Bill Babler

Man what a rough condition for a derby. Spoke to both Beck and Pete Wenners and both said they have never seen the Rock like this. It is without a doubt as tough as a 16 penny nail. Yet!! on another blog here a couple of guys come in on the most dreadful part of this lake and catch 40 fish with a dozen quality keepers in two days. They had the pic's to prove it. Anybody that can catch fish like they just did at the dam are either really lucky or doing something extremely good. I could not on my best day right now duplicate what they did where they were fishing and none of the others guide types are. We are struggling, for not keepers, but just for bites. I have spoken to at least a dozen of the Stren guys, some have not had a keeper all week and some are maybe catching 1 or 2 per day. None after 8 AM. Of course someone will for sure have a big bag. What are your guesses for the first two days that they all can fish. Pete says he thinks 10 pounds a day will let you fish on Saturday. What's your guesses. I still think there is a cedar bite, but have been told it has vanished with the cool nights and the water clearing rapidly. I'm going to say the first day leader will have 17 pounds and the two day total will be 25 pounds. I did however over guess the Shell Knob derby of last weekend by 3 pounds, so I might be very hopeful. Let us know what you think.

Excellent report. You guys would probably have won any of the 3 derby's the rock had this last weekend. It was very slow. You outdid, 99% of the guides that fish here everyday and had the pic's to prove it. None of us are getting bit on a jig period. Great Job. Question, I have lived here most of my adult life and Guided here for 20 Plus years. For the life of me I have never heard of Cedar Cove. If that a name you gave it or whats up with that. I asked 10 other guides where Cedar Cove was at the dam and no one had heard of it. Lots of Cedars in lots of Coves, but no one knew of a cove named Cedar. There is of course Cedar Creek up past Shell KNob, but that is not where I think you ment. Great trip and fantastic Post.

James, it is a terrible president we set in this country. Yes, we want your money. Yes, we want you to do this or that for us. After you do it and after the fact, we don't need you or care anymore. It is just all about me or us. That event, could be much better and make them a bunch more money with just a few little tweeks. Don't get me wrong, it is a fantastic derby and I just love to fish it if I can, but it has come to the point that it needs just a pinch or pull here or there to make it better. On another note, it would be great if folks working at the chamber would take time to know something about the community and what is going on over there. I know for the most part they dontate there time and energy, and I appreciate that, but as the Monday Night Football Crews says: "Come on Man." Good Luck

Right at 14 pounds pretty poor showing. They did have a couple of 6 pounders or there abouts weighed. I thought on 6 fish, it would at least take 16 or 17 pounds. Just had a terrible time finding out. Talked to people at the Chamber that didn't even know they had a derby this weekend and know nothing about fishing. Had to get the answer from the President of the Chamber. You would think their biggest fund raiser might have a little more interest from their own people.

CB, thanks. I am going to leave that question to the big boys that throw that blade year about. I am but a novice and know enough to generally get me in trouble with it. I'm much better off with another type of fish ketcher in my hands. I don't however on the Rock fish it with a chunk or trailer. I do use a trailer hook. On Lake O, Grand or any of the colored up ponds, I do fish the bait bigger with the wiggler on the back. Lots of the guys on this forum fish that blade year round here and I hope they will give us the scoop. Good Luck

Amen!!!

Be interesting to see what it takes today in the Homer Sloan Derby out of the Knob. Probably going to take 17 plus pounds, so they are out there. This is a really fun derby for a good cause and I hate to miss it, but I'm just covered up with guide work. If the Fann boys are in it, my money is on them. Since the jig bite is somewhat off, you never know. Couple of big topwater spook bites and you got your trophy. If I were fishing today I would fish for 5 or 6 good bites in the 8 hours.

