Steve McBasser

Andy and I launched the Mon Ark at about 3:30pm and the water was 89* and the air temp was mid 90's. Ran way up the James, almost to Flat Creek. Caught a bunch of dinker bass, one white bass, a ton of little green sun fish and a handful of decent sized bass as well. It was hot but because we launched so late we were able to stay in the shade most of the time. It wasn't a bragging trip but we caught several fish and had a ball. We always do.

They can't all be monsters..... We found a huge school of fish hanging out by a very distinct piece of cover and they just stayed there all day. I would throw a Bandit crank bait in a shad pattern and just run it through the school. Then, when they quit hitting that I'd throw a speed shad and count it down and reel it at a medium retrieve and pick up a few more. We wore them out a couple of times and had to leave them for a few minutes. But we could always come back to them and catch some more. It was a great couple of days with tons of bites which is exactly what I needed after being down and out for some many days. Hope ya'll are catching them too....

After a 6-7 week layoff I finally made it back down to Table Rock. Andy and I put in at about 4:15pm way up James River and fished in the 102* heat. The fish didn't seem to care. We caught 'em real good. Then Gary and I put in at the same place at about 6:15am and we caught 'em even better..... Bright sun, very little breeze and 100*+ temperatures both days and the bite was steady all day. When we loaded up Monday evening the water temperature was 90.8*..... Summer time in the Ozarks....

Quill.... I have to agree on the gills for the tastiest fish in Table Rock.... We use to catch a mess of them and just scale 'em, then gut'em and gill'em and pan fry the whole thing. NO filleting.... we would pick every ounce of meat off of them because we didn't want to waste an ounce of meat. Only bones left in a perfect skeleton.... They are absolutely delicious...

My doctor said left forearm and elbow are two of the most common areas of trouble. Mostly from driving and the sun coming in the window so they are always exposed even when other areas of the body are covered. That's accidental exposure. Now add that to thousands of hours purposely in the sun with little or no protection and there's no wonder I had a problem. If your doctor suspects cancer he will scrape it off first and send it to a pathology lab to see if its cancer or not, and then to determine what kind. If it is cancer then you will come back in and he will cut the section of skin out that contains the cancer with the margins around it that the pathology called for. In my case it was skin and the fatty layer under it only. They did not have to get into the muscle. Then they send that piece of skin into the lab to make sure they got all of it. Then you have to care for the wound by keeping polysporin and bandages on it so it stays soft until the stitches come out. The skin was very tight on my arm for the first several days because they have to stretch it to sew you back together after taking such a large piece of skin out. You have to take it easy for a while so you don't tear your stitches out. I am right at 6 weeks now on mine and I am healing up very well. Hope this helps....

Nick..... These Madura cooling socks are awesome for your face and ears. I use the Habit brand sun shirts from Sam's Club now for arms. Currently shopping for full body protection that breathes... including gloves. The backs of my hands are exposed almost all the time. If I find anything awesome I'll let ya'll know.

Thank you Quill..... 2nd attempt to eradicate cancer was successful. Will be much more careful from this time forward....

You guys are killing me with all the fishing reports. I haven't been unable to go for the last 6 weeks. Three weeks into retirement I was diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer. The same cancer that took my buddy Ken down the street a couple years ago. It was kind of scary there for a few weeks. In my 66yrs and 6 months of life I have spent thousands of hours on the water and in the sun, never thinking anything about it. Please take sun exposure seriously. I never did..... until now. On June 10th the doctor removed the skin cancer along with a piece of my skin 51mm long X 28mm wide X 9mm deep. Recovery time was extended because it was on my elbow. Will probably be next week before I get out again and will probably do a night trip due to the extreme temperatures. Be safe out there.

Nice report.... thanks Dutch...

Can't beat lots of bites..... well done.

Ha ha..... you're more disciplined than I am Bill. I'm trying to quit throwing it but can't do it.....( Spoon time may come quicker than you think. We saw lots of fish bunching up between 32 and 45 feet.)

