Agfc District 1 Report On Beaver Bass

[Quillback]

I emailed the Bios last week that are listed in the top of the report, asked them a few questions, one being why the saw more LM than spots, and who were these "bass clubs" they were seeking input from. Haven't heard back from them, but maybe they took this week off.

[Quillback]

Got a reply today, as far as sampling more LM than Spots, the bio attirbuted it to high water the last couple of years providing better conditions for LM survival, but typically they get more spots than LM's.

Northwest Arkansas Bassmasters is the club they contact for input.

They are going to have meetings to discuss potential changes to Spotted bass retention rules. He offered to send an invite to me if I represented a club or group. If any of you guys are interested in going, reply here and I'll say we're from the Ozark Anglers "club", and get us invited to a meeting. Could be interesting to hear what they have to say.

[Justin Spencer]

I tend to catch bigger fish 2 to 3 pounds but I attribute it to using live bait mostly and trolling. Beaver is a big lake and I am not sure where they do their shocking, im just curious if they shock in deeper water as that is where I tend to catch the bigger fish, anyone know?

BTW Shad in Prairie Creek finalllllllly

Shocking has to be done in fairly shallow water as it won't reach too far down.

If there are more LMB and fewer spots and spots are not growing wouldn't it make more sense to put the limit on spots up to 15in also?

It would if you wanted more spots, but I assume most people prefer the faster growing LMB over spots. Each spotted bass in the lake is competing with LMB for food and space which slows their growth and reproduction. The majority of spotted bass won't live to be 7 years old so if you put the limit up you would increase stunting of these fish and still not see many over 15".

[jeb]

I'll join your club. Thanks for checking on that stuff and report back, Jeff. I nominate you for President.

[jolicious]

Good evening guys,

I put together the info when our club (NWABM) has tournaments on Beaver (usually every other month). Pretty basic stuff that we send to agfc:

# anglers

# fish caught

Tourney hours

Total weight

Etc. I've got our season so far on the spreadsheet at work if anyone has any questions. One thing to remember is that we do paper tournaments, so anything 12" or over is a "keeper"

[jeb]

Thanks Aaron. I'm not sure what you mean about paper tournaments, though. Is there no weigh in? Sorry, I don't tourney fish, so I don't understand the term.

[Stump bumper]

Thanks Aaron. I'm not sure what you mean about paper tournaments, though. Is there no weigh in? Sorry, I don't tourney fish, so I don't understand the term.

You got it Jeb, no free boat rides for the fish, sometimes the clubs will require photos with a provided tape measure but pretty sure with Aaron's club they just record weights and have a trust with each member to bring in real data. Not the type of tournament you can run with the general public.

[jolicious]

I'm not Aaron, I'm Joe - But I'll give you the rundown of how we (in the NWA Bassmaters) do the paper tournament....

Just like Bumper said - We've got the "Golden Rule" in every boat. The one we use has the estimated weights on it by length.

Each tournament, there is one sheet per boat distributed - Boater gets one side, non-boater gets teh other side. As each fish (greater than 12") is caught, it's measured and recorded. Take your 5 best fish from the day, and that is your individual weight (for points towards end of the year standings). Add boater / non-boater weights together for that specific day's total (that's how we determine who gets the little jackpot that we put together for that day). Before a measurement is recorded, both anglers agree on where the fish is hitting the board.

After each tournament, I get a copy of all the papers and entere into the yearly spreadsheet. We send a copy of the results each month (when we fish on Beaver) to the AGFC (I think that's the info that's referenced above). The main reason we elected years ago for the paper tournament was with the health of the fish in mind - Quick Release. It also helps speed up the process at teh end of the day, we don't have to mess with the weigh scales each tournament, etc.

[jolicious]

I'll try to attach what I'm talking about.I'm not the best at adding pictures to a message board.One thing to keep in mind in a paper tournament: It's all about averages.We've all seen a 13" Kentucky that weighs more than a 16" black (especially this time of year).We're really keeping score based on length rather than weight.

[J-Doc]

These are good folks in the club. I'm not a member (yet) but I know Joe and I know a few others. They're good people and I'm sure they are keeping each other honest. What comes around goes around and they wouldn't keep members that cheat.