Chris Tetrick

Martin, Holey Moley! That's a super nice flat-head. Good work on them trot lines. I moved from the river down around Kimbelring City and miss havind a boat dock where I could have access to work lines in the evening. Would you mind me asking you where you put your trot lines out at? I was kinda thinking about getting some free time and would love to try and run a few lines. Thanks

Nice Cats! Good job. I used to live right above Cape Fair and me and my neighbor would start setting trot lines out this time of year. Always seemed to do the best in the 2nd or 3rd weeks in June. I guess that's when they spawn.

That's right Dude. You've got some of the best info. output I've seen here. Let's all keep everything and see how good the fishing's in a few year's.

Hope they get what's coming to them. You know I don't care what kinda fish it is, I just hate to see them taken out like this. Pretty pathetic.

I think we're all worn down as much as our boat batteries. But it was a fun day fishin' out there. Paige said he's a dose of all this wind latley, me too. I love the wind blown banks but it can get too wild sometimes and seems like we've been getting plenty. Let's see if we can get a nice little 5-10 m.p.h. tomorrow enough to catch some without a rogue waves coming over our boats.

I've got XM on my boat's radio but I'm not subscribed to it. I've got a friend who works at the Kimberling City marina and carries a portable boombox to the dock with her and gets reception there. I think Whack'em is right, they pick up a satellite signal like a GPS and should pick up about anywhere on the lake.

I'm one of the guides here and know them all and talk to most of them as friends and buddies I'll hang out with to do stuff besides fishing. I'll tell you right now hardly none of these guys I associate with kill fish or go around bragging about killing their catch to impress a resort owner. There may be millions of bass and kepper bass in Table Rock but that doesn't mean everyone should feel right about cutting their sides out. I remember fishing here in the good ol' days then fishing here after the fish kill. I thought Table Rock would never be the same, well after the past few years and seeing this spring, I think it's came back almost to full stride. So why would anyone want to kill some of these fish and take them out along with the babies they can make.

Tracy's exactly right. Shutting down a couple months would make a huge difference leaving them alone but I don't see that happening. A slot limit would probably also help. I think Babler told me the best idea I've ever heard of a couple years ago, during the spawn just shutting down certain areas and creek arms of the lake and rotating the off limit areas from year to year. I don't know either but I couldn't see how it'd hurt any.

April 13, 2009 Lake Level: 916.23 Normal Pool:915.0 Water Temp: 52-56 degrees Kimberling City, Dam Area, White River: Fishing's been great on the main lake. Water temp's haven't warmed up any in the past couple weeks keeping the fish stacked up on main lake and secondary points near spawning pockets. Mostly all K.Y's and Smallmouth and occasionally a black bass mixed in the groups. The size and quality of some of these brownies and Kentuckies are amazing. Fish are on biting on jerk baits really good. Pointer 100's, Suspending Rogues and Spro's McStick are all working them over fished with a fast retrieve leaving the bait sitting for 2-4 second pause between twitches. Most of the time jerk baits are working the best under windy banks. If not windy try swimming a 4'' grub off bottom in salt n pepper, smoke, and smoke /red flake. Most bites are in the 5'-10 depth and try split-shotting a green pumpkin french fry or dragging a 1/2 ounce football jig in P.B.&J. or brown colors on the same banks. Some gravel and rock banks are mossy and hard to fish on bottom, look for areas cleaner. Windy, cloudy or not fish are so aggresive now they seem to want to snap at everything that comes by them. River Arms: In the James River, Long Creek and King's much of the same are working. Crainking a wiggle-wart on windy chunk rock banks are working along with the jig. Water temp's are a bit warmer in some area's and the fish are further back in the creeks. Look for the fish to be on secondary points, channel swings and near areas with timber standing. Smaller brown jigs in 5/16 or 3/8 work well fished on the rocky banks. Also try Carolina rigged french fries and fish doctors.

