Steve McBasser

Finally got a chance to get back down to Table Rock and throw that blade bait again. I had been chomping at the bit to get back down there ever since Dean and I went on my birthday trip. Put in at Campbell Point again and ran up Big Creek. Gary and I fished some of the same water that Dean and I did and the fish were still there. Lost my last blade late in the day so I changed over to a grub and picked up a few more. They were definitely hitting the blade better. Water temp started out at 43* but by the end of the day we were seeing 46*. Big Creek was stained from the recent rains with lots of debris on the water. The fish we caught up there were 6-8' deep. The main lake was still crystal clear with no debris what so ever. We had to fish much deeper in the clear water to get bit. Most of the fish came from the 20' to 24' depth range.

Ron and I went back down to Bull Shoals on Friday 1/27. Water temp was a balmy 43* when we launched at 9:45am. Put in mid lake again and had a ball. Shallow water cranking was the only thing that would draw a bite. But that's OK because we know how to do that. The wind was tough and we lost the cranking battery about 11am so we had to do a little rewiring in order to save our trip. Wound up with 9 largemouth. 7 were keepers.

Nice fish.....

Ron and I went back down to the Bull yesterday and caught a few. What a beautiful day. Foggy start. It was after 10am before we could see to navigate. We caught them shallow on a crank bait, and a jig....and deep on a spoon and a blade bait. 68* day in January is pretty awesome. Water temp started out around 47* but was pushing 50* by the end of the day. Its snowing right now as I am typing this. Gotta love the Missouri Ozarks.

My buddy Andy and I bought these off of lure parts on line. Then he paints them and I put the split rings, hooks, and eyes on them. That makes it even more fun to me....

I had thrown it a few times but had never had a bite on it until Friday. It is so much fun to learn a new bait and technique. I am totally green on this thing but so far I'm loving it. Can't wait to get back out there and do it again.

Made my first cast at straight up 10am. Went there to find the deep fish and did so almost immediately. Never caught a blade bait fish in my life until Friday. Weird bite but I loved it. Caught quality fish too.....Find fish on the graph first. Rather than vertical fishing, back off of your school about 3/4 of a cast. Pitch to them and let the blade go all the way to the bottom. Jig up about 2 1/2 feet and let it fall, reel in the slack... Repeat. Bite usually comes on the pull up, not on the fall. When you jig up you will feel a very pronounced vibration of the blade. You're doing it right. Put in at Campbell Point and ran up Big Creek. Can't wait to get back out there. Hope ya'll are getting to fish too.

After the big camping/fishing extravaganza up at Stockton back on Oct 28, 29, and 30 I attempted to take my 87 yr old dad up there to get in on some of the white bass fun. Unfortunately, before we got a chance to put the boat in the water he fell and broke a hip coming out of the bathroom up above the boat ramp at Mutton Creek north. So, for the last many weeks I have been staying with him as he recovers from hip replacement surgery. I am also happy to report that after 8 weeks of healing and rehab he is back to being independent and living by himself again. He is amazing.... Anyway.... I was able to get away last week and fish again with my buddy Ron. It was so nice to get out again. Especially on a 72* day. We put in at mid lake again and found them pretty quickly. We had a ball.

So we caught tons of white bass but the traveling trophy can only be won by catching the biggest black bass, So..... After we broke camp at 3pm, most of the guys went home but just as we were about to leave my buddy Andy showed up. So he and I went back out for another 2 1/2 hours and caught some more. We spent the first hour and a half white bass fishing and then bass fished until it was almost dark. Luckily they were biting too so now the traveling trophy is back on my mantle where it belongs. Hope you guys are catching them too....

Wow..... What a blast. Perfect weather and the fish bit like crazy. 12 of the guys from my Sunday School class went up to Mutton Creek on Thursday morning. After getting special permission from the management of Mutton Creek we set up camp about 10am and were fishing by 12 noon. Normal check in time is 3pm. The plan was for everybody to meet back at camp at dark and start filleting fish for our big fish fry on Friday night. As the guys were coming in we saw that just about everybody had a limit of whites so needless to say we had plenty of fish. We had enough that we were taking fish around to share with other campers. We had 12 guys and 4 boats so we fished 3 in a boat. It was a little bit crowded but not bad. We drew straws every morning to see who would fish with who. It was fun to try to keep it mixed up..... We had sausage and eggs and biscuits and gravy for breakfast on Friday morning and bacon and eggs on Saturday morning. If you left camp hungry, you messed up somewhere.......We ate white bass, catfish, and walleye. All black bass were photographed and then returned to the water unharmed. All in all it was another great trip. Thank you Lord for the perfect weather and keeping us all safe.

