Bill Babler

That would be a big 10-4. White River Chain from November thru early March is a deep water winning pond. Most all those big A-rig bags last year came from counting the rig down and pulling it thru the tops of the deep trees. Last weekend on both derby's here those were deep fish winning. Most came from 60' on the bottom or suspended. I caught fish in 35' Saturday on the bottom on an A-Rig. Had about 14 pounds with 2 4 pounders both were on the bottom on channel edge brush at over 30'. This for RPS. Randy they are on that location we spoke of. Right on the break. All LM and as usual, I was hung up repeated times. Got hung once and pulled it thru and bang a 4 pounder. When I got it up to the boat another one just about as big had followed it in. I believe it will get better and better as the Winter gets here. If you get some time, go hit it. Another point is on some of those deep bluffends where there is a jerkbait bite those fish are coming up in the water column to hit the bait. This is Table Rock and they can see it a Long, Long way off and come and get it.

Wow, have not been over since last Christmas, but loved the Pizza and we usually went by and bowled over the holiday. Wonder what they are going to do with the old photo's if they close her up. Would love to buy them.

From a guy that is in boats everyday, I think there has been massive changes since the 1980's. Yes, a boat is a boat is a boat, but the hull designs have really changed. To tell you the truth this is mostly from Lund. They have been an innovator in not only hull design, but interior configuration, electronics, stability and quality. My first boat was a 18' Winner and from there the progression has been on almost a yearly basis. I got the Winner in 1978. From there I went to a 747 XLV Charger that was an exceptional boat and at that time handled Lake of the Ozarks quite well. Next in line I went out on a limb and spent some money. Becky was not on board, but I told her this was the best deal. We bought a showroom new Ranger 370V. With a 150 Evinrude. Biggest mistake of my boat buying life span. Thank goodness it had great resale, as that boat was the roughest riding wettest piece of Cr0000P that was ever made. It would soak you with spray over the side on a calm day. Next inline came the Stratos family and I went right to the 201. What a friggin dream. Not wet anymore and a 21 ft. boat that had all the goodies and talk about speed. I was into it and that boat rode flat, smooth and fast. Ran a new Stratos just about every year for the next 15 yrs. Went to the Champs and had 2 with the 201 being the last one and now on my 3rd. Phoenix. I think my 2014 is my 24th. bass boat. Changes over that time period excluding aesthetics have been a hull design that has not only added stability it has increased in width from my early Charger over 30 inches in beam. They have also narrowed the top cap to create interior space. Ranger is also at the top of the food chain as they were the first to put positive flotation in all their boats. It is a moot point now as it is required by every boat line to pass MMA. One of the main components of the new boats and almost all the companies have this now is a reverse chine. This was developed by Lund and it is a must have as far as I'm concerned. What this does is allow the boat to set in a completely flat non-rocking attitude when you are fishing. Its other function is that it directs spray away from the boat when on plane and driving into a cross wind. it is the last chine and surrounds the boat. It forces all water and spray down and it really has changed the performance of every boat company that uses it. Another Lund innovation is the aeration system that has been used on the Ranger boats since Brunswick acquired Lund. This system goes from bottom to top and top to bottom. Most all companies use it now. Lund is also an innovator in quality materials, using the strongest possible thread in the seats and heaver quality vinyl and a much higher quality carpet. Lund is also a product that although it is mass produced it has more man hours In the production that any boat line, glass or tin. Every boat company worth a hoot has looked at this and followed its lead. Ranger used to claim highest resale. They were right and wrong. Yes at one point they did have the highest resale of any FIBERGLASS fishing boat, but they never came within a mile of the resale of the LUND. As far as others that have participated in the revolution, that should never be forgotten is Bass Cat. Really hard to talk about resale or quality of construction until you walk thru that door at the factory and see the cases lined with J.D. Power awards for quality of construction,quality of materials and customer satisfaction. No one is even in the state, let alone the ball park. Bass Cat started with and again now most have followed with the integrated hull. This is a very expensive procedure that enforces the super structure of the boat by building the boxes into the hull blank. It creates stability and adds strength to the entire boat. No drop in or plastic boxes, it is all glass from start to finish. Lots and lots of changes since my ole Winner. What does that mean for the future and Bass Pro? Guess we will wait and see

Threw it quite a bit yesterday on a day that I caught probably close to 50 fish and could not get bit on it. I was fishing Bull Shoals and it was a day to remember. Had to move 2 times to get away from the white bass and could get nothing to touch the spinbait. They ate a megabass Stain Reaction that had a custom painted chartruse belly completely up. Replaced the back hooks 2 times as they were impaled so hard I would break the hook trying to get the floppin suckers off. I had 5 walleye with 2 keepers lots of bass, and the whites were just unreal. Nothing touched the spinbait.

