The Annual Debate on Beaver Lake

Love it or hate it, how you approach the Beaver Lake event can change your entire season

Depending on your experiences there and your point of view, it’s considered the enemy, or the Godsend, or the enigma or the familiar. But it’s mainly known simply as Beaver Lake.

In my opinion, no other body of water elicits more contrasting reaction every year from the anglers on the Walmart FLW Tour than Beaver. Then again, no other body of water is on the schedule every year, either, but I think the repetition is only part of it. The lake itself divides anglers like political parties.

One side loathes Beaver Lake. Anglers in that group gripe about its fickle nature, how last year’s or even last week’s patterns can dissolve so quickly, or how there is no one winning spot. Some have sour memories of years past when the lake wasn’t as healthy and fish-infested as it is now. But most of all, many in this group have seen Angler of the Year dreams and Forrest Wood Cup berths die on the White River impoundment.

The other side sees Beaver Lake as an annual blessing. Guys such as Bryan Thrift, Cody Meyer, Wesley Strader and Andy Morgan love that it’s one of the best “pattern lakes” in the country. They enjoy knowing that each year brings something entirely different, and that an angler can actually catch three different species of bass (plus the hybrid “meanmouth”) that can all be players in the final weigh-in. Not surprisingly, many of the pros who enjoy fishing Beaver Lake are the same ones that find themselves vying for AOY by the end of the year.

Really, there is no middle ground when it comes to Beaver Lake. Anglers are either on one side or another. It’s probably not too hard to guess which side I belong to, considering the house in which I now reside was built thanks to my back-to-back Beaver Lake wins the last two years.

I’ve always belonged in the group that loves Beaver Lake. You might think that’s because I’ve always done well there, but I remember saying I loved the lake even after I bombed my first tournament there. I simply loved how the lake could be patterned.

For such a small lake (about 31,000 acres), Beaver is as diverse as any in the country. Really, it’s more like three different lakes. The stretch from the Highway 12 bridge and upriver is shallow and filled with dirty water. From the bridge to Rocky Branch, it’s murky and diverse in terms of cover and structure. Then there’s the stretch from Rocky Branch down to the dam, which is deep and gin-clear.

I’ve caught fish both in practice and during tournaments in all three of the “lakes,” depending on the conditions. That’s because I’ve never once fished Beaver Lake and caught bass the same way I did the time before, unless I was sight-fishing. For many anglers, the idea of starting over every year is too difficult to grasp. I welcome it; I enjoy fishing by the seat of my pants and constantly keeping an open mind and adapting.

It might not seem that Beaver would lend itself to pattern fishing, but it does more so than other lakes. Once I determine the conditions, I can then pick the section where I want to focus. If it’s cloudy and windy I might run to the gin-clear water of the dam, but if it’s going to be nothing but sunny during the tournament I’ll probably head up the river.

Then it gets really fun, because I just start experimenting. There are just so many types of cover and structure to fish. Once I figure out what the fish are using, I run the appropriate section and often find plenty more areas just like it. If they’re hanging around chunk rock, I can run around or keep the trolling motor on high and find plenty of it. Or maybe they’re using docks around areas with black soil. Or maybe it’s steep pea-gravel banks. Whatever it is they’re relating to, there is no shortage of it to fish and no shortage of fish using it.

Really, Beaver Lake is just that simple, but the idea of constantly fishing new or unknown areas often is what gets anglers hung up. Every angler likes to rely on experience, but at Beaver, experience can actually hurt you.

I fish every tournament at Beaver as if it’s a brand-new lake. Because it’s a small lake, I can see pretty much everything there is to see in just three or four days. So the right mindset can make you or break you on Beaver Lake.

I let the guys in the “other” group gripe, and I just smile. We go to Beaver Lake every year. You can either learn to make that an advantage or complain and let it derail a season. Obviously, I’m thankful to be on the side that loves Beaver Lake.