Bill Babler

As Eric Prey and Pete Wenners have been alluding to on their videos the jig bite here is extremely strong. Bass are just gorging on Crayfish. Seems like a lake wide bite, it has been for me as in the past week I have been from point 1 on the White to point 15 on the James to point 23 on the White. It is going all over the lake. Boat positioning is critical for this bite as it seems to be right at the thermocline. With lake temps today at 83 degree these fish are holding in the 26' to 36' range and most are bottom hunting and not suspended. Big baits and heavy equipment are the ticket on deep jig fish. Notice how that Nichole's craw is just flopped over it is extremely soft and swims like a complete alive thing. I'm using Falcon MMC Signature Rods in Heavy Action and also Falcon Cara Amistad. 15lb. carbon line Lots of power pole boats on the lake practicing for a late Oct. derby. They are catching them, flat out hammering them. From what I heard today its taking about 2 hrs. to put 14 to 17 pounds in the boats, with lots of LM and SM in the 4 lb. range. These guys have not going out early, they are catching them all day long, sunshine or clouds it does not matter they are feeding up. I have visited with Champ about this bite for years, it is a big bait bite, with lots of the pro's using 5 inch baits and 1 oz. jigs. They are using big jigs and bigger trailers. My absolute go to bait on this bite is the 3/4oz Pig Sticker Quick 5 with a Nichole's Texas Craw trailer, either in Copper or WMC. Jig color is either GP Orange, Brown Orange or WMC. The Nichole's craw is a very large trailer suited for the 3/4 oz. jig and the colors are about as good as I have seen matching up with the Pig Sticker. A lot of the pro's are throwing hard heads or Biffle Bugs in that 3/4 to 1oz size. Most of these fish are coming on the flatter stuff holding right at the channel breaks, and dragging the edge or winding it with the hard head is money. That's about the best information that I can give you. Good Luck This post has been promoted to an article

Most of the time fishing beads on Taney, and I will do it from time to time, I'm either doing it with a fly rod and pencil lead or bouncing the bead on a White River Drift rig. The fish 99% of the time will have the hook in their mouth. The manner in which a trout feeds is it intakes water with the bait and expels the water thru the gills as the bait goes into the mouth. Most of the bead hooked trout will have the hook in the top lip and the bead will be just above that. At one time it was in the mouth but by tightening the line the bead will be on the outside. The set is more of a lift and a tighten than a hook set. If you try to jerk or snap set this the hook will pull right out of the mouth. With patients on either the drift rig or the fly rod these fish will pretty much hook themselves. Seems like December thru January when the rainbows are trying to spawn and full of eggs is the best, but they will eat it about anytime. It is just a tool for the box and not a one and done type deal, the major trick is not to jerk it to be successful. In Alaska the 1.5 inch rule is in effect to keep the fish from getting the hook to far down if the bead is further from the hook. I don't believe we have that rule here as this presentation is not commonly used, but I'm not sure. I just use the 1.5 that Duane stated. My only double digit came on a bead in Alaska. Good Luck

In MLF I believe all the Marshalls are paid by the sponsors as are the fishermen. There is no prize money, these guys are there selling product and trying to whip the other guy. I know that they are meeting today in Tulsa and working on all of this. As far as the fishing I'm totally on board with Wrench. I get so tired of seeing ones and twos dragged 50 miles and then carted up on the stage. Absolutely no sense in that, none at all. From what I'm hearing as far as money on this deal, there are going to be 80 pro's contacted and if they don't want to fill the field more will be contacted until the field is filled. There are going to be no entry fees and there will be a minor league qualifying circuit to feed the 80, to be established. All monies are coming from corporate sponsorships with Bass Pro being the signature sponsor, and they have already inked a 5 yr. 8 figure deal with Johnny. Talking about BASS and FLW for years they have sought money from communities where their events were being held saying it would bring 100's of thousands to said community. This however has really not been the case. Most of the tournament guys and their families travel in motor homes and very few fans follow the circuit, mostly locals at these events and they are spending their money at home to begin with. This is probably how competitive fishing should have always been.

It's not an issue now, unless people are really nit picking. Kind of like Mike told me today, if your have ever touched a trolling motor when you are fishing a jig or ever bumped a trolling motor while fishing a suspending stick bait in cold water, you have extended your cast and are trolling. Anyone that has never done either can throw all the rocks they want, but I believe the list of rock throwers is going to be pretty small. I'm done on this, should not have told folks about a good daytime bite. Did not know I was committing a federal crime or stirring up a big bucket of cow fodder.

