Bill Babler

Brian, a few years ago we were fishing during 4 generators and 2 guys passed me in a rig just like that. They had high bass seats mounted on top of the already raised seating in a 14' richline. I told my clients if they go to the dam, they are going to get in trouble. Four generators were running so hot that the concrete anchors and the side walk were under water at Cooper Creek launch ramp. Within 30 minutes, here came the sirens, and the water patrol. They had gone almost to the cable, and thrown out a concrete block on a chain over the bow to anchor them. Whtinesses said when the boat hit the end of the chain it catapulted the guy in the back about 15 ft. over the bow. At the time Jerry was the dock hand at Lilleys' and I believe he went up and saved their boat and motor, and a tackle box or two. They were saved but for the life of me, these were grown men in there 60's, you would think that between the two of them there would have been one brain cell.

That question, whould probably be better for Tim Paige. He is probably throwing it now. I'll tell you this. 3 years ago the first of March I took my wife out 1 Sunday afternoon. She likes to go and fish a little but hates to cast. She has just about as much fun watching me, and just being there. Making a long story short, I told her how I was going to catch a bunch on a stickbait and she could watch. I caught 1 right off the bat and she asked if I would just give her something to drag around, she didn't care if she caught any or not, she just wanted to play. I never caught another fish and she caught I believe 8 or 10 dragging that Dr. She was dragging in about 12 to 20 feet, and they were for sure on the bottom. Probably why the stick was not to exciting. I probably should have switched to a jig, but that would have been giving in. The water was for sure in the low 50's and she was dragging on some long flat points infront of spawning coves. I never switched to the Dr. as I am too stuborn. She kicked my rear.

You guys are a bunch of loosers!!!! However let me say, that from mine and Bill Beck's last couple of trips, we may want to hire all of you for guide service. Bill has had 3 bites and I caught a trophy smallie that was just over 6 inches. Freak, I blame this all on you. I bragged all over on your shaky head expertise and the skunk has befallen all of us. Get your butt out there and catch some fish and get us all off the snide. Next week we will put the hammer on em. Good Luck. Hey, you Table Rock Freaks, the brown trout are eating it up on Taney, get over there and see what a fish over 15" looks like.

Fish, You may have read what happened to Sk and I up there last week, and it wasn't pretty. Massive drop in water temp along with high skys and High pressure makes it tough where ever you are. Beck called yesterday, and said his last two days he had 3 bites. Thats the rock. If Beck is only getting 3 bites, the rest of us are indeed in trouble. Before the cold snap, we were lighting them up at ER. Buddy of mine caught them good today on the Stick however. They were not on the bank, but on pole timeber at least 30' off. Refer to an article by administration on late winter and spring fishing, where I refer to bass Hiways. They were right in the middle of the road. If the wind and the temp, cooperate next week should really get it started. They will be on the transitions where the channel meets the bank and were bluff goes to chunk and where chunk goes to gravel. Wind is still almost a must this time of the year. If you don't have a good chop, my advice is to stay home. If it is sunny, and the surface temp is rising, with a good chop, you should get nipped. Good Luck

Boy's I have a question? What is a steelback minnow? I had several experenced gentlemen that were in there early 80's, tell me of using these minnows in the 1930's and 1940's They were one of the favorite baits for the float outfitters, of the day, along with craw-daddy's. Are they slicks, or chubs?

Boy's this was just flat one of those day's you never forget. Hit the cable about 8 Am, with long time client and friend Bill Nicum, from St. Louis. We were straight lining 1/32 oz. white jigs from the cable to clay banks, and it was 8 to 12 fish per drift. Most all were 17inch and above, with loads of browns. They were running three very gently and the drifts were just amazing. We saw a lot of the takes as the fish seemed to take the jig in all columns of the water from surface to bottom. Ouite a few shad coming thru, but more seem to be on the Table Rock side of the dam. As I was going home across the dam there were at least 50 gulls diving on the Table Rock face. I like to drag the jig, most times, but today they were wanting it without drag, casted to either end of the boat and allowed to free drift. The takes were vicious, as they slammed the slack out of the line. This pretty much continued until around 11 am when they kicked on the number 4 generator.. The fish didn't like the extreme flow and slowed down to about 4 per pass. By noon, the flow tempered and they bite pretty well till we quit at 1. If there is anyway you can get down here now is the time. We haven't seen this in about 7 yrs. The last time it was this good, Phil and I guided Brent Frazee the Outdoor writer for the KCSTAR. We had a monster trip that he talks about to this day. Here are some photo's all the browns are different fish, but they look like they were cookie cut. When you hooked these browns, they would catapult from the water. Several flipped in the air like a dolphin. Extreme stuff, enjoy.

