Bill Babler

Congrats on a 26 inch bow anywhere. You are in the 8 to 10 pound bracket. Unusual, No, not really. Lots of bows are caught in the Rock. Most come earlier in the season, from the White River section. Contrary to popular belief not from Roaring River, but from the White Below Beaver. The deep docks in Shell Knob, will produce big bows, at any time however. One day about 10 years ago, I caught 5 rainbows off Hardmans Hollow dock just past Shell Knob. The 5 weighed about 17 pounds. CAught them on a jighead with a crawler attached, fishing for walleye in the heat of the summer. Once in a lifetime for me. Caught a bow just across from Owl Creek this year in a cut on a stickbait that weighted a little over 6 pounds, so they are in here. One of the local ledgens says he can catch them anytime in the dam area, if he sets his mind to it. I believe him. Great fish and am glad you got to catch it.

Heard it was as bad as it can get. Believe last weeks Cape FAir night derby was a complete skunk and everybody got there money back that entered. Have heard very little positive going on after the sun sets. Hope for more current information however.

Amen to that. Always look forward to your post. I feel a kendred spirit with another White River Rat. Three cheers for Big M to Beavertown. PS For the rest of you, the fish don't bite on that end of the lake. Stay down mostly by the Dam as the fishing is much better down there Good Luck RPS and keep us posted on your goings on.

Freaky, Most of the saddles will occur between the islands and main land. It can however go the other way, ie Cleverger branch. And the east ridge Saddles are usually a depression or ditch that connects two higher points. Lots of them up the James. Most will be a thin ridge with deeper water on either side. Phil can probably answer it better, but that is how I would describe it.

RPS, in all likelyhood you are right, and I am sure you have fished a spook long enough to careless what I think, but try this and let me know. On the hit or splash, do not set the hook, but just start reeling as fast as you can till you feel the weight of the fish. No jerking, setting or pulling. If they miss it just keep working it, till they grab it again, then start reeling with no jerk or pull. Let me know. This really works and its the only way the Bass Master Elite Series anglers fish a topwater. If you are fishing a topwater with any of these guys and you jerk, they will laugh themselves right out of the boat. Bad experence, I won't go there. Just let's say, the voice of experence. Good Luck