Mine is pretty simple. I'm 99% of the time not fishing when I'm on deep fish. The point is well made however. I know Bobby Tindle always placed his transducer on the back of the boat as it is extremely hard to keep that line up and down when fishing at depth. Perhaps the greatest asset now of days is the GPS as soon as I see fish I can hammer it. Even in open water and clear bottom with very little cover, they will remain in location and not move at times. Also even with any type of scan it is very easy with just sonar to tell the direction of the fish and I can usually tell you if they are left, right, ahead or behind. Main reason is cause I'm old and have ruined my eyes looking at the durn thing. Wonder If I can get disability from Lowrance.

Bo, that post is so very informative and possibly the very key was the sentence at the end. You have to adapt to different depths and methods than we would prefer. Man this is so hard for folks, and most of that is that they just do not get to spend the time on the water. Another is Table Rock itself. On Lake of the Ozarks, Grand, Truman you can pretty much with just a few different areas and a few minor presentation changes catch fish at anytime of the year doing the same thing. The Rock is a much different animal. You have to ADAPT. Had a great visit with RPS yesterday discussing locations. We spoke about areas that we both fish and both know well. It just amazed me the perspective that I learned that I should have already know in just a short visit. Right now there are fish on the Rock from 1' to 80' Watch Pete's videos and you can see the versatility and the adaptability of what it takes to find them on a continuing basis. Good Luck

Look for the locations. fish will not always be there but if you find enough of these river channel dump off spots they will be on some of them.

As Champ and many will attest to on the board, there are always fish shallow. For the past month, not everyday, but most days guides like Bill Beck, Pete Wenners, Eric Oliverson and several others have had outstanding shallow bites, lake wide. In the last couple of weeks the deep bite has also begun. Not every day but enough that these guides along with the majority of the Big Cedar staff guides including Buster Loving have been looking deep. They have been finding them in Beardsley, Clevenger, and up Long Creek to a very good extent. Also the deep A-Rig bite is just on the verge of getting going and we all know how that went last year starting in Mid-December to early March. Please check the Fann Brothers bank account! There is also a very good deep water jig bite and this is somewhat of a edge bite. It is best up the White River, but you have to devote a good portion of your time either with a side scan or using your sonar to find it. Buster has been catching deep fish on a Jig up Long Creek, somedays as many as 12 to 14 keeps in a 4 hr. trip. He is also seeing some spoon fish containing whites and some K's and is doing well on these if he can find them. Not everyday. Good Luck and be safe out there

Very, very nice day. When you are moving that jerker that fast and keeping in constant contact with it the hits in the 50 to 60 degree water usually are just slams, especially if you are catching Jaw's in the wind. Great report and thanks a bunch. Makes us all want to start a jerkin them. Have heard from some of the guides and they are spooning and footballin pretty well, with the spoon as deep as 60' and the jig consistant in the 25' to 40' on the channel drops in the river and creek arms. Good Luck

There is a bite up there in the location you are fishing. Some of the boys have been fishing that portion of the Upper White and catching some good fish. Here is the deal. As Quill said he is catching some on some brush and honey holes. There are more of them. Look a bit deeper. Best bet right now is start looking on the edges. By this I mean where the edges of the flats drop off into the old White River Channel. Along these edges and I'm speaking from Cedar Creek to Holiday Island there are stumps and brush right on the edge. Have been hearing of some very good success on both a 3/4 to 1 oz jig and excuse me for saying it an A-Rig. Boat position has been anywhere from as deep as 60' to as shallow as 35' throwing into 25' with the A-Rig and letting it go to the bottom and then swimming it back along the bottom out past the drops. The drops up here can be very severe and the fish will hang suspended or near the drops. Work the jig thru these areas also. Guys are also catching a few walleye on the jigs doing this. Not anything to fish for but very nice additions. When doing this I suggest at least 15 pound on the jig and as heavy of braid as you want to throw on the Rig, using as soft and as cheap of a hook as you can buy. You will get hung up repeatedly. Best area I have found is Owl Creek up to Devils Dive. Also look for the deep spoon bite in the major creek arms and on the flats. These are not seasonal patterns I'm reporting, it is what is going on right now. Don't get discouraged, some of our biggest stringers and fish of the year will be caught in the next 3 months. Good Luck

Thanks Jerry, I believe that is correct. Please let us know for sure.