Dave, we are throwing the Mouse and the Silver Shiner, I don't belive it makes a flip, but C188 might tell me I'm wrong. Look at the ends of stuff in those areas and the transitions. Seems they are holding where structures of different sizes and configurations meet. Gravel to rock or Rock to Ledge, reguardless of the steepness of the bank. There seems to be multiple fish in a location if you get one to nip, keep chunkin as they seem to be running in pairs and tripplets. I don't belive you will get rich tomorrow as it is going to be as high blue as can be. Look for the wind if you came, you pretty much have to have it. As far as area. You will pretty much have way more help than you want. Several derby's out. As you know KC to Aunts is pretty hot, and you will work pretty hard to get bit. Look for places that you can only work a very small section of the bank.. Maybe only 50 feet or so. Someplace that a lot of people don't want to stop at for two or three throws. Might be the best tosses of the day. Bigger longer stretches of bank are getting farmed pretty hard. I'm on Taney, for the next 4 days, so I'm out if it. If you can catch 10 fish with 2 or 3 keeps, that is a good day. Keep that in mind. September and early October are the complete hardest times on Table Rock. Good Luck

Man, things cooled down this morning. Had to put on my Hoody. Surface temps at Mill Creek at 6:30 AM were at 68. Just threw down the troller and had the folks flinging the spook and the fin up close. 3 youngsters before I thought I could do bigger and better elsewhere. Kind of had a SMJ theme that Ken was wanting to work and I tried, but my gosh it was bright and blue and those jaws just ain't havin that kind of weather on falling surface temps. Big Mouth Bass was a playin a little as on our next stop, Margerat got her fin molested by a very nice 4 pounder. The bass hit the bait about 15 ft. off the side of the boat and just about made my coffee come back up. She said she didn't know weather to jerk, keep reeling or throw the rod down and run to the far side of the boat. I just about screamed like a school girl. I mean it was a Hammer Job. She did get it caught, but the fish played a major role. Checked out a couple of more SM locations and connected with a big zip and then started in on the bluffends. First stop, Ken on back to back to back tosses with the War Eagle 3/8th. mouse caught 3 nice keeper Blacks. Not big, but 16's and one 17. Kind of went like that most of the morning, with really lots of fish on a multitude of baits, including the head I've been throwing. Tossing it on 8 pound Maxi. using the 1/4 oz Chompers with a 4 inch green pumpkin pepper senko. Up late in the moring things got to slowing down and all of a sudden we had a pretty good blowup all around us. Caught 6 on a series 5, 4 on the blade, 1 on the fin, and about a 1/2 dozen jerking the War Eagle 1/2 white spoon. Most were absolutely 1st. graders but I did catch the Superintendent she was a very nice 4.5 pound LM. I was jerking the spoon, and tried to hand her off, but my folks said for me to wind her in so I did. 7 Keeps by every method in the Sun. All LM. About 30 fish but most were still suckling. Only 3 SMJ's and they to were very inexperenced. Wonderful folks and a bout as pretty a Fall morning as you will see. Great to be a fishing guide on Table Rock Lake Good Luck

John, just sold my 09 Champion to Ed. Franko from Lake of the Ozarks purchased it and immediatly upgraded the electronics with side and down scan and two new HD7's and linked them. Also have to have a central antenna for the link to work. I will tell you now, you will not come close to 2 grand. Better think well over 3 by the time all is said and done with the 7's. If you go to the HD8 you are looking at 5 grand Plus. Here is Ed's number, give him a call. I know he is playing with it everyday. 573-692-6710 Just put in a call to the lowrance guy about linking the 5 to a 7 or an 8 and YES you can. All you would need it the cable. Probably would want to go with the central antenna however. If you keep your 5 and do not upgrade to two units, you can do it for under the 2 G. figure you were thinking. If you decide you want to do it, email me and I can probably offer some pricing and installation thoughts. I would for sure speak to Ed and see how he is liking his. I know for fishing Lake O. It would be fantastic to look under all those docks, and I think he is. Good Luck

That is a very simple operation. Give both Ulrichs and Hydra Tech a call and compare. Ask about the time frame for the repairs and the repair warranty. You will be very happy with either. Ulrich Marine Branson West, Mo. 417-272-1841 Hydra Tech Service Center-Regional Yamaha Service Center Nixa, Mo. 417-725-5746 Good Luck

Snake is right. You can clearly see the trees, branches and the fish. But the line going to the spoon or the dropshot is not how the DI works. You can however put in on i have the graph on one side and the DI and the GPS on the other screen. On my HD8. Kind of cool watching it all. Most times just the Map and the finder. Good Luck

