Bill Babler

Any more of this and the topic will be closed. Were not going to have any of this stuff this year. We let it go way to far last year, not going to happen this year. We have had just some outstanding threads with lots of great participation. Not going to ruin any of the fine start to the year with Tom Foolery. We thank you

Yep, look at it all the time. Nothing like personal information however.

I am just dying to go speckled trout, redfish and flounder fishing in the next 40 days before my season takes off. My wife and I were just down in Louisiana looking around. I thought about taking a guide trip, but those guys are $700 a day for 1 or 2 people and my wife does not fish. Hated to spend that kind of dough on myself. Really surprised me as their equipment boats and tackle are about 3/4 of the price of the stuff we use here and we are $250 a day less than that. I want to take my own Bay Boat down and try it. Any suggestions would be appreciated. We went and looked at Grand Isle, Venice, Big Lake and Holly Beach. We also drove over to Port Arthur in Texas. Kind of funny, had the best meal of the entire trip was in Texas. You would think that Louisiana being the hot bed for food we would have like it the best, but we both had seafood platters in Port Arthur that were fantastic, for about 1/2 the price of Louisiana grub.

I also love the rubber net. Especially if you are fishing by yourself. It is a nice buffer just to lay them down in the rubber, keeping them off the carpet. On another note, I never catch one big enough I feel I need to hold its belly We trout fishermen have been using the rubber net now for the last 10 yrs. It is just magic at not knocking off scales and you can keep that wet fish in the net thru the release process, lots easer on both the fish and the fishermen. Nylon and rope small strand nets are just terrible on trout. With the small very lightly attached scales they have, those harsh nets pretty much skin and scale them. People also have a very rough time releasing trout. Yes they are slimy and they for sure are wigglers. Best deal for me if I cannot get them loose when they are In the net I simply hold them upside down and it really has a calming effect on them.. Makes it a lot easier to get that tiny hook out. Ihave seen guys grab them with terry cloth towels. By the time they let them loose they have virtually taken all the slime off the trout and probably about 50% of the scales. It is a terrible way to handle any fish. In any fish handling less is always more. Good Luck

Git, you may be right. Another deal is the arms just never wrap. Like I said about one out of 10 that long trailer will slide thru a hook on one of the baits, but unlike when the short arms wrap, the long tailing bait is still fishing. The best benefit however is you don't miss strikes. The fish hit that back bait. I have not felt a jolt or missed one in quite sometime. The fish will always concentrate on that back bait that is trailing the school. I can remember when we first started this deal, so often they would hit one of the non-hooked baits. You would just feel them hammer it. Does not happen anymore. They hit it, and its on. Good Luck

I just hope it has cleared up a little. Sorry to say, that area of the lake including Big Creek was just solid mud last week. I know several of the guys fishing the Winter Series drove up there cause its usually very good early. ie wart and A-rig, Everyone of them said it was a disaster and got the heck out of dodge. Seems like Campbell Point to Point 5 are the slowest on the lake, with point 21 to point 9 being the worst If I were you I would hop over to Shell Knob, launch at the bridge and work my way up the White River. Water color is just perfect. The bite is really on up there, with fish in the 15 to 25 ft. range on a jig-ned or an A-rig. Not saying you can't catch them in BC, but for now, with a limited time to fish, I would fish where the fish are biting. Take a peek at my Feb 1st. report and also the Shell Knob report that was posted Good Luck

If you want minnows, go over on Taney. Lilleys' had them last week, so I'm sure they still have them for sale there. Just got a text from Lamar at Scotty's trout dock. They also have minnows. It is down town just behind the camp ground up river from Bass Pro.

Do we even know who is running it now, COE, State or County?

I thought so, as there were no trucks parked back there Sunday. It is really stupid, no one is messing with the park at all. It would be real easy to just open the back ramp and forget about it, but powers that be don't have a clue.

That durn old ramp there is so flat I have to back in to my front tires. It is a lot easier there if you have a buddy to help you launch.

