Newbie Fishing At Beaver Lake

[Greg W]

I guess I need to venture out to other parts of the lake, maybe fishin is tough no matter where you go this time of the year(or maybe I'm not using the right bait at the right spot, I can barely keep my bait caster tangle free!). But a short drive to and back from the lake sure is nice. Thank you for your advice.

What types of fishing are you after? I have been fishing Beaver for 2 years now. My preference is striper and sand bass. I have not done well. It has been a humbling experience.

Greg

[Stump bumper]

What types of fishing are you after? I have been fishing Beaver for 2 years now. My preference is striper and sand bass. I have not done well. It has been a humbling experience.

Greg

For Stripers and whites(sand bass if you are from OK) the best times of the year is after all the inboards have been winterized until most people start looking to get their boats back out. When the water temps are in the low 40s to 50 degrees the big stripers will be feeding up in 3 to 6 feet of water and easy to catch on stick baits around dying and stunned shad in the back of coves and around any flowing water since the shad will pack into those areas for 2 or 3 degrees of warmth. The difference between 40 degrees and 43 degrees for shad is life and death, and the stripers will follow the food.

From about Thanksgiving to Christmas if you follow the large shad balls moving up the river and jig below them you can usually fill a boat with large whites and an striper or two. But February is my favorite month to find big stripers in shallow water unless it is cold enough to ice over then March as soon as the ramps ice out.

[wc1063]

Mainly black bass, but when I troll cranks, I'd have walleye, crappie, and white bass hit on them sometimes. Actually, I just like to catch fish. It great to feel the fish bite and you set the hook and feel the fish fight on your line. Too bad you can't feel that when you troll.

Went down to the dam today, caught a few sm bass(never caught them before), but they are all pretty small. Saw a guy pulled in a striper about 10-15 lbs using umbrella rig with swimming bait near Lost Bridge North. Now that is a fish!! He tried to show me how to catch striper, but I'd have to get brand new fishing equiptment for that(heavy rod with big reels) and maybe a different boat fot that matter. It sure would be nice to catch a fish that big, the nice gent said striper caught was a average size one. He has caught much bigger ones.

Anyways, I guess as long as you enjoy being out on the lake and enjoy fishing, that's what counts.

[wc1063]

Went out yesterday and fished aroun PC areas and near the 12 bridge. It was cloudy and windy, I guess it's what they called a perfect day for fishing. Too bad we did not catch anything worth mentioning. Met a gentleman at the ramp while loading the boat that evening, He caught a bunch of big white bass using umbrealla rig with smoking ice color grubs, most of the fish weight 2-3 lbs. He said that the two islands near the bridge are good right now, and told me to give it a try next time.

One thing I found out after starting fishing is that you meet the nicest people on or near the water, they don't mind sharing their experience and they actually want to show you how and where to catch fish! It has been a great experience for me (Including the gentleman that showed I've got the trailer too deep in the water, that's why I'm not getting the boat on the trailer correctly)

Maybe in a few years, I'll be able to share my wisdom to someone new to the lake or to fishing!

Thanks again.

[rps]

I moved over here in 2002. I had fished Table Rock, where I live, and Beaver several times before moving. Despite that I was nearly three years learning before I started to regularly find fish. Even now, I do not find them every time. Have faith. When you reach the point where you can catch decent fish more often than not, it's fun to think of all those others that never have the chance.

[Quillback]

Yeah WC keep the faith, the fishing on Beaver for black bass has been tough lately, you're not the only one struggling out there. Maybe after these storms clear out they'll pick up again. I might go try the Indian creek area tomorrow AM and see if the topwater bite is going, it was a great bite last fall, but just hasn't been good this year.

[Feathers and Fins]

WC, When you read the reports about Beaver they are mostly comming from Baileys who is a striper guide on the lake so his reports are geared toward stripers. The Points as stated are Yellow signs the Army Corps has placed on the lake to aid in Navigation.

I live in Rogers myself and chase stripers as often as possible,if you want to catch them its not as hard as people make it out to be. I preffer a 7ft fast action rod 12 to 25 lbs line class with a baitcaster that can hold up to 300yrds of 12 pnd test. The other set-up is again the 7ft rod but get a rod with a line counter so you can present bait at the correct depth. 3rd set-up I run is a 7weight fly rod with sinking line.

Live bait is by far the best producer of stripers on beaver and not to hard to get with a cast net. Golden Shiner, Chubs and Shad all produce well. I use both my 7 foot rods 1 I simply tie on a 1/0 circle hook and pin a live bait on it through the nose and let it free swimm behond the boat putting out about 50 to 100 feet of line depending on how deep the stripers are. Second rod with line counter I tie on a 4oz egg sinker then a swivel add 5 feet of leader and a 1/0 circle hook I use my graph to find the depth they are at and set the bait 2ft obove that.

The fly rod I will let out all the sinking line with a 6 foot leader of 12pnd line tied to it is a 4 1/2 to 6 inch white fly. As the boat drifts or a i troll with it. Very simple and deadly on deep stripers and if they come up shallow im still able to get at them.

Right now the stripers and large bass and catfish are keyed in on 4inch shad around Rocky Branch and as with most this year seem to be keyed in on the 37foot depth. They are moving up river and should be near 12 bridge in the next week or two. Check Prairie Creek when AGFC starts stocking trout in Lake Atlanta some of those trout make it over the spillway and into PC ive seen stripers chase them down there and big swim baits work nice.

These are from Last Saturday, Blue cat, Channel cat, Hybrid and Striper caught many fish that day but those were bound for the fish fry lol. The Hybrid was on a fly, one of 6 on the fly, the others were live baiting in 35 ft of water

If you want LMB and Small mouth find the striper fleet and work in shallow from them the bass are keyed in on the same shad schools and this time of year very nive quality LMB are possible.

[Quillback]

Man that looks like some great eating!

[Feathers and Fins]

Thanks they were, Only bad thing about the entire day is I was no more than 50 yards from where i like to duck hunt and the birds were migrating in which made it hard to concentrate on fishing lol.

[wc1063]

Thank you for all the support and comments. I've been out a couple times this week, fished at Coose Hollow and around the two islands near the 12 bridge, only caught a few small bass. I tried senko(wacky rig and texas rig), baby brush hog, small finesse worm(drop shot), hard jerkbait, spinnerbait,and jigging spoon.

Met someone at the ramp told me to try Ventris and Rocky Branch next time I go out, He thinks the fish have not made their way this far yet.

I'm interested in catch my own live bait, I have a small castnet(5 ft radius). I tried a couple time to catch minnow or shad in the back of the cove around sunset at PC and Avoca when I see a swarm coming towards the boat, but no luck so far, seems like they get spooked easily and went down deep. Do I need a bigger and heavier sinking net to catch them?

F & F, those are a bunch of great looking fish! I think I'll be happy just to catch one of them! Thank you for sharing your tips on how to catch them!!

The temperature has gone down about 20 degrees these past few days, is now a good time to be out on the water or should I wait til the weather stablize a bit first?(even though the thought of running down the lake when it's only 40 degree doesn't really warm my blood)