I even believe Baxter is closed this Winter. I most always used to could get a snack there or a micro sandwich anytime. Mike Blair that does the fishing reports for the KC star calls them if he cannot get me and they told him they were going to close till late March this year. Good Luck on the petrolunga

Been deer hunting in central Missouri pretty hard for the last 5 weeks. Really a funning season. We have lots of deer on the 3000 acres I hunt, but the majority of activity this year with the huge acorn crop has been in the deep woods and most of our camera activity has been at night. We did harvest our legal limit with both bow and thundersitck, but its good to be back chasing the bassessess. Good luck out on the Rock, and I'll see what I can scare up to report about. Both Beck and Pete Wenners are telling me it is as good as it gets with a wart and a blade. Lots of big keeper fish in the mid lake to Kings River section. Look for any 45 degree broken or chunk rock stuff with wind on it and get ready. From what I'm hearing they are as shallow as a couple of feet to as deep as 40 on a jig. Best bite has been in the under 10 ft. range on the blade and the wart. Not slow either, just winding.

That looks like the front deck of Phil Stones Boat. That is if you throw about 2 dozen more on the pile. Good Luck

Excellent point. Thanks Michael

Have a really hard time believing you saw what you think you saw and knowing it was a guide boat. I think Phil and I know ever Federal Captain on Taney, and that just simply does not happen. I'm more than sure you are mistaken. The main reason is it is just not necessary for guides to use bait in the restricted area to catch fish. Yes if folks that do not fish everyday wish to retain their legal catch in the lakes lower section, it is not a problem and the guides will use bait in the proper zones. Lately however there are very few of us even fishing bait below Fall Creek. If you would have said you saw a guide boat using a trout magnet it would have been more believable. If they were using crawlers of course you know it would have been a piece no longer than perhaps 1 to 1.5 inches. San Juan worms, egg patterns and small pink streamers and jigs look very similar to illegal baits. I saw Stan from the Orvis shop get in serious trouble up there one day and I just love Stan, think he is a great guy. He accused a guide of using crawlers and got a big brown San Juan with a 1/4 oz weight smacked into the side of his boat. It is completely impossible to know what someone is using unless you put that bait in your hand. It is also very hard to judge fish size from a distance. I also made a mistake up there of doubting the size of a guides catch several years ago, and confronted him about it at the dock. Both my clients and I thought he was keeping fish in the slot, as they just looked to big from a distance. Saw him measure everyone of them at Lilleys' and what I thought was fish over 12" were all legal at sub 12. Bad mistake on my part and really our friendship has not been quite as good since. I have personally not seen a guide fish clients in the zone in an inappropriate manner in the last 10 years being on the water up there 150 plus days a year. Not taking up for the guides here, but it just does not happen as there is simply no reason to do it and everyone knows the regulations. It is possible it could happen, but I don't see any of our resident guides screwing up like that. I think MDC pretty much knows this also. They are not going to throw down what they are doing and drive miles and spend time looking for a person that may or may not be using a red wiggler in the restricted zone. I would have immediately motored over to the boat and taken down his numbers or at least asked if he knew the regulations. He could have told you to have gone to Heck, but you would have had the proper information to assist the agent, if he or she had chose to come. As Phil said their are other avenues. If you have the least idea or any description of the boat we will know who this is. This is a very tight community and really there are very few guides on Taney compared to other fisheries. Good Luck

Thanks So much for the report. Sounds like a great few days and welcome to not only the forum but to the Rock.

Baxter, Mo. White River Outfitters Guide Service Current Table Rock Lake Bass Fishing Report. 8-19-14 Started out a cold foggy morning with Scott and Samantha. Scott being a good friend of the forum and a very good fisherman. He brought his youngest daughter Sam and as sweet as she is she is just as good a little fisherperson. Launched at Baxter at 6:50 it was just barely reaching daylight and it was 39 degree on the truck thermo. Boats already running so we decided to fish close and hit the first big point up in the creek, fishing shallow with the varmint. Did not take Sam long to connect with our first fish of the day, a nice fat 14" K. We lost 3 in a row and then Scott caught a very respectable 17" jaw to get us going. We fished here and there in the creek with the little bait for an hour waiting for the fog to lift catching a few more on the little guy and a 3/4 oz. PBJ jig. Fog finely lifted and I ran up the White for a way, but it was just to cold on us. Stopped on a flat runnout and caught one jaw. and then motored back toward the Indians and Sam caught a nice keeper K on the little guy. Most of these fish were 15 footers in the 68 degree water. All just spitting craws by the bucket. Went back into the creek and caught a couple of more shorts and then the fog really lifted and wind that had been blowing up our skirts died abit and so I told them if they could take it I would run to the channel edge where I had caught them last week on the big jig. Worth the run as we caught about a dozen here with 8 being solid keeps. Our best 5 would have been an easy 13.5 to 14, a mix of really nice SM and nice fat keeper K's. Again all the keepers were on the bottom 25 to 35 feet working the big jig slow. Sam hung a crawler on a drop shot off the side while Scott and I heaved the heavy jigs. She of course cranked them all to the boat and that gal did not let a single one jump ship. Samantha made this my favorite trip of the entre year and her thank you note will be framed and hang in my office for as long as I'm around. I'll post it later with her permission. It more than made my year let alone one of those just very special days on Table Rock Lake. Seems I'm having a lot of those lately. Good Luck

