Hello, fellow anglers. This upcoming weekend my step-dad and I are fishing in our first tournament! It will be on Beaver Lake. The lake is deep and clear. I'm excited, but I need some help. We went fishing yesterday to scope out the lake and do some fishing. We fished around points in the back of coves. The water temp was 56 degrees. We marked a couple of schools of baitfish suspended about 10ft deep in 30 FOW. We marked a couple of bass in 20 FOW. The only problem is we couldn't catch one. My questions for you guys are:

1) Where are the fish this time of year?

2) How would you catch them? I was thinking maybe an A-rig or a suspending jerkbait.

Any advice or information is appreciated. Tight lines.

I'm in Central AR so I won't be much help because all of my time is on Ouachita but there is a guy, Bluebasser86. I believe he fishes Beaver Lake often. You might want to PM him and see if he can help.

Beaver lake is big highland power generation reservoir with a lot of choices to consider.

Based on what I have read about this season in Arkansas the weather has been very wet and cold. My guess would be early pre spawn and if mI was going to fish this lake it would be in the middle section, only because of the high water. I would locate spawning water, then back out to where the water starts to clear up and focus on creek arms, that have primary secondary points. This type of point looks like a Y where 2 arms divide.

A smaller size A-rig with 3" to 4" shad colored swmmers fished on or over these points when light wind is blowing should work, but you need to know when to put this down! Hard jerk baits can work if you meter suspended bass that are feeding. Drop shot worms in night crawler or shad colors bounced along the point sides or a jig fished similar manner can be good inbetween fishing the A-rig.

Very difficult to do well in a tournament when you have no idea where to start or the feeding time periods.

Good luck.

Tom

Also try a Silver Buddy type bait dropped straight down and then bounced around before you reel it in.

They may have been white bass and not green bass. I would start looking to the cover in 2-3 feet of water. I would bet the water temp up there is higher.I'd start with a gitzit or jig and craw of some sort, thrown around brush or cedars.

Beaver lake is big highland power generation reservoir with a lot of choices to consider.

Based on what I have read about this season in Arkansas the weather has been very wet and cold. My guess would be early pre spawn and if mI was going to fish this lake it would be in the middle section, only because of the high water. I would locate spawning water, then back out to where the water starts to clear up and focus on creek arms, that have primary secondary points. This type of point looks like a Y where 2 arms divide.

A smaller size A-rig with 3" to 4" shad colored swmmers fished on or over these points when light wind is blowing should work, but you need to know when to put this down! Hard jerk baits can work if you meter suspended bass that are feeding. Drop shot worms in night crawler or shad colors bounced along the point sides or a jig fished similar manner can be good inbetween fishing the A-rig.

Very difficult to do well in a tournament when you have no idea where to start or the feeding time periods.

Good luck.

Tom

Thanks for the pointers! Between me and my brother we've had too much baseball to get more time on the water. I'll look for those "Y"s.

Like Sam says, don't even think about getting on that water without a bunch of blade baits (i.e.: 1/2 Silver Buddy type lures). And sometimes, slow rolling a "boot" tail plastic - like the R.I. Skinny Dipper or Keitect Swing Impact - on a 1/2 oz. jig head will kill them. The hard jerks are good option as well, but here for instance, when the water was 55 degrees, just a few days ago, we couldn't touch 'em on hard jerks. Only the blades produced. Have a good selection of options on deck and switch off until you find a pattern that works for you. Good Luck!

The AGFC website publishes a weekly fishing report for Beaver Lake.

Thanks for all the good luck wishes! I'll let you guys know how we did tomorrow.

Yesterday was fun. The water rose up to 62 to 66 degrees. We caught them early on points and shallow areas filled with cover. The bass were on beds shallow. We used tubes, topwater, drop shots, and swim jigs to catch them. Unfortunately none were keepers. We had a lot of fun either way. Thanks again.

Jaiden