Bill Babler

Thanks for the info. I'm working at it but not with the same result. I have a hard time going thru the tackle box. You proved today that the old way may be the best way. Congrats on your day. Keep stickin them.

Farmer, that is just a fantastic point. The fish have been in very small locations, with multiple fish in each. when you get a bite, work that area as hard as you can. After I worked the small area, I reworked it again with the Norman flake and then made a pass on it with the A-rig. Only love I had was on the first pass, but you point is well taken.

Man this pond has my number right now. Seems to be 8. Second day in a row with 8 total fish. 5 keeps and none of them were worth a photo. Launched at Eagle Rock at 8 AM. was there by 7 but the lightning was horrific. Water at blast off was 49.4 and a very heavy current. Started out this morning with the stupid rig and right off the bat on some mid-lake structure had 4 with one nice LM keep, rest were short K's. Then 3 hrs, till my next bite. Seems to be my deal. I had been throwing the rig and either a Stain Reaction Megabass or a French Pearl. threw it till I had to replace the hooks from water friction and the only thing that got stuck was me for buying those expensive baits. Wind got to blowing creating a pretty good surf with very bright sun and clouds. Switched to a custom painted Tim Hughes Megabass in Norman Flake and for the love of bass fishing, got a bite on the first cast. Really! Almost jerked the rod out of my hand cause I had no idea they would bite a stick bait. I thought I was just practice casting. Long story short, Norm caught me 3 more, all ok LM keeps. Nothing to write home about, but better than my skunk city period. Caught every fish on the Rig off one location and caught all the Norman Flake fish off one location. Both spots were no more than 50 yds long. I have 3 straight days of guiding the same guys on the Rock, so if you don't hear from me, please send condolences and flowers to the lodge as my life is in considerable jeopardy. Good Luck

Dutch, I would rethink that. The ramp there is completely flat at this level, If you don't have a pard, you are going to get your tootsies wet. Drive down to Big Creek, the ramp there is so much better.

You did

I'm hearing about lots of robberies at Golden Eagle Rock Big M area, both homes and on the lake. Don't leave anything in view in your truck at the unattended ramps

Yes, yesterday I was showing 44 as the coldest and that will make them sick. They were very near the surface so I'm sure that is contributing to the mortality. I've got a feeling it is going to warm up from here on out. I have 46 here at the house at 5 AM yesterday it was 31.

If Mo was throwing it at the mouth of the Kings, that water is stained but it is far from muddy. it probably has close to 4' of visibility. Muddy is Both the big and little Indian Creeks at Baxter. Where he was on them like that I'm sure they would have crushed the A-rig. It was my only savior yesterday, and that was close to the mouth of the Kings. He just had a great day. I'm hoping he hits it again today, I'm really interested to see if he shoots the moon again. Just a fantastic day at any time of the year to put 30 in the boat.

Exactly. Another deal is usually the "do overs" Table Rock is very seldom a do over lake. You hit it hard once and you done, done it for that and probably a day or two. Not so much in March. For some reason these small sections seem to load and reload for a day or two before they are gone. Case in point my trip up the White several days back, where the only place I could catch them was a short stretch. It kept replenishing every time I hit it in a couple of hour window. Only the good Lord knows why they sometimes will be in such small locations and be there very strong, sometimes for only a matter of hours or a day, but in March if you find a location like this keep after it. I hope Bigmo goes today to see if his junk held up. That will be very interesting.

Jeff, you and I are having quite a dialog. We are seeing and posting very similar junk. Today in a couple of short main lake pockets at the mouth of the Kings River and also down the White between Shell Knob and Campbell Pt. we saw huge rafts of swimming threadfin shad just under the surface. I mean millions of them. Nothing was bothering them on the locations we saw them, but the schools were massive. Between Campbell Point and Baxter there are latterly hundreds of gulls, diving on the same 1.5 inch shad. When you are jerkbaiting the bluffends you can see them dying and fluttering everywhere. For some reason these shad are very near the surface

I just got off the phone singing my woes to Buster. He said he has always hated Table Rock in March. Said he just will not fish it. Of course he is always on Bull chasing walleye, at this time. But that being said someone always catches them, always. Bigmo did it at the mouth of the Kings. I fished up there today but did not blade. There is a pattern that has been in focus for the past couple of weeks. if you find fish on any stretch, you better hang in there. they are very few and far between. Similar banks don't seem to work and why they are where they are and not on the identical thing is puzzling, but it happens in March every year. Catch them where they are.

