Bill Babler

That evening bite can really be tough. Jason has it down, but did comment that the bites are few and far between. The heat, sun and boats just pound them down and it takes awhile for them to recover. Quill the bigger K's are really showing up this year. Our best size has been on the drop shot which is strange as most often you will catch them on top. Drop shot has really gotten a lot tougher the last couple of days and they are hard to see. Some of the guides are fishing the deep trees to suspended fish and that is really hard, but fun if you can find them. Did have some nice fish today, with around 30 to the boat with a solid 14 pound bag of mixed K's and LM. Pretty slow on the Jaw's today and nothing on the Whites.

Don after I talked to you this morning we ran over there and they were still going. Thanks.

Don was great to get the Howdy. You boys get back up there and do it again. I'm going to be a little later in the morning, but should be up there by 5:15 or so. If we would have had a little breeze we would have just hammered them. It got bright and flat way to quick. If you are not going to be back to the afore mentioned location on either Tuesday or Wednesday, PM me and let me know what side they were on or were they in the middle? I have to go out of Baxter on one of those days and it is a pretty close hop to get to your hiddy hole. Thanks and I wish you would have brought your son over closer for a handshake and a welcome. Pull in on me anytime. Good Luck

White River Outfitters Table Rock Lake Bass Fishing Report White River Arm June 23rd. 2013 Yes, here we go again. Glenn's back with a Rabbit foot in one pocket a Four Leaf Clover in another and a Horseshoe tied around his neck. Charlie was his companion last week and you all know how that turned out. Glenn had a new buddy on this deal, his stepson Jeff. Jeff was a bit nicer to Glenn than Charlie was but still held his own as the two battled for big and total fish supremacy. Surface temps are warming up (84 degree) and the water levels are really pretty good with lots of flooded targets available for those so inclined. We took the deeper route and stayed with chasing fish most of the morning. Not quite the day we had last time for big, but total numbers for us were still pretty much Yippie Ki-A. Might have lost a fish here or there, but the boys had a combination of LM, K's and Jaw's on the top water junk of I believe 16 fish. Fish were not running as big as earlier, but fun, fun, fun. Caught them on a spook and a fin. Pretty much even money on the surface. Starting plying the depths a little quicker today due to the flat water and light situations. I chimed in with 2 on a jig today for my big contribution, but had several assists. The boys put our nicer fish in the boat on the drop shot. Jeff had Glenn down 5 zip on the bottom sucking stuff before Glenn hammered home a 3.5 pound LM that put a grin on everyone's face. Glenn in turn boated a nice keeper K at the same time to make it a double. I believe we had 10 on the bottom and it was getting late when I saw just a flash and heard a splash about 200 yds. off to port. The boys scrambled to their seats and we streaked to the location and to a very nice white bass bite. Hate to admit it but Glenn ruled here with his Cabelas Jigging spoon. The boys together put 10 more than solid white's in the boat in about 15 minutes, or as quick as I could unhook the prickly som-guns. More of a cornucopia this time than an extravaganza, but what a morning on Table Rock Lake. Good Luck

Josh is one of our good local fishermen. He was injured really bad on the job and although he can and does fish the lake with great success, I believe the rigors and the boat hammering of tournament fishing would put him in a pretty bad way. I'm not speaking for him, but your health is whats important. Just good to see him out and fishing, not punishing himself. He can go to the house any time it gets to rough or hot. Always appreciate his reports.

The entire point of this is to cut stress and mortality. On Summer derbies I believe it should be 3 fish max. and a complete no cull rule. You have to be selective with the fish you put in the well. This is how all Trout tournaments are. You select the 3 fish you wish to measure for the day. You catch a bigger fish after you have measured and accepted one and its tough luck. Cuts way, way down on mortality. I believe the trout guys have it right.

There was another guy also, it was perhaps 10 years ago on the No Wake deal. On the no cull rule for Missouri from June thru September here is what it is suspose to be. You can catch and release any bass prior to and including putting fish in your livewell. Once you have 5 keeper size fish in your livewell you may replace one of those with a 6th. fish culling a single fish. I know this is stupid, but its how it is. After your single cull, you cannot add another fish to the livewell, as you have caught and kept your daily limit, which includes the culled 6th. fish. That is for a tournament. If you are just fishing you may keep 6 fish and not cull from your livewell at any time. Once you put a fish in, it counts toward your limit for the day, regardless This is June thru September and that is how the law is viewed by a retired MDC agent.

