Bill Babler

Kings is the perfect color and the White Bass should be running out the Kazoo. It is hard as can be. Did not get out till late and back in early due to weather, but the fishing is extremely hard. Spoke to about a dozen folks at the Viola Ramp and none had any Whites although they were trying their hearts out. Few had caught a couple of crappie and a bass or two but this is plumb Silly. You can pretty much tell by the Kings and Sweetwater and Ackin Back if the fish are going, as the ramps up there get full quick. All had great parking this afternoon, as the fish in the Kings anyway are still sleeping in.

If you want the absolute best wobble head on the market call Chompers and talk to Ed. Tell him you want the 7/16th. with the lite wire hook, that Babler is using. Your problems will be solved. 417-634-1146 Also. There is not a bait even close to the Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw, in Green Pumpkin. It is soft as jelly and they simply love it. Caught over 500 on this combo last year. Good to see it is getting started again.

Wow!!! Would never have guessed this one. Must have been a pot of gold. Good Luck to them.

Thanks for the great report, kind of gives us numbers guys hope for the dam area kicking off. On the Blue Eye Burger note, you must be a super well done guy on your burgers. I have given them 4 tries and that is it, each times my burger was cooked till it was done, then taken out in the parking lot and ran over twice and then cooked again to make sure it was done. The plastic box it came in was juicer than the burger. On another note they make the best Strawberry shakes in the business, so there is that. Great report.

Both Paddlefish and Suckers can only be harvested by snagging. It is for the Suckers population control as much as just as fun as catching a 5 pound Rainbow. If they did not somewhat control the population on Taney and its tributaries we would be just loaded with them and we really are to the extent that right now, the restricted zone has huge schools of 50 plus fish just swimming in pods. Paddle fish are somewhat of a novelty and are snagged all over the United States even in the so called pristine western states such as Montana. When I was a kid our guides out of the resort guided the Browns Bend area of Lake of the Ozarks for them. It was the first guide trip I ever took. To this day I hate the darn things. It is hot hard work jerking a set of triple hooks up and down the lake and getting hung up every 5 minutes. Sometimes they pull when hooked, most often regardless of size they pretty much come in wiggling a bit like a log rolling in circles. As far as table fare, the Sucker is prepared correctly is just flat the best fish sandwich you will ever eat. The paddle fish can be OK at best. Some call them fresh water halibut, but a better name would be fresh water mackerel, as they are extremely oily. They are hard to clean and you pretty much waste about 2/3 of the fish with guts and red meat. Still to each his own and I'm very glad we have these two alternative fish for people to enjoy. Good Luck

Two weeks hopefully will make all the difference in the world. I'm hoping. Been driving to Shell Knob and Baxter everyday for the bass, as this lower lake is still tough. Small Jaw bite, is just around the bend and my info will work good on the locations I mentioned. Don't get to hung up on the Creek arms in the dam area. They do hold fish, but they get swamped and pounded. The main lake and secondary points off the main lake are the key to catching more fish in the dam area. Good Luck

Dam area is really pretty touch right now, except for those locals that are fishing trees, and it is not easy for them. Most of the Big Cedar guides have been down on Taney Trout fishing. Talked to a couple and they said it is as hard as they have ever seen. Tim Sainato called Buster I believe Sunday and told him he was having the worst trip he had, had in 25 yrs. They are just not being very social for non-locals and even for the locals it is beyond work. Swim a grub and use the Varmint on the secondary points and the long mix pea Gravel and chunk. Any you catch is as good as anyone else is doing in this area of the lake. I fished out of Baxter on a 6 hr. trip day before yesterday. We had 13 fish with 10 really nice keepers all on an A-rig. Our fish came over the tops of trees in 60 ft. of water with the fish at about 15 to 20 ft. deep. Here is the deal, we caught the 13 fish in 30 minutes and went 5:30 minutes without a bite the rest of the time. I know several of the other guides the same day had 5 fish or less. It was brutal. Beck told me his bite was pretty much over by 9 AM so get out quick. On another note if you can find a 4 hr. 1/2 day guide trip for $150.00 buy a dozen of them. Rates are $275.00 for 4 hrs. here. We just got back from Florida and they are $475.00 for 4 hrs. using equipment that you can compare to what we are using here. Good Luck

