Fish Where the Fish Are

How do you catch more fish when conditions are tough?  Fish where the fish are.

That's the simple answer of Brad Wiegmann, a guide on Arkansas' Beaver Lake. A highland impoundment of the White River, Beaver has miles and miles of rocky, riverine banks that at a glance look very similar. Not all rocky banks are created equal, though, and Wiegmann showed me that today. Despite the fish being in a definite transition between summer and fall patterns and the day shaping up calm and gray but not distinctively dark or rainy, we caught a few dozen bass by hand-picking stretches of bank to work and bypassing a lot of non-productive stuff. Wiegmann pays close attention to swings in the inundated channel and changes in the banks slope and make up. Within any given stretch of bank, he concentrates on rogue boulders and wood.

Wiegmann has learned the types of banks that hold the fish on Beaver, so he spends his time fishing where he knows the fish are. That allows him to experiment with baits and presentations and to let the fish say what they want and how they want it. Today the bass wanted BOOYAH spinnerbaits burned tight to the bank.

Back in Touch & Back to the Water

My blog got quiet for a few days because Nathaniel and I were at a music festival in Winfield, Kansas and without any Internet on the computer or the phone. We're back to the real world, though, and are looking forward to spending tomorrow on Beaver Lake with Brad Wiegmann. Tomorrow's conditions will dictate much about the day's strategies, but Brad has several ideas about what we'll need to do. A day on the water with Brad is always great both for catching fish and for learning things that help me write better stories.

Heads or Tails?

Same legendary river. Same part of Arkansas and Ozark topography. But that's where the similarities end. The Beaver Lake tailwater, where Nathaniel and I fished yesterday with Brad Wiegmann, stays 51 degrees and super clear, and most fish you'll lock horns with will be rainbow or brown trout. The headwaters, where we launched Wiegmann's kayaks this morning, was more then 15 degrees warmer than the lake's tailwater and sort of a dark green with modest visibility. White bass are the main attraction in this section during the spring, but the walleyes are also up the river, and in truth any given cast could produce a variety of species, including stripers, smallmouths, spots and more.

One other thing these two sections of the upper White River have in common is that they are really fun to fish out of kayaks and by wading. If fact, it's hard for me to imagine a more fun way to fish on a beautiful spring day.

The highlight of the fish catching was a big walleye that took Brad's YUM F2 Walleye Grub in the uppermost pool that we fished this morning. Nathaniel had the hot hand when it came to catching white bass. He tied on an XCalibur Xcs Square Lip before we launched this morning and never had reason to change lures.