Bill Babler

When we going? I'll drive. I had just an outstanding day yesterday. They bit the Magnet for a while early and then they got all over that ginger TJ Micro. It was crazy. Pretty hard to fish that light of stuff like you say, but from the Fall Creek dock down that wall it was calm enough to keep some of the bow out of the line. Some of it. Enough, cause they were just hammering it. Really, pretty nice fish to. I had one of those days where they were not going to keep any till the last little bit and then said "Shucks, if there this nice, I would like a few." Of course that is a complete panic mode for any guide. By golly, with 30 minutes to go we did put 7 dandy keepers in the boat and called it more than good.

Is there some podcast or somewhere I can view that Redfin action?

You know, I was not thinking the other day I made a quick run into the little Indian at Baxter. Fish, was that you in that light colored Stratos setting over the trees over that deep pocket above the highline? Thought it might have been Sullivan, but did not remember the color of his Stratos or even if he still had one. Who ever it was had been there before and knew how to fish Table Rock cause I was going to look there before I saw the Stratos sitting on it. Did not register with me or I would have stopped and Howdyed. Ran back inside there and had 3 on that main lake point on a megabass, but they were nothing to brag about. I was kind of looking for some deep fish in there, but had heard they were gone. I did not find any deep ones in either the Big or Little Indian up there. I only fished about an hour that day as Becky had Honey do's for me but it was just so nice I had to run out for a minute. I stopped on some deep trees in there and they did have some fish setting about 5' over the tops in about 35' over 70'. Soon as my grub was 20' below the boat they would just dive for the branches, and completely run to the base of the trees. Swam a grub thru the tops, ran an A-Rig over them and dropped a grub vertical to them. NADA!!! Ran like mice in a Milk Barn. You can go out on those trees 12 months out of the year and there are always fish there, always. Some days they will start up as the bait starts down, other days they will sit right there and wait for it to get to them and other days they will run like H-E double K.

When these deep fish scatter it seems for some reason they really pick certain locations, and they are not the same year to year. And yes Quill you are right. You almost have to run a Honey Hole circuit. Even when I'm doing well, I am hitting location after location with zero's and then wham, I'll catch several on maybe at 50 yrd. stretch. The day I did so well last week I ran each location with a sticker, A-Rig and a Varmint. Fished one stretch for about an hour and came back on my way back past it and caught them again. I had hit 3 or 4 other "hot spots." that were not so hot, as a matter of fact zero's. Lots of times here that does not work. You get one good pass and then better not bother it, but early season like this after the Winter dispersal for some reason they will refill and continue to load on very small areas of bank. North-South-East-West, Rock-Chunk-Gravel, wind or no wind it does not matter. They pick a location and it is like a bell cow, they will start using it, and others will follow. I have seen these locations filled with bait and have seen them look like the Sahara. Does not mean they are going to stay there, they can be gone the next day, but if they are on a stretch where you catch multiple fish, odds are you better hit it several times during your day. You can also look for identical stretches just like it and it does not mean a hoot. They are on a certain piece and the next place you find them might be a total opposite. Makes for pretty tough fishing. Fisherman is as good as there is on this board, but for some reason this time of the year, you just have to turn the boat off on the right location, and it may not be the first dozen you pick.

What is all the MLF you all are watching? Nice post Dave. That bait wiggles nice.

I'm only guessing at the second on I believe its a peko perch First one may be an earlier version.

Randy, I really consider myself pretty lucky as far as Parking Lot damage. In 25 yrs. I have had 4 hubs stolen. One guy hammer a couple of dents in my truck cover and then this damage. Which is the biggest. If you figure the 1000's of days I have left my vehicle in these unattended lots it is really good. One of our other guide buddy's had has trailer crunched 2 times last year and another time had his boat ran into while it was on the trailer while we were at lunch. Just kind of a bummer that whom ever did this would not own up to it. I won't turn it in, I'll just fix it.

