Bill Babler

That bay is massive and most of the fishing is off shore on structure in August, so just to head up there with a boat would make little sense. I guess if you go in late June you can take a boat and pretty much fish about anywhere and do well. Lots of resorts on the water front and most really reasonable priced as was the food. Compares quite the same as our prices down here, except gas and it was over 3 bucks if you did not want huge amounts of alcohol. We tried both in the rental rig and if you used the E85 it would cut your mileage by at least 1/3. This ran $2.69 to $2,89 per gal to the 91 that was most places $3:01to $305 no alcohol. My navigator figured out the 91 was the best by for the money. We drove 2 rentals a jeep limited and a Rogue and both of them would clatter and spatter on the E85, Nasty. Yes I'm not done up there yet, I'm going to go back and go fishing, not to mention stop by that steakhouse again.

Another Quicky We stopped the first night in Clear Lake Iowa. It was getting late and we were starved we asked our person at the front desk of the lodging if they had a good restaurant near by. She asked if we like steaks and said in Mason City about 10 minutes away there was one of the best steak houses in the entire country. We headed that way to the Northwestern Steak House. OMG, this boy can eat a steak but never have I had a better one than we did that night. We got over there at 7 PM and they said the wait was 9:30. Not going to do that and then all of a sudden the girl said she could get us in if we could sit in the back booth by the kitchen door. Yep. I ordered the 14oz. ribeye and Becky had the 8oz. fillet. Both were magnificent, cooked to perfect order, not grilled but seared in a 600 degree black iron skillet and then finished in the oven at 500 degree. Here is the kicker, as a side instead of potato I got the house spaghetti. Looked just like regular white spaghetti on the plate with some black pepper and chives mixed in but it was without a doubt one of the best things I have ever tasted. Asked the waitress about it and she said it is regular spaghetti but then the magic begins. All of the steak drippings and pan leavings with pure virgin olive oil are mixed into the skillet with. 2 pads of butter, Cavenders Greek Seasoning, 2 crushed chicken B. cubes garlic and then Parmigiano Reggiano cheese from Europe finish the side dish off. If I am ever, ever within 200 miles of that place I will find a way to get back over there. As a matter of fact, I just might make that a destination trip. Just interested to know if any former's have eaten at the Northwestern at Mason City. If you live in Iowa, get your tails over there, it is simply incredible.

Just got home from Lake Superior after a 8 day get away to the UP. First Summer vacation that Becky and I have taken in 30+ yrs. We just shut down the lodge and the guide business and went. Drove 2,200 miles. The lake was simply beautiful, the only problem was it rained every day and the heat was about 15 degree over average for this time of the year. It had been highs in the middle 60's to low 70's the first 2 weeks of August. It was high 80's and pouring for our trip. Madison Wi got 15 inches one day and we were drowned also. Upper Pen was a little different than I expected. Everything up there is OLD and for SALE. Don't think I have ever been in a larger forest. 2 city blocks off the road and you are lost. It is so much wilder and thicker than Alaska it is unbelievable. There is some very nice lodging with fantastic views of the lake and the restaurants are very good. Lots of commercial caught lake trout and white fish The towns have wonderful hanging baskets and flowers everywhere that are spectacular. Almost all the super markets sell wonderful sausage, cheese and smoked fish, along with lots of local wine and craft beer. Everything we tried was fantastic. Wild rice for sale everywhere and most of the restaurants use it in almost every dish. I had walleye encrusted with wild rice flour one day that was amazing. They mix the native wild rice with brown rice and serve it as a very common side dish. it is very good. Lots of lamb dishes, along with blue berries and in the next week or so apples. We saw some of the most impressive vegetable gardens we have ever seen with most folks having a produce stand out in front of their home, with tomatoes, cabbage, sweet corn, peppers, melons and just about any veg you can think of. Everything is in season right now. I had booked a smallmouth charter but it was rained out. That made me pretty sad as I had been looking forward to it for a month. Main lake superior is a constant temp of about 39 to 42 degree in the summer, but the bays get into the low 70's and SM are in most of them. I was going to fish Chequamegon Bay out of Ashland. It is a catch and release SM fishery and said to harbor just about all the 18" to 22" jaws you can to catch in a day. For you farming or agri types, Southern Wisconsin is a complete dream. Magnificent agricultural fields of corn, beans, alfalfa, red clover were everywhere and the farms were manicured as well or better than most any golf course you have ever seen. The flower gardens and hanging baskets around the homes were simply magnificent. All the crop fields were deep, deep green shining with extreme vigor. The alfalfa and clover were in full bloom. Thousands of acres of alfalfa and red clover, just amazing. The corn seemed to be 10' high. Some of these fields were over a mile long and the ditches were cut with lawn mowers or pull behind mowers of the finest quality as the road ditches and around any bins or even away from the homes was cut as well as any golf course. I repeated that but it was something I have never seen. Must take hours per week to just keep that amount of acreage. mowed to that amazing perfection. The farms and small towns in Iowa were nice and the crops fine, but nothing like Southern Wisconsin. All and all we had a great trip except for the rain and the Enterprise rent a wreck we drove. Had to go 200 miles out of our way to exchange the first break down for the second wreck of a car but none the less we had fun.

