Bill Babler

Poor writing style got me here. What I was trying to say is that there are more people than ever with disposable income. Now at a much younger age than we ever were. Through educations and just the times we live in they have the capibility to do as they please. For most of us growing up in the 70's and 80's in our 20's and 30's money was always an issue. Right now for lots of young folks it is not. They have it to buy boats come stay at our lodge and fish in the middle of the week. Also never said these young folks don't work long hours and work hard for their chips. I know my son does. As for a hundred and fifty G's not being that much. This ole fishin guide and his retired school teacher wife have never sniffed that kind of rareafied air. Don't be grudge any of them, Just puts a lot more folks on the locations I want to fish. They are welcome to be here, I don't own the lake, except for one small bluffend up at Shell Knob.

Misread your post. You said 3 days. Still ain't gonna happen. 20 per day for 3 is unreal for 10 fishermen. I will eat my words if I have to, but i won't have to.

Fin, I'm with ya buddy. 26.5 pounds per day on TR. Not gona happen. The last couple of days that A-Rig has been as useless as teets on a boar hog. If they get your 38 on two days with the shape this pond is in, it would be Vandam-esk. I fish everyday, and really don't know squat, and there is no way I catch 40 pounds in two days. At the rate I'm goin, I might have 20. If I get really lucky.

Thanks Johnm You know this old America we live in is so different for so many people. Most of us work hard for our money and try the best we can just to keep it headed up hill. It is hard for us to see others that maybe, with a bit more education and being in the right place at the right time have and I grant you with hard work moved a step above the rest. We all see the struggles on the news, but being in the business I'm in, I see the good. There are lots of fine folks and I mean lots that only count money as a way to keep score on how they are doing. There are others that make so much they don't need to keep score. Used to we thought they were Doctors or Lawyers. Now you just don't know. One of our Alaska friend a young man sold an internet idea he thought of and has houses worth hundreds of thousands in multiple states. He is under 40. All paid for in cash. We used to think, that guy is 50 Plus and he has worked hard and has some money. Now we see people under 30 with that kind of savings and income to increase it. The Professional job market in America is a place with the right education you can be pretty much self sufficent in your 20's. Just hope they are all not Bass Fishermen.

I'm going to say that guy is a complete IDIOT. Top 10 will be under 30 if I am reading the lake correct. It has gotten so hard it is unbelieveable. Maybe some flip in the bushes, but this lake is dropping 4 in. a day and is muddy as all getout. Table Rock fish do not like mud, even in the James and Kings. Would like to see how that windbag fairs. Be very suprised if anyone is over 36 on the second day. Way to much prussure and way to poor of condition. Hope I'm wrong, but we'll see.

Flip, I feel your pain. This time of the year we are just flat gona get it. You know, it seems to me that the best time to fish Table Rock is when they are not biting. This derby deal has flat gotten out of hand on this pond. Billy B. told me today he was cut of so many times yesterday he was ready to put it on the trailer. The spaceage equipment we have today has put this swamp in reach of everyone from any launching location on the lake. Gas at 4 bucks a gal. "Means Nothing." My son likes to fish but is not a derby guy. He gets 4 wks. vacation a year, and is 28 years old. He makes in the neighborhood of $150,000.00 a year. There are 400 engineers in his office making about the same money and more and 4000 more of the same in KC. If they want to buy a $70,000.00 boat or spend $250.00 a day for gas, do you think they care? That is where and how we live now. There have been hard times for some, but the professional fields such as engineers, medical and some upper end sales people are still doing well and have been. It is hard for us to realize that there are millions of Americans under 40 living in 1/2 and up Million dollar homes with the financial ability to fish for a month a year and not think a thing about it. Some are completely debt free. We are seeing it now. Sorry to say, but I think we will have to get used to it.

Really apoligize for not supporting Bass Pro on this forum, but this is my lifes business. I am in and around professional fishermen, novice fishmen and just plain ole folks in general. People that are not in the fishing or lodging business and just want good products. They for the most part know no difference between what any type of gear is simply glitzy sells. Honesty is very important. Boats and Trailers need not to fall apart. Baits need to not break apart, rods and reels need to be compairable to other similar priced equipment. You need to get the best quality that your budget can afford, and have it be what you hoped it would be. Our lake area enviornment need to have peace and sirenity, and again be what you wanted it to be, not a constant and ever lasting construction zone. Just to many dissapointments over 20 plus years, and a lot of stories. Good Luck and enjoy your shopping experence where ever it may be.

