Bill Babler

Wish I would have been there. I would not have been squeamish about it at all.

Great company to deal with. Lots of things that Tom is doing with that company to help others that will never be known. I buy everything from them that I can put to use. Never have had a problem and never expect to. If you don't get your goodies get on the hook and he will take care of you toot-sweet.

Wow, I was in there last week and the shelves were full of items that were dedicated to the Rock. Person behind the counter was friendly as could be. This store has not even been open for a month. Are there issues with this location? I was tickled pink to see it open and full to the brim of very good stuff.

Ham, I have a bunch of the old Balsa Bee I throw when I am in the square bill mode and have no experience with them. Really the only issue for us has been the white bass with the rings.

He is also fishing a knock off megabass that he buys for 9 bucks and then takes it to Tim Hughes to paint and adds his own hooks and splits. It is really working well for him.

Last year on Bull we got into several schools of big whites with some stripers in them. They just love a jerkbait and for obvious reason we did not care to throw $25 megabass at them. We used the RC and they simply tore them to pieces most often they would straighten out the split ring on both the hooks and also in the eye of the bait. I didn't have that many but lost what I had as the line would come back with part of the split ring tied to the knot. Buster fishes the RC and a knockoff Megabass all the time down there and he said as soon as they come out of the box he replaces the rings and hooks on the RC or you come back with a big nothing when it is attacked by those mean Bull Shoals Whites.

I doubt this technique will work. Those of you reading it should not try this as it is most probably a waste of time.

Great Report. Owner makes a very good split along with Spro. They are the only ones that I use. We covered the topic about hooks and splits on the Pooper a while back. There are worse ones, they come on any BP bait and the RC Stix is the absolute worst.

I will tell you all this, and take it to the bank. On the size 130 Plopper you really must maintain a very constant pressure on a jumping fish to the point of pulling it toward you as it vaults from the brine. This is a super heavy bait, very similar to a 3/4 to 1 oz. Football Jig. When they start swinging their heads with this big bait it has a propensity to come unbuttoned, just from the shear weight of the bait swinging back and forth. The 90 series is also a fish loser if you don't keep a very vigilant amount of tension on your string. I will put more hookups in the boat with the fin. Fin is as light as an egg shell. Deal is I have never seen a top water bait that fly's as straight or runs as perfect as the Plopper. It is a dream to fish on a spinning rod for my clients and the fish truly love it. That is with the exception of white bass. Yes I will get bit on it sometimes, but it is for sure not their favorite. You all be safe out there this weekend.

Just like a Redfin, anything you do to help it hurts it. Throw it out and reel it in. THATS IT. Reel it so you hear the constant Plop, Plop. When one bites it or misses it don't stop or panic, just continue to reel it. When they get it don't for gosh sakes jerk. Disaster. Just lean back on it and reel faster. If one jumps, pull the fish toward you, don't try and stick your rod in the water to prevent the jump. Sticking the rod in the water for a couple of feet has absolutely no effect on a fish 60 ft. from the boat jumping on slack line. Just keep it tight and wind him or her in. Pretty simple stuff. It works. Good Luck

Very nice point. Just because we know, does not mean everyone knows. I saw bass boats today on Table Rock run thru huge schools of surfacing fish, headed to who knows where. Just because someone is driving a new shiny go fast rig with power poles does not mean they know one squat about fish, fishing or proper boat handling or operation

Looked for you today, thought you might try to sneak one in before the festivities begin like we did. At one point early and I mean early right around 5:50, we were Ploppering the Viney Swim beach and had a wake boat roll between us and the bank. They were no more than 20' off the dock and boat ramp and you know how shallow that point is. We had to stand and wait till it passed to start fishing again. It was a purple people eater boat. They were waking in under 4' of water, with some Country Tart wailing on the mega blasting sound system that was also making little ripples go thru the water. The opposite point had fish blowing all over it. Saw at least 4 bass boats run thru dozens of chasing topwater fish to get to some unknown location where there may or may not be a fish. Good Gosh people, open your eyes, out there. If you see bass slashing the surface, they want to be caught. I just have a very hard time understanding. I'm in full retreat till mid next week. Good Luck