From what I'm hearing a completely new tour called the "Bass Pro Tour" Not an expansion. I believe there has already been a multi year deal Inked with Johnny Morris and Bass Pro Shop along with multiple advertisers and the Sportsman's or Outdoor Channel. I'm also hearing it involves 80 of the top Pro's and its going down big time this week

Guys, go to Bassfan and read about this. Bass Pro Shop in conjunction with MLF is starting a new tour that is 100% catch and release, having an official on board just like MLF. Every legal fish will be weighed and totals kept track of just like MLF. No weigh in. This is not only for Conservation, but made for TV realtime fishing. From what I'm hearing and you all may have already heard about it, its a done deal. With payouts larger than either FLW or BASS, it is said to be the next step in organized tournament fishing. I was told today this is going to be a complete game changer. Sounds fantastic.

It's kind of funny, there is always an out or gray area. "Slow Maneuvering" Mike gave me the skinny that keeps you from crossing the line. Don't let any line out more than your initial cast and maneuver the bait. Good enough for me. I'm fishing for fun.

Sorry to get in on this late, just got off the lake from my morning trip. Wrench hit it pretty close. As long as a single rod is hand held and "ACTION" is imparted to the lure, as you remember from my post, I said HOPPED, shaken or bounced according to both BASS and FLW it is not trolling. Trolling is classified as lure presentation in which the motor either gas or electric is the sole means to maneuver the bait, and additional line is released after the initial cast. This came up a few years ago in a BASS derby and I believe several participants were letting the wind drift them over a hump pulling crank baits. The wind was pretty strong and they were keeping the boats moving correctly with the trolling motors. I believe as long as they imparted hand movement to stop and start the crank bait it was not a problem. I heard it also mentioned on lake Erie where they were deep drop shotting as deep as 50' In the wind and waves they had to keep their trolling motors running continuously, to hold their GPS position. In other words they were using the electric motor to make a correct presentation. I believe it was determined that ie holding the rod by hand and imparting action to the bait made this technique legal. This has come up here several times and we have discussed it. You would have to check each tournament to see what their specific rules are on this type of presentation. As Champ mentioned this technique has been used on Table Rock in the Fall since the mid 1970's, and really became popular with the advent of the C-rig and the Football jig. It is a fantastic way to keep a bait in the strike zone. This presentation however does have some huge drawbacks: 1. It is very similar to the drop-shot in it is depth specific, if your not on the right depth, you can bounce, drag hop it to heck and gone and not get a bite. 2. If the fish are not locked tight on the bottom it is totally WORTHLESS, Fish that are suspended above the bait and we all know this is a 90% deal on Table Rock have no use for this presentation. 3. Continuous action needs to be imparted to not only a jig, but also a C-rig. You have to shake the begeebers out of it. 4. This presentation for bass is very seasonal specific. 20 years ago Jim Dopp employed this technique during a BASS derby here on the Rock and won it. Again he was twitching and jerking the C-rig It was Spring. As I said yesterday this usually does not work until at least October, usually about the first week. I am surprised that Buster found them on it and gave me a heads up, telling me they were on a deep bottom bite this early in the season. 5. This is an area specific technique. They pretty much have to be on flat gravel. As you can imagine, you are constantly hung up if around any type of rock bottom structure or any wood whatsoever. Just spoke to Mike McClelland BASS stance on Long Lining or trolling. It is classified as releasing line after an initial cast and then completely maneuvering the bait with either motor. He mentioned the crank bait derby I remembered above. I think Quill must have been alluding to it also as these guys were not only using the motor to maneuver the bait they were also letting line out for depth. No one got a DQ they were just told they had to fish the cast and not release further line and had to impart action to the lure. ie fish the bait. If you make a cast do not let any further line from the reel and bounce or jerk the bait in any method ie "fishing the bait" regardless of moving the boat with the aid of the motor you are perfectly fine. If you have never tried this style of dragging a jig or a C-rig, go try it and it won't take you long to see how easy or not it is. After about a 1/2 dozen reties and lost baits It usually lasts in the Spring a couple of weeks at most, but in the Fall it can and usually runs from Oct. 1 till Thanksgiving. Good Luck

Yep, sold thru Battery Outfitters. Every new Bass Cat comes with them. I've been using them since 2006 or there about.

