Sondra Hawkins of Eureka Springs holds a nice striped bass she caught last week. It was a bit slow due to the Holiday Weekend, but we had one hit a big shiner down about 35 feet deep. Thermocline usually runs down about 28 feet on Beaver Lake and that’s where they find and like that 68° to 72° water temp when the surface water runs above 80°. That’s good at keeping the stripers up here on our end of the lake in the deepest, coolest water near Beaver Dam.
Going from what the future weather forecast said, we might not be dropping that water temp 10 degrees by the end of September. We got us a slight heat wave that might last for a bit longer then usual. Which prolongs that drive closer to Rogers until November if we’re lucky. Best bite is from 7 p.m. and 9 a.m. when the air is the coolest.
So the hotter it gets, the more they release water out of the dam, which also gives the fish a nice cool current way down below. That’s also a turn on and relates to the river as well as for our Kentucky bass, white bass and walleye going up the river to mingle with the trout.
They have been generating mostly late morning into the night, so usually the best time to go is when the schools of shad are on top in the afternoon into evening. If you have a temp gauge on your boat you should find them when you get into that 68° to 74° water temp.
If you do not, just feel the air, then the water, and look for that bait on top. We catch the best just trolling small crankbaits, and if you see a school of whites bust the top throw something that will give you some distance like a 3/4 oz. rooster tail, rattle trap or a countdown rapala.
Well, that’s it for this week. Remember it is never too hot to fish in the Ozarks as long as we have cool water flowing.