Sam

Wow, no reports at all on here for six days - just about when things oughta be about ready to bust loose. It's like when the grandkids get REAL quiet - it makes me think they're up to something. You see, that's the thing about Bull Shoals fishermen - when they get quiet or start talking about Stockton, you gotta suspect they're trying to keep every glitter boat on Tablerock from coming over. I'm going tomorrow to find out for myself what's going on.

Well, I was launching by myself at K Dock. There were other fishermen coming and going and I like to clear launch ramps in a hurry so I don't hold anyone up. I'm pretty quick at it, even by myself. My drill is to leave the front of my boat hooked to the trailer and undo the back tie-downs. Then I back my truck down the ramp until my boat's floating level, climb out of the truck cab, go over the truck bed, unhook the front of the boat, get in the boat, start the motor, and tie the boat to a dock or beach it - then move my truck off the ramp and park it. I leave the driver's door of my truck open when I launch, because to get back in the truck I climb up on the hood and drop down into the cab. On most ramps I'd get my feet wet if I tried to get back in the door from ground level - so you can always tell I've been fishing by myself by the muddy footprints on my truck hood. Anyway, long story short - on this one day I'd left my keys in the ignition, had the windows rolled up, and had just got into the boat when the driver's door of my truck swung shut and locked. I didn't have a spare key, and my truck and trailer were completely blocking the single ramp with guys waiting. Fortunately, the door only closed on the first notch, not all the way. I was able to get a thin screwdriver out of my toolbox (which wasn't locked), open the truck door, and clear the ramp in about 5 minutes. It was pretty embarrassing, though. Since then, I've got a spare truck key, I take my keys out of the ignition when I'm launching, and I roll the driver's window all the way down and make sure the doors aren't locked. I don't want to do that again, ever.

A friend and I went out of Bridgeport yesterday. We went downstream a little to start, about halfway to Virgin Bluff, then through the day worked our way up to just below McCord Bend. We hit all the crappie and white bass spots I know from previous years, and there are a lot of those. The catching was mostly slow - it was a sunny "bluebird" day, and that's tough. We kept at it all day though, and ended up bringing two limits of crappie and 22 white bass home. The water was pretty murky from that big bend above Flat Creek down, and clear upstream from there. The cold spell has moved the fish down off the flats and back into deeper water. Below Ashercane, most crappie are suspended about 12-15 feet down in 32-35 feet of water on the usual staging banks near spawning coves, and they weren't biting very good. Upstream from there they're bunched around brushpiles in 18-20 feet of water, and the ones on brush were biting better. We didn't find any big crappie, our best one was 12" and half the ones we caught were just short of 10" - so to get our limits we must have caught near 60. We found male white bass on the inside of bends where the flats drop off to the channel in 18-20 feet of water. They're not spread out at all, they're real bunched up - to the point I was scoping a "false bottom" of fish when we'd finally find a bunch. They weren't biting very quick either, they'd turn on for a few minutes and then mostly turn off - as you can see by our finding them that thick and still only getting 22 instead of limits. They're running small, too. We were slow-trolling swimming minnows on 1/8 oz. jigheads and watching the scope to find fish. Then we'd stop and throw to them. The best color seemed to be a white swimming minnow with a chartreuse tail, and my partner also caught white bass on a small Roostertail. We had to fish deep and slow to catch fish. Water temp was 53, and the crappie and whites are both staging. I think things will really bust loose there as soon as the water warms up about 5 more degrees.

All these years and I never knew there were any white bass in Taneycomo - I just never thought about it. I guess there would be, because there's plenty in the lakes upstream and downstream. I'm glad you caught some, but I wouldn't think of Taneycomo as a prime white bass destination.

Wow, sorry to hear the problem's that serious. I hope you can get it fixed quick and without too much expense - but if you decide to replace the motor instead, you sure might want to look at the new four-strokes. I switched over to a four-stroke Suzuki two years ago, and it's just great. It has a crankcase so there's no mixing oil into the gas, it runs quiet and smooth, and gasoline use is about 1/3 what it was with a two-stroke on the same boat. I'm still getting used to, and enjoying, the way it'll run so smooth and quiet at trolling speeds that you can carry on a normal conversation - 'cause the loudest sound from the motor is the stream of cooling water hitting the lake.