I believe the long boats he was referring to were the home made plank and wooden river john's made by Owen's and the early river float company's. Gentlemen this has been a great experence and the contributions have been fantastic. I however have spent so much time at this computer, I have neglected some of the duties I have here at the lodge. It has been pointed out by the innkeeper, my wift. I also have guide trips and maby, just maby a little fishing to do. I've got to take a bit of a leave, but will keep all of you in mind. God bless each and everyone, I will still post on my guiding activities, but the boss has complete cut off any projects that take lots of computer time, and research. Sincerely Bill Hope you have enjoyed this as much as I did working on it.

Guys, Please take a look at the post on the Table Rock Bass forum. topic dated 2/12 2/15 Topic title SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BOAT AT HOME. Check out post no. 13. These are the enemy we are battling as far as the consumption of walleye eggs and fry, according to MDC. If you have a hankern for fish, make sure to put these little nubile nibblers on your plate. We need a bumper sticker, EAT A GREEN SUNFISH, SAVE A WALLEYE.

Caddis,in reguards to your question on the Black, I would assume the river had a migratory and a resident population, as it is the basic same water shed as the Current River that is populated. The confluence of the Black and White occurs at Jacksonport Ark. Any fish that would be associated with the Missippi dranage I would think whould have populated this river. I have found 6 or 8 websites that may reveal this information, but they are all pay per view sites. Some of you may have encountered this. The largest percentage of my piece was just general information I could get from word of mouth or gleam free on the web, and from biologist, newspapers, and sporting magizines, and the best being word of mouth by guys that were fishing in the 1940's. There has been some indepth research done on not just the walleye, but all indigenious fishes. This for the most part is pay information. Biotanical Information on the four seperate eco-zones in Arkansas is available in several different formats, all pay per view, with probably the most comprehensive By Mathews and Robison, on the Distribution of Fishes in Arkansas. The Book is $50.00, but I bet it can be found in one of Arkansas public librarys. For that matter, I bet I can order it from our library. I am for the most part very interested in old fishing stories like the ones that Tight, has presented. Our main focus has been the Powersite region, or the Missouri Population of the White ie Bull Shoals. My great interest is were they there and how did they catch-em. As far as evidence of walleye in the tributaries of the White, I had a hard enough time really finding out if and how many were in the upper White from Mountain Home to Branson. Have you found evidence of Walleye in the Black as far as people catching them in the early 1900? All this is very interesting, and I am not as I said before an expert. I just found out what I could and hoped others would add information that I was not able to find. Which has been the case Good Luck on your quest.

Say what you will, however i felt the point of the blade. We will definately have to give those tight lipped skunks another dose of our great fishing ability next week. Look at it this way, we probable can't do much worse. I may be making a walleye run, you interested? Give me a call. You know its not to long till Fish Dr. time. Keep your ear to the water and see if you hear anything about the Kings. It may be worth a voyage up there, to check out the walleye. We'll use your boat as I hear it is impervious to stumps.

Priceless, to say the least. That's the kind of stuff that make this one of the best fishing forums in the country.

I don't remember what I guessed, but I must have gotten it right. By the way, they won't tell you the questions you missed, you just have to jot down any you are having trouble with and look them up. Mrs. McDucky, I have a duel major in Education and Recreation Administration. When I design a test it is to test the knowledge of the material presented in class along with any gleamed from the reading the text. I always wanted to make sure the gist of the material was digested. This test is like none other in the fact there will be a question that will pertain to nothing to do with anything, and there is always 4 correct answers for any question. No question is ever black and white, all the answers are always grey, with one maby a twinge darker than its litter mates. It is absolutely the most unfair exam I have ever taken. But I passed the sucker. Come to think of it. I dont' believe it is C as you do not have to wear the work jacket if you are in the wheel house or below deck.. Look it up and let me know. There are always a question or two on Work Jackets.

Hey!!! SK, you had to be referring to our last outing. I did catch one unsubstaniated dink. Tech. If you found flip flops in the water at this time of year, someone needed to have sunk. The only boat in destress we have heard of lately, is on upper bull, with the bow sticking out. Haven't see it yet but if it rains the latter part of the week, I'm going to go over early one morning and try the walleye.

PO. Well catch a few for ya, while were putting on our sun screen.

The White is a major tributary of the Missippi and the Missouri is also a tributary of the Missippi. Both the Missouri and the Missippi, not to mention the Grand have had walleye since recorded fishing records, They would have had to have been native of the White, like Fox said you just wonder how plentiful. Early catches by Tight's dad, plus the 29 catch and the gigging activity, most certainly prove, the old River Jacks were there before the dam, and up on our end of the White River System. Without a doubt, the dam concentrated these fish and made them more accessable to anglers in that time. With the stocking and the management practices we currently have underway we are very blessed to have this fantastic fishery. Tight, your dad for sure was a Jack Salmon Master. Not to give away any scerets, but how did he like to fish for them? What was his best time of year? Are you still using the same techniques you learned as a boy, or have you changed your approach to catching em? I know you have a ton of stories we would all love to read. Could you give us one of your favorite fishing stories? This is great stuff, thanks to all the contributors.

