Quillback

Do you check the AR fishing reports? Here's some striper info from the report, it at least gives you some starting points: Bailey’s Beaver Lake Guide Service (479-366-8664) said the lake is fairly clear, especially from Point 3 to the dam. Fish early because surface temperatures are high. Stripers are good on live shad fished on free lines and balloons from 2 to 20 feet deep, above the thermocline. On the mid- and lower sections, check out Point 1 (The island is still holding some fish, but most are going deeper with the rising temperatures.), Indian creek (Good fishing), Lost Bridge South (Good fishing), Lost Bridge North (Excellent fishing), Big Clifty arm (Good fishing), Point 3 (Good striper activity in front of Starky Marina) and Point 5 (This area is a hot spot and fish are being taken under lights.). Try Horseshoe Bend in the upper section where walleye are being caught near the hatchery pond. Most walleye are about 10 to 20 feet deep near Point 5, Point 3 and Point 1. Flat line troll over shallow bars with Rapala Tail Dancers, Shad Raps, Reef Runners, or Ripstiks in natural blue or black back combos. Jigging spoons around brush and rock piles are also producing. Put your Dipsy Divers to work above the thermocline with a Rapala in tow. Here's the link to Bailey's home page, more good info: http://www.beaversafari.com/

Cool, yeah I understand about back pain, my back bugs me all the time, it sucks.

Your problem with the depth finder sounds like a problem my fishing buddy jeb had with his after an upgrade, there was a setting he figured out needed changing and once he made the change he was good to go. I'll email him to check this forum. As far as finding stripers (not that I'm an expert), I would look for shad, chances are if you find shad around deep water the stripers will be around or will show up at some time. Look for the striper boats. If you're out early or late you may see the stripers busting topwater.

Ok, I understand now.. Is your trailer ball bolted directly onto the bumper of your truck? It sounds like the height of the trailer ball is not level with the trailer. If you have a receiver for the hitch you can buy angled hitches that will allow you to set the ball to match the trailer tongue height (don't know if I'm using the right terminology here). I don't have to back my truck directly under the ball to get it to work, I can move the boat trailer over the ball and lever it down, lock it, and I'm good to go. It should not be a difficult excercise.

Haven't tried the power jack, but it sounds to me that your trailer doesn't match up well with your boat. I drive my boat onto the trailer and usually I can get it lined up correctly and I just need to crank it a little to get it on all the way, if I don't get it on the trailer, I back off and try again. You shouldn't have to do all the pushing and pulling stuff you mention.

You are welcome and I hope you get into the stripers! Sorry I don't have any info on that ramp you are talking about. I believe all the corps ramps are open, but the docks may not be accesible on some. And they will charge you $4 to launch if you don't have a permit.

I was up in the dam area a couple of weeks ago black bass fishing. I did not see any shad, so I can't give you any help there. There were several striper boats fishing off the north shore of the island where point 1 is and going northeast along the steep bank along the adjacent shore north of Big Hollow. The mouth of Honey creek cove usually holds stripers this time of year also, it's certainly worth a look.

Sorry to hear about the damage, but I have to admit that it is funny to read. Those backlash incidents are classic!

If Dave doesn't have what you are looking for, is there a Basspro is your area? They have a sale on the BPS Pro Qualifier for $79, never used one myself, but in general they get good reviews and it was an Outdoor Life value pick(PQ) in 2009 at a higher price. They also have the new Enigma line which are $99, but are supposedly very tough to backlash. Just go to Google and do a search on the reel model followed by the word review. If there is a BPS in your area, go to the reel counter and check out the reels, look at the Shimanos also. Talk to the guys behind the counter, get them to show you the features.

Now that is funny!

Found this journal, which can be downloaded for free, link below, written by the "Lewis and Clark of the Ozarks", Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. He traveled up the White river (1818 and 1819) and into Northwest Arkansas. Haven't read it all yet, just skimmed through parts of it, but it is very interesting. http://www.manybooks.net/titles/schoolcrafthother07schoolcraft_journal.html

FLW just published their 2012 schedule, coming to Beaver 4/26 - 4/29.

Ditto on it's a toad.

It must have felt unwelcome in Missouri and decided to head east. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43366390/ns/us_news/

I agree with you, if an area is marked "Out of Bounds" it should stay out of bounds unless all particpants are notified of the change. Something like this makes the tournament organization look very shady. I would be very leery in particpating unless they make the rules and any changes to the rules known to all.

Awesome! That thing looks like it could go 30 lbs.

The reason for the sale on Curado's is that Shimano is coming out with a newer version so retailers are clearing their inventory of the existing model.

Curados are on sale at some of the big box online retailers such as Tacklewarehouse for $139, no sales tax and free shipping. It's a great price for a quality reel. A lot of folks on some of the other bass fishing forums love their Curados and will tell you they are the equal of reels in the $275 range such as Revo Premiers, I don't agree with that, but they are a quality reel at that price. Or you may be able to get one for less on Ebay, just make sure the seller has quality feedback.

I went out early this AM from Lost Bridge North, motored over to Honey cove looking for a topwater bite, didn't see any fish chasing shad, didn't get any hits on various topwaters, water was murky in that area. Went up to the Indian creek area, again no topwater love, did manage to scratch out 4 black bass but I had to work for them. Water around Lost Bridge North is the clearest, maybe 4 feet of viz, which sounds good, but before the floods it was around 20 feet of viz.

Been picking broccoli and snap peas here, but this upcoming hot weather will probably put an end to the broccoli. Just planted some pole beans. My container tomatoes are doing well, but the ones in the garden are looking raggedy, but the weather change should be good for them.

Excellent, sounds like you're gonna have a fish fry! Just curious how many boats were on the lake?

We were up by the dam a couple of weeks ago bass fishing and had a striper drive by, started chasing shad near the boat, jeb tossed a topwater at them and had a couple of boils but no hook up, then as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. With all the flooded timber out there now, landing a 20 lb fish is going to be a challenge. But it's a fun challenge

Been fishing Swepco on and off for the last couple of weeks with jeb, he's been catching the big ones, here's a couple of 6.75 lb fish he caught. We've been mostly using plastics of various types and colors, have to switch up to see what they want on a particular day, but overall the fishing has been good with nice chunky fish.

Yeah I guess it's a funnel effect right now, water going over the spillway is less than what is entering the lake. Martin I have not been out on Beaver in a couple of weeks, fished the Indian Creek area then, never did very well so I've been fishing elsewhere.

So if top of flood pool is 1130 and the lake is now at 1131.5, does that mean it had topped the spillway by a foot and a half?