Well, good - it's too bad you've got the wind to deal with today but this looks like the best fishing weather we're going to get for awhile. I hope you and the boy have a great time. Living in Forsyth, you've got the advantage of knowing more of Bull Shoals than I do. I know the lake real well from Powersite down to Horseshoe Bend, but that's about it - I don't even know where Buck Creek is. I've driven down to Theodosia a couple of times and put in there, and I sure like that part of the lake. I know I'm missing out on most of Bull Shoals - it's a big lake.

When you catch a big drum, and if you want to mess with it - do you guys know about the two "rocks" in their head? They grind those together to make the "drum" noise, and sometimes if it's real quiet on the lake at night you can hear when there's a drum around. Each "rock" has the letter "L" on it, and the old-timers said that stood for "luck". My partner caught a giant drum on a Texas-rigged crawdad one night several years ago. Of course we thought he had ahold of the world's biggest bass, or a flathead, or something - and we were disappointed when we saw what he brought up. We took it home and cut the rocks out, the rest of the fish went in my garden compost. Each of us carries one of those "rocks" in our pocket as a lucky piece, and they're bigger than a quarter.

Bill - No wonder you get a little cranky sometimes, you're hungry. Next time I'll just throw you a Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger and run. Congratulations on the weight loss, though. Hey, I put in at Mill Creek yesterday and fished those big sandy points straight across west from the Kimberling Bridge. I tried a Lucky Craft Pointer jerkbait in about 18 feet like you've been saying, and I caught 3 keeper largemouths. The wind came up and I was having trouble keeping a tight line on the jerkbait, so I switched over to a Green Pumpkin Senko wacky-rigged with a Kahle hook - dropping it down beside the tree trunks and twitching it on the way down. I got 3 more keepers in about an hour - so that bite's starting. Actually, I was fishing the Kinami worm from WalMart - I'm too cheap to buy Senkos and I think they're the same thing. None of the bass were real big, nothing over 17", and I think they were all males. By that time my aluminum boat was taking a beating from the wind (it can go about 15 mph backwards and sideways), so I ran down to Little Cow Creek to get out of it. I released those bass and didn't have any filets to take home, so I thought just maybe I could catch a crappie. I couldn't. That seems odd. I catch crappie out of Little Cow Creek about June, once in awhile a limit - so I know they're in there. 'Way back near the end of it, it has everything a crappie could want - lots of brush, deep water in the middle, and pea-gravel banks and flats for spawning. I couldn't get a bite, though, so I sure don't know how to catch a crappie near Kimberling City right now. On the way back I was out in the waves and whitecaps and I noticed a big bunch of seagulls feeding in that shallow flat on the south side of Point 7. I went over where they were and scoped a big bunch of shad that were blown up against the point, so I drifted through there twice dragging a Storm "Soft Shad" plug. I got a short Kentucky bass on each pass, 14" and 14 1/2". That would have been fun if I could have stayed on it, but there was no way I could stay still and the waves were so bad it was dangerous to even turn my boat crossways to them. I headed for home with no filets, but I had a great time - even in the wind. Water temp was 51 on the main lake and 53 in Little Cow Creek.

I know several people, both retired and not retired, who have moved to the Kimberling City area. As far as I know they all like it - the only negative things I've heard is that it's a long drive to Springfield when they have to go to "the big city" for something - and gas is always about a dime higher down there. It's a funny thing though - they all moved to the lake because they like to fish, then they quit fishing. It seems like people move there, fish a lot for the first year or so, then quit. One friend who lives in Kimberling used to be a serious tournament fisherman as well as fishing a lot for crappie and white bass. He hasn't fished at all for about 7 years now except when grandkids come to visit he'll take them fishing from the bank. He sold his bass boat about 5 years ago, and he won't even go with me on fishing trips. He just lost interest. I guess that's human nature. People from far away take their vacations in Branson, and we live nearby and haven't gone to a Branson show for about 15 years. My brother-in-law lives in Las Vegas, and they never go to a casino. I'm just saying - you may lose interest once the lake is right there every day. Others here can give you more info about Kimberling, docks, and so forth. There's a lot of people living at the lake who DO fish, too - and I hope it works out that way for you.

It's interesting that it's a black crappie. That's what I've found so far this year on upper Bull Shoals too - out of every 10 crappie I've caught about 9 have been black crappie. That's the exact opposite of what I've found in all the previous years there - it's always been about 9 white crappie out of every 10 crappie caught. I've always liked black crappie a little better. I like the way they bunch up near brush, while white crappie like to spread out more. The Arkansas Black Nose sub-variety of black crappie are really my favorites, and I've only caught one there so far this year. I think those grow bigger, bite and fight better than the others. I wonder if the floods last year somehow reversed the ratio of white/black crappie in Bull Shoals. We'll find out when they really get to spawning, I guess.