Gary and I put in at Hideaway on Tuesday at straight up 6am. The air temp was mid 60's and the water temp was upper 70's. It was another absolutely glorious day to be on Table Rock Lake at sun up. It was dead calm and the reflection of the sky and the bluffs on the water was stunning at times. We went back to our favorite top water point but only picked up a few on a skitter pop. They swirled at my spook a few times but wouldn't commit to it. Later in the morning when the top water bite fizzled out altogether we started stitching that silly Ned Rig down the old water line again. We caught tons of smallies from the edge of the brush and a handful of them were pretty nice. Most were short but they bit often enough to keep us entertained so we still had a blast.

Friday was an absolutely magical day to be on the lake. My eyes popped open at 3:05am and I hopped up and put the coffee on. After doing my daily devotions and and eating a breakfast bar I headed toward Gary's house to try to get to the lake before the sun came up. We hoped to grab a bite of real breakfast somewhere but nobody was open yet so we headed toward Hideaway. We launched the boat at about 6:15 so the sun was already up but fortunately the fog had settled in pretty good so it extended the morning for us. The first point we went to was loaded with fish so we had a ball. We whacked 'em on top water and crankbaits until the sun got bright. After they moved deep we started catching them on the ned rig again. I hate that thing but as long as its catching fish....... We wound up fishing for 14 hours and enjoyed every minute of it. Can't wait to get back down on Monday....

Now you're talkin'. We had a Shakespeare too ..... clamped on the transom..... it would last for hours. We would actually troll with it instead of just using it for boat position. Those were the days when you really had to work at it and earned every fish you caught.... good times.

Champ188..... every now and then Andy or I will run across some of the blueberry worms at a flea market or garage sale. When we do... we buy all of them they have. They still catch fish like crazy....

Its an oldie but a goodie..... gets the job done.... He has thousands of hours on it.

Andy and I took his old MonArk down to Aunts Creek Friday and caught a handful of nice chunky bass. When we launched around 12:30pm the air temp was about 75* and the water temp was 71*. We only had 4 or 5 hours to fish so we needed to figure them out fast....We threw everything in the box again but only got bit on a ned rig, a crank bait, and a grub. Most fish came on the ned and the crank bait just outside the old water line....Andy caught a nice one on an old Kalin grub too. It was an absolutely beautiful day to be at Table Rock Lake.... All fish were caught, photographed, and then released unharmed to fight another day......

Nope..... twern't me...

Oh man.... I hate it that I missed you. I wish I would have known.... We fished at Troy Mill Creek over on that side but didn't do any good... Hope you were able to find a few...

Dean and I went back down to Table Rock on Thursday. When we launched at Campbell Point at 10:30am the air temp was about 72* and the water temp was 77*. With the water level at 923 and some change it was somewhat of a challenge to get the boat off the trailer. We went to my 1st high water spot and started putting fish in the boat right away. We caught 'em on a spinner bait, a crank bait, a top water. a jerk bait, and a ned rig. We also threw a wacky worm, a floating worm, a frog, and a chatter bait but never got bit on them. We never really put together a pattern. We just threw everything we had in the box. The Ned Rig right on the old shore line produced the most bites.... All fish were released unharmed back into the lake....

We practice catch and release 99.9% of the time. I kinda grimaced myself when I saw that rope stringer through the gills. He's a green horn. I am trying to teach them proper fishing etiquette too but it takes time. Keep in mind we had 15 guys we planned to feed on Friday night at our fish fry so we keep everything legal to keep until we have enough to get the job done. I have caught and released, unharmed, tens of thousands of fish over the last 62 years..... I have done my fair share of resource conservation. Point taken though on the criticism....

On April 28, 29, and 30 we did our annual spring fishing trip. Thursday the 28th was awesome with a little bit of drizzling rain and low skies the bite was on. In four hours we were able to catch enough fish for our Friday night fish fry. Friday early was also awesome. We had a slug fest on the Kentuckies with the ned rig. (Love those bright red eyes.) When the sun came out and it got hot the fishing got tough. We still picked up a few but the wind made it hard to stay on them. Saturday, same thing. Early, while it was cloudy, they bit pretty good. When the sun got up high and bright the bites were few and far between. We still caught lots of bass, crappie, and white bass. Everybody caught fish and had a ball. We had several bass that were just keeper sized, 5 or 6 in the 3 pound range and one five pounder. The 15" - 17" fish make awesome fillets. Looking forward to the October trip up to Stockton now..... can't wait.