Champ188

Who is this mysterious man and what have you done with Bill? Winding? All fish under 8 feet? Dirty water? By the way, to anybody reading this post ... our time here on earth is limited, so please don't waste your allotment by slow-rolling a spinnerbait on these staging banks. Won't work. Nope. Not a chance.

Ebare is an up-and-comer. Kid seems to have a full toolbox of techniques and IMO just needs to learn how to win.

Great bunch of fish. Wonderful to see them so healthy and packed with eggs.

Now you're on the right bus. LOL. It ain't about entertaining anyone except those looking to line their wallets. Also gonna be interesting to see how viewer ratings hold up over the next few years when everyone out there is staring at livescope like a 14-year-old at his first Playboy magazine.

This viable population of walleye in TR is still rather new and it remains to be seen how they'll fare long-term. The word is certainly out on them, as evidenced by numerous so-called guides hammering on them daily during the spawning and dragging out one big female after another. Lots of eggs and future fish in those females. Wonder how many some folks have illegally stacked up in their freezers? Not sure about Missouri but Arkansas generally defines "possession limit" as twice the daily creel limit --- not however much your deep freeze will hold.

Nice bag! Congrats, guys!

You guys act like he's the second coming of Bill Dance. Good grief, he's just a dang ol' dragger. Reminds me of my wife. Sits back there on the back dragging that silly jig or senko around and bores HERSELF so badly that she nods off while fishing. Stop glorifying this dragging deal, people. It's barely a step above carp fishing with dough bait. 😆😂

Hogs better get their petty lockerroom/on-the-floor bickering put to rest (are you listening, Anthony Black?) and start playing as a TEAM or they are done. Might also help if they'd put as much energy into playing ball as they do arguing with the refs every time a foul is called on them.

I had a very enjoyable and educational talk with Beck once about this very subject. It was at the dock at Schooner Creek Resort and he underscored what I already felt about using only mono for jerk baits. For my money, he was the best source of info ever on Table Rock. Dave Barker wasn't far behind. And neither is our own Mr. Babler.

Sure, but I'd rather stack the odds as high as possible in my favor. Goes double when you're talking about tournament fishing. I want every ounce of tensile strength I can get between me and a bass. Besides, as a multi-time Bassmasters Classic qualifier once told me, "Sometimes you want high-tech and sometimes you want low-tech." Crank baits are a case for low-tech, and for me that means either P-Line CXX or a quality monofilament like Trilene Big Game. I want my cranking line to stretch under pressure, not snap because it's too rigid. Keeps you from (a) breaking off fish and (b) pulling those treble hooks out of the fish. A soft rod is preferable, as well, for the same reasons.

Copolymer lines are cheap at the cash register but, in my experience, can be quite expensive on the water in lost fish. Only one I've ever loved is the original P-Line CXX.

No food business should ever charge law enforcement. They wouldn't be in business long without them. Anyone who thinks those guys don't deserve a good bit of kindness has no idea what they go thru every day they put on their uniform.

Hey Dutch, can you PLEASE chase these two back on topic? 😆😂

Been many derbies when Kelly and I would wave at each other at the James/White split ... and that's another factor with going to Cape Fair. If he's fishing, he's gonna be up there cherry-picking most or all of the good stuff.

You obviously raised your boy to have great respect for the creatures that bring us so much joy (and cost us so much ^&$*^&^ money).

It would take flood conditions and the ability to into the clearing water behind whatever logjam might be coming down to get me back up there in a derby. And a blade bite. Then I MIGHT make the trip. Only thing is, it's a commitment. Once you're there, might as well stay and make the best of whatever is or isn't working for ya coz there's just not time to punt ... i.e., go somewhere else.

Excellent point and no doubt on the money. I'm sure everyone kills a fish now and then, including myself. Deep-hooked fish can certainly be a problem when guiding, as I've done my share of trying to coach inexperienced clients when to set the hook, usually to no avail. The real issue comes with some of these so-called "guides" who blatantly kill everything they and their clients catch, including our brown fish. Just stupid to cut your own throat like that when you make your living finding and catching fish. And the old crap about "I can't tell clients what to do with a fish they catch" is BS. It's very easy ... you tell them that if they are gonna fish with you, they're gonna release their bass. If they don't like it, let em go with one of the bass butchers. I don't want to share my hard-earned know-how with someone like that anyway.

Someone was REALLY mad at em to hurl that friggin' contraption for more than 5 minutes.

I'm just not that social anymore. Too many Richard Craniums out there with no respect for anyone else's space. Not everyone, but enough to make me treasure my solitude when I can find it.

I've made that voyage many times and had it pay off for me in CPA and BFL events, but the thing is, the productive spots in the Kings are numbered. It doesn't take many boats to get the same idea and then you're just splitting up the fish among you and no one has enough to win.

So glad I'm in a position these days to fish a lot on weekdays. And I'm done with the Bella Vista lakes as long as they're gonna "manage" them as swimming pools --- i.e., little to no fertilizing program, meaning almost zero aquatic vegetation of any kind and a weak food chain from the bottom up. Oklahoma's gonna be getting a good percentage of my fishing dollars from here out ... Grand and Tenkiller especially.

Let's not paint all guides with the same brush. Bill Babler set the bar high long ago when he point-blank stated in his advertising materials that bass would not be kept aboard his boat. Pretty sure Beck had the same policy. Not so for lots of others, as is clearly evident in their marketing efforts. The ones who stand up for what they believe need not be stereotyped with the "Mr. Table Rocks" of the world.

Great job, Bobby. Heckuva 2-hour trip.

Thanks for the great review. Glad you guys had an enjoyable evening out.

Well said and my guess would be that he isn't live scoping.