Ron Burgundy

Very much so. He knows more about this lake than just about anyone still walking around. 

We were over fishing Wed - Friday AM.  Water temp up the White was low 70’s.  Fished from Rock Creek area down to shell knob.  Water is clear above the Kings.  Below the Kings it gets dirty and that was not good for us.
Wednesay was cloudy before a nasty storm, Thursday bluebird sky and little wind.  Today it was blowing hard.  We had 4 guys in 2 boats and caught over 150 fish but we did work for them. We fished hard- until 8:30 Wednesday, fished from 5:30 to 8:30 yesterday and was on the water today at 5:45.  Yesterday was a little tougher with no wind or clouds- but we kept and it and got them to bite.  This morning was better with much better quality today with some wind.  
The fish are biting and they are biting in a lot of ways.  Most consistent pattern for us was topwater- throwing either a pop-r, buzz toad (white), or spook in and around the bushes.  Gotta get up in them.  My boat did better closer to main lake areas and front of pockets.  My brother’s boat did better in the back of pockets- but it needed to be flat- no steep stuff.  
Also caught some topwater fish off shore early but that bite wasn’t great and those fish were generally smaller.  Should get better.  
 
Yesterday I caught a few on a 6 inch glide bait around docks- had to be bigger docks on deeper water.  
 
We caught them on a swimmers, on spoons, and jack hammers. 
Interestingly- our fish were a mix of post and pre-spawn.  There are all fish in all phases right now.  
 
Basically- keep your lines wet, fish how you want, and you should be getting some bites right now.  

He left?  What happened?

We are excited to announce that the BBT team will be hosting the 1st Annual YETI Open event on Table Rock this fall. Here's all the details.
Be sure to get in on the early prizes, they are incredible!
https://yetiopen.com/
Event Details
YETI Open presented by Explore Branson $200,000+ Guaranteed Prizes & Payouts

3 DAY EVENT (THURSDAY, FRIDAY AND SATURDAY)
September 26th, 27th, and 28th, 2024

Entry Fee:  

Three Day $275 | Two Day $175 | One Day $125 (Entry fees are per angler)

Start fishing time (first cast) will be determined the week of the tournament

Location:

Table Rock Lake, Missouri

Weigh-in Site:

Long Creek Marina 1368 Long Creek Rd., Ridgedale, MO 65739

Guaranteed Overall Grand Prize: $50,000 Cash

1st Place for the largest bass of the tournament.

Guaranteed Total Hourly Paybacks: $63,525
Ten places paid each hour for all three days of the tournament.

1st: $1000, 2nd: $500, 3rd: $300, 4th: $250, 5th: $225, 6th: $200, 7th: $175, 8th: $150, 9th: $125, 10th: $100

All entrants will receive a custom YETI Open 20 OZ TUMBLER and a YETI Open hat.  Tumblers and hats can be picked up on Wednesday, September 25th at Long Creek Marina, between noon and 7 pm.  Your fishing partner may pick up your tumbler for you.

YETI Open 20 OZ Tumbler.  (Value: $35.00)
YETI Open branded trucker hat.  (Value: $25.00)
 

Draw Prizes: $10,000+
YETI Products, Turtlebox Audio Speakers, BPS Gift Cards, Oakley eyewear and more.

Draw prize winners will be randomly picked each day of the event and notified via text message.  You may pick up your prize during the weigh-ins or after each day's weigh-in until 4 pm.   
Draw tickets can be picked up at Long Creek Marina on Wednesday, September 25th between noon and 7 pm CST.  One draw prize ticket per registered angler.

Early Entry Prizes:  $45,000
YETI GoBox 15 Gear Case.  (Value: $125.00)
 

Click here to see the full line of YETI GoBoxes

Fenwick Eagle Series Casting Rod,  Model #EGLB73MH-FC.  (Value: $99.95)
Click here to see the Fenwick Eagle rod details

The first 250 online entrants will receive the early entry prizes.   

Early entry prizes may be picked up on Wednesday, September 25th at Long Creek Marina between noon and 7 pm or anytime during the weigh-ins if you weren't able to pick it up before the start of the tournament.  Your fishing partner may pick up your prizes for you.

Event Registration:

Registration to fish the Event closes on Wednesday, September 25th at 7 pm CST.  You may register in person at The Long Creek between noon and 7 pm CST if you are unable to register online.

