Bill Babler

Excellent advice on driving and fishing our early and late conditions. The main problem we have under any type of adverse condition or for that matter, just being on the lake, is folks driving up the wrong side of the lake. For gosh sakes keep to the right. You may not be able to go completely to the bank, but be on the right hand side of the boating lane. Early and late it is always a good idea to also display your running and stern lights. From B Creek to Cooper, the lake right now is simply full of stocker trout. It is taking most folks about an hour to catch a limit on powerbait. If you wish to challange yourself further they are also taking a spoon and of course Phil's olive or sculpin 1/8th. to 1/4 oz. jig. Try dropping the spoon directly under the boat and then just bounding it on the bottom. Don't let it drag, or it will catch up. Same deal with the jig. I have been goofing with this while my folks have been dragging and have caught bigger fish than the power bait. You will however catch 20 to one on the bait. If you don't care about a ton of bites, but would like better fish, there you go. Restricted Zone is still on fire. This for the most part is due to the off color water and the abundance of bait fish in the Zone. Fish are still spitting shad and loads of sculpin and scuds. Had a guy catch a Sculpin on a jig there Saturday. Right in the mouth. That is a first for me, to catch a Sculpin on a Sculpin jig while drift fishing. I have caught them on a crawler but never on a jig. On 4 generators drift the small crankbaits on either 6 or 8 pound line with a 3/8th. oz. weight. You will lose some but the risk reward is worth a buck or two. On less generation use the size 8 white woolly bugger. Don't need to tie it fancy, with hackle just bright white chenielle, and a marabou tail. I'm dragging it on 6 with a 1/4 oz weight and am catching 30 to 50 a trip in the restricted zone. Lots of 16 plus inch fish and one day last week, 4 over 20" the same day. When fishing the restricted zone on anything less that 4 turbines, be careful. Things are not as they used to be. Crowd the left bank going up as the flat above Fall Creek, is now extended to severly restrict the channel. Fishing is great, come on down and get ya some.

No Patrick, the Landing would not be considered the Lower End. You can launch at the Branson Ramp next to Scotty's and If it were me I would head up steam with the 4 Hp. On 4 turbines of generation, I would not want to be below the boat ramp. I'm sure you would be ok, but the little 4 would have to work to get you home. If you are above the ramp with a low flow in the mornings you can simply float downstream to the ramp when they kick on the juice. Fishing has been excellent between Cooper Creek and Branson. Lots of stocked fish in that area. Good Luck

"WOW." That is my buddy, slinging that dry under those branches. What a great piece of video. Where else you gonna find stuff like that? Like the comment from the camera girl, also asking for the take. You talk about High Risk, Big Reward, that is what he was doing. I take 5 out of 100 fly fishermen, that can do that kind of percission casting at best. Including ME!. Watch the tenique and positioning of his rod during the presentations. Watch the hurry up and stop method of stretching the leader to make the presentation roll over under the limbs and drop perfectly next to the bank. I'm tell you guys, It Ain't as easy as what you are seeing. This is an extremely experenced Master fly fisherman. Even after the presentation, he is allined to make a very perfect short drift with the fly. Remember also, he is running the boat and controling the drift of the fly from a moving platform while making this type of presentation. You want to pull your last 3 hairs out, go give this a try. What is available for the few may not be available for the many. The ability it takes to do this is off the charts. We are way past fly casting 101 here, we are working on our PHD. I am completely blown away by this, as you can no doubt tell. Cannot say I have ever enjoyed a piece of footage more. Cannot thank you enough for sharing it with us. I feel extremely fortunate to have seen it in person many times. And, if you think he is good at this, put a straight line jig in his hands. BB

Norseman, with the high water we have now, bank fishing is a real chore. Table Rock under the very best circumstances is not a bank lake. Our fish relate more to structure in the form of long runout points, channel swings and humps near deep water. That being said, you can walk the trail that is by the park and access the lake in a number of locations. Don't be afraid to get your feet wet. From State Park Launch Ramp to the Branson Belle there are some nice pockets and also on the other side of the Belle. I would fish early and late. In the morning, I would mess with some small poppers or chuggers, and perhaps a crawler or a minnow under a float. Fish it near the bottom in front of the flooded bushes and on a straight line in the middle of the pockets for some Kittys. Evenings you might try your luck deep fishing the pockets for Cats, using cut bait or the same crawlers or minnows. If you get a chance to rent a boat, go out on the long points or around the islands and fish in the 15 to 25 ft. range with either pieces of crawlers or better yet crickets for blue gill. Good Luck