865 W. Enterprise Lane, Nixa, Mo. 417-725-3046. All these posts are very good. Keep one thing in mind and Capt. Joe pointed this out. If that motor is still under warranty you had best go to an authorized service center. As soon as it is not or if it is not then you have options. Fred and his staff are great. Any unit I have weather it be a lawnmower, my chevy Avalanche, or my boat motor, while under warranty only authorized service centers touch it. Something goes wrong, your fault, his fault, anyones fault. Does not matter, if that motor was touched by anyone outside the service centers, you will be in deep Kimchi. And they will hold it against you, big time.

Good Golly and Jeepers Creeper, the Rock has gone to Heck in a Handbasket. Guided my beloved Shell Knob this morning with great guy Dan, staying a Big Creek Resort. Dumped the tub in the swamp at 6:30 and pretty much should have kept it on the trailer. Water in the Big Creek to Baxter Area, slightly dingy with floating debris in the way of leaves and very small pesky debris. Surface temp at 62 degree and lake level at 918.6. Lake surface was as flat as a cast iron griddle and the flags hung as limp as a. Well they were pretty limp and there was not a speck of breeze. I'm sure Dan thought I was a mad man cause I ran and hunted chasers and breeze most of the morning. Started in a timbered pocket after seeing a boil or two. I had 3 on a fin with 1 nice keeper and Dan had 3 on a fin. They self released before we could get a mitt on them, so don't know about size. Threw a grub and only caught one short here after they gave the fin up, and then we went to a split shot. Caught a nice keeper K in the same pocket. Blew out of Big Creek and saw a ripple of wind on a 45 degree bank. Wheeled the buggy on to the slight choppy bank and we both started flinging the cage. I caught a 14.5 inch K here and the little breeze there was blew out. Moved up toward Shell Knob, and hit pretty muddy water, just past Basin Hollow. Pulled into Mill Creek and caught another K on the Split shot and off we went again checking some cuts back toward Big Creek. Dan caught a short K on the split shot in one of the cuts. Moved clear up to Baxter and took a number to fish. There was a pay station you had to leave money and get a number to fish any of the banks in the Baxter Indian creek area. Just jammed with wrapped boats. Reguradless Dan picked up 1 Goggle Eye, my first of the year, and a Meanmouth and a nice Keeper Jaw, all swimming the grub. Moved into the creek, and I caught a short on a grub and then fishing a very nice bluffend caught a big fat K that was just short, but it fought like a tiger. Probably more like a JayHawk as it put up a fight. "Gosh that hurt to say." That was pretty much our morning, but from I hear tell from the boys, it might have been steller. I thought it was hard but really enjoyed Dan's company. Hope he enjoys the rest of his week. Good Luck out there.

Most all the major companies have warranties beyond what you think you have. You can always check with them and will pretty much be amazed how often a replacement is immediatly headed your way. As I stated most really don't care how you broke it. Temple Fork for one is outstanding. 25 bucks and you got a new one. Their fault, your fault does not matter. Their return policy leads the industry. If you cannot get one over the counter it never takes longer than a couple of days. Orvis is even better. No charge and they pay shipping. Usually takes a couple of weeks. Fault is not an issue, it broke you get a new one. Falcon is pretty much you pay shipping and you got a new rod. 99.9 percent of warranties come from the manufactor not the seller or the retailer. BP uses Pfluger as their builder. Pfluger knows it will have rods and reels returned and in turn builds that into the wholesale price they sell the equipment to BP for. When something goes wrong, it goes back to the builder. Reguardless of who the retailer is the equipment is not warrantied by them, for the most part. The last part usually means that equipment that is very low cost sometimes does not have a either extended or partial warranty. In those cases the retailer can either choose to add a percentage to what he or she charges for the rod on each rod to cover returns. There are also lots of retailers adding an extended warranty or a insurance policy that you can purchase over the counter on most rods you purchase. BP and Cabalas both offer this type of extended warranty. Before you purchase this however you need to know what the rod company its self offers, to avoid a duplicate. The extended warranty is really not that but a warranty that starts from the day you leave the retailer with the rod. This warranty will cost a percentage of the purchase price of the rod. Reguradless who you purchase the rod from, do some research before you make the buy and see what the manufactor has to offer. Walking down the isle and shaking a rod is fun, but not the way to purchase top flight fishing equipment. Most all the major retailers and chains love impulse buyers. Have an idea before you leave home and it will be hard to be unhappy with your purchase. The internet has completely put this on the consumer, all the information is there for us to browse. Good Luck

Yes I said they do a very nice job on letting you return factory warranted broken merchandise. Other than that, if I find the slightest thing, I'll immediatly post it. If at all possible I buy local.

Here this is one of their products, not a brand name. People think for some reason you have to have a reason why the breakage happend to receive new product. Nothing could be further from the truth. Broken is broken, they really never will know how you did it, and for the most part don't care, unless they are trying to fix a structural defect. I have taken product back broken and new in the box, or loose stuff, that I just didn't want, with no reciept or any papers of any kind. They are very good about trading it out for other product and giving you the purchase price of your trade in on credit to the new product you are wanting to buy. But, they are no better than our locals.

