magicwormman

I would take 86 to 13 north towards Kimberling city, than turn left on HH towards Baxter. Good launch at Baxter boat dock, with good fishing close by. Good luck!!!

Are you looking for lodging as well as a good launch? If you're going to drive from long creek, I'd look at Baxter area for bass and crappie. If you look at the reports from Viola on the Kings river, its a great area for bass, crappie, and whitebass.

Are you buying breakfast??????

I received my 2011 topwater fix yesterday at 6 P.M. The top water bite was on between 6 & 7 P.M. It was a hit or a fish almost every cast for about a hour. They were busting shad in 20 to 30 feet of water and had the feed bag on. We ended up with 18 bass, with 6 legals up to 3.5 lbs. No monsters, but lots of fun. I promised my new bride some topwater action 15 months ago, and finally delivered. She was throwing a buckeye wake up and I was throwing a jointed redfin.

Try this site for pictures. http://s1179.photobucket.com/albums/x388/oakleybigbass/2011%20KVD%20Big%20Bass%20Classic/?action=view&current=2011-03-26_10-04-37_940.jpg#!oZZ38QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs1179.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fx388%2Foakleybigbass%2F2011%2520KVD%2520Big%2520Bass%2520Classic%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3D2011-03-27_15-38-29_981.jpg

Congrates Bill!!! You're smokin hot! My best was 9.1 back in 1985, when big fish were common. A 9.6 these days is a monster. I think you and Beck should play the lottery.

Great reports guys!!!! It had to be hard to stay focused with the tough weather conditions. Congrates to all who fished this weekend, you're a lot tougher than me.

Congrats Bill and Bill!!!!! It couldn't happen to two better guides and guys. Thanks for the details, it will get a few of us pumped up. Not many of us have ever had a day like that, much less a tourney. GREAT JOB!!!!!!

I agree night time is the right time. I can remember back to April of 1985(when we really had some hogs) at midnight, I landed a 9 lber in dogleg cove (near pt. 5). A few minutes later, my partner had a larger bass to the boat and broke it off. We were both throwing a black jig & pig. We also caught some big fish from Spring Branch at night.

I don't think you will have any problem catching whites or crappies. The only problem is you have to catch 6 to 8 short crappies for every keeper. Water temps have been around 50-52 around flat creek on Saturday. They want the jig or swimming minnows SLOW.

Congrates to two great guys and two great fisherman!!! That action is what fishing is all about. If I have one or two days a year like that, I feel blessed. Keep up the good work on the water as well as your reports. It's nice to hear about that kind of action to get a guy pumped up.

I just drilled a hole large enough to remove the rattles and than epoxied them. I think I've had better luck without the rattles.

Very interesting! I've played around with redfins for years, looking for the magic bait. It's always amazed me how different the action is from bait to bait. I have had the most luck removing the rattles, changing to lighter split rings, and lighter hooks. I've tried several other known tricks, with very little success. Good report.............keep us posted.

As great as KVD is, has he every won a tournament on Table Rock?

Thanks Chris! I love your fast shipping, good price, and great selection. Ken

Champ is right-on, as usual! So much depends on what part of the lake you are planning on fishing. Some years the river fish will turn on great by than. You will have to watch the posts as your trip gets closer. Do you know where you will stay if you come down. At this time of the year, you don't have to worry about reservations. If possible, I would stay close to the action and save lots of gas.

I think you have two main factors. One, what part of the lake are you fishing and two, are you looking for quality or quantity. The river fish turn on before the fish in the lower part of the lake. Without knowing all the facts, I would guess, a few days before the full moon in April for big fish and a few days before the full moon in May for numbers. Go Pack!!!!!

