Bill Babler

Not being a SA and glad you enjoyed your trips. That is what we strive for on this site, but the reality is that any of the White River Chain are the hardest lakes in the country to pattern. Good friend Mike McClelland, also called the "Table Rock Hammer" and one of the top BASS all time earners says the Rock, Bull and Beaver are nearly impossible to pattern. The fish are movers and you can never repeat a location the following day. Here one day somewhere else tomorrow. If there is a pattern on the Rock there are two main factors, Wind and Depth. Thanks again for the report and good luck again next time.

Vernon is right on this deal. No distortion and with the tabs, no hook rust if you don't crowd them to close

I love the fishery here, it seems really easy to pattern? I'm not even going to go there. Glad you caught a couple, and thanks for the report back.

Guys I have just returned from Central Mo. working on our food plots and setting deer stands. I left last Thursday after my guide trip and since I have gotten a ton of texts, calls and messages about fishing. We have no service of any kind at the deer camp, so if I missed any questions, don't hesitate to give me either a call or text to let me know. Thanks Bill

Great report on the jig, I knew they would be all over it, but have just had up and down fishermen. I believe I may have some casters later this week and we will sling it around some. Thanks

White River Outfitters Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report 7-24-18 They are pretty much still at it, but have shallowed up a mite. Surface temps at 84.5 near the point 16 area and seemed to be constant thru out the morning. Fish are totally off my swim bait bite and are pretty much either up and down or on a jig. We have been using either a Yamamoto cut tail 4 inch brown/purple worm or really the best deal has been a Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm, in either Natural Shad, Smoke Silver, Smoke Blue. Pictured below: Should call this a Jelly Worm cause it completely comes apart after one fish. Fish early are in the under 20' range and about 8 AM move to the 30-35ft. range, with most now on the bottom relating to gravel. All of them are totally full of crawfish. They are spitting them and you can look down their throats and they are just full. The lady in the picture had one the other day that had 2 in its mouth and 2 sets of pincers sticking out of its craw, and still tried to eat the shad shape worm. Crayfish are still small about the size of a pencil and about 2.5 inches long. Lots of keeper size fish in the 16 to 18 inch range with most either Jaw's, K's or Meany's. Just put the boat on the trailer at 9AM, cause its over big time. 5:45 till 9 and you are getting hammered at a constant rate. By nine you can still see them but they are finished with the Tom Foolery. They will either charge up to it and then melt off or just run from it on the drop. Guys fishing crawlers are telling me the same thing, at 9 its time to pull the plug. Good Luck This post has been promoted to an article

Sweet great report. The mother that lost her husband and children along with the grandparents was heart breaking on national news. This may be the end of the ducks and it is for sure going to cost someone bushels and bushels of money.

ir It's been a fantastic week outside the restricted area from Fall Creek thru Monkey Island. Wednesday, and Thursday 1 unit was flowing early and it set up for an ideal Powerworm bite. Yesterday I had Shirley Fitzpatrick and her friend Ray. These mature fishermen caught and released over 50 rainbows and the big gal you see pictured with Shirley. Fish was 25 inches and 8# 14.5 oz. That would qualify as the biggest Rainbow I have had a client catch in my 26 yrs. of guiding on the lake. Shirley did a fantastic job of keeping the line tight, even when the fish came to the surface. She however kept complaining it was killing her wrist as both she and the bow fought a good fight. Big Bow was caught on a Crawler, 4lb test maxima and 4lb test drift rig. With the great team at Lilley's, she was able to be released and swim away to try it again another day. "Both Shirley and the Fish". Big thanks to Victor who was working the dock for really helping rejuvenate and keep this nice fish alive to be hopefully caught again. Today with 2 units and a flow of about 1.8 MPH we caught and released about 40 quality rainbows keeping a very nice limit, all on the BPW on the flats above Trout Hollow, Lilley's flat above the dock thru the water intake and then thru the derrick hole that is just below Cooper Creek on the East shore. Duane and Rick have been out on the same water with me and report at times up to 75 fish in a 4 hr. trip. Most all coming on the Powerworm, fishing it from 7' to 9' under an indicator. Today with the additional flow both Rick and I used a BB about a ft. above the worm fishing it at 8'. Good Luck View full article

Vernon, all is forgiven. Don't let that Skiert stuff bother you. You can be like the kU basketball program bags of money to recruits on FBI video don't bother us none.

When any type of storm is present Lisa and the entire Lilleys staff is on top of it and in constant communication with us. They have our backs. Here is a couple of deals on this and it is easy to be a Monday morning QB. The Belle was not sailing due to the weather, they were serving at the dock. Should that tell you something? Another thing was they had the side curtains down in 90+ degree heat to keep the waves and spray out. Should never have gone out if you have to lower the curtains, and if your out there and it dictates that you have to lower the curtains, I'm D- - N sure going to have the PFD on every single person. The Branson inshore staff should have had their backs on this and not let them on the water. I'm just sick about this.