Nice day Randy. Just a bit on the Rock Crawler. The Crawler is about 1/3 larger than the wart, and has a casting system. It will throw about 10 miles further than the wart. It is also a non-tune bait, it works perfect right out of the box. Unlike most of the warts I own that really I have to tune them each time I get them back out. I believe the Crawler is also designed to go 12' deep, which is quite a bit deeper than a wart. Some of the really experienced wart guys will fish a wart in under 55 degree water on 6 pound line to obtain a similar depth. I'm fishing my Rock Crawler on 12 pound Invesx. and feeling really comfortable with depth, action and the ability to unhang it and also fight big fish up shallow in rocks and trees with this setup. Sorry to Jump the Thread. Good Luck.

Don't know that I like them, but I use the absolutely cheapest 1/4 0z. Round Ball Lead Head and cheapest 2/0 mustad combo I can find. Reason being I don't own them very long before they take up new residence in a Table Rock Lake Tree Top. Bo says he is coming out with a better mouse trap for fishing the deep trees so I'm waiting patiently for his new weed guard head. Until them, the ones I have been using are running me about a .25 each.

Was in the back of Trace Hollow yesterday (Up the Big Indian at Baxter.) and it is completely packed with both gizzard and threadfin shad. All over the surface. Fished it for over 2 hrs. without a bite. Moved to the main lake and it was on swimming a grub deep. Caught about 30 with 20 solid keepers. Fished one location that I had not caught a LM on, only big K's. Told my guys that we would not catch a LM but should gather in a toad spotted bass or two. 14 keeper Largemouth later I pretty much fessed up that I knew next to nothing. There had not been a LM in the area all Winter till yesterday. Everything we caught remains for me in the Campbell Point area in pole timber with the boat sitting in 50 to 85 ft. and the fish coming most often in the 15 to 25 ft. depth range. Beck said up later in the day they got on a stickbait pretty shallow at Kimberling City to point 9 He thought they were in the 15 to 20 ft. range suspended at that depth on the points. Does not seem to be a fish under or in those shad. Surface temps in there were 45 and the water was that really bad turquois color. Good Luck

What's Up Dock has seasonal passes available for their ramp. It is very nice and has great parking. Or you may run over to Mill Creek. Only problem is a lot of derbys run out of Mill and it is right out in the open for all the wind.

24/7 You are right as rain on seeing them first. Told Jack the other day to hang on they were blowing the graph up the minute I pulled up on the spot. Bull Shoals however does fish a little different than the Rock. I can usually catch bass all Winter really shallow up the river above Tucker. Most all on a jerkbait a jig or swimming a grub or an A-Rig. Buster is just catching huge bass over there right now targeting Walleye. Most all on mud flat rolloffs. The deep trees that are holding fish on the rock are usually related to big spawning pockets or creek arms. Most all but not all are main lake deep pole timber runnouts. The fish the other day, we caught a couple in 50' and as the boat swung around we were in 90' if that helps. Sometimes these fish are in the trees, sometimes over them or sometime on the bottom in between them. I pointed out these fish to Jack, and he could see them just as good as I could, after seeing what I was looking at. If you pull on one of these locations and you see fish moving up and down, you better get ready. If you cannot tell if they are moving, you better do a little more work with the electronics

You all are getting me so excited. Tigers and Lions and Bears, OH My.