Right across from Devils Dive there is a brand new commercial Ice machine up on the bank Who knows where it came from. That is pretty odd. only place I can even think of was Holiday Island or maybe Beaver town.

Here is a picture of one of the main A-rigs that I am throwing. I'm using an Eagle Claw SS leader in 8 inches to extend it behind the mob. Yes it will get tangled some especially when you are trying to throw it into or across the wind. Not often however, I'm guessing 1 out of 10 throws. I also try and stop the forward progress of the bait and allow it to turn over like a fly cast by simply clamping my thumb on the spool before it hits the water. On most any of them if you just chunk it out and allow it to splash down, you have a very good chance of a lure tangling, straw or not. Notice how far back that trailing bait is. This will increase your positive hookups by double. I was telling a friend yesterday, I did not miss a strike on Sunday, every fish was on the back hook and hooked up very solid. I did have a fish snagged on one of the hooks In the gang, but every thing else on the trailer.

I been launching there for 30 years, and I have never seen it. I have seen in 08 and 11 some debris on the lot, but never seen this much sand and dirt. At least I don't Be'member it.

I guess if we compare it to Viola, we are fishing in tall cotton. That old dry dirt was blowing like crazy I had about a 1/4 inch of it sitting on my exterior window sill. My truck got dirty as heck.

Table Rock is a never for certain deal, especially this time of the year, even for those of us that are blessed enough to get to fish multiple days a week. Anyone that catches them every time out or says they do is really not being very honest. I have plenty of days that I struggle, even with all the years I have spent on it. I'm going to tell you how I do, either way. Good or bad. In doing so I'm hoping you don't make the mistakes that I made that day or if I get lucky and do well, that gives folks a good starting place. Yesterday I really dialed in. The fish I caught had not even seen another bait this year, they were just moving and staging a bit on those locations. You can latterly miss those fish by a boat width as Jake mentioned. This year 9 out of 10 times your either sitting on them with your boat or they are behind you. Bo and I have preached this here for years, and I still see 90% of the people fishing in to close. I caught an abnormal amount of keepers yesterday and lots of 3 plus pound fish. The A-rig for the most part was responsible for catching those bigger fish. Something else that contributed to my larger fish, was there were just no K's present in any numbers, or I for sure would have caught some shorts. I just had the LM and the Jaws dialed in on the type of junk I was fishing. The few K's I did find were grouped tight right where Jake was fishing, and they would follow but not swallow. Got them going that one time and spooned 3 but that was it on them. Jake, when you saw me I was trying my hardest to get them to bite a Jig. I had worked the tar out of that spot with the A-rig and thrown a sticker down it once. You could see the fish especially those K's on the bluff, but they did not want the jig for me, it had to be that slow rolled A-rig. They probably would have gobbled Ned up, but trying to fish him in a big wind like that 25' deep is not to exciting for me. As far as the Jaws the largest one that I have ever caught here was the next cove on the East side up the river from Big M. She was 6-1 and on a bed. Put her right back there after Denver Dixon weighed her. If you will look on one of the Table Rock lake pictures that Phil has for the Table Rock site you will see me holding 2 very nice SM in the picture. Caught them both swimming a grub off Viney swim beach in I think 2000. Quick pic, and back they went. Good Luck

I had already fished it 3 times. Where you were sitting is where I caught the 3 K's on a spoon. There was a pile of worming K's from where you stopped to where you were fishing when I passed you headed back up the river. I saw you catch one little guy, and by that time I was sure I could get to the other side bluff end and that interior run. Caught 3 keeps off the other side and 5 keeps on the run. In the 3 passes I made before you "Cut me off" I had 5 keeps there plus the 3 short K's. If you caught some more there you did good. As I pulled onto it, there was a guy pulling off in front of me around 2 PM, so that place got some attention. Difference with me was my boat was in 50' and I'm sure the guy in front of me was way in. Every bite I had there was at least 25' on the bottom. Next time come on over and say Howdy.

