Beaver Lake Walleye Fishing.

[Feathers and Fins]

Walleye were here before Beaver Lake was built but when it was darn up for some reason they didn’t do so well. But for the last 10 years or so the AGFC has been stocking the lake regularly with them and all signs point to them doing very well and naturally reproducing now. In fact AGFC has surveyed several over 10 pounds and I have put a 12 pounder in the boat with many 8lb fish. But the big fish do not impress me near as much as the hundreds of small walleye I catch throughout the year from 6 to 17 inches which tells me the population is healthy and thriving and that is both impressive and encouraging for the future of this resource. The current regulations are 4 fish per day per angler that must be a minimum of 18inches long.

This is encouraging but more than that the White River Chain of Lakes as they are known today are notorious for pumping out some monster walleye including the World Record out of Greers Ferry Lake. My father-in-law was over while I was writing this and at a recent tournament said one guy came in with a 19lb walleye at a Greers, though I have not confirmed it I was not surprised by it! Our lakes can produce not only numbers but record size fish. With proper management and carefully watching the lakes I believe these lakes could produce more records and many great walleye fishing days to come. Yet at the same time the lakes are not often discussed by many people outside of this area which keeps the pressure off them.

Walleye are a medium rate growth fish; a one year old fish is about 6 inches and a legal fish of 18 inches is about 6 years old. They start spawning at about 3 to 4 years of age which gives them 3 to 4 good years of reproduction before they are legal to keep. A good size female can lay a half a million eggs and they do not stay to guard the young. The eggs fall in crevices in rocks and lay their incubating for up to 30 days after which they survive on their yoke sack for about a week. Once it is absorbed they feed on small aquatic insects for the first month or two and then switch to fish and crayfish.

Walleye are highly nocturnal “nighttime or low light predators “with high feeding activity being in the crepuscular hours “dawn and dusk” or night and on low light days. As such anglers should concentrate their fishing for them in those times to maximize their chances. They can be caught at any time but those are the primary times if you only have a short time to fish for them you should concentrate your efforts to.

As an old Bass fisherman I use to think of Walleye as a simple fish to catch! A hook and night crawler and just drag it behind the boat but I quickly found out that the tackle needed for would make a bass angler jealous. There are as many if not more techniques for walleye fishing as there is for bass fishing and getting caught up in buying everything you read about online or in a magazine will just end up costing you money, I know I got caught up in it until I settled down and found the most consistent items I needed to catch them on Beaver Lake. What works on one lake may not be what works on another when it comes to consistent production.

I think the tackle stores are in on the stocking program and possibly even feeding them Viagra as I find myself buying more things to go walleye fishing than I did when I was bass fishing or I should say insuring I keep my tackle boxes stocked up for fishing for them. A typical trip will see me buy at least 2 to 4 boxes of night-crawlers a pound of Brooder Minnows and a pound of Bass minnows with enough terminal tackle for the day, then the lures I lost the previous trip needs restocking. It is not uncommon to spend 40 to 60 dollars at the tackle store each trip out.

For rod, reel and line selection I have found a light to medium light rod in 7 to 8 ft with a smooth reel spooled with 10lb fluorocarbon line suits me best. If you are a fan of braid I would suggest 10/2 braid and with a fluorocarbon leader of at least 5 to 10 feet. No matter which type of line you use make certain to use a swivel for connecting the main line to the lure as you will be dragging it a long time in the water and this will help prevent line twist. Line counter reels are almost as mandatory as the trip to the bait shop every time. They will help get the bait to where it has to be!

Beaver lake is a boat lake, I hate to say it but it lacks much in the way of shore fishing so to chase the walleye you will need some way to get on the water. Walleye fishing is a different experience for most people where you really use the boat and your sonar more than most other types of fishing. It will make you a better boater and better at discerning what your sonar is showing you. I do suggest the highest quality sonar you can afford and a side scanning unit is even better.

When I say “use your boat” when it comes to walleye I have found that your boat actually becomes an extension of your fishing rod. As most walleye fishing is done by trolling or controlled drifting you have to use your boat to put the baits on the fish. Typical speed for trolling and drifting can be from .3mph to 2.7mph. This is not a put the boat in drive and pull baits approach but a game of connect the dots. I made the mistake when I first started of doing the drive and pull and did not catch much at all, a fish here fish there and much frustration! You will see me over and over in this article talk about knowing your boat and I do so because of how important I have found that aspect in fishing for walleye to be.

