Bill Babler

Buster was hired for the camera boat, another guide was instructing the talent. Both the guide and his taslent were having a hard time. I think he backlashed on his first cast, so it took two. This deal here will probably go down in infamy. Unless you have had the chance to fish with that fiend, you just have no idea how good he is with that jerkbait rod. He has kicked my behind so many times I have conveniently forgotten the number. Good Luck

Lilleys' is the best place to buy swimming minnows. Phil can get anything you need. He keeps thousands on hand.

Buster has for this past week been working with a national film crew putting together a early season Table Rock and Bull Shoals series. He has been running the camera boat and assisting with baits and locations. It has been tough fishing this week, but they have stuck with it trying to get this show. He has been calling and visiting with me about their plight. They were fishing a location on Bull Shoals for either walleye or bass and in 2 hrs. had not had a bite. Buster motored up to them and told them what they were doing wrong for the umpteenth time. Fishing to fast and out of position. He said I don't want to be a donkey's rear, but you all are leaving fish and not fishing correctly. The talent for the show, who will remain nameless said, "Ok Dude if you think you can do better, I'll bet you, you cannot." "You said we left fish on that bank. I'll give you this new ReVo MGXtreme if you can go back over the location we just fished and catch one in 20 minutes." BAD, VERY BAD MISTAKE. Took Buster exactly 2 casts to boat a stunning 4 pound walleye. Guy handed over the Revo and said my mouth is shut, and my ears are open.

With temperatures in the Mid to Upper 70's today and these 40 MPH winds, this pond is going to gain at least 5 degree surface temp today. Might change the entire deal, it has to be bringing them up in the water column.

For the next couple of weeks Quill we are going to need to get a different wrap everyday, just to stay incognito. As if any one really cared what we are up to. Way to windy for me today, but will be out tomorrow. Temp here at the lodge is 75 and the wind is blowing the bark off the logs. There are easy 4 ft. waves coming across Clevenger Branch, and I have seen at least 20 boats come by this morning. Lake is full, but with this kind of wind down here way to dangerous for me. Probably could get out of it, but just not any fun at all. Good Luck

That was probably me. Quill has a darker duel. He is a local for sure. We claim his as one of our own.

Water temp. and bait numbers. The lower lake has a lot more shad. All my fish the last 3 weeks, however being caught are spitting crayfish. The big fish yesterday litterly had its mouth full of crawdads, and spit a tea cup of them in the boat. This would make everyone think wiggle wart, but these fish are coming from 20 to 35 feet. Yes there are crawfish down there. Not going to get a wart down there, so the rig and the jig are the deal. Oh ya and the Tube.

A school of shad is a school of shad. I think size really matters, and for a school of threadfin shad this time of the year, there has not been a better A-Rig bait invented than the swimming minnow. Buster touched on this in his seminar last week. We use a combination of the swimming tail and the paddle tale. I like the pearl and the the shad colors and do not change to much. I do like my back center bait to extend at least 5 inches out the back of the bait ball and I will sometimes use a Castaic bait on it in paddle tail of a very similar size to the swimming minnows. I tried yesterday to create a bigger bait ball by putting 2 PigStick 5 wire A-Rigs together. I get these at a very good price but it still pains me to cut one up. It seems the bigger bait balls are the better deal. That gave be 9 total baits with the back 3 trailing the mob being hooked baits. It took quite abit of modification on this double rig to keep it from spinning and to run correctly but I did it. Worked like a charm. I have ordered some of the multiple arm Rigs, but the expense is horrible. The one recommended to me that has been working here is a whopping $24.00. You lose it and that is 30 bucks down the drain, I don't care who you are, that hurts. Problem is we have probably got 2 more months of this deal, so plenty of time out there to get your A-Rigs in order. Good Luck

With the next 3 weeks tournament heavy, we kind of got popular. My first phone call this morning was at 6:30 and I have had 3 since plus the email box is taking a pounding. These fish are not everywhere up there,and I believe Quill will agree there are usually multiples in a location if you can find them. I don't know how well I would do running up there from Kimberling City without fishing the White River. Quill and I are up there 150 plus days a year, and that helps quite abit. Be just fine with me if the guys stayed below Campbell Point, but with all the shad dying and they way the lower lake is fishing, I think we will be seeing some tourism on our junk. Had a guy tell me this morning, he thought 22 pounds for two days on the CPA would be the winner. I would think it would take 26 to 28 pounds, or 13 or 14 per day. Good Luck

Your job was much harder than mine, and in both the short and long run way more important and rewarding. I more than salute you. My wife put 25 years into turning lumps of coal into diamonds, and I will respect her for it for as long as I live. Now, Lets go Fishin!!!

