Bill Babler

If the spirex has a trigger and she closed the bail with the reel handle, it would be completely useless. I have never seen a reel even approach the line twist that a spirex will if it is a trigger and you use the handle to close the bail. Just terrible. Most anything would be an improvement, and I am a Shimano guy.

Most divers are going to cost you about $250 an hour and that is also travel time. Better have pretty good junk to have one of those boys come and retrieve it fer ya. I'm guessing $500.00 at the lowest. We had some trees cleared a few years ago under our dock at Shell Knob. They worked 5 hours and the bill was $1,800.00 You might call the dive shop at one of the marinas and see if you could just sweet talk someone in the hunting your Easter Egg.

Couple of things about things. There is a very limited number or reels that are water proof. Yes it is a very big factor and a very expensive undertaking for the reel companies to make them water proof. It is just not only a Shimano deal that if you drop it in the drink or it gets rained on really heavy it will fill or leak water into the housing most all do it regardless of price and get sticky. I know for years there were only 2 completely water proof reels and they were the Shimano Stella and the Diawa Steez. Very top end fishing gear. Now both Shimano and Diawa make water proof reels in their mid-price ranges as well as now Pflueger, claims to have one. If you fish in cold weather, stay away from the Exceler, it breaks back and the drag spins free in anything under 35 degrees. The Diawa Ballistic is a 100% water proof reel and is in the $150 price range. I have 4 and they are beyond excellent. The Procyon by Diawa is also 100% water proof and is at Walmart for $129.00 Not going to beat a reel of that caliber for that price. I have them in my clients hands everyday and they are working smooth as silk after a year in the guide boat. I have been visiting with the boys at the BP reel repair the last few weeks, as I have taken in 3 dozen Stradic's for a cleaning. I do this every two years. It is pretty clear to them that the Shimano and Diawa middle to upper end reels are far superior to anything out there. Not the toy stuff for cheap money, but reels that are built to fish hard and last starting in the mid $120,00 price range and going up the scale. to pretty much infinity. Throw down 29 extra bucks and get the Procyon

If you're currently fishing either Table Rock or Bull Shoals the two words in the title are just about as important as putting gas and oil in your boat. For that past two and perhaps 3 weeks we have seen some very good top water activity on both lakes. Most of these are single strike fish or at the most perhaps 2 or 3 chasers. Most times they are singles within a group. By this I mean if you see a chase it is probably a single fish pushing the shad. At one time there may be several pushers, but they may be separated by 10 to 50 feet. They are running lightning fast and will usually grab their goodie in either a single push or maybe a triple push. This means urgency, getting the bait weather it be a top water bait or a swim bait, or even perhaps a Dixie Jet, to the fish as quickly as possible is of the upmost importance. Not only is urgency very important, accuracy goes hand in hand with trying to be proficient at capturing these top water Rocket Ships. They are up and down and down and up right now, depending on the day from 5:30 till 8 AM and if there is a breeze and some clouds they may stay up most of the morning. Here are a couple of tips, when down fishing and waiting for surfacing fish, keep your chaser rod and bait within easy reach. Keep it with about 12 inches of line extended past the tip of the rod to the bait and just let the line and bait hang over the edge of the boat with the rod laying as it would on the deck when you are traveling. Don't lay it across the deck, it is a great way to hook it on your back cast and to also trip over it. "Experience speaking here." As soon as you see a chase reel in the bait you are fishing as quickly as possible. ie Burn that Sucker in. It you leave it in the water unattended some sneaky fish will take your junk. Put yourself in a proper casting stance and launch your bait in the direction the chase or chasing is taking place. Ie use Kentucky windage to throw ahead or to the nose of the fish. If you throw behind him you missed. If you make a poor cast, don't fish it in, burn in that throw and try and make a more accurate one. When you throw to a swirl, throw a long high cast, don't try and bullet cast to the circle. If you do, this is almost an immediate backlash. Take a high arch and it will land past your location and reel or swim the bait thru or ahead of the circle. When the fish takes either the top water, the swim bait or the flutter spoon the number one rule is " DON'T JERK--DON'T JERK---DON'T JERK---DON'T JERK. get the point? If you jerk the fish won't. Simply increase your tempo on the reel handle and lean back on the rod. A snap or a foot setting jerk will not only lose the fish but can do yourself or your companion very serious hard with all those deadly hooks traveling back at you at light speed. If you don't hook yourself or your buddy, most often the bait will slam into the side of the boat and shatter costing major bucks, as these top water baits are pricy. If your lucky enough to get that stinker to the boat be very careful about bringing him or her aboard. They can be a very mean passenger. If you swing them look for either hooks in the seats or your leg. Be careful with all those sharps. Take a little time and practice casting for distance, as they are always at maximum throw. Make sure your reel is set as well as it can be. Every morning take a practice toss or two just to see that the spool is flowing smooth and not to slow or fast. Don't need a backlash during the heat of the battle. If your accurate and be quick but don't hurry, you will more than double your top water day just by being ready and acting with accuracy and speed. Get out there and catch them, fishing is as good as it will be for a spell. View full article