Fred is great, and I love them too death over there, but we do have the largest Yamaha service center in the mid-west here in Nixa. Hydra Tech does Yamaha and only yamaha period. Unbelieveable shop loaded with gear and folks that know how to use it. Reasonable Price and extreme quality service, on your Rice Burner. Took mine there for years. All my Merc. stuff goes to Ulrich. Without a doubt take your Mercury to Fred and Janet, we are very lucky to have such a great local repair faculity. They really care about us locals. Being objective, both places are hard to beat. Good Luck

Fished today with Garry and Kelly Miller from Belton. Great Friends and Clients for over 15 years. Dumped the tub in at Viney Creek this morning to a very nice yet high sky at 7 AM. Several locals and quite a few trespassers with sign board boats fishing fast and chasing hard. Went looking right off the bat for some eagar ones to chase our topwater junk and found them on our 1st. stop. Big Cedar covered point at a cove mouth of the same name. Probably 15 fish on this location with 1 skinny keeper LM. Some on top, a few on a spoon, and the rest on a yamamoto cuttail. Lots of fish but extrememly young. Water color is a bit off up there and the surface temps are the warmest I have seen in a week, reading 74 degree on the Lowrance HD8. Both units using seperate transducers are reading the same, so I guess that is what it was. Followed the chasing fish till well after 10 AM working most all the timbered points on both side of the lake going downstream toward Shell Knob. Yellow Magic and the Super Spook Jr. were the best for us but very slow on Keeps. Lots of fun fish and Kelly had a blast winding in these 13 inch K's that just slammed her chugger, but I was looking for bigger. Didn't find it will we started dropshotting our way back up stream. Most fish coming on the shot were at 35' and all came on the Yamamoto cuttail. 3 more very nice keeper K's and about a dozen other down fish. Total for the morning was probably close to 50 fish, but the quality was extremely poor, with only the 4 keeps. Did not work any trees, just to hard to make it pay unless the conditons are right. All in all a great morning with super frineds on a wonderful and wild section of Table Rock Lake Good Luck

Guy at one of the bait shops up there recommended bone, I frankly I don't believe it makes a flip. What ever catches your eye will probably catch theirs. Good Luck

I would look on the Osage. Round the point past the No Wake Summer Bouys going up the Osage. Most all the wind blown rock points on your left were covered with them this past week. Wrench had the correct baits but I would for sure throw a roadrunner in 1/8th. and a Pop R. Don't need to see them surfacing, they are there. They are also all around the island just up stream from Tan Tara. Good Luck

