4Th Of July On Beaver

[Feathers and Fins]

What a GREAT MORNING. Calm beautiful sunrise and even had a Bald Eagle fly between my boat and Docs. Fishing wasn't bad at all a large number of Bass ( inflated numbers by a wad of 12 to 13 inch kentucks that forced me out of an area, 8 walleye and a white. On the water at 5:15 off at 11 and no hassles frustrations or rude people.

I have to say I am seeing a tremendous turn around in the Smallmouth on the lake my average fish is 2 pounds and many 3 to 4 pounders each trip just keeps putting a smile on this brown lover.

[kwall]

Went out myself and it sure was a nice cool , calm AM for July -- wish I could say I had the same experience with the fishing -- seen lots of shad and fish but only caught one 13" kbass

[Feathers and Fins]

Little cheating going on, My brother was out and so was Doc and keeping phone calls going helped a lot. If more people would communicate on the water more fish would be in trouble lol. Shad is insane the amount running around tack on fry and there is a lot of food in the lake.

[J-Doc]

It's almost as if there is too much food for the fish. There is such a abnormal amount of shad, it's just shy of being a problem! LOL! I have seen large groups of shad all spring/summer. Today was another example of multiple groups in several areas for large shad balls. The high water the last several years has helped the bait population a lot by allowing shad to creep into cover and avoid "becoming dinner".

Today, I tried fishing a spinnerbait and a few other select baits just as the sun come up. It was a spectacular sunrise with smooth & calm water and hardly any traffic for hours. It was about 10AM before I saw any ski boat traffic and it was seldom and not bothering me at all.

After trying Fords Creek in 2 coves and no bites and little to no fish on the radar (unless I was gar hunting and then I found the jackpot), I tried a few other areas in the Rocky Branch area. After F&F kept calling me bragging about how many fish he was catching (LOL!), I decided to try trolling a bit. Tried it, no bites. We found a small fleet of striper guides and proceeeded to do the OAF One-Two punch on that area! LOL F&F got one side and I got the other. I caught a nice 14" and fat smallie that fought hard all the way to the boat on the way into the cove with striper guides. I trolled probably 1 mile without a bite and very little fish on the graph other than 2 groups on the way into the cove. We both trolled the cove and I saw a striper guide pull in a smaller striper probably about 16-18" using what appeared to be a balloon rig. So after getting bored REALLY fast.......I went back to a cove where I had caught some quality fish last Saturday. Key thing here was ............LAST Saturday and not today. I worked that cove with several baits and got nibbles only from perch after trying some GULP worms. I even tried drop shotting on the main lake later with GULP minnows and Powerbait finesse worm. Minor nibbles, not enough to take the bait.

Last ditch effort was to troll an area where F&F was catching all of his short fish he was complaining about! LOL! I made a series of waypoints in a consecutive line in a particular depth range and then dropped baits for a run. While marking waypoints and dropping baits, a big cabin cruiser strolled in quietly and dropped anchor right in-line with my run. Freakin' great!! So.........I did what any angler would do. I fished! LOL! I came so close to their boat, I could have flipped a jig on their deck. I was so close I could smell Coppertone and cigar smoke! LOL! Between the kids jumping off the boat like it was on fire and the loud music, needless to say the fish I marked move off their spots. I did catch a nice walleye on the return trip away from the "party yacht". As I got it to the boat, I reached for my net. He saw "net" and said......."not today Doc" and shook off. Oh well, he wasn't big enough to keep anyway. Probably 15-17" at the most.

I have learned a lot about trolling and most importantly, I'm seeing more water and seeing more about what the fish are doing so it's teaching me a lot.

[fisherofmen11]

I am headed out tomorrow morning with my brother. Do you guys have any tips on location and or baits? I will probably do a mixture of trolling and fishing. Trolling has taught me a lot too but I have so much to learn.

How does the lake falling affect the fish?

Sounds like coves are better than the main lake?

It's been several weeks since I was last out but I trolled around the 12 bridge area and caught a few whites and one lm in a few hours.

[Feathers and Fins]

Fisher if you checking in on phone head to rocky branch and try working flats points and coves work 15 to 20 fow range. Also take your time in coves crappie are hanging on trees ( cedars ) and walleye are roaming under bait find the right ball find walleye but if its a short move on they are hanging out with the same sizes. North side of the lake is full of little kantucks lol.

[J-Doc]

I was thinking same thing. If you check in by phone, the answer is no. Coves are not better than main lake. There are bass that live in or around coves year round and bass that stay on main lake all year as well. That's my theory based on what I've read and heard. I would troll, find a school of fish, mark a waypoint or drop a marker or make a mental note of where the fish were and back off. Ease in a little later and try throwing something small, a little different than threadfin shad, and about the same size. Live bait would be best but, other things can work if you work them slow enough. I tried coves yesterday and I'd advise against it. I think the moon phase has them deeper and in the channels or on staging areas. Basically they are seeking shelter from the tournament pressure and ski boat bombardment. Lol!

[nathanhooper]

Alright, I'm jealous. I have a small project going at the house and worked on it all day yesterday. Thought to myself, "boy, this would have been a good morning to be fishing..."

I'll have to start doing the phone check in thing. I got me a couple of new rods waiting on me that I am itching to try. Line counter reels. Up to this point, believe it or not, I've been using Zebco 606 and while it reels the fish it, it is also a pain. The only way I have been able to tell how much line I have off is when I bought a thing of braid and tied it on and I know how much is out when its near where the braid meets mono.

I hear you on the brownies. I catch more of them than all others. And about half are keepers. Its amazing how much of a fight one can put up on trolling tackle.

I think I'll take my oldest boy out for a little run in the morning. I assume that long lining is still the ticket? Now that I'll have counters should be nice. I'll holler back with results. Good to hear the success of others and that the forage is good.

[Feathers and Fins]

Its amazing what technology has done for fishing. In this case im referring to phone calls. My brother and I have done the little stunt of trolling the same place for years and it still is an amazing site to see two boats working together to put fish in the boats. We use to do it with up to 5 friends before the cell phone age. Back then it was everyone meet at the back of a cove. Pick the respective baits and then the depth. Normally one guy would start shallow 6fow then the next out to 10 then 15 etc. At the end of the run we would meet up talk about what we saw and set up for runs on the most productive depth with lures designed for it. 4 or 5 passes later meet up and discuss what caught what then all switch to it. Talk about seining an area but highly effective.

When we found the few pockets of mass schools all of us would pull up next to each other and flip swim baits or jigs in the area. Funny to some to think about 5 boats all working together but the results were amazing, but warning to others it wasn't uncommon to see pranks going on as well. God help the person afraid of snakes or other scary or stinky objects.

[J-Doc]

Enough about snakes.......I know my time is coming. Just don't be angry when you smell sardines baking on your exhaust manifold. Lol! Just warning ya.....publically! Hahaha!! Now..... As for fish in general, I have been lucky enough to catch some nice sized fish lately but the average has been about 1" shy of the min. size but they are all healthy and getting fatter. Here is a 4.3lb LM I was able to snag. Well.....technically F&F was trolling and I was lucky enough to reel it in and claim it as mine. Lol! This one was over 30ft of open water chasing a bait ball.....NOT in a brush pile on the bank. Ever notice the smaller fish are tight on cover near the bank? I know I do.