Jeff, you are taking my thunder with all these doubles. Just great pictures and what a month we are having. Keep them coming buddy.

What he said. I'm just about an idiot when Striper talk comes up, don't know the first thing. I do know last Fall when they were hitting the top on Beaver, Bill Beck and Greg Wood had one of those special days on Beaver with close to 40 top water Stripers on the 130 Monkey Butt with the biggest at 35 pounds. I believe they might eat it.

Nice looking swim bait. Beautiful fish Pepe. tks.

Yes they will eat both the fin and the spook. Right now however we have just a little better mouse trap, that throws a mile, runs perfect every throw and tricks them pretty well. I am not putting any of my fins into retirement however, there always is a day.

16 out of 21 is outstanding. That was a special morning. Thanks for posting.

If your currently fishing either Table Rock or Bull Shoals the two words in the title are just about as important as putting gas and oil in your boat. For that past two and perhaps 3 weeks we have seen some very good top water activity on both lakes. Most of these are single strike fish or at the most perhaps 2 or 3 chasers. Most times they are singles within a group. By this I mean if you see a chase it is probably a single fish pushing the shad. At one time there may be several pushers, but they may be separated by 10 to 50 feet. They are running lightning fast and will usually grab their goodie in either a single push or maybe a triple push. This means urgency, getting the bait weather it be a top water bait or a swim bait, or even perhaps a Dixie Jet, to the fish as quickly as possible is of the upmost importance. Not only is urgency very important, accuracy goes hand in hand with trying to be proficient at capturing these top water Rocket Ships. They are up and down and down and up right now, depending on the day from 5:30 till 8 AM and if there is a breeze and some clouds they may stay up most of the morning. Here are a couple of tips, when down fishing and waiting for surfacing fish, keep your chaser rod and bait within easy reach. Keep it with about 12 inches of line extended past the tip of the rod to the bait and just let the line and bait hang over the edge of the boat with the rod laying as it would on the deck when you are traveling. Don't lay it across the deck, it is a great way to hook it on your back cast and to also trip over it. "Experience speaking here." As soon as you see a chase reel in the bait you are fishing as quickly as possible. ie Burn that Sucker in. It you leave it in the water unattended some sneaky fish will take your junk. Put yourself in a proper casting stance and launch your bait in the direction the chase or chasing is taking place. Ie use Kentucky windage to throw ahead or to the nose of the fish. If you throw behind him you missed. If you make a poor cast, don't fish it in, burn in that throw and try and make a more accurate one. When you throw to a swirl, throw a long high cast, don't try and bullet cast to the circle. If you do, this is almost an immediate backlash. Take a high arch and it will land past your location and reel or swim the bait thru or ahead of the circle. When the fish takes either the top water, the swim bait or the flutter spoon the number one rule is " DON'T JERK--DON'T JERK---DON'T JERK---DON'T JERK. get the point? If you jerk the fish won't. Simply increase your tempo on the reel handle and lean back on the rod. A snap or a foot setting jerk will not only lose the fish but can do yourself or your companion very serious hard with all those deadly hooks traveling back at you at light speed. If you don't hook yourself or your buddy, most often the bait will slam into the side of the boat and shatter costing major bucks, as these top water baits are pricy. If your lucky enough to get that stinker to the boat be very careful about bringing him or her aboard. They can be a very mean passenger. If you swing them look for either hooks in the seats or your leg. Be careful with all those sharps. Take a little time and practice casting for distance, as they are always at maximum throw. Make sure your reel is set as well as it can be. Every morning take a practice toss or two just to see that the spool is flowing smooth and not to slow or fast. Don't need a backlash during the heat of the battle. If your accurate and be quick but don't hurry, you will more than double your top water day just by being ready and acting with accuracy and speed. Get out there and catch them, fishing is as good as it will be for a spell.

