White or green lights for night fishing???

[Ron Burgundy]

On June 21, 2016 at 10:02 PM, Vinsott said:

Sat at the 12 ramp with my wife at dark to see if I could watch the commericial fisherman come out. At 9:30 when the ramp traffic just about ended here comes the sonoma with the Lowe.  I play tourist and go up to them to ask if they can catch anything at night. Older Asian couple with very broken English said white bass and striper. Had a couple of big coolers in the small boat. They must go every single night since April!!!  Have to be supplying it for sale or something. I guess legally they could keep hundreds of white bass every night for months.  Just aint right.

Hmm I don't see where u mention sonic shake and beautiful sunset .

[JohnF52]

Politically correct in this situation means if one reports them one might be considered a racist.   The ones I have suspected of selling fish are always foreigners who grew up doing so in another country.

[Blll]

To report it or not report it, based on race, is the definition of a racist. Wrong is wrong. I do understand there may be no other viable occupation so get a license.

Lets get back to fishin' talk. 

[Vinsott]

My wife and I are going to try again tonight. With a white and a green light out. Just because that's what I have in the boat. I get the politically correct statement now, thank you for the clarification. Hope to keep about 5-10 whites for fish tacos this weekend with the kids coming to visit. I might just skip the fishing and buy some white bass. I know a reliable connection.

[Vinsott]

Went out just before dark. Forgot to look at the radar before we left of course. Was only one other boat tied under the bridge and a few others scattered around.  Got all set up with a green light port, and a white light starboard. Had baby shad around the lights within 10 minutes.  In an hour had thousands but they were tiny (not big enough to net) Looked like rain might hit, then the straight line winds came. Holy moly, it was howling !!!! Rained just a little bit but stayed dry under the bridge. Wind was shifting from many different directions. The magical older couple weren't out tonight.  Not only are they better night fishermen than me, they are smarter too !  Most all the other boats got out of Dodge. Wind died down and tried multiple times to get shad , but only the tiny ones were there.  Wife gave me the "Look" and laid down with the dog on the pontoon couch and went to sleep. I started jigging a "lil fishey" jig from walmart. Finally caught a small white. I mean really small. Night became very comfortable so I was determined. I tried to ignore the snoring from my wife and the pooch.  My white light had about 3 times the amount of shad that the green one did.

All said and done kept 5 whites between 14"-16", one 12" black crappie, and a 24" walleye all on the $1 jig. Caught lots of small whites, about a dozen small crappie, and a 16" and 17.5" walleye.  When the duo finally decided to get up the light of day was showing through the clouds, and the fisherman were hitting the water. A little slow overall, but a great and relaxing night after Hurricane Beaver was over. Fish tacos tomorrow.

 

[chi0082]

On 6/24/2016 at 0:38 PM, Vinsott said:

Went out just before dark. Forgot to look at the radar before we left of course. Was only one other boat tied under the bridge and a few others scattered around.  Got all set up with a green light port, and a white light starboard. Had baby shad around the lights within 10 minutes.  In an hour had thousands but they were tiny (not big enough to net) Looked like rain might hit, then the straight line winds came. Holy moly, it was howling !!!! Rained just a little bit but stayed dry under the bridge. Wind was shifting from many different directions. The magical older couple weren't out tonight.  Not only are they better night fishermen than me, they are smarter too !  Most all the other boats got out of Dodge. Wind died down and tried multiple times to get shad , but only the tiny ones were there.  Wife gave me the "Look" and laid down with the dog on the pontoon couch and went to sleep. I started jigging a "lil fishey" jig from walmart. Finally caught a small white. I mean really small. Night became very comfortable so I was determined. I tried to ignore the snoring from my wife and the pooch.  My white light had about 3 times the amount of shad that the green one did.

All said and done kept 5 whites between 14"-16", one 12" black crappie, and a 24" walleye all on the $1 jig. Caught lots of small whites, about a dozen small crappie, and a 16" and 17.5" walleye.  When the duo finally decided to get up the light of day was showing through the clouds, and the fisherman were hitting the water. A little slow overall, but a great and relaxing night after Hurricane Beaver was over. Fish tacos tomorrow.

 

Vinsott, I appreciate your reports and your determination on "stalking" this asian couple. I've been following this thread closely to see how it pans out and it has been very entertaining. lol. Great to see you catching fish and figuring things out on the lake. Wish I lived closer so I could enjoy it as much as you do. 