Like I said Quill, someone somewhere is catching them. Always happens. Nice day on the blade. I don't think I have one in the boat. I will tomorrow. 25 bass to the boat today is beyond great.

Man that is just a beautiful fish. It went from flat and slick as a gut to howling. Jeff how deep was that bottom bite? I did start seeing some bottom fish in 20 to 25 but it was to windy to throw the little guy that deep. Also my guys started to gag when I mentioned 5 pound test line a 1/8th. oz bait and a spinning rod. I think I would have had a boycott on my hands. They pretty much had a dose of my fishing expertise as it was. I can't say that I have ever been colder than I was this morning. I just could not put on enough cloths. My lower back chilled and I shook all morning. I'm still cold and if the wind wasn't still puffing I'd get in the Hot Tub. Pete fished Kimberling to point 5 area, and with you up the river and me somewhat mid-lake, it seemed to be tough all over this pond today. However, I bet someone was on them. Always are. Great report

I'd cart Sarah Palin around free of charge. She's a looker. Hillary is going to have to drive herself. My gosh Jeff, if anyone caught any numbers today, I would love to hear about it. On a side note, I did hear a pretty good white bass story, but I'm sworn to secrecy.

At this point I'm thinking the only job that I might remotely qualify for is a meteorologist. I could be wrong 90% of the time and still keep my job. Or. I could become a professional Hand Grenade thrower as in that profession, close is good enough. Fair Warning Here " There are no take backs if you book a guide trip in the next week, cause you pretty much know I'm sucking bad." Carl and Ethan can vouch for my worthlessness as we launched the Texas boys out of Baxter this morning at 8 AM. Air temp at the kickoff was 31 freezing degree, Pete told me at his house this morning it was 27. Surface temp at the ramp was 44.1 It seems to be backing up. Water in Big and Little Indian is pretty stained. The further up either creek you go the worse it gets. The Texas boys thought it was so clear they could drink it. Both thought it would be great crankbaitin. Not to disappoint or be a frozen blanket, I tied on a couple of warts about the same color as Steve Mcbasser is throwing and the Texas crew went to flinging. They could cast way better than I could guide and I thought we worked over both Big and Little, long enough with zero bites. Blew out of the stained water and headed for Campbell point. Hit mostly bluffends and transitions with a stick bait to Big Creek, and then worked the mouth area with the cranker again. Big Creek is really clearing fast, but alas we got no love, and before you know it, we are 3 1/2 hours into a 6 hr. trip with nary a nip. Keep this in mind, I am so blessed that I have never skunked in 24 yrs. on the Rock while guiding. If this had of been a 4 hr. trip, I would have be sweating freezing bullets. Was anyway as I just did not have a clue. Only one thing left to do as the wind started pretty heavy and that was switch to the cheater. Neither one of the boys had ever had the pleasure of slinging the A-rig, but were more than ready to try. Stopped on a nice 45 chunk up by Campbell and handed them the Falcon Super Duty with the Lew's Super Duty and away they flew, both casting it a mile with the wind at their backs. For Pete's Sake, I hear Carl who is in the very back give a big "Wooo Hooo!" At this point I was believing that he was probably hung up, but low and behold he cranks in a very nice LM, probably close to 3 pounds. Couple of throws later, Ethan hauls back and at the same time I here the familiar Wooo Hooo from the back and the "Sky is Falling, we have a freekin double." 2 more chunk city K's. and I have all of a sudden went from Zero to Hero. It is kind of funny as these guys were talking about catching double digit size LM in Texas but the smiles on their faces with 2.5 pound K's was incredible. Another couple of cast, and "Slap my Face both boys were hooked up again with another double. Again, both were twin K's of the keeper variety. This is a really short stretch so they only had a couple more throws on it each. Just about to the point Carl again leans back on the Falcon Cara and another healthy Spot comes to the boat. I pull the trolling motor and idle back to give the stretch another try and first cast out Ethan catches a LM that is about 18" It is skinny, and has some sores on it, but it is for sure a number. We fish almost to the end and Carl again leans back and this time he catches the only short fish of the day a fat as a donut 14" K. I had spoken to James at 11:30 with zero. It was now 12:00 and we had 8. Could it be the tide was turning. Naha, we did not boat another fish in the remaining 2 hrs. Just brutal. I spoke to Pete Wenners a minute ago and he said it was beyond horrible for him today as he was practicing for a derby this weekend. He went close to 3 hrs. this morning without a bite also. Dying shad everywhere and as many gulls as I have ever seen from Baxter to Big Creek. Warmest water was at the mouth of the Kings at 49 degree when we started our run back to Baxter. The A-rig fish were on the bottom just as they have been for me only deep, I'm guessing 20 plus. Kind of funny, I fished Jack the other day on this same location, and we skunked on it. The fish were there and gone. I hit it 3 times and only had them the first trip and a half. Maybe something better tomorrow. Good Luck, and look for me a new job. This one has become way to difficult.