For every day like yesterday, there are a thousand great ones. Don't really know if using less quality equipment would have prevented those backlashes. Kind of doubt it. Still, if you get in my boat you are going to use the best equipment that I can afford, and it is going to be new. I had the guests here at the lodge really tickled with my exploits today. Of course the wife just shook her head and said, Let me tell you about my day. Good Luck

Tfish, it is amazing the speed and power of a 1/2 oz. FB coming back at you faster than it went out. I feel your pain, and am glad for us both it was the boat instead of our heads. Probably a good lesson for both of us and everyone else, to always wear those glasses. Sorry about the shield. Good Luck

Got out today hitting the water out of Indian Point at 5:15 out in great shape. Picked up the Texacans at the ramp. Both told me they could throw baitcasters and were about as good a fishermen as I would have this year. That worried me a bit. First location was a long gravel runout and swimming a grub and the PigSticker were in order. Right off the bat, Russ in the back reeled a nice jaw in. Chuck caught up quick on the jig, with another. Ended up on the spot with 9 total and 4 nice keeps. . Guess it was then to early for the boys, cause they just fell apart. Next cast on the new location, found the top of my seat on the back cast. The PigSticker was sharp and it cut a clean as a whistle 2 inch slice complete thru the seat into the foam. A very nice piece of seat foam was still on the hook. The Steez, was just spooled with new 12 pound Seugar, needless to say was about the size of a softball and alot furrier. A few minutes later Russ in the back set the hook so hard the jig came sizzling back and if you can believe it, stuck in the cowling of the Merc. " That left a Mark." Never had a bait stick in an outboard motor before. "Hey, that was a First." Just a few casts later Russ again whaled back on the jig rod and at the same time pushed the spool release of the Steez. Again, every bit of Carbon line came out the reel window, it was gone. Two reels, one seat and one motor cowling in about an hour. Not a bad start. Next location, and I will tell you my nerves are just about shot. A huge Jaw, is jumping out in front of us. I had changed Russ back to a spinning rod, as I was going in the hole bad on this deal. I said Russ you have a 4 pound fish jumping in front of you. He said no I don't. About that time the fish came up again cartwheeling and throwing water in a fantastic display of Brown BAss Meanness and threw the grub completely over the boat. He said," these fish sure don't pull much." We caught several more, but not many. The wind was pretty much out of my sales by them. Both of them commented the Steez reels were not very good or they would not have backlashed like that. I just shook my head and said yes, I am saving to buy Bass Pro Shop Pflughers, but just have not been able to get that much cash together, with boat repair bills and all. Another great day on the Pond. And you want to be a Fishing Guide. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. Good Luck Out there.

Guys and Gals, again this year I am turning over my last years equipment. By keeping and using this equipment for only 1or 2 yrs. it sells to you in very good to excellent condition. Please call my cell, or email me at www.whiteriverbb@msn.com. Please don't send me a message thru the forum as it is hard to repond to. All equipment sells on a first call basis, and I will take a credit card, to lock in your purchase. I can deliver equipment at no charge in the Branson Springifield market, at my conveinence or you may come by the lodge and pick it up. No sales tax on these items, and if you are trying to upgrade, sales tax is a monster to add onto the price of highend equipment. 1 St Croix Avid Casting Rod AVC 62 MXF 6'2" Stickbait/Spook Special Equipped with a Shimano Curado 100D $200.00 1 Falcon BuCoo BCC-4-166 Treble Hooker/ Jerkbait Equipped with a Shimano Curado 100D $150.00 1 Falcon Cara T7 Med Cranker CCB-4-17MR Wiggle Wart Rod/ Equipped with a Shimano Curado 100D $250.00 6 Falcon Cara T7 Finess Jig-Split Grip CC-5-1610S This is my go to outfit. Great Spinnerbait and Fin Rod, as well as Jig. Equipped with Shimano MG50's $300.00@ 5 Curado 100D's $100.00@ If you don't like the combo's as I have them rigged, I can change the reels to any combination you like. You can figure the price of the MG 50's at $150 00 @ and package it anyway you want. If you just want the rods we can do that also. If you are looking for topline equipment at a value give me a call. I sold everything I listed last year in a 5 day period. Home 1-800-544-0257 White River Lodge Cell 1-417-332-7016 Don't leave a message Thanks Bill

Wow, what a day. If I had that net girl, I would work till I was 90. She looks like a doll. Thanks for a great report, and a very different prespective, using the deep cranker and the spoon.