Very good report. Ya for me much the same. Fished the exact locations and teniques that Buster incarcerated his big bag on last week, with a really good hand and caught 7 midgets. One day Beck will hammer them and the next he is applying for the greeter job at Walmart. Do not for a minute believe we have spawned out fish. Just not time. I was a very few beds before the rise and it looked just like a buck or two was a wishin. We now have falling water to contend with, but its time for them to bite. Blue Bird is hard,we need those old cloudy days. Thanks for the info.

On any replacement, reciept or not, they will usually take care of you. I am wondering though if you had not pointed out the over the counter replacement tag if they would have. Don't believe it was so much good service. I believe your due dilligence in pointing out what you knew was right, got the response you wanted. You could have bought the rod at any of our local tackle stores and probably they would have already known about the Shimano warranty. BP really had nothing to do with it. Shimano is giving you the new one. Just Sayin. On another point the cost of the rod is for sure not a guarantee against breakage. As a matter of fact the more you spend in certain situations the more you are lible to have a breakage problem. As these top end rods increasing the molecture graphite components to add sensitivity to the rod, it can and often does make them more fragile. G. Loomis which is now Shimano makes some of the most sensitive graphite rods ever created. They also are the breakest. I have had more Loomis rods popped in my boat in 20 plus years of guiding than all others combined. I have had more clients break G. Loomis fly rods than all others combined. Most times just fishing the rod. Sensitivity and durability do not go hand in hand. A lot of times rods break because of past history, not what you are doing with it currently. You step on it or bang it in the boat, it may look fine and may fish fine for a few trips and then you make a cast and the tip breaks. You think MAN that rod should not have done that. That cast had nothing to do with it. Your rod was broke way back when it was stepped on or bumped it. Past History. Another point is overloading the tip. You fish a rod with a line or lure weight larger than it is designed for and you will get in trouble. If you cast a weighted bait say a spook or a heavy crank bait and you cast it on a very short string and load the tip for a big cast and you will have a problem. Just not designed for that unless it is a ugly stick. You fish a carolina rig and let that big sinker bang on your rod day after day and you got a problem. As I said most times it is not what you are doing, but what you have done. Good Luck

Glad you joined the club.

Guys, if we are talking about this time of the year, with 50 degree water, no matter how he is running his pumps it should not matter. There could be a couple of things at play here. The first for sure if it is a new boat, I would clean the heck out of the livewell and just smell it and see if you smell any type of petro. product or any type of a glue smell. You for sure don't need to Ice fish in 50 degree water. Trout are a fragile as they come and I can have 16 on board and just fill the wells and run my circulator on a 5 minute off and 1 minute on and never have a problem. On the bass now, if we are holding some for either a derby or just to take pic's I am only running the same pattern and there should not be a problem. Here is a thought. I wonder if the livewells are self draining between locations. As you are going from fishing hole to hole I wonder if your livewells are drying up and then refilling when you stop. This is a huge probibility, along with maybe a chemical reaction from the New Boat. With the 50 degree water and only a few bass in each side, I'm kind of with Wrench, they don't need that much, but they for sure cannot live if the well is going dry between locations. Good Luck and let us know what it was and how you fixed it.

My reply, was more of a question, than a comment. I'm 56 yrs. old and have guided and fished Bull and Table Rock since the early 70's. I just have never see a school of Largemouth Bass 80ft. long with over 400 head swimming around. Just have never or know of no one that ever had until your post. I have however on 100's of times seen gizzard shad this time of the year swimming in the exact schools with such numbers so I of course presume from what I know and my experence that perhaps you mistook what you saw. My apology. If Rangerman and Pierce are also seeing schools of hundreds and hundreds of Bass, I guess I just have not had that pleasure yet. I will continue to look. People are not calling you a liar or even being critical, they are just stating what they know thru their lives and what they have seen and are seeing now. No one has seen schools that I know of of 100's upon 100's of bass in March. They are just giving as I did an alternate veiw. Everyone was very respectful. When you put something like that on a public forum, you are going to get some attention. Thanks for your reports.

Hope they were. When you mention lakes, with those kinds of numbers that would not be plural. That would be only what you saw on Bull. Table Rock has nothing that would be even near that figure. I just looked back a few years, looking at derby results on the Rock, and yes in the past couple of months we have seen some very big stringers of fish, but total fished weighed in and total weights are not dramatically larger than 3-4-5-6 yrs. past for the same time frame. Yes the top end catches and the extrodinarly big bag or two are larger, but not the total tournament weight. 90 percent of the Federal Captains that guide here on Table Rock are not catching more juvinile LM-K's or Jaw's than we were. Just about the same. Only difference if you can get on the right deal with the A-Rig you can get a big bag. Floatin Fly last year produced some huge bags and huge fish. They just had not delt with it. Same I believe with the Rig. Hope we are onto something that would be great. Glad Bull is Producing like that, but that is far from the case here on Table Rock.

