Bill Babler

The Elite was really so early it had little or no effect on what we are seeing now. Really the weights were not so much from K's, but buck LM. Yes they did catch lots of small male K's, but not nearly the number as they did buck LM. Right now anywhere you fish on the upper White River from Baxter on up, the lake is simply crawling with threadfin and especially huge schools of Gizzard shad. They are playing and swimming around us on every stop. Yet, almost every bass we are catching weather it be a drop shot fish or a jig fish is spittle craws. Even if that fish is suspended over depth, it has a craw in it. This morning Beck said his were spitting shad for the first time this year. He fished Kimberling. This is July and not serious fishing time. I remember why I always guided in Alaska this time of the year. It gets really hard. However fish are not on the locations we usually catch them on and talking to Bill again this morning, there are no concentrations. IT is just loners here and there, almost like late September, and they can be at any depth.

My 4th. of July weekend is off to a very shaky start. Launched at the ramp at the Knob at 5:15 to a fog just hanging over the water. You could see under it as it hung about 100ft. above the water. At 5:20 with lights on a blue Malibu wake boat came past me pulling 2 skiers, and pulled them into a fog bank at the mouth of the Kings River. We went up the White River and started throwing a wobblehead on a long flat point. There was another fishing boat on the other side of the point. Looked like he was jig fishing, but could not see him all the time. We were about 150 feet off the bank and the fog had settled down so much that I could not see the bank. I would at times be able to see the other fisherman. Heard the boat coming before we saw it. Big Ranger sporting 2 power poles and running flat out in complete soupy fog ran between us and the bank at I'm guessing about 60 MPH. Really shook us up. moved in a little closer and both of us fishing boats had our lights on. We are at Sans Souci and cannot see across the lake. 20 minutes later we hear blaring music, this is about 7 in the morning and in a total fog bank here comes a black tow boat pulling 2 skiers and I'm guessing he can just barley see the skiers behind the boat. We saw the boat coming and it was bearing right at us with its bow up and plowing. Missed us about 50'. I really do not think they ever saw us standing and screaming at them. Music was just blaring and shaking the water and they were completely void of anything that was going on. Hard day for us, mostly catching suspended fish at 23' over depth. 13 total with maybe one squeeker keep. Pulled back around to the twin rivers area of the Kings and continued to throw the wobble head. We were casting a bank with pole timber splashing the bait into about 10' of water when a black and grey tracker V bottom alum. trolled between us and shore. I jut threw my hands up and the guy trolling threw his up back and me and yelled you bass fisherman don't own the lake. My gosh is there a cure for completely Stupid. On the way home I was going down the big hill just to the east of Carr Lane and was following a motor cycle with a pull trailer and a Rav4. The Cycle was in front of the Rav4, we were going 55 mph. All of a sudden the cycle decides he has missed his turn at Carr Lane and decides to pull a U'ie. Slams on the brakes and the RAv4 takes the ditch on the right side and I lock them up. IF it had not been for the Phoenix trailer braking system I would have ran the cycle over or went into the ditch and overturned my outfit. The guy behind me hit the ditch on the other side to keep from hitting me. Cycle guy got a ticket for an illegal U turn, but he was claiming he was going to pull into a farmers gate. Bull Pucky. That dude could have killed himself and his wife and completely ruined a lot of lives by completely stupidity. I'm really scared to go back on the road or the water today, so I'm home and gong to sit tight.

Yes those bites have been lite and I have a feeling it is only going to get worse for numbers and consistency the rest of the Summer. I have never had July, August and September be better than June.

Pretty nice weights with lots of solid limits in that 13 pound range.

Lupe Garcia is a very good fisherman. He is a fence swinger. He is either top ten or nothing. Used to love to fish against him. He can get on a roll and really catch them.

The spotted bass population in this lake took a very hard hit in 2008 and 2011, with the huge influx of water over spawning beds. The smallmouth and largemouth were able to move and have better spawns than the K's, who traditionally for the most part are deep spawners. Yes we have all seen them under the dock ramps and in the stalls, but as Bill Anderson once told me for every shallow bed you see on spotted bass there are 100 deep beds that you do not see. In the guide and fishing community it has been thought really not thought but just stated that if you want to keep fish on Table Rock you should keep spotted bass. This theory is completely false. The spotted bass has the longest life and egg producing span of any of our fish. By killing spotted bass you kill the largest egg producers of any of the bass species. I have not on purpose killed a bass on Table Rock lake in 20 years and it has not affected my business by one cent. Guides that think they have to kill fish here are completely out of touch with reality. As has been touched on with the advance of electronics and mapping and the ability of everyone to find the deep locations these fish go to after spawning, taking lake sections of spotted bass that congregate in these areas and killing them has and in the future will have a very detrimental effect on the population. I'm not a guy that is against drop shotting night crawlers at all. These fish usually come up and down this time of the year in the water column, so that is not a problem and as far as gut hooking fish, even with very inexperienced clients fishing a drop shot, catching usually 100's per Summer, I will have less than a handful swallow the bait. I have more problem with them swallowing the small soft plastics casted to the shore or on the bottom. If this and last year were an indication, we are in an evolution on this pond that we may not like. I have caught more smallmouth this year and more largemouth than spotted bass. I have not changed my tactics other than using the varmint quite a bit, but spoon fishing these last two Winters and now for the second Summer, the K's numbers are not at all what they were. Good Luck