Boys, I don't know where that wind came from. But I know for one thing that Denny liked it. He was fishing the Big End and from the calls I received today, he was a catchin and a catchin. I believe he had one of those days like I had the day before. Good to see we locals catchin a few. Folks really cannot see the ammount of time it takes and the ammount we spend on the water for those type of days. Not that I am complaining mind you. It is for sure a priledge for us to get to fish everyday. We just don't haul them in most of the time. I'll leave the rest to Denny, he was probably to exhausted to tell his story yesterday. If he catches them like that again today, he may have to go to work to rest up.

RP, you are kind of expanding your territory a mite. Might have an infringment charge or at least a trespass fee for you to come below Rock Creek. From and including the area you just mentioned to Campbell Point, the fish are on those kind of flat runnouts just about as good as you are ever going to see them. Two weeks ago, it was all topwater. Now even though they are shallow, it is a jig or rig for me. I bet with some wind and cloud cover, they would just hammer a spinner. The lake gets a little wider and bigger the further down stream you come, and it might be just a little to choppy and a little to dangerious for you to venture further. Probably best for you to stay on the upstream side of the 86 bridge. Only for safety reasons you understand. As always, thanks for the report. If you see that White Champion up in your neck of the woods, you had best come by and give us a Big Howdy. Catch us early as we are giving it up to the Jet Set usually by 10 AM Good Luck out there.

Could not for the life of me keep that topwater in the box yesterday on such a prefect morning. Should have. First trip with Monte and Russ out of the Village At Indian Point. Fished from the Showboat to Cow Creek on main lake flat gravel points, where I have been all season. 35 fish to the boat with 17 keeps. Fish were in 15 ft. boat 20ish. Best bite by far is on a 3/8th. or 1/2oz. PigSticker with a Greenpumpkin/Purple skirt. Trim the skirt close and attach your favorite trailer in Green Pumpkin/pepper, and then for gosh sakes just hold on. As Denny said the bite is light and they will swim at you about 80% of the time as they will have friends trying to steal their goodie. Second trip with Jim started at the Knob at 12:30. First location on the Jig, we had 9 fish, then it went totally dead. At 2 Pm Jim said he saw a chaser up on the bank and I pulled in and he heaved a shot right up on the bank. He simply got plowed. Nice 3 pound blackie in 1 ft. of water on flat gravel at 2 PM with the sun beating down. I am to lucky for words, and as I have always said it is better to be lucky than good. Roughly 25 fish and 15 keeps later, before we knew it it was 4:30. How the day went that fast I will never know. RPS, we found your keeper Eyes. Two nice 3.5 pounders, with their noses right on the bank. They thought the PigSticker was a Crawdaddy. Jim is not a fish eater, so I did dress out the Eyes. That will be my only fish for the year, two is enough. One of the WAlleye had 8 crawfish in its gut and the other had 6 and one in his throat when he ate the Pig Sticker. These crafish are as green as green and that was at Shell Knob. Am assuming they are also a light/dark green mix at the dam, and I will bet there is a huge hatch of them, to put these bass on such a seafood feed. For numbers on a Jig, maybe one of my top days. Size was not great but who gives a flip with that many bites. Best fish were the Eye's. Fish were a combination of Jaw's, Eye's, LM, K's and Meanmouth. More Jaw's at the dam on the morning trip and more LM at the Knob. Get out and throw that jig. Woo'ee Pig.

Mostly the same locations. Tried several bluffends, and some shelf. Did catch fish on every location, once we put down the topwater, but the long flat pea gravel runouts were loaded to the "Gills, with post spawn bass."

"My Goodness, what a morning." After I got my head on straight and put down the topwater, it just got plumb riduculas. I'm guessing on a consertivative count probably between 40 and 50 to the boat with about 1/3rd being keeps. Combination of everything. Jaw's, LM, K's and a Meanmouth. Ate the PigSticker 1/2 ouncer, Green Pumpkin/Purple FB with a it dosen't matter trailer on it to their preverbal rearend. Just a flat out nasty jig bite. Fished the Knob this morning with Tim. Nice guy and a very good hand. We doubled at least 3 times on fish that were swimming with hooked fish. Just pitched the jig out and the trailer grabbed it. They were starved for PigStickers. Our boat was in 20 to 22. Fish were locked in very tight at 15 ft. in the colored water. These were post spawn fish and some of them looked mighty banged up. Others were clean as a pin and most all had both dads and shad choked back in their craws. Lake reports of similar action from one end to the other on the jig, and swimming a grub. Topwater, was on hold Surface temp at the Knob was a perfect 82 degree. Get out there its time for football practice.