Should not have been out there as the warning was at least 30 minutes old. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the ride on the lake lasts 30 minutes. There are several issues that have happened other than the Arkansas issue, I would not want to ride one. In a panic situation, I'm sure there is total madness. Reports are that in nose dived into a 4 footer and went down and did not capsize but that is just what we are hearing. I'd say you have almost zero response time if that is the case. After watching the video that was brutal. There are only a couple of places on the Rock that the wind can generate waves like that and the State Park stretch is probably number 1. A strong NW wind there has several miles to build and generate some monster waves and you can fully see their impact. That is a bad stretch with any North wind. Thought and Prayers to the families.

Nice report RB and great info. on Bull. We need to get down there.

Slap me upside the head, I meant a 3/16 on the Ned. Got 3/8 on the brain for some reason. If your trying to fish and drag or hop in that 30' water, 1/8 can be fished but it takes more patients than most of my clients have. More patients than I have to, I'm kind of a mover and shaker.

I bet we could drag that Ned around early in the 24' to 30' range and catch them pretty good here. I'd use a 3/8th. head and either 5 or 6 pound maxi if I were going to try it. I know they will hit a tube or a 3/8th. oz small profile jig if they would get a chance. Really guys the fishing pressure is extremely low right now and if you get a chance get out at 6 and off at 10 and you can pretty much fish where ever you want. If this heat keeps up and the fishermen stay off the lake like they have been, this is going to be really good going into Fall.

No way a fish can distinguish the difference in those two deals. Thanks so much for the pic's. Reminds me of the slogan match the hatch that fly fisherman use. I don't think you get much closer than that.

Thanks so much for the chart. On July 11th. they were hanging in there right at the 28' mark mostly on the bottom but some over depth and in the trees . Up early in the morning they are still at that depth but with the light penetration they are moving down and suspending in the close to 40' range usually by 8 or 8;30. They have now somewhat abandoned the trees and bluffends and are on the humps and channel swings and long runnout points that are right off the channel, either inside or outside. I can see the first line of thermocline at the 28-30 ft. mark on my Lowrance and then a bolder deeper color at the 40 ft. mark. As of the 11th. that was about a 12 degree separation that my unit was picking up. It did start to blend but its very hard to put an exact depth mark on the blend. With the extreme heat the past week I would think those numbers might have changed a bit. All the fish I am catching are just full of crawfish about the size of a pencil around and about 3" long. I mean they are packed with them and the front deck of my boat will prove it. Not seeing them spitting any shad what so ever. Seeing a lot of shad on the surface in the big pockets and suspending in the pockets at about that 30' mark, but not seeing any fish on them. We had over 50 yesterday with the walleye and about 30 solid keeper size fish. Probably the best quality I've seen in the last 20 yrs. Only 3 of those fish had hook marks. We saw maybe 4 other boats fishing. Thanks for all the great information and good luck out there.

These fish move extremely quickly this time of the year. If you remember I said we were catching them shallow right on top of the ridge. When the sun gets to a certain position or for who knows why they move and move quickly. It's between 7:30 and 8:00 right now. If your still seeing fish but catching gills, its because they moved. Also if you are catching bass and all of a sudden your on those big gills, the bass have moved. At times they will occupy the same water, but for the most part those gills regardless of size won't be hanging in those big schools of K's. That is why I also said Beck was a master of fish movement, he knew and I really don't know if you can learn this, its more of just a feeling. Of course having a couple of thousand hours a year on the lake for 30 yrs. helps. Champ and Bo will tell you the same thing as will every professional elite fisherman. You have to feel it. It's either over or its on, and some guys feel it quicker than others. Beck knew it immediately. I'm reading a bit larger thermocline due to the extreme heat. I think Bo mentioned it the other day in a post that his night time fish dropped in depth also. We can figure the thermocline is probably in that 28' range at the top with a comfort zone to probably 38' as it is a real popular number right now lake wide with all the guides. I did not react quite quickly enough when those big gills moved in on us yesterday. On my second stop I chased out the ridge and was going to cut across a pocket to another ridge and spun the boat out over depth and saw them just sitting at that 38' range. I said to my clients I should have known they pulled out here when those big gills started hitting us. Me Bad. If I had not seen them I would have looked on the top of the next ridge where it dumped into the channel. If they were not there I would have known they had suspended and moved out. By seeing them it solved that problem and again from what the guide talk is they moved lake wide on all of us at the above mentioned time. Here is the deal however, they can be in the frigging middle of the lake but still at 38' over 100'+, no problem. Most times however they will be in the vicinity of those long runs or bluffends and not heck and gone. However what I'm hearing now is they have moved off the bluffends and most are suspending in the channel off flat gravel lake wide. Moving up at night or early and late and then during the day moving out. As I said yesterday they were just packed with little finger size craw daddy's, spitting them up and all over creation. Good Luck

That's not really true. If you were on them you would call and tell me where so I could take my people up there to catch them. I wouldn't have to sneak, you would give them to me. What I'm really saying is get out there and find me some more!

