Quillback

The bios that do the annual fish survey on Beaver credit the significantly higher numbers of fish they have seen the last couple of years to the high water in the spring. Basically there's more cover for the young fish, thus higher survival. One thing I've noticed is the high water killed a lot of the trees that were flooded and some of them are falling into the lake adding more cover, so if the lake drops we should still have a net gain in cover which is good IMO. I think that because of the increased fish populations that Beaver is probably fishing as good as it ever will right now. This is probably as good as it well ever be. Crappie fishing this spring, from what I can tell has been pretty good compared to what it usually is. Seem to be more walleye around also.

Wow, 8# bass on a surface bait! Congrats to you and your clients.

Nice fish, I have some steelhead rods myself, I used to live near Seattle and fished steelhead all the time. How long does this striper run last, are they there all summer? Any idea what's the water temp, I'm trying to avoid wearing waders, would rather do the shorts and sneakers thing.

Geez, sorry I said "Golden" instead of Palomino - I do know the difference.

That's a great pic. nice healthy fish. Is the river fishable pretty much all day now, or do they run water during certain periods and make it unwadeable?

I was hoping they would wait until the spawn was done and the eggs hatched before dropping it.

Never caught a Drum on Beaver myself. Heard some folks say they are good eating, others say not so good.

Today was the practice round of the White truck tournament to be held on Beaver this weekend. You have to own a white truck to partcipate, here's some of the contestants parked at Horseshoe Bend. I pulled some crawler harnesses this morning for Walleye, not a bite (anybody need some crawlers, I have extras). After wasting a couple of hours doing that, I started fishing grubs in the bushes, and believe it or not, caught 2 short walleyes. Also picked up a few spots, nothing decent sized. Lots of boats out there this AM.

The Golden is pretty cool, must be a survivor from last fall's stocking (I think that's when they stocked them).

Went out briefly this morning, fished for about 3 hours, picked up a few spots and one small hybrid on the wake bait. This spot almost was 17". I think I might buy some crawlers and see if I can catch a walleye tomorrow. John, once your scuba qualified, I have a whole list of places underwater I'd like you to check out Are you going to get an underwater camera?

Yes congrats to Champ and Donna!

$10 a piece would be good, I'd pick some up at that price too.

Spots won today, it has me mystified, biting like crazy yesterday, but today was a struggle. I did catch some in a cove mouth on the main lake near the dam, they were out in 50 ft of water chasing shad on top, if I could get to them while they were on top, they were al over the wake bait, but if I got there too late, nothing. Caught about 6 or so chasing them around, best one about 15". I also caught this nice 19' smallmouth working the banks and picked up a couple of his smaller brethren on a wake bait. This dude really smashed it and fought the good fight I used a Lucky Craft wake bait today, the Rick Clunn variety that is a BP exclusive. Nice wake bait, casts better that a Redfin, runs true out of the box and comes with good hooks, and a feathered tail. Only drawback is price - $15.99 Yowch!

J-Doc, I have that same problem with the wind, I have an aluminum boat and the wind can move it around pretty easily. It's nice to have these calm mornings like today.

BTW, tomorrow morning's forecast is for light winds - I think I'll be fishing again tomorrow with the Redfin.

Ever see that movie "Dawn of the Dead"? Anyway that's my inspiration for the titel. OK, back to fishing.. Launched at 0545 this AM at Lost Bridge North, zipped over to my favorite cove that is an offshoot to the main Indian Creek cove and started fishing. Water was flat calm, fish were busting shad so I started using my one and only modified Redfin in Smoky Joe. I say modified as I had changed out the hooks and put a feathered treble on the rear. The spots were biting caught maybe a dozen total with several decent ones in the 1-2 lb range, also caught a couple of hybrids. For every fish I caught I probably had three swings and misses, lots of action early, then it slowed down about 0800, I stayed till 1000 but it started raining and I heard some thunder rumbling, so with the slowdown in action and the rain, I decided to call it a day. I did break off something big, probably a striper, it grabbed the redfin as I was swimming it past a cedar and of course the fish immediatley headed for the tree, I had to try and put the brakes to him before he got into the tree and when I did that, the 10# line popped. When I had stopped crying (it was my only Redfin) and wiped the tears from my eyes, I saw my Redfin floating on the surface, the fish had not taken it. I was very happy..

Nice purchases, sounds like a sweet set up!

That is a healthy looking fish! Nice to see it released, looks like it has more growth potential.

I use a throw net to catch shad. I catch mine over on Grand Lake, not as many shad in Beaver, but if you're fishing out of a boat bring your net with you in case you run across some shad. You can also use small bream.

Well I'm thinking Alumacraft, Lund or G3, aluminum boat that I can use for bass fishing but also for striper trolling. I noticed the bass were off the beds up in Indian creek yesterday, funny how quickly this weather can turn them around this time of year. May have to go back to jerk baits

Well I'm thinking upgrading to a new boat rather than a new trolling motor. And go to a stronger trolling motor/battery setup in the new boat. The windy banks were where I was getting bit yesterday, so that's the place to be.

Went over about noon, fishing was slow for me, picked up one keeper K and a few shorts on a grub, fished for a couple of hours and it got really windy, too windy for my boat, so I packed it in and went back to the ramp. I would have liked to fish a few more hours, but it was just too windy.

I always go over to Grand lake when I want to catfish, and I net shad and use them for bait, I mainly catch blues but sometimes I do pick up some channels. They did stock Beaver last year with blues, I forget how many, but if you can get some shad that's what I would use, either cut or whole.

Thanks for the report Bill! Great pics of some quality fish!

I didn't stay with the blacks for long, got into fishing for whites and crappie and got diverted I bet you do good out there today.