White River Arm from 86 hwy bridge to Big M. Bite has slowed down abit from last weeks high end post-spawn attacks. Early topwater action on bluffends and long run outs. Guys, you have to get on the water early, if you want a spot. Today boat on almost every topwater type bank before 5 AM. Spooks, Sammy and Redfins, will catch the majority of chasers, if you can get close enough. As the sun comes out, drop shot fish will congregate in the 26 to 32 ft. range on the same locations as the morning topwater bite. Big M to Point 22 fished this area the AM with Mike and Ryan, Springfield boys that were really good hands. 14 topwater fish 1 football jig fish and 9 drop shot fish. 2 on a crawler to show how inept we were. If we would have fished crawlers the numbers would have been much higher, as we had lots of refusals on the soft plastics. Cloudy overcast, a spit of rain and a setting, that just does not lock fish to the bottom. Very few groups were seen, and we tried to just feed singles. Most suspended in the 22 to 32 ft. range over greater depths. Channel swings and bluffends, held the ones we caught. I believe Crappie5 was on the lake, fishing crawlers, this morning in the same region, and I saw him bowed up on a nice K. Think his live meat worked better than our stuff. I believe he was fishing deep suspended fish on one of his secret spots. Looked like fun and he invited us, but we didn't want to intrude. Kings River, reports are very tough fishing from Viola up the river. Should be time for topwaters off the bluffends and a good deep crankin bite, but reports are saying very slow. Point 22 to Point 9 Guided this area day before yesterday and did extremely well, with 35 keepers on the flat gravel. 22 to 32 ft. on live crawlers. Reports that the last two days has been extremely slow, fishing the same water. Lots of white bass in the 35 to 50 ft. range but they are being real stingy with coming to the surface, and are not at all in love with the jigging spoon. Have heard reports of dropping crawlers into the clusters and catching them. Go Figure!!! Point 9 to point 12 on the James River Good Kantuck fishing on runnouts islands and long points in the 16 to 35 ft. range, on crawlers and purple dropshot worms. Great football jig bite the same depth early and late. Topwater seems very slow. Few whites in the flats ie Campers just past point 12 early. Upper James to Point 15 Very good last week for all three species of BB. Again very little topwater action, but an extremely good bite on PBJ Football jigs with PBJ trailers. Extreme fising prussure and lots of boats. If you are on the water later than 5 AM, to get started, you can pretty much bet you won't be the first to fish that point the first time. You have to create a milk run and hit the same spots on a rotational basis to be successful. They might just not be feeding when you are there, but if the locations is the right kind hit it a couple of times a day. Fish seem to be in the 16 to 36 ft. depth range. I know thats a lot of area, but thats what we are finding. Best baits are a green pumpkin lizard or watermellon red lizard or the jig. Point 9 to Point 5 Most of the flats from Kimberling City to Point 5 are just getting hammered. Fishing was decent for a few days, but has cooled off. Good success in this area is coming on crawlers to fish suspended at 26 to 32 ft. over 40 to 55, off the gravel. A great days work is probably a dozen to 18 fish, with about 1/2 being pretty good keepers. Point 5 to Cricket Creek Again very little topwater activity. You are very lucky if you find it. Should have whites blowing up and some are being seen, but no one is getting rich. Decent bite off the usually suspects long points, community holes, and deep docks. Same depth as the Kimberling City fish, in about the same locations. Guide trips are producing 8 to 12 for 4 hrs. and 12 to 25 for 8 hrs. Get out early.

Thank you Crappie5 Your trip was one of my favorite outing this Year. Smiles and fellowship, along with some really nice fish made the day fly-by. Lunch was great. Would love to do it again, you bring the Brats. Thanks Bill

I deeply apoligize for the origional post that went with these fish. It seemed braggadocious, and I believe demenaing for my previous clients, which I dearly love that did not have days like this. It was also a knock on our lake. She slipped up and I got lucky is the plain and simple truth. I doubt that I could repeat this day ever. I have'nt in all my years, so it was luck. Please enjoy the photo's of one of the best days I have had on the Rock close to 28 pounds for our best 5. Two 6 plus pounders not pictured. Only Ed. and his fish. Fish were caught 24 to 36 ft. on a Jewell, 1/2 oz PBJ Football Jig, Chomper PBJ Twin Tail Extreme care in the heat and hot water was given to their survival and they were quickly released.

Snakem, just a quick note. I'm a little out of the loop on this one. But, has it been ok until just reciently? Becks did the same think, and it was water in the armature of his trolling motor, causing it to send all the adverse electric into the system. Have George check it out at Marine Repair Center in Springfield. It will be fixed and fixed right, no bandades, he is the best. My units have no rubber backing and they are perfect and state of the art, after his work. Good Luck

