Beaver houses

[scaleface]

How often do you encounter them ? They are one of the more consistent  forms of cover I have encountered . How do you fish them ? I throw  Texas rigs, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits  at them .   Never throw a treble hook lure in there .

[mattkenzer]

Great question ..... for me, a skirted jig with a creature trailer.

I will pitch it around and through the branches if i can get close enough.

[Koz]

I've found that the beavers prefer the old style wooden lures instead of the newer plastic ones

[scaleface]

2 minutes ago, Koz said:

I've found that the beavers prefer the old style wooden lures instead of the newer plastic ones

All right , knock it off .

[Dwight Hottle]

Beaver houses have always been a classic spot for pike. First time I encountered one on Erie it was in the lagoons off Misery bay within Presque Isle Bay. I caught my first lake erie steelhead there in early spring on a jerkbait expecting a pike bite. I encounter them infrequently.   

[Owen_007]

i always flip a jig right in the middle to start with, if no bite I just make my way around it, and then dissect the food pile if there is one depending on time of year. I seem to always catch a nice bass or 2 off them so I love finding new ones.

[mattkenzer]

In our club tournaments, a few members will spend most of their day traveling from one beaver house to the next.

If the house (old or new) has enough water around it, more often than not, it holds fish.

[Koz]

8 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

First time I encountered one on Erie it was in the lagoons off Misery bay within Presque Isle Bay.   

 Erie brings back memories. I went to Gannon in the 80's and played hockey and baseball for them between classes. Spent way too much time at that big bar out on Presque Isle. I can't seem to remember the name of that bar, but it had good live bands and lots of pretty girls.

[12poundbass]

2 minutes ago, Koz said:

 Erie brings back memories. I went to Gannon in the 80's and played hockey and baseball for them between classes. Spent way too much time at that big bar out on Presque Isle. I can't seem to remember the name of that bar, but it had good live bands and lots of pretty girls.

Must've been a good bar if you couldn't remember the name of it.

[Darren.]

Those that I've encountered in two local reservoirs are

usually more shallow than deep, and if I've caught any

fish, it has been on soft plastics (wacky rig).

[Way north bass guy]

Up here some of the lakes have literally dozens of beaver houses, especial the ones with not too many cottages on them. 

An absolutely awesome spot for bass, pike and panfish, even the odd Muskie in some lakes. For bass, I love to let a popper sit until the ripples disappear then slowly “blurp” it back. If it’s really thick cover and a lot of sticks come up to the surface then a topwater frog works great as well. 

[fishballer06]

I can almost always catch a crappie off them in the spring whenever we're targeting them, and the same seems to go for bass during the rest of the season. 

[bigbill]

I cast near them with crankbaits. I did catch a large silver salmon near one. In this spot one beaver is 48” long with his tail.

 

the beavers and freshwater otters are making a comeback. Everywhere I fish has beavers and freshwater otters. Otters are out at first light. I seen a doe with her two fawns at the waters edge trying to get a drink. Two playful otters were splashing them. It was fun to watch, I was about 50yards away. Being there fishing every morning at the time they weren’t afraid of me.

[Montanaro]

I love beaver huts.  Always a gold mine.  I throw everything at them depending on conditions.  I like to start with a crankbait or chatterbait on the outside edges...im talking about 10 to 20 feet away as branches can be scattered.  Then ill swap to a jig or small soft plastic and work the immediate edge and then I will punch through any branches on surface near house.  Sometimes they will be right up in tight holes really shallow...juat like in thick grass.

 

My most consistent producer is a drop shot!  You can hit deep and shallow targets and can catch fish after fish after fish off one hut.

[CroakHunter]

We've got a few beaver hits in the pit we fish. Always hit them a few times through the day. Usually a spinnerbait, fluke, Texas rig creature or craw, and jig. Seems we can always muster up at least 1 or 2 fish off of each no matter the conditions. Never have caught a "giant" off of a beaver hit yet though..keyword, yet

[Gundog]

The only beaver lodge I've fished was at a local lake and the group that stocked the lake with trout would routinely try to trap or shoot the beavers that lived there. I consistently caught bass around that lodge. Mostly tossing a small craw texas rigged. 

[TnRiver46]

There are beavers always slapping the water before dark where I fish but no lodges. I think with all the concrete dams they have adapted their strategies. They are crazy huge animals, makes me wonder how they taste!

[Bluebasser86]

Several lakes that I fish have at least one on them somewhere. They're very productive forms of cover for me. The key is to figure out where the beaver's tunnel is. There's always a tunnel that they dig out deeper than the surrounding area that they use to swim under all the sticks to get inside their hut. T rigs, jigs, bladed jigs, spinnerbaits, and buzzbaits account for most of my fish around them. 

[Bankbeater]

I fish them the same way I would fish standing timber, or a pile up of logs.  I know where there are a couple located, but with the lake levels down they're out of the water now.

[scaleface]

6 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

There are beavers always slapping the water before dark where I fish but no lodges.

The ones I seen are not the classic domes but just a pile of cuttings at the shoreline .

[Sam]

Scaleface, beaver huts are great to fish.

 

I start with a wacky Senko all around the hut.

 

Then go to a Texas rigged Zoom trick worm on a shaky head.

 

Don't throw crankbaits unless I am over 20-feet away from the hut as it can extend under the water making it a wonderful crankbait eater.

 

And remember to watch for snakes.  Snakes love beaver huts.  The snakes usually will leave you alone and you never know they are there. But they are there, watching you. So stay in the boat and don't walk on top of them.

[TnRiver46]

1 hour ago, scaleface said:

The ones I seen are not the classic domes but just a pile of cuttings at the shoreline .

We have big lodges on the small creeks that they dam up and turn into a flooded forest. But in the reservoirs it seems they live in the undercut banks or in rock caves. It weird to see a beaver crawl out of a hole and walk straight down a bluff into the water hahaha. We also have some green vegetation ( mainly privet) year round so I guess they don't have to pile up as much reserve

[Jaderose]

8 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

makes me wonder how they taste!

There are many jokes that can be made here.  I will refrain.

[TnRiver46]

1 minute ago, Jaderose said:

There are many jokes that can be made here.  I will refrain.

Hahahahah. I Walked right into that one 

[ClackerBuzz]

just with docks catch the bass holding on the outermost position before working ur way in so think of them like an iceberg:  10% above surface and 90% of their mass below the surface.  i start by working the far outer bottom edge, usually parallel to shoreline.  you'll feel as soon as you hit the bottom outer logs. then work your way inward.   as with most things I usually start power fishing and slow down from there. jigs and T rig are by far my most successful lures. there's just something about them tapping 'hello' on the logs