ryan

A friend and I went with Babbler to TR last year to learn more about the art of drop shotting, it was a great trip and Bill was a good guy. His advice has really helped me when drop shotting and tuning my graph, well worth the money and time to learn a new technique.

Once again I don't think anyone is saying don't ever keep a fish for the table, yes god put fish here for our enjoyment and I enjoy eating them as much as the next person. If I want to eat fish I usually target walleye and crappie, I will keep a few kentuckys once in awhile but not often, why, because I enjoy catching them so much. Any person that calls themself an angler should know the importance of catch and release. Now I will say that the only kentuckys I keep are from greers ferry lake where the department of conservation has asked that you take small kentuckys for the table 12-14 inch fish. I don't keep bass from TR but Im not gonna bash the fact that you do, its your legal right. What I am gonna say, is that Table Rock is the fishery that it is because of catch and release anglers and the use of good judgment by those who do keep fish. Most tournament fisherman are great conservationist and do everything in their power to protect the fish as they enjoy them so much. I have fished the OMTT and couple of other tournaments and have been impressed with the care that goes into keeping fish healthy. If even half of the anglers that fish TR on a regular basis kept bass I assure you the fishery would suffer. My point is if you must keep bass please don't keep 3-4lbs or fish that are full of eggs, let em swim and there will be more for you to enjoy in the future.

Just to clear up the confusion lactic acid isn't what kills fish or what makes you sore the day after a work out, lactic acid build up is a short term process used to store energy. We all make lactic acid when we need to evoke fast twitch or fast oxidative muscles for work. Lactic acid may cause immediate discomfort but is quickly converted back to pyruvate by lactate dehydrogenase for Krebbs cycle and cellular respiration. Micro tears are what make you sore the day after you work out. The point is don't hug your bass or give them a message when you catch them because disturbing their slime coat does reduce their ability to fight off infections. Yeah im sure there are a few bass killed every once in awhile during a tournament but I think most tournament fisherman are great advocates of catch and release and would be furious if they new fish were being killed. If you wanna eat a fish then eat it but don't think that tournament fishing is gonna do more harm to a lake than a ton of people keeping fish, I mean come on lets be logical here.

If I drill you in the dome with a spook you will know that you got too close, hahah just kidding.

Rangerman, I don't think anyone is saying don't ever keep a bass if you want to eat it, what they are saying is that don't go keeping big fish or ones that are full of eggs. Why anyone would ever keep a 5lb bass to eat is beyond me but it's a personal choice and your legal right to do so. I can assure you of one thing though, table rock doesn't fish the way it does because you have people keeping 5 pounders. Catch and release is a vital part of any fishery, being an advocate of conservation is all of our jobs. Eat fish if you wanna eat fish but don't keep the big boys let em swim and you can enjoy them for a long time to come. Im not trying to tell anyone what to do just suggesting a better way for everyone to be able to have a chance at catching quality fish.

Just wanted to address what was said about keeping other fish besides bass. I am not against keeping a few kentuckys every now and again (not often) but it really gets on my nerves when guys will catch a 5-6lb walleye and throw it in the livewell. Everyone just says well they are great to eat so lets eat all that we catch. A 5-6-7 pound walleye is going to be a great fish in another couple of years. Bottom line is that there are trophy fish for every species and I am a firm believer that they should go back into the water. If someone catches a fish of a lifetime then do what you want with it, but those replicas look just as pretty. If you wanna keep some fish then go ahead but please be smart about it, and remember the lake is only as good as the fisherman who help manage it.

I can't believe anyone would say we need to manage (harvest) SM in TR. I love TR for the simple reason that you can go and catch big SM, LM, and K's all in the same area. If you wanna keep a bass or two for the table keep a Ky and be smart about it. Don't keep one with eggs or a 4lber, well thats just my 2 cents not that anyone cares.

Echo Echo Echo, I blow and XLT and a Acrylic timber, and a cocabola timber. For geese I blow a pit magic and hopefully will be gettin a echo prime meat at some point

Who do you know that guides in arkansas, my buddies run bustin beaks guide service and have fields around coon island and between duck creek and otter slough, they hammer the birds pretty good, I am fortunate enough to get to hunt with them on occasion.

Don't know their average is always really good like in the 4's. November may be a little cooler this year (keep your fingers crossed). I have never hunted any of the north zone CA. I would love to try and come up and hunt grand pass I know their numbers look really good most of the time. The only bad thing I hear are the crowds, oh well I am use to hunting otter slough so I know what its like to be turned away. Hope you hammer them, I hunt four rivers and schelle quite a bit, hopefully they will be good this year, all depends on how the flooding affected the areas. Good luck, Ps you should post on duckhuntingchat.com I bet you would get a few more responses

Hey thanks for the advice, there are a lot of residential geese on table rock that I would love to take advantage of. If you see any around the lake let me know.

