Bill Babler

That old Reaper was quite a bit different. It had a flat tail and it did not have any action so to speak. He caught Lake Trout on it in Great Slave Lake and I believe Great Bear at that time they would pretty much hit an unbaited silver hook up there. Yes the bait is a 5.8 If you lay it out and measure it with the boot expanded it is closer to 8 inches. I knocked off the pointed head and put that jig head on it. the jig head is 1.5 inches long so it is a pretty bit bait. Will post some pics of everything I was using when I get my breath caught. Its 4:40 AM and I'm out the door.

And I thought I had a good day today. You just simply smoked me. One tear in my left eye and two in my right. Great report and many thanks.

I have taken Bob Peterson lots of times, he is a pretty good hand. He likes to throw a bait caster and Big-Boy fish and that was the kind of a day it was. We caught them good last year and he reminded me it was two weeks later on Top-Water. He said he never in his life thought he would beat the trip last year, but this deal today was just to the point of unbelievable. He was pictured with a Bass Pro light rain parka and blue jeans. Took him all of about 10 minutes to be in my Cabelas guide gear full rain suit. I am booked full for the next two weeks, and if I ever even get close to today this will be one happy fishing guide. Surface temps at the start of the day were 72. Phil Stone just called and told he caught them good at the dam this afternoon on Ned once the wind died and the sun came out. He said a minute of two ago at the dam the temps were 80. Good LUck

Bo, we had at the minimum a dozen fat female K's that were up to18" that were as clean as if they had just been unwrapped. Fat and full of eggs and crawfish. The LM and the Jaw's were spawned out and gaining back weight and looking great. I have been catching smallmouth on TR that have just looked terrible in comparison to the ones we have caught the last week or so on Bull. Those Bull Shoals fish are thick thru the back and all have full bellies. Today that is what our smallmouth looked like here. You know what I mean, just one of those old nasty Small Jaw days today and it was really on.

Perfect. Little Ned had to stay in the box today. His mom said the weather was to bad for him to go out. Old Mill, how in the heck did you boys lose all those big fish? If you were using a big 6 to 10 inch swimmer I understand. I just hate to lose the rascules that are hard to find once I got a poke at them. Please tell me you were not shoving your rod tips in the water to try and keep them down. Ya did good on that 5 and a halfer though. 6th. Ain't bad.

Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report White River Outfitters Guide Service 6-2-14 Started the day at 0545 with Bob Peterson from Austin Texacus. Pretty much pelting down rain and with the wind the waves were rocking the big Phoenix some, but what was really a Rockin was the big fish. Going to say this was my best Table Rock day of the year for not only numbers, that were just silly, but size. Usually with me, the size does not matter as much as just the sheer catchin. Today we had both. I'm throwing the biggest Swimbait that Keitech makes with a big Piccaso head and a 4/0 hook. Bait is close to 8.5 inches long, and on our first stop, a bluffend that breaks around a flat gravel point. We have shallow gravel with waves and wind howling in on it and the boat is setting in 190 ft. of water. Yes, you read the depth right. How could this be better? On the first cast of the day we both set sail heaving these big swimmers toward the gravel. I told Bob to let it hit the bottom and then pull wind it back to the boat. Told him not to set the hook but let the fish ride the big bait and just sweep back and wind in. This did not happen as the baits that were thrown into 10' of water never got near the bottom before we were both doing battle. Bob's first fish was the biggest K I have had this year, a sow with full belly and full of eggs. She was as clean as a new born. I had a Jaw on that was easy 4 pounds. We had 7 lbs in the boat on the first two tosses. It did not end here with the rain and elements beating us up, it was only the beginning. We fished 6 locations in 6 hrs. and caught 8 to 12 fish off each. Only had 4 short fish all day. It was just toad after toad. We would pull up with the waves pounding in, most times boat was in 20 to 30 ft. except for the bluffend to start, but we could catch 1 or two on the swimmer and then we would put it down and throw the wobblehead. They were just choking it down. I fish every day and could not keep it out of their craws. They were simply inhaling it. We had at least a dozen doubles on keeps, sometimes it would be a jaw and a LM and sometimes it would be two K's. It was just beserk. Our last location, the sun came out and the wind died as I was pulling up to it. We made 3 casts each and did not have a fish, and I told Bob, "they moved." We had been throwing into 6 to 12 ft. and winding it in. Lots of times there were on it before it ever hit the bottom, they were catching it. I told Bob to reel in we are going to reposition. I swung the boat around on this long gravel runnout and put us in 25'. I said throw parallel to the bank, we are going to fish the 20' to 30' range. We made a long throw each to that depth and as soon as the heads hit the bottom, it was on again. I had a 4.5 pound LM and Bob had a great keeper K. We took off the double and we threw back. I snagged a 4 pound Jaw, just a beautiful almost green/black fish and Bob caught a great 3.5 pound LM. Wow, the hits just kept on commin. Our best 5 were 18 to 19 pounds with so many in the 2.5 to 3.5 pound class it was just silly. Fighting wind waves and rain, the camera stayed in my pocket, but you get the picture. The fish today looked as good as they have prior to the spawn and they are gaining weight and coloring up nicely. They were just chucked full of crawfish. My boat is an orange mess. They would jump and just sling crawdads out their mouths everywhere. What a morning on Table Rock Lake.

