Indian Creek 5/16/21

[Devan S.]

Yesterday I went panfishing.....tested out black bass lake in Eureka, Leatherwood, but ultimately ended up fishing the rip rap along the dam. My biggest fish was a 6oz. green sunfish.....well short of what I am after but I did see something intriguing in the distance. Several swirls on the cloudy dreary day. 

Today we put the boat in the water and the fog pre-daylight at Indian Creek. Began working along a pea gravel bank and the graph was absolutely full of shad....several flipping like I use to see in Grand. First fish of the day crushed top water and I knew it was a good one. 

Measured right at 19" and 3lb 9oz. 2nd Arkansas Master Angler fish this year. 

My second fish wasn't no slouch either and was mixed in a large school of striper. 3.35lbs

We were just chasing and picking apart scattered swirls in about 50' water when he hit. The after about 5 minutes the water absolutely erupted around the boat. A big school of striper were pushing the shad up and most of them were 25ft from the boat or less. I'm talking dozens of swirls and splashes at a time all in a very small concentrated area. We both were hooked up 3 times but they kept pulling off. 

We kept working the same general area and finally got one into the boat. 

I tried to make the swimmer work.....but it just doesn't for me. Frankly I don't have a good rod that I feel comfortable fighting fish this size so everything we caught was top water. 

Off the water and back home before 8:30.

[Quillback]

Way to go!  I'm a little ticked I didn't get up and go myself now.  

[Devan S.]

It was a good time although pretty foggy. I just cannot get over that 8-10lb hump with stripers. 

It's almost like the big ones don't feed on top the same way.

[Quillback]

I'm pretty happy with maxing out with 8-10 lbers. using bass tackle.  You get a 30 lb. goliath on and you end up wasting a half hour chasing it around.  😃

[Devan S.]

You are correct....I will take them all day. I threw a 2.8 for awhile on 6lb test with my medium light combo, then I thought what am I doing and upgraded to throwing everything on my dobyns swimbait rod just on the chance I hook something a bit bigger.

[bfishn]

12 hours ago, Devan S. said:

...It's almost like the big ones don't feed on top the same way.

Oh, they do, they're just fewer and further between. Back 30-35 years ago you'd rarely catch one under 10-12lb. Lots of smaller ones now imply lots of bigger ones in the future.

[Quillback]

Good crop of 3-5 lb. fish last year, looks like they are the 6-10 lb. fish showing up this year.  

[Devan S.]

40 minutes ago, bfishn said:

Oh, they do, they're just fewer and further between. Back 30-35 years ago you'd rarely catch one under 10-12lb. Lots of smaller ones now imply lots of bigger ones in the future.

I haven't put in the time yet so its no surprise I'm catching the smaller ones.....still fun. 

 

I just see quiet a few bigger fish on Beaver lake striper fishing groups on facebook but looks like they are generally doing the live bait thing instead. 

[Phil S]

I usually use a medium action rod with those Keitech's with 20 lb braid and an 8 lb floro leader. Is that enough brawn if you hook up on a striper? What is your line and rod setup?

[Devan S.]

In the past, I was using a medium action bait cast setup with 10lb mono and it works. You just have to play the fish a bit.

Yesterday I was using a big swimbait rod with 20lb mono. I was pretty well horsing them the best I could.