Beaver Dam Tailwater Fishing Reports!

[HunterTheAviator]

Thought I got this topic up a few days ago, but it seems something went wrong.

Got a chance to go fishing with my brother on Saturday. We got out to Parker Bend at 5am. We started on bait. I had a white and a chartreuse power egg on a size 8 hook floated off of the bottom at about 16-18 inches. No leader. Brother had an inflated nightcrawler and a white power egg floating off of the bottom at around 6-8 inches. He got a few hits and finally landed a 12 incher about 15 minutes in. I didn't get much so I casted out into the main channel after seeing lots of fish swimming through it. Finally started getting bites but I couldn't keep a single darn fish on. I think two got off before I landed a keeper. Bait fishing stayed pretty consistent until 9AM when the sun got high. I had one in the bag and he had two before it slowed. We both had some pretty great action until then but for some reason we couldn't keep any fish on, and the ones we did were too small or we had to throw them back. I'm pretty sure it's the hooks we were using. We must have lost 8 or 9 between the two of us. Tried my luck with a 1/4oz silver kastmaster and lost it on my second cast due to a snag.

We headed up to the Dam Store for some lunch and lures and headed to the dam to catch some sculpin and to try our luck. We didn't catch anything on lures there but there was a gentlemen who was slaying them on chartreuse power bait. We got our sculpin and went to Houseman around 10. We didn't have any luck on them at all the whole time. He tied on a rainbow trout Rapala Countdown and I used a silver Kastmaster and fished all depths in a fan pattern a few times before I saw any action. Started to see some fish following after I started jigging it. I'd let it fall to the bottom and give it a quick jerk upwards. Nothing would take it, but I knew they were interested in it's fast and erratic behavior. Brother had some follows too on a steady medium retrieve. I'll just say that he didn't have a single bite on lures for the rest of the day. I started a steady medium retrieve with a few twitches and started seeing some action pick up. Landed a keeper and lost a few more. Lost a VERY nice fish. I got it all the way up to about 10 feet away from me after a nice fight and he got off. He was at least 20 inches, no doubt about it.

I should mention that this whole time we also had a line out with a worm and a white egg floating off the bottom about 24 inches. We ended up landing a keeper on that one too. The fish were under way too much pressure and shut off completely around 2 o clock. We tried our luck back at parker bend around 6, hoping they would pick up again with no luck. We left that day with 5 fish in the bag and a whole lot more in the river.

Not too bad! Fishing down there has definitely changed over the years. I used to be able to catch my limit of respectable fish before the sun came up. Now I'm lucky to leave with 3 or 4 by sunset.

[HunterTheAviator]

Just realized this is in the wrong forum. Sorry!

[Phil Lilley]

I fixed it.

Thanks for the report!

[Amery]

Beaver tailwater regulations;

Anglers may use no more than one fishing rod or pole and must attend it at all times.

Just sayin.

[HunterTheAviator]

Beaver tailwater regulations;

Anglers may use no more than one fishing rod or pole and must attend it at all times.

Just sayin.

At Houseman on the downstream side of the boat launch, the regulations are pretty much gone. Barbed hooks are allowed as are multiple rods. The slot limit is also gone, mostly. You can keep any size fish, but you can still only keep one over 16 inches. 5 fish limit still applies.

[BFTMASTER]

On the smaller Rapala Countdowns, I constantly whip my rod tip side to side while reeling as slow as I can. This results in many more hits than a twitch or two. It takes a little rhythm but once you get it the fun begins. The trick is keeping the lure as close to the bottom as possible without getting snagged and losing a $5+ rapala. Also, get some jigs and bounce those through those holes.

Thanks for the report

[HunterTheAviator]

I'm actually pretty new to fishing with lures. All I ever used before was bait. Caught my first trout on a lure with that Kastmaster! On the whipping action with the countdowns, are you relying on that to set the hook, or do you feel the resistance then set it? On the kastmaster, I missed a few fish because I didn't really know what it felt like for a fish to hit on a reeling/ retrieving lure, only on jigs fished vertically which feels like bait. The only time I ever caught fish on lures before was white bass on rooster tails and that was a few years ago.

On the smaller Rapala Countdowns, I constantly whip my rod tip side to side while reeling as slow as I can. This results in many more hits than a twitch or two. It takes a little rhythm but once you get it the fun begins. The trick is keeping the lure as close to the bottom as possible without getting snagged and losing a $5+ rapala. Also, get some jigs and bounce those through those holes.

Thanks for the report

[BFTMASTER]

They will generally hit it very aggressively, but just because there is a bunch treble hooks doesn't mean a hooked fish. Sometimes the trout hit it so hard that the hooks get knocked out of the way. I miss more fish on countdowns than any other bait, but when they are hitting good another bite is not a long wait. Sometimes the trout are fighting each for position on the lure, then a fish from across the way lighting bolts across the river and nails it. Quite fun when you get the patterns refined.