In my limited experience I have found it to be one of the best top water baits I have ever used. I'm not getting a cent from anyone for throwing it. With the folks I take it is much easier to use than a spook and covers water at 3 times the speed even with plip plopping very slowly. It also throws further than a fin and runs perfect from the box every time. I had 5 different color 90's tied on today and caught at least 6 on each, so when they are really going, I don't think anything matters. When you are trying to bring singles up I for sure think it does. I'm not sold on the white feathered tails as I think it somewhat drags down the back of the 90's does not effect the 130. I for sure would change the split rings, I'm using Spro or Owner. With a walking bait or a wake bait I think the tail makes a very significant difference, but not on the straight running top water plopper. Good Luck

Very nice, I also fished the last couple of days out of the Baxter area and it was very good. Thanks

I didn't know it was even possible to venture onto the lake with only one 130 WP. I was told they had to purchased as a kit with three per color of every color. You need to give your tackle supplier a very stern talking too. Great day Jeff, we all need those. Sounds like my day on Bull a few days ago.

What he said. Plus 1 I don't think I mentioned a single exact location, but what that report did do is make you think. Where is the channel in relation to the flat runnouts? How can I position my boat to keep it at the perfect depth and on the right structure? Have I ever tried a Crawler harness with a spinner? What about a different top water lure? Is top water color really that important? How in the world can someone set in 90 ft. of water and catch suspended bass that are 30' deep? Lots of questions there to ponder and by golly, that is the fun of it. You know they are there and you know folks are catching them. How do I do it? Good Luck

Bull Shoals is a huge impoundment with perhaps the poorest access in the country. It is located in an area with virtually no super structure, and is a logistic nightmare to not only understand but pattern. It is at most times of the year completely devoid of fishermen. K-Dock up will receive some late Winter, crappie and walleye fishermen, and Beaver up thru Forsyth will entertain guests during the Spring White Bass bonanza. Other than that the access points of Diamond, Tucker, 125, and then lower Bull will have some attention, but by and large it is a very wild and pristine area. You all know it I'm sure way better than I do, I have only fished it since the mid-70's, and then again seasonally since 1988, I fish in the Winter out of K-Dock and I fish this time of the year thru June out of Tucker. In the Fall I will fish suspended walleye out of 125. In all that time I never once have had to say man," there is someone fishing where I want to fish." Never, I have been able to fish any location that I wanted without ever evening having a boat approach me. None of us own this as our private fishing hole. We are also so blessed to have both TR and Bull in this area. The hate and the secrecy of some of the people that fish Bull really amazes me. I guess I just don't understand it. My goal with this forum is to help educate and welcome anyone to our area and provide the limited knowledge that I can pass on about how to have a successful outing while you are here. It's really my only understanding of this forum including the comradery. There has never been any underlying agenda and never will be. Good Luck and Great Fishing where ever your travels take you

James, by golly, you just taught me something and I thank you. I was fishing the white, I believe they call it Powder small WP and not getting action. I also threw the Monkey Butt. I switched to that dark Rat and bam. You knew the best bait and I got lucky and stumbled onto it. I won't forget that tip.

