Bill Babler

When out this morning for a couple of hours prior to the wind event and front moving thru. Had calm water so I tried the Spro Fat Fly. This SM had about a 8 inch Crappie tail sticking out of its throat. Nother one in the same location. Boat setting in about 60' hanging the fly out of timbered bluffends. Caught this Small Jaw off a group of pole timber at the mouth of a pocket by point 5 Wind started to blow really hard and that was that. Good Luck

Funny story, when I went on the MSWP 40 years ago, we all took a detector test for fun at the MSHP academy. There was an FBI agent there teaching a class on some type of federal regulation in regards to interstate thief or something of that nature. He took it about 1/2 dozen times and lied his posterior off every time and passed with flying colors. Some of his answers to the questions made the entire room come apart laughing. We also had a guy in our class that had been a Officer on the KCPD and he knew how to handle it too. They asked this guy at least a dozen questions and he lied on everyone of them and they said he had told the truth on every question. Of course both of these guys were under no pressure and were relaxed as they knew they were messing with it.

Last year the Bill Beck memorial tournament had test. If you were in the top 3 or big fish you had to take it. It is quite different than it used to be. I took it and they placed an electrode on a band around your neck that covers your carotid. It is hooked to a lap top that makes reading from test or baseline questions. Even in this modern age of technology the test is only deemed 70 to 90 percent accurate as it compares your answers to your baseline questions and it can be flawed. A multitude of factors can cause it to be inaccurate. In some states it is not admissible in court. Where it is admissible it is not intended to solely convict or acquit but be a part of the puzzle which ever side you are on. As someone stated earlier if you fail it during a fishing tournament you still get paid. Probably won't be allowed to fish that circuit again but your still getting a check. It is used as more of a deterrent to prevent cheating than a legal means to punish for it.

Jerry McCutchen was that Truman Lake Hammer your thinking of, he was fishing with Sonny Chapin of Chompers ie Table Rock Bait Company. And, if memory serves me it was 26 lbs. plus. Dock, Thursday we were fishing it out in front of us and watching it come thru the water. You have to point the livescope transducer at it to see the bait. You can watch it fall to the correct depth, no guessing and see fish run at it. A friend that fished yesterday said he saw multiple fish come out of trees and just come from depth to look at it and then turn away. Don't always work, but you can for sure see them, if your pointed that way.

YES

Wish I had Panoptics, one of these days, its just a matter of time. Nope, I found these the old fashion way, I caught them there before.😄 From what i heard yesterday one of the guys that had a big bag said he would have never been able to catch them without Panoptics. I believe he was winding an A-rig deep right over the trees and could see the fish come out of the trees at the A-rig. I think he said with out the Livescope he would have been hung in the trees all day. Spoke to another guy fishing the same pattern and he caught a limit around 14 pounds the same way but using an underspin just over the trees. He did have Livescope but still lost about a dozen.Jewel under spins, and 2 A-rigs. Quite a few years ago here Brian Snowden won an event prior to the A-rig and underspin and won it the same way however he was cranking a DD22 thru the tree tops. He lost about a dozen of them, but he was totally sponsored by Bill Norman so it didn't cost him anything. Really and Dockit and Bo will back me on this, way prior to the Rig we have seen huge bags swimming mostly C-tail grubs thru deep trees this time of the year. It's been a pattern here since I can remember. It has just been refined with new baits and new electronic technology. I got lucky yesterday and did not lose any. If your just fun fishing and have to pay full price for your baits, some of these patterns just don't come into play for a normal recreational angler as with the price of baits today it is just flat to expensive. You have to wait a bit for the fish to get a bit more available and out of their Hiddy Holes and it won't be long.

