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Bill Babler
Bill Babler

By Bill Babler •

Table Rock Lake Fishing Report 7-16-18

White River Outfitters Guide Service  Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report

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Huge Spotted bass caught at 27'  Mike Trotter 4lb. 2oz.  Been several years since my clients have caught spotted bass of this quality.

There still at it.  Very good reports today from the dam area and also from mid-lake.  I guided out of Indian Hills Resort this morning with Mike and Dave Trotter and we had an absolute ball.  Fished from point 17 to point 9 on the White River arm and only had one brief period when the fish changed depth that stalled us for about 30 minutes.  Might not sound like long, but that is 1/8 of the time of a 4 hr. guide trip.  If Beck were still alive it would have only been 15 minutes as he would have called immediately and said they moved out.  I'm decent, but Billy could change depth quicker than a Beauty Queen changes shoes.

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Dave Trotter with nice Table Rock Smallmouth

Surface temps were 87 at 5:30 and by 9 had reached 88.9  extremely, still and HOT, but so was the fishing. 

Again we caught more bass than we deserved with some fantastic spotted bass, some of these fish were at and pushing 4 lbs. and that is silly.  You have to believe they were over 10 yrs. old.  We CPR'ed them very carefully and sent them back in the clear deep water.  The quality and quantity were both just unreal.

 

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Mike Trotter 3lb. 14oz.  Pretty easy to see where the term Football comes from when describing these bigger spotted bass.

 

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Mike Trotter Kentucky bass 2lb. 11oz.

Fish were shallow this morning on the White, starting out at 22 to 28 feet but as soon as the sun hit pretty directly them skeedattled out to 40/50ft.  Same deal at the dam.  This was around 7:30, they seemed to move lake wide, and not only did they move as we were catching them on the bottom, they suspended.

I got really lucky and was at the end of a runnout and lost them.  I told my guys that I would spin a circle and we would move away and when I spun the boat out over the channel, they were sitting at 38' suspended over the 40/50 number.  Better to be lucky than good.

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Today we used a number of baits from crawlers to drop shot worms to shad shape worms to the Keitech.  About 7:30 when they moved the big and I mean huge bluegill moved up in that 22/28ft. range and we could have caught a hundred of them about the size of your hand, on every gravel runnout, that we fished.  That should have been my clue but I missed it.

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Again we were pestered by walleye, but only 2 with 1 super nice keeper.

As I said last week, I don't know how long this will last, so you all had better hop on it.  Also again this morning my fish were clean, with only a couple of hook marks so not lots of folks are messing with these deeper fish.  They were all spitting very small craws so I'm guessing that's the deal if you want to throw a small jig.

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Look in the water under Dave's arm and you can see the swirl of Mike's fish.  It was another double and another absolute toad K.  It was churning the surface like a motor boat.

The 2, K's that Dave is holding were 16" they look like midgets compared to the ones Mike had today.  Dave's Jaw was Super nice however and he did catch the 2 walters so he had that to lean on.

Mike was the big K catcher today and both boys came out about even in numbers.  Just a fantastic trip.

Good Luck All

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abkeenan
4 minutes ago, Carl W said:

Bill do you use your electronics to find the fish?  Or do you go to known spots. 

Carl

I've been with Bill before and he usually uses the Bent Pole approach. Just floats around in an area until he see's another boat catching them then moves right in on top of them forcing them out with his big ol' Phoenix. Really a high success rate. He also uses the Roland Martin Color C-lector so he always knows what best colors to throw at any given time.

In all seriousness those are some dandy K's. Don't get much bigger than that especially after the winter weight is off them. Really putting on a clinic here lately, Bill. No doubt spoiling some clients that's for sure. Also setting some high bars and unrealistic expectations going forward! TR is not always like this and I for one am angry I am unable to get down there for this madness. Congrats again!