Nope, that is the small one. I believe it is about 5 inches, not including the tail, which is another 5 inches. On that point, 2 tails come in the box. One white and one brown. I don't think it makes a hoot, but having two is great. Here is a big tip, put a drop of super glue jell on the outside of the pick that holds the tail. It is a wood tooth pick going thru a plastic body and thru a rubber tail. When it gets wet if will lose the tooth pick and the tail will fall off. I had a couple on the Rock the other day eat it without a tail, but the tail looks cool. Another good tip, when fishing on Bull is to use the Ned or any bottom bait with the lightest head as possible. I caught several on the 1/16th. head and 5 pound Maxi. Reason for this is the bait seems to skim over the Z. Mussels. If you use something heavy where they are especially a heavy jig it digs in and will really be abrasive on your line. I swam the Keitech in 3.3 some also with the 5 pound Maxi and I did break off one time. Lighter is for sure better down there, keeping it with less drag on the bottom. Really you catch so many that the Keitech is a pretty big expense. I think I will try a swimming minnow in paddle tail or any of the 4 inch less expensive grubs or small swim baits the next several weeks. I'll stick with the bigger KT for swimming off the ends as it does not come into contact with to much at 30' over infinity. Good Luck

Fish pattern seasonally so any thing you say today has a very good chance of being old news next month. Sorry I stirred up such a frenzy just wanting to hear more about Rich's trip. No Old Plug, I could care less about getting information for guide reasons. I have been guiding on Table Rock, Taneycomo and Upper Bull for 26 yrs. and I'm not trying to scratch up money on someone's private fishing locations. I did 286 trips last year and gave away about 1/2 again that many. Already this year I'm up to well over 100 trips, so I'm not looking to make money off anyone. For cripes sakes you would think I have made enough post on this forum for everyone to know I'm not after someone's most secrete of locations they have found after 30 yrs. of fishing a pond. Now here is a quick Bull Shoals report. I launched at Tucker yesterday morning in the rain at 6:30 AM, there was one rig in the lot. Fished until 4:30 between Tucker and Diamond. Did not see a boat on the water in 10 Hrs. other than mine. I thought I might have heard one somewhere. Just fished for fun by myself on my day off. We usually go down there starting the 2nd. week of May and catch walleye. Usually fish the H. Shoe bend to Elbow area cause there is just no one there. I have fished it in middle June and saw no more than a dozen boats in a day. Yesterday was a real fishing day, cold, wind and rain and the lake was empty of anglers. Could not resist trying top water to start the day. Worked the Whopper Plopper of both sizes off the main lake buck brush flats with very little action. I did have one boil on it and decided to switch to a Spro Rat. I threw the Rat back almost to the bank on any clear path. This is a very slow moving bait but looks identical to a live mouse or rat. It clicks as you reel it in and it should also eat cheese for the $28.00 price tag. Putting it very bluntly they ate it up. I also fished a middle size 3.8 inch Keitech swim bait on a 1/4 to 3/8th. head and caught some pre-spawn LM off some of the deep stuff. I mean deep. These LM and also some of the K's are just ready to pop with there baby business extended and red. They are just like that on the Rock, and will have at it in the next week. You could see these fish suspended out there waiting to move in on this weekends full moon. 30' was the magic number for this deal, suspended over depth I now had two things going. Top Water Rat and Deep Swim bait. I only fished the deep bait on 2 locations, and caught 3 solid keeps on one and 2 on the other. I did lose 2 other fish. At times In May and June and then again in the Fall, you can catch big walleye suspended like this off the ends. My goal however was to see if the walleye were there and ready. Yes they were. Again the walleye are where they should be right now. I caught 18 with 2 really nice keepers. I kept one. Had at least a dozen between 14" and 17" Look for them on the flat roll-offs where you get a sudden drop to the channel, they are on the edge in 16' to 20' pretty steady off the flats. Trouble is the blue gills are really out there. If you are dropping crawlers or using a harness they will eat you alive. I used 5 dozen worms. If these were Table Rock BG we would be in business, but for some reason the gills on Bull are not the dinner plate size they are on the Rock most of the time. They are just bait stealers. I believe this is another reason the walleye really like it out there, cause they feed heavy on these 3 to 6 inch gills along with both the gizzard and the threadfin shad that were also out there. I had at least 3 walleye and a couple of SM on the bottom bouncer cough up small BG. I also caught a couple of very nice K's out there on the crawlers, but it usually happed when I turned or let my boat get over the channel. I'm guessing the K's were in the 25' to 30' range. I constructed my 1/2 oz. bottom bouncer with 3 ft. of 15 pound leader I first threaded on a no. 3 pink or bright green teardrop spinner, followed by a bead, 2 small floats, 3 beads and then a size 1 Owner hook. I used my MotorGuide Xi5 with pinpoint thru my Lowrance Gen 3 to slowly bounce these roll offs keeping in contact with the bottom at all times at..5 to .7 mph. and maintaining the edge of the channel. You can do the same with the Hummingbird and the ipilot Learn how to use these combinations and your walleye catch will just jump thru the roof. You can set speed an path and just fish all over the boat without even looking at your units. Just unbelievable.I I even caught a nice crappie on a crawler while walleye hunting. For yesterday that was what was going on down there. There are several of us that usually spend time on TR but will fish the BS flats pretty heavy for the next month or two. I've had some friends fishing Bull catching some chasers from Diamond down stream, but it is a super early morning deal and then they suspend. Good Luck on all your fishing and I hope if you venture to Bull in the next month this will help you just catch a few.