Lets face it, 5 yrs. ago how many people were using Lew's reels. When you make a quality product like that folks will come. How would you have liked to bought some stock 10 yrs. ago. Quality, word of mouth and a very good field staff have propelled them to this. Look at the local and even national tournaments how many of these guys do you see with either Lew's stickers or Lew's clothing. Just about as good a value for your money as anything that has came along in my lifetime. Yesterday I was throwing the new Tournament Pro G right into and across a very stiff wind, with a 110 McStick. Did not have a single blowup. With the combination of the magnetic and the centrifical drag, you can dial in as much or as little as you want, a click at a time. Couple more Pic's from yesterday

Yes the Power Pro has been the standard especially with the slick 8. Kind of like the reels. "There is a new kid on the block."

Nope, not yesterday. Couple of times I thought maybe. I'm also surprised when I got into that nest of K's that a couple did not latch on. I did see a guy in a Green BC catch several K's deep across from Big M, but the way the big fish were biting, I didn't have time to dangle deep.

Seems very good to me. I used it a little last Fall when the Whopper Pooper bite was on and now I have switched it to the Stupid Rig and it just throws a mile. I have been extremely happy with their F. Carbon also. Both of those products since they are new have been on sale at the store for some really nice savings. Got to say I'm hooked and will probably keep my line money for upper end rods and reels, since this is working so well for about 1/3 to 1/2 off the name brands. I kept jamming that rod butt in my chest ie another word for belly yesterday and I looked like I been kicked by a Kangaroo. Caught a huge number of Smallmouth up the River yesterday and they simply hammered that Rig. There are as many Jaws showing up this year from Rock Creek to Devils Dive as I have ever seen. Kind of like Bo's thinking, I think they are on the march. This lake has really turned into a GREAT small jaw pond.

Oh my how Table Rock changes from day to day this time of the year. You can go hero to zero or in my case yesterday zero to hero. Hero at least for me, Was a participant in some very somber and not fun at all fishing this past week, fishing the Long Creek to Kimberling City run. Surface temps ranging between 46 to 51 and the difference in water color just crazy. Long Creek to point 5 is a nice 6 ft. visibility color or aqua-green but the further up the lake you get it gets plum dirty. Kimberling to close to Campbell Pt. is very off color with temps at an average of 48 degree. I for one and a couple of guide buddies have not done well in this area all week. I went 2 days without a bite, but was not looking deep and trying to bend them to a jerkbait and a A-rig. Just could not get anything to go for me. Friends looked deep and really struggled also. I have heard of a fish here and a fish there on dropshot. Not so much on a jigging spoon and a few on a RK Crawler, but slow would be a kind way to phrase it. Helped Becky serve breakfast to a full house here yesterday at the lodge and did not get out until 9:30. Dumped the big Phoenix in at Eagle Rock to very cool 44.5 degree water and a pretty stiff wind. Water was very nice color with about 8' visibility. Finely some good news to report. Regardless of surface temperatures the fish up the White River always seem to be the first to turn on every year. Yesterday was no exception as they were on a feeding frenzy at Eagle Rock. From 9;30 till 3;30 I fished a total of 7 locations between the 86 bridge and Viney Creek. Conservatively I caught and released between 20 and 25 keepers and 3 short fish. Nothing big, 3.5 was the biggest but just fish after fish in that 2.5 to 3.5 pound range. The 3 short fish that I caught were on a wareagle jigging spoon. I saw them chase the A-rig up, looked to be a school of at least a dozen. I dropped the spoon 3 drops before they vanished and caught the 3 short K's. Those were the only K's I caught all day. All the other fish I caught were either LM or Jaw's. All keepers. Fish up the river were exactly where they should be. Every fish I caught was on a transition bank with some pole timber and all fish were located in short stretches, of 100 yrds. or less. Had my boat in 45' most of the day on the outside of the timber throwing to the bank. A full cast for the Lew's Super duty, spooled with Lew's braid and a modified A-rig. I caught every fish yesterday on the A-rig outside of the 3 short K's. On the A-rig, I caught every fish except for one I snagged on the rear extended hook. Threw a stickbait on every location and could not get them to take it. Reason is the fish were not suspended in the water column, they were very close to the bottom. Majority of my strikes and they were simply violent for 45 degree water, were in the 18' to 25' range with the majority at the deepest part of the retrieve. I saw quite a few fish follow the Rig, as I was most often reeling it straight up to recast. Very slow moving of the Rig, mostly just pulling it and letting it flutter close to the bottom. Caught all the fish on a Keitech Swing Impact in Rainbow Shad. Don't know how your going to get anymore information that that. Kind of a funny story, I pulled up near Viney Creek to fish 3 little short stretches. When I went to look at the stretch I really wanted the most, there were 3 boats on or near it. Got to watching and one boat the guys were flipping bushes. There was another boat with fishermen fast winding spinnerbaits thru the pole timber and the other guy was jerkbaiting This is a very good early location. There is a channel that runs between the bank and a short rock runnout, that runs with the lake. Every boat was fishing either the channel or the shoreline. None of the 3 was fishing the rock runnout. I have seen Quill fish it many times so he would know this location. I caught fish off the other 2 locations and good ones, but I really wanted to fish those rocks. I went back to take a peek and all the boats were gone. 1st. 5 casts were all keepers, 4 smallmouth and one nice 3.5 pound LM. Had my boat setting in 50' here and threw up on top of the reef, in about 15'. I had been catching fish all day so I was on my toes. 1st. fish slammed it on the drop, and I nabbed him. The other 4 I let the rig settle and then started it back. Most hit at the very edge just as the bait was about to drop off the hill. Moral of this story, is don't assume that the guy in front of you caught all the fish. Good Luck View full article