What a report Thanks so much, gives us all hope.

I guess someone is going to have to point out a thread to me about anyone ever knocking LO on this forum. I simply love the place and you all know its where I'm from. Grew up there and went to HS there along with being on the State Water Patrol there for several years. As a matter of fact, going up last part of the week. I fish it multiple times a year and look forward to my time on the mid-state pond. Only fusses I have ever heard is to many boats, but you will hear it more on the Table Rock forum about the Rock than LO. That's probably enough about that as far as I'm concerned. Let's move on.

Funny why they didn't see any with the guides seeing them by the drove. But it is strange, I went to Rogers today to Cabelas and by the way its now Bass Pro cause all they have in there is Red Head gear that is not worth flushing. But, to make a long story short at Eagle Rock I walked the bank from the ramp to the bridge thru the swim area and did not see any dead fish along the shoreline. It was still and calm and they may have been pushed to the opposite bank. I was going to take some photo's but nothing to see along the shoreline. Did see some K's break chasing shad on the hump right below the bridge. Quick blow up and chase. That was about 4:30 this evening. I'm sure its a DO issue.

Got to agree with Quill on this Plug that was pretty much uncalled for. None of us want to hear bad news about any of our regional lakes. There had been reports the last two weeks of dead trout below Beaver Dam. One of the local trout guides up there had been hollering his head off about the dead fish, saying there were hundreds of dead trout. TV Tom, were you on the water to see the dead fish? Was wondering if any were trout or you were absolutely sure they were walleye and bass. Not questioning you at all, if you were in a boat eye ball to eye ball but looking off the bridge I could see where the walleye could have been trout that they been yelling about. I'll go up tomorrow and check it out and post some pic's of what I find, if I have the time.

Thanks Sprint, good to know what the derby boys are doing.

School starts in Mo. on the following days: Today Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Great job Dude, glad you got all over them.

Welcome to the forum. There are lots of really great informative articles and blogs in the archives here with excellent seasonal patterns on Table Rock. Please enjoy and make it a point to ask questions and contribute after your fishing trips, good or challenging. Good Luck

Good to hear from you Plug. Glad you all are after them, keeps a man young. Appreciate the info.

And Whoop-T-Doo, Elizabeth I'm coming to join you tomorrow and most of next week. I have 7 trout trips in the next 9 days. I'm going to let these hard to catch rascals cool their heels for a week or so and see if they will forgive me for this past Summer and show me a little Love.

Here is the deal and don't get me wrong, James said it best. There are still fish to be caught if you have the ability to do so. "ie" Night time and Jig fish with some in the trees. For my day to day life as a guide especially if I have multiple clients even up to 3 there are just some things that I or they struggle with. Most of that is casting and presenting a bait correctly. I know a lot of you are going to say that's fishing, but on the White River in the Summer with the folks that do not get the chance to fish as much as most of us do, they struggle with this. We are honored to be able to take folks of all ages and abilities and there is nothing that is the equalizer better than the drop shot with either real or live bait, it is a difference maker. Usually we hold onto this bite till late September and at that time our died in the wool fishermen are back and our families are headed back to the real world and it's not a problem. This year it came early. The deep bite also arrived early and with a total vengeance that as I've said the sheer numbers from the middle of May till last week were staggering, along with the size of the fish. Good golly we were swimming a Keitech to them in July. I don't think these fish will reassemble now, I think they will just be their nomadic self's and move into the Fall feed, perhaps in the next 3 weeks. You can bet we will try and keep our eye on them and keep you posted if we get her figured out. Good Luck