I agree with Champ. Elsalto is a great lake and much safer than any lakes near the border. I have fished it ten days in three trips and normally catch a ten lber or better each trip. I've stayed several places, but prefer to stay in Mazatlan. I recommend Hono Elizalde. He will pick you up dailey at your hotel for $300 per day (I think the price is the same). You can contact him at: http://www.basselsalto.com

Congrats to Brian!!! It couldn't happen to a better guy. The timing was perfect and conditions played into his strength. I'm sure this is his biggest win ever.

Rps...............Is that one of your new Tim Hughes paintjob sticking out of his mouth? Tim is a friend and neighbor and yes, I have many of his custom paint jobs. He is quite the artist! Glad to see that you beat your cold and are out fishing. Very happy to see some topwater action. I'm going to have to get out and chase a few. Maybe, I'll wait until after the big weekend and than get serious. Retirement is wonderful.........every day is Saturday!!! Thanks for the great reports! Ken Spaanem

Donna, As usual Joe is right on the money on the Double Uni. I love this knot, especially going from one diameter to another. I have never had it fail and with a little practice, its easy to tie. What helped me the most is to tie one line and than turn the lines end to end and tie the same knot. Then you are holding the line identical on both knots. I have found that five wraps works perfect with any line. Thanks Joe for the tip on the Lowrance.......I'll give it a try. Ken Spaanem

I also have experienced the same problem, with my lowrance 102c, especially seeing my lure when dropshotting. I have the settings correct and used to see my lure perfect. I cleaned the the puck and no improvement. I heard that you should replace your transducer every couple of years, so I bought a new one. Still no improvement.......guess I should have bought a new locator. Does anyone have any suggestions for a locator that works great for dropshot.

The redfin action is back! I, like everyone lately have been struggling recently with the redfin. This morning I fished from 6 to 9 A.M. near Kimberling City and caught 12 fish (2 legal to 3 lbs). It was a mixed bag of large, smallmouth, and kentucky's. The last week or so, I have done much better on the spook or giant dog x, but today they preferred the fin. The best action was on main lake points, around 10 to 15 feet deep. I also caught a few shorts on the dropshot, using a 4 inch purple flat tail worm and a couple on the pearl super fluke. They were chasing shad until the sun came out and than it was game over.

arsenal1477 Chestnut Lamprey Group: Members Posts: 23 Joined: 22-May 08 Posted 11 May 2010 - 06:57 PM thanks all. was just reading a post the other day and someone caught an 8.6, then they started talking about a few nines. i have never had anything break me off down there and the biggest i have caught was a little over 5. been fishing down there 25 years and cant manage to get a lunker of 7lb+...besides dynamite i have tried everything. Maybe, you just answered your own question. I'm positive if everyone would release big bass, you would have caught a 7 lber by now. I'm not a great fisherman, but have caught several LM, 7 to 9 lbs prior to the fish kill. Since 1999, I have only caught one 8.8 lber (released after pic). My big fish this year is under 5 lbs with over 300 hours of fishing. As stated before, Table Rock is a good fishing lake, not a great lake, like it was prior to the fish kill. I hope, with intelligent conservation, the lake will someday rebound to the jewel it once was.

Were is Lake Spavinaw? Maybe you have found a new lake for Arsenal477. I think the biggest problem is some people don't realize the severity of the 99 fish kill. I personally feel we lost 70-80% of our LM. I was fishing the lake at the time and saw many struggling and dead bass floating everywhere. The experts called it LM virus and it affected many lakes in this part of the country. If all the bass fisherman cleaned every 5 lb plus fish, the lake would never come back. I think TR is slowly coming back, thanks to most of fisherman, who practice "CATCH AND RELEASE". If you want to fillet your legal limit of bass, that is your choice, but it doesn't hurt to have a little common sense along the way. I'm not a Guide, I'm just a concerned fisherman, who lives on this beautiful lake, and would like for my children and grandchildren to be able to experience the thrill of catching a TROPHY LM. By the way, my fastest limit was this year, 6 legal LM in 8 cast on a megabas ito vision on a main lake point. No big fish, just 15 - 17 inches, and all released.