Good to have you home buddy. Glad you all made the best of it in the weather. Should have knocked down the small biting critters some for you.

From a guy that's in them everyday, first thank God you and your toys are not damaged to any large extent. Second, if your boat has under 6ga. wire to any of the components jerk that crud out and put 6 or heaver especially to your trolling motor, I don't care what any boat company tells you. 6ga. is the absolute minimum. Wrench hit is square on the head with the connections, fewer the better, and direct wiring is really the only safe way especially if you have a metal boat. Just by jarring that TM plug you can have a real light show. Voice of experience here. How many house fires are caused by to small wiring trying to carry to heavy of a load? On your battery cut off switches make sure you have asked that your TM has been put on it, cause most of the time it HAS NOT. Randy, glad this was just a quick pants check and not a major deal.

Your first paragraph pretty much summed up my methods. Kind of PQed that you let the cat out of the bag. Thanks Stink Weed.

Fish are not on spots in Table Rock. Yes, there are locations that seem to attract them at certain times of the year, but they are mobile. You cannot and I can't stress this enough fish a location find fish and then expect to find them there again anytime you wish. This time of the year I never shut off the big motor till I see them. Never. On guide trips I never fish just to fish, I am always fishing to catch and if I cannot see them it cuts my odds way down. I'm not fishing for singles in the summer, I'm fishing for schools.' I had not fished this area, since last year at this time, but was drawing a picture of where they have been in other lake sections and tried to replicate that. I got really lucky this morning and found them on the first location. {Does not happen that often} I drove up to a long run with a very quick drop and they were sitting right on the top of it in under 30' Again I got lucky and we caught 24 fish on my first stop. Hope this helps.

White River Outfitters Guide Service Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report Huge Spotted bass caught at 27' Mike Trotter 4lb. 2oz. Been several years since my clients have caught spotted bass of this quality. There still at it. Very good reports today from the dam area and also from mid-lake. I guided out of Indian Hills Resort this morning with Mike and Dave Trotter and we had an absolute ball. Fished from point 17 to point 9 on the White River arm and only had one brief period when the fish changed depth that stalled us for about 30 minutes. Might not sound like long, but that is 1/8 of the time of a 4 hr. guide trip. If Beck were still alive it would have only been 15 minutes as he would have called immediately and said they moved out. I'm decent, but Billy could change depth quicker than a Beauty Queen changes shoes. Dave Trotter with nice Table Rock Smallmouth Surface temps were 87 at 5:30 and by 9 had reached 88.9 extremely, still and HOT, but so was the fishing. Again we caught more bass than we deserved with some fantastic spotted bass, some of these fish were at and pushing 4 lbs. and that is silly. You have to believe they were over 10 yrs. old. We CPR'ed them very carefully and sent them back in the clear deep water. The quality and quantity were both just unreal. Mike Trotter 3lb. 14oz. Pretty easy to see where the term Football comes from when describing these bigger spotted bass. Mike Trotter Kentucky bass 2lb. 11oz. Fish were shallow this morning on the White, starting out at 22 to 28 feet but as soon as the sun hit pretty directly them skeedattled out to 40/50ft. Same deal at the dam. This was around 7:30, they seemed to move lake wide, and not only did they move as we were catching them on the bottom, they suspended. I got really lucky and was at the end of a runnout and lost them. I told my guys that I would spin a circle and we would move away and when I spun the boat out over the channel, they were sitting at 38' suspended over the 40/50 number. Better to be lucky than good. Today we used a number of baits from crawlers to drop shot worms to shad shape worms to the Keitech. About 7:30 when they moved the big and I mean huge bluegill moved up in that 22/28ft. range and we could have caught a hundred of them about the size of your hand, on every gravel runnout, that we fished. That should have been my clue but I missed it. Again we were pestered by walleye, but only 2 with 1 super nice keeper. As I said last week, I don't know how long this will last, so you all had better hop on it. Also again this morning my fish were clean, with only a couple of hook marks so not lots of folks are messing with these deeper fish. They were all spitting very small craws so I'm guessing that's the deal if you want to throw a small jig. Look in the water under Dave's arm and you can see the swirl of Mike's fish. It was another double and another absolute toad K. It was churning the surface like a motor boat. The 2, K's that Dave is holding were 16" they look like midgets compared to the ones Mike had today. Dave's Jaw was Super nice however and he did catch the 2 walters so he had that to lean on. Mike was the big K catcher today and both boys came out about even in numbers. Just a fantastic trip. Good Luck All This post has been promoted to an article