Indian Creek, May 10

[Quillback]

Smallmouth are biting, better than I have ever seen on this lake.  I caught more smallies yesterday in one day on Beaver than I ever have in one day on this lake.  3.3 Keitechs on 1/4 oz heads on rocky banks.  I encourage everyone to practice catch and release when it comes to smallmouth, the numbers are strong, let's keep it that way.  

 

[Blll]

Nice bunch Quill. Are the bigger smallies done spawning and off the bank little. I've been catching about 50% smallies but I can't tell with all the male bass I've been catching if they are done.  I'm still catching a bunch of fish, all shallow, but mostly 10"-12" males. Boy, those 3.3 Keitechs are getting hard to find. TW order, here I come. You seem to be really "on em' this spring.

[Quillback]

This has been the best winter/spring I have ever had on this lake.  We're seeing the fruits of the high water springs we have had that result in good fry survival.  Now that the lake is high again, I hope they keep it that way for a bit and we should have another good year for spawning success.

The fish are pretty close to the bank, won't be for long I don't think.  

[bferg]

Awesome Quill.  Beaver seems to be fishing better than it has since I moved here 9 years ago.  Love seeing the Bronze Ninjas looking healthy!

[Noelys N Corey Wormington]

I’ve seen 2 mentions of releasing smallies now.  Do they not stock them?  Just wondering why.  

[Stump bumper]

14 hours ago, Noelys N Corey Wormington said:

I’ve seen 2 mentions of releasing smallies now.  Do they not stock them?  Just wondering why.  

They stock Smallmouth very seldom in Beaver, since they reproduce naturally. Smallmouth are also very aggressive and eat most of their own fry if the fry don't get to good hiding places quickly after hatching. The main stocking efforts are on fish that don't reproduce in the lake like Strippers and Walleye. There has been a renewed effort to place Largemouth in the Lake because the Spots have out numbered the LM so bad in recent years. The growth rate for Smallmouth is much slower than other bass so getting a 15 inch SM takes much longer than growing a 15 inch spot or LM.

If you want to keep a Bass to eat in Beaver it is encouraged by the State that you keep Spots, they are overpopulated. They would like people to keep the smaller Spots in the 10-12 inch range.

I have been here long enough to see 3 attempts at stocking Walleye fail and was very pleased the forth was successful, but I fear that so many people keeping the fish they may disappear again.  15 years ago, no one caught a walleye on Beaver, you had to go to Table Rock to see a walleye.

[Noelys N Corey Wormington]

Thanks Stump. That’s enlightening.

[Sore Thumbs]

On 5/12/2018 at 9:26 AM, Stump bumper said:

They stock Smallmouth very seldom in Beaver, since they reproduce naturally. Smallmouth are also very aggressive and eat most of their own fry if the fry don't get to good hiding places quickly after hatching. The main stocking efforts are on fish that don't reproduce in the lake like Strippers and Walleye. There has been a renewed effort to place Largemouth in the Lake because the Spots have out numbered the LM so bad in recent years. The growth rate for Smallmouth is much slower than other bass so getting a 15 inch SM takes much longer than growing a 15 inch spot or LM.

If you want to keep a Bass to eat in Beaver it is encouraged by the State that you keep Spots, they are overpopulated. They would like people to keep the smaller Spots in the 10-12 inch range.

I have been here long enough to see 3 attempts at stocking Walleye fail and was very pleased the forth was successful, but I fear that so many people keeping the fish they may disappear again.  15 years ago, no one caught a walleye on Beaver, you had to go to Table Rock to see a walleye.

Are you sure the walleye don’t spawn here? Because they do go way upstream during spawning time. They are a freshwater fish naturally. I thought they did spawn. 

[Stump bumper]

6 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

Are you sure the walleye don’t spawn here? Because they do go way upstream during spawning time. They are a freshwater fish naturally. I thought they did spawn. 

They do spawn and so do stripers, but the river does not flow fast enough for the striper eggs to survive and become baby stripers(unlike parts of the Arkansas River). The natural reproduction on Walleye stopped for some reason unknown to me, since Walleye were native to White river before Beaver Dam was built. They tried to replace the Walleye serval times with no success. Many people think of the Walleye as a Northern fish but the World record was out of Arkansas for years.

They raised Walleye in the breading pond until they were 10-12 inches then released them around 2004 I believe (don't quote me) but those were the first to take since the original fish disappeared in the 70s. 

The river does not flow into Beaver like it did before the dam went up, the lake blocks that flow and by backing up into the river. The rivers leading into Table Rock have a much more natural flow plus there are more of them that is why fish like smallmouth and walleye produce better on their own. Fish the rivers leading into Table Rock in the spring along Hwy 62 and you see what I mean, you can catch 5lb fish in ankle deep water.

I have read several articles about the capture of walleye out of Table Rock streams for breading and those fish being put into Beaver but never have I read anything about Beaver Walleye being used. I did read that there were some natural producing walleye in Beaver but not enough to sustain a fishery.

If you fish Great Lakes you will see small mouth running in the streams and in New York you will get a fine for even hooking one even if you let it go right where you stand before 1 June. Back in the 90s that was $75, I paid one of those fines. Beaver just does not have a good steady streams so you will see SM breading in the lake and it is my belief that is why we don't have a larger population of  SM.

Just enough information to establish my beliefs, I am not a biologist.

 

[Sore Thumbs]

Thank you. Interesting