Heard there were 128 boats in the AA derby today out of KC Winning string I believe was 23 lbs. I think second was 19 but not for sure. Get ready for the big one this coming weekend when BFL gets here, first part of the week. They will have probably close to 150 boats, I think in the past they have exceeded 175 boats. In a multi-day derby those Eagle Rock and above fish can come into play but that is a boat ride, especially if you don't find them. I presume they are going out of KC, if its State Park, you just about cannot get there from here. Good Luck

White River Outfitters Guide Service Eagle Rock Report Had to go home so I could catch a fish. Launched at Eagle Rock at 6:45 this morning and was not the first rig at the ramp. Surface temp at 47.8 water color was James River green with about 4' visibility, some folks would say just perfect and it was pretty perfect for me. Air temp was 22 degree when I started and both the reel and rod kept freezing for the first couple of hours. Didn't seem to matter as the LM were up just where should be. Bluffends, points in front of big spawning pockets and timbered transitions leading in to those pockets. Kind of like Dockit the other day, had a nice limit by 8:30 and these fish kept biting. Had one bluffend point that I caught 11 with 10 keepers off of. Most all fish with the exception of two keeps that were caught on a Pig Sticker with a Chompers twin tail were caught on the A-rig. 2.8 Keitech in Pro blue Red. Water was really slick and I tried the floater but no success. Also tried a jerker when it started to ripple a bit but nothing except A-rig fish. Bite started funny, as they would push it and it would also go slack. I was having a hard time until they started eating it. One of my shorts came as a double and while I tried to get that picture they both came off. Wanted to take it in the water but good luck with that. On one of the catches I had either 3 or 4 followers swimming below the caught fish, so for a change I was around them. Pretty sure they were all Bucks, just full of shad coming out both ends. Best one today was 3.60. Fished within 1/2 mile either side of the 86 bridge, and left them biting at 12:00 noon. Lots of boats and fishermen out, but nothing like the Dam/Kimberling area. I just don't think those fish were nearly as beat up as they are on this end. Every fish I caught was a LM and I had about 20 total. Surface temp at the ramp at noon was pushing 49 degree. Good Luck This post has been promoted to an article

Great fish and congrats for braving the temps and wind today. I guess in the morning its going to be Ice Water World.

We fished our tails off yesterday in the dam area 6 hours netted 3 keeps and a short. 2 rig and one deep keeper. It was really hard. Will be a Bugger out there next few days with cold and wind. Surface temps 43. I’m not going for a few days

Looked at the interweb and there were pic's of Bluebirds on Suet feeders everywhere so I guess I'm not special. I have 4 MDC Bluebird boxes out on 40 acres and they just won't rent them. They are made and hung according to their recommendations and nothing. They will nest in a hanging basket on the porch or under the Porta Coe in a grill, but nothing in the boxes. Nothing is using the boxes, I have had them up for 10 plus years and no birds nest in them, every year, clean as a whistle. About every year I will see males go into the boxes, especially the one just outside my boat shed. He goes in and then gets on top and flutters and calls and she then goes inside, stays a few seconds and then comes out and sits on the roof and POOPS. That's usually about the end of that. Seems pretty rude to me, but she had made her decision.

I'd just buy the Fuego or the Exit, and yes I'm just filling the spool up with the line I'm using. I only use 4 different lines on my spinning reels and this is just me so I'm not trying to cause a controversy. I use mostly Maxima but do use some BP Excel. I use Excel in 4 and 6 lb. and I use Maxima in 5lb and 8 lb. Maxima does make a 3 lb. but I have not used it. One of the main reasons I don't use backing is when using the smaller reels, the 1 and 1.5 and 2000 series is I can pretty much if need be throw all the line on the reel, and any splice or knot can be a problem regardless of how well I make it. On my Stella's which are 2500 series spooled with 6lb. on a 7'2" Falcon I can throw it to the knot, so again I don't splice. Caught the big fish on Excel in 4lb. green. It is good line and really inexpensive which usually does not belong in the same sentence. I go thru a ton of line and have close to 70 spinning reels spooled so if it works to my expectations price does matter to me. I use the Maxima on my bass stuff, as the 5 lb. Maxi for swimbait's and ned's is super strong and will throw a country mile. It also costs a load of money, it is a very expensive line. Maxima for years has been know as a base line in the aspect that all others were judged by it.

We had an Eastern Blue Bird on the suet feeder this morning, first time I have ever seen this. Has anyone else seen Blue Birds on suet?