I see people running behind the bouy across from Roaring River all the time. A few years ago when the water was down, I guess if was more than a few, maybe 10 I counted over 20 steel fence post and all kinds of barbwire out there. That place is just full of submerged obstructions that can seriously hurt someone. I am really surprised that no one has gotten hurt on that location, as ski boats run it with reckless abandon.

Everywhere we went this morning there were gizzard and threadfin shad surfacing and playing on the water surface. Lots and lots of big gizzards. On a couple of locations we were drop shotting you would feel the shad bumping the line. The fish we caught were not on the bait and the meager amount we did catch was spitting craws. That big LM that jumped off on the second jump that was suspended slung at least 4 big craws on the first jump. It has gotten downright tough if not using live bait, and then it is not a free-bee either. Most of these guides are working extremely hard dangling night crawlers to even get bit. A good 4 hr. trip from LongCreek to Shell Knob has been 8 to 15 fish on most days using the live bait. Usually we can say the K's are going to be at a certain depth, usually just around the thermocline, but not this year. They are not ganged up and instead of catching 6 or 8 off a deep flat, hump, or channel swing, we are catching maybe 1 or 2. Kind of funny, they can also be anywhere on those locations from 20' to 60'. It is hard for most of us to look that deep. Mike Webb told me the other day he is catching them at 55' suspended as good as any. Usually suspended out in the channel, over depth. Not a ton either, just a couple per location. Takes a very dedicated deep fisherman to continue to look and catch suspended fish at that depth. Or a fishing guide that has no other viable ideas. Most of our Summer clients are not throwers, they are at best danglers, and for us not to be able to find and catch these K's is pretty hard on the psyche. Most of us that fish everyday here have seen this sort of coming for the last two years, with the Summer time K's. they have either completely changed their 30 yr. died in the wool patterns or they are not there as they have been. Most of the topwater fish that we have depended on for years here on both Table Rock and Bull Shoals are K"s. I asked the question earlier and really got laughed at with folks saying they are catching them by the bucket-full. The guides are not and have not. If you are good for you. Very little topwater and very little drop shot fishing for the K's at a time when they are really the easiest to catch. Makes you wonder. Good Luck

Good friend and client Ed Shawbaker and I started at the Knob at the 5:30 whistle this morning. Right off the bat he hammered a 2.5 lb. white on a spook and we thought that it might be on. That was the last topwater bite of the day and almost the last bite. IT WAS HARD!!!! We fished everywhere and threw everything and caught nothing. 5 hrs. on the lake netted us the white bass and 5 other bass with 1 really nice keeper Jaw. and a nice LM on for two jumps on a big Swimbait. Weather conditions: Light breeze scattered clouds Water conditions: Slight chop slight stain, surface temp at 81 Fish Location: I presume in the lake at some depth What they were biting. ???? We had 3 bass on a wobble head in 18' 1 bass on a drop shot at 30' and 1 bass on a bluffend suspended in 20' over 60' on the swimmer. Spoke to Quill at the mouth of Rock Creek, and I believe he was doing better than we were. NO RPS he was not on the runnout he was on the South Side. Will let him divulge any info on his day that he wishes. We fished from in front of the bushes to 60'. I'm guessing I was in panic mode about 1/2 way thru the morning and just fished to fast. What ever the case may be, I left a horrible stink on that water that either myself or someone needs to get off there soon before it becomes a problem up there. Good Luck

Probably a fantastic Redfin Rod. As for the reel, it was in the repaired or returned building for a reason. I would slap some 15 pound braid on it and swim the fin.