This frustration did teach me to pay close attention to my sonar though! And after many hours on the water and marking each time I caught a fish I was able to see a pattern develop and just like any other fishing when an angler can develop a pattern his/her odds go up exponentially. I also noticed that as the seasons changed and even the sunlight these patterns changed but all held true under the same conditions. I used different icons on my Plotter and made sure to properly name them such as ( Pole timber, Cedar, stump, Rock etc) so I could look at anytime and see the specific structure for the circumstance.

Now is when you use the boat to play connecting the dots! Say you know on sunny days the fish primarily hang out in 20 feet of water on flats relating to cedar trees. You pull up your plotter and locate those areas and find the dots, next you start driving over them to verify if fish are on them or not. If you see fish then set-up for fishing the dots and start at slow speed and work up to faster speeds, after some time on the water you will get a feel for it each day.

One thing I have to discuss; when you have spent enough time on the water you will know where they should be and if they are not there do not give up and run off. That gut feeling you have is based off sound knowledge and sooner or later the fish will show up and be where they should. I have one point I know they like to hang out on sunny days and with the right wind and temperature I have sat on it all day to be sure I can be there when they decide to move up on it. Have faith in your knowledge with walleye and their habits.

Fishing logs are a vital tool for all fishing if you want to stay productive, I don’t go to an area by accident! Technology is great and the days of old paper logs are gone thanks to computers and the best way to log things today is a combination of your cell phone, gps plotter and your home computer. If you are good with Microsoft excel you can write a log program in it, when you are on the water mark the spots on your plotter and when you catch a fish take a picture with geo-tags on. Next is when you get home fill out your log with the information you gathered. If you plan to post pictures I do suggest transferring them your computer and remove the geo-tag as to not give people your spots. Over time you will build a database of spots, time of day, time of year, water conditions etc. Then you will be able to look up the information prior to a trip based off similar conditions and go to the fish instead of wasting hours looking for them. Walleye except during the spawning season are homebodies and don’t move around too much and detailed logs will help you put more in the ice chest.

By now you are probably asking what baits do I need to catch them. Please remember this is for Beaver Lake so if you go to Stockton or even Beavers Tail waters what I am about to say might not work there. You will want as I mentioned an assortment of live baits, minnows and night crawlers to start.

For both these baits I use a 3-way-swivel set up, Main line to the swivel then a 2ft section of line to the weight and a 4ft leader to the hook. When using minnows I prefer circle hooks, remember with circle hooks the jerk needs to be the fish not the angler! If you rear back and slam the hook to set it you will become the jerk as the fish swims off, those hooks are designed that the fish sets the hook not the angler. I use them because walleye can be a very subtle take for one and two with trolling or drifting you will be bouncing off the bottom and it takes time to learn what a bite is and isn’t and the circle hook makes it much easier.

Nightcrawlers I use the same basic set-up for the main line and bottom bouncer/weight but the leader could be a slow death rig, a straight to hook set-up or an inflated crawler. I prefer to use whole night crawlers and thread them up the hook over the eye so the hook comes out about ¾ of the way down the body.

RPS did a great write-up for the three-way –rig some time back and this link will take you right to it http://www.ozarkanglers.com/white-river-walleye-on-worm-harness/

The only major issue with this system is it catches everyone else in the lake as well so you will need to be ready to take a large volume of bait with you. A full day on the lake I suggest at least 4 dozen or more night crawlers and a pound of Brooder and pound of Bass minnows, YOU WILL NEED THEM! The three way tends to catch everything that swims plus it can get hung up a lot. If you are using minnows put the hook through the top of their mouth (make sure not to hook the bottom jaw as well you want them to breath) and run the hook out one of the nostrils, this will keep them alive a long time. That said you want to change them out about every 15 to 30 minutes in warmer it might be even more often, you want the bait to stay fresh and frisky.

There are trolling baits and crank baits both have their uses and there is a crossover point between them. First the true trolling baits, I have found Berkley’s Flicker Shad and Storms Thin Fins to be excellent producers for beaver lake when it comes to a pure trolling approach. Both can be trolled effectively from 1.7 to 2.7 mph giving them great action. The walleye seem to prefer the Flicker shad in Size #6 and #7 and the Thin fin in both sizes. Colors in Avocado, Pearl and Black Chrome seem to generate the most bites.

Both these baits can easily get down to the 8ft mark but the Storm has difficulty getting below it without the use of rubber core sinkers or downriggers, this limitation on Storms bait forces you to use the Flicker shad for deeper fish. You will definitely want to use a 4ft leader with #1 or #2 snap on the end of it for attaching the bait and a good swivel for joining it to your main line to prevent line twist if you get a lure that spins or a fish that planes out.

