Terry Crosby of High Ridge, Mo., with his two biggest crappie we found in the standing timber here at the Island last week. We caught all on minnows set at 12 feet deep. Just look for the dead treetops in the deeper water and drop down a minnow or jig. If you don’t have a fish in the boat in 15 minutes pull the lines in and find another tree.
Look for walleye off the edge of the flats between Holiday Island and Beavertown and upriver to Houseman Access hanging close to the river bends humps and flats. Troll some deep diving crankbaits that get down close to 18 feet or drop a nightcrawler or minnow down on the bottom and move very slow.
Look for catfish going in the creeks and the coves wanting to spawn in the shallows and feed on perch. Best bait for trotlines are small perch now or find a cleared spot on the shore and toss a nightcrawler or some stinky liver off the bottom and you might just get a big ol’ flathead.
Best bank fishing with a lot of water on the main lakes now up in the trees is for trout in the tailgaters below the dam. Just find a nice spot and put a worm on tipped with some power bait to float off the bottom, or throw small lure that resembles a baitfish or crawdad and work the deeper water off the shore.
Striper fishing on Beaver Lake is getting hot up here on our end now since it holds the deepest cooler water. Live shad, brood shiners or perch can all catch them now set down close to 30 feet deep. Look from the dam to the Point 5 area watching your graph for bait and fish. Trolling umbrella rigs down deep ate catching a few, too.
Best time to fish for stripers now is from sunset to about 9 a.m. After the sun gets high the bite turns off with our water temp in the low 80s now.
Well that’s it for this week. Enjoy the summer and when the day gets too warm to fish just jump in and cool off with a refreshing swim.