I backed out and didn't go today - the wind is 18 mph gusting up to 25, and my aluminum boat acts like a sailboat in those conditions. A week ago I went on a windy day, and I burned up the ground wire and plug that my trolling motor plugs into. I replaced those, but I had a boat mechanic look at it to make sure I had the right gauge wire and everything else right. Everything's OK, but the mechanic explained that the ground wire and plug heat up a little during operation - and when the trolling motor's run continuously on high speed hour after hour (as I did in the wind), it doesn't have a chance to cool and the plug and insulation will finally melt. So, I don't want to do that again. So far, tomorrow looks better. The forecast is 8 to 11 mph wind from the SW, and if that holds up I'll be out there.

I'm going tomorrow (Monday), but I won't go up the creeks and I won't go above Beaver Creek. There's probably still cold and/or muddy water coming down those creeks. The whites are wanting to spawn though, and they shouldn't have gone too far. The barometer's not rising, and it ought to fall a little in advance of tomorrow night's showers so tomorrow won't really be a "bluebird day". The wind's going to be from the south, so white bass ought to be in the main lake not too far from the creeks on sunny, shallow banks and coves that the wind's blowing into. That's the theory anyway, we'll see. I think it's getting about time for crappie (the males anyway) to start leaving those main channel drop-offs and start moving to staging areas near spawning coves and banks. We'll see about that, too. I'm going to take a bass rig because I've had real good luck around there in past years at this time with suspending jerkbaits, grubs, and Senkos. Hopefully, I'll find time for all of that. Everything starts happening all at once this time of year. I'd like to go sucker grabbing, I'd sure like to get to the James River again, and I haven't tried Long Creek yet this year. I wish the peak times for white bass, crappie, bass, and suckers would happen one after the other instead of all at once. If I go one place, like tomorrow, and it's not so good - then I always wish I'd gone to the other place and done the other thing.

No radio, but I've always got a cell phone. So far as weather, keeping a close eye on the sky and listening for thunder gives me better local warning than a radio would. When the sky in the west turns black and I hear distant rumbles, it's time to head for the barn. For other troubles, like Whack'emGood said you're always near docks, houses, or other boats. I've got a police whistle on the keychain and an air horn under the dash, and I think surely I could get some help if I really needed it.

My dad grew up in Seymour, and they were pretty poor back then. When he was a teenager (say about 1926-27) his older brother had been to the War and back, married, and had a Model T Ford. A couple of times a year my dad, his brother, and sister-in-law would cram themselves along with all the fishing and camping gear into that "T" and go camping for a few days. Dad said they had stuff tied all over it, to the hood, bumpers, and running boards, and it took most of a day to get there on dirt roads. They camped where Swan Creek runs into White River, what we call Shadow Rock now. Dad said that was a big deep hole of water under the rock, and they always had it to themselves and caught lots of fish with their primitive gear. They called it "The Glory Hole". Shadow Rock isn't way out in the country now, it's on the edge of Forsyth, all built up with a park and everything, and there isn't much water in that hole anymore. I transferred the name, though - our new "Glory Hole" isn't too far from there, it's a 20-foot spot on a steep chunk rock bank below K Dock where my partner and I caught 16 bass over 3 lbs. and up to 5 1/2 lbs. in about an hour one night, just before we got caught out in a big thunderstorm. The Glory Hole is always worth a visit when I'm there, and quite often we'll catch another bass or two out of it.

No, I didn't mean to imply that, not a bit. The key word there is "consistently", and I can't do that. I've caught some crappie out of Tablerock in the past in every month of the year, but in the cold months it's tough, tough. Right now I'd have as hard a time as anybody catching even one crappie around Kimberling City, and that's why I suggested motoman ought to go up above Flat Creek where I've caught crappie on two recent trips. He seemed to be open to that idea. I also didn't mean to make it sound "easy", and there's a little more to it than casting swimming minnows up on the flats. The thing now is to check every piece of wood and brush up on those flats because crappie are around some of them. That happens every year when the water is warming but still cold, and I think they get up there to be in warmer water that the sun heats. Small male white bass are liable to be on the same sunny flats for the same reason, but they don't bunch up around stumps like the crappie. Bill, I think all the time you've spent chasing those big green fish has made you underestimate Tablerock as a crappie lake. You know I like to fish Bull Shoals and once in awhile I'll make the drive up to Stockton or Pomme de Terre, but I rate Tablerock right up there with the other lakes for crappie. skeeter, Yep, it's Lent and my wife and I have had crappie and small white bass filets every Friday - some out of Bull Shoals and some out of Tablerock. I'm not tearin' 'em up yet, but for this early in the season I've been doing pretty good.