The true crank bait family I use the Rapala SR series in #7, 8 and 9 the number 9 will get down to 23ft just trolling. Though they are crank baits I use them as a trolling bait, but I wanted to have something that worked for both situations in case I came across shallow walleye that wanted crank baits. Flicker and Storm do not cast near as well or dig as fast as the Rapala do thus the need for them. On a good note though the only color you need is Silver Black.

For trolling I refer you on to these two articles I wrote earlier in explaining trolling tactics better. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/beaver-lake/trolling-for-beginners/

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/beaver-lake/trolling-201/

You may find other baits that will work for you but as far as primary bait those three are my everyday go-to baits. They work and that is what I want. You will have to learn your boat and what you need to do to handle in different situations and optimize your ability to use it as an extension of your rod and bait.

Soft plastic swim baits are certainly a deadly bait on the lake and for that I want Keitech swing impact, I do not know what it is about them but they catch walleye in all colors but seem to be limited to shallow fish from 2 to 10ft deep, after that they just don’t seem to be as affective for some reason! But hey you hit the deeper water the bass are not afraid to inhale them and if whites or stripers are present they as well love them so it has a versatile multi-species application.

I do something a little different with them than most guys and troll them. The reason is I have found that when walleye eat them there is usually more than one in the area, so when I do catch one I swing back around and start casting them to the spot I picked the fish up and more times than not I will pick up to or three more fish from that spot. I use spinning reels to troll them counting to 40 before flipping the bail. Using a 1/4oz jig head seems to be the perfect size head, heavy enough to troll down to 8 or 10 ft yet still castable able to work effectively as a jig or swim-bait.

Another popular and well known tactic is jig-heading live bait or soft plastic. On Beaver this seems to be very productive on the flats or in structure. The method is simple; taking a jig head and strapping a minnow, crawler or small soft plastic on the hook, you need short shank hooks to do this and it takes a little time finding out what type of presentation they want but when you find it you will connect many times.

Lastly I have developed a different option, this involves the use of a Balloon, and clothes pin. When you mark fish in a certain depth range especially on points or flats you take a live minnow and put it on a hook, above the hook 4ft place as light a split shot as you can to weight the bait down. Now when you get it to that depth take a balloon and tie one end of fishing string to it the other end tie it to the clothes pin. The rig is now ready, what you want to do is anchor your boat off the area and up wind of the spot and let the rig out. This presents the bait to a specific depth and point I really like using it in water over 15ft deep. If the wind is at your back and you are on a long point this method can be used to work the entire side of the point all the way out to the end. Beware though stripers love this as well.

Every one of these approaches requires precise boat control to make them pay off! Even in anchoring you need to be exact and methodical about where and how you position it as to maximize the wind for getting the balloon out to where it has to be to catch a fish.

The seasons play a major part in walleye fishing and by that I mean the Pre-spawn migration the Spawn and the Post spawn Migration after that it becomes finding where they ended up. Walleye are not a fish that moves a great deal except in the Pre-and Post spawn and they can really move then but with some predictability. Beaver has to classes of walleye I have learned! Those who run up the major river arms and those who seem to be bluff spawners! The bluff spawners do not seem to travel very far at all and elect to spawn on the bluff walls along pea-gravel sections of them, where the river spawners will cover large distance of the lake to spawn.

The spawning urge seems to kick in on Beaver Lake when the water temps hit around 42 degrees and that is when the fish start moving up to either bluffs or creek arms. Actual spawning seems to be best at 48 to 50 degrees from what I have seen on the shoal areas of major creek arms and bluff walls.

Targeting the Bluff fish first you want to look for sheer bluff walls with a transition area to a more gentle slope with pea-gravel on it, work the entire stretch over with your graph carefully to locate fish, after finding fish this is a prime area to throw the Rapala cranks and Keitechs as you are working small pocket areas and only a few fish will be in any given stretch. Don’t be disheartened by the low numbers as the size is generally decent and there is a 4 fish limit anyway.

On the other hand we have the migrating fish that cover large distance and that means you have to cover the distances as well. These fish can be found on points or flats and in very shallow water up creek arms. When I target these fish I am trolling to find the schools and trying to stay with them. You may find an area 3 miles long that is holding fish and work it for a few hours using a variety of tactics that are producing then all of the sudden they are gone.

The first time it happened I thought they had to have moved deeper or just stopped biting but found out they had done neither! Instead they had moved on and by me moving up toward the spawning grounds I was able to stay with them.