Pre-Tournament meeting:

There is no formal meeting for the event but one angler per boat must come to Long Creek Marina, between noon and 7 pm CST to pick up raffle tickets and custom tumbler or early entry rods.

Daily Lunch:

Food vendor(s) will be available at the weigh-in location from 11 am - 2 pm each day of the tournament.  Food is available for tournament entrants only.


Text System:

You may enter yourself in the text system for this event by texting the word YETI to the number 90294. We will enter your number in the system, but some carriers block this type of message, so entering the number yourself will prevent the chance of being blocked.
 
Android users:  If you have an Android and you aren't receiving texts from us, you will need to search for the number 90294 in your text app and accept that it is not spam.

Start Time:

We will notify everyone of the start time the week of the tournament. We will notify you via text message. The start time (first cast) for each tournament will be safe-light and set by the tournament director. You may launch and be on the water, but you may not begin fishing until we notify you of first cast. Please do not call our offices related to start time. We will post the start fishing time on this page and text out the time the week of the event.  You will also be sent a live leaderboard link once the event starts.

Weigh in Times:

All days of event.  8-9am, 9-10am, 10-11am, 11am-12pm, 12-1pm, 1-2pm, 2-3pm

Lake Off-Limits:

The Event's off-limits time begins at 6 pm CST on Wednesday, September 25th.  Participants must be off the water on or before 6 pm on the day before the Event starts and may not begin fishing until the official Event start time on the following day, which will be announced via text message the morning of the Event. The Event Lake is off-limits to fishing after 3:00 p.m. on each day of the Event. ALL participants must follow the off-limits rules for the previous day(s), even if you're not fishing all three days of the event. Participants may return to their respective launch site by boat but are not allowed to fish or use electronics and/or other devices (including lights) or attempt to locate or mark, for the purposes of finding fish, after the off-limits time.

Lodging:

Click here for area hotels

Fish Size Limits:

Largemouth - Smallmouth - Spotted - 15" minimum

Registration is subject to our Tournament Rules, Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy (see the final three sections of the Policy for event registration and management information practice details).
 

Ron and I launched the boat near Theodosia on Tuesday. Water temp at the ramp this time was 60.5*. We found 64* in the back of the creeks in the afternoon. Started out throwing all the typical springtime baits without getting bit at all for almost and hour. Then, I picked up my wacky worm pole and threw a 5" Senko in watermelon/red. Game on! We spent the next several hours catching... not just fishing. It was awesome. Hope you all are getting to go too. Its springtime. Go get you some....

The Spoonbill was the Dino in his story, which on a crappie rod was probably a really good time.

I know Kolton personally and his parents. They live and own a business at Lake of the Ozarks. Kolton's parents instilled a work ethic into him which he also applies to his fishing. That young man has put a significant amount of time into fishing on & off the water. He is ate up with it and I think he has what it takes to become a pro if that is what he wants to do. FFS or not I was impressed with the tournament win.

It’s mine 
it will be available this weekend at www.Tackle-max.com

Ya know, there's a certain food item that if you abstain from eating it, you'll never have to suffer through a divorce.  
Wedding cake !   

Fished this morning and the boaters this weekend left a few still willing to bite.
Fished in 20ft around timber and shad. Using swimbait and Damiki.
WT 55.5
 

I fished this morning and the bite was really good. On my first cast I was fortunate to catch a LM in the 6 to 7# range on a swimbait. I kept the boat in 40 to 55 FOW all morning. The LM seemed to used the top of the water column down to 20ft and I caught them casting. I caught plenty of SM and K's fishing a 3/8 Damiki vertical amongst shad and they liked the 30 to 40ft range.
There were lots of white bass in the shad and I caught a few approaching the 2# range. 
The lake was an absolute zoo yesterday and I thought today would be really busy but it was manageable to my surprise.
The wind was blowing and made boat control a steady job.
The picture of the big LM did not turn out too good because I have tennis elbow and not able to hold up heavy objects with my arm extended. 

The good news is we have the data, we aren't guessing.  There's no data supporting your argument unfortunately. Tight lines.

When he guides clients there's not 450 other boats competing against him in that moment. He's not leaving his spot multiple times a day to run to weigh in fish in an hourly format. He's not dealing with the strategy at the weigh in about what hour to weigh a fish in and potentially having 30+ other people in the weigh in line at that moment competing with his fish for that hour. I can go on... It's NOT the same and FFS's impact is minimal in that environment. 
 