As Dave and Randy said there are Big ones swimming those waters. I had several on an Alabama rig up there in the 8 pound range last year. There are 5 and 6 pounders to be caught and it happens everyday. As I said before, a solid 4 banger on Saturday will get quite a bit of attention. It is also very possible that a Big K or Jaw could take the show. Lots of Jaws up there in that pushing 4 range, and you saw the K's I caught on Monday with at least 1/2 dozen 3.75. Fun will be had by all. Good Luck

Anyone that can be there at anytime please come on up. There are no entries and no fees, a trophy will be awarded for the big fish and we may have a couple of more goodies to give away. After the weigh-in there will be chili/mac and hot dogs a plenty. All, are more than welcome. We will start sending boats out at 7:30 and weigh in your biggin at 3 PM. 1 fish per fisherman but you may fish as many folks per boat as you wish. Here is another tip, we will not weigh in a fish for every person if it is clear that your fish is not as big as one that is already been weighed we will not subject the fish to that humiliation. In other words we are going to be as kind as possible to the fish. I'm guessing it will take something in the 3.5 pound range and above for consideration, so please don't give just any keeper a boat ride. I'm sure it has other plans for the day and if possible we will want it to carry them out. I have been fishing everyday almost and I'm not catching any big ones yet. ie (May not mean a thing, I never catch Big Ones.) Maybe just me but there were not a load of giants weighed in the CPA. Going to be a similar type deal with us because we are a single bait derby. 3.5 to 5.5 will be the key. You get a solid 4 pounder and you got a shot. Good Luck

I believe Denny fished up there today and had a very similar day to you. He also got checked by the Warden.

The movement of the bass in Table Rock lake is for sure a thing that is extremely hard to understand. Starting in the Fall they move up and feed fairly heavy along the shoreline, then by October back quickly out to the long flats and are available on a big jig. Then as the Eagles come down following the ducks in November they pick up and move to the deep guts and channels. Come usually around Valentines day they leave the deep stuff and move out on the main lake and scatter like crazy. You can find them from 90 ft. to 2 feet depending on the day. March usually finds them moving up and starting to ease back into the creeks and pockets they had occupied in the Winter, only shallower. Right now they are main lake or huge pocket fish wanting depth and cover. last year fishing that kind of cover with an A-Rig huge bags were caught. This year they started it off with grubs. Same places just a different technique, however it is the same as years past prior to the rig. That deep bite is very fickle however and a couple more warm days and they will be swarming and gone from the 60' stuff. Last year on this week, I was catching huge numbers of White Bass up the Kings. Every year is different.

Table Rock Lake Current Fishing Report 3-11-15 White River Outfitters Guide Service First off, I have kind of been under the weather for the past week. Got so bad on Monday I had to go to the walk in clinic for a ZPac. 103 on the temperature, but after the drugs I'm feeling a lot more chipper today. Doc. said I had Bronchitis and had it bad for and old dude. Temperature is now under control and I'll be fine and dandy for our Eagle Rock derby. Think they are calling for perhaps light showers on Saturday morning, but clearing and becoming a beautiful day. Good to hear it. I did manage a trip with probably one of the best fishermen and gentlemen that I have the pleasure to take. Jack Swank from Iowa. Jack is pretty much a kindred spirit and just an excellent fisherman. After reading and watching pretty close to the weekend addition of the CPA, and a quick chat with good buddy Tim Sainato, I thought I had it figured pretty close. Regardless of the lake area and I'm saying that starting at Campbell Point as that is where you really start getting into any type of a deep fish pattern, Jack and I sat out to try and duplicate what the top finishers in the CPA had done. That is if I could figure it out in that area, rather than where they had fished. I did. Boy it is really hard to force yourself to fish like this, and to be as methodical as you have to be to fish like this. You need to be extremely astute on reading your electronics and have the patients to be able to not go crazy with losing baits and hanging up. Here is the deal, swimming a grub deep and fishing vertical to suspended fish in pole timber with a smattering of cedars. A jungle nightmare. Tree tops coming up to the 25 ft. range, so you had to avoid hanging up and it is impossible. It is just how much gear are you willing to lose for the huge rewards that are there. Boat pretty much in 50' to 60' with fish suspended in the 50' to 30' range in that standing pole timber. Most often it is related to channel swings and huge creek or spawning cove mouths. Tim told me exactly where he had caught 27 keepers on Saturday, during the derby, but I never got near it, we fished 40 lake miles up the White River. We used for the swimming a Keitech Swing Impact 3.5 inch Black Shad on a 1/4 oz ball jig head with a 2/0 hook. We also used a Rapala Ice Jig in 1/2 oz for those up and downers Some days you just pick and guess right. Yes you are gong to say I had a lot on current information going in and when you read this you will have also if you can figure it out, and are willing to pay the price. We had a 14 on our first location and continued to catch fish all morning. I believe we finished with 38 fish with 25 very solid keeps. Some nice K's at 18 plus inches. We also had 3 LM and did have the best LM on a stickbait. Surface temp never moved on us from 41 degree's. As I mentioned at the start the bite is extremely hard to detect when fishing timber, cause it is absolutely no different that running the grub over a limb or hanging it up. It will for sure teach you not to set the hook. You do 6 out of 10 times and that bait is gone. The fish just ride the bait or you more often lose it, while your winding. Just continue to wind and when you feel the fish lift up, don't go crazy on the set. Closest to the bank for us today was a nice 150 yrd. rifle shot. Denny and I had kind of power fished up the White the day before and had not done well, I had to make a change and it worked. Not for giant LM, but for sure tournament fish, averaging 3 to 3.5 pounds. Just needed that 6 pound kicker on the stickier to have been a toad sack. Not the type someone will need on Saturday, but for sure some of the best fishing I have had this Winter.