When they are located I will make several trolling passes to get an idea of where they are top end to bottom end, then come back working the area with bottom bouncers at around .3 to .5mph with the electric trolling motor and while doing that I often will have a Jig –N- Minnow on as well jigging it as I troll the three-way-bottom- bouncers. These combinations typically fill the live-well fast.

To maximize the chances I like to use 2 to 3oz bottom bouncers to keep the baits right under the boat, I will zig-zag the boat following contours and when I hit a cut I go up and down it sometimes spinning the boat very sharply. Same holds true on any structure I locate! I might spin the boat in circles around it to make sure I thoroughly cover all aspects of that structure.

I have seen the fish start moving up as early as January 22^nd and as late as February 20^th it all depends on the lake temperature and when we start getting good run-off from storms. Typically the spawning is over someplace around the First of May I base that on the latest I have found row in walleye I catch. Though it’s not scientific by any means that seems to be when the spring pattern is also in full swing.

I do not fish the actual spawning area as I want those fish to go unmolested to restock the resource; no fish fry today is worth messing up the area that is holding those eggs. That is a personal opinion but I do enjoy pursuing walleye and eating them and just feel the more that are successful in spawning the more dinners I will have for years to come.

The Post-spawn is probably my favorite time to fish walleye, they are voracious and shallow as a rule and nothing gets your blood going better than top-water action and it seems so many other fish are shallow as well and on top water. Yes I said TOP-WATER! Walleye will bust a Pop-R this time of year and they do it with such ferocity they make the stripers look like armatures. They also will readily take a fly this time of year so you have many different ways to take them.

For top-water you want to find pockets in the buck brush and toss it up to the back and let it sit for a minute or even two and then work it out the middle, if there is a walleye in the area it will attack the bait rapidly, this is not the typical walleye follow and grab the tail approach that many think of but a vicious attack that has thrown my bait out of the water many times, if that happens let the bait sit a few seconds and then twitch it gently and the fish will come back again on it.

The same scenario applies to fly fishing for them, toss it in the pocket and bounce it along the bottom or fast strip it just below the surface. You can also use the fly around boulders or off the tip of long points. On a fly-rod walleye put up an incredible fight. The only fly I use is the FOF the Duckydoty ties. I am sure any minnow patter will work but this fly is a great producer of walleye.

Precision trolling is mandatory this time of year and I have refined my tactics over the years for it. Knowing many walleye are shallow often hugging the buck-brush I will keep my boat 50ft off the brush and send a planer boar out to within a few feet of the brush, another about 10ft off it and a final one about 20ft out and two rods off the boat behind it covering the most amount of cover and shallow water as possible. This is a slow passed approach of 1 to 1.5mph at most using flicker shad or thin-fins. You must follow the contour of the shoreline and or brush line to keep your baits in the strike zone.

The other type of trolling is working the Keitechs behind the boat on long points, most the walleye I have discovered are in the 6 to 10ft depths along the points but not on the tips. You want to literally put your bait on shore and let out a 40 count and then engage the reel bail pulling the bait out and working those depth lines. Do not worry about going over the fish it does not seem to bother them. Work the entire point several times over to see if they are there. If they are then this is a good time to throw the A-RIG parallel to the bank in that water depth.

After the migration has stopped you end up with what I refer to as the territory fish, they stay in a relatively small area and you can catch them time and time again as evident by one tagged fish that I have caught within a mile of the first spot I caught it but caught several times in several areas. Several other fish I can identify buy cut fins or other unique markings have helped me develop this theory on them.

These fish are to a degree paternable but are heavily affected by the light conditions, early mornings they can be as shallow as 3ft but with a bright day move to 20ft within a short time and the angler must be adaptable and understand that is what has happened. They most often will be on the same pattern you caught them on first thing as far as bait but just moved deeper.

This time of year when im looking for the territorial fish typically starts around mid May and will last all the way in to winter so long as it doesn’t get below 56 degrees which makes figuring out how to fish for them very easy. It is trolling season during the day and anchoring over cover at night! Though a variety of the previously mentioned tactics will work trolling is the top producing method during the day. I should clarify that by day I mean from about 5am until 11am as by then you will want to be off the water due to the pleasure boating crowd, you can then come back around 3pm and troll till dark or about an hour before dark when you will want to locate that prime night area. The fish typically are from 12 to 35 feet depending on water temp and light conditions and boat traffic.

