Bill Babler

Sunday I fished pretty much the same water as Sprint and had just about the same results. I just could not get them to hit the blade or the buzzer, I had to go to the fin. I'm thinking however this is a very good time for that big Magnum Spook. You can throw it way better than a fin. By the way, I don't know about Sprint, but I fished about a dozen really good docks, working over the cends and then flipping the back sides and stalls, and did not catch a single fish off any dock. Did not even have a boil. These fish are really starting to scatter from deep to shallow and from deep to deeper. As Champ said and Sprint eluded to, it is a junk fisherman's dream.

Hodge, no worries if a bass is killed and is legal most guides will let clients keep it. Most often if people want to take fish 90% of our guides will push them to Taneycomo where there is a fantastic stocking program, or in season take them to Bull Shoals. I have not allowed a client to take a bass, either dead or alive in the last 15 yrs. If we get in on a school of whites, or catch a cat or two that is their fish for the taking. Really of the 300 guide trips per year that I take, I very seldom ever have a client ask to kill a fish on Table Rock. Cannot even remember the last time. As you all know, I turn loose at least 9 or of 10 walleye. Just on a very rare day will I take one home for the grill. Cat fish are another deal, We do eat them. Taneycomo is a different matter, but not to a great extent. Perhaps 50 percent of the folks want a trout dinner and for sure the ones we take down there from the Rock just to get it. Good Luck, and lets move on to another wonderful Ozarks Anglers FISHING THREAD

That is one fine very current and area specific fishing report with substance and body. We really appreciate that type of participation on this forum. Thank you very much for the timely information. Table Rock bass never really respond well to lots of fronts with all the lightning and pressure changes we have had. Kind of put their heads down and burro up. Good Luck

Becky has been full here at the Lodge and I have been on Taney for the last several days, so have not had much of a chance to fish the Rock. Had today off, and a full week on TR so I headed out as soon as I helped her serve breakfast. With the overcast, wind and spits of mist, I started with a blade and buzzer. Fished it for close to 1 hr. without a bite on either, I should have known better. Clouds and breeze persisted and I really had a very hard time locating any deep fish in numbers that would do my clients any good. Really just started junk fishing and ended up with a decent bag, but really put absolutely no pattern together. Yes I could have been a player in a derby, but these were not guide fish. I had a pretty nice limit out of cedars on a redfin. These fish were tight in the middle of the trees and if you threw it a foot outside the outer limb you would not get bit. I threw multiple times at each tree and it was most often the best cast that was right thru the trunk. Don't know what got into me but I was spot on and only made one truly bad cast in 2 hrs of tree work. Had 6 fish off the cedars all keeps 4 LM 1 really nice K and 1 Jaw. Probably 12.5. Caught fish today on a spinbait, fin, flutter spoon, drop-shot, crankbait, wobblehead, and the best deal that I might be able to make work this week, was the Little Varmint. Had two solid keeps on the little rascal. dragging it in about 20' Keeper to short ratio was excellent with 9 keeps nothing over 2.75 but several right at that number. 17 total fish. Surface temps at 71.8 water is pretty dingy. Hope this helps, but in reality I don't even know if it will help me.

Before you start disparaging anyone on this forum come on here with your real name and as you say, make some enlightened comments about more than tournament fishing. I simply think the world of Mike Webb and this thread was never to discourage anyone from fishing any derby they wish. It has been pointed out however that tournament fishing is for sport and it is very hard to make money doing it. Of course that is not the main principle. Most of us love the time on the water and we see and visit old friends and have friendly competition. Heartland buddy circuit was fished in 3 states under very highly competitive terms in those days. 75 plus boats were the norm, not the exception. Entry fees were $275.00 per team. 8 derby's and a two day fish off. As I said Tim and I won close to 20 grand. That is 10,000.00 each. We practiced 3 full days before each event, to be competitive with the best local tournament fishermen of the day. Had we not spent time on Truman, Lake Of the Ozarks, Grand lake of the Cherokee and Bull Shoals we would not have won the circuit. For that circuit we put in close to 40 days on the water each fishing out of separate boats from daylight to dark in preparation for each derby. In reality that is 80 man days. We pre-fished 5 days for the fish off and came in 3rd. in the fish off after being the points champions for the year. We were edged on Grand by two local teams fishing brush piles they had put in. We fished to win, not to just compete. You want to question my math, we'll dig out the old tax statements. This years CPA year end fish off was again won by my good Friend Tim Sainato. Tim is an excellent fisherman and knows Table Rock from Stem to Stern. For the fishoff he pre-fished 5 full days again from daylight to dark. There is a reason he won. He put in the time and the money. Very, very seldom is it possible to show up the day of the derby and win anything but a hardy handshake and a pat on the back. Take a look at who is winning these derby's and see how much time they are putting on the water in advance of them. For me I have not figured out a way to make that free. Not one person here has said one negative word about Mike or CPA. If he does anything this year as far as a Solo Pro, I'm in. Just have been questions about the profitability of local tournament angling, and probably the most important question, Where are the fish that were removed from Table Rock this is a very simple question that folks are asking. This has just about ran its course.