Lots of really good thoughts here. Bobby, we all have followed you this Summer and you are going to have to drop the newbie roll soon as you have equated yourself extremely well in the dam area on days rivaling or even beating the full time guides fishing that area. I for one look forward to reading your fishing exploits and want to know your good and bad days, so thanks for posting everything. Boat traffic is still heavy between Baxter and Campbell Point and yesterday the shad were just swimming with it, it had no effect on them. As for generation, the pattern has remained the same for most of the last month. Off in the morning and running in late afternoon. After over 26 yrs. here of full time guiding, this looks just exactly like late September to me. Shad come up and the fish go to Mars. We had almost a week of 56 to 59 degree nights here and that dropped the surface temps 10 degree. Really similar to what we would see in late September and I'm thinking that made the move. I don't think it effects jig fish that much, we had two on it yesterday and just threw it for a few minutes, but it did move the deep fish. It also gave them as Bobby can attest a very sour attitude. Thanks all, we appreciate all your thoughts.

Two weeks ago we were catching 50 to over 100 bass in a 4 hr guide trip. Ain’t happening now. Shad moved up and fish moved and scattered. I’m sure there are jig fish but big full screen concentrations moved. Lake surface is simply covered with Shad unlike 2 weeks ago when they were at the thermocline

Was really unhappy with my trips the last 3 or 4 days and am trying to put a finger on it. Here is the deal, from the middle of May up until those 58 degree nights started we were in a very hot ie record hot and dry spell with well established thermoclines mostly lake wide in the 28 to 34 ft. depth range. Most all game fish including bass and walleye were hanging in this depth range as was the bait. I was seeing no shad on the surface but plenty of shad balls hovering at or near the thermocline. There were large schools of game fish congregated on lots and lots of locations lake wide at this depth and it was not hard to find schools that contained 20 plus fish and almost all of them not only had bass but most also had walleye. From the middle of May till lets say August 1st. I had about 40 bass drop shot trips. I had at least 1 but most times multiple walleye on every single trip with the best day at 9 walleye along with the bass. I might have missed one day during that stretch without a walleye but I cannot remember it. Since last Wednesday I have not had a single walleye on 6 straight drop shot trips. Starting late last week, the shad came to the surface. Yes there are still some scattered small balls in the thermo range, but massive amounts are in the top half of the water column. I really believe the temperature fluctuation this past 10 days moved the fish and scattered them. This is much like the last part of September when it at times gets tougher than a cobb here. Surface temps went from 89 degree to 79 degree back up to 84 degree this is a very wide swing for this time of the year, again more reminiscent of late September and the dispersal. As has been mentioned at that time late September into early Fall we can see the bass at times migrate, not moving really up or out but just moving. Sometimes up the river channels or more they just disperse throughout the entire water column and you can see them not only near the bank but at times from 1 ft. deep to 50 ft. deep. We did see a couple blow today in 180' of water right in the channel that's pretty deep, even for me. Thoughts?

It got way rougher for me today out of Baxter. I started losing these fish late last week as it started heating back up from the cool nights. They just seemed to start moving off the deep locations I had been having my best success on in really several years. After yesterday I thought I had a plan for some good early top water action and then move to the drop shot as the sun got up. WRONG, it did not happen in the least. The location I started on was just covered with both gizzard and threadfin shad, you could see them literally all over the surface in perhaps a 1/2 mile area of the White River and nothing in the least was making them sweat. Yesterday the whites and the big brown bass were tearing into them. Not today so that part of my plan was a complete failure. Moved to the drop shot and fished a total of 10 locations catching a total of 11 fish with one really decent K. The fish we did see were really scattered and at times would come and look but then would just leave it. If they were suspended they would head for the bottom. If they were on the bottom they would pull up 10' and suspend above it. Just wanted nothing at all to do with it. Steve with a Toad of a K, one of the few highlights of the morning Biggest catch of the day was the meaty part of my thumb as we sunk a drop shot hook in it. I was lazy and tried to lift a fish instead of net it, and the hook popped out and buried in the palm of my thumb. No problem as Cole extracted it with 15 pound Invesx. Thanks Dude. I was telling the guys I saw that trick in either Field and Stream or Outdoor Life back in the 60's and it works to perfection every time. Talked to several guides on the main lake from the dam to SK and all of us are struggling a bit right now. Spoke to Chris Tetrick and he was catching them good with Brian Snowden way up the James on the drop shot. Depth right now if you can find fish seems to be 27' to 35' but scattered main lake. Much more congregated up the James and perhaps up the Kings but have had no information on that. I'll find them back on the main lake they just seem to be a bit discombobulated right now.

