Bill Babler

Great trip. They are biting there. For now? who knows starting this weekend. Lots of boats at Shell Knob today. I did not do as well as I'm doing at the dam,but thought I better find some far away water

Now that is one super day?

You have it on backwards?????

Just about as good as it gets. Fished from 9 till 2 in the rain and fronts blowing in. 15 solid keepers mostly K's but did have 2 LM and 2 keeper Jaws. 3.8 Keitech in Rainbow Shad on a 3/16 is head. Fish were on the steeper stuff suspended at 15 ft over depth. Saw several that I just dropped the bait and they smacked it To wet for the camera. Boat got washed really good. Nice and clean now Be interesting to see what all this water wi!I bring. It is sti!I pretty mossy out to 15'

Wonderful. Just Wonderful☺

Great fish. Tks for the report. If you have an iPhone email the pics on medium to your email. Download to your picture file. Works perfect most of the time. If you load them from the iPhone directly on your personal device they load way to big and you have to size them. Great day Dave

I agree Dave. I cannot ever remember seeing calls made by refs that were completely in the wrong position to make the call. Guys making calls from the top of the key looking at the players backs on plays in front of another official that is facing the play 5' away. This happened multiple time this weekend. I forget the game but a ref made a foul call on a breakaway from the complete other end on a layup and there was no contact of any kind hand or body. Just completely out of position to make any call period I really don't think there has been a we'll officiated game yet or one that I've seen On another note that Fox kid for Kentucky is one of the best guards still playing He is a total Monster march madness is won by guard play

You can catch a bass on everything from a hotdog to an expensive Whopper Plopper or Megabass, but you for sure can't catch them if they aren't where your fishing.

Mike regardless of what we tell or anyone tells or shows them, and you hit this right on the head, they have to go catch them. A caddie can tell the player the exact yardage and the exact lay of the green, but that pro still has to swing that club. With TR also what is here is gone tomorrow. This lake is one of the hardest to pattern in the entire country just do to fish movement. That is where we as guides have a huge advantage over really the normal guy that can quite frankly fish as well as we can. We have a huge advantage in that we are constantly networking with other guides and other guys fishing on the lake, to help with the fish movement. I can never even remember another guide asking me what I was catching fish on. It is always the same question. How deep are they today.

Bout as good as it gets..Thanks

I personally prefer not to guide professional fishermen. 1st. almost everyone that I have ever taken really acts like they don't like to fish, and that it is pure torture. And, I have taken some of the biggest. They don't want you to ever turn the motor off. Stop and make a cast and move on. They are on hot coals from the time they start to the time they finish. Really I would want no part of that life. Kind of like Champ and Merc stated it is not about the love of anything but paying the rent and making money. That is their job period and they can and do use ever tool possible to come to that end, weather it be thru Lures, lake information or any type of leg up they can get. If we were doing it we would too. Everyone one of them does it, particular the BASS ELITE and the FLW. How many pro golfers have you heard of that does not use a swing coach. How many cadies don't walk courses everyday and put together game plans for their players. How many Baseball players don't have a hitting instructor, and fielding instructor and a pitching instructor. How many basketball players don't have people instructing and game planning for them. How about the NFL or college football with a dozen coaches on the side lines helping and instructing on every faucet of the game. How many tennis players don't have swing coaches and instructors. In professional sports and that is what bass fishing is, you cannot do it by yourself, there is no way. None of them do, they all get and want help weather it is paid or just some nice guy like Bo hoping for a plug for his lure company. What about sports agents? Lots of the Bass fishermen have agents just like the other professional sports. There palate is so full that you may or may not find time to sleep getting sponsors and replacing lost sponsors, along with travel lodging meals and then trying to find fish on lakes you have not been on for months or even at all. Bass fishermen will stop getting help when professional sports does away with coaches, managers and trainers. That will be never.

At one point I think I remember Bill Anderson telling me there is not a great food source for crappie fry in Table Rock other than in the River systems. Trouble is no food source for them and they are a food source for everything else.

Nice fish, beat the living daylights out of me. But again, that not saying much. That had to be just a really fun great day. Hope we will have another great day this week as Mizzou fans.