If I have read the post correctly, you are talking about 2 different setups. Fishing a straight line jig on 2 lb. that's great and some really good advice above. Now if your talking about indicator fishing a power worm, that is a totally different set up. Most of the guides are fishing rods that are minimum of 7' up to 9' in length. Reason being you are fishing an extended leader at times in the 9' range and need the rod length to not only cast but land fish properly. 2lb. line here is way to small to be spooled and work this rig properly. I'm using mono on my main line to the strike indicator either 6lb Excel or 4lb. Maxima and then using 6X carbon tippet material to the power worm. You can also spool braid or nanofil on the reel to avoid any stretch, but I like the stretch for my hard hook setting clients it is a bit more forgiving especially when using 6X tippet. I prefer a 2000 or 2500 series reels for the indicator fishing as it pairs with the longer rods better than the 1000 or micro size reels. The larger reels also have more drag surface and way better drags, also depending on the reel quality. Yes, I'm a gear horse and everyone knows it. Currently all my trout reels are Daiwa Certate and Tatula. For rods I'm using and Phil has had these in stock for years and I still have not found a better jig and float rod the 7' Rod Shop Signature. I also use the St. Croix 8' panfish. again this is not a just get by low cost set up. The pan fish is light as a feather and yet stiff thru the middle with an extremely fast tip to throw the long light float and tippet. Hope I understood your post correctly. No single rod and reel or line combo does both of these applications, they are two totally different techniques. Good Luck

Dam daytime bite is really picking up if your doing the right thing. Talked to Buster Loving and his morning trip yesterday they had a dozen keepers dragging a football jig in 26 to 35 ft. of water right behind the boat. That drag bite usually starts about the 1st. of October. Said they had at least 3 K's at the Three pound mark and a couple of LM pushing 4 just some fantastic fish. I went out a 1 PM call me crazy but I got pumped up listing to him after my trout guide trip. I repeated his technique and had 6 thumper keepers and 5 shorts that were between 14" and 15" in about 3 hours just dragging that 3/4 oz. Pig Sticker jig with a Nichole's Craw. Best 5 would have pushed 15 pounds. I had a LM a SM and the rest K's, no doubt when they bit it, it was just a hammer. Perfect wind yesterday with about a 6" chop. If I got the boat under 25' there were no bites, no bites came on the cast, every bite came dragging the Pig Sticker right behind the boat. Put the nose in the breeze and drag the long flat points in the above depth. Slow, and hop the jig. I think they would hit a Carolina rig really good also. Buster and I won that Homer Sloan a few years ago the 1st. week of October I think it is dragging a rig in the dam area in the same 28 to 35 ft. depth range. Every fish I caught yesterday had pinchers sticking out of its gullet, so they are for sure on a lobster eating binge. Good Luck

I have Pro Guide in both my boats. In my 2014 AlWeld I have 1,000 plus charges on their AGM's and they are just as good as if they were installed yesterday. On any marine battery if you are just using your 10 amp boat charger you have to at least every dozen charges give it a boost with a 50 amp charger. Takes about 20 minutes and they are back to new. On extended periods of down time boost the battery with the 50 amps and unhook the positive terminal of your battery so you don't have a slow trickle discharge. I run boats for a living and have nothing but the best luck with the Pro Guides. Would not think about changing.

We had a spay boat that sprayed a mixture of diesel fuel and bug killer docked right next to our Marina in Pine Cove. It went out 5 days a week and sprayed thousands and thousands of gallons of this mixture on the water surface to kill mosquito's. Did it from the late 1950's till I I believe early 70's I can remember Guido Hibdon making jokes about it. We would swim in the stuff, just crazy. We did not have the milfoil up the river and we for sure did not have the green water. Most often it was a beautiful Horse T---D brown. Something like that happened today and it would be on national news.

Way to go and you will be much more proud of it than a new one. Looks like a wonderful restoration.