Well, lets put the deal to bed. Just got off the phone with Mike and he told me all the bass that were weighed in during the CPA event are and have been swimming in their home water since the evening of the weigh-in. They were immediately taken back to the lake the same day of the weigh-in. I repeated it so all of you would understand. If Mike Webb tells me this, I'm taking it 100% to the bank. I have never had a reason to doubt or question him and have known him for longer than anyone here, probably longer than triangle, which in no way helped Mike, but continued to throw gas on a fire that Mike wanted extinguished. None of us here personally asked any person in charge of CPA what happened to the fish. We kind of just went with rumors and innuendo, when a call to Mike would have clarified the entire matter. Mike did not come on as he felt that over the years he had hoped he had earned the respect of the fishing public in the area and it would not be necessary to tell us locals that he did the right thing by the fish and would always do the right thing when Table Rock Lake was concerned. I take this to heart. Mike never holds a grudge and this is more than forgive and forget time. He is trying his absolute hardest to juggle everything he has on his plate and make it the best he can for everyone involved. I hope he is considering Mike Webb. I just cannot even dream how many sleepless nights and how many hours this man has worked at trying to put something together that we as locals can participate and have fun in. As Mike told me It's time to go fishing and have fun. If any of you every have any questions on how the tournaments are handled or disposition of fish or even just want to visit, Mike is not hard to reach. Good Luck and Let's go catch em.

No you misread it. The reason being that I did not get it on paper correctly. Our best 5 weighed 13.5. Saw that as soon as I posted it but was to lazy to go back and correct it. I will now. Tks RP I knew it was a blunder. It's fixed now.

I don't own it, but I love it with all my heart. To even sit on my deck and look at it makes my breath comes in short gasps and tears well in my eyes. I respect ever thing that swims in it and it will be my great fortune to be scattered in her on my demise. Good Luck and God Bless you all

Kind of a wacky day except for the fishing. Picked up at Fall Creek and just could not get the boat on at either State Park or Moonshine. 5ft. waves coming in on both ramps. Had spoken to some of the guys and they were all texting and calling having a very hard time even getting on the water. You could find a ramp, but not within range of fish. Finely decided on making the drive to Baxter and my guys were all in agreement as one of them was a past Texas Guide and did not like the rough stuff after battling it all those years. Water was not calm at the ramp by any means, but we did get her in the drink. Again I'm going to need a pat on the back from Champ, but I started out on a blade, on an overcast morning with the water churning. My guess at still 70 degree is that I could not have picked a better bait. WRONG.... Threw it for 45 minutes on what my guys said looked like some of the best blade water they had ever seen and we boated one 12 in Jaw. Went back into some softer stuff, but still the water was hoping a little. Caught two on a 7/16th. GP Chompers Wobblehead, with a GP Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw, up pretty tight I'd say under 10' and that was soon over. Got to thinking that I was headed for the junk yard again, and just could not get out on the main lake as it was brutal. We did not see a boat on a ramp or on the lake today. We had it to ourselves, fishing the Big and Little Indian Creek Called Beck, he had got in at Schooner and caught some early cranking, but that had stopped. He said he was going to try and drop shot on the calmer inside of some interior points and I told him he could have all that he wanted. I told my guys this may not work, but it really should this time of the year. Buster and Tim had won a derby this weekend dragging a 3/4 oz FB in 25' to 35' I mean dragging, I don't mean working the jig, I mean dragging it behind the boat. Fished 3 locations with this method. Long Gravel Roll-offs fishing right on the break. There are stumps on these creek chanel breaks and down timber clutter. Not much mind you, but enough. We caught 30 dragging with 10 keeps and had a very nice LM jump off and sling the jig back at us a quick guess on him was 4 pound range without a scale he could have just as easily been a 3 pounder. Probably 13 to 13.5 pounds for our best 5. Used at least 6 different jigs and at least that many trailers and it did not mater the color as long as you kept it on the bottom. Probably the best was a Chompers spider live round rubber GP skirt on a Pigsticker 3/4 oz. GP,FB jig head with a Yamamoto PBJ 4" twin tail. "What a combo." I love the guys at Chompers, but I just hate that EWG hook they put in their jigs. It is way to hard on the fish. I like to support the retirement fund of all the tackle makers also. Used 2 packs of trailers and we hung up in the wind about a dozen jigs lost. 12 pound Invisx. When your dragging them into the rough stuff that is just going to happen I don't care who you are. Got a nice compliment and a great gratuity from the retired guide. Said my equipment and knowledge were above and beyond. Told him I got lucky today on two of my buddy's patterns. Said that the preparation and the quality of the equipment were pretty unreasonable for a guide to let clients use. I should not furnish equipment like that to old Fa-ts like them. Nice to hear from a colleague. Told them they would not have like me so good without that Football jig. And by the way, I did get fortunate. If it had not been windy I would not have fished a single location that I fished today. As always it is better to be lucky than good. Good Luck PS, When we got back to the ramp, there were 3 footers coming in on it. I just touched my bunks to the water and literally jumped the Big Phoenix up on it. Again, I was really feeling it today.