I'm kind of thinking its a big Male. Weighed 6.1 on the repala scale, but that durn thing is very hard to work. If it were a sow and that long, it would have been a toad. Had some other nice fish to go with it. Maybe 17-18 pounds. I think the way thing have been the last 2 weeks. it would have been a pay day. Good Luck

White River Outfitters Current Table Rock Lake Fishing Report 02-18-14 Kind of got a jump on things this morning and wanted to get on the water early. Really glad I did as the bite for me was really a 2 stage deal, with the best bite from 0700 to 0900. Started at Eagle Rock to clear water at 39.5 degrees. First cast I had a very nice keeper on the Rig. Boat positioned in the channel throwing up on a break. Fish was in 20+ right on the bottom. Made another cast to the same location and had its twin. This is a channel swing where the water breaks from 20 to 50 ft. in the length of a throw. I caught 3 more here all shorts. I had intended today to throw the Rig and also a Jig as these fish are just positioned where that should be the deal. Most all I'm catching are on the bottom. Most being from 20 to 35 feet. You have to just bounce that A-Rig the entire time or you will not get bit. That is why I have been thinking about a jig. Still have not caught a K in the last 3 weeks. I then started fishing long points from Eagle Rock to Devils Dive. About the 3rd. stop, one just slacked me on the A-Rig. Threw in there 3 more times and nothing. Put it down and tossed the football jig up there and that was the deal. The big gal hit and then swam happy as a lark to the boat. Very nice 24 in kicker Moved across the small cove and caught 2 more off this long point, one being a short and another very nice LM keeper on the Rig. Stopped on 4 bluffends to throw the floater, and by gosh I caught a short LM on the second end. Hit a big dry spell. About 2 hrs. of nothingness. Ran into Quillback at Carter Creek around 11 AM and at that time I had 8 fish with 4 keepers, including a very nice 6 plus pounder. I was having a dry spell and had just a couple of other places to try before I made my way back to Eagle Rock to put her away for the day. Stopped on a secondary chunk rock point that runs way out into the channel, and put the boat right on the edge. Gave the Rig a huge heave and let it settle to the bottom and then started it back. I'm guessing it was laying on the bottom in about 15'. About 1/2 way back I got wacked and boated an nice 18incher. Thru back and missed one, so I chunked out the jig and caught another really nice keep. Pulled off it after 5 or 6 more casts and idled across to the next point. Nothing so I went back and caught 2 more shorts where I had just caught the previous fish. Pulled down on the point just upstream form the ER bridge and gave 3 last casts. Boated a very skinny buck on the last cast of the day and called it quits about 2:30. Surface temp at the ramp as I pulled out was 42.9 Good Luck

Dave did you pour those? they look like a very solid hook. Yes lots of guys texas rig for those deep trees.

RPS answered for me. What a let down to have to byov. Good Luck

Can you give us the general location of these sacrifices? Heck with the fishing.

I read a few years ago in Fishing Alaska Magazine that there have been more trips to the emergency room from trying to fillet flopping fish than there has been to remove hooks from fingers and hands. Very best method is to turn the fillet knife to the back side and make a single strike to the back of the head over the eyes. One whack will put any fish, including moderate size cats, up to 10 pounds a shaking. Interesting about speed cleaning fish. There is a YouTube video of a father and son cleaning specks. They have both cleaned 10's of thousands. One used a fillet knife and the other the son was claiming how fast and good he was with a electric. Bottom line is the guy with the filet knife had 1/3 more meat off each fish in about 1/3 more time. With the small numbers in limits of crappie we have now, if you think you are saving time with the buzz saw, maybe you need a little more time. Just a shame to waste them after you kill them.

Those guys do use weedless jigs, and make their own weedless heads. Beck makes a really good weed guard also. I have been using the darter head by Gamakatsu with weed guard in 1/4 oz. You can get this with either a No. 3 or 4 hook. The only problem is the is a solid black nickel hook and it is not going to bend out, so you had better make sure your weed guard is a good one. I have lost 2 rigs in my last 7 days of fishing, but am getting them at more than a reasonable price. For those of you that are not building your own A-Rigs, this can really get pricy if you are fishing deep trees or brush. If you want just a super jig head with a much softer bend out hook, I would suggest a Chompers. Great head design and a very soft I believe Mustad hook. It will bend out and if you are using 80 + pound braid you can get it loose most times. I have not had a fish bend a Chompers hook out even after I have straightened it out several times, so I like them a lot.

