Bill Babler

Dan, you are a glutton for punishment. Unless you are A-Mart, the bite at the dam is getting pretty good, but its from 5 to 9 in the morning. After that have breakfast and do yard work or play golf, cause its is all but OVER FOR US COMMON MORTALS.

I kind of hate to see cell coverage being the determining factor on where to fish. That’s going to leave out a bunch of very good ponds

👍🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩👌

Exactly Bo. As you know most folks sit inside where I fish. And, thats a good thing. I always giggle when folks ask me about a fin bite. I know you have some and I'm for sure Champ and Dock have some, but to tell the truth, there are very few fishermen that have any perfect fins. Tim Hughes I'm sure has some, Buster, Sainato , Robbie Dotson,and a few of the old timers, Collier and i bet Tindle, Kelley Powers, Rick Holmgren, Brian Ward and Dan Langly. maybe Mike Sauters. Tindle probably sold his.

No I have not. Most has been on commercial and big docks. Not what I'm looking for with guide clients. There was a Gizzard spawn early on the bank, but thats long gone.

Mojorig, Beck and I had the chance to buy 4 cases of them for 200 bucks. That was 48 jointed fins. Beck tuned a fin better than anyone. We ended up with 6 if I remember right. I still have two of them. They are without a doubt the most frustrating lure in existence, no doubt. If you are blessed and have one that works it is simply a thing of beauty and no topwater bait is even in its league on the White River impoundments.

Agree 100% on the hook deal Randy. I do also have jointed that run perfect but they are even harder to tune. I think I may have 1/2 dozen of them also that run absolutely perfect. But, there is a caveat with them, they must be reeled at perfect speed and the rod tip must be adjusted as the bait nears the boat. They are simply deadly also, but you need to concentrate to fish them.

At least 20 yrs. old. I have about 1/2 a dozen just like it. The new ones are clear plastic under the paint. You cannot paint them. We have tried and it will simply not work, as any paint adds weight. These baits are so special and they have just gotten that way thru time and hundreds of catches. One of the old time locals here was working with one of the MLF guys last September and was offered $ 250.00 each for his. they are about the same age as mine and look similar. He would not sell any and knew I had some. The guy called me and asked for them, but I would never part with any of them. Way to much history. Mine are tuned to perfection and run straight and true at any speed. They are truly special baits and I have gone thru dozens to get the few perfect ones that I have. On another note those baits with that set up are so dangerous to fishermen that I'm really half scared everytime I unhook a fish. Got caught bad last year and it happened so fast I could not believe it. If your by yourself I really don't know if you should use it. Fish just flipped off and it jumped up and caught me with all 3 more than barb deep. If a fish is still hooked on one of the hooks and you get stuck with one of the loose hooks you are in serious trouble.

Fish, your a better man than me for sure. By looking at a lake map there seems to be several locations to fish on Bull Shoals. The MLF guys have really done me a favor. Every Tom, Dick and Harry right now is dragging his skag on the bottom trying to coax 1.5 pounders out of heavy bushes. We'll just set out and catch them where they live and not get hung up every 3 minutes. When I pulled over on 19 Jeff said, "wasn't there are guy just fishing this?" I said, "Not really."

White River Outfitters current Mid-Table Rock Lake fishing report Sunday, May 26 6 AM On the Rock Point 19 Had one of the best days of the year today, not only because the fishing was simply unreal, but my client Jeff was a long time Table Rock Lake, ie Ozarks Lake's fishermen. He had great stories from the late 60's and 70's. Jeff had fished Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Taney when he was in his early teens with Rex Grady, staying at Lake Shore Resort. He had also fished the Rock with the Fletcher's out of Devils Dive and floated the Kings River many times out of DD Resort. Nice dark Table Rock Jaw on a Red Fin Launched this morning in what I thought was perfect timing and was wrong. We pulled away from the H hwy. dock at 5:15. I t was going to fish the swim beach at Baxter but there were 2 boats on it. Next was the point going out of the Indian's on the left. Boat on it. Went to the buoy point up the White across from Red Barn, boat on it. Next was Red Barn 3 boats on it. Next was 19, boat on it. Next the Old Road Bed point. Success. LM like topwater too Fin bite was savage with the boat in 25' throwing across the point. We caught 9 here, all keepers and they just crushed it, to the point of being scary. Guy on 19 had vacated so I bogged over there and we caught 6 on it. All short but again they hammered it. Zoomed back to the road bed and bang a nice jaw on the fin and then switched to the Keitech. 3.3 with a 1/4 oz. head in either Rainbow Shad or Pro Blue. I'll be durned fat Kentucky's eat Red Fins also. It really never slowed down. I jumped a bit and we threw the fin on each new location, but the Keitech never stopped getting bit. Most locations we would catch at least 6 with a combination of just about every fish that swims in the lake. Fished 5 gravel runnouts this morning between point 19 and point 16 with no bad stops. Hitting the Road Bed twice early looking for fin fish. Walleye prefer swimbaits to Red Fins Boat today was most often in 25' but did hit 35' several times. Most fish in 12 to 20 ft. Fat 10 inch bluegill on a 3.3 Keitech. We caught several they seemed to be about 15' deep Total of 17 topwater fish as we caught a nice K on the last cast on a fin. Probably 25 down fish on the swimbait and did not see any drop shot fish what so ever. Baits were pretty simple for us today. We used two. Surface temps at 74-76 degree water is clearing fast. This post has been promoted to an article

Aunts Creek on a Holiday weekend is EXTREMELY busy. Try around the mouth of the White up to point 16. Watch where the guide boats are fishing. Try Topwater on the hump T point 9 and then a jig or Ned. Fish from 5:30 till 8:30. Good luck

Even right now my boat is never under 25' Guides caught them great this morning, most in 15 to 20 feet on a jig and a swimbait. To fish that depth your boat has to be 25 to 30 ft. and that puts the fish 1/2 way back. Most are on gravel and long runnouts. They were also chasing on the same locations. There are also starting to be some bottom drop shot fish, but most are relating to timber. Again look in the same depth range or go out off the bluffends and find timber with the tops in the 20 to 30 ft. range and use your electronics to see if the wood is holding fish. If your trying to repeat the MLF patterns good luck with that.