Last day out before the Holiday. I stay off the water on Holiday weekends. They were just unreal for us today. Lots of nice K's. Buster reported he had has best day in the dam area, and I saw he posted a 5 pound LM along with a toad sack of K's. Beck reported the bite was also a slugfest again today at Kimberling. These post spawn fish are simply in a feeding frenzy. Whopper Plopper early and a War Eagle 1/2 of white jigging spoon and a drop shot with a Yamamoto 4 inch cut tail brown/purple worm Bite was just silly. Fished from 5:30 till 9:30 still biting when we quit.

Thanks, I appreciate it. Here is the deal, I did all the work on my iPhone and then tried to import it. My computer will not except the import. It will place it in the download and again will let me further edit, if I chose, but when I try and put it into my pictures just like every other picture I post it is not there. It is not a size problem as it is resized perfectly to fit format. I don't know if its something I did with the iPhone or not. My wife is a complete guru at it and she cannot get it either. I even sent it via my phone to my email and tried to go that way and it won't have it, either directly imported or sent thru email. No Biggie, we will get another one. Picture as I said at 5:30 in the morning is not good and really grainy. I tried to lighten it and for some reason it was in a side rotation. I also rotated it, and sized it. Don't want this to distract from the post, so thanks a bunch and we will just move it on.

The second from the last picture in the fog is of Barry Looney and that fish was 18.5 inches. I did have a guy catch one almost 20" last week and I have the picture but I cannot get it to post. I tried to lighten, rotate and resize it and have completely messed it up. It was very early on a Whopper Plopper, about 5:25 in the morning. Pretty hard time to take a good photo for me. The fish I am catching now are really similar to those we were catching a couple of years ago, deep spooning in the Big Creek area in the late Winter. Had a really good visit with Shane Bush, our Lake Biologist, the other day and he said some of those K's may be as old as 12 yrs, once they start reaching that 19 inch mark.

Great Job Randy, glad your home. Thought you might get the ball rolling for us.

Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report 6-30-16 White River Outfitters Guide Service It all started innocent enough with a swirl and a swing and miss as the Big Kentucky charged the 90 series Whopper Plopper, don't know if her vision was blurred from a late night with the boys or just mistook the speed of the projected food item. Didn't matter as she came back with a vengeance the second time and just "Bone Jarred It." Water blew in every direction and the Daiwa Steez sang line thru the guides of the Falcon Cranker. It was not what she thought or hoped it was. The durn thing had stickers and she had a face full that she really did not want. Kind of like a Griz. grabbing a Porky, Just not what she expected. This was a tricky catch as there were lots of deep dock cables to be avoided and the big spotted fish had in mind to get home to them. Kris played it cool and kept the pressure on. A couple of simi-deep runs and a pole vault jump and this beauty was posing for the OA forum. All this action is now located at your local water park, ie Table Rock Lake. Post spawn fish of abnormal size and color are now organizing a free for all feed bag. Not everywhere and today at times we struggled but, if you can find the right "Hidey Hole" you can for sure Zara in on some super spotted bass fishing. In the past week, I have fished from Leatherwood Creek to Long Creek and the only formula that changes is the depth. Deep fish at Eagle Rock are 20' to 30' and deep fish from Baxter to Long Creek are 35 to infinity. And I mean it. Bill Beck today had close to 20 keeper spots off very deep trees. He was sitting in 106. That for you Shallow guys and gals is One Hundred Six Feet Deep. He had his clients lines marked at 40' to fish the tops of bluffend trees, where the bait was a couple of feet above the tops. He said today he saw fish rising from as deep at 70' in the trees to eat his drop shot. I get dizzy and sea sick both just thinking about it. I'm starting most morning with a really good topwater bite. I was told about a Zillion times that there was none at the dam. Wrong, we blew up at least 15 this morning. It is early however, as the last topwater deal there was at 7 AM. We then had to dive, dive, dive to get em. most all at 35' suspended and nothing on the bottom. White River from Baxter up, use your electronics on the bluffends and the long points to find them. Start out as deep as 100' and work your way in letting your electronics light your way. This past week, we have had lots of K's from 17 to 19 inches and it is the second best time to catch a big gal besides the pre-spawn. Surface temps lakewide have settled into the 85 degree range and the water is clearing more and more everyday. It is very fishable. Most all our fish are coming early on the Whopper Plopper and then the drop shot, slab spoon or the Dixie Jet flutter spoon. You may have to look at least a dozen location to find a school of fish. I and most of the guides do not waste a minute casting to a flat screen, you have to see surface fish activity or see them with your underwater peepers to put on the brakes. You want to catch a big Kentucky? Get on out there. Right Now!!!!