Have you all looked at the Spro Rat? Watched a video of K's just killing it. Very interesting. Some of those friggin Rat baits are $100.00. Have not looked up the price of the Spro, but it may be fun to mess with. Couple of points here, Bo and Dave made them both. Fish it on braid. Buy several and really don't tinker with them a ton. Put the smallest split ring on there you can find and make sure it does not say Bass Pro on the pack. Use good Owner, Spro, or Gamey rings or any other really good brand. Really I'm not bashing, just stating a fact on the rings. I will rehook it with either 4's or 5's, with a feathered hook on the back. Sometimes on the feathered hook, sometimes not. I have had them completely not want that feather and visa/versa. Bo told you how to fish it correctly. Start slowly with your rod tip elevated, as the bait begins to come closer start lowering your tip and at that time you may increase the speed if you wish, till it comes slithering back to the boat. Always position your rod directly over the bait as if you are going to fire a shot right over its back. Don't try and drag is sideways or fish your rod at an angle or it will turn on its side and skate. Don't try and move the boat while you are winding it or it will try and follow you no matter if only a foot or two sideways it will again fall over and skate. Do what has been posted here and hang on. Dave also pointed out that the broken back Jitterbug is a good alternative and he is really correct. The only problem I have had with the bug, both the broken back and the small bug is that it is a fish killer. They swallow that blasted thing and it gets in their gills way, way to often. If you jerk it to quick they are gone if you wait it is gone. Be careful with the jitterbug. When setting the hook on the fin, if you are using death traps or any chemically sharpened hook, as the fish disappears with the bait just lower the rod and start winding. Do not rare back, as Dave said just wind him in. Good Luck

That is one super duper day. Those 3 fish in the middle are gonna put a whole bunch of little fish in the lake for us this Spring. How were you fishing that Jet? I very seldom fish a flutter spoon on the bottom. I use it more for suspended fish. If I see them on the bottom I usually can catch them better on a grub fished vertically, or a jigging spoon. I say that and last Fall I would throw it out on the long flat points and let it sink to the bottom on a long cast. If they did not thump it I would reel it very slowly back just off the bottom, and wacked them doing it that way. Very interesting, if you don't mind, let us know. Regardless terrific fishing. Good Luck

Those are great fish buddy, glad you had that kind of a day. Very, very nice quality. I have a measuring board just like that. Wish the suckers didn't cost 50 grand.

If any of you all happened to see who either backed into or ran into my White Chevy Avalanche while it was PARKED at Cooper this morning, I would appreciate a shout. Guess they were to busy to leave their name and number. Ran into the side of the trailer in the front right side and broke out the tail light on the same side. Looked like a pretty good bump and I'm sure they felt it. Parking lot was loaded so who knows. Have a great V. day with your Honey.

Turner Jones Micro Jigs were the absolute deal today. We just got an order of ginger in and that is what they wanted below the restricted zone. My clients were fishing them about 6' under a float on a 7' spinning rod. Tired the trout magnet and they were just not having it. Early bite was also on a TJ Micro in the restricted zone. Black-olive-olive with gold head was excellent. Great Report

Bo you are right again about the Rig. Yes it will multiple hook them and often does. It is not however the terror on the fish that the jointed and straight Redfin is. I have had those fish be hooked from head to tail and that is including the biggins and the littens. Kind of reminds me at time of a calf roping, they are just friggin caught with that fin. Dave, you know you have come full circle when you have a float-n-fly a varmint and an A-Rig on the deck. Guess I have to raise my hand.

Ya I did not have Jeff's birth date, but was going by a bio he did with Brent Frazze of the KC Star in a published article in 2012. Jeff said he was going to be 45 at the time of the Spring article. Was guessing it would put him in the neighborhood of upper 40's. Your absolutely right, he would have been a Younker in 1970. I will tell you in 1992 there was not a better fishermen on Table Rock than Jeff. He had soaked it up and was a complete student of the game. Plus he was young enough and had the energy to get it done. He was living the dream with Wal-Mart and Bass Cat. I yield to your knowledge of that generation of fishermen from the upper end. You were in the trenches with those boys. I was not a Table Rock regular till late 70's

Bo, I knew Jeff was a young man then, but I have heard him tell of their guides using them and that is how he got on it. I believe he is 48 yrs. old. Dan lost all his baits when the Marina at Campbell Point burned, I forget the year, but you might remember.