I think I remember of two or three other DQ's for boating law violations that were turned in by observers. Mostly I believe busting NO WAKE bouys. I believe Missouri has a no cull rule from June thru September also. Don't have time to look it up, but someone may know. Kind of like Golf, there is a lot to watch out for and not really know because some of this stuff is grayer than slate. I wonder if this was specificily mentioned in the pre tournament meeting. It really should have been and I hope it was.

Kind of funny you should mention the deer. My neighbor Terry Thomas has a beautiful house and yard just before you go into old 86 park on the right side of the road. They have been doing landscape for 7 yrs. and are really getting it nice. I counted 14 does and fawns this morning grazing in his front yard before 0500. He has a sprinkler system, so I'm sure they were also there to shower and get ready for their days work, along with breakfast. Terry is providing the ideal suburban deer habitat even providing showers.

Just answered that with the above truth detector questions.

Yes they are eating a spoon a little bit. Not very good yet. You can really stir them up with it however. If the drop shot bite slows and you see the fish, just drop it down and they will chase it up and down like mad. Put the drop shot back down and bang. On the drop shot deal, it really has not mattered much yet, kind of like in Busters report. They seem to bite both with equal gusto. IT will get to the worm pretty quick though. One great thing about live bait is you will catch more kitty and walleye with it.

I don't think I have anything available to mid-July but I know Buster and Beck along with lots of our top guides have some limited availability. I have been pretty lucky in putting a nice string of work days together after a terrible start of the year due to the extreme weather we had the first 3 months. Buster also had a huge morning, Beck is on Bull Shoals today with clients walleye fishing. Thanks for the inquiry.

Quill, I really was not going to mention it but hoped someone would. We had a very, very nice bunch of Spot's this morning. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but of the close to 35 fish the boys boated this morning I think we had between 20 and 25 that were at least 15". You catch 25 keepers on June 21st. on Table Rock in a 4 hr. morning and the rest of your day is "Just Gona be Good." I commented to Tyler that this was an extremely nice set of fish. He had been following our exploits on this forum and of course had noticed the 7 pounder from the other day. This was by far a better set of fish overall, and just about as good as I will put together this Summer unless I get on some Big Black's and a Big Jaw or three. Thanks and Good Luck

I don't think she can legally ask that kind of a question, and he certainly did not have to answer it. They must have a test question, but that is usually your name and age. They cannot ask any type of a question that does not pertain to the tournament. I have been on the machine countless times and it is always an adventure. Usually after the test question, they ask Have you knowingly broken any rules that govern this tournament? Have you knowingly broken any state or federal laws in fishing this tournament? Did you catch the fish you weighed in today and in a legal manor as described by the rules of this tournament? That is pretty much it. If you look at the questions, that just about covers the Kit and Ka-Bottel.

Table Rock Lake Bass Fishing Current Report Kimberling City, Missouri White River Outfitters Guide Service June 21st. 2013 Today was the day for the Pratt Boys. Tyler, Nolan and Victor. What a nice group they were traveling from the Windy City to sample some early morning Table Rock Bass Fishing. Home base on their Ozarks trip was the Village at Indian Point. I launched at Old 86 at 0450 and headed around the bend to pick them up. Counted 16 sets of boat lights from point 2 to Jakes Branch and determined there was just not enough room on the locations I had been fishing. Headed up stream after picking up the crew with a final destination of KC and point 7. Spent a good part of the morning catching top water fish on a flat gravel runnout. Had one other boat pull up but they stayed out abit and we for sure didn't bother each other. I believe we had 19 top water fish. Most were Jaw's, but we did have several really nice K's and one small Largemouth. Lots and lots of 15 inch fish this morning, but no Monsters, just nice Table Rock Bass. Top water did not last long this morn, so we threw a tube for a spell and caught one smallmouth and missed another. Pretty slow on the tube. About 0700 we went to the drop shot. First location was our top water runnout and we caught 4 here with 3 solid keepers and 1 short. All K's. These fish were in 32ft. on the bottom. One of the major lake point in front of Cow Creek is usually good this time of the year. My clients caught several hundred fish off it this Spring Swimming a grub. For some reason nothing here and I cannot explain it. We point hopped up stream the rest of the morning, ending up with 15 drop shot fish to go with the top water deal. What a great morning with some super guys from Illinois. Surface temps this morning at 82 and the lake continues to clear. We could see those drop shot fishing coming up from a pretty good distance. Good Luck

Spoke to Darrin, and the locations were all of the above, on a single very nice stretch of bank. Again he pointed out this is an early bite. Most of it is way over before 9 AM. The breakdown has been, 0500 to 0700 about 20 fish to the boat. 0700 to 0900 about 5 or 6 fish. After 10 AM to 5 PM Good Luck