You got me going on the nostalgia deal this morning. I can't remember if it was 77 or 78 it was before Truman Dam went in. Lake of the Ozark's used to flood almost ever year We had a very dry spring the lake was really low, and was hard to navigate up stream from the 60 mile mark to Warsaw. Lots of mud flats on both sides of the lake most covered with stumps and stuff you just did not want to tangle with. In the creeks mostly Lick Creek, Deer Creek and the Buffalos you had to be on plane just to get into the creeks, could not even troll in water at times was under a ft. deep. V38 wiggle wart and the Mann's Little Pig in a Orange with black stripes were simply killers if you could find rock to bounce it off of in these creeks. I mean huge fish. Lots and lots of 6 plus pounders, just tanks. There was no bite, your crank bait would just stop and then swim off. This was March thru early May. This bite was just surreal, for monster bass, just like at that time Mexico. Were talking about a 20 yr. old lake that was producing like that. Then it got GOOD. Starting in early May it started to rain. All the mud flats had vegetation from being exposed and there were 10's of thousands of acres of weeds, the lake looked like a muddy ocean of grass when the rains rose the lake level. The fish and the bait went into this grass as it was simply full of everything bait fish want and of course the bass and catfish followed the bait into the grass. At that time we were on the Lunker Lure and well into June it was simply magic to the point of I have never seen anything or never will that was like it. The picture of the big catfish reminded me of it. Here is the deal, we would catch catfish up to 10 pounds on the Lunker Lure. Bass, let me tell you about the bass 100 topwater strikes a day were most days a pretty common deal. We would look for any hole in the smart weeds any track you could run that buzz bait thru and it would just explode, at times there would be 1/2 dozen fish after your bait. They destroyed the baits knocking the pinched on rivets off the blades, it was completely insane. So glad both Becky and I got to experience it as it really turned her into a fishing gal. I can remember her screaming and jerking the bait over the top of the boat as they would explode on it and scare the bejeebers out of her. If anyone here can remember what year that was I might be off, but it was I really believe 78. Someone on the Lake O forum might remmeber

They are still amazing. I can remember in the late 70's fishing to schooling fish up the Kings River throwing one to schooling LM and they were big fish. Lots of 3 to 5 pounders. I believe he designed that bait in the early to mid 1960's I still have that particular bait, but the chrome has worn off and it is rust speckled. I of course changed the hooks on it but back then I just threw the packaged hooks. Here is a tip, if your fishing a bait caster with a full spool of 10 pound line and a 7' rod and cannot throw that 1/2 oz. bait far enough to see the knot on your spool, you need a new rod and reel or you need to know how to adjust the one you have. That thing is a rocket. Only thing about throwing it to the horizon is that if they jump and sling that bait around it will come loose. Who cares? I just like to get one to bite it that is to far away to shoot with a rifle. Bo was talking the other day about catching chasers on a marabou jig. when the shad are small, the little George, the Roadrunner and a small inline spinner are also good, Nice remembering about vintage baits that still work. Back then on lake O. the Mann's Little Pig and Fat Pig were also beyond great crank baits and everyone of us here that is 50 yrs. old fished the Jelly Worm.

Cheese interesting to hear about the cranker bite. Really a transition right now, there are some to be caught but you sure have to get on the right deal for the daytime bite As always right now in September you can catch them from 1' deep to 60' deep. That gives them a pretty big hiddy hole. Got a feeling with all the shad they are going to get on that A-rig early this Fall. Good Luck

Cheese, it really varies from a James River greenish to a blue super clear. Up in the Baxter area in the creeks is the greener water and the main lake is blue. Caught all 10 of my school age bass out of the clear water.

I'm kind of with Bo on this deal, early to mid September is a good time to either be Dove hunting or slamming Big Silver Salmon in Alaska. Bill Beck used to just hate September on the Rock. He told me that's why he took up golf because of September days just like today. For the next two weeks I'm pretty full guiding, but only 1 of those days is on the Rock, as all the rest are on Taney and they are munching like pigs down there, so not to worry. Good Luck out there.

Wow, did I have on my struggle britches this morning. Decided to launch at Baxter instead of running all the way up the James. Probably a huge mistake. Launched at 6:15 to what looked like a perfect morning, especially with a storm front on the horizon. Had not been on the Rock since the 19th. of August mostly because of a Summer vacation and a full slate otherwise on Taney. Hit the bank early with a buzz bait a plopper and a Spro popping frog. One fish on each. Did not see any surface activity in the slightest. Surface temps in the Big Indian were 83.9 at the start and remained that number between there and Campbell Pt. the rest of the morning. Could see fish most everywhere I fished and they were just not feeding for me. If they were suspended and the drop shot or the spoon headed their way they would scatter and run from it. Had 2 fish on the drop shot with a brown/purple Yamamoto cut tail and that was it on that, nothing on the jigging spoon. Thought I would give the flutter spoon a shot and tried the Dixie Jet 3/4 oz. the 6" Lake Fork and the 1/2oz. Kastmaster. Had 2 fish on the Lake Fork and both of them measured together would not have been a keeper, trying to eat that 6" spoon. Tom Murphy the owner of Dixie Jet was up here last week and gave me a call to tell me he could not get bit on it. Usually September and early October are hot on the Jet, but it is flamed out right now. There are some pretty small shad out there and seeing a few on the surface with nothing chasing them I tied on a small Keitech on a 1/4 oz. tungsten head and swam it. Caught a giant on it all of 13 inches a skinny LM and that was that on the swim bait. Dragged out the Pig Sticker in 1/2 with a small Yamamoto split tail trailer and caught 2 on that and they were just baby's. I even pulled out ole Ned and hopped him around a bit to no avail. Got to be sorry if you can't entice even one on a Nedder. It was 11:30 by then and I had taken a big enough whipping so I came home to a pot of Venison Chili to help with my sorrows. I will tell you there were enough fish that if I had clients they would have eaten a live crawler, but that would have been the only saving grace for me this morning. Good Luck

