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I hear you Ollie- I am excited to get out an explore a bit. Think I will start at the lower bridge and work up. Another question: anyone ever seen any Quail there? MDC says they have a small population. I have a German Shorthair that has not gotten to hunt since I moved here from CO in 2008. Would love to get him on point!

I have a 1/2 day Wednesday and want to get the fly line pulled. Have to stay fairly close to Bentonville and I am tired of Roaring- just want to see something new. Everyone has great things to say about Capps- sounds like a cool place. Can anyone give a rookie some more detailed advice? I know there is an "upper" and "lower" section...but that is about it. Any word on best place to park? Fly selection? Any help would be greatly appreciated and repaid with a most excellent fishing report Wed evening!

Anyone been out this week? What's the word? Caught a very nice LM last week in the back of a creek...colofly stuck a nice smallie in front of Red Bluff. Other than that we are getting our brains beat in lately. Only bright spot has been the Norman Chili Bowl Crawdad Crank.

This is only my second summer in Arkansas and on Beaver Lake but I must say I am very surprised at the amount of law enforcement (or I should say lack of law enforcement) I see on the water. I have not even seen any type of law enforcement on the lake here much less been stopped- now, not a lot of history but we go to the lake a LOT in the summer. I have been on other lakes (much "wilder" lakes like LOZ) and you see law enforcement on the water almost daily. I am all for more tickets being written. Beer+Boats never ends well...and if people are fishing without a license then fine them all.

Thanks S. I never give the grub enough love! With a box full of expensive lures it is easy to overlook one of the most reliable ever!

Thanks Q. I will try to give it a shot this weekend if I can find someone to go with. I normally stay around Rocky Branch but I need to branch out a bit. Appreciate it!

Nice pic! I was hoping to chase some smallies this weekend....I have never really looked for smallies at Beaver- any pointers one which part of the lake or structure to target this time of year. I have a few spots in mind from my Fishing HotSpots map...but any pointers would be great...

Going to be in town for company meetings next Wed/Thurs/Fri (Apr. 28-30). Since I would rather fling flies than hack golf balls I am going to bring my gear. Any advice for a first timer? I will probably be limited to early mornings on Thursday/Friday and maybe a bit Friday afternoon...perhaps try some night fishing Wed/Thurs. nights. Any advice as far as which section to fish? Anything special I need to have in my box? No boat so my plan is obviously dependent on wadeable water. Any input would be greatly appreciated...

Were you fly fishing? We didnt really see anyone catching fish.

War Eagle and took a long ride in our little boat!

Wanted to get a piece of the white bass run on the fly yesterday...was hoping to get into some stripers or big hybrids. No luck there but it was a great day anyway. Ran up the river a bit and caught literally more fish than we could count. Somewhere between 40 and 50. We got into a bunch of blacks/spots which we were not expecting and a bunch of whites. Caught 3 very nice black bass, 3 nice female whites, and a bunch of small blacks and smaller whites. Constant action with both the blacks/spots and whites were schooled up. Once we found the fish we never left a 40 yard stretch of water. Pulled fish after fish into the boat and retired 2 red and white clousers. They were just trashed. One of the best days fishing I have had in a while. Here are a few samples...

Nice ride! I caught a LM near Rocky Branch 2 weeks ago that looked kind of like that on one side. We were joking around saying it was a 100 yr old fish- all beat up on one side and his lips were kind of like blood shot or something- it was seriously the ugliest bass I have ever seen!

Well I was talking about a different one but I saw that one too and I am going to use it tomorrow. I will let you know how I do. Thanks for the info! I only have a small jon boat so I can't get too far away from the ramps (safely). Thanks again!

I have seen a boat ramp near the "Rambo Riviera" area and was wondering if anyone knew anything about this ramp. Is it o.k. to launch from there? Any information would be helpful.

Congrats man! That is a very nice fish. Thanks for posting a pic. As for the mounts: I have yet to see a fish mount ("real" or "replica" that really makes me excited about the fish. None of them seem to look quite "real" enough. I have seen some other custom works of art that make great memories. Like this old school looking wooden replica: http://www.fishcarvings.com/ or a custom painting like this: http://eastcoastangler.blogspot.com/2009/08/immortalize-your-fishing-memories-fresh.html. No clue how the cost of this stuff compares to mounts... Replica mounts are pretty good options now-days too. I am not sure that a "traditional" mount is the "real" fish anyway...but with a few good pictures and solid measurements a replica can be built that allows your fish to keep swimming.

