Bill Babler

Phil and I will see you all at the weigh-in. I have a new MLF scale that we will be using. I think we will launch at Cow Creek and putter around down there. We are going to try and catch a big fish on a little bitty tiny bait. If Dock is fishing the way he has been going, just pre-engrave his name in the trophy. See ya tomorrow.

I think its stained right now. Between the Kings and Campbell Point it is down right colored. I fished from Shell Knob to Emerald Beach yesterday and it was off color, so it can get much, much clearer.

Randy it is different everywhere this time of the year. I saw some 51 degree water up at Shell Knob yesterday and it did not help me. Some main lake water out in front of Campbell Pt. was 44.9 so it is kind of a mix with I think the most at mid to high 40's. Its 55 at the Lodge outside this morning so 50 plus degree nights will get both the fish and the temps moving up.

That is totally normal. Don't think I can remember a year since snagging started that Baxter Ramp did not have several cleaned at the dock. I'll bet your Bippy that a local has cleaned his there for years.

Buster is having his best year ever on double digit walleye on Bull. Said to date he has had 12 this year over 10 pounds with the biggest at 14 pounds. He had one that weighed 18 pounds last year. He has just crushed them.

Kind of Harsh. IF your catching fish right now with anything other than dynamite more power to you. I appreciate and respect the time it takes for anyone to make a report, not to mention giving away methods to catch keeper fish. Dock is doing a great job and we all thank him and look forward to his reports. I also appreciate the other hundreds of posters that truly make this forum a keeper for sure. Good Luck

Look at Buster Loving facebook the last few days. Some really nice walleye, whites and a few crappie. He is fishing up I believe. Here is a pretty decent tip. Don't be afraid to use a small stickbait like an RCStick and work it pretty fast right now. Turn its head fast almost like you are working a spook on steroids. You want it to stay in the same location but turn its head quick. Most guys that fish this bait are still removing the split rings and hooks and replacing them with better quality. The hooks still tend to break and the rings will open on a nice white or walleye. Good Luck

You had to be feeling pretty good about yourself early, I would have had a smile from ear to ear with that start. Man that is frustrating though. We started close to that last Friday and then from 9 o'clock never had another bite the rest of the day. that wipes the smile off pretty quick. I have probably never been as confused as I was Friday. Glad I was not in that derby, cause I just would have had zero answers. I would have probably went up the river after my Friday but I may also have thrown the floater as there was little to no wind. We could not do that on Friday cause it was still blowing a gale. Great respect to Dock and everyone that had a clue on Saturday.

I think this will bring it back up so you can see it

I guess the winner had 17.10. Said he caught them on a wart at Baxter and culled two with his two biggest on A-rig. 185 total boats with 43 limits and 83 others that caught two or less fish. Said it was the lowest total tournament weight ever in a BLF on the Rock. Extremely hard post front conditions with most all fish caught in the first 3 hrs.of the day.

Thank you, that was an excellent piece.

Dave, hope all is going well and hope to see you on the pond this Spring.

Tree-Mendious. Don't know what it took in the BFL, but would have taken that bag and stayed home and slept. Great fish.

I broke it loose a little early last 4 days have been miserable.

48 at Flat Creek. The rest of the lake is so crazy its impossible to keep up with right now. Wind blown pockets anywhere on the lake are mid to upper 40's main channel lake sections are 43 to middle 40's You can go 300 yrds. and have a 5 or 6 degree difference right now so its really hard to pin point. Also from morning to 5 in the afternoon is as much as 5 degree lake wide. Good Luck

There you go Larry, can't beat that info. Your most probably not getting your seats back but there are 2 threads here that let you know if you want replacements you got em.

Right now on Beaver that jerk bait is a scary, scary thing. It can come back with a crappie a fish with lots of teeth, 3 colors of green and brown fish and for cripes sakes, 2 extremely different sizes of white eating machines. Next time your on Beaver you better throw that and put the little pooper scooper up. You might get something big and mean.

We may have to rename you Deadly Dave instead of Dangerous Dave. Both of you guys have taken the Varmint to new levels of excellence.Your on Fire.

I know this is the Rock forum so excuse me. I just put a set on my trout boat. I anchor a lot on Taneycomo, especially when I have kids or mature folks that like to bait fish. I have gotten to the point that I just could not lift anchors and you need 2 at least 40 lbs. each end of the boat to hold in the current and at times the North wind that blows right up the shoot. I have had several problem and know about the monster site. I got a team deal on mine and only have $1,800 in two 10' blades so it was a great buy for me, as it really will help in my job. As Champ said for the Rock not so much, but I'm sure once the bugs are out I will love them on Taney. Garage doors and PP are a complete Nightmare, I have to make sure mine are up max as there is a 2" gap. Already had a snicker doodle. Carry on.

Larry, so sorry to hear about your loss. 19 years is a long time ago. Have you had replacements made? Since you are using the boat I assume so. If not I would bet a dollar to a Donut you can have the exact pattern made.

