Jwright79

I'm one of the captains on the Belle so maybe I can answer a few questions without getting myself in trouble. Fortunataly, I wasnt there when it happened but was called in afterwards. 1)The ducks are inspected by the coast guard annually just like the Belle. We are regulated by subchapter K in the CFR so we are a "k boat" and to my understanding the ducks kind of have their own checklist because they dont necessary fit into any of the existing subchapters. 2)They do monitor channel 13 while they are underway but I think they probably only turn that on to make a call right before they splash in the water. Occasionally they call asking for wind readings but that's not a routine thing. 3)Both of the ramps they use are in the SBB parking lot. They enter South of the Belle and exit North. There was actually 3 ducks on the water the other night(1 black and 2 white). The black one made it to the ramp first so it wasnt in any of the videos. 4) Bill was correct about the NW wind on that part of the lake. It is a beast and they had no business being out there. I've docked the Belle in 56 mph NW and it was interesting to say the very least. It was 15-20mph stronger the other night so I know it had to be brutal. Why didn't they look at a radar? I've got a ky3 weather app on my phone that takes less than a minutes to pull out and check. They knew it was bad shortly after they splashed in because all of them went between the Belle and the island instead of around the west side of it like they normally would. Why didn't they just turn around and go back to the south ramp? Once they got tucked inside the point south of the Belle I can't help but think it would've blocked atleast 40-50%of the wind and they could've made it back fine. I'm not in that cove much but I'm pretty sure the lake isn't as deep there either?? I'm sure you guys have all been playing the same scenarios over in your heads. Its definitely a terrible situation for everyone involved and my heart breaks for the families. I've gotta give a shout out to my Showboat people though because they all stepped up and did what needed to be done. A lot of them risked their own lives to help people they didn't even know!

I caught one the other night that had a humpback like that.

Thank you! Yes, it's a pretty good job most days. Lots of traffic on the lake today for a Tuesday.

I've caught some nice smallmouth on a Ned Rig just fishing from the bank there. Caught a few goggle eye on bucktail jigs there as well.

Thank you Quilback!

Hello all! Thanks for adding me to the site. I've been around Branson for 10-11 years. I am one of the captains on the Branson Belle so I spend a lot of time on Table Rock Lake. Unfortunatly, instead of fishing most of my time is spent trying to avoid local marinas rental boats and the kids they pull on tubes when they cross my bow so they can wave. I'm not real fimilier with the lake as a whole but do take note of places that I frequently see boats fishing from the Dam to 86 bridge. I have already gotten some good information from this site and enjoy reading about the local fishing stories and reports.