Its a '94 364V....probably the nicest one on the planet.... The original owner won it in a Bass n Gals tournament. I fished with her husband out of it for almost 20 years and then they sold it to my buddy Dean so I still get to fish out of it every now and then..... It still shines like a diamond, runs like a top, and catches fish like crazy...

Ron and I put in mid lake again on Thursday of last week. Water temp was 80*, air temp 63*..... Fished close to the ramp all day and caught a handful of nice fish and a few dinks. We caught 'em on a ned, a hula grub, a crankbait and a jerk bait. Nothing to brag about but wow..... what an awesome day to be on the water.... 65* high for the day. Hope you guys are getting to fish too...

Andy and I just had a few hours to fish on Friday but we wanted to run down to Beaver Creek on Bull Shoals for some late summer fun. We launched the old Mon Ark at about 3:30pm and fished until about 7pm. We only caught a handful of fish but had a ball anyway.....Andy caught these on a custom painted "coach dog" super spook junior by scraping the shady bluff walls. The strike were explosive and the fish were crazy. They would jump 3 - 4 feet out of the water try to throw that spook but Andy had super sharp hooks and was able to hang on to them. It was a blast to watch. I caught a few on my crankbait and ned rig too but none were picture worthy.....

After a long layoff from Stockton I finally got back up there on Tuesday and Thursday last week. Based on my fishing journal we ran a typical September pattern for Stockton and in spite of the low water situation it paid off big.... Tuesday Gary and I were on the water by 6:30am and we were totally fogged in until after 10am. We caught a bunch of fish but they were mostly dinks. I had 5 walleye, 10 big green sunfish, and probably 30 bass. I also caught 5 white bass. Gary also had a bunch of dinkers. Then my buddy Dean and I went back up on Thursday and had just the oppisite kind of day. We didn't catch as many fish but the ones we did catch were better quality. The water temp was in the upper 70's when we started but was about 82* when we quit. We found the fish to be VERY shallow. Ridiculously shallow in fact. At one point we were in 3.7' of water casting to 0 and the fish were hitting it as soon as the bait hit the water. Windy gravel points and pockets were best and the little muddy sloughs were a sure bite. It was crazy.....

That is a beautiful smallie for sure Bill....

Can't always tear 'em up..... Better luck next time.

Dutch..... we used to call it scrounging....... You do what you have to do to get bit. Thanks for the report. Been so long since I've been up there, I'll have to learn all over again. Been hitting the Rock instead.

Gary and I caught them good enough on Friday that we wanted to go again on Saturday. We didn't catch as many, and the boat traffic was rediculous but we still had a ball...... The details were a repeat of Friday.

Gary and I took the Charger up river again from Cape Fair and caught a bunch of short bass and had a ball. The water temp was mid 80's and the air temp felt like a hundred. Found them schooling deep again so the little hammered jigging spoon was the best bait. They would push the bait fish to the surface every now and then and stayed up long enough to catch two or three on a little super spook jr before they went back down. When they did we'd drop the spoon down on them and pick up a few more. Running with the little short bass was some of the biggest whites I have ever seen. When I hooked one of them I could tell right off that it was not a little dinker bass. We probably caught 3 or 4 keeper bass total mixed in with the dinks and the handful of whites I caught were monsters. Fun day on the Rock.

We were targeting schooling fish at about 26-45'. They weren't near as thick as they were last week but we still caught a bunch. The only thing I caught on the Ned was the two little brim. We went to a couple of spots and bank fished just to get out of the boat traffic for a while. Yes... I know we were out in the middle of the lake but still.... there is no excuse for the way some people run their boats with absolutely no regard for anybody else....... sorry about the rant. Back to fishing....The slab spoon drew most of my bites but I also caught them on a white swim bait and a shad colored crank bait. It was crazy. Even though the water temp was around 90* the fish were extremely active. Everyone of them would jump multiple times before we could get them in the boat. I bet we lost as many fish as we landed. Still had a ball though.....

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....