Kind of funny that like minds think the same. Ran out of space or was going to mention the cedar fishing with the stick bait. Used to not be uncommon to see those big girls swim up and just engulf the stick bait. You know the last time I saw that we were on the old website. Had a day around Campbell point that they were coming out of the trees, and I believe I saw everyone that bit it. Water was clear and they would just rise out of the tree and eat the bait that as Bo said was just sitting there. Those fish would come up and just stare at the bait from about 6" away. All of a sudden their mouth would open and the bait would vanish, as they sucked it in from distance. I have posted this before but I was fishing a Redman with Langley and had one do that. I thought it was a muskrat coming out of the tree, and it completely swallowed the stick bait before I could come to my senses. I think it was a solid 7 pounder. I'm also fishing that bait a lot deeper now than I did even 10 yrs. ago, but you are right, there are not the targets there used to be. Also the fish instead of hanging in those cedars are just really staging off of nothing now for the most part in the fronts of those areas. Not relating to structure. It is the evolution of the lake.

As far as stick baiting, it does not compare. As Bo pointed out there were some huge bags to be caught 99.9 percent largemouth. Really the evolution came after the fish kill. Prior, except for the guides and those being the guides on the lower end probably starting at Kimberling City and going to the dam, Spotted bass were really not considered to be much to fish for and really to bother with. Cannot really remember the date, but I fished the Redman circuit in the early 80's and I really cannot remember seeing at that time very many K's weighed. Was like if you bought one to the scales, you were not going to win squat. And yes even then we had huge K's. Mostly caught in the dam area, but they were lake wide, big time. We mostly just power fished with big baits trying to catch the big fish that the lake was known for. They were here in greater numbers, but really don't know if they were here in greater size than we have now. The last few years the A-Rig and the float-n-fly have shown us what is out there. Just not the numbers of 4 to 8 pounders we used to have. In the 70's and 80's it was a really big deal to catch a decent smallmouth. There were a few. I think Ron Vaughn had one pushing 7 in 85, but they were the exception even in the dam area rather than the rule. Largemouth ruled this pond in those days, and a suspending sticker was the way to tote a big bag of them to the scales. For cripes sakes I even fished the bank in those days. I'll probably never say the fish kill was a good thing, but it for sure made all of us better fishermen and really it made a career for me that was better than I had ever hoped as I had to become more versatile. I had to really, really learn the lake, as did everyone that fished here. It was a life changing event for the fishermen of Table Rock lake. Kind of worked out ok however and we are truly blessed to have this type of fishing for 3 solid species of black bass. Good Luck

That is wonderful, I hope she makes it. Be fun to look at her in the future.

That is just a wonderful fish. I'm kinda of waiting for someone to say how many like that and bigger they have caught. When I first started guiding down here in the early 90's I also had a deer archery hunting guide service. Only did it for one year. It was a complete nightmare. Took about a dozen trophy deer mounts to the sports shows, that were all in the 140 to 155 inch class of buck. Very good deer for Southern Missouri. Of course everyone and his brother told me how small they were and they had bigger, had seen bigger and probably would never mount one that size. I pretty much called Bull. Still today and we are harvesting bigger bucks than we did in the 90's on average due to better management. I believe only about 2 percent of bucks harvested are 150 inches or larger. We all have very large Eye Balls where fish and deer are concerned Good Luck

Jeff Fletcher and some guides out of his folks resort was probably one of the first to fish it on Table Rock. I believe Dan Langley also fished one years ago. I'm talking 1960's here. I have tried it and to tell you the truth, not done well with it so I just moved on. Perhaps I'll give her another toss. One of the reasons folks used to fish it was it threw way better after the first cast than the regular rogue. Once you got the weight in it you could throw it a mile. The reels of 30 and 40 yrs. ago did not have the breaking systems we have today, and when one of those bait turned sideway and started to spin on you, I don't care who you are, you got a ME double ss. That old presentation had completely slipped my mind, as has the old spoonbill that I loved to throw up the Kings. I lost a entire box of all those old baits 15 yrs. ago. I left them on the back deck of my boat and that was that. I had modifications you would not believe. First I'd heard about guys fishing it in tandem to represent a school of bait. Merc, you were thinking outside the box back in them days.