Wow, Bill - you sure floored me with that posting. Taken along with your rant the other day in another thread about people "keeping their mouths shut" instead of telling about their fish that got away - well, it makes me wonder if there's some trouble going on in your life that's got you upset. I sure hope not, honestly. If you look back at what I told motoman, I covered everything you're making fun of here. I told him I agree with you that Kimberling City isn't the place for crappie now, and I also gave him some spots around there that will be good for crappie come May and June. Then I told him where he could have a much better chance at crappie now - where, how, and with what lures. I mentioned that it's a real long run by boat from Kimberling, and that they'd probably want to trailer their boat, launch at Bridgeport, and go upriver. I even explained how crappie act up there right now in pre-spawn staging - that IF they can find a bunch it'll be a big bunch on the flats, and that IF they don't they'll have fun with white bass. That's good information, the best I know to help motoman out - and I thought I was good to share it. I've been up James fishing exactly where I described twice in the last 10 days, and I've caught crappie and white bass on both trips. No crappie limits yet, but I had some good keepers and threw a bunch of shorts back both times that would have made more than limits if they'd all been over 10". Then - after motoman asked what a swimming minnow is and I posted a link to Bass Pro, I was afraid I'd stepped on Lilley's toes. When he said he had the 3" originals at his shop, I came back and said I'd get some from him, that I didn't know his were the originals, and that I like the larger size. I didn't mean to give Bass Pro a plug over a locally-owned tackle shop, and I hope I fixed that. I'm really trying to get along with you guys. I know you're sore at me because I've been ragging you about your over-the-top K Dock report from a couple of months ago. Well, you oughta get over it. A whole lot of people, including me, have had both good and poor trips there since. I'm hoping we've got a good year coming up on Bull Shoals because of last year's flooding, but I think time has already showed that your "back to the glory days of the 60's" was a load of b.s. If you're going to jump on me every time I post something trying to help someone, I'll just quit coming here - that's easy.

Phil - I'll have to pick up a bunch of Swimming Minnows from you. I didn't realize that those are the originals, and they look good. I sure like the larger sizes. Don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but a couple of years ago in the late winter/early spring when crappie were going so good at Long Creek, the biggest one I caught in all those trips was 16 1/4". It was a big female white crappie, of course. Back home cleaning fish, I noticed that big crappie's stomach was full - real full. I cut the stomach open and there was a fresh shad in there, rolled up like a roll of toilet paper. I measured the shad, it was 6 3/4" long - and the crappie still thought it was hungry enough to bite my lure! I try to keep that in mind, and never think that a 3" lure is too big for a big crappie. The baitfish in our local lakes are big, and that's what the crappie like.

Swimmin' Minnows? Here ya go, on the far right-hand side of the page: Swimmin' Minnow I'm in Springfield a lot, so I use the Luck E Strike Swimmin' Minnows from Bass Pro. There's lots of knock-offs, though, and any brand should do the trick. I like to put these on 1/16 or 1/8 oz. jigheads that have a #1 or #1/0 hook. I dunno why so many crappie lures have small (#4 or #6) hooks. A crappie's mouth is almost as big as a bass' mouth when they distend it to take in a lure - small hooks just cause poor hooksets and lost fish by the boat.

crappiefisherman, now that's the truth. That's exactly what I was saying in another thread awhile back, and I kinda got abused by one and all for it. So, I ain't doing that again. So, come one come all and fill up your stringer! They're jumping in the boat, and the fishery of the 1960's is back again! You betcha!