Hey Soggy, I got a buddy of mine said he's been out night fishing and not catching a whole lot. Some keeper blacks and a few smallmouth mixed in. Mostly all off a black single spin and a few on a black/blue jig around boat docks.

Lake Level:916.3 Normal Pool:915.0 Water Temp:51-55 degrees Fishing had been good here in the past few days. Big Smallmouth's and Kentuckies are starting to show up on the main lake and secondary gravel flats. Fish are hanging shallow in the mornings and windy/ cloudy days. Wide open clean points and flats have been working the best. Fish are biting on 4'' and 5'' single tail grubs in smoke/red, smoke/silver and salt/pepper swam off bottom occasionally touching the bottom. Moss has began to build up off some banks and has made it diffucult to drag the grub on the bottom. Some banks are clean but some tend to be a bit messy. Fish are starting to bite carolina rigged fish doctors and french fries on these clean flats drug around. Stickbaits and wiggle warts are catching some nice fish also on secondary points with timber. Use crawdad colored warts and stickbaits in chartreuse/purple, or chrome shad. Craink the bait down and give it a pause then retreive the lure back slowly. In the river arms fish are biting the wiggle wart well. Many fish are coming off the phantom brown or green wart wound with a stop and go retreive knocking the bottom. Lots of rain off are pouring into the backs of the creeks and will draw bait and fish in to them. The lake levels are rising and I hope it won't get as wild as last March did. I haven't been in the James River in over a week, but I hear of good reports with lots of small bass being caught with a few keepers mixed in. Crainkbaits, stickbaits and finesse jigs are working in the creek arms and transition banks.

The Jaws of Life Have Opened!

I didn't fish this weekend, had the lodge to myself as Becky went to visit her folks. And they say guys can't cook and clean. Great! What are we having? I'll call you later to palce my order. I fished Sat. with my Dad. On the football jig, we had 4 nice keepers in the boat, 1 black, 1 brown, and 2 K.Y.'s that weighed almost 13lbs by 9:00. Batteries went stone cold dead. Beck told me dry cell's give 100% then just go dead suddenly. I believe it. We tried a few docks and crashed my boat in the metal parts, tried going down some windy banks, that was a nightmare. About 1:00 I threw our fish back in Jakes Creek and went home. Fun day with the clouds and wind but my battereis just decided to retire before weigh in.

They all get fished. Pretty hard. Everyone left out the upper ends of Bull from Bee to K Dock. There's one or two moose's left around there I guess if anyone could get to them this year with the lake super high. But probably the James on T.Rock hosts the most big blacks. Look at where all the post spawn and summer tournaments are won at. I get to live up here and enjoy fishing in my day's off. On day's they decide to get angry, they can almost tear up a guy's arm.

What a tough outing for me and 9 other guides out of a B.Cedar corperate trip today. 1:00 afternoon start when it's burning. Babler spotted me ,Paige and Buster outside Clevenger on the same spot watching us from his house high and above. All's I wished was I coulda been up there in the Bab's house watching. Pretty brutal this afternoon. Paige reported 9-12 bass,like Buster, with lots of pesky blue-gill. We caught 7 bass total, 3 keepers I caught on the W.M.C football jig. Obnixous blue-gill that are super sized! Never seen a year like these giant panfish are planning some kind of take over. Trying to do guide trips and having to fish a lot shallower than we normally do this time of year we're getting into the gills zone. To me, their pesky little line jerkers that get in the way, and OH how they love to nibble a crawler away.

