Bill Babler

God bless our nation and all the freedoms we have to follow life’s path as we wish. Thanks to our forefathers for the insight to provide these opportunities, and to our brave veterans that have helped secure them for us. God bless every one of you and yours on this special holiday. Just took a prime brisket off the smoker. Ya.

Wow those are some goodins. Thanks for the report.

The bigger gills here on the Rock and also Bull love flat gravel. I’m going to say, not only to spawn but forage. I really don’t know but I’m guessing the gravel houses lots of creepy crawlers that are just the right size. Plus, you have lots of crustaceans in the gravel and lots of Shad finning around. Wind and wave action expose the forage. Unlike most fisheries Smallmouth here also love the wide open spaces our gravel points and flats provide. It seems if you add structure they move. Yes you get some smaller gills on structure ie piles but the bigger gills like gravel and standing pole timber does not hurt. Now with a somewhat of a recent walleye explosion, they are most always in with the big gills. Find a depth on the White River with big gills and you find walleye. Seems like the K’s are usually on the deep edges of the gills and eyes.

Spoon is all I know. 4 drops four keepers. Saw them on Livescope.

Have not been up the river, but main lake there are gills and nice ones in the 10’ to 15’ range on most all the gravel points and runs. Spoke to one of the dam area guides and he said anything under 20’-25’ and they would simply eat you alive.

Didn’t get out till 5:45. Could have been at the ramp an hour earlier. Saw a few top water fish but they were not interested in any top water bait I offered. Did have one eat a Dixie Jet. Nothing big, but very decent bites. Got bit 14 times and they all came to the boat. Never missed or lost a fish and I’m not that good. They just wanted it. Surface temp at the start 82.1 and when I quit at 10 am it was the same. Never really got hot as there was a nice breeze all morning. I left them biting the 3/8 oz. Jig with a Chompers twin tail all in GP Pepper. All my fish except the flutter spooner came under 12’. I’d say 8’ was the best depth this morning for me. 8 jaws, 5 K’s and one LM. Surprisingly good shallow bite for this time of year for me however most of my fish this year have been shallow. Good Luck PS. Neighbor had a limit of walleye this morning in under 3 hours. 20’ range.

I saw a guy on Taney with a Big Lund with Michigan plates back down the Cooper Creek ramp, slide the boat into the current and then pulled back up the ramp. Walked back down and with 4 units running his boat had drifted 20 yards past the fishing dock With a huge grin on his face he hit the deploy and nodded at the lady with him. Nada. Started walking briskly down the concrete headed for the fishing dock all the time pounding the deploy button. It finally deployed but with the 4 units just kept heading toward Branson. I gave him a ride down to it. He said it had always worked before. Wrong place wrong time for a show off move like that.

Thanks, that’s one great report. 👍

I think I can pull an 80# test Bow, but why? Ghost and Force pull up about as easily as a Ulterra loads its self. I’ve yet to see a fountain of water coming out of the head of either. Can’t say the same for the Ultrex. Ultrex would be great with the weather we have coming up. You could fish and stay cool with the relaxing shower the head provides.

Anybody that buys one of these the first year is totally Gaga. They probably should just give them away for 2 years just to see how many breakdowns they have.

Great explanation on the Gizzard Shad by Doc. At times you will see them porpoise and come complete out of the water. Most times I believe this is just a joy of life swimming event for them. That is until there is a big swirl where they’re playing. On FFS you will see them as individual fish, a lot of times in an egg or cat eye, oblong shape school. Unlike Threadfin which are a mass on the interior of the school and hard to identify as individuals. It is not uncommon in TR for Gizzards to reach 12” in length and weigh 8 to 13 oz. MDC says they can weigh up to 1.5 pounds however I have not seen one that big. On 2D they look like crappie with the exception most times larger numbers within the school are moving more rapidly and are in a more oblong school. Crappie tend to stack. From the mouth of the Kings River to Long Creek in October to Thanksgiving, depending on the year Big and I mean BIGG. Small jaws will chase these gizzards in the deep bends above Baxter and the long run out flats from Baxter downstream. You can also see them chasing in the big coves and creeks in the KC area on the surface after these big belly buster targets. Beck and I used to catch some total monsters in the Campbell Point area in early November chasing Gizzards. Mostly deep channel swings. 150’ of water is not a problem in the Fall for these jaws up the White, where ever the Gizzards are they are watching. Pushing at times to the surface but running thru them at depth. Have not had great success on topwater even though they are busting. I’m going to try a glide bait this Fall. Best bet is a Flutter spoon or Becks favorite was a 5” C-tail on a 3/8 oz. head. I have however seen him catch some huge ones on a big jerk bait The jaws aren’t in big schools chasing these Shad but ones to threes hanging out. Another 100 yards or so maybe another 3 just scattered around an entire channel swing. Fun time I’m going to work it hard this Fall. Good Luck