Snuck out of the Big M area this AM at a few minutes after 5 with a couple of Monett boys, Howard and Todd. Great Guys and I can't tell you when I have had a more enjoyable day. Headed for the topwater aquarium, hoping to feed the fish. Just when you think you know something, it totally backfires. Told the boys they wanted spooks instead of the fin. Neither had ever fished a fin anyway. I think I may have cost them some money, as I'm sure both will be in the fishin toy-store looking to by a dozen or so apiece. Of course they wouldn't eat the spook, just slaping at it time after time. The answer was of course the fin. They preceded to eat it like it was food. Kind of like SK said, lots and lots of gar and carp. First spot a long gravel flat point was fished very carefully several times, and only ended up with 8 on top. Two small keepers that were squeekers. Next spot the same only 6 fish and no keepers. Both Howard and Todd had a big fish blow-up, but didn't hook up. Next spot two more and then then we drop shotted 5 off the next point, with two decent keepers and the other 3 right up against it. Rounded the bend and ran into SK, hauling in a 14 incher on his topwater magic. Caught 1 short behind him. Just like fishing behind a vacume cleaner. Cut out for open water and caught 1 topwater fish off our cabin at shell knob point and 6 bottom fish, staying close to the dock as it was starting to get a bit dicy with the weather. After the weather hopped to the SK bridge and Howard nabbed 3 Todd nabbed 4 and I coralled 1. I believe one of Todd's would have squeeked. Beat feet back toward Big M after eating one of Howards great Brats and picked up a half dozen bottom and suspended fish on both drop-shot and rig, off several gravel rolloffs. Stopped at one last point and the fin bite was on again. Howard with 5, Todd with 2 and I squeeked a couple on a jig. Wanted to show them one last drop shot spot and I caught 4 suspenders and Howard nabbed 1. I cheated by watching the graph closer than Howard. He is a quick study and will learn to keep an eye on the TV. I'm guessing about 40 fish for the morning, with maybe 9 squeeker keepers. Just about the same as mid-week on the same fish. I told the boys it may be tough with the clouds, for the DS fish, and I was right. Lots of singles suspending and no groups. All in all, considering the company, I'll take today everyday.

The Post by SKMO is an absolute primer for early and late White Bass. Lilley touched on deep trolling some fantastic areas. I would also suggest the flat across from point 16 to the mouth of the James. 3/4 oz shad raps on 10 pound mono trolled behind Goat Island to Wolf pen may be as good as any. Also the Baxter flat across for Baxter Marina. You have recieved the best info possible. Good Luck

The Beckester is good on either pond. He loves the trout, so you will have a great time. His Phone number is;417-335-1867 Have a great time.

This 6 hr. trip deal is the bomb. Should have started it years ago, it is just the perfect ammount of time. Took a really good fisherman Dan Gaines from Iowa back up the White where I put the hammer on the SMJ's a couple of weeks ago. Had not been back so had to wonder if it would be as good. Answer, yes and no. Launched and had the first toss in the water a shade after 5 AM. Only one client and he could throw a baitcaster, and wanted me to fish along side. OH Boy Went back to the SMJ honey hole and saw a couple of K's chasing so the flinging started. Both of us on a Fin. A few short strikes and misses and I said," let me think about this". Can you throw a spook and walk the dog, I asked? Dan said OH Ya.!! Then it started, for both of us. Wham Bam Thank you Fish. Fish after fish after fish. One problem, they were all K's anywhere from 10 to 14 inch and they would storm the spook, and follow it in 8 or 10 at a time. Now don't get me wrong, we were having fun, but maybe just one keeper or a Good Ole Goodin. Finely happened, I hooked a fish and it put on a tractor pull. Told Dan, we had a good one at last. That water is so clear, when I got the fish near the boat, Dan yelled its a huge SMJ and there are three other ones as big, trying to take the spook from her. About this time I got a peek and sure enough about 10 ft. down, was a dog fight. I just kept prussure on her as she was on the rear hook and the other Smallies were grabbing at the front of the spook. I had visions of 6 lbs of Jaws swinging into the boat one on the front and one on the back. About this time, from out of the deep blue, shot a 13 inch K. He grabbed the front of the spook, hooked himself, and jerked it out of the 3 pound Jaws lips. It was like suspended animation. There were 4 big Smallmouth just treading water and I had that stinking little bait stealer. I reeled him in and we both sat and laughed till the tears flowed. Dan told me trading 6 pounds for 12 oz. was not a very good swap. I fell over laughing so hard. Now, here is where the story gets complicated. Dan had come to TR to learn the Drop Shot. We ended up leaving a pretty good topwater bite to go and get a dropshot bite. I hope I never have to say that again Caught 17 on the dropshot mostly small K's but did end up with a limit of squeeker types that might have gone 10 or 11 pounds. Really poor after the way the size and action has been in the KC area and up the James. If you want some great topwater action, fish the White from Point 22 to Eagle Rock. Lots of schooling and chasing action. Very early and it will last as long as the clouds do. We didn't have very big fish, but a topwater fish in my opinion don't have to be big to be fun. On a footnote we stopped back by the topwater spot on the way in to see if we could dropshot a few, as they would surely be positioned by 10:30. They were still on the spook. About a 1/2 doz. more shorts on top. Excellent morning for topwater cloudy, foggy, and a very slight ripple. Not the right day for the shot.

