redbud

crawdad patterns in shallow bouncing off the rocks , not to fast use your rod to move the bait with erratic retreives. shad patterns in the trees over deeper water,fish a little faster. If you dont hang up once in a while you are not hitting enough cover . i like the braided line for good long casts and super sensitivity with a good rod you should be able to feel the wobble, some times you can feel the fish before it really hits it.be alert ,cast accurately and stick with it you will hook some lunkers i promise you this .Iuse several different brands ,make sure they run true . they all work in some circumstance, you will have to tune them once in a while and the lip should be chewed up by the end of the day. get your self a lure retreiver it will pay for itself. I think a wider bigger wobble in warmer water is better, tighter wobble in colder water[down size] ,after you get a pattern figured out you can crush em. most of my best fish have come on cranks. check the archives on this site ,there is some expert advice you really cant get anywhere else. last thing i can say is watch out for your partner on your back swing good luck and hang on.

this is a good thing,they will only mess up our peaceful lake for one week. let them get the circus finished so the rest of us can get back to relaxing and enjoying Table Rock alittle sooner.In my opinion big bass tournaments are generally bad for the lake but good for the retailers [Wal-Mart]. When i was a kid the fishing here was awesome,almost all the time. now not so much.It irritates me when some one who fishes for a living thinks they are more entitled to fish a spot whether I was there first or not . I am a business owner and have to compete with other people in my trade. I dont camp out in front of their office and try to steal clients. when a floating billboard shows up in a cove Im fishing I ignore them , Im not impressed .

sorry guy its my fault, loggin in loggin out.... you know how it is. I am not responsible for the boat traffic.

S&M is right fished the wind blown banks slow cranking yesterday also fished one long windy bank three times yesterday . the fish were tight to the bank or in the cedars or clumps of pole timber. Also had some real nice Ks on a slow (real slow) rolling spinner. All our fish hit hard even had a few big blue gills hit that crankbait .we dont really keep count of all the fish on a day like we had yesterday, probably had 15 to 20 keepers with a couple of solid largemouths. I sometimes dream of a day like that , yesterday was one of the best bites for us all year. Launched out of Big M and didnt travel more than 3-4 miles all day

Thanks for the info on fish hanging out in the cedars. Is this a lake wide pattern ? I did not fish the Rock this weekend because I knew there would be excessive rudeness on the water. In many ways tournament fishing has been a double edge sword. Good and bad for fishing. If you look at the rules for the Champion tourney the is a section on sportsmanship,In my opinion these rules are self explanatory,sort of a golden rule. The actions of some of these anglers is not sporting at all,from prefishing to last cast,to rudeness at the launch.By the way I own a 04 Champion 196 and I dont fear any retribution from any other anglers because I am not one of the rude and borish people . It is a huge lake a lot of water. when I am on one of my spots and this happens to me I let them have the spot, after I make a lot of rackett maybe even turn the stereo on.I cant remember any of the knuckle heads catching any thing on my spots.

We launched out of Shell Knob early Sat. morning caught a few on carolina rigged power worms 15-25 feet before 1st light. noticed a lot of topwater action , no joy. Saw some fish blowing up near shore . I know alot of guys on this board disagree but there are still good fish up in the brush. Hooked up with several fish on a white war eagle 1/2 oz double willow. After the sun came out, went old school and dropped the jig and pig on em. Look for wood and brush near steep banks near deeper water. The bite slows considerably by 10am we were home by lunch. Fished main lake about half way between Big M and the mouth of the Kings.Here are a couple of pics of our best two, both just shy of 5lbs. Good luck and fish EARLY.This has been the best summer on Table Rock I can remember.You should hook up the fish are biting well.

i grew up fishing smallmouth water in upstate ny,fingerlakes region ,felt like i was completely starting over on the rock because i was. i paid close attention to the posts on this board and started catching fish fairly consistently.went back to basics i.e. topwater spooks texas or carolina rigged worms, rattle traps swimming grubs etc these have all been around forever. color is of some importance on this lake when you are finese fishing ,dropshot shakeyhead etc. these are fine tuned techniqes you are targeting fish you know are there,so color changes can make your day. color not so important in a search bait,spinner crank etc. invest in a good quality graph gps you wont be sorry,when the fish go deep you can still get on em and jig up some nice ones,even in the dead of winter. good luck and dont be afraid of asking questions,all the best fishermen i know are honored to impart a little of there wisdom. its even better when you get a call from a buddy who had a good day due to your advice.thats why this board works ,not many guides on many lakes will share info like you will find here ,pure gold. thaks to all

Igotta agree with champ 188 when you are slow rolling a spinner thru the trees and a 5lber stops that thing dead in the water,its on baby .with all the flooded timber an accurate cast back into the junk is also key. makes all this $ I spend on my habit seem worth it. give me one lunker on a spinner to 20 dinks on a dropshot any day.

lazy? what if you are trolling past a dock in a seated posistion. is this also punishable by 12 gauge? Does any one offer a life vest that is also bullet proof?

some scumbag emptied my truck at the launch about a week ago.was fishing all night came back and noticed my truck was on e. ????atleast they didnt drill a hole in my tank ,I have heard of this happening in other cities. 40 grand for a new truck and no locking gas cap?. what the bleep. i think the culprit watched me launch and knew i wouldnt be back .called the cops. No help no gas to patrol with.

