Andre Hill from Forest, Ky., with one of many teenage stripers we have been catching this year. It’s good to see this fish growing and knowing that there are a lot of the 32,000 fingerling stockings that made it past being eaten. Most of these schoolies are right at that 28-in. mark and weigh in at about eight lbs., but we all know there are still big stripers in Beaver Lake and I won’t stop fishing for them until we get one more than 50 lbs. in the boat.
They are still in their summer pattern and are scattered from the dam to Rocky Branch, holding below the thermocline from 28 – 40 ft. deep off the edge of the flats and points.
Walleye here at the Island are liking the same, but being caught in water a little shallower.
All three species of bass are now being caught on top water baits early in the morning and late afternoon into the evening. You can find them moving upriver past the town of Beaver chasing the schools of shad on top enjoying the cooler water when they’re generating. This is also a good time to go after some crappie, bass or catfish out at Lake Leatherwood.
Just drop a minnow, cricket or worm down from the boat or shore to find the grass on the bottom, then fish just above it. You should do well.
Gotta go on another bait run, so enjoy this holiday weekend with the kids, think of others on the water, and be safe.