jeb

I was fishing in quite a bit of wind yesterday and got pretty tired of all the time it took to tie the fish-n-fool. So I decided to try the San Diego knot for a while. I'd just picked up a DVD from Omega Tackle and they demonstrated it in there. Here's a video of how to tie it, at least with an un-weighted hook/lure. It won Field and Streams knot wars this last winter. With a weighted lure, like a jig, this is a super fast and easy knot to tie as you can swing the lure around to do the 6 wraps. I could not find a vid of that, but it's on the DVD. Seemed to be a very strong knot too, compared to the fish-n-fool.

I've been using the fish-n-fool knot for a month or so now. It's a little putzy to tie, but a very strong knot with floro.

Glad you did well, and missed the worst of the rains.

We live in the Prararie Creek area and got 5" of rain last night, but no other damage. So I'd say the lake will be up a bit!

That's what I wonder about. The way some folks rave about the FB, I figure I'm missing out on something. Maybe I'll try them some more on less rocky points/areas, but I sure have a lot more confidence in the non-FB jigs at this point. But like Wayne says, I hate fixin' what ain't broke, at least without a good reason.

As you can see from the thread I started today, the fishing is a little confused right now. I guess the fish are transitioning back into the creeks and coves right now, so are kind if in between. I'd suggest putting in at Rocky Branch and fishing the coves in the arms in that area.

I've just gotten into fishing the larger rubber skirt bass jigs this year, and I'm building a lot of confidence in the technique. Mostly because I've caught a bunch of nice fish with it! I fish mostly the round or somewhat pointed head jigs. I keep reading about the football jigs and have tried them. But I can't say as I've caught any fish using them, and they seem to get hung up a lot more in all the rocks we have here on Beaver Lake. I lose a lot less jigs with the non-FB heads. So what am I missing? Is the FB still preferred even in rocky lakes, or is it more of a brushy, weedy lake thing? What makes them preferred in any condtions? It seems like they'd all perform about the same skipping or dragging them across the bottom. Just trying to talk myself into trying them more, I guess. Or find an excuse to stop buying them!

Well, I fished sun up to sun down on Saturday. It was darn chilly around sunrise. I need to remember to start dressing a little heavier this time of year! Not much happening in my usual haunts around Praire Creek, so tried some mid-lake spots on the way down to Rocky Branch. Caught a small K of a rock pile mid-lake, and found a few schools in some of the side cuts along the Rocky Branch arms. Caught 8 bass out of one school, but the only quality one got off at the boat. About half of the others were legal K's, but not by much. Fishing finesse jigs with worms. Caught a couple more on the bottom up Ventris arm on 1/2 oz jigs, but again nothing of any size. It was a fun day, and I did catch a fair number of fish, but still a little disappointing to not have any quality fish in the boat. Saw a lot of guys pounding the banks in the back of creeks, but didn't see them doing much catching. So where'd all the good fish go? I thought they all but jumped in the boat this time of year.

I was out for a few hours before dark yesterday, and catching a bunch of NICE Kentucky's! Biggest one was over 3lbs, and tried to get himself tangled up in some submerged trees. Just as I got him in the boat, a bass tourney flight was going by on the main lake out of Prarie Creek, all full tilt racing down lake. Kind of laughed to myself thinking they were missing out on some good fishing within a mile or two of where they launched, w/o having to burn that extra fuel!

I was out Sunday, too. Twice actually, morning (6am-Noon) and then for a couple of hours before dark. Fished near Prarie Creek marina and up near Hickory Creek. Caught some nice LM and spots, and even a decent stripper on a spook towards midday. Not many pleasure boaters out stirring up the lake, so a good day.

Yeah, that's a possibility, too. Just get it done. I'm big into dirt bike racing/riding and this is a nice of the year for that, so I guess I could switch gears for a while.

My new Skeeter has to go back to the factory for some windshield pulling out of the frame issues. So trying to figure out when I can do without it, as I have a lot of latitude on the timing. I hate to be without a boat, so this kind of sucks, but it is what it is. So what time frame would you guys pick? This is the first year I've fished hard on Beaver, and am not sure when the fall action dies off. I'm sure it varies a bit year-to-year with different weather patterns, but in general guesses would be welcome. Thanks

Wow, thanks for the heads up on the BPS line. I've started trying some Cabela's brand flurocarbon a month or so ago, and have not broken any of it yet. I have some P-Line "co-poly" in 8lb that does like to break, though.