Thanks for all the good info and nice pictures Steve, continued success.

Those two walleye made your day a total success along with 15 fish. Sounds like they bit the stick way better today than they did on Monday. I'm headed out the door right now to give it a try.

Probably one of the best Aunts Creek reports we have gotten this year Thanks

Great report and nice catching. I just could not stomach the water in Big Creek. Probably need to get tougher. How deep were the spoon fish in there, if you don't mind saying

Jeff, that fish is white as snow. Kind of funny to see shallow crankbait fish in the point 7 to point 5 area so off color. You know me, I worked the A-rig deep. I have had lots of reports however that the fish are 8' and under. It is a very funny bite. They want it moving and they simply will not bite without wind. Lots of guys have been trying to catch them shallow on the bait with no name, but not doing much. I really don't know if this has anything to do with anything, but the majority of fish being caught are LM. James pointed out to me his bite on the sticker was a quick twitch bite. I also know there was some very big weight caught shallow both Saturday and Sunday on A-rigs fished right on the bank. All LM and to boot, in the KC to Dam area, No Jaws. There is a very big shad kill going on up the White River from Big Creek to Eagle Rock. Hundreds if not thousands of gulls are working dying threadfin shad. You don't see them rafted on the surface, but you will see flashes and very slow swimmers all over the upper end of the lake. This may be contributing to the slow bite. When the shad are dying like that it gets hard. All the fish we caught yesterday were just complete toads and packed full of both eggs and bait.

Threw it for about 45 minutes on two separate locations that should have held bottom fish and they never touched it. Most everything we found today was way off the bottom, suspended. Yesterday in that wind there were lots of reports of shallow fish, but most of those spots were revisited today and nothing was hungry.

Good friend and client Jack Swank and I headed out for a day on the pond out of the Knob this morn. From what we had heard the bite was really on yesterday. Beck guided two trips in the Kimberling Area, and had over 20# on both trips. Early morning trip he had them on a wart. In the afternoon they moved out a scouch but he was still able to catch them on a Molted Craw RK Crawler. James and Donna did well up the Kings, so I knew with the wind yesterday and the flat calm today it might be a little testy. It was. We totaled 14 fish with 3 keeps. Two of them were solid, and the third was a swimmer. I just could not put a pattern together. We had two on a jerk bait 5 swimming a grub and 7 on an A-rig. Word out today from Kimberling to Long Creek was no crank bait fish, everything on the A-rig. They just got stubborn with the flat water and cloudless sky. Surface temps ranged from 45.6 to an even 49 at Campbell Point. Water is nice and clear down to Big Creek, there it is just gruesome. I don't think I have ever seen this color of lime green to a tan brown. It is just basically nasty. Lots, and lots of boats on the water with the Viola and Shell Knob lots being mostly full. As Champ said yesterday, no one was on any of the junk we wanted to fish. Probably smart of them as my junk, stunk. Jack reminded me last year a week later the surface temps were 41 and the water was clear as a bell. Jack was with me when we caught all those big K's on a Ice Jig. He said we had 38 fish with 25 keeps. Not this time. Only decent reports today are A-rig fish from my clan. Hope someone gets on them and best of luck out there.

Bo, that was pretty close to my rant of 5 yrs. ago about the ramps at Viola and Sweet Water. As you suggested, it never fails this time of the year. Even with all this attention, even with all the ramps full and all the lake cabins with boats in their docks going at it, there is room for everyone if people would just operate their boats and their fishing methods in accordance with common sense and courtesy, treating people like you would like to be treated. There are enough banks and outside bank locations, that no one need to crowd or fish in front of anybody. You do that you are as much to blame as the next guy. You want to fish a bank, wait politely or go behind. How close is to close? If you even have to think about, "am I pulling in to close?" then you probably are.

You stick a fish in the livewell even if your going to throw it back and your kids are entertained for the day. It is just like an aquarium, and they just love to watch em. Thanks for the great post.

I think a pretty young thing like you knows way more than she would like us poor old fishermen to believe. Got a feeling if you were in the drivers seat and in the front of the boat that you would more than know the what, when, where and how. Bet you could also find your way home with a pretty nice bag of fish paddling around in your livewell. Just Sayin