Bill Babler

JD, that sounds like a Bucket List for us.

So cheap I kind of felt guilty, but we didn’t hit them very hard. Both the pork and the brisket was so tender and juicy it didn’t need sauce Those construction workers knew the waitress by name, they left a $30.00 tip. Each one of them had 3 plates.

Those were concrete guys having lunch. They were planning their afternoon pour. Sounded like a big job. Becky had read about this place in a guide book on well kept secrets for off the beaten path dining. It was super good. Seemed like most everything homemade. Kind of a struggle to get your grub as they were so busy, but worth it.

Becky and I hiked the FTT at Roaring river this morning, what a great day to hike. Trail is 4.5 mile loop and judged moderate as it has 2 half mile climbs. Becky does not like climbs, but I do, really stretches you out. Trail for the most part is shaded and really nice. Perfect day today with a lite breeze and 73 degrees. After the hike we went into Casville and had lunch at the Whitley Pharmacy. It was great with a loaded salad bar that included brisket, pulled pork and giant baked potatoes plus dessert all for $7.99 each. Place was quaint, but jammed to the gills. I skipped the dessert, and only had 1/2 a tator, but that was plenty. Kind of an iconic place. Going up to KC for the weekend but should be back early the first of the week to get after those top water fish again. This would have been a perfect morning, but we had other plans. Only 3 other rigs at the ramp when I pulled out yesterday so not bad at all. Good Luck

Surge Shad and a Speed Shad. For the life of me I could not get them to bite a prop bait

Sorry about no pic’s but just didn’t get around to it. Launched at the SK bridge at 5:30 and was the only rig in the lot. I had not been up the white the entire year and really today was my first true retirement trip, just to do what I wanted and really didn’t care if I even caught one. Thought that no catch was going to be the deal as a 0600 the skies opened up with a lightning show and total down pour. Sat in the Kids across America dock for 2.5 hours. Stopped raining and up I headed, really not expecting much after the big boomer display. First 2 locations were a zero on topwater and the little Keitech but I did get slammed on a 6 inch wild eye Shad swimmer. Rounded a bend and saw one bust in a cove mouth off a flat. 3 hours later I just got tired as it was incredibly unreal. At one point I had 13 topwater cast in a row with a fish. At times a dozen would follow in the one I had hooked. I got to playing with the live scope and the little Keitech. I would see a group suspended at 15 ft. And throw just past them and see them eat it as I reeled it into the school. It was just totally fascinating. The bottom in spots on the flat was also covered and you could drag a C. rig thru them and catch one or at least get a bite every throw. Have no idea how many I caught but did catch 3 keeper walleye on the little swimmer. This gave me an idea so on the way home I put the boat in 25’ on 3 flat points and caught 3 more walleye 1 on each point. 6 walleye with 5 keepers. I kept one 20” and Becky and I had it for dinner with a fish sandwich left over. Good buddy also has a great day up the Kings on a white Jackhammer with a white fluke trailer. He said he had 3 keeper eyes on the durn J. Hammer out of the bushes and lots of nice keeper LM. He released the Walters along with the bass. I did not have many keeper bass, I think 5 out of all those I caught. 2 LM and 3 jaws. None were picture worthy. All slim and spawned out. Fish after fish of 13” to 14 7/8th.” K’s. Just a flat great day after the rain delay. Headed to Roaring River to hike a 5 mile loop and have lunch someplace. This is kind of fun. Good Luck

I knew that was a mistake when I did that 🤔🤔🤔🤔

Pete mentioned last week in his report the 6th. Sense Wake Shad. Theses have been out a while and discussed here. I just want to reiterate how well they work. That along with a 90 to 105 series Berkeley Chopo are really fool proof topwater fish catchers. We all have folks coming down that don’t fish much this time of year and those baits a really fool proof. Throw it out reel it in and don’t jerk and you have it. I have these set up on Medheavy 7’2” spinning rods with a good 2500/3000 series reel with 30/40/50 braid and your guests have a really easy way to catch them. Also doing fantastic on a 3/8th. Underspin up the James on the not as clear water. Clear water forget the spinner and just use a small swimbait really slow thru the bait or on the bottom. With this last rise we have caught some out of the bushes. Don’t go down a bank trying it. Points, secondary points and steep cuts. Your just wasting your time fishing down a bank. Water temps from 64 to 68 but rising. Shad and carp on the bank. Also got a report from a friend and his wife they are hammering the kitty’s on jig lines using perch. Channels and f. Heads. Good Luck.

Great report and nice fish. Thanks much.

I’m trying to🤗 I still have a few trips in the books and some obligations to previous sponsors. I also have some guys here on the forum I’ve been putting off that I need to get out there, that I just love fishing with. It’s pretty tough right now with the gas. Just pull the boat to the ramp, fish and put it up and you have spent over $100.00. Last week I did have a couple of days of the best topwater I’ve had in years. Stayed up for over 3 hours 2 days in a row.

