Bill Babler

Guys I’m getting a lot of emails thru OAF forum and instant message. Our carrier cannot access Ozark Anglers. I have to post everything thru my phone with my WiFi off. Please either call me 417-332-7016 or email me at whiteriverbb@msn.com. Sorry for the inconvenience but we have worked on this since Phil changed servers and ours is just not going to be compatible. Bill

Starting to hear the dreaded words A-Rig fish. Talked to a couple of guys yesterday guiding the dam. Really decent SMJ and LM bite there on the rig. One of them said they had one LM at 4 pounds and lots of keeper Jaws. Also up the White some pretty decent RC fish on wind up the creek arms

Please PM me if you need some tips for the Upper White River. Be glad to help if I can. Bill

That report hit it smack dab in the nose. Just like you have to hit those chasing fish. I am having better luck catching them on the small Keitech in Rainbow Shad. I'm using it with a 3/8 head on a size 1 hook. Hard to find. I can simply throw it to Tim- Buc-To using 4 # maxi spooled on a Shimano 2500 Stella and a Falcon 7' Nestor Falls Spin good Luck

He is on the upper white river. Walleye fishing in the Joe Bald area can be really good however seasonal travel and spawning occur in the river arms in the Shell Knob and Eagle Rock , kings and white river areas into Arkansas. Summer months the main lake holds nice populations of eyes but as later Fall approaches a natural migration will start into and up those main tribes of the Rock. As far as crappie. You came to the wrong lake. Whites are chasing now EARLY. Off main lake flat points. Bite is over by 7:30 AM and may start up again right before dark Goid Luck

On the launch over at the Marina it is way to flat your going to get your tootsie wet if you don't have a buddy. Yesterday to launch I got up at my usual 4:30 AM. Left the house at 6. Got to Aunts Creek by 6:20 only to find the Meeks Tournament already there. No problem except had to walk to park about a block. Was fishing at first light. Footnote. "For all the good it did me🙂"

Man, I think it's a piece of cake at ER to Launch. 12 slots by the ramp and just past it unlimited parking. Ramp is very gentle and dock right by it. Of course I'm usually the 1st one there but for launching pressure probably the least on the lake

Surface temps are in the 76 to 78 range. Taney is running near 60 so I'm not thinking any type of water reversal is in order. Clarity is about 8 feet on the White spoon test, up the White River. If you can get any breeze they are right in the bank on a 1/2 oz WHITE WHAT EVER. SB-Frog-Buzz Bait. They also are on various bluffends seem to favor the new 110 WP in Perch jig bite has slowed some for me but it's still there in under 15' on any shelf rock, back in the pockets. I'm using that big bait I caught them on 2 yrs ago and catching some nice fish. Not lots but goidins Now the great news. Big fish are chasing little and I mean little 1/2 dime size Shad in the river bends over deep water. Patients is the key here. Watch for them and stay with them. I had 6 today that weighed 18 pounds easy, and had a solid 4 earlier on the WP. IM USING A 1/4 oz Kastmaster in Nichol that I put a good hook on to capture these chasers. They are also hitting a 1/4 oz Underspin Chris Tetrick fishing the same area of the lake also had a very good day on a drop shot. 35' but you had to move a lot and he said they were lock so tight to the bottom you could not see them till they snapped Good Luck

Both Quill and I have multiple colors at great bargain Prices😎

I'll do him justice on here and you all will know not only one of the best fishermen I have ever met, but one of the kindest, gentlest men the Good Lord put on this planet. I will miss Bill till my dying breath when I hope to join him

Fished Eagle Rock to Shell Knob 3 days this week with OK results15 th we had another pretty fair top water day. 17 th and 18 th we caught 35 one day and 20 the next. Mostly 5/16 pigsticker on main lake flat stuff. Also caught 2 keeper walleye on a Keitech in "Smallmouth Magic." LikeQuill said this water is just flat off color. 2' visibility All our fish came 10' to 25'. When you got a jig bite you caught him as he would not let it be until he was hooked Only a dozen keeps in the 80+ fish with the biggest at 3# Did talk to a guy that was catching them good, big ones on a C-Rig. Had a very strong 3 pound limit. With a 4.5 anchor fish. Shallow up the White. Not a lot of fish but quality Good Luck