Probably need to rethink that. I know of but one of two guides that still kill fish. That went out years ago. Even the few that do will only let a person take 1 or two. Most of the very top guides do not and have not killed a bass intentionally in years.

Very. very good question.

It is more than easy to spend 500 bucks on any derby. If you have a night lodging, entry fees, including big bass and side pot, travel expenses, fuel for both boat and truck and I will tell you, you can eat cold cuts and still go way over that 500 figure. A few years ago Tim Sainato and I won the Heartland buddy circuit. At that time there was lots of traveling all over to Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. We won a total of right at $20,000.00 and that is just about what it cost us. Before gas came down a few weeks ago, it was costing me close to $350.00 to fill the truck and boat. You drive down here from either Saint Louis or Kansas City, and come a day early to pre-fish and you will not do it for $500.00 Be way closer to a $Grand. Just in oil for 2 or 3 days of hard to moderate running, you if you are really watching what you are spending will be a 50 bucks just for the oil if you are using name brand. As tight as my wife's purse strings are, I don't believe she could hold in under $500.00

Very nice job and welcome to the forum. 4 fish at pretty close to 4 pounds per, is a very, very good day almost anytime on the Rock, that will get you a check. With a 6er. swimming in the tank, that kind of takes the pressure off. Been nice to see what you boys would have had with 2 more keeps, but it looked like you were shooting for the moon fishing for the Largemouth and it worked right down to the fish bone. Again congrats and we will looking forward to hearing about your Table Rock Lake fishing. Good Luck

Really nice.

Yes Quill if it had just been me I would not have put that wobblehead down. These fish, especially from point 20 up to at least Holliday Island are getting ready to just tear it up. Yesterday they seemed scattered but on the bottom from as Champ said about 12' to about 35' all coming off the bottom. Always something fresh. Yesterday we had two different fish cough up soft plastics. One coughed up a Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw and the other a drop shot worm. Wonder where they got those? I have one locations up the Kings River that I catch at least 4 but most times a limit when I hit it. It is a submerged tree that is exactly 30' at the top with the bottom at 40' I'm sure it is just a small pile of brush, but I continually catch catfish, walleye, LM and K's. Some of the best Shell Knob K s up there out of this spot. I hit it no more often that once or twice a week, and it kills me to drive by it. But I do. Really surprised to see a small black flat bottom setting on one of my deep tree runnouts yesterday. I have not seen anyone on those trees dating back to the early 90ties. We fished it later and caught 2 pigs off it, but it is usually good for 1/2 dozen or more. Yikes. Good Luck all this Football deal is getting ready to be pretty real and I mean very, very soon.

September 28th. Golden Missouri Fishing Report Stepped out with the 3 Talvott Guys yesterday, launching at Viney Creek at 0700. Not a good start as we were as totally fogged in as I believe I have ever seen. Fished the creek for right at 2 hrs. before we dare to move. Had 2 different boats at the mouth come by us on plane running completely on GPS that missed us by under 50' that did not even see us. Total idiots, reminds me of my skiers a month or so ago. Really hoped fisherman had more brains. Guess not. Managed 9 fish in that two hour stretch with one Walter. Caught him on a drop shot night crawler and had a few others on a yellow magic and a flutter spoon. We were in search of walleye and cats for the skillet and did end up with another very nice keeper eye and a 4 pound channel. Only fished 4 locations in the 6 hrs. cause of the fog, but after the sun came up and pushed my fish down, we started catching them really good. Mostly on the bottom in 25'-30'. Saw Champ and Donna, Believe they were being kind when I saw them as I suspect they were at that time doing quite a bit better than we were. I know they whet on to have a nice day as I got to see the pic. I had been fishing mostly suspended fish the last few weeks, and they were totally gone. Believe it was the fog and overcast that scattered them, but I could not find any suspended fish, either off the bluffs or over the deep trees. Everything we caught and that was quite a few later in the day, came off the bottom. I'm sure these fish could have been caught on a jig, but we were committed to the dropshot. Surface temp at Viney was 77 and the lake is at 910.7 Visibility is dropping somewhat at about 10' Looks good for you shallow guys, and if they get on this jig, I will be joining the ranks. Good Luck

Exactly!!! They are the Cheetahs of Table Rock lake.

There are quite a few fish still haunting the Blue Water. Last couple of days my size has been down, but numbers remain at extreme and almost embarrassing levels. Starting to see quite a few LM in the groups. Funny, but they don't seem to be coming to the top much at all for me. They seem to be staying at that thermocline level with the bait and not pressuring it to the surface. Good Luck