For trolling it is hard to beat the Flicker shad this time of year from size #6 when the fish are shallower to size #9 when they are deep. Line counters are mandatory 140ft out on 10lb test line seems to be perfect for getting the baits to the proper depth 12 to 20ft after that you will need down riggers to get at them. On the down riggers I drop the bait back 50ft and clip the line to the rigger then drop it deep enough to put the bait in the strike zone. 50ft back will get the flicker to its maximum diving depth and then the rigger just helps put it deeper.

For example if I am using a #7 flicker shad I let out the 50ft the bait till run 12 to 15ft deep then dropping the down rigger to 12 feet will put the bait at 24 to 27ft of water depending on boat speed and it is important that by this time of year you have played around with the boat enough to know where the bait will run at a given speed.

Briefly to learn where the bait works at you want to take the hooks off the bait and find a long flat area. Let out 150ft of line on the counter and put the boat in gear. I start off at the maximum depth on the lures package when I make contact I write it down for future reference to boat speed and lure then I go out at 2 foot increments till I know long make contact so I know the lures maximum depth at boat in gear. Do this with every size bait you use and you will build a great reference book on bait depth to boat speed.

Ok if it’s a cloudy morning I like to start working the bait at 10ft deep and then work my way out to deep water until I locate the preferred depth for the walleye. If it is a sunny morning start at 15ft and work your way out. You are targeting aggressive fish with this style of presentation. Though I say its trolling season be sure to have the jig-n-minnow ready if you catch several fish in one area others are probably present. Try the minnow and if it doesn’t work on the jig put the bait on a hook with a split shot 4ft above it and drop it down to them.

When night comes much like with the crappie fishing you want to find the best concentration of bait near structure the walleye will be roaming around looking for a meal and the more food the better. Typically the bait will be in the top 10ft of water under your lights so you want the bait to be near the bottom. To about 15ft deep so you can take advantage of any walleye that are around and really anything else that comes for the bait in the light.

There is one last specific time I must talk about; its three days each month that can really be productive for walleye. The Full moon! The day before the day of and the day after are phenomenal times to be fishing for walleye but you need to be on the water at dark to do it. I have found two very productive ways to fish them in this time, one is trolling and the other is live bait fishing.

Trolling is much the same approach but I will start in 20ft and work my way in shallow as the moon rises, these are very aggressive fish that only need something near them to trigger a bite. Set your drags light so when something hits it will start pulling line, more than anything this helps you hear a bite as you may not see the rod bounce or load.

For live bait fishing I like drop marker buoys in a half moon in 12 to 17ft then set my boat upwind and anchor at least 100 ft from the markers, I will set the bait at 10 to 15ft deep and attach a lighted bobber and send them out with the wind behind the boat on flats and points toward the markers and stop them shot of each marker allowing the bait and wind to be swept around in the area. This can be a very effect technique to catch full moon walleye but do not be surprised to have other fish eat the bait as well, because of the Stripers and large catfish that are active as well I strongly suggest 12lb test line to do this.

So where are the walleye? The answer is simple; all over the lake! With the lake spawners ( bluff fish ) plus the migratory spawners walleye can be found all over from way up river to the dam. There is no wrong place to search them out; they can be in pole timber, flats or points. You have to search them out and build a log to help you find them year after year. The one nice thing is when you find concentrations you can rely on that spot to have them under the right conditions each year.

[J-Doc]

[zarraspook]

I'm waiting on the book / movie version of " F&F vs BEAVER LAKE"

[J-Doc]

It's a week movie.

No plot and the angler in the movie is kind of like Captain Quint from Jaws.

- a bit deranged

- seriously committed

- always on the quest for the big one

LOL!

[rps]

Well done Scott!

[two old poops fishing]

O M G oh my gosh that was AWESOME i will be sending free flicker shad for all the time and gas you just saved me and at my age time is PRECIOUS sorry VERY PRECIOUS thanks

[Stump bumper]

Catching walleye in Beaver can be simplified to just paying you dues in a bass tournament and you can catch walleye on everything you throw that day...

[kjackson]

Very nice! Now to put it into play...

[J-Doc]

Catching walleye in Beaver can be simplified to just paying you dues in a bass tournament and you can catch walleye on everything you throw that day...

LOL!!

So true!

[ADD-Fishing]

Scott, that was a thoroughly written 'dissertation' as well as very generous of you to take the time and effort for those of us who still have a lot to learn. Your contributions sure helps to shorten the learning curve for someone like myself who isn't able to free up 'water time' as much as I would like.

If I could ask you to possibly elaborate a little more on the Keitechs. What speed do you generally straight-line troll them? Do you ever use planer boards with them? If so, how far behind the boards to get the right depth and performance?

I do love the 'eyes' and any help is appreciated.