Bill Babler

He may not be scoping but he has lots of other tricks besides casting and cranking. He put me on a pattern and I ran with it. As we have touched on in the past, post spawn fish will gang up. Some of these locations will hold initially depending on location lots of pre-spawners. I’m the one who has been pounding the dirt, and he informed me they were already out there. Believe it or not, lots of the dam area guides are already out there with a night crawler dangling for their clients. Seems early for that, but there are just loads of SM out there. For the past month I’m catching way more SM than I’m catching K’s in any depth. LM are running second. KC to the SK bridge. I have not been up the White, Kings or James yet. Don’t pigeon hole James. I’m guessing he has caught as many fish over deep trees on a flutter spoon a jigging spoon, jerk bait and a Redfin than a lot of us combined 😁😁

Yikes. On Topwater, Dixie Jet flutter spoon and a 2.8 Keitech Think pre-spawn when the water is cold and they’re just starting to move up and stage. RIGHT THERE.

I’m catching a Bucket Load of SM out deep. All spawned out. Plenty of LM out there. They also have been spawned out. These are deep pre and post spawn locations. There are also quite a few Big, Big K’s mixed in with them that are pre spawn. Kentucky’s are fat as toads and have not stepped up to the maturity ward yet in any numbers. I haven’t caught a spawned out K yet. Don’t know if y’all watched any of the MLF today but Nick Hatfield was on a very similar pattern as I’ve been fishing. Unlike Nick however I’m not catching one every cast. 🤣🤣 They will be scattered spawning thru the 1st. Holiday, especially the K’s, but we have had a minor and a major wave finish up.

Wow, that’s some kind of a day. Congrats

Got a call from James last week wondering about the bite on TR. He had not been on the pond in a while. I told him what I knew and he expanded on it. He gave me a call thanking me and then told me how he caught his best ones. Needless to say after church yesterday I used his advice to catch 12 really, really nice keepers in about 4 hours right in the middle of the day. Spawned out SJ that still weighed 4.01 I listened to the PBFL fishermen complain they could not get a quality bite on Saturday, most weighing in 7-8-10-12 pounds. Some with limits sone not. Might have been what they were doing and how they were doing it. Thanks much Pard appreciate your wisdom. PS, up to Champ to tell ya what he discovered. Not my place. I was just the recipient of the knowledge of an experienced hand.

On the Whites I don’t know so much if the news if fake or not. I try and never give much of a report on whites mostly cause “ They either is or they ain’t.” They are just about the most Jeckle and Hide fish there is during the spawn. They turn off and on like a light switch. If your there when it’s on its 1 million candle power. 45 minutes later your groping in the dark. I always do better on them in the Sumner when they’re chasing shad or the Winter when they’re deep. Great post Snagged.

Ron and Nancy Hanrahan on their new 2025 619 Phoenix from Anglers Port Marina at Warsaw Mo. Beautiful Rug

Ya, that’s a pretty big bait. 9” and almost 3oz. We add a bit of weight to keep it down Ken was using a designed 7’ 9” swim bait rod with 25# carbon line I’m using a Falcon Big Bait rod it’s also 7’9” and is parabolic thru the mid section. Fast tip strong butt section. Designed for swim baits. Mike McCelland has a new video out with the maker of the KGB SHAD that is really good. Everything from equipment to working the baits. It’s sponsored by Spro. Check it out. I still can get the Falcon Rods if there is any interest. I’m using a Tatula 150 with 17# carbon line.

White River is James River Green. My good buddy and neighbor had a good day on the Big Glide Bait. He had a few crappie and another dozen SM on a 2.8. He had multiple follows on the Glider. Watched them on LiveScope. Said a couple were scary. 😁😁 Surface temp at Baxter 58.