Oh, yes it is! I kinda like it that one of the top guides on the lake doesn't know that some of us catch crappie there year-round, often getting our limits. The Kimberling City area is one of my top crappie destinations post-spawn, in May and June. Every major cove that has a lot of brush and some sandy spawning banks has crappie - and Cow Creek, Little Cow Creek, the brushy bank between the Cow Creeks, and the tangled brush on Point 7 are some of my favorite crappie holes around Kimberling. There are other spots around there that I don't know the names of, but the conditions are the same at all of them. Look for lots of brush that's near pea-gravel/sand and near deep water also, and you'll find crappie - but that deal's best a couple of months from now. With that said, I'm the first to admit that I don't know 1/10th of what Bill does about bass fishing on Tablerock. Motoman, Bill's exactly right in saying the Kimberling area will be a tough go for crappie at the time you'll be there. If your boat's big enough you could make the run by water to where you need to go - but it's a long run and most likely you'd want to trailer it and launch at Bridgeport, above Cape Fair, 'way up the James River arm. From Bridgeport, go upstream to where Flat Creek runs into James, then start fishing your way up James from there all the way up to Galena. What you're looking for is flats on the river bends in 5-10 feet of water. Look for any brush or stumps on those flats, because those kind of anchor the crappie - they group around them and the biggest crappie will be in the best of the cover, forcing the smaller ones out to the edges of it. They'll be bunched up, pre-spawn, and when you find them there'll be a big bunch of them and an easy limit. If you find them on a spot one day, they probably won't be there the next - but they'll be within a couple hundred yards of it, still in a big bunch and in the same kind of place. Take your boss up there, and there's a good chance you'll find a bunch and he'll get a crappie limit. And even if you can't find crappie, he'll have lots of fun catching white bass. Use swimming minnows on 1/8 or 1/16 jigheads, white or chartreuse, and a slow retrieve. Keep the rod tip high so you don't fish underneath the crappie - they won't go down for a lure. You'll be fishing among the spoonbillers up there, and that's always fun to watch, too.

Private dock owners on Tablerock have always been real good to me. Quite a few times I've been a long ways from my truck getting pounded by a rainstorm, and private dock owners have let me pull my boat into a stall and take shelter for awhile. I'll fish around docks, but I always respect private property and don't touch the dock. If someone's out on their dock I don't crowd them, and I wouldn't sit on someone's dock brushpile that they've put out and fish it for a long time - I'll gladly give it a couple of casts as I go by, though. There's plenty of brushpiles in the lake for everybody, and most of them aren't near docks.

With only half a day to fish on Tablerock and without knowing the lake, I'd guess your chance of catching a walleye isn't much better than your chance of winning the lottery. But if you troll crankbaits, you'll have fun with bass and other species. I hope you have a great trip and enjoy this beautiful area.

I can't imagine putting myself under the pressure of making my living as a fishing guide. I nearly always fish from my own boat rather than jumping in with someone else. My boat and tackle are set up the way I like them, so that's what I like to do. I fish by myself, or I've got one regular partner who often goes with me, or there's about 3 other guys who fish with me now and then. I fish a lot more than my partners do, and it's always me taking others out - a little bit like a guide in that way, I guess. Quite a few times I've said to whoever's with me "Well, if this was a guided trip you'd be getting your money back!", and we'll laugh about it. But a professional guide knowing his clients are maybe on a once-a-year vacation and he's got to find fish for them THAT DAY, wow - that would be tough. Conditions change so fast and weather can mess you up as often as not, especially when a date is picked weeks in advance - that would be real tough. And as a guide, your reputation and repeat business would be on the line every time you take a client out. My hat's off to guys like Bill who do this successfully. I sure couldn't do it - if anything could make me hate fishing, turning it into that kind of a high-pressure deal would probably be it.

Hey, has anyone found suckers yet in Bull Creek or Roark? I'm thinking it's about that time.

When I finally got to move back home to the Ozarks, I was 44. Living near good bass lakes again, I thought I'd start fishing tournaments and maybe get into it seriously - so I fished in some local tournaments. Anything I do I like to do it real well or not at all, and I soon realized that the mid-40's are too late to start that. Not that I couldn't do it at that age, I could - but tournament fishing is so physically demanding I could feel it even then and I knew it wouldn't be long before I couldn't keep up and compete effectively against guys who were a lot younger. I've always been a real active fisherman, friends used to call me "that kid who'd rather fish than eat", and they were right. I'm 62 now and I'm fine, but tournament fishing is real demanding physically and I wouldn't be able to keep up now - not at any kind of winning level. I can see the way this is going. Instead of being so active with my fishing, I'm gonna end up being one of those guys tied up to a stump with a couple of slip-bobber rigs out, drowning minnows all day. That's OK, I'll keep doing the best I can and I'll have a good time doing it. Just try not to run over me out there, and does anybody know where I can get a big umbrella for my boat?