Just about the finest advice you could ask for in a very minimal amount of posts. Great work to the guys on the blog above me. Those are really two totally different baits that got a lot of folks in trouble when the RK first came out with broken bills. Lots of posts on this forum and many others about snapping off RK bills bouncing it off rocks in the same places that we have thrown a wart for years. The RK is a much deeper bait and If I could only chose one it would be Phantom Green. If I could pick one wart I would struggle. I just like so many of the little rascules Also a word to the wise, if you get debris or moss on a RK, do not under any circumstances slap it on the water. You will not like the results. Take a minute and pick off the moss or what ever it is. You can get away with a little tougher treatment of a wart, but again don't go crazy here smacking it on the water. Simple stuff we all should know, but we do silly stuff everyday and when we do, it most always costs us money or hurts us. Good Luck

Brett, hats off from me. We fished the AIA yesterday and just flat stunk it up. There were 63 boats and some really nice 15 to 18 pound bags weighed in. All on an A-Rig. I have not been catching many fish or getting many bites but the ones I am on have been decent. 5 for 13 to 16 pounds per day. But again, I've only been catching 8 to 12 fish a day. We started off with a 3 pounder on a SpinX right off the bat and then it went to heck in a hurry. That East wind just froze us to death and blew and blew. We fished the same type of bluffend pattern I have been on and ended out day with only 4 keepers for 10 pounds One of our keepers came 65' on the bottom on a bluffend. We saw her suspended down there and as I dropped the Ctail grub she started coming to meet it. She caught it at about 50ft. We only caught 9 total fish but did hang one up in a tree. We could see her flashing down there and was a good one but she came unpinned while we were trying to extract her from the forest. Would have completed our limit, but would not have been good enough to matter. Most all the big bags came on A-rigs on Bluffends up the White and the James river. We simply could not hit it right. Did hear of a back of the creek pattern again on the A-Rig targeting suspended fish in the middle of the creeks on the deep exposed trees. I did not hear of a single person doing much cranking. We tried it and I had hoped the moss would be gone, but we mossed up quite a bit in the Shell Knob to Baxter area. Had also heard of a dock pattern on a very small 3/16 jig, but it was pretty mossy up there doing that also. Great Job and thanks so much for posting.

Probably should have switched to the Ned, or drug a split shot, Fish Dr. on that flat water, but I'm still after those staging fish. Seems I can't get bit without at least a puff of wind. Guys again if you are out there and see the gulls diving and squaking or you see shad on the surface in these pockets be sure you toss something that direction. Hope everyone's health and property are ok from last nights storm. I think Becky is going to have to schedule a visit from the Roof Dr. God Bless

Thanks Quill I believe your making the right call I had two guide trips booked for this Saturday a morning and afternoon on Taney, and both cancelled.

For past week its slick early then about noon it goes to gale force.

Well sadly to say today was pretty much like yesterday except I had better fish. 6 total fish with 5 more than solid keepers. One of the LM was over 4 pounds but would not have weighed 5 Best 5 today at 15 pounds, but 6 hrs. for 6 bites. I'm pretty patient, but that is even slow for me. Just like yesterday I went the first 3+ hrs. without a bite. It goes from completely flat to 2 footers in about 15 seconds. As soon as I get wind I get bit. Not bit good, but at least bit. I'm fishing right on the sweet spot when I do get a bit. If I'm just casting I'm not catching. I have to know this is the one and the only cast on this location that has a chance and it usually is. You get about 3 to 5 throws on a location and if its not right, you are not getting bit. What I'm saying is off these points and swings I'll run it down each side and right over the top to where it drops. It will usually be in the 1st. to 5th. cast on the location to get bit. You can stay all day if you want, it won't make a difference. Did see a group of Big Cedar guide boats catching fish on diving gulls. If the gulls are frantic and hitting the water you can get bit there. If they are just resting on the water it will not happen. I caught 3 SM today that were suspended in 30 ft. over 60 ft. and I saw several big groups of shad at 90ft. to over 100 ft. Fished from Moonshine to LongCreek.

Better than us today for sure

Well, I wish I had a better report for y'all, but I don't. We were a bit late and hit the water at 9 to a dead calm. Probably should have thrown the bait with No-Name, but we were after biggens and threw our junk deep. Went 3 hrs. without a bite and then the wind kicked at Gale Force I caught 2 keeps back to back and then Willie caught one. We then moved to another point and caught 2 more keeps off that. We swam deep all day and caught 8 fish with 5 keeps that weighed 12.5. Bill had a nice LM that helped on the weight. When the wind started like that we threw a jerkbait and I want to add here that I am dumping my entire collection of them all in the dumpster on Happy Hollow Road as they no longer catch fish. Bill is dumping his in Kimberling City at the landfillI I'll do better tomorrow. Every fish we caught was right on the sweet spot, there are no marginal bites out there. Good Luck

Both Beck and I are off today so we are hitting the Briny Blue at 8 AM. Be back with a full report this evening. It's early and I have already seen about a dozen boats go by the Lodge. It's that time of the season and folks are ready and eager to get a good old mama. Hope the winds does not blow as it has been my eyes are already damaged from the constant blowing. The Saga continues.

Buddy you did great, appreciate that kind of information and the wonderful pictures. Come on back down and get them again. Thanks Much

Hammer is right on this. And it's just about gone here at the Dam so you will be ok goog Luck

We never got a sniff. Lots of noise and wind but no H2O. Shucks