Beaver Lake, Alpena Area

[Slayerik]

Saw a lot of people out trolling for Walleye...any one on these boards fish up there? Tried shore fishing on Fletchers but could only pull in sunfish.

At Beaver Lake, at the Cabin I was at, they told me in four years up there noone had pulled in a keeper bass (mind you these guys arent hardcore fisherman, but they do alright). They caught mostly panfish, but had a lot of action. This was my first year going up there, and I told them I was catching a damn bass and thats all there is too it. I kept to hitting the drop offs and did pretty well on our pontoon. I hooked a real big one, but I musta just barely lipped em cause I lost em. Here are a couple pics.

Me and my Smalley:
http://www.gotr.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10009/edit%201.jpg
http://www.gotr.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10009/normal_edit%201.jpg

That Smalley and my cousins largey
http://www.gotr.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10009/2fish.JPG
http://www.gotr.net/gallery/albums/userpics/10009/normal_2fish.JPG

Caught some others, hit a rock bass hole and caught a ton of small perch that would have been perfect Pike bait but didnt have a boat on Fletchers. oh well. Fun trip though.

[shametamer]

geez ol beaver lake..all the residents still oldtimers?. been over 20 years since i fished there..haven't tried it since they planted the eyes...but used to take numerous bass,while huntin for the northerns..the lake was always a haven when weather was too nasty for fletchers..plenty of resorts on fletchers to rent a boat when your up that way..you didn't,per chance, check out the ramp on beaver did you? What kind of shape its in?..Most folks that get that close fish the 'pond'.unparalled in that neck of the woods for size and numbers of bass and pike...and really cool not havin to deal with the pleasure boat crowd! p.s. great pics! guess ya taught them a thing or two!

[Slayerik]

Well I'm not too sure of the ramp condition, as our pontoon was already launched. I saw people at the campground launching though, so I am assuming it's safe :)

We plan on renting a boat next year to hit the pond for a day. The week of the 4th was so overcast,rainy, and windy though, there were hardly any speed boats running and the only people to look out for were the trollers and other bass fishermen like myself.

Doesn't seem to be all old timers either, I saw a couple nice looking babes. Either way, its a beautiful little lake with some decent fishing. Thanks for the reply!

[djkimmel]

I launched my 21 foot Ranger bass boat at that campground 3 or 4 seasons ago. I don't remember the ramp being anything tricky. It was an odd lake to fish because there wasn't much shallow cover and I hit it on an off day. I had several nice smallies on and lost them all. The campground guy said it was a really tough lake to catch bass out of, but I went there because some friends of mine go there every year and keep showing me all these pictures of 5 and 6 pound smallies they catch.

They live a lot closer to the lake than me and have been fishing it for years. I haven't been back yet, but it's on my list next to Long Lake. Last time I visited Long, I thought it was an excellent bass lake. I didn't do well at Grand that time (the only time I've fished it) but I didn't expect it to be so stirred up and even muddy as it was the day I fished there. Visibility in many places was just inches. Not what I expected.

[ESOX]

Wifes family is from up that way, smack between Fletchers and Beaver. Beaver is a joke compared to what it used to be. Like many, many lakes it suffers much under pressure from the if it's legal it's dinner crowd. Still some nice fish in there, if you can catch them before they end up on someones plate. I wish the DNR would get serious about slot limits, lower creels etc. whatever it takes to keep the lakes from being devestated.

[Slayerik]

Ya we hooked a ton of under limit bass and barely limit ones that we released, and I make no apology for keeping these two because they were quite tasty grilled in beer and lemon pepper :)

I agree it is a tough lake to fish, with little structure in the shallows. I have found you can do pretty well if you find structure along the dropoff. The best spot out there seemed to be on the east side dropoff, in the mid/north end of the lake. Across on the west side are some lillies that we caught a good largey by, and a lot of perch.

[Homer]

My parents are in the process of selling their place on Beaver Lake, and they say that the fishing has gone way down in recent years. They wonder how much of the decline is caused by the recreational boat traffic. There is a huge shelf of shallow water, and if you look closely you can see that the bottom is covered with ruts dug by the jet skis going over, with the occasional spawning bed left between the ruts.

There are still some nice fish there. Here's a smallie my son caught over Memorial Day weekend along the dropoff on an itty-bitty Snap Bean crankbait.
http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/photopost/data/526/1501BeaverLake2-med.jpg

[brdhntr]

We used to fish Beaver for smelt throuth the ice at night. Was a lot of fun,
and we took a lot of nice smelt. If you want really good smallies and some northerns, you may want to try Squaw Bay on Lake Huron. Haven't fished in a couple years, but if you take the first rd off 23 north of the bay, there are a couple 2 tracks back to the bay. Wading and casting small cranks and spinerbaits used to produce some really nice smallies.