Champ, tried the Magdraft and a Big Glide bait. Nothing on the Magdraft not even a follow. I thought in the wind they might have a go at it. Nope. I did get one total slam on the 9” Glider and a ton of follows. Friend threw the Chimira Shad yesterday. I think it’s 7.5”. He caught one huge K on it but that was it. Didn’t weigh it but said it was just under 20”. Also had a ginormous LM swim in with it. He watched it on Livescope but it never got within a couple of feet of it. The goofball even did a figure 8 at the boat 🤣🤣 Said he thought it was at least 6 pounds Wife and I are headed up to Door County 1st.week of May Cherry blossoms and Small Jaws I’ll be better this go around

Fished from 11 till 5 yesterday in the wind. Easy 2 footers between Baxter and Point 9. Big Phoenix just flat ate it up. Surface temp at H hwy. ramp 58. Backs of some of the pockets 60. I looked and looked and saw zero beds. Water main lake between Baxter and Point 9 probably 8’ to 10’ visibility. NADA. What I did find was just flat one of those great days of fishing. As I pulled into a creek and it’s a BIG 2 part creek on the right channel with the wind screaming in there were at least 50 Loons. One of the biggest flocks I’ve seen. They were spread for I’m guessing a 1/4 mile. Really probably more than 50. Quite a few gulls also. Boat was in 85’ of water and both of the Garmin’s 2D sonar on my console just flat blacked out. Solid shad top to about 60’ deep I shut down and moved to the Livescope and 2D on the bow there were holes in the schools everywhere. Lots from fish but I could see the Loons swimming thru the schools. The underwater acrobatics of the birds was just mind boggling. Much like a cat with a mouse that has no chance. At this point I haven’t even picked up a rod. Then I hear what I thought was a feed and immediately turn my head and they are busting on the surface, thru the waves. I snatched up the 2.8 and it was on. Caught 6 all big thumper K’s, one 19” that weighed close to 4 pounds. I started paying really close attention and back further in the creek I could see them on top all over in small pods. I put a white W. Plopper on and caught two more right off the bat then they would not hit it again. They would and did continue to eat the little Keitech. Surface temp was 59.1. Stayed in there for 4 hours and had 32 total all but maybe 1 or 2 were solid prespawn keepers. Caught all three black bass varieties. At least a dozen really nice 17” to 19 inch Jaws. Had one 3.52 and one 3.74 LM. Probably could have caught more but I couldn’t quit watching the crazy antics of the Loons. I know y’all are going to hate this but I saw 90% of the fish eat that little swim bait. It got refused a bunch too. You might despise Livescope but it was one of the most entertaining days I’ve ever spent in the water. You basically catch or get bit by one out of 20 that see your bait. Educational and fascinating. Now here is another deal. I caught as many shad as it did bass. I accidentally snagged shad from 3” in size to smaller than your little fingernail. Yes we all know and see a shad spawn in the bushes and on the docks in late May. I would like to know how many times a year shad spawn. I snagged two shad at one time on the little size 1 hook that it would have taken 4 to cover a dime. They were so small they were transparent. The wind had blown millions and millions into that creek. The fish were bloated with them. Would really love some thoughts on the shad spawn. Its just about to bust loose. Good Luck

Few years ago a terrible accident at Emerald Beach up the White. One person killed. That is without a doubt one of the blindest corners on TR. It’s at the ramp on the big curve down stream from Viney Creek. All the White River Rats know it well. When headed up stream please, please stay on the bluff side and don’t challenge that inside bend. I shudder every time I pass that location.