The tenique discribed has been around for 40 years. I first saw an example of this used by Ralph Lambert, the owner of Kings Harbor Resort at Shell Knob. He would have deep caught Kentuck's swimming in his minnow tank with weights on their fins. That was in the mid-80's and he had been doiing it for years. It is 90 percent used for deep caught fish in lue of fizzing with a needle. It allows the fish to maintain an upright attitude being able to breath from both gills while the swim bladder reduces to its normal size. Do not know the application as far as just stressed fish, or deep hooked fish that bleed. If they are on their sides in the well however, I'm one for trying anything. Thanks for the info.

Simply wonderful report. I felt as if I were there with you. Much appreciated. Modifing a bait is the next best thing to creating a new bait or tying a fly. It makes it "Simply Homemade/"

RPS lol, I'm with you. Believe all these were just the non-bitter types. Still yet, they don't need to be in the boat with a redfin stuck in their head.

This water temp is 80 Plus. You have to run chemicals and Ice and just recirculate the water. We had another big one is morning, pushing 7 pounds. She also was full and spewing rotton eggs. My client caught her swimming a grub, on 6 pound mono and a very fast light grub rod. By the time he got her to the boat she was in serious trouble. poured the chem's to her and blew O2 on her solid for about 20 minutes and she was ok. It was close. I believe if we would have just turned her back, she would have sank to the bottom and died. All these derby's need cold tanks set up with lots of aeriators and rejunivate in them. Fish need to be placed in the tank for 30 minutes after the weighin. Any that are on their sides need to be gotten rid of in a proper manner, either filleted or disposed of, not and I mean, NEVER thrown back in the lake at the ramp. Very poor judgement. Right now as it is Fishing tournaments are just a notch above time share sales people and we all need to make that thing go away. Again d5keps you are right. I slammed her yesterday with a 3/8th. FB Chompers EWG. Probably would not have hurt her on a Jewell or a Pigsticker.

On my trip out of Kimberling on Friday, I saw just about as many water snakes as I have ever seen. They will chase that fin with a vengence. I told my guy twice, "if you let that snake get that fin, you and he both are going to the bank." Friday was a hoot out of Kimberling City. We had not a load of fish, but they were mean-mean-mean. Mostly Jaws and they tried their best to take our junk and hurt us. Cannot remember such vicious strikes on a redfin. They were not swirling or slurping the bait, they were "Blasting it." Denny said Saturday, he had one come up and attack the fin right at the boat spaying water all over him. Said it was Big, Mean and Brown. It is funny, the light switch turns off at 8 AM and for me right now, it is really off.

d5kps, Now that I think about it, I believe you are right. Seems everytime that happens, it is a FB stuck in the roof of the mouth just in front of the crushers, on a nice LM. You know it is kind of like a head shot on a quail, where one pellet finds the head. The quail will fly straight up and then just fall. She jumped twice and then just turned her belly to the surface. My line just went slack and she was done. I told the boys, OOOPS! I think I just killed that one. Felt like an idiot for catching her anyway. If I would have wanted to, I couldn't have. Guess it was her time. Does worry me a mite about her sluffing the eggs.

