Bill Babler

Thanks Duckster, nice report on the droppers. Hope I can help you wrestle with them next week.

Great report Denny, glad you all are down and going at it.

More times than not, it is the untrained rescue swimmer that not only cannot save the drowning victim, but he or she also drown. Or have worked so hard to save the victim that they cannot make it back. It is a very said reoccurring theme, Anytime any type of situation like this should arise, use a pfd or a pole of any type to reach the victim. Even if you get into the water extend something other than your hand or body part to the person.

On the gar and rough fish note, regardless of whatever it is, I have a really hard time killing something just to be killing something. Several years ago I was approached to guide some bowhunters for carp. I asked them what they intended to do with the fish and they said let them rot. I declined. One of the strictest rules of my outdoor upbringing was if you kill it you make every effort to eat it. Nothing goes to waste at your hands. I have had gar meat rolled into croquets and fried in New Orleans. I thought it was quite taste. However I later learned they were perhaps the hardest fish to clean and prepare in the world, so of course that is out of the question, for most folks shooting them. I can also tolerate carp, my mother used to filet the meat from the bone and pressure cook it and again either can it or serve in fired croquets. It is way not my favorite, BUT. I don't usually walk hand and hand with Bass Pro, but for the life of me I don't see any hurt in them running their rough fish tournament if the fish is used, I really don't care if it is for consumption, animal feed, or fertilizer. Used being the key word. It is a tremendous boon for the economy here as it is a week long event. I would just about bet that it brings in more money than the FLW or BM Elite when they are here. I think the post was about rude behavior really, rather than singling out any of the factions that enjoy all different sports on our wonderful lake. The problem is and we fishermen can bear quite a bit of the blame is how much is enough? At times here on the Rock it is very hard for other sportsman to know what we are doing as here almost more than anywhere we ply all sorts of depths and structure that is not the shoreline. A nighttime bowhunter going right down the bank may not think he is interfering. However if you are casting to said bank and he fishes between you and the bank, that is somewhat of a conundrum. Pretty much like us casting the other day and having a guy pull trolling rigs between us and the bank. We just waited for him to troll thru, after taking a verbal whipping on bass fisherman owning the lake. As Plug said, it is never a problem or should not be a problem to pull behind someone that has already fished a location and then moved on. To pull in front however is very rude.

If your coming into your personal dock after an evening of fishing and there is someone fishing your dock and you back off for several minutes to allow this rather than pull into your stall, that is just about as plus 1 as you can get. Plug you are a true gentleman.

Sweet, thanks much for the info.

Always open to a great idea, Jay you are right it is not going away. Been happening here since the early 60's.

These crimes are very seldom solved by on water enforcement. There is just not enough law enforcement to work 24-7--365. Most of this is solved thru seeing where the merchandise is being sold weather it be on the internet or thru a fencing operation. It is not always in the local area, and most often this type of stuff is solved by information or another crime that is not related to these thefts, but someone wanting to plea bargain something else. Or most often by LUCK>

Quill glad you got some. I really struggled this morning with my group. Nothing on topwater out of Baxter, and only 3 dropshot fish, all singles in the 30' range. Moved to the gravel chunk points that I had been catching wobble head fish on and nothing till I said, "let's throw this GP/Orange Varmint for a minute." The boys immediately both hooked up and we had a double. One short K and one short Jaw. We released the fish and they threw again and both immediately hooked up for a second double. Same deal both short, K and Jaw. I said, " let's try that one more time, we are really on to something." Again they doubled, this time both very short K's. That was at 0700. We started at 0530. 9 fish in the first hour and a half. I'm thinking that I should perhaps do this for a living since I'm so good at it. Reality set in. That is pretty much the end of my report as we did not get a bite the rest of the morning. Never even glimpsed a deep fish at any of the multitude of locations we went the rest of the morning or never got another bump on the varmint. Good golly, now I remember why for the last 20 yrs. I have been spending my Summers in Alaska. Good Luck

Bo most of the guides know how to work those out in the lake suspended fish. I don't believe what your friends are seeing for the most part is bass, especially up the White River. I think they are seeing Gizzard Shad. From point 9 to Eagle Rock there are millions of 1 pound Gizz's. They are singles and running in small and large packs, and they have been hovering the thermocline weather at depth or on the bottom. We have seen them all year, following caught fish and just at about any depth. Just a thought.

Gat, I agree with you in principle, but Smallie hit the nail on the head as the patrol officer was telling me. You do not leave it on the dock, regardless if lockup up or not. If we as dock owners and I know this is a horrible deal, but if we take better care of our things this problem is mostly solved. Those plastic/fiberglass or even light almu. lock boxes are about as easy to tear apart as a Dunkin Donut. If we have 10 grand worth of items in them or in the boat and leave, it is just not smart, and after all these years of telling folks really stupid on our part. Regardless of punishment or threat of, it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves and our personal items.