I installed a 10 micron fuel seperating filter this weekend. cost about 50 bucks (Yamaha) replacement filters are under 20. During the install as i cut into the fuel line i saw residue when I drained the old fuel into a jar. Might as well drain the tank as it was near empty. checked the water content when it was near empty and sure enough there was water settled to the bottom of the jar. my wife thinks im nuts because now i haul my boat to AR. to fuel up to fish in MO.conoco has no ethanol. Takecare installing a filter in your battery compartment. good idea to remove all your batteries to eliminate the risk of fire. check for leaks by pumping your primer bulb (installed before the new filter).I really dont know if I am being paranoid but I have peace of mind now.Dont have to worry about my motor can concentrate on the bite.

It didnt take long to find info on this subject. Just Googled eth. in outboards. To sum up what I have learned, ethanol is dangerous to your favorite pastime avoid like the plague. The problems with eth.is that it is a great solvent and attracts moistire,even from the air. Boat fuel tanks are vented directly to the air.Phase seperation occurs in your tank along with the disolved particles the eth. has picked up along the way,fuel transport etc. this falls to the bottom of your tank where it is more easily picked up by your fuel system. if it gets past your fuel filter you have a problem. the longer eth is in your tank the more risk you have.eth. also disolves older rubber seals and gaskets. fibreglass tanks prior to 92 can also decompose. DO NOT USE METHANOL UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE!!! Ironically farmers are exempt from using eth. and it is banned from use in airplanes. Most manufacturers state that 10% eth.is ok. Problem is that tested fuels are most often over the 10% some as high as 48% eth is added at the station so someone having a bad day could cost you big. the only solution i see is to avoid it .Yamaha offers a 10 micron fuel filter you can install in your boat. test kits are available to check alcohol content in your fuel. Ethanol will also mess up your older cars and bikes. Anymore info on the addition of ethanol at the pumps would be apprciated. I was at the station to get robbed again when I overheard the clerk telling an impatient customer the reason the 91 octane pumps were slow because the eth. had to be added. hair on the back of my neck stood up. I hope this helps, please excuse my grammer and typing skills.

What sort of damage doe the ethanol cause in outboard motors? Now Im scarred of blowing up my 200. seems like the oil companies/retailers should be more clear about what they are selling. I have probably been running this stuff unknowingly since they introduced it. Are there any products that counteract the effects of ethanol? I will do some research and post any new info I may come across.

excellent. We all like to see pics of lunker fish that swim in this lake,gives me hope for future fishing trips. Looks like you got em all in the same general area .If gas wasnt so pricey Iwould be cruising the shore looking for that giant log in the back ground.thanks for all the great info from everybody who posts on this site.

whack, fished that area friday evening ,didnot get many bites until 5pm or so but they turned on pretty good until after dark.water temps were around 68.clarity about three feet. hooked some nice smallies in 12 to 20 feet on gravel shakey head [red gulp] go back in coves and look for yards that have been taken over by the lake .after sunset started throwing spinners and hooked up with lots of 2-3lb k's. dont give up on the spinner yet. check this 7lb+ came off shore about 3 feet of water. let that spinner hit as much junk as you dare. Good luck and let us know how your trip goes. BTW. fish is still swimming in beautiful Table Rock lake

I was in the back of a cove across from Carter hollow near Emerald Beach .White Wareagle twin willow spinner half oz. If your not hanging up once in a while your probably not close enough. look for tree tops that are out ,isolated from the rest of the tree line. look for bait fish breaking the surface trying to escape.By the way, i bought my boat from a guide you guys mention once in a while, Tim Paige. Nice guy, and i feel that this boat has good "luck". once again thanks for all the info on this site,I had no idea where to start and Tablerock was very humbling to say the least. after 4 seasons I can finally consistently catch fish. Good Luck and have fun.

first id like to say thanks for all the info on this website best anywhere. Fished last fri. in the wind caught several fish deep but wanted to get out of the wind for a bit beat the bushes and caught several nice fish. the bushes are really 20 foot tall trees and there are bait fish every where. caught large mouth and spots on lizards spinners and cranks with a couple of really nice ones