Catching heats up with jigging spoons at Beaver Lake

A depth finder is key to catching fish with jigging spoons in summer and fall. The screen here shows schools of threadfin shad as well as game fish at various depths. Once fish are located, lower a jigging spoon over the side of the boat and let it hit bottom. Crank the reel a couple of turns and jig the spoon up and down with the rod tip. Raise it with a quick snap of the rod tip and let it sink on a tight line.
A depth finder is key to catching fish with jigging spoons in summer and fall. The screen here shows schools of threadfin shad as well as game fish at various depths. Once fish are located, lower a jigging spoon over the side of the boat and let it hit bottom. Crank the reel a couple of turns and jig the spoon up and down with the rod tip. Raise it with a quick snap of the rod tip and let it sink on a tight line.

Summertime and the fishing is easy. That is, when you can catch a mess and never make a single cast.

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Parker Moore, 10, and his dad, Monte Moore of Bentonville, show a white bass Parker caught on a jigging spoon Aug. 15. Jigging spoons may produce a mixed catch of white bass, walleye, catfish and other species.

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Jon Stein, area fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, measures a walleye he caught in the Rocky Branch area of Beaver Lake. The walleye was shy of the 18-inch minimum length limit and was released.

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Jigging spoons are simple to use. Lower a spoon vertically over the side of the boat and jig it up and down with the rod tip.

Fishing at Beaver Lake can be that way when white bass, walleye and just about anything with fins bite jigging spoons in the warm-water depths of summer and early fall.

Catch, keep a mess

White bass are the most abundant game fish at Beaver Lake, said Jon Stein, fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. There’s no daily limit or length limit on white bass at Beaver Lake or its tributaries.

White bass are fine table fare. The filets have a strip of red meat that may have a disagreeable taste. This red meat is easily removed with a filet knife when cleaning the fish.

— Staff report

Jigging spoons are among the easiest lures to use. Casting isn't necessary. Just lower a jigging spoon over the side of the boat, jig it up and down with the rod tip and hang on. These simple slabs of metal with a hook resemble threadfin shad, the primary bait fish at Beaver Lake. Game fish start keying on them most summers about mid-July. Good fishing can go on until the water cools in autumn.

Most summers is the operative word. For whatever reason, the jigging spoon bite didn't happen last summer, at least not for all fishermen. It's game on this summer, with trip after trip resulting in all the fish an angler cares to clean.

White bass make up the bulk of the catch during typical jigging spoon trips. There's no daily limit on white bass at Beaver Lake. It's a freezer-filling opportunity when the bite is on, as it has been for several weeks. Two outings in particular showed how fast and furious the catching can be.

Jon Stein, Northwest Arkansas' fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, had his hands full with a heavy white bass Aug. 19 at Beaver Lake in the Rocky Branch area.

"It's been a long time since I've had fishing this good, and this is a big one right here," Stein said. A conservative estimate was this was white bass No. 10 or 15 for Stein. The livewell was crowded with fish. Some major fish-cleaning activity would be necessary later.

The boat's depth finder showed schools of threadfin shad right under the boat. White bass were evidently gorging on shad. Fish often hit the jigging spoons before they could reach the bottom. Doubles were routine.

These were no dinks, either. Almost every fish was a solid 2-pounder. For grins, Stein measured one of the white bass that were the average size he was catching. Seventeen inches long. That's a hefty white bass.

Here's how to get into this good fishing. Head out on the lake and find shorelines with long, gradually sloping gravel banks. Flats, fishermen call these gently sloping shores. They're like long underwater gravel bars.

A depth finder is a necessary tool. Cruise slowly over the flat in water that's 25 to 35 feet deep. Keep an eye on the depth finder. When the screen shows a school of shad, stop and lower a jigging spoon over the side of the boat. Let it sink to the bottom, then crank the reel a turn or two so the spoon is just off the bottom. Jig it up and down by raising the spoon with a sharp snap of the rod tip, then let it fall on a tight line.

A spoon with a swivel is best or the fishing line will get badly twisted. War Eagle jigging spoons, made in Rogers, are a favorite with anglers. White or silver are good colors. So is the "coleslaw" color, a combo of white and chartreuse.

The more shad showing on the depth finder, the more likely white bass, walleye or catfish will bite. Trips usually result in a mixed catch. On this Aug. 19 trip, Stein caught white bass, small striped bass, two hybrid stripers and two walleye smaller than the 18-inch minimum length limit.

Trips earlier in the summer have given up keeper walleye to 22 inches. One outing produced a 20-pound striped bass. It's a morning thing, this jigging spoon fishing. Prime time is daylight to 9 a.m.

Stein called it a morning when he had 20 white bass, all that he cared to clean. Fish were still biting like crazy when he headed for the dock.

Being a fisheries biologist, Stein has his theory why summer fishing with jigging spoons can be so good.

"Could be that these shad have grown through the summer and now they're about the size of our spoons," he said. "Shad spend the first part of their lives out in open water. As they grow they bunch up more and move toward the bank. You'll see fish target them when the shad get about this size (a couple inches long), especially these bigger white bass."

Catching them with jigging spoons is so easy even a child can do it. Parker Moore, 10, of Bentonville proved it at Beaver Lake a few days later. He was proud to have his picture taken with a big white bass caught from a flat near Rocky Branch park.

OK, so his dad, Monte Moore, hooked the fish and handed the rod to Parker. Didn't matter to Parker, who got the jumbo white bass into the boat on his own, then flashed a grin for the photo.

School started the next day for Parker. He had a good fish story for his class, with a picture to prove it.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAFlip

Sports on 09/06/2016

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