Beaver Lake Stripers

Striper Fishing on Beaver Lake

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Striped Bass are the main attraction at Beaver Lake.

Beaver Lake Lake spreads over 28,220 acres with 487 miles of natural shoreline in the Ozark Mountains.
Beaver Lake is intentionally managed for BIG STRIPERS, not big numbers, according to fisheries biologist over the lake for the AGFC. Formed by the damming of the White River, the 28,220-acre lake wanders 70 miles through the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. The lake averages about 60 feet deep, but some holes plunge to more than 220 feet deep.
Stripers average 10 to 15 pounds , and 30- to 40- pound fish show up with pretty good regularity.

Beaver Lake produced a former state-record striped bass, which weighed 57 pounds. In addition, the current Arkansas state record Striped Bass, a 64-pound, 8-ounce giant that is also a line-class world record for 12-pound test, came from the Beaver Lake tailwater.

Striped Bass don't reproduce naturally in Beaver Lake, but the lake has been stocked with about 200,000 stripers a year since 1967 Farkas said. The average striped bass runs about 15 pounds, but it's not uncommon to catch 20- to 30-pound fish. The lake record is 57 pounds

The section of river where Jeff Fletcher caught the Arkansas record Striped Bass
is not stocked with stripers, so biologists believe that it was actually
a Beaver Lake fish that went through the dam at some point.

Fomer Beaver lake Arkansas record Striped Bass caught by Holt Holyfield.
Holt Holyfield of Rogers:
57 pound striped bass caught in 1999
a state record at the time.

Because of its size and depth, Beaver Lake has good habitat even through the hottest days of summer. In addition to stripers, which get stocked at a target rate of 200,000 fish per year (though in some years actual numbers are lower), Beaver gets hybrid striped bass stocked in it every three or four years.

Beaver Lake supports a good shad population, with both threadfin and gizzard shad in the mix. Striped bass growth rates, which biologists keep a close eye on, are very good.

The stripers make a distinct run up the lake's two main arms during March and April in an attempt to spawn and in the summer most fish are within about six miles of the dam, where the best deep-water habitat is found. During May, however they might be just about anywhere.

Fishermen rely on one of three basic methods during late spring. The first is topwater fishing, which is at its best during May, this is probably the most exciting way to catch striped bass and the best bet for anglers who haven't done a lot of striper fishing. Spooks and Red Fins are prime lures,

In addition to fishing big plugs on the surface, live-bait fishing and trolling are the two most popular and effective ways to target Beaver Lake stripers. Most live-bait fishermen use small to medium-sized gizzard shad, which they may fish on free-lines, suspend under balloons or fish straight down on down-lines. Tactics vary according to whether stripers are schooling and how deep most shad and stripers show up on your graph.

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Striper Fishing on Beaver Lake

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