There are two terrible stretches of water up the White. Bad is from the SK bridge down Stream to Mill Creek. Terrible is up stream from The Kings River to Emerald Beach. Yesterday there were at least 20 maybe 30 or more wake boats on these stretches. I was watching a set of docks rise and fall sometimes 5' or more coming clear out of the water and splashing down. Big Phoenix rolled with it but I had to watch it very close and have people seated at all times even when fishing. We have one more weekend of it good Luck

Super trip. Tks

Got out really early and to my surprise had a fantastic top water morning on the Fin. Stayed after 1 huge school of fish from 5:45 till 9:30. They would come up and go down. I used a Real Image spoon in1/2 oz. when the would disappear. Also caught a bunch using a 3/16 oz. ball head and a smoke pepper Chompers C-tail swimming it deep Lots of Whites mixed in with a combo of LM and K's. No brown fish. Only about 1/2 dozen keeps and nothing big, but man they were just slamming that Smokey Joe Shad were 1/2 inch thread fin. Really small and they were just choking them good Luck This post has been promoted to an article

I'm back to the point I don't use braid for anything Using Big Game on the A-Rig when I throw that. KISS method for me. 40% of reel casting problems are rod probems. Another 40% are personal casting problems. That leaves the reel pretty much the low end of that equation. I see people buying a 7' casting rod all the time, almost everyday and then trying to throw it like a 5' pistol grip. Of course it backlashes the reel and does not preform. There is a huge difference between casting and throwing. Let the rod do the casting. Depending on if your a lefty or righty, your casting hand should remain inside your body and never go back further than your chin. Your casting elbow should bend like you are curling weights or chopping with a hatchet, never like you are swinging an Ax. The harder you throw the shorter distance it will go. Take that to the bank🤣 Good Luck

TD, you are absolutely right. You will see lines running up and down. Sometimes the gills are also suspended. Small bits of Crawler or crickets on long shank hooks work great on a drop or split shot. Put the small sunfish on a limb line or two and you will have a passel of gill and catfish fillets Good Luck

It has been as tough as a Rattlesnake bite the last week, if you get lucky and find some they can be in numbers at any depth from 12' to 40' Good thing is I have very seldom seen a better bluegill, catfish and in the right spot walleye bite. These gills are just monsters More than hand size Keep lookin😊

Lots of people do carpet. It's a huge mess to get it out and then get it back in tight. Nothing makes an older boat look better than new carpet and a new rub rail. I would have it done local. McCallister Marine can also do it, or have it done. They did my 2012 Phoenix and it was showroom quality, boat had 300 hrs of guide time on the original carpet. You also have to make sure you follow the carpet grain. Not easy unless you do it 5 days a week

If you spend a 1/2 million on a boat. Your not going to let a little thing like 5 buck a gallon gas ruin your fun

Al sent me a huge order about a month ago. Did not know anything else was in the works. I'll give him a call

There were 2 SeaRay 400's. Running together I'm Guessing close to 40 mph. They had 2 drones following them. They were throwing out 6 footers Those boats start at 750 large and with a few assecesseries can jump over the Million mark. My how times have changed for us poor old hillbilly folk

40 plus years on this lake and have never seen this amount of boating activity. Waves from the Dam to Point 9 were in the 3 to 4 foot range. Kimberling City was just plain SCARY

I'm on gravel

A lot of those short hits are good fish. Stuck my foot in my mouth twice today saying the same thing. Twice we caught solid fish after having a Yamamoto twin tail de-flippered. You just don't know. This jig bite is really on lake wide. Best depth is 12' to 22'. Green pumpkin / purple or PBJ are just really on fire. If there are 3 of us fishing I'm going thru at least a pack of trailers on a 4 hr trip. Lots of pickups and drops too I'm on a keeper bite, but just that. The way these 16" SMJ's are pulling I don't think I'd get a 3 pounder in the boat😄 But of course I'm willing to try Goof Luck