Plug, we sure did. We had to always also have them jacketed up if we had them cuffed. Might be a bit of an issue here from the family members for not having a cuffed prisoner in a boat without a life jacket on. Gona bet it will be a huge issue. Might get someone fired or for sure there will be a lawsuit. Don't know now about the Hwy Patrol, but it was policy for the water patrol to have any person in custody wearing a pfd. Shoulders are ok at this point.

Great info, thanks for the report. Beck and I will probably get up that way next week. We have 3 days with the same folks and will try and look at some different lake sections. Good to here they are snapping. I just love to fish that area and would more except for the time it takes to get up there.

Are prudent sensible answers excepted here? Regardless RP, take this one to the wife, its a keeper.

On Table Rock, throwing that big bait, lets say from 6 to 10 inches you will get multiple strikes on the bait all day long. Still only hookup or catch 2 to 1/2 dozen fish, but the K's will hammer on it. Yesterday on Bull I had about 8 bites and hooked every fish that touched it. Put 5 in the boat and had two other big fish on for quite a while before they came off. Never did see them, but the bait was cut on the last one and I'm guessing it was a big walleye as I was fishing it on 15 seaguar Had the fish on quite a bit and even had it deep under the boat. Line came back cut completely clean up above the knot on a snipped end so I just believe it had to be an eye. The other 2 that came off, I had one on for about 15 seconds and it was just running sideway and came off and the other one I believe was small as when I pulled back on the loaded rod it came to me and then came off. That is 8 bites in about 9 hrs. I knew I could catch 40 fish on the Ned, but that is not what I wanted to do. I am blessed that I get to be on the lake enough that a bite an hour with the hopes of it being a huge bite is good enough for me. Also something that helped was that the two big LM and one of the big walleye came in the first hour. Pretty much made me think that I was better than I am and I got so full of myself that I could not put the durn thing down. Just about like throwing a dry fly or a buzzbait, only sensible people know when its time to quit. I'm not one of those. Good Luck

If you can do all of the above in a one day time period, you are not yet in the realm of needing any type of professional help. If said job takes 5 to 7 days to accomplish and a conveyer belt lift system had to be installed to your upper story or you have to build a Morton type of building to house your gear you then fall into somewhat of a different category, but you would still be well adjusted . Or maybe she was just suggesting that you needed a young man with stronger legs to help you carry your surplus items up, to save wear and tear on your knees and hips! I have not personally figured where the line would be crossed but I am probably getting close to it. Bill Beck said I have crossed so far over it there is no hope of return and I should probably be put down. He advised my wife to never with any type of a financial advisor with her to enter my tackle shed in fear they both would collapse. Regardless, I believe you are still OK.