Not going to go into it in detail right now, but if you are fishing MotorGuide Xi5 with PinPoint Navigations thru a Gateway system to your Lowrance Gen II or III touch screens you can set speed and direction on any contour in any area. It will hold you in the exact location and move you toward your next mark in any kind of wind. Complete hand and foot free operation with boat guided thru the GPS on your locator. Scary Stuff. I'm not yet on my bass boat but will be on the new Bay Boat I just ordered for fishing Taneycomo, Bull Shoals and some other areas, maybe the gulf.

Very good information. I have watched dying threadfin shad really for hours at a times. They seem to either fall tail down, or most often fall almost flat, on their sides again displaying that rocking motion that you speak of. Really however more as a coin would sway back and forth on a decent but much, much slower. Usually after a couple of feet of free fall they wiggle rapidly upward or up at a 45 degree angle and again either a very slow tail down or side sink before the process is repeated. Mike McClelland probably one of the very top tournament pro fishermen will preach to not allow the head of the bait to pull the bait head down as this is not a natural presentation. Thus he never uses FC to fish a stickbait, as its weight pulls the bait nose down. His Spro McStick is designed to fall on a bit of a tail down attitude but really in almost a flat horizontal drop. The bait is designed for 50 degree water as are most suspending stickbaits. As the water either chills or warms, that is where your adjustment comes in, weather it be the old Rogue, the Thunder Stick, the Rapala or any of the Modern suspending baits. Appreciate the info.

Believe I would chomp that baby down and get a replica made for the mantle. Doubt you will ever do better than that piggy poo.

Folks if you have not had time, please go over and look at Pete's February 11th. Table Rock Lake video report. It is Outstanding!!! Pete has been on the water at least 4 days a week all Winter and has really kept a handle on what is going on lake wide. His reports are not speculation on what should be happening this time of the year, they are WHAT IS HAPPENING. He covered grub fishing in the Kimberling Area, the Alabama Rig different water temps and how to fish them to what is happening up the White River and he was pretty close to Nails on. I really respect a guy that will tell you he was catching 45 fish a day and that when the deep fish scattered went to 6 fish per day. His reports are as accurate as he can make them and they only come from what he or close friends are doing within a day or two. Very good honest stuff. It is hard for a lot of folks to really get a grasp of our water color and he tried to give some degree of what that is. He said clear and stained by stained he meant 15' of visibility instead of at least 20' in the Baxter to Campbell Point area. He also made a great point about jerk bait fishing, fishing the bait behind the boat. This is a technique that Buster always does, and the way I caught ever fish I caught the other day on the Stain Reaction. That bait was just trailing me and I would just turn its head. Every bite came when it was just sitting. Every Bite. My fish mostly came and they could have came off the bottom as I saw some that did, in the 20 to 35 ft. range. He is catching his fish up the White a bit shallower than I am but I believe so is Quill. He also mentioned the water temps up the White River and how sometimes early up there, cooler is better. Just really good accurate stuff. He has two videos for February 11th. One on the fishing and a supplemental on batteries which is always an electric topic here. Pro-Guide out of Battery Outfitters in Golden Missouri is our battery headquarters and they really know how to set you up. Lane and his staff are battery experts and they have a huge field staff making sure you are powered up in any condition. They really care about everything Table Rock and everything battery related. Good Luck

Seems like now-of-days, with all the other options, we have kind of put the suspending jerker on the back burner. Was not long ago, this time of the year, after the deep fish scattered we pretty much either swam a grub deep on the channel swings or fished that suspending Rogue or modified Rapala A-Rig kind of put a new spin on most everything, and then the Varmint came along. Still to this day most of the best fish I have ever caught on this lake have come on the stick-bait. Good a way to catch quality as there ever has been. Of course not to mention, you may get one of those toothy critters anytime you throw it. Especially up the White or Kings Rivers this time of the year. Good Luck