Hey Fly- Duck hunting yesterday, Striper fishing today- you need to get to work to afford all this stuff!

Looks like I have an evening to fish tomorrow night and I want to get the fly rod out and head up to Indian Creek...I had some great luck on the upper part of the creek over 4th of July on some private water at my brother's in-laws. This time though I want to go down blow Anderson. I was going to start at Town Hole in Anderson and maybe hit up Mt Shira on the way back. Question: are there any other wadeable access points near Anderson? Does Lanagan park get hammered with a lot of pressure? Can I wade around the Hwy EE bridge? Any help would be great, don't want to get shot at for flinging my fly in the wrong place!

Hit up Beaver in the Rambo area Sunday AM from 5:45 to 8:15. We were fishing off of points around ledges with stand-up timber from 0-20 ft of water. It was another rough morning for us. Tried cranking, drop shotting, shaky heading- caught a nice bass on a crawdad crank and a nice fish on a shaky head with a hand poured senko style worm in purple. Also missed another nice fish. Strange thing was every hit we had happened right after the lure hit the water- as if we threw it right to their mouth and gave them no choice. Shad and small bass are EVERYWHERE you look out there! So, the colorado boy continues my brutal summer of learning Beaver! On another note- a sparse fog made for a BEAUTIFUL sunrise and the stripers were straight BUSTING the top of the water all over- they were hitting the top in 60 ft of water- near the drop off from 30 feet- but on the deep side of the drop- if that makes sense. Couple of questions: 1. What do you guys like to use on your drop shot rigs here? Sunday I used a white fluke jr. some and also an Aaron's Majic worm in purple/brown. 2. What do you guys like to use on shaky head rigs- I tried a blue/white trick worm and a purple senko style worm- 5 inches. Also tried green. I think I need to do some homework on my jig and soft plastic color selection out here...

Good advice...I am going to hit up Indian Creek up in MO with the log stick this weekend! Thanks for the input!

So, I moved here from Colorado last September. My brother (who has lived here for a few years) and I have had a good run at Beaver this winter/spring. Caught lots of bass and lots of Stripers and a few nice Walleye... But now it is hot and we are struggling. Now, coming from CO I am not used to big lakes and hot weather fishing...(In CO the water stays cool all year, bass can always be caught in 15 ft or less- and the water is usually gin clear) Any advice for summer time? We have been trying some top water early (mainly pop-r's) with some success...but what should we be doing now? I tried throwing a c-rig out at rocky branch last night but my c-rig skills need some improvement... Should we be fishing shallow or deep? How deep is deep here? Any structure we should be focusing on (standing timber, ledges, main lake points?) Any advice would be helpful.

Saw a few hit the top yesterday AM around Rocky Branch but could not get them to hook up. Not a lot of activity although a storm blowing through did not help us much. All of the Striper boats we saw were on the main lake in deep water...not much info there but maybe it helps.

Thanks for the report. I am new to NW Arkansas and have been wanting to try the Illinois. Do you know were I can go to find access points? I have tried googleing and exhausted my web-searching skills... Any input would be great?

First of all, I am no Striper pro and I am sure there are lots of guys on this site with a LOT more knowledge than me. I just moved here and this is my first season chasing them so I am a rookie. Also, I NEVER use live bait which probably makes it a little tougher. But, that being said, we have been having really good luck up near Rocky Branch for the past 3 weeks. We have caught at least 1 every time out. My advice is this: 1. Get there EARLY- like 20 min before sun rise 2. Fish main lake points 3. Start with top water baits like a large pop-r- if you are not seeing fish hit the surface around you move or switch to a jerk bait. Make sure it has some good rattles in it. 4. Once the sun is up the top water bite will probably die down. This is when I go to the jerk bait. There is a map you can buy called Fishing Hot Spots- the map shows areas known for Stripers and has been a good starting point for us. Also, I think it is a good sign if you are seeing Striper boats around you. Last week we put a 20 lber and a 12 lber in the boat within 5 minutes of each other. The guys paying the Striper guides trolling past us were jealous!

We have been having some luck in the EARLY mornings near Rocky Branch around main lake points. It is over by 7:30. The rising water is not helping us out that is for sure. The FLW boys are going to have a rough go of it this week! Talked to a buddy who is co-angling and he had only caught 5 keepers in 2 days. There was some major boat porn out there on Tuesday AM!! Some nice rigs...

I have not been up there personally but I was talking to a friend who fished up near Lost Bridge on Saturday. He said the water temp was about 53 and they did not have much luck on the smallies. If we can get a few warm days and get that temp up to 58 it will be on!