The FFS hysteria can provide some interesting insight into human behavior. 
Background: Drew Gill (current BPT  Pro) and Dakota Ebare (past BPT Pro).
Both guys are young stars and excellent with FFS.
Drew Gill was on a podcast and I left a comment how impressed I was with his fishing approach and that the old school guys need to get with the program.
In a very short period of time I get a very hateful message from Dakota Ebares mother that I am such a FFS hater. 
I did not respond to her.....hopefully she will get beyond the hysteria. 
FFS is educational,  efficient,  and sometimes effective. 
 
 
 
 
 

Howdy Guys! 
 
It’s been a minute since I posted, and I don’t have a fishing report for TR or The Pond To The East where I usually fish. I hope to be down the second week of April and have some fish pics to show-
But I have to post.
Some of you may remember my post about this time last year about 27 high end combos disappearing from my house during the divorce. Welp- that divorce is STILL working its way through the courts, but after working a full time job, a second job every Sunday, and door dashing when I wasn’t working and didn’t have my son with me, I put together enough money to get back in the game gear wise. With the generous gift of someone from this forum of a Lews BB1, and prowling Facebook Marketplace and a pretty good Black Friday sale, my last two rods showed up today. 
I went with the NFC Edge rods by Gary Loomis, and I have to say I’m a very satisfied customer, even with the LONG wait times. I wanted a more modern version of my favorite G.Loomis IMX and GLX rods, but couldn’t spend the money on G.Loomis NRX. The Edge Silver Widow MBR’s feel every bit as light and sensitive as the NRX CRR-873’s I used to have, and the Black Widow, First Strike, and EFX rods all do exactly what I wanted, which is feel similar to the classic pre-Shimano G.Loomis rods, which in my hands felt better than most of the current versions of Loomis GLX and IMX pro, but incorporate the advances in materials from the last 20 or so years. I’ve not made it to the big lake yet, but from fishing these in the local conservation lakes, they are exactly what I was hoping for. 
 
I know, gear doesn’t catch the fish, and I didn’t have to have gear like this to fish, but today, I can look at this one small part of my life and feel like I’m back to normal.
 
After my heart attack in July of 22, the wife asking for divorce and her bogus felony charge against me in February of last year (felony charge finally dropped in December), my Mom having a serious stroke and going from walking Elephant Rocks State park at 80 to being bedridden in a nursing home barely able to speak, having a rod box full of fantastic gear to fish with- well- it just means more than y’all can imagine.
I’m still fighting to maximize my role in my Son’s life. For now that just looks like weekends and his Spring Break, and every other week again this summer, but this time last year I was in the middle of 61 days of not being able to see him at all. Fishing tackle, fishing, boats and all of it mean NOTHING compared to being a present Dad, but I can tell you when I back the boat into Bull Shoals in a couple weeks and have him sitting in the passenger seat ready to go catch smallmouth, I’m not sure I’m going to be able to cope with the feels.
No matter how dark life gets, if you keep going, it gets better. 
 
So if you are considering checking out, like I was this time last year, stick around.
Don’t fix  temporary problems with permanent solutions. 

Guys that are in their 70’s aren’t going to dictate the future of the Sport. 
I think some circuit may have a derby without it, but if the guys aren’t putting fish in the boat at the rate they are now it will lose interest fast. 
My post was just to show a buddy that’s loves to fish and works hard at it with a Super Nice fish for any lake. A total Monster for TR. 
We have another thread on FFS. 

 

On Table Rock, I have several thousand hours of deep fishing experience with 2D and about 1000 hours of FFS usage out deep.
Since getting FFS I have not bothered to find one new location. I fish the same locations today that I have fished for years. So nobody dropped my off 50 yards from the summit (or honey hole).
When I arrive at my old locations, I use FFS to determine if fish are present. If fish are present I cast to them without having to fan cast to unproductive water.
FFS is educational, efficient,  and sometimes productive. 
Caught this fish this morning using FFS to know my area held stubborn fish. Then used my eyes to see a flicker of shad 80 yds away, put the trolling motor on high and then capitalized.

Paul Crews and I put in at Hickory Hollow Resort yesterday about 10 am.  Headed out towards the lake and hit brush anywhere from 6 to 20 feet deep and only caught may be one off each spot.  Did that till about 3 pm, then headed back to the ramp area and then went further up on the Kings.  We hit a small cut, then came out and saw some brush in 12 feet of water.  Caught one.  It's a big flat there- the water went from about 12 to 6 feet gradually on that flat.  I started throwing as far as I could on the flat and caught 3 slabs in a row.  It was on.  We finished a nice 2 limits within an hour and a half.
The pic was 2 I caught in a row.  16 inches.  The male weighed 2.2 pounds.  We had 3 big slabs like these and lost another.  Caught them on a small slider, white with chartreuse tail on a 1/16th ounce lead head.