Well said my friend, well said.

Yes, it was a heck of a job. We patrolled the KC area and the St. Joseph area, and just were on call for the rest of the river. At times we would work out of Carrolton or down as far as Columbia, but most all we did those last two years was search and recovery. At that time there was a lot of murder's with the bodies thrown in the drink. St. Joe to Sibley was the absolute worst. I still have nightmares about navigating that river In the dark. We once went from River Front Park to almost Nebraska looking for lost souls on 3 different evenings, staying on the river all night. That is not a job for the meek.

Yes, if someone saw him in the water and I had not seen or heard this I for sure retract my thoughts. Only thing I knew was they saw the boat circling. Here is the deal however. A body that drowns is not in motion and does not go into motion until Liquidity sets in and raises gasses in the body. There is no current even with the dam running full boar that will move that body from the position that it came to rest. If there were eye witnesses on the exact location, within a couple of hundred yards he should have been recovered as I don't think it is even close to 100 ft. right there. It was my job on the Water Patrol to recover bodies. And boy did I. It was one of the main reasons I quit, just got tired of pulling them out. Over 30 in a single year when myself and Pat Byrne worked the Missouri River from the Nebraska Line to St. Louis. Even in the Mighty river if we got on scene quickly we made recoveries exactly where the body submerged. I did not know there were eye witnesses. That makes it all the more puzzling.

Not saying he did or he didn't, but till they find a body, your not dead. I was only on the WP for 8 years, but in that time of about 2 dozen bodies we could not find about 1/2 of them mysteriously reappeared in another life. Truck, boat and all at the ramp, missing and presumed drowned. But? If someone seen him fall in the drink and not come out that is a different deal. My heart goes out to the family, but I guess it is the old law enforcement officer in me. I'm the very suspicious type.

Just got a glimpse of the D-bomb today and that bait looks like the BOMB not to mention they cost only $3.50 a bag. That might be my new deal.

With those quadrants it is going to be impossible to see anything of importance. Narrow your view and just look into the top 50 to 100 ft. of of water. You are looking at a far to great of range. Put your depth level at 100' and then Zoom in one time and you should have it, if the Bird works like that.

We are fishing the Jet on either long points or bluffends, the procedure is a long cast immediately picking up the slack to let the spoon fall on simi-tight line. Using your electronics to have a good idea of the depth of the fish we are letting it settle to that depth and then swimming it back to the boat. 70% of your strikes will be on the cast and fall. 30% on the swimming retrieve. Slab spoon is fished vertically to either suspended or bottom fish you are citing and sitting over. let the spoon drop thru the fish and simply twitch your wrist upward, you don't need to jerk it to the sky, a 1 ft. rise or fall in the spoon with most often trigger a strike. If this fails the drop shot is also an alternative. Good Luck

I'm with you on that. If it were just up the White River I would say the Beaver tailrace was playing a factor, but with it almost identical up the James River with no tailrace present, I is a bit of a mystery. I thought it was starting to settle in at 22' a week or so ago, but it was week, This is full blown.