Met Steve and Jim Kroke at Pine Tree Jct. at 5 AM to get a cool start to a hot day. Had planned on fishing the Kimberling to Indian Pt. Circuit, but to tell you the truth, I am tired of pounding the same water I have been on for 3 months. Along with every other guide and fishermen in the area. Bite has been so predictable for me the last few days that I needed a shake-up. 5 AM till 8 AM and done. That way yesterday, for most of the boys. I believe they stayed on better for Phil Stone and Don House, but for the most part they get pretty lazy after 8 AM. Becky and I drove up to Viney Creek last night to check out the water clarity, and see if I thought I could get a topwater nip. Looked great, so I had Steve and Jim tossing fins off the flat points up there in the 5:30 AM morning light. Nothing much schooling or chasing, but action was really great, on Whites, LM and K's from Viney to Cedar Creek. 35 fish to the boat on topwater and another 4 on the bottom, with one being a 6.5. " Ya, I caught her, and it killed her dead as a stone." In between unhooking the fin fish for the boys and visiting with them, I was paying very little attention just dragging a jig out ot the deep side of the boat. 30 ft. I felt the tap and set the hook. She drove down on two good runs and then jumped twice, and then floated to the top. She was hooked in the roof of the mouth and I guess the jig impailed her pea-brain. Put her in the livewell for 30 minutes on full O2 and rejuvine-x, but her gills were white in 15 minutes. She also spewed out the most foul eggs in the well that stunk like rotted fish. Had to go to the car wash. She was a beautiful healthy fish, that had not spawned and was sluffing her eggs. Hated to kill her. I have done that before, but not very often, maybe once every 5 yrs. or so. Had 3 fish on the jig with 2 keeps. One short on a rig and 35 on topwater with 32 LM and K's and 3 whites. About 7 other Shell Knob K keepers and 2 more LM keeps with 1 at 3.5. Water clarity at Viney-Big M. Stained with lots of floating leaf debris, and small sticks. Very hard to work the bait, but they just swarmed it. I also threw a spook 4 times and caught fish on all 4 throws, so I put it down. Boys were spinning gear guys and the fin was their deal. Surface temp 79 degree. Both Beck and Lisek fished out of Kimberling City this morning and reported great topwater action, till 8 AM and then done. Our bite was also pretty much over at 8 AM and we tried some very nice runouts with a cenipede with no results. Good to see Viney, I will be back up there tomorrow.

Had about the same morning at Kimberling, but no Whites and we did catch some shorts 8 keeps. Also had a pretty decent grub bite shallow till 8:30 then it went to heck in a hand basket. 5:30 to 7:30 was our magic time however. Have a nice young man staying here at the lodge that went out early. I believe he had several nice keepers on both a jig and tube. Said they would blow on the topwater, but no hookups. His bite was over at 8:15.

As the summer heat bears down on the Ozark Mountains, and the jet and water skiers seem to have taken over our beautiful White River lakes, there are still ways to feel the tug of quality fish on that old graphite rod. Migrating from Japan to California to the Midwest is a fishing method that really gets the drop on suspended and schooling deep water summer and fall bass. The Drop Shot technique is just a simple modification of the Carolina rig. It is extremely deadly and creates a tantalizing presentation for bunched up fish, whether they are suspended in trees suspended over deep water or on the bottom on river channel, lake humps or submerged islands. Drop Shottin', as it is most often called, is presenting either live or soft plastic baits in a vertical presentation to fish that have been located with boat electronics. Spotted bass are a great target for the drop shotter, as they are schooling fish and most often are in the above stated locations. The rig is pretty simple -- and you can rig anyway you want -- but here is a method that has proven itself time and time again: Take a good IM8 seven-foot spinning rod spooled with 8- to 10-pound fluorocarbon line. Attach a two-way barrel swivel to the main line and then attach five feet of eight pound line as your leader. Two feet below the swivel attach a number 1 wide gap worm hook with a palmar knot. Go two more feet and attach an additional hook in the same manner, and then add a drop shot or bell sinker on the bottom. I prefer the wide gap worm hooks over the drop shot hooks because if you are presenting in the treetops, this allows you to rig the worm weedless. The wide gaps also will give you better hook-ups. On the rock, these spotted bass are right about the thermocline at from 28 to 35 feet. You can either find them suspended in bluff treetops or in channel swings. There are some off the flats, but they are movers and shakers and are not always there. If I can’t see them on my X15, I don’t stop. Good electronics are a must for the drop shot. You are not covering lots of horizontal area as you would with a rig or a throw type bait; you are just making an up-and-down presentation to a school of fish, so you need to have them pinned down pretty well. My two favorite drop shot baits for the rock are a four-inch zoom fineness worm in either green pumpkin or watermelon candy or a zoom dead ringer in the same colors. Lower the bait to the fish, and most times you just need to hang it there. Your natural movement with waves or just a slight shake will get the strike. As the bass bite, they will put a bend in the rod, or as we say, "Let them Load Up!" When you feel the weight, set the hook and enjoy the fight. Remember that these bass are coming up from the deep and need to be immediately returned to the water to prevent their swim bladders from overextending. Do not put them in your live wells for picture taking as they cannot tolerate that much handling. Live bait in the form of nightcrawlers or crawfish will also work on the drop shot, but the soft plastics are most often the rig of choice. As with any summertime fishing, early is always better, and I try to be off the water by noon and yield the lake to the water skiers. Next time you are on any of the White River lakes in the summer, and think that the bass just aren’t biting, try just "Droppin-In," and I’m sure you will find there are fish at home. View full article