You didn't miss out on much yesterday Babs. First time on the main-lake I'd been out in a week. Caught 3 on the jig, but it was over by the time we started. The 2 boys were reluctant to get up real early. Drop shotted and dunked crawlers from then on 18'-22' deep. Had 10 K.Y.'s 12''-15'' and enough bluegill to finish off the 5 dozen crawlers I brought with me. These bluegill are big enough they look like they've been taking steriods. Got an afternoon trip at B. Cedar at 1:00, can't wait. I bet Paige will be there. Think about us this afternoon. If we suffer from heat stroke send flowers to our rooms-Chris

Bill, that was about the closest I ever been around a lightning bolt. Next time you call me to take cover in the dock your in, I'm heading the other direction-Chris

Thanks Podum, that was an intersesting article. http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2005/05/30.htm

Set out all 12 of my crawdad traps Thursday night from Virgin Bluff to the Buzzard area. First ones I got to set all year. Caught 109 in my traps, average of 9 per trap in one night. I put them out to see the color of them and toss them back in over a rock pile I made. Don't think it's ever paid off but it's sure a lot of fun. They always look the same, lighter brown on the body, darker bands and pinchers with red on the joints. In years past every now and then I'd catch a real light solid brown, not sure what species them are. Almost looked like he'd been rolling around in the mud. And their always big, hardly ever catch one normal sized you think you could fish with. One of them bite me yesterday morning trying to get ahold of him, hurt like heck. I tried to set most traps in 10' of water or less, hard to do with the high lake level on some banks. Someone told me last year Table Rock has these king crawdads, and it's the only lake that has them. One's that can grow up to 12'' long. I believe it because I caught some that big before. Anyone ever heard of them?

Fishrman, Im probably no expert on the dock's bite. Seems like a good dock though needs at least 70' of water at the ends of them to hold suspended fish hanging around them. I've found there may in some ares, marinas esp. 10 to 20 docks sitting there and there's one, maybe 2 that hold fish. Each one's have some hanging around them, but ther's just something about a ceratin dock that can hold fish. Some of the older docks in areas with bunches of them seems to be better, then see some better, newer ones. Lots of a better boat dock I think has to do with a lot to do with the kind of structure beneath them. Like rock or timber. Cables too. Fish love cables running in a criss-cross where you see a dock's winches sitting off the ends. I spent a lot of years with an under water camera looking at which dock's hold fish inside them. Got to noticing seasoanl patterns of which ones is the good, the bad, and the plain just down right down ugly ones, the ugly ones never have any fish. You wouldn't believe the amount of fish that are buried deep indide a walkway, buried up where they are very protected.

Seems like everything was bass-akwards. Started out good in the fog, hula grubbin it up shallow. No telling how many the guy I had on my trip today shoulda caught off it. Seen him let 2 Smallmouth let get up and tos the jig head out, fish over 4lbs. He could though land the shorter guys, the younger fish of Table Rock that hasn't been well trained on how to throw a hook yet. When the sun broke out seemd like about an hour or so of a slow down. Before it picked up again and just kept seemed to keep on getting better. The wild thing was we was catching K.Y.'s and the brown ones, here in Mid July on a sunny day, not a cloud to be seen, the wind may of hit 3 m.p.h. on a good run, and boats swarming to the left right, north south, behind us, next to us, on top of us but yet they kept bitng the jig, split shot, didn't matter. I never went to a point and stayed deeper than 26 foot casting up towards the brush line. Never seen these guys, esp. the spots wanting to be so shallow on a day like this. All's I could think about is bfk............(Before Fish Kill) when we used to catch them like that lots of times when I was growing up. Any of you fellows got any suggestions why they've been hanging around shallow now? I got to wondering about crawdads and if they spawn. Maybe that's it. What do you boy's think?

Whacked'em good was exactly right. Anyone who doesn't do all they can to make sure the fish can swim off back to their home shouldn't be fishing on Table Rock, or any other lake. Bass are such a wonderfull, prescious resource we get the oppoutrity to enjoy in which fishermen thrive upon. It's a passion for us, in our blood. I'd give anything to see a bass caught get released and swim off. Unfortunately though like you gentlemen said, they can die in the warmer water, hooked deep and blood running out of their poor little gills. Makes me sick. Doing guide trips this year I unfortunately have personally known 3 bass that we've caught and seen killed. 2 Smallmouth in the spring swimming a grub and last week a nice K.Y. that laid over dead as soon as I laid the fish back into the water. What I use is a very sharp pair of high dollar side cutters for a bass that's hooked deep. Run it down her throat and cut as much of the hook off as I can hoping they can diguest it through them and get to swim on, but being extra carefull to not touch their gill plates or the inner tummy. That's what I do anyways, what do you guys think's the best way for handling a fish that's hooked deep?

