Bill Babler

Huge thumbs up.

I just usually get to Beaver a time or two a year, but Bull Shoals works the same way as the Rock. You can sit out off the long runs and kick their tail. for the next month on a swimbait. People started doing this here in the 80's and 90's. most throwing a C-tail grub, or for that matter a jerk bait. Lots of pre and post spawn fish swimming out there simi-deep. With the water clarity we have right now you can easily catch them with any kind of wind on a jerk bait with your boat in 30' If they are in 15 to 20 either suspended or on the bottom they will come and get it. Best bet however is to swim it right to them using a grub or a swimbait. This is just about as far from power fishing as a Ned rig. This is just not as easy as it sounds, I have had years of practice teaching this. I'm sure both Bo and Dock especially Dock does this a lot. Bo can but prefers other methods and there are many. Pete Wenners told me today it's for sure a great way to catch them but he just hates doing it. It can take a big portion of your time during the trip to just get the folks fishing it correctly or maybe they never get it. It is a method that for every fish my clients catch, I could catch 5. I'm a pretty sucky fisherman, but this is kind of my deal. I have mastered over the years being able to follow the contour of the bottom from shallow to deep and be able to reel and PULL the bait keeping it in the strike zone for a longer period of time than the majority of my guests. I will not fish 99% of the time when we are doing this as they will bite me and its just not fair. Dave Wiebenga gave a nice report on this earlier today. Being able to know the kind of stuff the staging fish are on is important and a lot of times there are just a couple there. At other times its loaded. I had a good friend and client last week that just watched me. He said he had no idea you could move it that slow without it hitting the bottom. Today Phil Stone's client the last few minutes of the day said, " gosh durn Phil I think I have it after 4 hrs." Phil told me his first words to them were to move the bait slow and the last words to them after 4 hrs. were to move it slower. Bill to your question, most derby fishermen are not going to fish like this. its hard to fish that slow on the derby clock. I Had the best teacher on the lake in Bill Beck. He would ask me if I was fishing or just throwing it out and reeling it in. It's not like watching grass grow, but its pretty close. Good Luck

I"m gong to start this in reverse order starting today and going back thru the past week. My work load has been totally Table Rock 8hr. trips with the exception of a trout attack on Sunday. Most of the past week has been corporate stuff. This year with really good clients that wanted to be there and fish. At times this is not the case. 4-30-19 National Crop Insurance group staying at Tall Pines Pete Wenners and Phil Stone helped on this trip today and it was really pretty good just prior to the storm. We started in the lower lake area fishing topwater on a cloudy overcast morning with surface temps at 56 and water clarity at clear beyond clear. All of us had huge blowups and swats and nothing to show for it. Fish would just blow up all over or behind it and follow it to the boat but Pete's group was the only one that captured one on top and that was mid morning. I believe Pete's best deal where he could find a slime free location was a 5bites Ned Rig. Both Stone's group and my group caught them on a 2.8 inch Keitech. We had 15 keepers and 19 total fish in my boat which was excellent keeper to catch ratio. This was a 4 hr. trip. I think Phil did about the same. 4-29-19 Six hour bass out of Shell Knob. We caught a butt load of fish yesterday but the keeper ratio was really bad. Lots of spawned out and male LM. Several on top but the majority on a Keitech either 2.8 or 3.3 I think we had close to 50 fish with only a dozen or so small keeps. Surface temp at 56 and water clearer than the lower end. 4-28-19 was a trout day. We had 41 for anyone interested on a Berkley Power Worm 7' under a float. Had some just flat excellent fish. 4-27-19 Dental Group of Missouri. We had a fantastic day in the wind and boat traffic on the Rock. " Truly Stellar." Lots and lots of boat traffic but not bothering us one little bit. They were not fishing what I was fishing. Surprise, surprise. Had 35 bass with 15 really nice keepers, all Jaw's. Boat was in 30 to 40 feet letting the 3.3 inch Keitech hit on the very ends of the long runnouts just before they dropped into the channel. We were fishing with a 1/4 oz. Keitech tungston head with a 2/0 hook. We would let the bait sink to the bottom and then slow wind it back. Most times it was hitting in 15' to 20' to staging fish. 4-26-19 Fished out of Shell Knob with a pair of fishermen about to fish the Shriner derby. Struggled all day, catching crappie and short fish. Probably had 20 bass a dozen crappie and a couple of squeeker keeps. Keitech. 4-25-19 Fished Mid-lake Baxter 56 degree water and they were biting on the long runs, most fish were staging in the 15' to 25' range and we caught them swimming the Keitech thru them. Had 21 quality keepers, mostly SM and most averaging 2.6 to 2.9 pounds. Thats a slim range but most were males and cookie cutter. Had 8 crappie 4-24-19 Same as on the 25th. but had 26 keepers and no crappie. Mostly fishing the long run out ridges near the big spawning pockets I will tell you I only fished the same location once all week and it was a huge gravel flat up the James a bit prior to point 10. We hit it twice Saturday and on the 24th. It is really solid with keepers. Saw at least a dozen boats fish near it on the bank and in the pocket and never seen a fish caught while my guys were really sticking them off the end of that gravel. With all the boats Saturday we had no problems, I think everyone including the tournament participants knew the lake was crowded and everyone so as to speak stayed in their lanes. This lake right now is in great shape. Not a load of 4 to 8 pounders, but absolutely great on 2.to 4 pound fish. Good Luck out there. This post has been promoted to an article

Thanks Randy, great report. I think most of us are catching those same fish, backing off of them and swimming either the C-tail or the Keitech thru that depth range, not having to deal with any rock snot by keeping the bait slightly off the bottom.