Good points, Sam. With the great rep he no doubt enjoys on TR, that makes good sense.

Bill, I'm not looking to have you divulge anything at all about your locations, but I'm curious about how there can be private water on TR? I live by Beaver and, as far as I know, there is no such thing as private water on the lake (could be wrong?). So the concept is strange to me. Can you explain how some areas of the lake are private? Again, not looking for specifics about where at all here, just how that's possible. Thanks, John

Sorry to hear that. I'm up in Wisc fishing for a couple of weeks, so no idea if the black bass action has died off or not in Beaver. Hopefully they'll still be biting when I get home! Interesting to be back up north fishing (I lived in MN for 35 years). There are odd things in the lake, like weeds and lily pads. Plenty of bass, too. Caught 18 LM yesterday, 12 legals. Caught an 18.5" SM Tuesday, which is a decent fish for up here.

Black bass. Carolina rigs, points tapering into deeper water. The fish seemed to be at about 20'. White bass were running a bit this morning, too. I caught a couple on a pop-r just for grins.

I've lived here 4 years now and I'm not sure what normal pool is, so it'll be interesting to see what it is when it gets there. I've seen the lake level fluctuate at least 20' in 4 years. First 2 years, it was WAY down. Several big multi-boat docks on the dirt the 2nd year, at least near where I live, in the Prairie Creek area. It was down more this morning though, that's for sure. But the rain we got Monday cooled the water down a couple of degrees and they were on the bite again. Caught some nice fish today.

Over the last week, I fished Beaver Sat/Sun/Tues/Thurs/Friday (morning and evening) and Sun. I live at the lake, so easy to go put in for a couple of hours before work. I'm not sure if it's the water temps going up 4+ degrees over that time from the warm week last week, or if it's the drawdown, but the fishing for sure got tougher from Thursday on. I really feel it's the temps more than the drawdown, since the drawdown has been going on for more than a week. We fished from 5am to Noon yesterday, caught 4, only 2 legals (1 Kentucky and 1 LM).

Went out again this morning for a couple of hours before work. 8 bass on the C-rig, 3 legals, one of which was a 19.5" smallmouth. I sure love those smallies, they fight hard! White Bass are feeding pretty hard right now, at times all around the boat, but I don't fish for them. I do consider it a good sign that I'm in an area that has good bait fish population, though.

Sure. I did that on my last boat. I drew up plans for the livewell box (and I'm no draftsman) and took them into a local HVAC/metal fab shop. They built me a great SS box for reasonable money. I took it home and fitted it into the boat, and installed an overflow out the side of the boat near the top of it. I had to cut a hole in the top of the box and in the floor of the front platform for the sealed livewell cover (Cabelas has those, I believe). And of course the hole in the transom for the livewell pump, and associated plumbing up to the box in the front. I installed an auto/manual switch on the dash for the pump, with a timer feature. Worked awesome for me for a lot of years. The worst part was cutting two holes in the hull, but they never gave me an ounce of problems over the years.

Thanks. I've never driven to Hickory Creek by road. I'll have to check it out. I'm not sure the lack of being more Academy like was SW's problem. According to this document on SW's website: The primary reason for filing bankruptcy was to relieve the company of on-going lease obligations on 22 to 28 closed stores. It seems it was just bad timing more than anything else that closed our Rogers store. But tell me more what rumors you're hearing for Spring of next year. I'd think this area would be big enough these days to support at least one SW/Cabela/Bass Pro type store.

Fishing was pretty good this weekend on Beaver. I caught quite a few nice keepers both Sat and Sun morning, mostly on c-rigs. Water temps mainly right around 80.

Where is the other Hook, Line and Sinker? I go by the one in Rogers all the time. And I like to spend money there. Is the other one much different? Thanks for the reminder about Rogers Outdoor Center, too. I had a bad customer service experience in there, though, so I try to avoid them now.

I know about the Hook, Line and Sinker bait shop, and Southtown (I think) down in Fayetteville, but wondering if there are other good tackle shops in the area worth looking at. I also know Wal-Mart carries some tackle, but the smaller shops usually have more interesting stuff, it seems. Ever since Sportsman's Warehouse closed, it's been harder to get some things around here.