Buster fished Saturday and sent me a picture of a net full of very nice walleye and some crappie. Said they were starting to bite pretty good. Caught everything including the crappie on a modified, custom painted megabass. Good Luck

Greg Wood and Wes Endicott won it. Greg is the Regional Sales Manager here for Phoenix and he called to tell me they had 20 keepers with 45 total fish. Could not get a big bite. He said he did not expect to get a check with 16 and a half. Fish bit for them all day, lots of 2.5 pounds K's. Caught all their fish suspended in the deep trees in the Kimberling City area. Fished trees that the tops were in the 25 to 35 ft. range, counting the A-Rig down to 15 to 20 seconds even before engaging the reel handle. That is hard, I don't care who you are. I'm just wondering if a guy could have either spooned or caught those fish on a grub, verticle.

Used to be the Spoonbill rogues were the deal, but I have just gotten away from them. I really never liked their action nor did a lot of the local jerkers and that is where a lot of the modification of replacing bills came into play. The Spoonbill do to the placement of the bill is a very soft head movement with almost no action on the tail or back of the bait. A bill modification on the early rogues and weighted chambers gave these baits a very sharp tail action, with the bill coming further back on the head of the bait. Now with the weighting process of the megabass and the spro that most folks are throwing and the Plus 1 megabass we are able to fish these baits as deep or deeper than the old spoonbill and have a better result because of the chambered sound of the bait and the quick response of the tail to the twitches. For sure don't get me wrong, the spoonie has caught more than its share of White River Bass, but for me now, there is a much better mouse trap. Buster touched a whole bunch on this at his seminar with the spoonie's vs the new style baits and the bill modification of the original rogues and here we are now talking about it again, so it is a very good topic. Good Luck

Sorry I missed your email. I probably would have not been much help.

Everything sold Thanks

SHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

Guided long time client Dave Mangelsdorf last couple of days on the lower restricted zone, and it is for sure totally off the chart right not. Started Friday to one generator and a gentle breeze and stopped on the channel bank on the North side across from Short Creek. This area has been holding some very nice trout even out of the zone. Dave caught 13 here in 4 passes drifting a beaded egg on 6X leader bouncing it abouot 6 ft. below a very small carrot float. Best fish here were 2 17 in rainbows. I have caught at least 1 and usually 2 or 3 15 inch fish in this area all Winter when the weather has let me at them. Moved into the restricted zone still with 1 unit on and continued to catch fish however smaller on a modification of the tout magnet, using a magnet head and hook and tying pink chenille on it to resemble a trout magnet. Water off at 11 and wind howling switched us to a size 12 olive micro about 2.5 feet under the indicator and it was hard to keep it in the water for longer than 60 seconds without a take. Dave caught 7 straight missed one and then came back with 11 more straight. Had 3 Browns, all under 15" and to many bows to count, none over the first ones that we had at short creek. Restricted zone is just loaded with fish and they are porpoising and jumping on flat water like I have not seen in a while. Tony Wiedele told me he saw several schools swimming from Clay banks to Fall Creek that had 50 plus fish in the school. Good Luck

Well, it has been tough, the boys did not pull off or come near the 20# mark yesterday. 16 and change nabbed 1st. place for Greg and Wes. Believe the Fann boys came in second with 12# something, so the 16# pretty much blew it away. Man how thing change in a couple of weeks. All those 20+ pound bags disappeared. Greg told me they caught a lot of fish with some very nice K's fishing the Kimberling City area. He did mention that they caught them on some deeper stuff on the Rig. Had spoken to Pete and he and Brian went up the White river. They had 12 pounds fishing the White above the Kings for a 4th. place finish. They caught their keeps on a stickbait, with a couple on a rig. Think Pete told me thay had 13 fish with 8 keeps, all LM. Just the same deal I have had up there but they could not put that kicker in the boat. Their fish came off timber with chunk and gravel, and not the ends that Greg and Wes caught them on at Kimberling City. Pete also said the stickbait bite is a will-of-the-wisp. You more think you have a bite than know it, they are just on it when you go to twitch the head. He said it is so soft it would be almost impossible to guide with. The two I caught the other day, one did thump it but the other was just a breath. Pete said the surface temps at Viney were 35 yesterday and that ice formed on their guides till past 10 AM. The entire back of the creeks were frozen and they had to break ice in the main channel to get up stream just above the Kings River. Pretty hard fishing. The runnouts of which I am speaking are usually long points that dump into the main river channel. Point 7, the bouy point across from Cow Creek, The big turn across from Mill Creek Ramp the Big Point running into Mill Creek, the Long bouy point at Baxter the big flat points across from point 19. All these a very long shallow runnouts that just tumble into 100 plus feet of water from being in 20 ft. for a 100 plus yards. These are always good early staging locatons with deep water handy and forage within easy reach. Good Luck