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Bill Babler

Fish are not on spots in Table Rock.  Yes, there are locations that  seem to attract them at certain times of the year, but they are mobile.  You cannot and I can't stress this enough fish a location find fish and then expect to find them there again anytime you wish.

This time of the year I never shut off the big motor till I see them.  Never. 

On guide trips I never fish just to fish, I am always fishing to catch and if I cannot see them it cuts my odds way down.  I'm not fishing for singles in the summer, I'm fishing for schools.'

I had not fished this area, since last year at this time, but was drawing a picture of where they have been in other lake sections and tried to replicate that.  I got really lucky this morning and found them on the first location.  {Does not happen that often}  I drove up to a long run with a very quick drop and they were sitting right on the top of it in under 30'   Again I got lucky and we caught 24 fish on my first stop.

Hope this helps.

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Bill Babler
1 minute ago, abkeenan said:

I've been with Bill before and he usually uses the Bent Pole approach. Just floats around in an area until he see's another boat catching them then moves right in on top of them forcing them out with his big ol' Phoenix. Really a high success rate. He also uses the Roland Martin Color C-lector so he always knows what best colors to throw at any given time.

In all seriousness those are some dandy K's. Don't get much bigger than that especially after the winter weight is off them. Really putting on a clinic here lately, Bill. No doubt spoiling some clients that's for sure. Also setting some high bars and unrealistic expectations going forward! TR is not always like this and I for one am angry I am unable to get down there for this madness. Congrats again!

Your first paragraph pretty much summed up my methods.  Kind of PQed that you let the cat out of the bag.  Thanks Stink Weed.

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Champ188
7 hours ago, abkeenan said:

I've been with Bill before and he usually uses the Bent Pole approach. Just floats around in an area until he see's another boat catching them then moves right in on top of them forcing them out with his big ol' Phoenix. Really a high success rate. He also uses the Roland Martin Color C-lector so he always knows what best colors to throw at any given time.

^^^ Herein lies the real reason I haven’t been fishing much lately. I can practically beach my boat in the upper reaches of the rivers and first time I get a bite, here comes Bill right up my nose trying to horn in on my action. Doesn’t fish shallow, my foot!!! 😆😂

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Carl W
7 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Fish are not on spots in Table Rock.  Yes, there are locations that  seem to attract them at certain times of the year, but they are mobile.  You cannot and I can't stress this enough fish a location find fish and then expect to find them there again anytime you wish.

This time of the year I never shut off the big motor till I see them.  Never. 

On guide trips I never fish just to fish, I am always fishing to catch and if I cannot see them it cuts my odds way down.  I'm not fishing for singles in the summer, I'm fishing for schools.'

I had not fished this area, since last year at this time, but was drawing a picture of where they have been in other lake sections and tried to replicate that.  I got really lucky this morning and found them on the first location.  {Does not happen that often}  I drove up to a long run with a very quick drop and they were sitting right on the top of it in under 30'   Again I got lucky and we caught 24 fish on my first stop.

Hope this helps.

Yes Bill that does help. Thanks. 

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Carl W

I struggle this time of the year and I am taking a nephew fishing on August 6th so I have to get out there and figure them out real quick. I normally do not fish Tablerock that much this time of the year because of the heat and rec boats. It’s about an hour drive for me. But since I am taking my nephew from Colorado fishing on August 6th I would rather figure that out than take my chances on Beaver. Beaver is hard for me at least for quantity of fish which is what I will be aiming for that day. Anyways Thanks for the information and reports they always help me. 

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Bill Babler
5 hours ago, Champ188 said:

^^^ Herein lies the real reason I haven’t been fishing much lately. I can practically beach my boat in the upper reaches of the rivers and first time I get a bite, here comes Bill right up my nose trying to horn in on my action. Doesn’t fish shallow, my foot!!! 😆😂

That's not really true.  If you were on them you would call and tell me where so I could take my people up there to catch them.  I wouldn't have to sneak, you would give them to me.

What I'm really saying is get out there and find me some more:unsure:!

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