I will tell you this, I don’t care who you are, a full free total package from Garmin is SSSSUPER hard to come by. Their junk is the best and they know it. Most of these BPT and BME deals are 35% to 45% discount to guides and pros. Best deal by far is if you have a friend that works for Garmin and can get it thru them, even the pro’s. From the word on the wind, Garmin is at it again with complete new graph, trolling motor and livescope upgrades coming soon. Ouch on the pocketbook. Phoenix is also coming out with a new platform that’s a combination of the PHX hull and the Elite deck, that features a totally new wiring and electronic approach along with a different storage box set up. I’m also hearing no carpet. Most of the pro’s are running a dedicated lithium battery now for cranking and a separate battery for their electronics, hooked up with the Sea Clear wiring harness. I believe this is all incorporated into the new Phoenix XE. You can use either a configuration of 4 or 5 lithium batteries, depending on your trolling motor. 5 lithium batteries weigh 32 pounds less than 2 AGM series 31’s. If you’re running a Force, Ghost or the new Move you can run 2 batteries instead of 3. Most of the big boys will opt for 3, but I’ve been running 2 for over a year with outstanding performance. I don’t need 3.

It’s really a bad look, stomping on $600.00 rods and reels, not to mention standing on 10 grand worth of electronics. Pretty much says I have more money than I can spend and don’t care about any of this sponsored equipment. As my friend says, we are dinosaurs. I use good equipment, but I take good care of it. Hate to see stuff abused like that even if you can afford it. Fish it hard use it hard, but take care of it, I don’t care if it’s free or not. Mike M. doesn’t treat his stuff like that. I’ve seen him work with a plug knocker to save a Rock Crawler and a stick bait that he could get a 1000 of if he wanted them. Course he is old school too. Just don’t understand abusing stuff, even if it’s free or discounted. Rant over, carry on.

Would love to see Missouri with all the pressure these lakes get do something similar to New York. Catch and immediately release from December thru the following Spring Spawn. How could it in anyway hurt? Wheeler caught a 17” jaw yesterday that weighed 4.9. That fish might have been a 2.5 here. Crazy. Dudley standing on his graphs again today then steps back and crushes a reel he has in the middle of the deck. Dean Rojas tromping all over the rods on his deck. Why?

Those 3 big fat K’s were goddins too.

I totally got lucky as I had a tip from a guide buddy. Not fishing our area but the James River. He told me the fish remain fairly shallow and are starting to group up really heavy. Best bet is not to fish till you find a concentration and then stay put. I Started on a long run out with the Clear Vue and Side Scan on one unit and 2 D on another. Good location but really nothing there. Moved to the next run out and thought I stopped to shallow, but the screen lite up at 13’. Stayed there the entire 4 hours. Some of the guides are drop shotting in 13’ of water. Best drop shot depth has been 17’. Cant remember the year but one July Beck and I spent an entire month at 12’ to 18’ and it was really stupid on a drop shot around Point 9. Find a location where the boat is 2 maybe 3 casts off the bank and you’re still in under 20’. They aren’t right on the bank, but they are for sure shallow. Good Luck