No problem if you have a second person to back you in. If not its to flat and you will get your tootsies wet. Big Bay ramp is good but no boat parking if you have a keel guard its perfect. If not Shell Knob bridge or H hiway at Big Little Indian Split is great. If your going to fish the Campbell to Knob, use the SK Bridge if your going to fish Campbell to Baxter the other two.

Usually not a fan of fishing on the 3 bigguns as far as the Holliday weekends, but after our first August vacation ever I thought I had better get back to work. Usually alright if you get out there early and off the water prior to the boat races. All three days were really better than my wildest dreams as the fish numbers are fantastic in the Short Creek to Cooper Creek stretch. It is kind of funny on the size. They seem to really be schooled size appropriately. If your in small fish that is the deal. If your in nice keeper fish that is what your going to catch. Lot's and lots of 7 to 11 inch browns. They are extremely aggressive and I even had them swallowing a micro jig and that just never happens. They ate a power worm completely gone. If your going to fish right now out of the Trophy area you are going to get bit by these browns, I was just as careful as I could be and that is all you can do because of their aggressive behavior. Wind and clouds make all the difference. I had my guys yesterday on a countdown, watching the clouds cover the sun. As soon as you have the slightest cloud cover or a slight ripple it is on in a major way, just bite after bite on the Power Worm. When the sun comes out or the wind quits it just stops. Lucky for me most of the weekend I had both some clouds and breeze most of the time. Way nicer fish yesterday on my trip out of Lilleys. We had close to 80 trout with some excellent size from 13 to 16 inches, and extremely thick. Had a gentlemen pull up behind us yesterday to ask how we were catching them. Said he had been watching us for 30 minutes and had never seen such a display and had fished the lake most of his life. It was lots of doubles with both guys hooked up at least a dozen times. He was watching about 10 AM and we had complete cloud cover and the wind was blowing 5 inch ripples. Float would not even settle and there would be one on it. Way better to be lucky than good. Water temps ranged from 56 to a high of 61 degree. Be interested to know the Ox. in the Cooper area as these fish fought like tigers and some jumped several times. I had no trouble releasing them, they would just blister off to the bottom. Photo's were all but impossible with the way they were struggling, so they had plenty of Air. They are calling for lots of rain this next 10 days, but the fishing should be outstanding and as you all know the next two weeks after a holiday are usually pretty quiet in Branson, so if you can sneak away you can have just some fantastic fishing. Good Luck This post has been promoted to an article

Thanks for the report. I'm going to journey up the James this week and see if I can help you battle those biggins.

Put in the last two days at Cooper and have yet to start the main engine except to load and unload. Saturday was pretty common with the sun on the water early. We did catch 36 bows. No quality fish and my folks missed a bunch of bites on the pink worm. Just lots of fun action. Today was a different deal. Put 61 bows in the boat on the PW and 7 or 8 small browns. No sun today as it was over cast with a slight breeze that would stir the water. Surface temps yesterday were at 56 degree and today when we pulled off clear up to 61 degree at 11 AM. That's warm folks. Lots of boats of course being a holiday weekend and not lots of catching. I saw a lot of pink worms under floats that were being fished in the 3' to 5' range and that is just not deep enough. I'm fishing it thru the Cooper to the end of down stream dock side at 9' under the float with a BB about a ft. over the worm. That stretch is about 10' deep except for the mouth of the creek and you need to fish it as close to the bottom as you can. Action on the worm in flat water also is a must. If you just let it dead drift with no breeze you will not be as successful as if you fish it. We had to continually move in small increments, usually after catching a couple move the boat 30 yrds. and you will catch a couple more. Continue this pattern and you can even retrace your foot steps after 30 minutes of so. Lots of fresh stocked bows in that area, but the size went down from the previous several weeks. I'm sure they wanted fish in for the holiday and some of these needed to spend more time at the trout feeder. All and all we could have put together 8 nice ones either day had we chose to keep them. Good Luck