Asking for nothing specific, just reasons for what he did and why he did it. Or, maybe some Meaningful Guidance. This forum is to help educate and share information, not specifics but considerations. Have a good evening.

Forgot to mention that the Big one just way out caught the smaller one this weekend. Did not seem to matter with fish size as the little guys were more than willing to take on the big boy. There is a difference if you are around white bass, as they will not get hooked up nearly as well as on the small one, and for that matter they don't seem to want to hit at the big one with the vigor they do on a smaller bait. Don't any of you go stickin up your nose at catching big schooling whites, they just slam that little one and try and take your junk. Fun is the name of the game after all.

Marine Repair Center in Springfield is the best with the Bird. Usually in and out in one day unless it is a nightmare.

Big Rich, could you perhaps give us a bit more information on your wonderful trip. Couple of things that would be helpful is lake location as what section you were fishing and also the kind of structure you were targeting and why? Surface temps and presentation, how you decided on your baits and how you presented them. Information like this is just not available on Bull Shoals and would truly help those of us that on a very rare occasion like to venture down that way. Also as far as the Spawn on the White River, It is really just getting started. Yes there are early bedders caught as usual, but there is twice as many spawning and will be the full moon in May over any other time. Table Rock's White River section is on the Spawn right now. If you decide to give us some additional info, that is fantastic, and truly what this wonderful forum is all about, helping each other. Good Luck and God Bless

Of Course. You know me, rings and hooks always. Also the Plopper does not come with a split in the nose. I just got to have one. Could not remember if I put a tail on that one or not. I have on most.

Just a quick note on the dam, Long Creek area that has been giving so much of us grief. From reading Bo's and Alex's report combining it with speaking with the Big Cedar Guides and Buster yesterday, it looks to me that these fish are off the bank, some staging and some spawning where they are. Even with the tea color water these guys are telling me the fish are both spawning and staging deep. Buster said his best depth has been in the 20' to 30' range catching both pre and post spawn fish. Some he believes are spawning in that 20' area as we speak. He is a expert dragging a tube and the majority of his bites are coming in the above depth. Center of some of the timbered pockets are producing for LM with some of the steeper ledge banks also doing very well. You will lose some baits fishing like this as there is risk and big reward. Smallmouth of quality are on flat gravel pockets in 15' plus. I was also told by a very reliable guide yesterday that most guys we are seeing are setting their boats on them. " They are not that deep up the White, they are right in front of the bushes." If I were guiding the dam I would set in that 25' mark and give it a try if it were slow. I know that is a hard pill to swallow, but folks that are making a living putting clients on fish are fishing like this currently. K's are deeper yet with a lot of them suspended off the bluffends and in front of the big spawning coves or relating to the long points. There is both a jig bite and a tube bite with the boat in 35' on the fist size rock points form point 10 to Long Creek. The BC guides are also catching SM mostly on Tubes in under 15' but most a young, and the numbers are not nearly what they are from the James river either up the James or up the White. This information, is second hand, but it is fresh as the cold air is out there this morning, and I believe it to be extremely accurate. Good Luck