Should I cancel my trip next week?

[brosborough]

Back for my once a year trip but with all this rain I'm thinking of canceling. You guys seeing any surface action with the striper with all this water? I don't know the lake like some of you locals and I don't want to burn a week of PTO and go fishless. Just heard that Horseshoe Brnd campground has closed due to flooding?? Sheesh.

From you guys who get on the water often, were you in my shoes what would you do?

Thanks,

Brian

[J-Doc]

Fishless is always a risk on manybbodies of water. On this lake, it's a higher risk. Lol! It's just tough. I found two groups of stripers last weekend. They would only bite when the sun wasn't out or when it was raining. And they wouldn't bite my live bait or crankbaits. It was a tough and humbling morning. They get locked in on a particular forage and action. Makes it harder to duplicate. No e there are some who are just wizards and can catch fish all the time no matter what but even they struggle to figure out what will get them to bite.

So what's it worth to you? A fun time on the water no matter what you catch? Come on up. If looking to fill the cooler only? I'd say look for later in the summer. Maybe next month. When water settles and bite is more stable.

[JohnF52]

On Beaver, I go fishless more often than not. I like to fish a lot, but unless conditions are at least decent, I will find something else to do. This year has been frustrating due to cold snaps, wind, and multiple river floods.

[Stump bumper]

I don't know where you are coming from, but as a local if the bite is not on, it is not a far drive to Table Rock. That is what we do around here if we want to fish we head to Beaver if we want to insure we catch we drive over to Table Rock.

If you want to be here when the striper fishing is HOT you need to be here when the water is Cold. As far as rising water I never have luck with stripers in Brown water but the largemouth seem to turn on.

[Samkam1]

fish with bluegill and sunnies as close to the shore/brush/submerged trees as you can.

[J-Doc]

So did you cancel? Or brave the weather? If you are fishing, I hope you've had a lot of luck. I suspect you would need it based on reports I've been hearing.

[brosborough]

No sir. I backed out. Couldn't even go trout fishing. After seeing all that water in wondering how many years until I can trout fish there again.

Wow! I think this might wreck the whole white river.

[Terrierman]

No sir. I backed out. Couldn't even go trout fishing. After seeing all that water in wondering how many years until I can trout fish there again.

Wow! I think this might wreck the whole white river.

Nah, BSD isn't even running water very hard right now. Very tempting to head down there.

[brosborough]

Hope you're right.

[Terrierman]

There's a lake level link at the top of every page that opens in OA. The link is for all the lakes on the White River chain and includes discharges and generation rates from all of the dams. Right now BSD is making 150 MW of power. They can make up to 391, so they are running well under half speed. And they have been shutting it down from there quite a bit. Ran at 25 MW most of the night and scheduled to dial it back again tonight. See for yourself. I expect the flooding on Arkansas River is why they are holding water back in BSL.