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08-13-2007, 09:10 AM | #1 |
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Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
After returning from a California vacation on Thursday, I didn’t expect to be able to make a spearfishing trip to Beaver or Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas this weekend. But, after mowing the yard and checking on my elderly parents, I decided I could manage a quick trip to Beaver Lake Saturday morning and be back home in the afternoon. While in California, I purchased a new 9/32nd shaft for my Riffe Mid-Range speargun and I was anxious to try it out on a “Freshwater Striper”.
I arose early Saturday and drove to the Beaver lake dam area and started looking for places to dive. Without my boat, I needed to find a place to freedive from shore. There are only a few spots in this area that are accessible and good for Striper hunting. Beaver Lake, with its clear water, is a paradise for divers and dive shops from Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas bring students here for their open water certification. Saturdays and Sundays are very busy. After finding an unoccupied spot, I suited up and swam out into the lake . On my first dive to 41 feet, a very large Striper swam by and I fired my speargun. The large tail sounded and I was yanked off the bottom. Line was burning off my reel and then…it stopped. As I pulled up the shaft, I noticed the slip-tip was still attached. Since the shaft didn’t completely go through, it simply pulled out! This point had a small O-ring to hold the tip in place and it apparently offered enough resistance to prevent the tip from coming off. I took off the O-ring and pulled the spectra back into the band. I continued to hunt this same area for an hour, but didn’t see any sign of this fish or others. I decided to move to another spot. I swam about 100 yards to the west. By this time, my dives were of longer duration and I was reaching deeper depths. Swimming further from the shore, I dove next to top of a large Oak tree and made a good landing on the bottom at 50 feet. The timber was thicker here and I was thinking how the conditions are quite similar to the Kelp diving I was doing a few days earlier in California. I heard a Striper nearby and then saw it appear at the edge of my visibility. No doubt, it sensed my presence and came in for a closer look. As I extended my gun, it turned to leave so I fired. This fish wasn’t as large as the first one, but it was taking line in a hurry. By the time I reached the surface, it had pulled about 100 feet off the reel. I was worried about the slip-tip holding, but there was nothing I could do but hang on. After several good runs, I begin to pull in line. When I got to the shooting line I could see, the fish and the shot placement. It was in the back of the head and the slip-tip was not visible. I pulled this fish on up to the surface and dispatched it with my snake dagger. This Striper was a beautiful fish and it provided a good ride. I was quite pleased to make the hour drive and shoot two quality fish within a few hours. I really enjoyed diving in Southern California and being able to shoot a nice White Sea Bass. On the other hand, spearing large Striped Bass in Beaver Lake is pretty hard to beat! Pixs below. Les Sage Joplin, MO |
08-13-2007, 09:29 AM | #2 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Awesome report! Thanks for sharing. Glad to see good quality fish in freshwater.
Joe |
08-13-2007, 10:13 AM | #3 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Thanks for sharing.
I dove Beaver last year and the clarity was amazing for freshwater. |
08-13-2007, 10:19 PM | #4 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Nice fish!
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08-13-2007, 10:51 PM | #5 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Damm Les........... that is a monster! Nice catch!
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"Spearing is the path to enlightenment." --- Lao Tzu “Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find 'tomorrow' on the calendars of fools.” ---- Success Unlimited Author Og Mandino b.1923 - d.1996 |
08-13-2007, 10:53 PM | #6 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Beautiful fish!
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08-14-2007, 12:06 PM | #7 |
Eat Em Raw
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Nice shooting-great fish Les.
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08-14-2007, 03:58 PM | #8 |
Whats this pointy thing?
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Nice fish!
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Arkansas spearfishing. With 8 feet of vis you know you are hardcore!!! |
08-15-2007, 07:54 AM | #9 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Outstanding freshwater spearing!!
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08-16-2007, 01:33 AM | #10 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Now that is about as good as freshwater spearing gets. Maybe with the exception of a safari trip of spearing in the Amazon River, or spearing Nile Perch in lake victoria.
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James Deirmendijan Thousand Oaks, California |
08-20-2007, 05:16 PM | #11 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Les,
where did you put in from shore to find that timber? i didn't realize there was much exposed timber near the dam. was that toward the Indian Creek ramp? or by the dam? |
08-20-2007, 05:18 PM | #12 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
BTw that is a super fish!!!
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08-20-2007, 08:49 PM | #13 |
wsb....I'm over it!
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
Les, I'm sure it's great to get home and shoot some quality fish in your own backyard! Great job my man! Hope you had a good time while you were out our way and look forward to hookin up next time you're in the area.
BTW, what's that weird thing hangin out the side of the fish below the dorsal fin? Looks like some kind of parasite or something. Also, I don't think you ever got back to me on the similarities between the wsb meat and the stripers. Which do you prefer??
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08-21-2007, 12:53 PM | #14 |
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Re: Striper spearfishing in Beaver Lake, AR
rpowers wrote:
was that toward the Indian Creek ramp? or by the dam? That area is south of the dam on the main body of the lake. Can't tell you exactly b/c it is a secret spot :-) John Hughes wrote: BTW, what's that weird thing hangin out the side of the fish below the dorsal fin? Looks like some kind of parasite or something. John, that "weird thing" is a smaller version of what hangin out of the mouth of your WSB picture. Seriously, that is the spectra line from my slip-tip. The end of the slip-tip is within the fish, under the skin; it did a good job of holding this fish. For the picture, I simply unscrewed the point from the shaft. Both fish are excellent food fair and they seemed quite similar to me. Les |
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