I know it would make me happy. But you could do a little better with your free info. I want a detailed map, please print out your GPS travel log and mark each location with the number and size of fish you caught on each spot. Also please post a current Financial Statment. I am falling out of my chair

Yes, I heard Jay Nixon is on his way down to imprison all dozen of us for going from $250 too $265. We are a consortium that is governed by the same rules and regs. We all have much the same equpment and we all hire each other on a daily basis. Our yearly expenses are very much the same. All our compensation is dictated by the number of clients and the ammount of time they are with us. Everything is equal. By providing very similar service over the very same time durations, and all else being equal it is in the better interest of the public that we maintain a very similar pricing structure for the same service rendered. By doing this it protects Mr. and Mrs. Fisherperson from hiring some nimwhit, with no insurance, no guide lic. and that is just doing this on the QT after hammering nails all week, for a quick buck with no expenses. As federal Captians involved in a consortium, we are all mandated to certain rules, that do not govern those that wish to SCAB. That's enough on the Guides lets move on to the fishing, and shut this foolishness down.

Mouth of Brushy to Point 5 Bite is improving from last week, however this lake section is still lagging a bit behind. Decent catches of spotted bass with some very nice post-spawn keepers are comming from the tips of all the islands in the area and the gravel rolloffs. Fish will either be on the bottom or suspended in the 24 to 32 ft. range. Look off the gravel flats or the bouyed points to depths of 70 ft. for the suspenders. Some fish are being caught drop shotting the deeper docks and deep tree tops also in this area. 86 HWY Bridge is also getting plenty of attention, but fish seem to be small with the best keeper size at only a couple of pounds. Live Crawlers or Small Crayfish on the live side and drop shot fish are being taken on plumbs, candy's and purple, drop shot worms, by your favorite author. Point 5 to Point 9 Good catches of quality K's and Sj are being seen coming from the bouy points and long flats. Most catches are suspended at 28 to 32 over 40 to 70. Beck had 46 fish with 36 keepers on a 1/2 day trip Sunday. Best 5 right at 20 pounds. Yamamoto drop shot worms were his bait of choice. KC bridge is producing similar to 86 but a little better size and fewer numbers. Look for White Bass at or near the Joe Bald flats if the wind is calm. Point 10 to Point 15 Lots and lots of quality K's and Jaws are being caught on the James River Main lake flats and Points. Ran in to Capt. Don on Sunday, didn't hear his final number, but he was diffenetly on fish. My 1/2 day trip, finished with 32 fish with 16 quality keepers. One point provided 8 Keepers that the best 5 would have been an easy 17 Plus pounds. Crawlers and Chompers new Purple/Brown Laminated DS Worm. It's a keeper. Fish in the 24 to 28 ft. range on the bottom with some very good LM up in front of the bushes on a Jewel 1/2 oz brown and Purple football Jig with a Chomper WMC twin tail. Artificial will catch just as many right now as the live, if the rod is in the right hands. Good catches of cats and gills are also coming out of the James. Look for White Bass in the Point 12 Campers Park area. They have been seen a couple of times last week. They will not stay up long however. Point 16 To Mouth of the Kings or Twin/Rivers. Good early topwater action on major lake points and large cove mouths. Both schooling whites and BB are being seen if its not too windy. Have a spoon rigged at all times along with your favorite top water tapper. You can throw the spoon a mile. I also really like to watch and giggle as you try and throw it too hard and get a huge backlash. Just Funnin. Still some drag fish in this area in the 16 to 28 ft. range on the WMC Cenipede. Drop shot fish are in the 22 ft to 30 ft. range on the bottom, or for GAD SAKES ALIVE the Shell Knob Bridge. Fish are also positioned early in front of the bluff docks and on dock and bouy cables. Same depth suspended. 24 to 26 on the bridge and docks is the prime number. Twin Rivers to 86 bridge at Eagle Rock Excellent topwater action is still available on major lake flat points. Big SJ's and nice K's are available from 5 Am till usually about 6 or 6:30. You got about a hr. and a half. This lake section has a very big down time as the fish will position around 10 AM at depths in the 24 to 32 ft. range, suspended on the bluffends and on bottom on the flats. Same baits apply. Flat across for the Mouth of Roaring River has been very good early for surfacing fish and the rolloff is good dropshotting if your up in that country. Water temps lake wide are running 77 to 81, and clarity is very good. James and Kings being abit more aqua-green than other lake sections. They are biting, go and catch em. Be Nice

