Everyone has their favorite baits that they fall back on time and time again to put keeper bass in the boat. The beaver is one of my all time confidence baits when it is tournament time. Ive caught so many keepers over the last two years on this bait in competition…
Everyone has their favorite baits that they fall back on time and time again to put keeper bass in the boat. The beaver is one of my all time confidence baits when it is tournament time. Ive caught so many keepers over the last two years on this bait in competition that I never leave home without it.
There are a couple reasons why I think the beaver is such a great fish catcher. The profile for one is nice and compact which makes it look vulnerable to the bass. The bait does a great job of resembling both craw fish and shad with its erratic action. Not as many weekend anglers are throwing this bait on a regular basis so it gives the fish a new look.
You can bet that the fish in your lake probably havent seen it as much as a jig or a brush hog There are a number of ways that you can fish the beaver. My favorite way to rig the bait is texas style. A couple of my buddies like to peg the weight but I seem to do well leaving the sinker un-pegged.
The bait will dart from side to side and fall in a very erratic fashion when you pitch it into bushes or around lay downs. When Im fishing a beaver texas style I like to use the biggest hook I can get away with because you will be setting the hook on some hogs. I usually stick a 5/0 hook in it and a lot of times a heavier weight will get you more bites. Ill throw a 7/16 oz weight or a 3/8 oz weight when I am working it around wood.
You want a stiffer rod for working a beaver so I usually opt for a 7 foot medium heavy AiRRUS 457 Co-Matrix rod. The rod is sensitive and has a lot of fish moving power. Ill fish it on 20 pound GAMMA High Performance Co-Polymer line. One of my most productive ways to work the bait is just to give it a hop and wait about 2 seconds or so in between and repeat. The bait does all the action.
While it is hard to beat a beaver for flipping to heavy cover another great way to fish it is on a drop shot rig. When you get around boat docks and other vertical structure the beaver can produce when it is rigged in this manner. It has got a nice flutter to it and has a bigger profile than a small worm. The gliding action sometimes will catch them better than your popular dropshot baits. Usually Ill throw this rig around docks in off colored water which seems to favor the beaver.
You still want to use heavier line on this rig. Ill throw it on the same rod and line that I use to flip. I hate fishing a Carolina Rig but the beaver works well with this set up too. Its got the same gliding action on the fall and it darts around a lot which triggers bites. The beaver is something that not many anglers throw on a C-Rig. Its something to try if your fishing out the back of the boat or if youve caught a couple of fish on traditional c-rig baits and your spot slows up.
Another often forgotten way to fish a beaver is to texpose rig it and insert a small nail into the tail of the bait or the head, whichever way you want the bait to fall and skip it under docks on a spinning outfit. The bait will glide and go back up under the dock a little more than a tube or a worm. I used to fish a french fry style worm like this but you seem to get bigger bites around here with the beaver.
As one can see there are hundreds of ways to fish this great bait. The best advice I can offer is to go out and try throwing a beaver bait. You will be sure to put a lot more bass in your live well!
Spencer Clark is sponsored by Naked Bait Company, AiRRUS Rods, GAMMA Technologies, Flying Fisherman Sunglasses, Basseast.com, and Pig Sticker Bait Company. Here’s a link to Spencers Web Page
http://catchinspence.googlepages.com/