Fog on the Rock and fog on Taney are two totally different things. I mean totally. I never run in it on TR. No landmarks and totally denser. Extremely Dangerous Guiding Taney for 25 years you can see thru it or around it 99.9 percent of the time. Probably 100% of the time if your out there most everyday. In that 25 years I never came close to hitting or being hit while moving on plane in the fog. It’s super hard to explain but no matter the fog down there it posed zero hindrance as far as navigation to me. Phil can correct me on this but I really can’t remember a boat collision caused by the fog on Taney. There was a guy that hit the bank just above Short Creek one day but that’s it as far as this old man can remember. Think of the latterly millions of boats that have operated there Another factor is a flat bottom Jon boat running at 20 mph is not like a Nitro running at 50 mph. You get off the gas on a Jon boat and it STOPS. Safety is the key for sure. I would never put my clients in danger. On Taney it’s perspective, what might seem fast to someone may be reasonable to an expert. Let me state without question this has nothing to do with the idiot that was running that bass boat that struck the guide boat on Smith Lake. Two years ago when I first started playing Pickleball I was totally afraid to stand at the kitchen line. 35 year old men hitting a ball at me at 50 mph from 14’ away was a nightmare. The ball looked like a marble coming at me. It hurts when you get hit with it😁. Now after 1000’s of games that PB looks like a beach ball coming at me from the same 14’ at the same speed. Hope you can see the correlation. Terrible accident and I’m like Snagged, Bad place my rear. No excuse. Slow down.

Guy’s are saying there are beds all over the dam area. Have not seen any up here. Surface temp today 56 degree

Spro Phat Fly.

Fished KC area last week and water was extremely clear. They liked the Floater. Had fish coming off the bottom at 30’ just shooting up to check out the 1/16 oz. Jig. Got so silly on one that I was watching the fish eat the bait on livescope and watched my float go down on the panoptics at the same time. That’s when you know you might have it dialed in. Scrambled to lift the 12’ rod and nearly laughed myself out of the boat Chinese Fire Drill

SK ramp was fullest I’ve ever seen it. H.hwy. ramp packed to the point of parking along the entrance road. Was told there were 8 tournaments on the lake yesterday. Mudline from the Kings River came almost to Hobbs Hollow, but is fading. That time of the year. I will tell you they are starting to stage. YOU DON’T NEED LIVESCOPE. use your 2D on the bluff ends and transitions near spawning pockets and if you see them, and you will. Use that small swim bait. Depending on depth you can also use a jerker. I caught them really good on a floater last week. Best bite I’ve had on it in several years. In the immortal words of Bill Beck. “Elephants eat peanuts.” Caught on a 1/16 oz. Phat Fly.

Same for us.

The hits just keep on a commin! Recent Texas trip. Have buddies down there this week and it’s slow. 6 ft. Lake rise and water so muddy you can walk on it.

Most everyday fishermen know, but at times it can be a bit hard to tell. Maybe 10 out of 100 clients would know unless they had been with a guide on spotted bass waters prior. I’ve had numerous people think they were crappie and some think they were perch. Most just say bass. To them there is. O difference. The real kicker is I’ve had countless clients think smallmouth were carp. Folks, this is not 30 years ago. A fish is a fish is a fish to a huge percentage of our population.

The fish Curtisce pictured were wonderful. Congrats. I didn’t say Northern fish, I said Sturgeon Bay. We caught a couple of S.Jaws up there that were over 3 pounds that were not keeps here. 15”. Those fish were just meatballs. Had a great time but the fishing pressure made Lake Fork seemed like a ghost lake. We went in May which is tournament time and the ramps and parking lots, were full by 7 am. Fishermen fished extremely close together to the point of being very uncomfortable. Nothing says 99% of the fish live in 10% of the water more than Stutgeon Bay. Could not have done it without Brad’s help. Would love to go back I’d be a little better on the second go around. Guys the fishing was fun but all of us simply loved Door Co. Wisconsin. Fabulous lodging restaurants, vineyards, wineries, breweries, shopping just a million things to do. It was totally beautiful up there. I’ll not go back without my wife, she would love it. Cheese, cherry butter, sausage, turnovers and without a doubt some of the nicest people you will ever meet. If you get a chance it is way worth the drive. I’ll spend two weeks next time I go.

Just totally different body styles. We had a blast but the 6.1 That Mark is holding he caught swimming a Keitech on 4# Maxima and it took him about a minute to put it in the net. There were 5 of us on Sturgeon Bay for 4 days. We caught maybe close to 100 fish. The 6.1 was the biggest. We were all a bit disappointed in the fight. Not near what our TR Jaws do in the pulling category. Water temps mid 50’s. Actually the Walleye we caught by accident were the real beast.

