Beaver Report 4-28-2012 Lengthy

[Feathers and Fins]

Started out with a good friend launching at 12 bridge this morning at 9:00am. Our first stop was the first island out from the ramp.

Water Temp 69.3

Wind light and variable at 5 to 7 mph

Water Clarity 5ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.

We put out the live lines behind the boat and started out drifts in 20 ft of water and using the Keitech's tossed into shore in 6 ft. The strikes started cumming at about 10 to 15 ft on slow crawl retrieves or a twitch up and let it fall with many bites on the fall. We stayed in this area for around 2 hours hokking up on a very regular bases, Small mouth to 2pnd, Kentuckys to about 2.5lbs and Blacks up to 2.5 pnds. Nothing on the live lines, but there were plenty of Striper Boats in the area so im betting they are still in this area.

Taking a short boat ride to the second Island we worked a long point I have found many walleye on in the past few weeks using the same baits.

Water Temp 67.2

Wind light and variable at 5 to 7 mph

Water Clarity 3ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.

Managed to get a few small blacks and Smallmouth up to about 1.75lbs working the point but it was much slower. We started out in 20ft casting in to 6ft and wasnt working to well so we took the boat in a little shallower. We were in 12 ft casting into 4ft and found most the fish in 5 to 7 ft and all the bites came directly after boucing the jig off a rock and then letting it fall. We left after about an hour here and proceeded to Rocky Branch.

Arriving at the Big rock in front of the marina we dropped live baits down on it looking for some early cats and ended up with a pair of 3.5 lbs Blacks and the next cast a chunky 4lb smallmouth on the Keitech in solid white. Nothing else after that so we shot to the mouth of the marina and set up several drifts in 14ft of water. No dice on live or Keitech's

Water Temp 66.7

Wind light and variable at 3 to 5 mph

Water Clarity 5ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.

We left for the Big Island in front of Rocky Branch. We went straight for the Hazrd Bouy on the back side.

Water Temp 66.7

Wind light and variable at 5 to 10 mph

Water Clarity 3ft visability

Air temp 70's

Keitech swim imapct pearl and white.

We popped 8 nice smallies off the area up to 2lbs, we were sitting in 18ft of water casting into 5 ft. You had to let the bait hit the bottom then crank up fat and let it fall back. ALL BITES came on the fall and were solid hits. The bite only lasted about 20 minutes then shut off.

We proceeded to the back of the island into a small cove and were rewarded with a wide open hybrid bite.

Water Temp 69.4

Wind light and variable at 3mph

Water Clarity 10ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.We must have caught 20 to 30 of them up to 5lbs all on Keitech in white. It was a blast in the clear water watching them take the bait. We also managed a couple nice Kentucky's up to 2.5 pnds. This bite was interupted by Stripers boiling off the East Point of the Island.

Heading straight for the boils we put out the Live baits in 100ft of water.

Water Temp 68.5

Wind light and variable at 3 to 5 mpH

Water Clarity 10ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.

We drifted from 100 ft to 20 ft and threw the Keitechs toward shore again producing Smallmouth, Kentuckys and Hybrids. No Joy on the stripers but the hybrids and others were a blast. We stayed on this bite for around 3 hours until deciding to head back toward 12 bridge.

Our final stop was back on the 2nd Island out from 12 bridge working the long point again.

Water Temp 68.7

Wind light and variable at

Water Clarity 3ft visability

Air temp 70's

Baits, Live and Keitech swim imapct in 4 inch purple and pearl and white.

Again the hybrids and Smallmouth were here and finally biting good this time.

All in all we landed a ton of fish. and had a blast running the lake and picking apart points and coves. Our lure presentation was litteraly casting 5 ft apart and slow working togeather to cover every bit of water we could and adjusting the retrieve in each area accordingly. We would start with one of us slow realing in and the other bouncing the bottom and then keep changing it up to find the trigger. This didnt take long and made for a great team effort in having an outstanding day.

[wc1063]

Nice!! Thanks for the report!!

[Stump bumper]

I love that rock in front of Rocky branch seems to always hold one or two good fish...thanks for the report.

[jeb]

Thanks for the report. Those Keitech's are great baits.

[Feathers and Fins]

I love the Keitechs, probably one of the best soft plastics I have ever fished! They fish fast or slow or even just sitting, I havent tried the larger swim baits yet, but think I might try trolling them on umbrellas and setting a few up on a bucktail swimmer.

[chi0082]

Thanks for the report. I really enjoy reading your posts. I'm still learning to fish for stripers on the lake. It's been very challenging without a boat. Maybe I'll rent a boat this weekend and try that. Do you have any suggestions as "high percentage" areas that I could try? I'm thinking about freelining some XL shiners or shad (if I can get some) on each side of the boat. Then throw a 6" swimbait around to locate fish. I have 3 rods fitted with 50 lb braided line and 30 lb flourcarbon leader. It's not the best, but it's a start I guess. Haven't caught a striper yet.

[jeb]

I caught my biggest fish today on a Keitech, a 2.5lb spot. It's the only paddle tail swimbait of its type I've ever really ever had success with.

Man, the pros were all over PC today. I had to work on my trailer today. Bad master brake line inside the frame which I had to replace. Pathetic on a 2.5 year old EZ-Loader. But figured while it was hooked up, might as well roll down the hill to the lake and put in a few hours. There were 2 pro boats camped on the area I launch at. One looked like Boahnon, though. So not sure what that was all about given he was not in the top 10. But Dudley was around, too, as well as others. PC seemed to be the place to be. I counted 5 wrapped boats in there at one point.

[Feathers and Fins]

Thanks for the report. I really enjoy reading your posts. I'm still learning to fish for stripers on the lake. It's been very challenging without a boat. Maybe I'll rent a boat this weekend and try that. Do you have any suggestions as "high percentage" areas that I could try? I'm thinking about freelining some XL shiners or shad (if I can get some) on each side of the boat. Then throw a 6" swimbait around to locate fish. I have 3 rods fitted with 50 lb braided line and 30 lb flourcarbon leader. It's not the best, but it's a start I guess. Haven't caught a striper yet.

First i would ditch the 30lb floro and go down to 12lb there really is no need to go that heavy unless you are guiding and want to bully the fish in. Stripers are all over the lake right now, I was out this evening and nailed 3 at the islands in front of 12 bridge while bass fishing. I had friends calling me from Rocky Branch and Starky saying they were into them. This is a hard time of year to pinpoint the fish they are scattered and best thing is to move around till you locate them.

[wormer]

Can you buy the Keitech baits local?

[Feathers and Fins]

Hook Line and Sinker in Rogers has them.