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Took my oldest daughter out today for a quick trip. Fished Rocky Branch area hoping for stripers... (all the striper guides were by the islands at Prairie Creek when we came back to the ramp). No love on the stripers but in the back of a cove we had an hour of catching bass on topwater and Keitechs- Shad were spawning in docks and lots of spotted bass around. None of these fish would win a tournament but they put a smile on a 12 year old’s face and made for a fun morning together. WT was still in the 57 range.

If you could launch across from Big M at Viney and and fish that area I think it would be better for you. That area is relatively protected and holds fish year round. Big M and Eagle Rock both have large marinas and there can be lots of boat traffic. I would also recommend getting out there early to beat the googans.

ha! Actually, even though I have never met him in person, he has been very helpful to me on this forum...

I ALWAYS have a top water tied on. Mainly a Storm Arashi top Walker but a few others... The main difference in these lakes vs. what I fished in the past is where I find the topwater fish. I am used to fishing topwater shallow- and while that is certainly an option at time- my best topwater action at these lakes come on long tapering main lake points. And I have seen insane frenzies there. There are a few points I can almost always count on finding topwater fish in the morning and late in the evening. I have fished the prairie creek area a lot- when it is good it is really good but I usually struggle there. My most consistent topwater bites have been near the dam area- indian creek and the state park. At the end of the day the fish on this lake, especially mid and lower lake, feed on roaming schools of shad. Find the places they can ambush shad and you will most likely find a topwater bite....

We found a few in brush piles (smaller bucks) last Friday but they were all in the first 1/3rd of creek arms/pockets. As we went farther back we got nothing...

Got out to Rocky Branch this morning looking for some Stripers. Rough start to the morning when I passed Casey's in Rogers where I planned to get coffee and it was closed. Probably should have turned around right then- can't fish without coffee. Got to the ramp, bad luck continued- dead starter battery. Unreal! Luckily some very kind guys who are more prepared than I am arrived at the ramp to launch their boat and had jumper cables! After a few minute of charging we were off and running...but an hour or so had been wasted. No stripers- WT was 58ish, wind blowing out of the south at a pretty good clip. Switched to bass fishing thanks to some recent reports from Quillback and started tossing flukes in flooded bushes. Ended up with 2 LM and 2 spots in about an hour or so. Off the water by 9.30. Wish I could have stayed all day because with the coulds and wind you could probably find fluke fish until you got bored with it. If you dig the fluke bite then this is the time for sure. Water is very high and lots of flooded bushes. Good time to be fishing. BTW: if anyone reading this saw some dudes stuck at the ramp this AM and shared your jumper cables- THANK YOU.

Late in the spawn I have been up the War Eagle and have stood and watched 100’s of fish in shallow water and not gotten a single bite. Just assumed they were doing their thing and didn’t care much about a clouser minnow. That’s a frustrating feeling.

Great report! Next time can you post this at about 6:00AM so I can read it before I hit the water? I think I would have done a couple things different today.0

Yes- Eagle Rock ramp is good to go

In the water at Eagle Rock at 6.40. It was chilly! Fished until 12.45. We had a nice smallie, lots of spots including a one toad, and a LM. Also had a couple of short Walters. Love a mixed bag day like that. Caught close to 20 total. Our best pattern was 10-15 deep on points leading to spawning pockets with a swim bait and jerkbait. Swinbait caught most of the fish. We were letting in sink and SLOW winding it. Once the sun came up and wind disappeared it got tough. Caught a few pitching finesse stuff in front of bushes in the pockets- you could catch 1lb bucks all day long like that if you wanted. WT was 57 in most places.

Drove by today and the Big M dock is fixed.

Good enough for me!

So is Eagle Rock ramp actually closed? Trying to figure out where to launch tomorrow...

I have found whites up here in the back of Prairie Creek and up by the Dam in the back of Indian creek but my experience has been those areas are MUCH more hit or miss than going up War Eagle or Twins Bridges. If they are there it is a blast but much harder to predict.

Thanks for the report QB... My goal this spring is to spend a little more time on Beaver. Working from home, it is too easy to head out for a couple of hours before I start my day (took a conference call and answered some emails from the boat at Big M last week!) Going to see if I can figure some things out on the mid-lake area...

I started this spring determined to catch a fish on the chatterbait- have not thrown them much in the past for some reason. I love how versatile it is- throw it like a jig, throw it like a crank. Well, I still haven't caught on on it. You have to work it pretty slow to keep it on the bottom... but I am gonna keep trying! Great fish!

As of Thursday it was not fixed.

Well, after a lot of good years and great fishing out of my Lowe Roughneck (for sale- great boat! Check out my post in the Buy/Sell Forum!!!) I finally got to upgrade to a larger fishing platform. Brought home a 2003 Ranger 185vs with a 150 HP Mercury XR6. First trip out was a success from a boat standpoint but not so much from a fishing perspective. We got on the (high) water at Big M at 6:35. Courtesy dock is all jacked up and sideways out in the water. WT was 56ish everywhere we went with more stain as you go down lake and more clear up the river. I thought we would have a spinner bait bonanza today with the wind but we just had a tough time getting bit. We ran all kinds of buck brush that I would have bet money had fish in front of it and just struggled. Had to be back for some work calls by 12:30 so we were off the water at 11. Man, was the wind blowing. Ended the day with 1 spot on a fluke in front of some brush. Couple of dinks didn't quite make it all the way into the Ranger but did hit on a Rock Crawler. Not a great report but I really just wanted to show off the new rig.

What a slob! Thanks for sharing.

Nice smalls and great report. Hope the stripers pick-up soon. Working from home is an ideal set up for me to get after them for the next month or so...

I was back in the back of PC on Friday and marked very few fish. WT was 56ish then. Really thought I would find more fish back there...

I threw the Rock Crawler for a while yesterday- nothing. I am dying for a crank bite.

This made me laugh out loud. So it has come to this...0

Someone told the fish about the quarantine. Got my butt kicked this AM. On the water at 7:00 and off at 12:30. 2 fish caught. Water was 51 degrees, high, and stained about like tea. Water got dirtier down lake from Big M. Ran up the river a bit to Panther Creek. Tried crank bait, jig, jerker, and swim bait with no luck- in the back of creeks and on the main lake points. Just couldn’t buy much of a bite. Both fish I did catch were on a spinner bait in front of brush in 10-12 feet of water. But that smallie was worth getting out of bed for! Other than that I was pretty lost out there today.

Idiots... was the fishing better than the parking?