And about the limit on white bass, I would say 15 like we have here in Missouri is a generous limit in my opinion. Some may beg to differ, but I have a hard time keeping that many as we eat mostly crappie and walleye. 

I'm gonna give the asian couple the benefit of the doubt that maybe they are catching fish to feed their family and all their relatives. Many of the asian community have very, very large families and extended families and it is part of their culture to share their catch with everyone. I know many asians and this is a very common thing. Again, just giving them the benefit of the doubt. Either way, they got it down to an art it seems from what you're telling us. They must know some secret we don't. 

[Stump bumper]

There was a reason for the Fish and Game to put an unlimited take on white bass, they were overpopulating the lake. In years past it was not uncommon to sit and catch 50-100 in a few hours in one spot. I remember throwing crank baits and catching 3 whites to one black bass. Beaver is just a great breeding ground for whites I guess, now there a fewer but still a lot of large whites in the 3-4lb range. I was fishing under a dock light in PC the other night and caught a bluegill about 4 inches and used it for bait thinking something bigger then a white would eat it. Not 2 minutes in the water and a 4lb white tore it apart, so they are viscous eaters capable of eating much larger pray then you would think. Don't think a school of crappie has a chance against a school of whites.

Everyone has noticed that we have more and larger bass then ever before with tournament wins larger then any years past and fewer white bass. Some people say it is because of the removal of undersized spots but I believe it is because of all the actions taken by the Fish and Game who passed regulations to make Beaver a better bass lake since that is what the majority of anglers wanted.

So in short those people that keep 50-100 whites per night are managing the lake the way the state has intended and I myself believe it has been successful to the end the state was looking to accomplish.

With this in mind please quit bad mouthing my stripers.......   

[chi0082]

2 hours ago, Stump bumper said:

There was a reason for the Fish and Game to put an unlimited take on white bass, they were overpopulating the lake. In years past it was not uncommon to sit and catch 50-100 in a few hours in one spot. I remember throwing crank baits and catching 3 whites to one black bass. Beaver is just a great breeding ground for whites I guess, now there a fewer but still a lot of large whites in the 3-4lb range. I was fishing under a dock light in PC the other night and caught a bluegill about 4 inches and used it for bait thinking something bigger then a white would eat it. Not 2 minutes in the water and a 4lb white tore it apart, so they are viscous eaters capable of eating much larger pray then you would think. Don't think a school of crappie has a chance against a school of whites.

Everyone has noticed that we have more and larger bass then ever before with tournament wins larger then any years past and fewer white bass. Some people say it is because of the removal of undersized spots but I believe it is because of all the actions taken by the Fish and Game who passed regulations to make Beaver a better bass lake since that is what the majority of anglers wanted.

So in short those people that keep 50-100 whites per night are managing the lake the way the state has intended and I myself believe it has been successful to the end the state was looking to accomplish.

With this in mind please quit bad mouthing my stripers.......   

Love me some 4 lb whites. Wish I knew a way to consistently catch them. I'm thinking white lights and minnows sitting off a dock? Does location matter? I don't want to bring a boat if I don't have to.

[Stump bumper]

2 hours ago, chi0082 said:

Love me some 4 lb whites. Wish I knew a way to consistently catch them. I'm thinking white lights and minnows sitting off a dock? Does location matter? I don't want to bring a boat if I don't have to.

I don't know of any docks to sit on unless you own one or rent a slip. So I would have to say you would be pretty limited on location, but the whites are all over the lake. In the summer months seems the deeper the water the more you can pull. I was over 65 feet last week.

[Vinsott]

It's variety for me. I never bad mouthed Stripers must be talking about someone else. I'm not great at any one species cause I like to change it up all the time. Some days just playing with the bluegill and green sunfish makes me happy. Of course a 50lb striper on 6lb would be great.  I think I get bored too easy, and why I don't stick to just one type of fish. I saw on the news that they were doing some type of study to see if Beaver was getting too overpopulated with boats and people. It will be interesting to see the results. Not sure how they determine the answer on that study???  Many of the lakes have advisories on eating the fish and so far Beaver "seems" to be clean, but I hope that's because it's checked often.  Always picking up garbage that people leave all over the shoreline after they are done hanging out drinking and relaxing. The crows and buzzards eat the food scraps and filleted fish carcasses  but nothing seems to eat the cans, and plastic. Does anyone know if a 39" walleye would be a record for this lake?