Arkansas Striper fishing advice

I recently was asked to accompany a group of guys down to Beaver Lake Arkansas to go Striper fishing in late April. I have fished stripers on Norfork in the past, but that was always with live bait. I am looking for any insight from experienced striper fishermen as to what type of tackle I should be taking with me, to include rod length and power, line type and breaking strength, and lastly what type of artificial baits would you take?

There are various ways of fishing stripers this time of year on Norfork Lake. Night fishing can be very productive this time of year. Try casting rattling rouges or other type of stickbaits in evenings or early morning up creek channels on secondary lake points. As you said live shad fishing also produces well this time of year. Another successful method is locating schools of shad and vertical spooning. I often use my marcum LX5 hanging over the side of boat and use it just like ice fishing. With any of these methods watch for rising shad and have a floating bait set up ready to cast into school of shad. Hold tight as it can be explosive. I will be in Arkansas around that time. You can pm me and I will give you phone number. Also check out Lake Norfork Stripers Club website.

Joe,

Thanks for your input. Dad passed on 2 years ago, I do miss Lake Norfork. I need to get back down there soon. You mentioned jigging spoons, do you have a favorite spoon for stripers? Late April is awesome for slab crappies also if you are interested. My dad was good friends with a local crappie guide that would take us out and we would put the hurt on 15″ crappies. Enjoy Norfork, I’ll PM you as my trip gets near. Thanks for you input.

Binks is a local guide. He makes ans sells his own spoons. They are 5.00 ea. White and silver are good colors. Also some guys get the spoons at cabelas. 1oz is typical but 3_4 oz is used as well. Binks are available at local bait shops. Also might check out KT LUREs in Texas. They are about 2.20 plus shipping. Some guys say they work better than binks. I have a house in Flippin and spend a lot of time there