arsenal1477

If you don’t mind me asking, what swim bait is that? I do a lot of creek fishing and that color could be solid.

Thought about him while we were out. Spent 10pm-3am Thurs night out. Best fishing I’ve seen in a long time and could hardly feel my hands…face…feet.

Interesting trip this year to say the least. To start, the resort we have been staying at for 37 years sold and we had to find a place last minute to fish that had a boat rental. Once set and down at the lake we had to battle some crazy fronts along with bass that just were not sure what to do. We eventually found a few nights of stability in the chaos and were rewarded with some females making a trip to the shallows. If this weather can stabilize somewhat that lake is going to catch fire real quick. All bass were released where caught after a few shots with the camera. Caught on your traditional Spring attire: grubs, rock crawlers, spinner baits, salt craws. Good luck out there.

Beautiful fish. By the size of its mouth still a relatively young fish too. That's an encouraging sign.

That smallmouth looks like its going to explode. Wow.

Thanks for looking out Bush, that’s the one that is closing. Dick and Vickie are pretty much family to us. Excellent people. They were able to help us find a resort.

Thank you every one for reaching out and the recommendations. I figured it would be a stretch to find a resort that rented bass boats, but I thought it worth the try. While I would love to own one myself my schedule only allows me to get on a body of water maybe a few weekends a year so owning a boat would be almost an automatic loss. From late spring through early fall I’m typically found in a creek or stream somewhere. Champ, thanks for the plug on Bill, but we have been fishing Table Rock going on 40 years now so finding/catching is not really a concern at this point. We typically average 8-12 keepers per day on our trips and that’s without using GPS or a fish finder of some sort. If anything we still rely on the old Army Corps of Engineer Topos when planning out a day. It just may be time to start a new tradition at a different lake. Thanks again all and my best.

Good evening all- I was hoping to get recommendations on resorts, specifically ones that rent bass boats? My dad and I have been coming down to Table Rock for 40 years together and we have stayed at only one place, to which they have finally decided to sell(deservingly so). These owners are like family to us and while it’s a shock we couldn’t be more proud. That being said, we need a place relatively quick as I have a tournament the first weekend of April and we were looking to stay for 10 days the week after. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Wow, what a loss of a great human being and fisherman. Of the few times I have had the pleasure to speak with Bo he was always courteous, respectful and an open book trying to give information, not hide it. I truly believe that it gave him great joy to see those that he talked fishing with do well and enjoy their time on the water. My prayers go out to his family and friends. Tight lines, Bo and god speed. 🍻

My goodness. What do you think she went? 4?

My dad and I came down last week-end for a quick tourney. Did not fair well. Fished the right stuff in the wrong locations so we did not get bit nearly enough as the other boats. We did, however, manage to find a few solid fish in the 10-15ft range that looked like they were ready to explode, with one giving us 1st round big bass. With the warm weather on the horizon do not be surprised to start seeing beds by the end of next week or even a few spawning. I lost track of how many Kentuckies we caught that were in the 2-2.5lb range and measured 14". Absolutely FAT. We will be back for our big trip 4/23-4/30 and I get the feeling the lake will be on fire. Until then...

I concur on the G-Loomis, but for me I prefer the E6X 852S JWR(Jig and Worm Spinning). The 7'1'' in Med-Fast is INCREDIBLE. The first 6"-9" of the tip is soft and the rest has the backbone of a Med-Heavy. I predominately throw 1/8th Ball Head on 2.8" Keitechs, but I have thrown up to the 5" and see negligible difference in sensitivity/cast-ability and man do they cast true. On the lighter jig head I almost always use 8lb Berkley Sensation. For me it has performed very well and has been my go to line down there for 15yrs+. Incredibly sensitive tip and a good price for a G-Loomis. I think they are around $215.

Excellent. I can promise you that when he reaches my age he will appreciate the fact that you started him at that age on this impoundment. My dad and I talk about it often, how grateful I am that he started me down this path. Now we have reached the point in the last 10 years that he can just sit back, relax and let me run the trolling motor, guiding the trips. Anymore these days the student has become the teacher and the smile on his face when we go out is all I need. You are doing right by your son and I can guarantee he appreciates it.

Little late to post this, but my dad and I just wrapped up our 35th annual father/son trip. As always it was a blast. The lake is fishing incredible at the moment and they can be caught on darn near anything, on any bank or off a bit, anywhere on the lake, day and night. Our fishing was 50/50 up the James just past Thompson down through Big/Little Aunts and further up the White into Baxter. The wind on some days was a bit gale force, but a little patience and persistence can be rewarding. Most of our fish were on Keitechs, Ned Rigs and Flukes. At night we were tossing Spinnerbaits and salt craws. Want to have a little fun, especially with a little one at night? Pull up to the side of a dock end that has a bright light shining over the water and cast parallel to the doc end with a Keitech. Let it drop 5ft-10ft, reel back as slow as you can and hold on. Whites, Crappie and Bass seemed to pile up on every doc with that scenario and would rip the rod from your hand. Managed to catch a 2.6lb Crappie that measured 17” long, 14” around doing this along with some whites pushing 2.5lb-3lbs. Finished the trip with 60+ keepers, at least that many lost and hundreds of fish caught. Caught a few SM pushing 4lb, same amount of LM and some football spots. Here are a few:

Looks like a smallie to me as well. Slight dip in the back from the spiny to the soft dorsal fin, not your typical humped back I would expect to see.