Rats!!! I got caught!!!

LWW, The bait seems to be in the 40 to 50 ft. range. Try deep windblown pockets and the end of major lake flats when looking for either suspended bait or K's. Some of the locals are saying the bait is getting harder to find, and when found, very little fish activity on it. Best reprorts have been Bluff Ends up the White River from Twin Rivers to Eagle Rock. If the wind and the warm, keep on, I think next week will really start to open things up. I Believe SK, is still hitting fish shallow on a Jig, where the water is still off colored. In the clear stuff, throw that rogue on both the bluff ends and transition banks. Long flat point in front of major coves with any ripple or wind on them should start producing. Purple top white bottom on the rogue seem to be a very nice color, but as the water warms they will get on either a pointer or Xrap, in either white or tablerock shad. Let us know how you do.

Techo, Thanks for the river report, we don't seem to get a lot of posts, from Cape Fair and that area. I believe SK will come on here before long and give a Kings River and White River report, and i don't believe he tore them up either. Said the water was still in a chill. Ha Ha

Freak, I think SK might have gone, he was talkin the talk to me on Friday afternoon. Fisherman, don't let a little shallow water stop ya. AS soon as you round the last bend past Holiday Island, hang to your right, as the flat on the Holliday Island Side goes about 3/4 of the way across the lake in that location. You can stay on that bank or move to the middle of the channel, when the old Railroad bridge comes into sight. Then just basiclly stay in the middle. You just caught the edge of that flat. It is amazing how far it comes out. Where it dumps into the channel on the flat side is a good place to troll for the eye's. Watch for locals as they are sure to be out. They are still catching them but it is a very defined fishery. 1 hr. before sunrise to about 7 am and then 1 hr before sunset till a hour or so after dark. My buddy that lives at bevertown says zip during the day. He fished yesterday, and had 1 short eye, and 1, 3 lb. Largemouth, trolling the flat in front of the swim beach, and the beavertown hotel.

Yes, we did see shad in the water. At first I thought someone had thrown several cigarette butts, in all together as they were floating in a group. Just exactly the size of a butt. I was going to pick them,up and when we drifter over, they were very small shad, still alive and kickin. Starting watching the area a little closer, and saw several groups of these really small shad, just crappie minnow size floating mostly from the cable to the ramp. Every trout we caught coughed up shad and my boat looks like a gull roost. Some of the trout had very large shad that were still coming out of their mouth. They liked the white jigs just as well. It has been my experence, that just the right ammount of shad is a few. If you get the big rafts coming thru, the trout get much harder to catch. If I can see one here and one there, and the trout are coughing them up, thats the correct reciept.

Lilley, always put the bite on me, and prussure also, did you notice his post, Babler will Post. Ok, Ok, got out of the house even though Becky had a dozen breakfasts to serve on her own. I think that builds character. First guide trip in a while and it felt great and also blessed to be out on such a glorious day. Fished a couple of fantastic kids, I say kids, 25 plus years old. They all look young to me. Motored up and drifted from the cable to the ramp, and it was GOOD. Half day trip, starting late netted us about 40 really nice bows, and browns. I believe we had 9 browns and the rest were the red strip fish. My gal was not a caster, so she dragged an egg pattern for a bit but couldn't get her a nip. Brice was a really good fisherman, and handled the 7' St Croix with ease. Brice used a 1/32 oz. white marabou jig, and I really had not had a chance to get Beca in the water before he had one on. The White jig was the ticket drifted in about the medium colume of the water. Could get no takers on the egg, so switched to dragging a 64oz. jig on the drift rig, and kept loosing it. Switch to a red san-juan worm in size 8 and the browns loved it. It was pretty much a 50/50 trip after I got the drift rig figured out. Becca, also caught some really nice rainbows on the San-J. Hope this keeps up as that was a really nice way to kick off the start of the season.