Just wondering if the 1400 has a vent rib, what choke? Shoot me a email clark17ryan@hotmail.com

depends on the time of year and where your hunting how big or small your spread needs to be. If your hunting the lakes 9/10 times your gonna want a big spread. I have about 8doz floaters two dozen full bodies and my buddys have the same, just depends on where we hunt how many we pull out. As for decoy weights the ace weights are the only way to go, if you want to make setting up and going home alot faster use the ace weights, plus they are the only weights that work with the hot buy decoys. As for geese numbers when it starts to freeze up north there are actually quite a few geese that come through this area, untill that time you can always mess with the bread eaters.

XPS makes some good ones, I like plain chrome or copper depending on the weather. I like throwing them into docks and out off long points, let them flutter down then rip them off the bottom.

Put in at Aunts around 1pm fished untill about 6pm (strange hours but thats all we could manage today) 14 fish during the heat of the day w/half of those being keepers. FB jigs and drop shots on the shady sides of docks, no mosters but a few 3lbs ers. Most fish would be suspended around 20 ft deep and hit the FB jig on the drop, in not on the drop they would smash it on the way back to the boat. Fun afternoon wish we could have been there this morning. Would like to have fished a few more spots but boat traffic made it impossible. Some of those boaters have no common sense at all there were several times we had to shut down while running to avoid hitting tubers who would just cut right in front of you, oh well thats TR for ya.

I have been graphing shad everywhere from the surface down to about 30 feet. Most of the fish I have caught have been about 18-20 ft deep. There are fish up on the surface chasing shad but they are tough to get to bite, a buddy and I caught a couple on DD 22 the other day but could not get them to eat a swim bait or a rattle trap which they should be eating both the way they are up on those shad. The top water bite was dead for me the other morning, most fish came on a drop shot or FB jig in 15-25 foot of water. I havent been able to really find any big concentrations of fish, just a few here and a few there. Best bite for me has been on a DSW.

i have been struggling to keep a lure tied on my line, i am using a method my grandma taught me for knitting. it hasn't been holding up. any suggestions.

Went on my first guided trip today on TR, top water action early with a few fish on drop shot as the sun came out. Didn't know what to expect out of our guide Bill Babbler but wasn't dissapointed. What a great guy and tremendous fisherman, very knowledgable about drop shotting and how to get the most out of your electronics. If you want to become a better fisherman it would be very benificial to book a trip with bill. I know there are several great guides on TR but I was impressed with Bill, even though I am a local he went out of his way to provide me with different tools to add to my Table Rock arsenal. Bill thanks so much for the educational trip and great company, I know Mike and I had a great time. God Bless, Ryan Clark

My buddy has an awesome bass cat Cougar FTD 21ft w/250 pro XS this boat is spotless, he takes incredible care of his boat and has taken the proper measures in breaking in the motor. I believe the motor has less than 40 hrs on it. Great deal on a great boat it is listed for sale on the Bass cat website. I could put you in touch with him if you are interested. Drop me a PM thanks and hope someone can take advantage of this great deal. He lives in Springfield and would be more than willing to let you take a look at the boat.

Just wondering if anyone has been up to the schelle or four rivers CA and seen if they have been impacted by all the rain. I am worried that they are gonna stay flooded all summer and not allow the moist soil foods that the ducks use to grow. No food equals no ducks, and that would be a disaster.

Do you mean layout boat as in duck hunting layout boat, if so can you send me a couple of pictures.

Stop stretching the truth I know your not a fisherman. Oh and please don't ever take care of me if I have to come up to SI. haha

Will be fishing the lake for the first time next thursday and wondering what areas of the lake, presentations tips ect. anyone could offer. I have heard that there is a solid jerk bait bite in the clearer water of the lake. Any info on the lake would be appreciated. Also where are some good places to stay, decent price, clean ect.

Echo XLT and Echo Timber, pit majic for geese. I had some really great hunts over here this year but overall for this area of the state SW missouri duck numbers (harvest) was down. This was due to the flooding and the depletion of moist soil foods. In other words the ducks showed up on flight days and stuck around for 3-4 days before figuring out hey there is not food here. Duckydoty is right you need to fight the crowds a grand pass and eagle bluffs. As for SE missouri this year was awesome more ducks than I have ever seen, incredible hunting. According to DU numbers this year were up, hope the trend continues.

What kinda lease is it what does the property look like. Acres, field/pond/lake blinds pits? Is it any good?