Polar Bear

[Donna G]

We're probably honor bound to fish the Polar Bear since we usually do and will catch crap if we don't. Unfortunately, Beaver usually kicks our butt. Anyone else fishing it? I haven't heard what the entry fee is this year.

[Hogfan]

When is that Donna? Is it on New Year's day or something like that? I've never fished it, but may try to this year.

[Stump bumper]

I have fished it for the past 5 years or so, but boat problems and finical problems will keep me out this year.

[Champ188]

Yeah, it's New Year's Day. Always great to kick off the new year by getting my butt kicked on Big Beav.

[Quillback]

Was it last year or 2 years ago that someone weighed in a 10 lb bass? Pretty impressive fish for The Beav.

[Donna G]

I forgot about the big fish! I can't remember. I bet Champ knows. I didn't get to fish January 2009 because I was recovering from kidney cancer surgery. I think that's the year they had a record 110 boats and I believe it's also the big fish year. Guess I should skip more often.

[Quillback]

Nah, no need to skip, hopefully you and Champ will win it this year!

[Donna G]

I like the way you think Quillback! We're planning to fish it. Sort of a tradition with us. We're pretty tame. No rowdy New Year's celebrations for us. Freezing our butts off for 12" spots. That's the way we roll.

[Champ188]

Guys, I will look it up when I get to work (at the newspaper) and post again, but as I recall, that 10-pounder was caught during a small club tournament. It was wintertime but I don't believe it was during the Polar Bear. I do definitely remember that it was caught on a Wiggle Wart in phantom brown.

[Champ188]

Here's the article about the 10-pound, 11-ounce fish. It was caught Dec. 1, 2007.

BEAVER LAKE LARGEMOUTH

THE BIGGEST IN YEARS

A 10-pound, 11-ounce largemouth bass caught from Beaver Lake on Dec. 1 was not only the catch of a lifetime for Aaron Adams of Springdale, but also the largest reported from the lake in 15 years or more.

District fisheries biologist Ron Moore with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission in Rogers had to probe distant memories to recall a bigger bass.

“The only one I can recall is an 11-pound bass we shocked up while electro-fishing in War Eagle Creek, and that was at least 15 years ago,” Moore said Friday.

According to my own memories of Beaver Lake bassin’ over the past eight years, the biggest bass have been a 9-pounder caught the Monday after a FLW Wal-Mart Open several years ago and an 8-pounder caught during the annual Buddy Bass Tournament in May.

Adams’ big bass came off a main-lake shoreline between Prairie Creek and Rocky Branch, suggesting it may have been released after a bass tournament in recent years. Most lunker largemouths come from the lake’s White River arm.

Adams and his partner, Ronnie Bell of Hindsville, were casting crank baits along a short stretch of rocky, wooded shoreline where they had already caught largemouths of 5 pounds, 3 ounces and 3 pounds, 8 ounces.

“I threw between two standing trees in about 5 feet of water and she hit right between the two trees,” Adams recalled Friday.

After hitting a phantom orange-colored Original Series Wiggle Wart, the bass went down and stayed down, giving little clue to its identity.

“It felt so heavy, I thought I had hooked a big catfish; I had never fought a 10-pound bass before,” Adams said.

It wasn’t until the fish was netted that he saw what he had. “I was totally shocked and amazed,” Adams said, adding that he was glad he didn’t know it was a bass until it was safely in hand.

The big largemouth was exceptionally healthy and beautifully proportioned for its weight, with a length of 24 1/4 inches and a girth of 22 inches.

It also was strong and lively during its short stay at Prairie Creek Park for weigh-in of the Christian AmBASSadors Bass Club tournament that Adams and Bell won with a six-bass limit totaling 22 pounds, 12 ounces.

Adams said he would be more than content with a replica mount of his fish and was grateful for the $150 donated toward the cost by Aaron Jolliff at Hook, Line & Sinker in Rogers.