Boy, really getting this one in late. Had a wheel bearing go on the boat trailer. That has a lot to do with fishing, wheels in water a lot, plus hot pavement. Grease those wheels. I try to grease mine about every 10 trips, more if driving farther for the stripers. Don’t over grease, just put it in until the water stops coming out.
Buddy bearings work great for this. I keep a spare hub, spare bearings and my grease gun in the truck. You don’t want to leave your boat and gear just sitting on the side of the road or have your wheel float off when you launch with another boat putting in behind you, getting it hung up between his boat and trailer as I did with Johnny a couple years back. Not funny then but funny now.
Well, the stripers on Beaver are really getting active up our way. The water temps on both lakes are up to 81°, which should keep the stripers below the thermocline which usually runs about 28 feet in the summer on Beaver Lake.
Some fish are coming in on down rods, but as of Tuesday most are being caught throwing big topwater baits and freelining a big shad, brood shiner or perch under balloons and planer boards 18 – 24 feet.
You can also run two free lines out the back between you and the balloons. Try one 60 feet and one at 90 feet back. Setting one at 120 feet behind and the other 90 works, too. Surface feeding fish are coming to the top in big schools, that’s best close to sunrise and sunset.
Here at Holiday Island with the warmer water the bass and are just catching up to the summer pattern. Walleye and whites are still roaming from Holiday Island and Houseman Access up the river. We marked a lot of bait and fish mostly 8 – 18 feet deep going up, and caught a good walleye at Houseman.
Well, I better get this in, time for fishing the cooler hours – carry some sunscreen. Think fast if fish are feeding, slow and deep if not.
Almost forgot the picture – Brandon Hancock from Claremore, Okla., with a nice 28-lb. striper he caught last week freelining a shiner between the Dam and Starkey Park.