That was one of the top ten SJ's I have ever had caught in my boat. 5 pounds 10 oz. A true Table Rock trophy. She is still swimming and I am sure she has spawned. She was pure SM. Brown Green and Tiger Stripped. Picture Number 14 the fish on the left, was a 4. 2 pound Mean Mouth. That was also one of the biggest one of those guys I have ever had. Pic. number 12 Ain't bad either, as she was also a 5iver. I'm telling you, Those Boys, had a FISSIN-TRIP. The double I'm holding in my boat was shot at Big M Marina by Denver Dixon, and they were back to back cast, both 4 pound Brown Bass, Caught, on an 8 inch swimbait. Click on that photo and look at how friggin beautiful those two fish are. They are swimming under Denver's dock as pets. He said he would feed them some minnows and crawdads every day. Go up and see Denver at Big M. Without a doubt one of the friendlest Marina's on the lake. They talk fishing and not jet sking and know what they speak. Good Food and Lowest fuel price on the Lake. By the way, the fishing is always good in that neck of the woods. Good Luck out there.

No you don't, I'm Old. Caught a couple of small swimmers on the shot day before yesterday, nothing you could say was a very positive sign yet. To many fish are still in close. I'm excited about the post of topwater in or near the bushes. I have tried it, but with poor results. Even tried the floating worm with a big Zip-0. Seems to me the fish are at the base of the deeper bushes in the 8 to 10 ft. of depth range. Messed with a white spoon to check the clarity up the White a couple of days ago, and could see down to about 12 to 15 ft. That means some of the flooded trees and bushes that are in that depth will have beds under them. These K's and J's are deep spawners this time of the year. Still catching lots of pre-spawners, more so than spawned out fish. When they get done, I'm sure they will move out on the shot.

Just some shots from the last 3 weeks or so. Maybe Phil can scrunch these together and make them look a little more presentable. Just a great last few weeks with some super clients. The fish did all the work.

Don, there is a reason I launch at Eagle Rock this time of the year, if at all possible. You know what it is. Right now a good day from the Dam to Kimberling is a dozen fish with two or three keepers. Baxter to Shell Knob about twice that. Shell Knob to Holiday Island, if you know what your doing and get out early the possibilities are limitless. Saw a total of 5 boats yesterday morning. None after 9 Am till I quit at 2:30. Both Tetrick and Paige worked extremely hard for the dozen or so they caught at the dam, on full day trips. I had chances at that many before 5:30 AM. Guiding the area you were yesterday, I would take your catch in a New York Minute. It is not easy and its hard for us to learn that it is really that hard. I am always relieved when guiding the dam to have that first fish in the boat. Those people that won't start until 7 Am this time of the year are just not going to do as well as the 5 AM guys. You will catch more fish between 5 AM and 6:30 AM, than you will catch the rest of the entire day. If I would have had clients, we would have been ok on the top side stuff, but I would have struggled with them in the bushes. Buster tried it the other day. It Don't Work on the Majority of guided fishing trips. After the first 8 or 10 breakoffs you just have to get back out, you are wasting their time and yours. IF you do take folks in there, one is hung up in the front, while the other is hung up out of the back. Maybe with 1 client that can pitch and flip you can do it, but with two. Man, that is nothing but a big time Nightmare that is not waiting to happen, but going on in your presents while you watch. Good Luck out there.