Looking at those diary pages has to put a lump in your throat. I didn't even know the man, but I'm sure I would have been a beter person if I had. Thank you so very much for sharing them with us. I think the eye's he was catching, had to be the Old River Jack's that Charlie speaks of. Catchin them in the mid-50's was not like picking apples, but if you knew how, you could get some real dandies. Where were these River Jack's before the lake went in? Why didn't the old float trips catch-em. I believe they were there and people gigged them during March when they went up the creeks to spawn. Do you think there were just so few and scattered out, is the reason that no one caught them on a pole and line, and only when they would concentrate and run up the creeks were the only time people could find them? I just don't know. I do know they were there, and after the lake dammed folks, got on them in a hurry. You know, with all the stuff I asked the biologist, I forgot to ask about growth rates, from fry, to fingerlings, to how long to adulthood. Rex said he has no proof of it, but a creel checker in the early 60's told him taney was being stocked on the lower end at that time with walleye. I found no stocking other than 1955 on Bull and the flood of 57 on thru Table Rock. However Table Rock has a very long history of stocking walleye. That's another story. My neighbor, Wilma, has fantastic photo's, and her son said he would put some on a disc for me to share. Millions of gallons of water pouring over powersite, a complete dry lake bed on Table Rock and picture of the dam and how high the water had gotten before they let it all out. Great Stuff Tight, See if you can stir the pot over there, and find out something before the lake went in. That's where I'm having my trouble getting information. From 1958 thru 1970, a man could write a book on the info. I guess I pretty much have. You can tell its winter and the guide business is slow.

Yes, there are several variations, of the 6-pack. There is the White River Region, There is also a Missippi delta Region, for inland waters only. No gulf operation. And there is a Northern Mississippi region, that covers the upper Miss and Great Lakes. This test, is by no means easy. I was rules of the road and operations instructor for the MIssouri State Water Patrol for 4 years, and I didn't pass the test the first time I took it. You have two trys before you have to repeat the entire process. The testing officer told me the test was not designed to test your knowledge, but to weed-you-out. All the questions were trick, and had multiple good answers, you just had to pick the best of the good. There are 5 different exams that are basicly the same, and they rotate these to make sure no one has all the a, b, or c's coppied for the next guy. You had better know all the lighting, weather and flag signals for every length of water craft, plus tons of barge information. I had at least 5 questions on barge operation from lighting to weather, to navigational aids, to fire retardants and the different extinguisher laws for each size vessel. Here's a good one A work Jacket must be worn when? A. A barge is loading B. When a barge is off loading C. Anytime a barge is underway D. During nightime operation. My question, was what in the heck is a work jacket, I didn't know. I didn't require the lic. when I was taking my guide trips in Alaska, as I was on a non-motorized raft. I was checked however by USCG and had not only my Alaska business permit, but also my White River Region 6-pack lic. They looked at it and never questioned me. In my 16 years of full time guiding here, they have been here 3 times. The first was after the big accident with the guide on TAble Rock, the second, after the Arkansas duck accident and then again the next year.

Drunk, I haven't had to guide down on that end for a spell, but usually that is the best place on the lake for hardware. Phil and I fished it a couple of times last year at about this time for bass, and all the trout fisherman, were just putting the hurt on them trolling and casting cleo's. We caught several on stickbaits as well. From the Pothole to Swan, several people have posted trout are the ticket, right now in upper Bull. When ever we go after the eye's we always catch way more trout, on the jerkbaits. Good Luck

Silver Mallard, was absolutely right on. Fantastic citing of the USCG rules. For some reason, the guys in Arkansas Don't think they need the Licenses, when My Lic. say's navigatable white River inland waters restricted. Who knows why the the USCG has chosen not to patrol or enforce the navigatable waters in Arkansas. And believe you me they are covered as the White drains into the Mississippi. If you don't think you will ever get caught, you can ask Tim Sainato. He was one step from being cuffed and thrown in jail because of an expired lic. The fine is $5,000.00 and denied permission to reinstate the lic. for a 5 yr. period, with 1 year imprisonment. After a court battle with the government, and lawyer expenses, Tim was Fined $1,000.00, and no jail time. Silver Mallard is Right as Rain, concerning the insurance. The Arkansas state lic., means nothing. Without that federal lic., any kind of an insurance clain is fradulant and not payable by the insurance company. I have asked about Arkansas. I spoke to the head of Western Rivers enforcement officer, and he said their day will come, and when it does, it won't be pretty. I have been involved in guiding and fishing across the entire US, and Arkansas, for some reason, Arkansas, thinks they are exempt from the rules the rest of the us have to follow. All the Missippi, Alabama, Louisana, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennesee, and Misssouri Guides are not exempt. No offence at all ment for the hard working guides in Arkansas, it just seems funny they do not need a lic, when the rest of us do. They also come to taney, and that is where there going to get caught. Taney, Table Rock and Lake of the Ozarks seem to be the hot beds for the USCG, not the Coast Guard Aux, But the big boys that can get you. Alot of times they are undercover as was with Tim's case. You can also talk to Bob Cline as he had a fierce run in. He was right, but they nit-picked him to pieces. Most of the guides don't realize that you must keep that lic. on board any time you are taking passengers for hire. Even if you have it and its not on board, you for sure are going to get cited period. As any government agency, there is no leway, the law is enforced as it is written. Great Post by the Mallard