Thanks for the great post and pic's. Very nice fish. Were you getting that Blue Gill Spinnerbait around any Cedar or pole timber. Bet they thought it might have been a tasty Gill. That far back in those ledgy pockets, they have to be thinking about making babies. It is not as easy as everyone thinks. Each day is really different. It can also be very hard. Great job.

Current Table Rock Lake Level is 915.4 and the James I am told is going to crest later tonight. Don't see any problem except some colored up water in the Jamens, Kings, and Long Creek. Reported at 6:40 PM They are currently running 4 units on Taney and 2 on Beaver. Taney was reported as muddy today, but with 4 running all night, I think it will be good at the dam tomorrow. MIght be on white. Hope it stops, I have two trips on Taney tomorrow.

The lake is still only 915 and a half so the gates are not open. Bass do not move up when the gates open, they come over the top thru the gates from Table Rock. That is why there is usually a panfish explosion for a few weeks after the gates open. Usually some Spoonbill, walleye, smallmouth, kentucky, bluegill, and some white bass. Usually does not take long for folks to catch them out. Lenord is usually after them. Yes depending on how much water they are running the fishing can still be quite good with the gates open. Something in our favor this year is the Missouri and the Mississippi are not high due to snow melt. Pretty much a warm winter everywhere and I don't believe there is going to be a problem. Lots of protection along the entire White River Chain. Come go fishin.

Not Seeing any 400 fish schools of LMB swimming around Table Rock. I'll keep a lookout, should not be hard to miss. Sounds more like Gizzard Shad to me. Gizzards grow in both Table Rock and Bull Shoals to lengths exceeding 12 inches and travel in large schools this time of the year. They are group spawners and will really congregate when the water gets into the 50's low 60's Largemouth this time of the year more tend to seperate than congregate, as they leave their Winter patterns. Numererious fish can be seen patroling spawning pockets and on the top of the water column, but they are usually in 1's and 2's. These Shad can even fool folks that look at bass all the time with their dark tails and heads and silver midsections. Not saying its not possible to see a school of 400 PLus LM, BUT. I know its getting good, But YIKES!!

Fantastic Report and Super set of Crappie. Wonderful day, you all did REAL GOOD.

Ya,Great Point. I could not find the 29 lbs. on a CP, but Jerry McCuchen and Sonny Chapin caught 5 close to 28 in a Red Man in the late 90's along with Rick, priior to the fish kill. Nothing that big since. Rick caught his big bag at Baxter on a Norman Flake custom painted sticker by Tim Hughes, and Sonny and Jerry swam a grub in deep trees on channel swings, for their monsters. Buster pretty much did the same yesterday as Sonny and Jerry, only he was throwing a school of grubs. Good Luck These fish really started to big up last year. Both myself and Beck had fish over 9 pounds. I had my personal best at 9.6 pounds. We had 70 fish over 5 pounds last year. The A-Rig is for sure catching bigger fish however. Last year the majority of our big fish came on a bit smaller bait.

Long Time Table Rock Lake Guide Buster Loving and his Co-Angler Partner Greg Dishman, Seign the Rock for a CPA Derby winning limit of 5 bass weighing 28.6 pounds. Earlier this season we have seen six fish limits up to 31 pounds, but this is perhaps the biggest 5 fish limit the Rock has seen in the modern bass fishing era. This unbelieveable stringer was anchored by a complete Monster 9.17 pound LM. That means the other 4 keeps were ONLY 5 POUNDERS. Reality really struck when it was announced it was the second big bass. If that is not a kick in and around the knee cap I have never heard of one. A 9.35 pounder was also weighed in with another over 9 pounds. I believe there were also 6 more over 8. I'm Giddy. Second place was a 5 fish limit of 25 pounds and then it went to 22 pounds. All the big bags came on the A-Rig. For the winning bag, Loving and Dishman fished a deep transition timbered bank leading into a spawning pocket. Buster reported they had between 20 and 22 keepers in a morning bite and culled 4 pound fish on a routine basis. In the Limit were 2 magnificent Jaws, both pushing the 5 pound mark. Scott Pauley Long time professional angler reported close to 50 keeper bass in the 3 days he fished the Rock. All coming off transitons leading into spawning pockets, All Scotts fish came on a Wart in under 10 ft. of water. Buster and his 9.17 pound Table Rock Lake LM Bass Way to go boys.