9-25-14 Surface temp at 78 lake level at 910.10 water clarity at 12' Rustled both Ann and Bill around abit this morning. They are Lodge guests and we did not get on the lagoon until way past 0700. Really did not seem to matter as the fish were just inhaling the flutter spoon this morning. Most bites came on scattered fish, but we did have multiple fish come in when we had one on the string. Caught 2 double on the spoon, but did not get either closer than 10' to the boat before one came unbuttoned each time. Twice we had fish come off the spoon by the boat and another one immediately grab it. Fun Deal. In this picture Bill caught a fish while he was setting Ann on his lap. Their double is shown below. It was really fun as you can see by the smiles. Caught some drop shot fish also, but they seemed to be way later in the morning, just about at the noon quittin time. got on one set of them in about 45' They were suspended in the 30' range and there was more than a bunch of them. The kids had 4 doubles on that set of fish. As a general, the deep fish were somewhat shallower this morning. Does that make sense? Best depth for me was 25' to 30' suspended for the most part over depth. At this point Bill said no more double pictures if his fish was always the smallest. No more pic's as Ann just had one of those good ole days. Beck and I were talking about it after our trips yesterday and it seems there are a very nice set of fish guarding the major creek and large cove mouths. They are setting on both sides of the mouth and then machine gunning any shad patrols that are reconnoitering the deep channels into the pockets. It's a Friggin Ambush. We will continue to bomb them with large silver projectiles from above. Good Luck

James if you stopped in 100 ft. and shut your boat off it would automatically restart and put you where it knew you belonged. Probably would also give you a slight electrical shock for such a foolish idea.

There my friends is the perfect answer. Thanks Q. same deal for me.

Quality fish. Was that a small crappie down the hatch.

You would think for cripes sakes that we could have at least had a picture of Donna. By the way, I did poke fun at you on the other thread. River Rat. Me bad.

Jerry, I do not. I think it is just a pretty expensive toy to play with. I feel any or probably all the fish we are not catching on it we could be catching on a spoon. THIS IS NOT. LET ME REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A STICKBAIT. The bait configuration and the placement and size of the hooks are not as they are on a suspending jerkbait. It is not specifically meant to be jerked. The proper way to fish it is to let it fall as quickly as possible to the same depth as the fish and reel it thru that area of the water column. The roll and the spin of the MOVING bait is suspose to trigger the strike. It is kind of a fun toy, but including myself and my clients we keep saying "Durn, I missed him," way to many times. MoBass, as far as the gentleman this weekend, here is the rest of the story. I told him to move out some and check his graph for deep trees. I went on to tell him to look for trees in usually about 70+ feet of water where the tops came to within about 30' of the surface. Usually at the mouths of the major creeks and large coves. He had a brand new Triton fish and ski and looked like he had a decent graph in the console, but really nothing on the bow. He asked me if his spinnerbait would work if he let it fall to the count of 20 or 30 and I said Maybe. He said he had no drop shot stuff and only a few jigging spoons. I would have given him some flutter spoons, but they are now as hard to find as hen teeth and expensive as all get out. When I was pulling away my lady client said, " I would not have told that A-Hock anything Bill, your way to nice." That guy did not know me from squat. What would you think if you had not caught a fish all day, and some old fool is setting in the middle of the lake, throwing a bait at nothing and setting in 120' of water, saying he has already put 25 in the calaboose? As MO. stated, this is a very different cat than most folks are used to skinning. He might should of done a bit more research. Course Champ would have been right up there with him, only difference is that Donna would have throw out the lake side of the boat and would have caught something. I made a Funny.

I was trying with the hooks to add a little longer shank and also a bit bigger gap. Not only to increase the bite of the hook but to add some extra weight to the bait. The fall with the added split rings and hooks has increased it some, and it still falls in a very correct manner. To tell you the truth, and now I have thrown it quite a bit, the bite is not on the fall it is on the retrieve. This is not a stickbait, it is a spinbait. The whole idea of the bait is to catch them on this on the retrieve. My clients and I don't have a ton of hours in with it, but going by man hours, I'm going to say, maybe 300 man hours fishing the bait. Not a single fish on the fall, they all come on the retrieve. I want a fast fall to get it to the desired depth as quickly as possible. Then the proper retrieve to keep it in the correct location in the water column. If your using this for schooling or chasing fish, there is a better mouse trap as fish even with all that I have done come loose quite a bit of the time, even with experienced fisherman behind the wheel. This bait comes with a pretty short shank size 8 hook, with a very narrow gap. I am putting the wider bigger and heaver Death Traps in size 6 on it. If your putting any type of a triple grip or circle type hook, remember to just wind the bait. If you set the hook or pull back it will cost you fish. That triple grip is designed to hook the fish and then create a closed circle to keep them on. When you set the hook with a triple grip, you close the circle before the hook penetrates the fish. Good Luck They will bite this deal, but if you have to pay your dues with it.

Was hoping you all missed that. Level is 911.3

Tell you the truth on the spinbaits, I have used 8 different colors, sometimes 3 different ones at the same time and it really has not made a difference. Don't think it matters. I am only using the chrome spoons.

Yep, both hooks and all three split rings. No, I have not hung one up yet. I have already along with Beck thrown about 1/2 dozen of them off with line breaking on both Nanofil and Invesix Smackdown braid, on the cast. I have had some very good clients along with myself that have thrown them off. Some even after a very recent retie. I'm not using either product any longer. I am exclusive using 6 lb. Maxima on all my spinbaits. Good Luck

Very nice trip, glad you got the gal in on it.