Extreme ammount of help this weekend on the Rock. With two wonderful days of warm temps and clouds on and off with a rain drop or two, the fishermen were really after them. Water temps at 70 degree and just abit cloudy to off color. Topwater bite on the upper white river section, still seems to be the deal, early and late. Lots of youngsters being caught chasing shad about the size of a crappie jig. Wonder what they would really bite???? Dam area report is sketchy. Pretty much got to be a fisherman right now to get any kind of a respectable set of fish. Lots of casts out there between nips. Without a doubt the shakey head is by far the best bet for what I have seen. Fish this bait up pretty close out to about 20' on stair-step or chunk rock 45 degree banks. Goes without saying wind will make all the difference. Several threads about the food you place on the head already out there. Just think 4 inch and natural and you got it. Blade bite is on one minute and off the next at the dam. If you get some wind and cloud cover, you can get a bite or three. On flat water, not so much. Lots of blade and crankbait fish have been in the ends of the steeper pockets on the channel banks, or the last deep cut in the backs of the pockets. Very hit and miss and you can also fish this area with the head. Jig bite has been slow. I have been throwing it just to keep out of the way of my clients and they have totally smoked me with the head. Mid-Lake section, from Kimberling City to Campbell Point has been I'm going to say fair to good. Lots and Lots of fishermen in this area, and on weekends its hard to find a place to light your spook. I can catch a nice bag in the 15 to 18 pound range if I take my time. Cannot do it with the clients, I'm very sorry to say. Can catch a several fish per location on a dropshot with some nice walleye showing up at Baxter. These eyes have been under 20' and one of my guides even had a limit of K's at 15 ft. on the drop shot. Also some very nice K's being caught up there on a drop shot. Eric Olliverson had a great day Friday with 16 fish and a very nice 6 pounder on a fin, fishing timber. Buster caught them good Saturday on the sammy, same type of locations. and most of the other guides helping us also had fish on the dropshot. Back to my statement about me being able to catch a good bag. I have right at 140 cedar tops in my GPS system. If I can line up perfectly and work the bait just right I can catch one for about every 10 trees I fish. Full size spook for me has been best. The big 3 hooker. Of these 140 cedars, I have caught fish out of everyone of them for them to be marked. Not everyone always has a fish. Not everyone gets fished correctly. Fishing cedars is a complete art. I fish everyday and I will mess up about 30% of the time and ruin the tree for the morning. You have to get it right. Champ 188 is probably one of the best we have on this board, it is his deal and he has worked at it over the years. Will guarantee you he still will mess up a good precentage of them. You get it right however and you get a good old goodin. Fishing cedars is kind of like fishing docks. Hit the angles and the shady. Know how far the limbs reach. Beaware of the wind and take your time with boat position. Not to close but get the correct angle to work your bait correctly through the top of the tree. Take a chill pill. Fish the bait from past the tree, thru the tree and then beyond. "Be the Bait." Fish it as realistic as you can. When you leave that tree make a note what you wish you would have done to have fished it better. There are some big ones in the trees right now, but getting them out is Mano-e-Mano You against the fish. Tip!! Fish will win most of the time. Good Luck

The number of fish per acre and the ammount of bites you get on Lake O vs the Rock are unbelieveable. Lake O. just blows us away. It would be a piece of cake right now to guide on Lake O. Loads of bites. Not keeper bites, but just catching lots of fish. Folks just like to get bit. On any wind the white bass bite from the Glaze to the Green Bridge is off the charts. Any wind blown bank around Tan Tara will get you bit on a Roadrunner. If you get tired of that, just start throwing a shaky head with a slim sinko or a baby brushhog on it and you will have a blast. I can for sure catch more keepers on Table Rock, but not near the ammount of fish. Even when we are dropshot fishing deep for K's it is not as good as the shallow LM bite on Lake O. for 12 to 16 inch LM. Lake O always has the possibility of a big bully also. Pretty much everyday, you will get a good "Ole Goodin, a 5 pounder or better." Spoke to some boys at one of the ramps we launched on. They had been Kitty fishing for Blue Cat. Catching 100+ pounds per day, everyday they fished. We just don't have that. I still would not trade. Much better weather in SW Missouri, Northern Arkansas and a lot less boat traffic. Good Luck

Topwater bite was reported in the dam area, to be wonderful this morn. Denny started late and still had a limit on topwater, with I believe a 4 plus pound jaw. Believe the blade bite was better on the windy banks however than the topwater stuff. Lots or fish reported on a 3/8th. and 1/2 oz Wareagle in Mouse. Good Luck

Without a doubt the number one soft plastic being used on a head is a watermellon candy cenipede. It is a small bait and just drives them crazy. Number two is probably either a slim sinko or a regular sinko in green pumpkin pepper. Chompers also has a great worm in the PBJ Lamb shaky head worm. All of these baits are 4 inch except the Chomper. its 5 inch. You can head in 30 ft. but there are better ways to skin a cat that deep. If you must you can move to a 5/16th. oz head. Used it this week on Lake of the Ozarks with a slim sinko to fish it on a baitcaster with 10 pound test. just slayed fish. Not a hugh number of keeps, but loads of fish. Also used a Baby Brushog on the head with great results. Good Luck

Sounds like a fantastic derby. I would for sure fish it, but this is a corporate weekend for us guide types. I believe Denny and his son are fishing it I believe.

Finished 14th. out of I believe 52 boats. 14.34 pounds with a 5 pounder and a 4 pounder. Had 3 swimmers. Caught over 40 fish.

L.W. what did it take to win. Had to have 20+ in the lower lake stuff, to win. Upper 16's to get paid. Thanks