June 17, 2008 Lake Level:926.5 Normal Pool:915.0 Water Temp:77-80degrees ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bass fishing is excellent right now. The mid summer doldrums we usually see this time of Summer hasn't fooled the fish any. In the lower end-dam area, Kimberling City, the Lower parts of the White, Smallmouth, Kentucky, and a few nicer Largemouth's are biting on 1/2-3/4 ounce football jigs exceptionally. Most bites in the early morning are shallow, 8'-15' deep. Same old favorites, brown/purple, P.B.&J. Look for the long points extending out in to deeper water close by, look at the long gravel points mixed with a bit of bigger rock to be holding some of the nicest fish. Hula grubs are also working wonderfully fished in the same areas. Green pumpkin or a watermelon/candy skirted grub with a football head is almost out-doing the straight skirted football jig. Hard to say though, been catching them about the same ratio. On the good cloudy/rainy days keep fishing these points with the big jig .The fish will remain up there and will be more enticed to snap at your jig. Also you may try swimming a 4'' or 5'' single tail grub smoke and silver on a 1/4 ounce darter head if the shad are active on some of the points. If you see some shad flicking on the top, swim the grub through them. Their assasins will be close by looking for an easy Once the sun gets to burning high, probably would switch your arsenel over to a drop-shot and start looking deeper to catch fish. What's suprising to me anyways is the deep fish are not all that deep, at least for me seems like. Seeing the most hanging out in that 20'-25' area, either suspended around boat docks and tree tops, or hanging out off some of the longer points. I'm catching some off the deeper docks on a 1/2 white spoon, but the drop-shot is by far working the best. 4" worms in purple lam. or a green with purple flake. To me, been seeing the drop-shot worms has been out catching a real night crawler over the past weeks. Hope they keep it up! The drop shot and carolina rig bite has been very good up the James River as well, look for fish to be holding in the same locations as the main lake in the lower parts of the James. Further up around the point 12 to Flat Creek areas there's been a great bite on the carolina rigged baby brush hogs in watermelon/candy or red. there has been a good crainkbait bite early mornings & late afternoons, and on overcast days using white with a chartreuse back. DD-22's and fat free shad's are working these fish over good, only on the flats loaded with baitfish. Good fishin' everyone and see you on the water.

I've never kept anyone out in the lightning. I leave the rain scenerio up to them. Most people would rather wait a downpour out, but the die hard fishermen don't mind getting rained on. I had a guy from New Mexico 3 years ago alomost insist we keep fishing while I was watching a storm with bad lightning from the south blowing in closer to us. I was busy putting my rods in the box ready to haul butt back to Aunts Creek when I guess he threw his shaky head out and asked me what this all about? I looked back to see his line suspended in mid air. Told him it meant I'm getting out of here, and he could go back in with me on the boat or sit on the bank. I imagine still he's cussing my name because I made him loose 2 hours of his fishing trip.

Thiefs hitting boat docks blow big donkey go-nads! My fist boat I got when I was 15 was an ugly lookin' blue Bass Cat phelix model. Kept it tied up in my dad's boat slip a few nights and got tired of taking everything out, every night. Decided putting the tub back on the trailer was a lot easier and had a lot more security knowing it would be by where I was. Dock thiefs are going to be everywhere, any part of the lake, of any lake. Table Rock, Grand, even Lake X if there is one. Sad but true. Like Babler said even a long time ago people would steal from his resort dock and had to take eveything out of every boat or have it swipped. Now-a-days I couldn't imagine myself or any of you fishin' partners leaving anything left alone at night docked left for a these night prowlers. I know it'd be nice to leave the boat all tied up in your dock to wake up to in the morning to go fizzin' but we'd all better protect our babies and trailer them.