Due to “ Inclement Weather “ I watched Redcrest start to finish today. I will tell you I totally went nuts watching Westley Strader reel in those Small Jaws. I’ll relate a story we fished Texas 2 weeks ago for Big Florida strain LM. We caught them. My biggest was 6.1 but some of the other guys went double digits. I caught about 15 a day. My week, 5 average per day was a shade over 20 pounds. I fished here last week, using pretty much the same gear as I had put new line on everything and just didn’t want to waste that expensive string. Long story short I caught a 14 3/4 small jaw on a heavy 7’9” Falcon and that fish would have pulled the 4-5-6 pound Floridas backwards. Today on Redcrest the guys catching the LM pretty much just reeled. them in and weighed them. Those Jaws tried to kick Westley’s butt. I’d rather catch one 17” jaw than two 5 pound LM. They just flat have attitude. We went to Sturgeon Bay for Jaws last year. It was fun but our TR Jaws would give them a butt whipping. Long and lean here with a big wide tail and heavy but shorter and chunky up there. Ours looked like the ones they were catching today.

Let’s put it this way. If you take out every 250 pound person that eats a Chinese buffet would that leave more food for a person that weighs 150 pounds? Of course not! There is more food there than all the customers can eat regardless of how many or how small or large they are. Table Rock is similar. There is more forage there than can be consumed by the current predator population regardless of how small how many or how large they are. Top_Dollar made some good points. Bass are not like deer, the herd does not need to be thinned. This is not a 1acre farm pond. The creel limit is to prevent over harvest as they by far are the top sought after species on most lakes including TR. By lowering the length they are sending a message to remove fish as the forage base cannot sustain the level of fish that are present. I’m telling you spending between 200 and 300 days a year on the water in ALL seasons during every migration, nothing is further from the truth. Top_Dollar and I believe what he said will throw back 15” fish and eat 12” fish. I’m sure he will, but the next 100 folks won’t. Worse than that the guides won’t be able to C&R. They are going to have to start cleaning 12” bass. There are between 30 and 40 full time guides in TR. 99% are catch and release with their targeted species being spotted bass. You do the math that’s 10’s of thousands of fish that are going to be removed from the population. Every 12” fish that gets a Crisco bath for sure will never get to 16/17/18 inches. Somehow eating 12” fish makes our fish bigger? I guess that would be true if you had 10 fish sitting at a table dividing 1 threadfin shad. But, we don’t. We have threadfin shad gizzard shad and for those of you that don’t think K!s eat gizzard shad you need to remember gizzard shad aren’t born full size. On that note I’ve caught 14” to 19” K!s on 7 to 9 inch glide and swim baits. Besides the shad we have sunfish, crayfish and aquatic insects. Not to mention predators eat predators so yes they eat their own. Plus walleye and for sure the walleye return the favor. The forage base in TR out numbers the predator base thousands to 1. Removing 12” K’s is not going to make us see 10 pound LM, 12 pound walleye and most certainly not 5 pound K’s. Y’all know my position. It comes from being on this lake since the 1970’s. I love it, it made my life. I’ve spent more days on it than the biologist have been on this earth. I’m constantly following the fish in every season. I follow the prey as well as the predators. Thank you for letting me express my opinion and maybe bring 50 years of history and 50 years of knowledge about this Great Lake . I won’t take any more of you time on the topic.

We’re talking Table Rock here. As Alex stated limits of 15 plus inch spotted bass 2-3 pounders are easily obtainable. You for sure don’t want to see them in tournament bags as more often than not it takes low to mid 20 pound bags to win and high teens to get a check. In the Winter from point 9 to point 21 as usual it’s never a problem to catch 15” spotted bass in huge numbers. These locations harbor threadfin shad that will black out your sonar from 20’ to 90’ deep in 1/2 mile section. As far as stocking LM I don’t care one way or the other. I just would hate to see the K’s decimated as lowering the size limit would without a doubt cast a very negative stain on them.