Thumbs that location is really a head scratcher. I have fished it at the right and wrong time for 25 years. It is a huge tree row, with none of them really ever visible. I have caught them there maybe a handful of times. My best ever was on a spook and a Dixie Jet. We had between 20 and 23 pounds off it, one day. Another time another guide buddy told me he had hammered them out there on a weightless Worm. I went out there the next day and it was stupid. Just catching and releasing them we had close to 100 pounds of Bass off that tree line. 99% were quality LM up to 6 pounds. BP yellow floating worm with a full finish nail in the head and a swivel about 2 ft. up the line. Just throw it out and tight line it down. They just hammered it, usually between the count of 10 and 20. Went back 3 days later and no bites and for the rest of that year checking it now and then on anything I would throw, no bites. Beck and I went out there once several years ago about this exact time. I was fishing a Megabass 110 weighted in french pearl and he was fishing a Spro Blue Bandit we had both baits weighted with lead on the hooks. He gave me a butt kicking that still hurts if I sit down wrong. He had 6 that would have gone 18 before I got seated really well. You never want to get behind that far fishing a jerkbait cause if you do you will never catch up. There is no way to slow down if your behind like that. Bill told me the day he got kicked out there it seemed to him all he was doing was netting is Co. anglers fish. He said it got so bad and he got so flustered he was fishing his stickbait like a buzz bait. Buster of course knows about it. It is usually a bit to far for him to drive, but right when the Keitech's came out a few years ago he caught an early Spring bag off it swimming a 3.8 inch rainbow shad Keitch on I believe either a 1/4 or 3/8 scrounger head thru that set of pole timber. He told me they were on it in there BigTime all LM and scary big. I went back twice in the next week and all I got was tree bit. One of the strangest locations on any lake I've ever fished. O have lots of fishing stories and most end with someone hammering me.

Both Bob and Dick would say you are sight fishing at depths of 30' and under. Bob loved to fish at night, really reminded me of Bo. When he was guiding you could always find his boat by a cloud of Blue Cigarette smoke hovering over it. He loved to drag a jig. Probably invented jig dragging strolling. He told a good client of mine one day after catching a 10 pounder on a flutter spoon fishing in front of the client. "Yep it was fun but you can't fish good enough to do it." Larry laughed out loud and said "Bob, I know your right."

Just from what I'm already hearing from today the major shad kill is from point 9 to point 6 with the largest kill from point 7 to Spring Branch. I"m guessing after this weekend there will be no sign of it. Surface temps are going to really jump. Looks like a race track in front of the Lodge this morning. Rain is not stopping these guys. Long Creek is really stained but Phil Stone has had a fantastic Jerk Bait bite up there this past couple of weeks, so no "stone" as to speak will be left unturned.

At this point I'm going to say Indian Point from point 5 to point 2 will be better than good. With surface temps coming up we are probably seeing the last of the dying shad. Don't know about Aunts but it is getting to be that time of the year. You can start with a swimbait or an underspin and it they want it slower, go to the jerk city. Good Luck

Dick Collier and Bob Tindle both showed me a spot near Kennel Branch that has deep trees in it. These are places that hold staging fish and they will rise in the water column as the water warms and patrol the tree tops. Most all is pole timber. Most are in the up to 70' to 80' depth range that come up to within 10' of the surface. They are not in the channel, but on the edge, kind of on the down slope to the deepest part of the channel. The channel breaks and behind the trees it flattens out to the 20 to 30 foot range. It was a place that both Bob and Dick, along with Beck would throw a jerkbait in the spring and a flutter spoon and a top water in the Summer. Just about a full rifle shot off the bank. This is a place that Collier who was leading a BASS event here got beat out of the back of his boat by a Co-angler throwing a jerkbait. Dick was also throwing one but the bites came in the back of the boat. I think the Co. had over 20 pounds. Beck also got toasted out of the back of the boat herein a big event with his Co. catching 20 lbs. also on a jerkbait.. That was back in the day of the Rogue and the Redfin so it was a while back. It is one of those locations that if you have 3 guys in the boat the middle guy may catch them all or you might go there 15 times and never get a bite. You just never know as it is open water and you are fan casting. Beck also had a little girl catch a 10.1 pounder here on a float n fly, not that long ago. Bill and I have taken a group of dentist for years before he died. About 18 yrs. ago on a very hot early late April day. with the calmest slickest high sun you have ever seen, his group of 2 dentist caught 28 pounds best 5 on Redfins off that location. I thought it was just to nasty and the water was cold, low 60's. This was the first hot, warm day and they just toasted them. Mary was waiting at the check-in. with a camera so I kind of knew something was up. In those days we just had bag phones . It is a derby with the dentist usually about a dozen to 15 boat teems. We had 15lbs. of smallmouth on a split shot and I though I was going to win the day. To this day, that is the most beautiful set of 5 LM I have ever seen green/turquoise backs with vibrant black stripe and snow white football bellies. Everyone of them looked brand new, liked they were all born yesterday as 5 pounders. They weighed in a 7 pound and change for big bass and 4 more at 5lbs. or an once or two more each. Really Bill just did not get excited about fish, but he was beaming from ear to ear. Most always no matter how big or nice his were, he always said he liked yours better. Give me a minute here. No words can describe how much I miss my friend. I went in there yesterday and followed it back and there was a line of shad at least a 1/2 mile long that completely blacked me out from 15' to 60' solid. I really don't know if I have ever seen this big of a school, must have been millions, and millions of 3.5 inch shad in it. At times you could see them flashing and a few would come to the surface. There were also plenty floating dead, and lots of gulls working there. This location does not work 365, it may only work a dozen times a year, usually now till spawn and then at times early morning on top water. I just don't know and really I have gotten burned so many times that I don't fish it much. I'll check it from time to time but there are times it will win any tournament that has ever been had on this lake. The 5 plus years that Bill and I fished tournaments together, I don't think we ever fished it, but perhaps we should have. Good Luck