I guess yesterday was the day. Started in the Eagle Rock to Kings River Area, So Wacked will get some info up there. Was on the water at 5:15, and it was just a perfect morning. Very light breeze and extremely overcast. SM's were chasing gizzard shad on the first point I came too and saw loads of fat 3 to 4 pounders chasing from shallow to mid-lake. BE OBSERVANT OUT THERE!!!!!! At least 4 boats ran by schooling chasing fish. These were not bank runners, they were absolute pigs with a Capital PPPPP. Saw 4 Big SM's chasing about 100 yrds. out in the lake and was getting ready to head that way when a boat came around the bend and ran right over them. He should have been able to see them blowing up, they were going crazy. Guess these bass chasers don't like 4 pound smallmouth, on topwater. One of these guys stopped on a up and down bluff bank in about the middle of the bank and started flipping a jig on the verticle bank. I went over and talked to him after the topwater bite. He had only caught 5 fish in the last 3 days. Had no idea where or how to fish, I told him to just watch for them. He had a 50 thousand plus rig, and not a clue. I asked him why he chose to fish that location. He said it looked good with near by deep water. You think? Every place looks good and deep water is not a problem on the rock. I on the other hand was looing for wind on shallow water. Gave him a couple of pointers, but he would have been a good prospect for a guide trip. Ended the early morning session with 17 topwater fish on probably 25 bites, best 5, pushing that 18 to 20 pound number, all huge black/brown tiger stripped SM. Also caught 4 big K's and another couple of big Jaw's on a 8 inch Swimmer. What a morning. The Action lasted till about 8:45, due to the clouds. Tried dragging both a rig and a jig and nothing. Moved back and started flipping the bushes with a Chomper 1/8 oz. shakey head and a purple/brown chomper shakey head worm, and the action, started again. The bush bite was just fantastic. They are not in every bush, but they are in a bunch. The head caught them. Also tried a floating worm and couldn't get any takers to come up on it. The bush fish were all K's and I would assume males as they were 13 to 16 inch. Total for the bush flipping adventure about 2 dozen more. Great day. Fished I am ashamed to say by myself from the 5 AM time till 2:30 in the afternoon. They were still biting the "head" when I went in. Just could not pull myself off the water. I got in trouble big time as yesterday and today we are getting the Lodge ready for the big weekend. It was worth the cold shoulder, for that kind of action.

You can say 15 ft. But the real answer for this time of the year is 20 to 22 ft. Look back the last 15 years and see the average for this weekend. Lots of aqufina.

Trav, If you are truely wanting to retire her, my lodge would love to give her a place of honor hanging in the main reception room. We could have a plaque made telling her story for all to see. Just a thought. Always looking for memerobilia from our area for guest to appreciate. Let me know if your interested Sincerely Bill

Whack, Just have not been up there in the last couple of weeks. Don't really have any current info. Sorry. They were on a rig when I was last there. 14 to 28 on the long gravel. Should be some topwater fish early. Good Luck

Buy another one if the one I just bought dosen't work. I have at least a dozen good ones now, and probably 3 times that in yucky ones. I change the hooks to Gammy's and down size the split rings. I also remove the front split and use a speed clip. Trim all excess plastic from around the break in the middle so it moves easily and pray it works. 1 out of 5 will be a absolute winner. Good Luck