That is for sure one of the best reports I have seen in a while. Lots of good information and great adaptability. Thanks a bunch Dave.

No crappie again today but over 20 keepers. Best at 3.6 forget the bottom from Cow to point 9. Moss is increasing and we picked it up to 30’ today. Swim bait and top water with some early on a fluke

Friend caught these yesterday while i was lucking into mine, he and his son were fishing for them. Caught them all suspended in pole timber about 12 feet down over 30 ft. Pretty much the same thing we did. They were using swimming minnows. He also caught these and gave them to us. Becky severed them up tonight. Said there were 80 in one patch.

I think the Big Bass Bash answers your question, with multiple monsters weighed in. Really the deal here is you cannot or can very seldom just go fishing and catch a big fish. You have to hunt them like hunting a big deer. Most time catching fish here and catching keepers is not all that hard. Hunting and catching biggins is. You must be willing to fish where they live and at times lose supplies trying to recruit them.

Dock I would put the brakes on putting the JB up quite yet. If its the least bit windy they are still trying to take it away from us. Durn it was slick this morning and they would have none of it.

If it were Shell Knob you could look down and see it and just put on a spoon and reel it in. Get pic's and wonderful grand children.

Morels.

My celebrity status was short lived as we did not have a single crappie today fishing the same water. Zero wind and the bass were also a pain. Could only get bit on a 1/8th. ned in gp. I was hero for a day, back to the doldrums.

Ducky said I should get a mounted stringer if them. Replica as they are going in our bellie

Fantastic.

Started at the dam early and it was just not what I wanted it to be. Had several fish with a 4.52 jaw but not many bites. Loaded u.p the rig and headed for Baxter. Temps at the dam were 56 when I launched at 6. Relaunch at Baxter at 11 and the temps were 60 and it was just flat on. I caught them on a Keitech 3.3 and a jerkbait with the boat in 30 ft. Fish seemed to be in that 15 ft. range suspended and moving up. Fished from 11 to 5 and did not go 10 minutes without a bite. Wind was just perfect. Had 2 keeper walleye one 19 inches and one 22 inches and I released them. Had 10 crappie, the biggest I have ever caught. One here and one there. They were monsters. Biggest at 3.08 and 18 inches. Next biggest at 3.02 and 17.75 inches. The 10 weighed in at a little under 24 pounds. Smallest was a shade under 17 inches. I have fished in my 65 yrs. on Lake of the Ozarks, Lake Barclay, Kentucky Lake and Toledo Bend and never had a 2 pound crappie let alone a 3 pound crappie and for gosh sakes catching them on Table Rock is just unreal, I'm in a fog. Knife is 15.5 inches long. Every crappie came on a suspending jerkbait. Color did not matter as long as it was Blue. They were not schooled, one here and one there. Pole timber was always present. Best 5 bass would have pushed 17 pounds, all the best being jaws. This post has been promoted to an article

Rocky, that was about as good a post as I have ever read on guide trip fishing. Seasonal patterns are always in play and your guide can tell you what to expect. 60% of the time it will be exactly what he or she said. 20% will be faster and 20% slower. It is extremely hard with persons of different abilities and different desires. If it were me bringing my wife i would want bites and let the size chips fall where they will. Your guide will be pleased with this Have a great trip

What a wonderful report. Thanks for posting. Lots of great information

Friday was just unreal up there. Everything was pounding the 2.8 inch Keitech for Don and Bonnie. Really nice crappie and walleye. Had the boat in 30 ft. slow swimming on gravel. Really nice jaws and largemouth with the usual cast of K's

Easter weekend is usually the kickoff. When I was up on Lake O Monday they were swimming in 57 degree water. Plenty of people here in the water yesterday at 57 degree also. Sister-in-law is down with her brood and they swam off the dock at Shell Knob all afternoon. Crazy but what ya going to do

Man those are great fish. Very well done. Grab up that Spro Blue Bandit or a Megabass Pro Blue on any wind on either Bull or the Rock and just hang onto it. They will try and knock the silly rod right out of your hand.

Man that is from the archives. Thanks for posting it. Dave, I remember that guy. I think several years ago he fished the OA members derby. Have not heard about him lately.

It depends, but most times yes. Also something about the Rat, it is in fact a wake bait but is fished at a much slower pace than a fin, or a W. pooper The day i was hammering them on it the best if you would stop it the fish would stop or peel off. If you kept it coming, Bang. Or after it was stopped and restarted moving again they would hit it. Why? I have no idea. Kind of like right now with a jerk bait. If you are moving it they want nothing to do with it. When it is just sitting there they are totally slamming it. Good buddy and his son fishing out of Shell Knob had over 50 on a Spro Blue Bandit yesterday and not a single fish came on a moving bait. They would reel it down and jerk it 3 to 5 times and let it sit. Usually the first to 3rd series they got clobbered. Once you get it figured out moving or stopped let me know, as I'm not smart enough to even come close to figuring that out.

I have not missed many on the 25 and 40 series Rat no matter what rod I am fishing them on. I think the strike on a topwater bait is somewhat different than a big swimbait, but point well taken. Several years ago when the water was in the Buck Brush on Bull, I threw the Rat one day and it was one of the most exciting days I have had. You could see them coming and they just swallowed it whole. Head or tail first it did not matter. I think when attacking those big gizzard shad they have to eat them head first and the pro's say that is the reason for misses.