Beautiful Pic. thanks for posting. That just about sums up Bull Shoals. I can go over there even April, May and June and see just about the same sight. Lots of water and nothing else. Yes you get on the upper end during the White Bass run and you will have plenty of help. Always been this way from Powersite to Beaver Creek. Much below that and it gets pretty lonesome.

I'm not thinking there is going to be much of a cold water runoff with only a couple of inches of snow here in the Springfield to Rogers Ark area. We got up to 54 degrees here at Blue Eye, and it is not going to get as cool tonight and continue to warm each day. I'm thinking they will be on and moving up during the day on any type of River Channel transition, especially those that have pole timber and are relating to the bigger pockets. Good Luck

During the Elite event last year, we had anglers coming from State Park up to and above Holiday Island, so it is done. About 10 yrs. ago Buster and I won the Homer Sloan, and we fished Long Creek. Caught a limit at that time it was 10 fish to weigh in and then we culled them all at Baxter on the way back in, so really we just burned a bucketful of gas and oil. Got a feeling just lookin for one bite, we can find it much closer. Good Luck

Thanks Jim, that is a very nice offer for anyone who is wanting to fish with us. Much appreciated.

Guys and Gals, remember if your going to fish the Arkansas side or visa versa, you will also need a border permit. It is 10 bucks and money well spent. You can also use it on Bull Shoals chasing those Summer time walleye. Any kind of a bass boat will put Big Creek just below Campbell Point in play and also just about anywhere you want to fish on the Kings River should you chose. This is big fish time of the year for the River however and really you should be able to catch fish regardless of where you fish from Shell Knob back to Eagle Rock and up toward Holliday Island. You are just minutes from Roaring River and it is completely full of structure weather it be standing timber Rock Runnouts and Channel Swings. There is Panther Creek just a rock throw further down stream, that is full of timber and docks, and next door to it is Owl Creek where an FLW was won a few years ago at this time of the year. Also at this water level completely full of timber. I caught them in it last week. Down 1 mile on your left is Rock Creek, and it is big enough for just about all of us. Watch the Rock point on the entrance as it is very shallow at this level. On past Big M marina, and down another couple of miles you will hit both Cedar and Carter Creeks on your left. Both are Cedar tree jungles at this level. 5 more miles and you are at the mouth of the Kings River with all its early season fishing, so any type of a fishermen should find a place to light. Good Luck

We saw that deal last night when we rolled into TR. Is that a Steak Joint or what? There were some folks in there, but nothing like the Road House. If it is Steaks I would like to try it.