Gat, a huge problem is the price of the things we have now and how easy it is to sell just about anything. One of these crooks pops just one dock locker box and gets two skies a wake board a tool box a battery charger and 5 gallons of oil and he has just made what I make in a month, for under 10 minutes of skullduggery. Really probably more.

Thank you very much for the information. I have spoken to several bait shops and they for some reason are still saying they are not permitted to sell any type of crayfish and have no distributors that are caring any of any kind. We used to get in at the bridge at 39 hwy and flat creek and catch them hand over fish. I'm just sure in a couple of hours at Bear Creek on Bull or really any of these fresh water creeks you could fill a bucket and be ready to go. It is kind of fun too. Only problem is the durn hard shell craws in the creek can pinch the bee geebers out of ya. Rereading your post,I bet that this rule being new did not allow producers/distributors enough time to grow any for this year. Perhaps next year since the ban was lifted they may start again. Good LUck

Sounds like a solution, but with my luck I would shoot the neighbors brother-in-law who had permission to borrow his stuff and was just picking it up.

Was talking to Pete Wenners a few minutes ago mentioning that tree bite. It pretty much is as tough as everything else in the fact that out of our best trees we might only catch 1 or "Woo-Hoo, two. Usually you can see those fish this time of the year sitting in the tops or suspended just above the tops of those trees. We are not seeing any sitting there like Jake said, just will pull a couple from the middle of the tree. Pretty tough with clients and the wind as that is pretty much a no-no. We did catch several today in the front two stalls of the deep docks suspended in the 30' range, but there again, when we have to do that to get a client bit, we are more than scrambling. Pete did mention that he had an early topwater bite right up on the bank. He said under 5 ft. paralleling the bank. Made a mis-throw up there and caught one so they tried it and caught several on a fin up close. It ended pretty quick he said. Early-early deal. There is a couple of more nuggets for y'all.

Check out my comments on the Be Careful After Dark Fishing thread. State Patrol is working around the clock on Table Rock lake theft. We as dock owners need to be the cure instead of the problem that we are now. Theft is happening even during the day right now, so for gosh sakes do not leave anything on that dock they you are not within 10 ft. of.

They used to run those wave runners about 20 years ago, but for some reason stopped the deal. They were doing a safety inspection check point at the bridge. Now of days they have to try and stop every single boat to check for safety equipment if they stop one. Of course they would also check for any other violations. That was probably their big presence for the entire weekend. I did however get stopped by them today in front of Indian point. They were stopping all the bass boats with 3 people on board in regards to thefts that were occurring this very morning. I visited a minute with the officer that stopped me and we were talking about theft on the Rock. He said, unfortunately he has gotten very callus about the theft from boats and docks. He said it is completely out of control no matter how many people they arrest, and that anyone that would even leave a thumb tack in a boat, not to mention any type of ski, fishing equipment or a tool is a complete idiot, and the total problem. He went on to say that we dock owners are the problem and we could be the cure. Do not leave anything on your dock or in your boat at anytime for any time. Even if you have a lockable container on the dock, do not store anything in it. I guess last week over 100 dock storage boxes were popped and the property was stolen. They were popping them this morning. The unattended docks and boats are an attractive nuisance and pretty much a supermarket for thieves. He went on to say that right now it is at an incredible all time high. They are even stealing boats or dropping the outboard and making off with it.

You might be out of luck. I know Missouri has banned the sale of crayfish. Arkansas may have also. There are 7 native species of crayfish in the White River and its tributaries and I believe they do not want any introduction of any outside species. Best deal is take a day and 1/2 dozen traps and catch your own, or you can just put on the wet tennis shoes and wade any of the fresh water creeks and nab them. Be very surprised if you can buy commercial craws. I cannot believe that Ark would have them if Missouri banned them on the same water. Good Luck