I send both my Shimano's and Daiwa's in for factory service. I have also in the past had Bass Pro clean them. They have in the past 2 years gone into the bucket however and I no longer let them service mine. At the time of the binding however both the tech's for BP in Springfield and the Tech's for Shimano in Irivine California told me it was a lube problem. As I said after the fix I had zero issues, and both companies will return broken or worn parts with the reels. Never returned any parts and to this day I have between 8 and 12 that are still in service that were purchased in the 2005 to 2010 time frame. These were purchased with my Pro discounts thru Orvis as travel outfits and came with Orvis take down spinning rods, which are also excellent and we have used them in Alaska for years, so I know my time frame. I'll call Irvine and speak to a tech today about the gear issue and see what he says. If it was that now that it is no longer a issue I'm sure they will tell me.

The Shimano's have not had a problem in the last 10 plus years. They did bind when wet back in the early 2000's but have been more than perfect since. This was caused by a initial gear lube that just did not like water and caused them to stick when wet. If people that had those would have taken them in and had them PROFESSIONALLY cleaned and relubed they would have had no further problem, as it was never a mechanical issue. I'm still using a 1/2 dozen or so I bought back then. their drag is without a doubt butter. The Ci4 is the top of their Stradic line and it will last you a lifetime. On most of my bass gear I'm using Shimano Stella's and some Stradic's. I got a great deal on the Stella's. As far as trout gear, most every reel I have now is a Daiwa Fuego either 1000 series or 1500 series. This is a $110.00 reel and the drag is smooth as silk to the extent it had no problem landing a 40 pound brown trout 4 lb. test main line and on 3 pound test tippet. If your going to spend a hundred plus, the only reels to chose from are Daiwa or Shimano. Everybody else is fighting for consolation.

Hope he has it by then. Michael is still waiting

We have close to 3000 sq. ft. of windows that stretch up to 30 ft. in one section on the East side of the Lodge, just impossible to put stickers on them.

Wood Peckers are still here. Robins have vacated. Had an accident yesterday with one of the Peckers, as he hit the french door at full tilt. Somewhat stunned but he took back off after about 30 minutes of head clearing time. I simply cannot keep the feeders full. Going to have to get a part time job at TSC to keep in bird feed.

This is our 16th. year coming up and this morning I had a balmy 6 degree. That is one of the coldest days we have had here in the last 16 years. Might have been colder in other locations around the area, but that is just as cold as we have seen it for Valentines Day. According to the records I could find for Blue Eye, the last time it was colder on this date was on Feb. 14, 1981. Bundle Up.

Beaver Lake N. Arkansas is fantastic, with the metroplex close by dining and shopping are everywhere along with just about any entertainment that a person wants. Beautiful seasons and not severe Winters. As far as the Branson, Table Rock Lake area, there is plenty of real estate available completely around the lake, from Branson to Kimberling City to Cape Fair to Shell Knob. You just have to decide on the lake area you wish to live and the amenities you want close by. Most all, are just minutes from medical, groceries and dining. My wife and I just loved the Beaver Lake area and considered it when building our Lodge. I however needed to be close to Taneycomo for work and to tell the truth property on the Rock at that time was at least 1/3 rd. less than on Beaver. From what we keep hearing from our Arkansas guests at the Lodge, and I tend to like to look at real estate mags. right now Beaver is maybe in some instances even 1/2 again higher than the Table Rock area. And, probably justly deserved. Everytime I get to fish that beautiful lake I just say Wow.

Who needs Garmin Panoptics? Great job.😃

That perch is beautiful. Does anyone know if the one that Vince Elfrink caught is still the record?

I forget what derby it was but it was the year the A-rig hit the Rock. It was out of Mill Creek, and I believe Buster Loving and his partner had 26 pounds and just edged out the Fann brothers. Not sure about that and may be off, but there were like 4 or 5 bags over 20 pounds that day. Total Monsters.

Back in the day the Fann Brothers one with a jerk bait and the other with a C-tail grub were the team to beat. Now days, the A-rig has kind of taken that bite over. Those boys are still good, but the and I say this with a grain of salt the "modern A-rig chunkers" have taken center stage, and really as far as tournament fishing, its not close.