Made a post on the wrong blog on this topic, concerning the Falcon rods. HD series, Costal Series and the new crappie series are made overseas. Of course all the Fuji guides are made in Japan. Falcon is testing each batch of the materials prior to the manufacturing process. At any point In the process they have the ability to terminate the entire batch. I have fished the Coastal Series for about 10 yrs. and think they are very good. That series is really designed for light saltwater fishing and they have rods from Redfish to a new Trout special in several lengths that was designed by guides in La that fish redfish, trout and flounder. All of the other rods are made and fired in Harrison Arkansas using Falcons Mandrels From the Original, LowRider, Bucco and the Cara Series as well as the Reaction the Peacock rods and the Signature Rods. The reel seats are also American made. The cork for the handles comes from Portugual, I believe, but the manufacturing process is also in the US. Cork grade for the Cara's and the Signature series is highest quality A+ the only non - US part on the Rods not manufactured in the US is the Fuji eyes. I have toured the plant in Harrison with Phil Lilley, it is amazing to see all the thousands of Mandrel's and the graphite, I believe the industry name for the material is Per-preg. the Mandrel is wrapped with the Per-preg, and then fired at 350+ degree, I believe for at least 6 hrs. Very interesting process. The Current Material for all the new upper end series is a Carbon Fiber and is also known as Per-preg. Each rod builder has his secret formula for the Per-preg, that makes the rod different.

On the Falcon Rods. HD's Crappie and Costals are built over seas using exacting material standards. Each batch is tested in Harrison Ark, before any rod can be created. The Fuji eyes are also made in Japan. Falcon's factory is in Harrison Arkansas where all of their signature rods, Original thru Cara thru Bucco, all of them are fully created and assembled. They are fully forged there on their on Mandels . I have toured the factory on 3 separate occasions with Phll Lilley. The Fuji Eyes are the only non manufactured component on these very upper end rods.

Ben, thank you very much. I'll use them in my weekly report to the Kansas City Star.