Thanks all. Yeah, we will always do night fishing this time of the year because you never truly know what stage of the spawn you may wind up with on any given night. We have night fished in early April in past years witnessing first hand the first wave of spawners moving up. Those nights get magical, quick. I’m talking 9 keepers in 10 casts kind of ordeal. Plus, we just love the peacefulness of it all. It is always on our agenda. There was a significant uptick though later in the week of quality bass being caught, especially at night. Points seemed to work best for us. One item of note-for those concerned about the quality of bass, you know, the “biguns”, on one instance in an unspecified cove up the white, where you could see down 10’, my dad and I personally witnessed seeing bass that were in the 8lb+ category just swimming around. This was not a one off, but multiple times. We even had a bass we estimated to be 24”-26” long come clear out of the water with what looked to be a turtle in its mouth. My guess is that bass was pushing every bit of 10lbs. Never in my life have I seen the quality that we did this week. Amazing.

Much apologies for the delay in this report as getting back to the grind at work has me consumed. Of my 34 years coming down to Table Rock Lake only one word comes to mind: WOW. It has been a very long time since I have seen the lake fish like this. Here is a quick snapshot of our trip by the numbers, per day: Sat May 11- On water by 630pm, off the water by 10pm. 15 caught, 3 keepers. Sun May 12-On water by 930am, off water by 430pm, back on the water by 630pm, off the water by 12am. 50+ fish caught, 13 keepers. Mon May 13-On the water by 10 am, off water by 430pm, back on the water by 7pm, off the water by 1am. 50+ fish caught, 20 keepers. Tues May 14th-On water by 3:30pm, off water by 1am. 40+ fish caught, 10 keepers Wed May 15th-On water by 3:30pm, off water by 1am. 30+fish caught, 8 keepers. Thurs May 16th- On water by 4:00 pm, off water by 12am, 30+ fish caught, 6 keepers. Friday May 17th- On water by 6pm, off water by 2am. 40+ fish caught, 8 keepers. Saturday May 18th- On water by 10am, of water by 12pm. 20+ fish caught, 2 keepers. That is correct, we finished our 7 day trip with exactly 70 keepers and easily 250+ fish caught, with a 20LB flathead as our "kicker". Of these fish I would say only a handful were at the 15" mark, most were over 16". Besides the catfish, largest Smallie was 4.5lbs, Largemouth at 5.5lbs and Spot at 3lbs. You already know what the were caught on: Keitech 2.8-3.3(bumping the bottom), smoke grub, NED, white fluke thrown into the bushes and at night we were throwing salt craws and the tried and true black colorado blade 3/8th. 80% of these fish were caught in the White as the clarity the first half of the week was an easy 10'-12'. The other 20% were caught up the James as the water started to turn green(almost too green-Algae boom). Of the 70 keepers, 5-8 were female and 2 were spawned out. Simply incredible. If you have a beginner or a little one you want to get hooked into fishing, this is the perfect time. Below are some pictures. Tight lines all, enjoy this time on Table Rock. This post has been promoted to an article

Eh, I am good with this forum. Any other sources are used only in conjunction with the real-time applications I have learned over the years from all of these guys. What you wont find in most reporting or other forums is family and community. I weigh that just as heavily as the bass these guys have assisted me in catching. We may get each other worked up from time to time, but the end game has always been a sense of enjoyment in fishing one of the most beautiful lakes the lord has been able to bless us with. Thank you to all, especially the guides who take time out of their busy schedules, for continually contributing to this forum. This has taken my fishing experiences and skill set to a much higher level than I could have imagined.

Clean and healthy looking fish. Good job.

This is information you just simply can not find anywhere else. Thank you for making us all better anglers so that we can enjoy our time on the water to a greater extent. Cheers to you.

I am not sure how it would work on boats, but I use rubbing alcohol on real tough stains in my car(cloth seats). I have a 6 year old daughter who is notorious for sneaking in a few permanent markers with her regular markers and it takes everything out with ease. We recently traded in my wife's Cobalt that had spilled coffee all of the floor mats(had probably been there for a few years), there were melted crayons, permanent marker "art" all over the back seat and I had it spotless within about 30 minutes. Perfect de-grease solution, but if trying on your boat you may want to either dilute it or try on a small inconspicuous spot.

Merc- Right on point. It's amazing how many fish are passed up because an area is not properly broken down. I'm sure its harder to do that in a tourney, but if pleasure fishing that's the part that is most fun. Great points.

Excellent. I have a copy of those from the COE as well. A majority of the map I took photos of and have them in the phone for future reference. The maps are copyright 1977 and rather frail so I am doing my best to preserve them. I am highly considering going to a professional printer and having some waterproof copies made when I have the extra money available. They show all of the timber where it use to be before everything was cut down.