White River Outfitters Guide Service Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report July 8th. 2014 The last 2 weeks have kind of started us into the Summer doldrums. Pretty much the same old same old, during this period. Surface water temperatures have been in the 80 degree range now for at least 3 weeks and they seem to hover from 80 to 83, depending on the time of the day. Lake levels from 916 to 917, with water clarity depending on your area, generally judged as clear and clearing. From June 25 till now I have fished the lake from Eagle Rock to Long Creek on a daily basis and been in contact with both guides and locals that are fishing everyday, so hopefully my information is just about as good as I can make it. The only area that I have not breached is the James River. Topwater bite is still a puzzle to most, but for sure it is just nearly non-existent. On a very much rain short trip today, all our fish were bottom dwellers and all fishing out of Moonshine Beach had a belly full of crayfish, including 2 huge goggle eyes that we caught, that were just belching craws of the size that they had no business eating. We are starting to see lots of very small shad in schools of thousands. At this time it is for me impossible to tell if they are threadfin or gizzard. The bass seem to be paying them no heed, but a few folks are reporting now that some of the fish they are catching that had been dining 100% on craws are now having a few shad fillets in they mouths. Depending on your lake section the K's have been ranging from 23 to 45 feet deep either suspended or on the bottom. A very good location is yielding at best 3 to 5 fish. You have to continually move to keep in contact with them, and at times they are running from the drop shot faster than it is headed for them. Live bait is out producing the drop shot worms about 10 to 1 so don't be to fussy this time of year and just have fun catching fish. It is still not easy. I'm posting some pictures of deep fish that we caught one day last week. I was fishing a deep gravel hump in the Kimberling City area and catching several K's on its series of tops. I believe in a 1/4 mile stretch we had 13 off these particular uplifts. Everyone of them had been previously caught and had hook holes in their mouths. Just could not believe the entire bunch had been stuck previously this year. Some of them perhaps by me and Beck, but I'm sure others were in the fray. If it was you, thanks for releasing them to be caught over and over. Best baits for me continue to be the wobble head in green pumpkin using a Chompers 7/16 wobble head and a Yamamoto Fat baby craw in GP. Just have found nothing that comes close to this combo. These fish have been in the 15 to 30 ft. range and really want a gravel mix with chunk location, usually on a flat point. They by far have been my best fish. If you can reel the bait slow enough you can get bit doing this. If that bait comes off the bottom, you will not get bit nearly as well. Have also caught several walleye with this presentation. Another bait we just cannot put down is the Varmint, it just keeps on keepin on. The deal here is have patients with it. Fish it slow when you are fishing this deep. I can keep it down in 20+ feet if the wind is not blowing with the 1/8 head. Without a doubt the best color has and continues to be the GP/Orange. Was catching quite a few catfish until about the 1st of July and have not had one since. Am still however catching some monster gills. Lots and lots of very nice bluegill in the 18' to 30' range on the long timbered chunk rock points. Crickets are the deal, but will really cut down on the bass bites. IF you go to a crawler for the bass the gills will own the first several inches of it. On the graph they have been looking like a cloud resting on the bottom Gizzard Shad are also present on these point. Most of you will see them on your graph and think they are white bass and wonder why you are not getting bit. The graph just fill the screen with them. Perhaps the most I have ever seen on the Rock, especially up the White River. Early or late is really the key to this fishing, as mid-day is extremely hard even for deep fish. Get out early and then get out late. Good Luck

I have been catching some wonderful hand size gills as have most of the guides. Most are on the long rocky points if timber is present it is a plus, but really not needed. Most of these gills are in the 20 to 35 ft. range on the bottom and are quite easy to see on your electronics. They almost look like a shad school. Crickets and half size crawlers will get them for you. Not catching either walleye, bass or catfish with them as we usually do, just big solid gills. Good Luck

Really do not know what it is with the Patrol. Since they removed the Water Patrol and went to the State Patrol the last 3 yrs. on Table Rock, being on the lake close to 200 days per year, I have only saw them once on the water. There were 2 setting in a cove and talking across from the 13 boat dock. That is it, I have not seen or spoke to one. We do see one usually at the Big Cedar fireworks display every year. and that is pretty much it. I usually will see them maybe 3 or 4 days a year on Taneycomo, but they are pretty leary of the water down there and pretty much just idle thru to make a presence felt and then head out. I really do not think they ever anticipated what the traffic was going to be here or the size and speed of the boats. These new big wake boats here are a new deal, in the last 3 yrs. or so. And really it is pretty hard to get the patrol with the lack of personal out as early and to stay out as long as they need to. Simply a lack of man power. Nixon really smoked the pooch when he disbanded the Water Patrol. He made our water ways extremely unsafe and created a huge hazard. I'm putting it all on him.

A 30' XBoat caring 1000 pounds of Ballast with its nose pointing in the air, playing music so loud it vibrates the water 1/4 mile ahead of the boat is a terrorist threat!

Good advice from RPS but DUDE!! Fishing thru the middle of the day on a Holiday weekend in the area you are talking about is not quite insane, but getting pretty close to the Edge. Aunts Creek is the largest Resort recreation area on all of Table Rock lake and the pleasure boat traffic is by far the heaviest on the lake. From Cape Fair to Aunts Creek is simply jammed at that time. Good Luck and Wishing you the very best

Plug it is amazing. Back in my days on Lake O, even on Holiday weekends we had some real idiots, but those people would be Rocket Scientist compared with what we have now. With the speed power and size of the water craft today plus the inability to think in a rational manner and just that everything is not about me, it is a very formidable situation. I can never remember ever!!! seeing anyone tow skiers in the fog EVVVEEERRR!!!

No one was hurt but the Rav4 took a barb wire fence down the passenger side. As I made it to Pine Tree Jct. Another County Sherriff deputy headed back toward Shell Knob with all his lights ablaze and sirens screaming. This was about an hour after our deal, so it just continues.