You know I have seen formula's for judging wt. by length and here is a great example of why you just cannot do it. Her tail was extremely long and not broomed off abit, but she had bloody sores all over it along with her side from rubbing out the bed and shaking loose the eggs. She was thin thru the flanks but had a very thick back. I don't know if she would have lost 3 pounds during this very stressful spawn period, but I'm thinking at her max potential she would have been pushing at least 8. For as thin and worn as she was, she made 2 huge jumps and it was a chore getting her picture as she fought us all the way. I put her in the Phoenix livewell and ran a ton of water on her before we let her loose and she just came unglued. Great sign, hope she does it again next year. Special fish for a special lady, Karen did a great job today. That's what its all about guys when your wife has a great time like that. Could see here that Larry was as happy as Karen. Almost.

Yep, that was a big freshly spawned out female. 26 inches long. Still think she was a 6 pounder. Can just imagine what she weighed in early April.

Shell Knob, Missouri fishing report White River Outfitters 5-30-14 Met new friends Larry and Karen at the Bridge Ramp at Shell Knob at 0600. Both these folks were ready to fish and it took but a minute for me to figure out it was going to be a fun day. Good gosh, we started on a cloudy breezy morning with no-one else on the lake and could not get a topwater bite. Hit 3 points, and it was pretty clear this was not going to be the deal so off we went with a new plan. I have been casting some for the ladies, but after watching Karen, it was more than obvious that this girl could do her own deal. On her 1st. or second cast, and I'm going to say it was not a thing of beauty, she caught this Table Rock Lake monster on a 3.5" Kietech Fat Black Shad. She had way better cast today, but none with this kind of a result. Way to go gal! Pretty much set the tune for the rest of the morning. Not a ton of fish, and as I recount I come up with 19 total with the one LM keeper, and three SM keeps. We finely did catch a few K's but of the 19 total fish I think we had 5 K's 2 LM and 12 Jaws. I never did put a pattern together except the no top water deal. We caught fish from 4' to 22' on grubs, Ned, C-rigged Fish Dr. Water clarity is about normal for the Knob, probably about 12' surface temps this morning were 74. Ah! another fun day on Beautiful Table Rock lake with some really neat folks from the Sunflower State. Good Luck

Put in at Buck Creek yesterday with a army of other guys. Couple of big Derby's on the lower lake this weekend. Threw a 9.5 inch swim bait all day and caught 5 total fish with 2 LM over 4 pounds and 2 walleye the same size highlighting the day. Had two other just hogs on that I let get away without seeing. My shoulder is tired from winging that big thing, but it gets big bites, just not a lot of them.

Sweet, a very nice mixed bag on the Flicker.

You will need an Arkansas trout fishing stamp to fish up there for the trout.

The big Gizzard Shad will also swim below a fin or a spook. I have also been throwing 6 to 9 inch swimbaits from LongCreek to Campbell point and almost every cast there is a school of 10 to 14 inch Gizzard shad following the swimbait. Got to be dangerous for their health you would think. If you stop it or swirl in in the water they will just swarm around it. In speaking with most of the boys, they are not getting followed by bass with swimbaits, topwater or hooked fish. It is the huge Gizzard Shad that are doing the following. Richey611 is seeing bass, I'll take his word for it. I will see usually one maybe swimming with a hooked fish. If the bait comes in empty most of the time it is just surrounded by the big Shad. If there are multiples swimming with the bait 99% of the time right now it is the Gizzard Shad. Took two guides with 30 plus years of experience from Texas 2 weeks ago. One was a bass guide and the other was a striper guide. Both thought the follows were by bass till I really made them look. Finely the Striper guide said, "Holly Fat, Jim those are Big Gizz's." The bass guide said no-way until you looked close and could see their forked tails. Jim said, "I would have bet my new Ranger they were Spotted Bass following and never batted an eye." Dave said, "there you go Bill you could of had his boat. Then again, he would have welched on ya." Just sayin, look close. If you are not seeing them you are not looking, as they are as big as the bass.

