message says they are still having issues. I'd say the 1128 number they have is correct. Beaver Lake (army.mil)

Rick you must be fishing in a tough neighborhood being that you have an armed guard riding shotgun. As far as table fare, best eating freshwater fish I have ever had was blue cats from Grand Lake. Not big ones, but they were in the 1-5 lb. range.

Nice fish!

Sounds like fun getting into some SW fish on the fly rod!

One for JF. @Johnsfolly

I have fished there a lot for sure.

Wrist lanyard is not a bad idea, but I've been clipping onto my life vest for so long that it would be hard to break an old habit. Salzman won, young guy, and I think this is his first year on the tour.

Gave it a shot today, little to no wind in the forecast which gave me hope for a top water striper bite. There's a few around, some blowups here and there, but no schooling frenzy stuff going on. Caught one 3 lb. striper and 10 smallmouth. Mostly on topwater with a couple of smallies on an underspin with a Keitech. It was an early bite, things really got slow about 0830 and I was on my way home at 1030. Surface WT 74. Lots of shad in the area.

Just watched Salzman take the lead - striper (didn't count of course), smallmouth, then a largemouth. But they then cut to commercial, grrrr....

I don't know. You'd think they'd want them hooked up. Wheeler in the lead, but it is tight.

Nice looking brown, those browns have character.

I was living in Washington when they banned hound hunting for cougars. If I remember right it was a ballot initiative. Prior to the ban there were no issues with them at all, the numbers were kept under control. Now you've got these periodic attacks. You can still hunt them, but not with dogs. A few usually get shot during elk and deer seasons, but it's not enough.

Neat looking golden, looks like it has been in the river for a while.

If I had Johnny Morris money I would definitely have a 1,000 acres of SD land for pheasant hunting. I'd have a nice lodge and a boat stored there too for fishing.

Those are some quality fish. I'm surprised the walleye fishermen from Minnesota aren't all over it. 10 years ago, when I went pheasant hunting in SD, I remember seeing those recently flooded lakes by the highway, flooded barns out in the lake, barb wire fences in the water, and so on. Didn't see many people fishing them either. If a person could handle the nasty winters and the wind blowing all the time, SD would not be a bad place to live for an outdoorsman.

Took another look at that smallies, looks like a semi-circular bite mark on it. Big flathead maybe?