Launched off H Hwy this morning at 4:38. I was 3 rd. Only about 15 rigs when I got back to the ramp. Guided the lower James today 21 fish 6 keeps nothing big. All on a Ftball jig

Great day. I fished the swim beach a couple days ago along with the flats between there and Baxter. Caught them like crazy on the 2.8” Keitech with boat in 30’. Also caught quite a few Gog’s on a split shot. Spoke to a guy flipping bushes and he had zero catches. I sat out 100 yrds. Behind him and caught 4 keepers between his boat and mine. He saw me catching and came out. He was throwing a white chatter bait in the bushes and a jig. Had caught almost nothing for the last 3 days. Check out Pete’s report and he tells you EXACTLY what’s going on. I mean EXACTLY…. Good Luck

Spent the nite in Joplin Rained all day yesterday and came home just now thru Aurora. Came down 39 and passed over Flat Creek. It looked like the Missouri River, running at lest 7’ to 10’ high.

Devan. CC is not a good place for Gog’s. I’m going to say old 86 C. Ground to point 9 on the White River. I will tell you it has NOT been a good year for Goggle Eye and this has been discussed here on the forum at great length. On a brighter note I did get all over them a couple of days ago on the flat across from Big Creek, which is notably up stream from where I mentioned as a cut off. I think I had 9 and was not targeting them in the least. I was fishing a split-shot rig with a 4 inch Yamamoto slim senko for bass. They were huge and I tossed them all back. Full of eggs and I believe they were spawning on that flat. Perhaps the Gog’s are just running late as the water is still mid 60’s. They were in the 12’ to 18’ depth range mixed in with the spotted bass. On another note, yesterday we caught spotted bass that were spawning up the Janes 8’ to 15’. Full of eggs with red tails and extended business. We were on a flat that was just covered with them, so they are still actively at work. And if you can go anywhere THIS year and catch them you are the man, as THIS year they have been EXTREMELY scarce. Good Luck.

Picked up my truck Thursday at Lebanon and drove to SPFG in a pouring rain. There are some pot holes in 44 you could lose a simi in. That Hwy. is a total disaster. It,s grooved also, and I’m guessing from Joplin to St. Louis needs a billion dollars plus to repair. Im staying off it from now on.

7:45am. Coming down so hard here at SK I can’t see the front of my deck. Wind and some pea size hail too i guess it’s monsoon season

I’m at Lake O. And like Wrench said we could see it lightning and hear it clear up here 150 mikes away. Unreal. Becky is at Shell Knob and said she has never seen rain like that for that long. 2 and a half hours of waves of rain. Glad we got to watch it from up here.

I have a clarification on the crappie harvest. 99% of keeper crappie are kept. Not 99% caught. I thought that sounded strange the way I wrote it. Back to grammar school🤪🤪 On another front Shane and his team are in the middle of a 2 year flathead study, with the results being very good. Totally under utilization of this hard fighting delicious fish. He told me divers are finding them in 75% of the structure they planted several years ago. I think we all pretty much suspected that. He also pointed out that yes they are stocking walleye in the James River if they have a surplus. I believe he mentioned 90,000.

Wow, haven’t seen that but I don’t do Facebook. I will say there are guide business cards all over the place that I have no idea who they are. Good thing I retired to make room for them. 🤪🤪🤪

Just simply a great post. Thank you. personally I was totally shocked to hear that 99% of keeper crappie were harvested each year in Table Rock Makes you wonder if any type of a flub up In nature with only a 1% cushion is mighty close. Of course that’s keeper, not total population. I think Shane told me they are keeper size in 2 years and have a life span of 7-8 years. I will say again the brush and shoreline is brimming full of bass fry.

That’s a pretty tough one. I think most folks are just pulling up on the ramps and letting their bow protectors rest on it. Word of caution remember all the riprap work the corps did around the ramps. You can really make a bruise on that stuff Good luck.

Thru current sampling both MDC and ANR I believe have thought the natural recruitment was enough to keep the fishery vibrant. These guys got it going so I’m not going to dispute their scientific findings quite yet as the numbers seem very strong for keeper, short and trophy walleye and I’m calling trophy 6 lbs. and up. Last year bass fishing my clients caught more short walleye than I’ve ever seen, and very few of that number were caught on live bait.

Becky and I have been hiking and walking a lot since January. I’ve gone from 205 to 176 pounds. Also been on a very low carb diet and limiting sweets. BP has gone from 140 over 90 to 122 over 76 so exercise and diet really help. Since we moved to Shell Knob we have been walking the old park at Big Bay. About a 1.5 Mile asphalt road thru the old camp ground. Point being several trails empty into the lake and I’m seeing just thousands of bass fry at any location that the trail hits the water. Looks like a monster hatch. We have also been hiking at Pilots Knob this is a 2.5 mile moderate hike with 3 pretty steep climbs. Trail is located on 39 Hwy. N. of Carr Lane about 2 miles on your East. Very expansive with fantastic rock formations and lots of nature. No water to cross. We saw 11 box turtles day before yesterday. We have also seen pig tracks, and black fur we believe to be bear. Not sure but have no other idea what it might be. Have only seen 3 sets of other hikers so it is a great hike for those interested We are going to explore some hikes in the Mark Twain National Forest but most you have to either cross or wade water Becky doesn’t like to get her tootsie wet If anyone would like to hike Pilot Knob with us give me a call we would love to have you We have been going early and I get to go first and get all the spider webs in my face🤪 Good Luck

MONEY!!!! Millions and millions of dollars.

Might have had another durn good recruitment year with the Kings and James being very hard to fish due to the high muddy water. I think they like lots of water going over their redds and it kept anglers from catching many females. Goes back to what Anderson, said keep 1, keep 2, eat them fresh, but don’t try and fill a freezer. The procession limit is really outdated and antiquated. Procession and daily should be the same according to Bill.