That 2nd early location where we caught the 3 top water fish, we also had 4 drop shot fish so our best location was 7 fish. The deal was 3 of those drop shot fish had milk on their lips. I'm thinking that is perhaps the only location where we could have caught more, but they were definitely not what we were looking for. A couple of those 30' roll off locations we fished today had been covered and they moved. Where there were 10's we only saw doubles and singles and they were scattered up and down thru the water column. I really don't think they changed depth as we covered a wide range of depth patterns, I more believe they scattered into much smaller units instead of the large post spawn schools that had been out lazing in the cool Table Rock waters. As you said, there were fish everywhere we stopped, just not many. Thanks a bunch it was great fishing with you too.

Now your on em.

Thanks Quill, really at this point we have not had to contend early with mid-week boating traffic, and have been able to target them until about 9:30 before it gets tough. Most school starts next week either the 12th. or the 15th. so this coming couple of weekends prior to the holiday will be really dead. I expect to be able to catch them fairly decent. Not going to be the same as earlier as they have really split up, but fish slow and watch your underwater peepers and it should be fun.

Shell Knob is extremely BUSY. As someone mentioned thinner water, but really just as much traffic and bigger traffic. That is the Wake Boat Capitol of Table Rock Lake. We have homes at Shell Knob and also at Blue Eye across from Big Cedar and I have tackled both for 40 plus years and just don't do it any longer. Boats are bigger and people are worse drivers. Shell Knob sets the record for this. Out earlier, out later and complete insanity. As far as I'm concerned the only decent part of the lake on any holiday is from Point 9 to point 17. At times and I mean times you can get by ok. Shell knob from the Bridge to Owl and from the Bridge to Baxter is boated, wake boarded and skied early and often. Come the weekend after the holiday and you will have the entire lake to yourself. Good Luck

White River Outfitters Table Rock Lake Current Fishing Report Well the Surface temps have upped and then down and now back up. We have gone in the mid-lake area from 88.9 down to 79.9 to today at 84 degree in the last 8 to 10 days. My gravy train of concentrated fish has ended and they have scattered throughout the entire water column. We had top water fish this morning and If I had been there quicker we would have had more. This deal has really changed. Lots of singles and very few multiples. The best fish chasing are SM and they will hit a top water if you can get it to them in a hurry. Had been catching some of the Dixie Jet but just a couple of pecks on it this morning. Most fish coming on the drop shot in 27 to 36 ft. either on the bottom or suspended. Again lots of nice size K's not as big as they have been but most pushing the 14.5 to 15.5 inch mark. There are shad of every size right now and the K's seem to be hitting the young Threadfin and the Big Jaw's are after the small Gizzards. When you see a single fish chase its going to be a nice jaw in the mid-lake area, if you see multiple its K's and Whites. On the drop shot this morning if we could see them we got bit most of the time. We however were hunting for singles and doubles and did not see a single set of marks with over 3 fish in the school. The last month I've been fishing to worming schools of K's that had multiples of 10 in them. Man we had a great bite here from May to August 1st. Now we are kind of back to Summer fishing where the fish have seen just about everything we have to offer them and on top of that they decided they don't like each other and have singled and paired up. There are probably some big whites to be caught if you wanted to work at them, but most of my folks have been after the green fish. I believe however you could target them in the pockets. This morning we had LM-K-SM and White so a bit of everything except my normal Eye. Shad shape worm and a cut tail early then they got fussy and wanted the real thing about 9 AM so we gave it to them. Nothing on a jigging spoon, only the top water and the drop shot baits. The photo's are from the last several days. Here is a really nice Jaw on a Lake Fork 6" chrome spoon that was chasing Gizzards Here is the release swim away This post has been promoted to an article

Great picture of the mono. Nicely curled showing memory retention and it appears to be extremely clear. I'm sure you released it in the catch and release zone of your trash disposal unit. Gladly those types of catches are extremely rare and as you said somewhat baffling on how they were stocked in our lake. For sure an invasive species that needed removed. On a side note, nice to see you back on the walleye trail, those look like prime members of the species.