Kyle R

A few days ago, but here it is. Went up north of the 12 bridge and fish around the mouth of Ford’s creek. Caught some early on a jerkbait. I think I got a meanmouth, the first picture. Let me know if you guys know what it is. Lost a real good one, a smallmouth I believe. Went up into the creek and managed a few dinks on a finesse worm. Hooked a monster smallmouth, 3 or 4 pounds, and lost it at the boat. Went back down to river cliff, fished it real hard and managed some good smallmouth and several dink spots on a worm and a spinnerbait. Not a horrible day. Would have been real happy if I could have landed those big ones.

Caught 17 keepers between my fiancé and I in the kayaks. We were around point 12 on the white river side. They hit her curly tail grub, my baby shad swimmer in bluegrass color, and a black and chartreuse tube jig about 2 1/2 ' under a slip float. They were rather shallow on the banks in coves. We could get a few a little deeper on the ends of docks. They seemed to be rather spread out. Our biggest was about 13". Nothing huge. It was a lot better vote in the morning rain and cloud cover. Around noon they really slowed down. When sun popped out in the afternoon it quit completely. But not a bad day overall. IMG_1799.JPG

I may have seen you come by me in my kayak. Were you using the orange rods? I saw a striper guy come by with some Alabama rigs and pull up a stringer of striper.

I don't ever kill carp (except small ones for bait), but I've always been told they were bad for the lake. They take up a lot of oxygen that other fish could use. I'm not sure how true that is. A lot people, like the carp busters, take pride in killing them. I never really had an opinion, other than they're fun on ultra lights, or that they can make a bad summer day fun when nothing else bites.

I was told once that some fisheries biologists are trying to isolate the gene that gives crappie that line and breed them so they can tell if fish that has been caught were stocked or wild born. I'm not sure if it's true though...

I appreciate your thoughts. I was curious what some people thought. I have to agree the population seems strong. I seem to catch several crappie under 4" when throwing my cast net, so there are plenty of offspring. Thanks for all your replies.

If I didn't keep crappie between 10 and 12 inches, I'd never have a limit. Small crappie seem to be the ones that like my jigs the most.

It's almost that time of year when anybody get can get a limit on crappie. I usually keep my fair share. I was curious on anybody's opinion on crappie conservation. I see a lot of limits come off the lake, but the population seems to be doing fine. But is it better to practice a little restraint? When I take someone we generally only keep 1 person's limit, because that's enough to feed us a couple times over. Would crappie over run the lake like bluegill if not enough were kept? Are they still stocked in Beaver? Should some "selective harvest" be used? Does it do any good to let the bigger fish go? If so, how big is releasing size? 12"? 15"? Any opinions are welcome. Thanks.

Are you using a billed or lipless crankbait? Are you casting or trolling it with your paddles?

That would explain why I couldn't get them from shore.

I was out all day with minnowd and jigs, and got no crappie. I only managed a few small bass and a catfish. I tried several spots from shore and it just seemed like they wern't up yet. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I only got out for about an hour last night before the clouds rolled in. Managed two small bass and an 8" striper. Wish I had more time. The weather always seems to predict my free time this time of year.

I thought about paddling up and floating back down, but I'll probably postpone until Thursday of it storms. Sounds like the white run is going to be spotty this year.

Thanks for all the replys. I'll be careful in the kayak. I was hoping a Wednesday afternoon wouldn't be to busy, but it sounds like everyone's got it on there minds. I'll post if I catch anything

I was thinking about taking the kayak out on the white river arm tomorrow afternoon. Are there any striper in the area? What lures could you catch them on? Whites? Walleye? Bass? I saw YAKFM caught a few walleye on a crankbait. I might try that, but I'd like to know if any of you had any other ideas on how to catch a few to start the year. Thanks for any advice!

I personally release all of my catfish. They're a pain to clean, and I can never make them taste as good as the catfish restaurants do.

I usually fish on the upper end of the lake, and there's a pretty good population of eater sized channel cats this way. I cat a few on worms and chicken livers, and always manage at least one when I'm crappie fishing with minnows, but most come off of small pieces of cut shad. Very rarely do I manage anything over five pounds. At night when I'm gar fishing in April or May, I catch a few flatheads on cut shad or cut bream. Usually in the five to ten pound range. A few bigger ones will hit live bluegill in the spring, but that's rare for me. The dock I fish off of sits on a gravel flat right off the channel. I've got bait anywhere from 5' to 15'.

If I'm lucky I can net a few large gizzard shad for catfish or gar in beaver. I throw a cheap 4 ft net. I tried to upgrade to a 6, but I can throw that easily from the Jon boat, so I only throw it from the dock or stick with the 4. I went fishing last Wednesday and saw plenty of shad up shallow. Especially young gizzard shad. Are they spawning now? Seems a little late for them. I managed 3 good shad, about 12" or bigger, after I was done with the crappie. I'm froze them in anticipation for a good night to get some catfish or gar.

There was no storm where I was. It was a bit cloudy, but calm otherwise. It wasnt too far from the 412 bridge.

Took the jon boat out again, but this time I hit the bluff real early, about 6:30. I started missing bites right away. They were hitting the minnows like bluegills. The jig didn't get as many bites, but it was easier to feel my way around the brush, and set the hook immediately when one hit. I ended up with 11 keeper crappie (the two biggest were about 13" apiece), about 10 short crappie, 2 spotted bass, 2 short largemouths,and 2 channel cats. It was far better to take the jon boat out during the week than a weekend.

Pardon the ignorance, but what are bb's?

Thanks yakfm, but it's hard enough for me to use one bass rod in the kayak. And I don't crappie fish much. I'll keep it in mind though.

Thanks for the props. My options are a kayak or that john boat. I prefer the kayak, but it won't hold 4 crappie rods and a minnow bucket. And there is something nice about the simplicity. I just need to stick to weekdays, with all the skiers and such.

With the positive recent posts, I thought I'd try my hand at crappie this morning. I was fishing out of a 12' john boat with no fish finder and a trolling motor as the only means of locomotion, so it was tough. The wind and wakes kept me on my toes. I was fishing in between where the white and war eagle arms come into the lake. I tried a channel bend first with no luck, then a few coves in the area with only a few small bass and bluegills. At about noon I tried a bluff line and fished over a brush pile in maybe 20-25 feet of water (again, no electronics). They bit really well on minnows under slip bobbers set 15-20 feet down. I even managed several on a Bobby Garland jig. The tough part was keeping the fish from sticking me in the brush, but that's what I get for using 4 lb line. In 3 hours I ended up with 13 keeper crappie (all between 10 and 12 inches), 10-15 short crappie, 2 short largemouth, 1 Kentucky, 1 channel cat, and a 12" walleye. All in all not bad, especially for me. I was surprised they bit so late in the day. I would have limited out, but I ran out of minnows and jig heads.

Never heard of a log perch before. Thanks.