I can see it now, a trotline using 6 pound test with 30 little Varmints on 4 pound droppers. Would you use the old Red and White Bobbers to hold it up. Now that is some funny stuff. Heeeeee

Yesterday that bite got better as the day went along. We had a 8 hr. trip out of Baxter and the best bite was between 10 and 2. Caught them pretty good on a wobblehead. and a dropshot. Boat in 35' on the long tapered points with chunk rock and we would throw the wobbler while we looked at the HDS for dropshot fish. Not a boat load of fish yesterday, 22 bass and some big BG. But had some very nice quality keeps LM and K's no Jaws. Today kind of the same deal. Started out on the wobbler and the Varmit and then switched to the dropshot. Same number of fish on this 4 hr. trip with about a dozen really nice K's between 15 and 17 inches. Water temps both days at 81 and fish both days between 22 and 35 ft. There are just thousands of big gills in the 18' to 35' range if you have a mind to catch some for the dinner plate as they are that size. Crickets will get them.

All good recomends

Powerdive, anyone can fish Emerald Beach the San Suci Flats or the flats at the end of Buzzard Bluff That is no longer a challenge for him. He needs more excitement in his fishing life.

Great report I can see work in her future. As far as the topwater deal, both Beck and I have put all out topwater baits in the road and ran the truck over them repeatedly. Now we will not have to bother throwing them.

Absolutely anyone that would even consider that pattern on those specific points needs to be recommended for some type of psychiatric evaluation. I have caught big fish on both with a float-n-fly and at times will try and work a jerkbait on them, but it scares the BeJeeberrs out of me to even look at them. Going way outside the box is how you learn, and if anyone things he can troll something thru that kind of a locations please have at it. RPS, I'm in wonderment of your success. Congrats and you have my blessing to spend all the time and money and equipment you need to pursue your quest thru a tree laden area like that. Good Luck

Tim Sainato and I were fishing a derby on lake O a few years back. We were pitching a little hand made brown purple jig with a chompers trailer in pbj. Little bitty bug bait just 5/16th. We caught a pretty good limit pretty quick and thought we were all that and had a two day pattern. We were in first after the 1st. day. Second day started the same. Nice 5 pounds right off the bat and then we spent the entire rest of the day catching drum. Thump after thump and line run after line run. I believe we still came in 3rd. in a Heartland, but we caught at least 30 drum. I will challenge anyone to be able to tell the difference when they pound a jig.

Bird Watcher please correct me If I'm wrong, but I can find only 3 landlocked populations of freshwater stripers that spawn in the world. 1st. is the Coosa River in Alabama and Georgia, second is Lake Mead on the Arizona Border and the last is Lake Texoma on the Oklahoma Texas border. They were however stocked in all three of these locations. They are andromidus in the fact that they prefer to live in salt and spawn in fresh water. They are an Atlantic sea fish and inhabit the Atlantic shoreline to the greatest extent. When inhabiting fresh water their preferred forages is gizzard and treadfin shad. They will however forage on any prey species they can catch. At times they feed almost exclusive on fresh water crayfish and muscles. This is research from Alabama. They are not naturally occurring in fresh water impoundments.

Great report on the Little Varmint still doing its thing.

Not everyone keeps all the legal walleye they catch. We have turned loose 8 legals this week up to 5 pounds. Just for you walleye guys.

I've had a total of 5 chevy avalanche's since they came out and have never had one back for anything but an oil change. A good client of mine has one that he has put 280.000 miles on and it is still running perfect. He has put brakes and general maintenance on it. Had a tranny rebuild at 200.000 and if you look at it you would think it was new.. My best buddy bought a 2012 dodge like yours and everything on it has went out except the motor. He has had issues with the door locks and windows, the power steering gear, radio and a glitch in the transmission. He said there was a bulletin on that. As soon as he gets it near paid off, it is going away big time. All these vehicles are different, it is nothing more than a crud shoot when ya get one. I just have had tremendous luck with my last 5 trucks and hundreds of thousands of miles towing boats. Good Luck

This oil deal also puzzles me on automobiles. On most all new GM vehicles there is computer that tells you when you need to change your oil. I have had it on my last 3 chevy Avalanche's. All my life I changed my oil at 3000 miles. The tech at the chevy garage said to just change it when the computer tell me to. Now 3 trucks later and over 400,000 miles I have not had one oil related foul up. I just had mine changed on the Avalanche last week and it had been 12,000 since the last change. The mechanic said it was a 1/8 of a quart low and did not look that horrible. This truck has 80,000 miles on it and looks new, smells new and runs and rides like new. I towed thousands of miles with it. My question, what has changed in the last 10 yrs. that we can do this. And after 400 grand of road proof, I'm convinced the computer knows its stuff.

That kind of logic will get you kicked right off this forum. HEEE! HEEE!

They are probably all Packin. My friend went to a conceal and carry class last week and he said the room was completely packed to the gills. 40 plus people.

You would hear no complaints from me at that price. that price looks to be about a 50% discount, To tell you the truth however I have never had any problems with the fixes from any of our locals. Including Dyna and Prop Doc.