Table Rock Bass are the most sought after species that swim in the lake. The Missouri Dept. of Conservation does not now, nor do they have any plans to ever enhance this resource by stocking. This lake is not stocked except for paddle fish and walleye most often in the Arkansas portion of the lake on the walleye. With no stocking program huge water fluctuation during the Spring spawn and millions of man days in pursuit of these fish they are under constant pressure and stress. As has been stated by MDC if it were not for catch and release, bass on Table Rock would indeed struggle to maintain a catchable population. Bass limits are there to PREVENT overharvest not to control excess population. Lowering limits of Black Bass has been addressed on more than one occasion. It is felt that the economic impact on tourism would be extremely detrimental. It would also exclude Table Rock from National tournament visits that according to statistics results in hundred's of thousands to millions for the local economy. So with that in mind and thru creel surveys they have documented that the majority of bass fisherman are sport fishermen and release the fish they catch. It has allowed them to try and hold the line on not changing the limit. It was mentioned earlier this year that even to the point of if all guides kept their entire clients catch through the year, Table Rock would see an adverse effect very, very quickly. This resource is just pounded do to our geographic location 365 days a year by fishermen with excellent technology and the ability under most circumstances to harvest these predatory fish. With no replenishment to even expect it to maintain its numbers without people taking this into consideration is ridiculous and MDC knows that we participate in this by recycling fish. I have not fished a day this year that I have not caught fish that someone else had not previously caught and released. Some days I'll catch 10 to 20 they have been caught and released when my take for the entire day is 25 or 30. That is why we catch and release. That 12 year boy or girl could care less if the fish has a hook hole in its jaw. It bit their bait and made them love the sport. It tugged and pulled and jumped as if it had never seen the light. No reason to take that away from anyone. No reason to kill them, simply no reason. Bass are not stocked walleye are. Bass are where 90 plus percent of the dollars are, and where so much fun is that money cannot even come into the equation. You get my drift?

The VRBO's can be a little more expensive and a lot of them do not have docks. Play Port for sure would work. It is just a hop skip and a jump from the restaurants in the Knob and they have a super grocery store at Shell Knob also. Tell Sheri that Bill Babler sent you and see what she has to say. They are very nice folks. Play Port is fantastic access to the upper White River section of the Rock and you are located just about 3 miles from the mouth of the Kings River. You will sacrifice a few Smallmouth in this upper stretch, but you all throwing your jig for LM won't be hurt by that at all. On a bit of a higher end at mid lake is Indian Hills Resort. It is also out of Shell Knob with extremely easy walk down and a boat ramp. It is mid lake back in the Big Indian at Baxter. I believe we have fished that area. It is a perfect mid-lake location for your time of the year. Shell Knob is an easy 8 miles, Berryville Arkansas is 14 miles and Kimberling City is 22 miles. Check with the Shell Knob chamber of commerce and get a book. I know folks have also enjoyed Hardman's Hollow and Quail Cove. The Timbers is also excellent, but they have a bit of a tricky walk down to the dock. I know you all like to keep your goodies in sight. Take a close look at some of these older resorts as sometimes there stuff especially the towels and linens are not in the best shape PM me if I can do you any futher harm.