Fantastic fish

Randy we are going to miss you something fierce. God Bless you and your family and come see us and read the forum from time to time.

Well said.

Stone kept saying that Table Rock was 30 to 50 miles long also. He needs to get out his tape measure. I believe in reading the charts at the visitors center starting at the Youcum/ Long Creek split to Beaver dam is 102 miles. That is what they are counting as the length of Table Rock Lake. If you throw in going up the James just to point 15 and up the Kings to the 86 bridge you are talking about a bunch, bunch more miles. From what I saw they seem to have fished from the Arkansas line up Long Creek, to Bears Den up the James to Viola up the Kings and not really any up the White past the mouth of the Kings. From Gage's to the mouth of the Kings River it is right at 50 miles.

He exclusively used Morning Dawn. Yamamoto 4 in. purple cuttail has been the standard for years. Morning Dawn is the new kid on the block and really came on hard last year. One of the anglers that represents another soft plastic company was using the Purple 4in cuttail and not telling the truth. This always really aggravates me, but they do it all the time. Lying for the all mighty dollar. I used to fish 2 circuits back in the day with a guy that was represented by Strike King. Everytime he mentioned a Strike King product on either the radio or in print he would get $50.00 bonus. We never fished Strike King a single minute and he mentioned it countless times. I got sick and tired of it and told him, either he fished what he said or I was going to rat him out. We stopped fishing together. This was way before Beck and I started tournament fishing. Beck was just the opposite he would tell what we caught them on and where we caught them. Never heard him say the slightest of a fib to anyone. If you don't want to tell, just keep your mouth shut, and don't fib about it for money.

One of the things I hear more than anything from clients is that "I fished when I was a kid and I was pretty good." I always know when I hear that, it's going to be a long day. Even though both professional fishermen and guides are in somewhat the same business, I cannot do what they do and for the most part they cannot do what I do. They Catch fish. For the most part most pro-fishermen cannot guide worth a hoot. They know fish are there to be caught and really do not understand why you cannot catch them. I think Evers said, now is the time to bring kids to Table Rock. I don't know a lot of 10 yr. olds that throw a square bill within inches of cover and when they miss a fish flip a jig under it and catch the fish. I think they lose track of how good they really are and to try and put kids into jerkbaiting, dock and bush flipping and bank running a square bill is not a remedy for success. Dropshotting is a different matter. Without the 3 footers that Martins was fishing is the way to get them catching them, or dragging a ned or swimming a keitech. They for sure can get you around them, but its hard for them to make it easy for others to catch. Now I'm in the fishing business and fish everyday and their skill level is so far above me I cannot even touch it. Let along folks that fish once a month or even once a week, that want to flip bushes and shoot docks.

Wheeler was absolutely amazing with that Spook. We all can fish it but there is not a guy here than can drop it in the places he did with that type of speed and accuracy. Charlie Campbell in his day could fish a spook better than anyone, but Charlie did not have that type of ability to drive nails with it. For one he did not have to. Pete had some guys watching last week and kept wanting him to get them to the bushes. He tried several times and told them they couldn't do it. Did not go over well but you simply cannot be hung up cast after cast. I think Hackney or one of the bush flippers said if you can't play checkers with it stay out of the bushes there are better options. One of my best options is to see them chasing and throw a Fin in the middle of the fray.😂

What they do and what we CAN do are two very different things. A good fisherman friend and I were talking about it last night. Montgomery and Rose were pitching bladed jigs under pontoons on lifts and skipping them in a 6" gap 25 ft. Hackney was flipping stuff that most of us would have been caught up every single cast and Martins was fishing deep cedars with tops out to 35' and not getting hung in the tree. I will tell you with any amount of practice I'm not that good period. Just do not have that ability.

The last couple of years it has been really mossy and held moss into June. As far as the deep trees out there that he was targeting that is a different deal. Man the wind and waves were severe out there and he hung in and caught them off point one. Early he was on the buoy point and I think he said he had 40 lbs off it. At times there are as many as 3 guide boats at a time working it, so he is very fortunate to have had it to himself. Great win and I would have bet money that the dam would not have came into play in this deal. I think it broke the back of everyone else that tried to fish it.

Ya think Point 1 and the buoy point across from Chateau might get a little more attention now. As he said he fished community holes and there is a reason they are that. They hold fish.

Redfin are a subject that has been discussed on here many, many, many times. I will tell you I have probably 50 plus and only a handful are useful. Will let the guys chime in and then add anything that might help. I’m sure you can find several huge blogs on them

About an inch here in the last hour at Blue Eye. Lots or really strong wind however. The MLF tournament is on weather delay as I write this.