Guys, I'm not saying we are not catching any K's. What I am saying is we are not catching the numbers the last two years and the size is a lot larger than average. I did have a few days I only caught Jaws, but we are used to 30 fish 4 hr. trips this time of the year on K's with a LM and several Jaw's thrown in to boot. Not seeing the numbers of fish under the 11 inch mark. Remember it takes a K 7 yrs. to reach 15 inches, that is how they can judge year class results by the numbers the creel checkers ask of the size we are catching. Also on the followers, be sure that what you think are bass, are bass. For the last month most catches have been followed by Gizzard Shad up to 14". Most of these shad are about 10 to 12 inch and they sure look like bass when 1/2 a dozen are swarming under your hooked fish. All the guides are reporting huge numbers of Gizzard Shad following caught fish, so be sure of what you are looking at. Give them an extra close look. If your not seeing Gizzard Shad swimming under your fish you are not looking. One day last week we had close to 90 bass in a 6 hr. trip and 3/4 of them came in with Big, big shad swimming under them.

Bull kind of reminds me of a Canada lake where for the most part they could give less than a HOOT about the bass fishing. The fishermen that Phil and I did see yesterday were mostly on the flats trolling or bottom bouncing for Eye's, and the other ones were using minnows or throwing small jigs in the bluff cuts for crappie. Only saw one or two other bass boats all day. The boats we did see were walleye boats both Lund and Ranger or just for that matter 16' amum. v bottoms. fishing the cuts for crappie. Regardless there is plenty of space to roam. We never were cut off, we never had a single location we wanted to fish that I thought anyone else had fished today. It was Nervana.

I'm noticing it in the fish that I catch along with the numbers of fishermen I am seeing. I do not fish a single day that I do not catch fish with hook sores in their mouths. Usually at least a dozen fish a day will have been caught previously. Speaks great volumes of our catch and release position on the Rock here as most all of us are returning them to be caught multiple times and they are being caught over and over. Fished yesterday on Bull Shoals with Phil Lilley. By the end of the day we had caught and released well over 50 probably closer to 75 bass and none of them had a hook mark in them. All fat clean and clear. The SM. were much heaver than those on the rock and had a deeper dark green tiger stripe. They were completely full across the backs and for the length much heaver than our fish here. Just a completely different eco-system down there and a different world.

Way to go Mark.

How does he differ from a Buffalo?

Can anyone post a picture of a Quillback?

Bull Shoals Grilled Channel Cat Recipe We were lucky, we had two cats that were the perfect size. I grilled one and will chunk up the fillets of the other to fry tonight with our walleye. Filet the kitty, do not forget the belly meat. I usually cut this chunk off the fry. Immediately wash all the blood from the fillet and soak in salted Ice water usually about an hour till it is snow white. All the yellow and all the blood will vanish, in the salt ice water mix. I cover the grill with foil and bring it up to 325, using some charcoal along to add a bit of wood smoke flavor. We have a fantastic herb garden for the Bed and Breakfast Kitchen, so I robbed sweet basil, lemon thyme, and a small bit of cilantro and chopped them very fine adding fresh ground black pepper. In a small sauce pan I melted 1/2 stick of salted butter and to this I added some slap your mama hot sauce, it is vinegar based. Chopped garlic, Worcestershire sauce and a squeeze of fresh lemon with some grated lemon peel. When the grill came to temperature, I placed the fillets which were just under a pound each on the foil with a table spoon of the butter mixture under them and then poured the mixture over each fillet. I then sprinkled them with Paprika for nice color and sprinkled the herb mixture over each with some sliced scallons. 15 minutes at 325 on the smoky grill and they came out with what my wife and she is picky as Hill said was the best fish she had ever eaten of any kind any place. Good Golly I did something right. Try it and let me know what ya think. Fried walleye and cat fish flank tonight.