Don’t agree at all. I’ve always been a deep water fisherman and spent my life and earned a great living looking at sonar. 
I would have failed on Table Rock without it  
I’ve never really enjoyed going down a bank and casting a lure.  I love the nature and being outside but if you would tell me out on that hump they’re stacked up I bet I’d be out there. 
FFS is a tool and you have to know how to use it just like 2D, or Side Image. 
Don has spent over 300 hours on the water this year. He is putting in his time and paying his dues. Nothing is easy. 
He has been out rain or shine. Cold or wind he is out there.  That demands my total respect.  He fished days most of won’t even go outside.
For every fish that eats it 10 refuse it, even with live bait. Seeing them is nice but catching them is an entirely different matter.   It’s totally unreal the amount of refusals  
Knowing where to fish and where they are keeps you from fishing where they Ain’t. 
Every hour I get to spend on the water is precious to me. I love the fishing as well as the catching, but we will all admit the catching is the most fun. 
The analogy of him not earning it is just flat totally off base. Even those that don’t like FFS Can’t dispute him putting in the hours he has to accomplish what he’s doing this year. 





 

3-21. Good buddy that caught the 7 pounder week before last out did himself yesterday. 
 

This is the best of the best. 8.1 pounds. Said that had over 30 keeps with best 5 at plus 20 pounds. 
Said they were looking at most all of them that were caught on a Dimiki and A-Rig. 
Total FFS day. He said if you didn’t see em you didn’t catch em. They just simply quit casting and went looking. 
Don had Hummingbird stuff including mega live and 2 Apex units last year. 
Total gave it away and now is running 4 Garmin units. Live Scope and Sea Clear harness. 
He is a retired surgeon and is fishing most everyday.  He is also a techno junkie.  And as you may guess money is no factor. 
He has already had 15 fish over 5 pounds since the middle of February and that is his second one over 7 pounds. Kind of what I wanted to do. I’m doing good on the 5 pounders, but not the 7 plus yet. Might have set my goals to high. 
I’m playing Pickleball 4 days a week 3 hours a day. Probably need to be fishing but I just love it. Dropped down to 175 pounds and I haven’t been there in years. 
With a very generous donation we have a new PB faculty in Shell Knob and it’s really fun with the group we have playing. I’m hooked. 

It’s been a few years since any double digit fish have been caught.  I’m thinking in the next 2 months we may see more than one. 
This lake is on Fire. 
Good Luck. 







 

Do bass even float when they die? There was a big fish kill on the Osage last year and a lot of fish were seen floating, but no bass. The bass fishing was terrible after that so I'm assuming they took a big hit too though. With all the tourneys out of PB2, you'd think the banks would be lined with dead bass.

I use both a line box and a rolling wall system. Never a twist problem. Couple of tips from a retired guide.
First don’t over fill the spool
2 use appropriate line size for the reel. Most 1000/1500 series reels should not be spooled with a line wt.over 6 pound test  Even if it gives you a higher line capacity for the reel don’t go there  
2000/2500 series you can use up to 10# but 8 is preferable. 
NO. Carbon line. Forget about it. Use Maxima-Stren or XPS from BP.  MAXIMA OR XPS preferably. 
NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER close a spinning reel by turning the handle of the reel to close or engage the bail. Your new line will be a mess within an hour. Always close the bail by hand. 
I don’t care if you’re using a Stella or a piece of BP junk. Twisting the handle to close the bail will result in line twist. 
Now if you’re using braid with a carbon leader that’s fine as the braid has little to no memory and spools well. Again read the label on the braid. If it says the diameter is equivalent to say 6 pound test and the braid is 15 pound test, spool appropriate  
There are total exceptions to everything and experienced guys that have changed these rules can get away with it to some extent. 
If your a guide with multiple inexperienced fishermen you cannot make mistakes. Equipment and line snaffues cost clients time and the guide money. 
The principles I’ve outlined above prevent these gaffes. 
Good Luck






 

7.53 was big bass , impressive for Beaver !

7.53 was big bass , impressive for Beaver !

I heard Same guy's won the day before