Went last night out of Big M. Put in at 5:30 and fished till 9:30. Very unusual hours for me, but we have been totally covered up busy. Wasn’t this busy till I retired, we may have to go back to work to rest up. Warmest water I found was 78 degree There were a few chasers, but not as many as I expected at dusk. The deal was walleye and Bass on a 3/8th. oz. Jig, GP or PBJ. Hung a 4” Yamamoto twin tail in GP or PBJ on its back side. They ate it totally up. I think I had well over 30 bass, some being grade schoolers, but most very solid. I also had 6 walleye, with 3 shorts and three, 18”/19” keepers. I kept one for tonight’s dinner. Went through about a dozen trailers and had 4 whopper perch. I’m sure it was the perch nipping off my twin tails. You know they’re thick and nice when you catch that many perch on a 3/8 oz jig with a 4” trailer Deepest fish I caught was 17’. Most coming in that 13’ range including the Walter’s Everything on flat, flat gravel. I hadn’t been in over 2 weeks. Had a great evening and saw a total of 3 boats. None at the ramp when I loaded out. Good Luck.

That big ole crappie should have went in the live well. Becky and I at times will just split one that size. Perfect for at least 3 nice crappie sandwiches.

Got to cherish those days, they are few and far between. So glad it happened like that for y’all. Thanks for the great pictures. Good Luck

Yep 3 of them. Never a problem.

From what I’ve been told the steering mechanism stripped gears at all 3 events as it was being beta tested. I believe one of the selling points was to be the ease of steering. This is second hand info but from an extremely reliable source. If you watched any of those events especially Heavy Hitters you saw these trolling motors in use. I also believe it was ever so slightly mentioned that a competitor was having issues. I think they get it worked out quickly if there was indeed an issue as Power Pole is really trying to get to the top of this industry. I’m really not one to purchase 1st. year on the market gear, let someone else beta test. My Garmin Stuff is really dialed in and when I get a new boat it’s going to be super hard to get me off that bandwagon. Someone in this thread pointed out if your boat is in garage the majority of the time and was new to begin with you may be totally satisfied. If your putting 1,000 plus hours on a trolling motor a year you might have another perspective.

The old cable Evinrude was pretty bullet proof along with a red and white hand turn I cannot remember the name of. Was it a Silver Something? I transferred one of those old Evinrude trollers over to 2 different boats. 6 years old when I sold the last package and never did anything to it. Yep, Silvertrol, Heavy Duty, 6 and 12 volt 😂😂😂😂

I think the ulterra is a better motor, however I have gone thru 3 of them. Mostly a drive issue with retract and deploy.

Not only is the Ultrex a disaster as far as breaking, it is the heavest motor on the market. It also has a top speed of 2.41 mph. This is an issue. Say you want to cut across a cove or skip a stretch of bank. With the Ultrex unless you bring lunch you have to get down, get everyone else down and crank the big motor. Ghost or Force you crank it up to 3.75 and blow across the water. Another point is battery power, I’m running my Garmin or you could a Lowrance on 24 with 2 lithium batteries. No expense or weight factor with the 3rd. battery and totally better performance. Vernon has been the luckiest guy in the world with his. We had one of the best reps here in the mid US in J.E. Vanetta. Been with HB/MK for over a decade. He finally had enough and quit because of poor product performance on both sides of the water. Good friend on a 2019 kitty is on his 2nd. Ultrex, his 3rd. Apex and his 2nd. pair of Solex units. He thinks he is a field tester for the company. This jumps back and forth, but MKHB had better get back on the ball if they want to stay competitive. If you remember we said the exact same thing with Lowrance and Motor Guide a few years ago when Minn Kota came out with the good spot lock of the Ultrex. Motor Guide had no way to grab the ball, but Lowrance did and Garmin also with pairing the motors and sonar chartplotter units.

If they were giving Ultrex’s away free I still wouldn’t have one. Bought one, they replaced it with a free one and it broke too. Replaced it with a Garmin an no problems except a worn pull cord. I really like the Lowrance also, but guys that have them seem to be going back to Garmin. My Motor Guides never did me wrong and now you need to throw Power Pole Move into the mix. I’d wait a bit on it. Over priced and not exactly the start the company wanted at the Classic, Heavy Hitters and Redcrest. Depending on your electronics I’d probably match the motor except the Ultrex.