4Th Of July On Beaver

[Feathers and Fins]

Oh Lazy will come into its own tonight. Now where did I put the folding table chairs and deck of cards lol

[J-Doc]

Oh Lazy will come into its own tonight. Now where did I put the folding table chairs and deck of cards lol

A card game of "Go Fish" ................well that just seems too cheesy even for me. :-0

Sorry.....I've managed to de-rail this thread pretty quickly.

[nathanhooper]

I've trolled at night, and in fact, that is when I have caught most of my fish. Ive done the light thing, but never stick around long enough for the ball to form. Mostly just the company with me is not wanting to stay.

I will try again soon I'm thinking.

[fisherofmen11]

F&F - Thanks for the info. I was headed to Rocky Branch and when I got there I read your post. Mostly smaller fish but we had a good morning. 2 Whites, 3 small stripers, 3 sun fish 2 of them nice sized, 3 SM, several kentuckies, and only one Walleye. But we had a great time.

Trolling around timber was hard and a little nerve racking for fear of hitting something or getting hung up.

We stuck mostly to the main lake.

So if I follow the previous posts. Once you feel like you have found a big school you should stop trolling and fish regular.

[Feathers and Fins]

It is a judgment call on stopping but as a rule if I catch 2 to 3 fish from the same spot ( walleye or crappie ) then yes stop and try casting on them. But don't waste lots of time if they are not biting.

The timber most are fishing is below the surface and we are banging baits off it. You will lose a lot of baits but that's where the fish are.

[Feathers and Fins]

Oh and as to last night wait till everyone see's what Doc caught

[nathanhooper]

Maybe the thread should be 4th of July weekend? Can't wait to see what you all scared up last night with WW3 going on out there.

I took the boy out this morning. Man oh man. You wanna talk about a bad morning. At least the boat did not break down. I really need to get some fishing knowledge pumped into my head. We trolled from first light till noon. Caught one small mouth the exact size of the flicker shad we were pulling. Boy loved it.

Caught another 15"+ sm and that was it. I pulled through 11'-50'(even though I know I'm running 13' max). Couldn't hardly mark any fish worth speaking of. Maybe it's just my interpretation of the sonar. Who knows.

I pulled through main lake till I read your post f&f and then pulled through to the back of Indian creek. That's where we caught the fish and where I actually saw decent fish on sonar. Probably carp or gar.

I thought for sure that those nice little flickers would just gravitate the fish to me. Guess I was wrong. I think I'm just going to take a box of worms next time and call it good. Call me frustrated.

[J-Doc]

Oh and as to last night wait till everyone see's what Doc caught

Yeah..................OK I have to post this. I can't help myself.

To all of the neigh-sayers and negative press that poor Beaver Lake gets saying "Beaver doesn't have big bass in it"; well I say this with total sincerety and the utmost seriousness......

B - O - O - Y - A - A -H !!!!!

This picture does NOT do this fish justice as it looked so much bigger in person. Bigger as in LONG! This slaunch weighed in on the "extra lean" (notice the very small belly.....the fish that is, not me) at a very LONG 23" of lean largemouth bass. Weighing in at a tidy 6lbs even?? Some of you are thinking "So what! I catch 4-6lb class fish from Beaver on occassion". That's true but this class of fish should easily weigh 8-9lbs based on length alone and from what I've seen of Beaver Lake mounted fish over the years, this was approaching a TOP QUALITY size bass for Beaver. That and it's now my personal best so it's a big ole fish to me! LOL!

Guess what this big-bug-eyed jewel was caught on......a 3" nose hooked striper minnow on a split-shot rig sitting on the bottom under a light. I told F&F as I was holding two rods at the time, "hey, hold this other rod. I think I have something on this one". Then the fight was on. Ole girl pulled so hard I had to tuck the butt-end of my rod under my armpit to keep from having her torque the 6ft spinning rod out of my hand. I was going to get up and fight the fish but I was too busy trying not to lose my rod and keep pressure on whatever it was. When she was netted, I thought it was a long walleye for dinner and F&F said....."No, not this one!" So I see a fat head and asked "Catfish??" and he said, "No....it's a bass!" That's when I about lost it and jumped from my seat to see this VERY long largemouth with eyes as big around as a nickle looking up at me.

I've only bass fished for about 6-8yrs now and only 4-5 of those years have been from a boat and usually not my own boat. Until just recently, I've never caught a bass over 4lbs. That occured a couple of weeks ago trolling for walleye with F&F. NOW.................I have quickly upgraded that PB to a very long and lean 6-pounder! At this rate, I should catch an 8-pounder in a few weeks based on progressional average!!! LOL! If this keeps up, we're naming F&F's boat "Personal Best"!! LOL!

SO....................

No, there are no big fish in Beaver everyone. GO to Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Dardenelle, Grand, etc. Don't waste your time on Beaver. LOL!

[J-Doc]

I thought for sure that those nice little flickers would just gravitate the fish to me. Guess I was wrong. I think I'm just going to take a box of worms next time and call it good. Call me frustrated.

I feel your pain man, I truely do. NO BAIT is EVER as good as dynamite!! LOL!

In other words, nothing is a sure thing. While F&F preaches the "Flicker Religion" on this forum.......nothing is a full-proof thing. EVER!

Beaver is known for being a lake that changes not only daily but within a few hours. What is hot for a 4-5hr run may or maynot be the next day or even later that day. There are TONS of bait in this lake. Trolling has taught me that as I'm forced to watch my graph a lot which is teaching me more about what fish are relating too, why, etc.

I have trolled over a lot of fish in the last several weeks and only caught a few. I've tried the silver/black backed Flicker but now F&F is on a hot new color and having luck with it. Point is, tie on a particular color on one rod, and a different color or even a different bait on the other. On July 4th morning, I caught a nice smallie on a Sexy Shad Rapala Shad Rap (SR9) and an almost keeper sized walleye later that morning. The Flicker only caught some hand-sized perch (poor buggers just get dragged for a mile before I realize he's on there).

I'm going to try some other baits that will get down deeper and see what happens. I may find a hot bait for that day and I may not. Best thing you can do is mark waypoints or drop markers or something and get a run lined up and troll it 4-5 times and change baits. Find what works and then capitolize on it. After about 5-8 runs, leave and come back a little later and try it again. Sometimes it's got to be just right to get a reaction.

If you're going to fish live bait, use some crappie minnows or some striper minnows over worms. LOL! You'll probably have better luck.

[nathanhooper]

Nice! She is slender. But I hear what your saying.

I'll take the advise, heck I'll take most any advice at this point. I am a full fledged newbie. No doubt. Took me 3 years to get a boat that would run, turning my property into a boat boneyard in the meantime.

Was not till last summer that things came together and this spring till I felt comfortable with it and started trolling. I have many years of knowledge to catch up to the likes of you guys, I appriciate all the help.

I have been noticing the live bait thing more. Worms just seem easier to come by. I have thought about cast netting for shad, but I can just see myself trying that and making myself even more frustrated before I even start fishing.

I'm not the type to knock others for catching while I am not. It just makes me more determined...and my wife more lonely. Haha. No, just making me more broke than I already am. I'm thinking dynamite may be cheaper...