Decisions, Decisions...

[nathanhooper]

I haven't striper fished in the last 3 years but I have been planning on doing some this fall. I don't know what the law is on bringing bait to beaver could you enlighten me on the present laws Thanks

Not sure of the exact laws, but I am pretty sure from my digging that there is no import of fish from outside of Arkansas allowed.

[Feathers and Fins]

Ok to save Keiths thread I will start a new one so hold on 5 minutes maybe 10.

[kjackson]

No that is me directly targeting stripers.... Only time I go with C-Rig baits is when its very windy, I prefer the bait to look as natural as possible and swim as free as possible also why I use 10 and 12lb lines.

In the clear water of the dam area a bait 50ft back will swim down toward the thermocline which is about 22 to 27 ft right now.. guess what else is there? The split shot bait will also do it but give off a ton of vibration struggling to swim and that gets attention and finally that clear water a Fish will see a long way so even a bait that's swimming 10ft deep will be targeted and better yet when it is it will swim to surface. Now I have seen guys think something is wrong when they do that and reel them in MISTAKE it did that because something was wanting to eat it and scared it up.

I absolutely love nervous minnows! I'm gonna have to try rigging with bait at some point soon.

The plan is to hit the bridge area tomorrow, if the promised storms hold off. If they don't, then I'll wait until there is a break and hit the dam area. And soon i need to get out there with a few sunnies in a bucket and a rod...

[vuekid]

how fast would you be trolling at when drifting live bait? Seems like everytime I troll at 2 mps, my bait seems to just be gliding through the water n not swimming at all.

[Feathers and Fins]

Drifting is just that drifting with current or wind under no power from the boat at all. so speed can vary a lot. Keith im opening in the morning so swing by and say hi.

[zummy]

For what it's worth I knew nothing about the lake. F&F gave me a few tips. I have fished the Beaver shores area the last 2 mornings and evenings. Got into schools of white bass with a small striper mixed in both times. Went clear to the bridge tonight but didn't mark many fish. Watch for them on the sonar, then hang on. Did find what appeared to be crappie in 32 fow about 26 ft down. Caught one on a jigging spoon. Pulled spinner rigs for walleye but only caught 2 small channel cat.

[kjackson]

Thanks all for the input; I do appreciate the help.

Here's my report: woke up at zero dark, turned off the alarm, watched the lights in the sky and listened to the thunder and went back to sleep. I don't do lightning. I've been in situations where the graphite rods start ticking and the line remains up in the air after a cast. I don't like it.

So Plan B is to hit it tomorrow morning.

The rain delay means I can dig out a couple of Jet Planers (the 20-footers) from my steelhead gear and rig a rod with a spoon or small spinner behind it. Couldn't quite get to it yesterday. I'm also going to throw in a drift sock because my luck with weather hasn't been stellar lately. And I'll probably tie up a few more spinners--just in case.

[Tanderson15]

I always have two drift socks in the boat. Used to use them a lot on lake Oahe in SD as we sometimes drift the flats with jigs and spinners.