Two Observations/questions

[M_Taylor]

So I am fairly new to the forum and I have only fished Beaver Lake for a year now, but something I have seen a lot of talk on here is the bass fishing, or to some, the lack thereof.

My first question or more of an observation is that I have caught a lot of bass since I started fishing it seriously this year. None over 4.5lbs, but some very good(maybe I am easily pleased) largemouth, Kentucky and Smallies. I don't have a lot to compare it to, but if I can go out of an evening with the wife and land over a dozen fish and not know the lake well, I am happy. So what gives that people bash it?

Secondly, in the last week I have gotten into some stripers. It seemed that the size I caught on each individual night was fairly unifrom. For instance, the wife and I caught 7-8 last night all under four pounds. Last week we went out and the size was all five to ten, and then on one night it was only one fish but went 35lbs. To the people that have experience fishing stripers, if you are catching a bunch of dinks, do you move because that's all there probably is? Or was my experience just a coincidence? Thanks for any insight.

[J-Doc]

A) Welcome to the forum!!!!

Beaver has a bad wrap on the pro circuit as being a lake plentiful with lots of fish but nothing of any size (I disagree completely)

C) Constant tournament pressure has got to take it’s toll on the fish after a while. There are multiple clubs, weekday jackpots in the summer, and then there is the larger tournament series with 200 boats every other week. Add in the locals that don’t fish the tournaments (like myself) and the fish are getting hammered with a lot of local pressure

D) When the pros do visit the lake, they get their “behinds” handed to them in a lightweight weigh-in bag (haha). My theory is they are moving too quickly trying to get a reaction bite and this lake is NOT typically a KVD power fishing lake (see item C above and there is why)

E) The neighboring lake (Table Rock) has had a lot of success with the “Ned Rig”. It’s not necessarily the rig that’s the ticket but rather you have to fish it so slow, you don’t move around and you fish an area for like an hour. You catch a lot of fish that way but most people can’t fish a dock for 5-10 mins much less 1hr. It’s a super slow soak it till it kills you presentation. Which is why it catches fish

F) For stripers of varying size, they are a school mentality fish and will hang out with fish their own size. You won’t typically see a large striper of 36lbs in the middle of a few hundred 14” stripers. I think the larger stripers are in limited schools and probably less than 10 per school where 14” stripers can be in the hundreds in one area.

Now I’m basing my striper knowledge on what I’ve learned over the last year. I am NO way any expert of any kind so take my input with a grain of salt. I’m basing off of what I have observed and what my instincts tell me. There are others here with more experience that can correct me.

Also…….if you’re catching a dozen + fish each trip, you’re doing well. Some local tournaments you don’t catch a single fish and you throw the kitchen sink at them and cover a lot of area (again……..speed fishing vs. slow and finesse presentation). I have also heard from many better anglers than I that catching 5-6lb LM bass with jigs and crankbaits is rather common in the summer and winter as well. I’m not one of those guys……(yet) but I’m working towards it. J

[Feathers and Fins]

There is plenty of good bass in Beaver lake, She is known to be stubborn though but with the right conditions and times very generous. Evenings seem to always be very productive on all species of bass as do windy days off points. I have found that for all day productivity you need to move with the fish, if you catch a few in one spot in the morning and they shut down it is not they shut down but just moved deeper as a rule.

When I do target bass I also do fish deeper than many people, I use long points with sloping drop-offs and target 15 to 20ft of water for them, many of my biggest smallmouth have come doing this, if I am after largemouth I really like Mudline points but especially spooning them in deep water around bait schools. Kentuckys I just find a bush in 12 to 18 fow and have fun with whatever bites.

As to the stripers first is be sure you are IDing them properly I see many people mistake hybrids or big whites for them and in the 1 to 5lb range its easy to do, I sometimes have to check the patch on them to be certain when its hybrids. Typically the fish will work together in schools so if you are in a mess of small ones you might want to move, try first shallower and then deeper. More times than not I have found the Bigger stripers in shallow water especially in evenings. I actually have a favorite dock in fall they always seem to get around in 3 to 8ft but if you hit 10 plus its all whites.

It never hurts to be moving when striper fishing or throw a Bucktail or Pencil Popper at shore if you are catching dinks to see if the bigger ones are there.

[Feathers and Fins]

Oh and as to why they Bash it? I don’t know for certain but speculatively I would say they watch too many fishing shows and think they should be catching the numbers they see people on TV catch or the Size they are catching.

Beaver is not FLORIDA, TEXAS or CALIFORNIA with the monster Florida Strains in it. Beaver does have a great smallmouth population IMO and respectable Black Bass population and an over abundance of Spots IMO.

Heck think about how many excuses there are for losing a fish and im sure someplace in there is the lake sucks lol. Truth is its probably not the lake just the angler, oh hell I know it is I have had bad days on every lake I have fished but those days are the ones that make me go back and try and figure out what I could do better next trip.

[Quillback]

In general, Beaver is not as good a bass lake as Table Rock or Grand, but it can be very good at times. Very scenic lake also, I like fishing the dam area and Indian creek, it may not be the hot part of the lake, but not as much boat traffic and less pressure overall. Of course for stripers, there's nothing around here to rival it.

[J-Doc]

I keep hearing this Quill but I think Table Rock and Grand get less pressure per acre of water. That makes a big difference.

My personal best on Beaver was caught at night on live minnow under a light at 6lb+. The fish was long and lean which is a sign that it's swallowed plastics and not able to digest it. Probably caught too many times or from pressure. Would have weighed 8-9lbs during spawn.

[Quillback]

Table Rock and Grand less pressure? I disagree. Check out the tournament schedule permits on either and compare it to Beaver.

[J-Doc]

No sir. I was referencing pressure "per acre". Those lakes are really big. I personally think there is a lit more water to cover on lakes like them compared to Beaver. A lot of places on Beaver are "community holes". And for good reasons too. Those spots produce where others do not produce as much.

[Quillback]

If you can find tourney permit info for beaver that is, I sure as heck can't. All I can say is that I've fished Grand, Beaver and TR many times and I based on personal observation, I'd say pressure, at least as far as black bass, is about the same.

[J-Doc]

I could be completely wrong but after spending a little time on TR, I didn't realize how big it is compared to Beaver.

I really can't justify my theory as I have only fished TR once in a 2 day period. Just basing my theory on instinct and even with the Elites on the water, I didn't see that much boat traffic from other anglers.