Cheating is breaking written tournament rules. What we might deem as an infraction or being outside the lines of fairness and honesty most often don't come into play. ie the brush piles. All tournaments of any size have acceptable formats that the participants must follow. If they don't they are disqualified. It now days is pretty had to break the rules and get away with it. honesty detectors are pretty reasonable. You can find them on the internet for a couple of hundred bucks, so most tournament directors have them. I can remember 10 years ago, or maybe more the underwater camera were in play. We had locals that fished some of the bigger tournaments instead of pre-fishing they were pre-camera enough docks a few days before the tournaments that they would know the docks to concentrate on. Most tournament created a no camera rule for two weeks prior to the tournaments, and took care of that. With the number of tournaments each year that police themselves, and there are thousands across the country cheating is very rare. I think they do a very good job. Good Luck

Also sounds like they are really starting to turn on the tube in the 15 to 30 ft. range along with a jig. Knew it had to be connin soon. Good Luck

Hey Buddy, that is a fantastic Morning. Glad you caught them good. Lots of good lookin folks in those pics.

Thanks Dave Wonderful report and great to see the family. As big as they are getting in a year or two, they will be driving the boat and unhooking your fish.

Wally, could not agree with you more. Those are some fine folks at Bass-N-Baskets and it is my honor to call both Deb and Ed friends. They simply have a beautiful home to share with their guests. Great lake views and Ed will just keep you in Stiches. My wife and I have stayed in the Bass Room and let me tell you, it is first class. The breakfast is wonderful and the fishing is just as good. Folks if you are in the LOZ area, this is a keeper. Give Ed and Deb a call and tell them Bill and Becky sent ya. You will be more than happy you did. Good Luck

I pretty much fish the entire lake this time of the year, depending on the location of my clients and where I presume to get the best bite judging from the fishing ability of my days fishermen. Yes, fishing ability does matter to me when selecting a lake section. With the price of fuel right now I am very concerned about how much running that I do with both my truck and boat, as it all comes out of the bottom line, but knowing my clients before the trip and having some idea of their ability and the time they spend on the water is knowledge that helps me concentrate their best efforts on a lake section that bodes well with their experience. For instance the bush pattern of which I speak is a great pattern, along with a dock pattern. There are certain lake sections that are producing this bite better than others. I would love to fish this type of pattern, but can rarely, due to the precision casting it takes to make these types of presentations. Most people just don't fish that much. Being hung up in a bush or banging a top water bait off a dock time after time is not going to lead to success. I must put the clients into the best position for success that I can. ie, the open water bite of which I speak. Most times your not going to catch the bigger fish doing this, but you will get "Blazing Hard Hitting Action." Where I'm meeting folks or the resort they are staying at is also a factor. Resorts that recommend me don't want me dragging their clients to other lake sections and catching fish. That will only make that client book a different resort in the future. What boat the client has is also a factor. If they have a small boat and cannot travel far from their lodging, I'm going to show them locations that they can get to. I'm not going to say I do it more than any other guide on the lake but I will say Pete Wenners and I probably fish a greater portion of the lake than any others. Capt. Rick gets around pretty good also. I probably fish the Eagle Rock to Campbell Point area more than any other guide by far. Of course that is home to me with a Lake House at Shell Knob. Due to high fuel and lots of trips from our Lodge at Old 86, I have been fishing the dam area lots this year. It has really held up nicely, but the dam can go to heck in a handbasket faster than any other lake section. The pressure here is just tremendous. A couple of mornings ago, at 0500 I had to settle for my 6th. spot as there were already fisherman on my first 5 choices. The bite also die's quicker in the morning at the dam. Usually due to water clarity and boat traffic, and just plain fishing traffic. Typical week right now is 1 day trout- 3 days dam, 1 day Baxter and 2 days Knob. OOPPS. That did not leave me a day off. guess I'll just have to wait for Winter. Good Luck

Thanks for the crawlers. Good wash job also.

Mid lake is really classified from about Pt. 9 to point 23, and here is what is going on from the Mouth of the James to the Mouth of the Kings River. Surface temps starting each morning in the 77 degree range and right now staying pretty close to that. Surface temps had been up to 80, but have backed of somewhat. We had 55 degrees air temperature at the Lodge this morning and really need a hooded sweat shirt for travel on the lake. These cool nights are keeping the surface temps down. Going to warm up though. Water is a perfect color with probably 8-10 ft. of visibility on the white plate test. Getting started early now is a key to your success. There remains a very good top water bite before the sun hits the water. You can approach this 4 different ways now, depending on the type of fish your going for and how many you wish to catch. 1. Big water schooling bite. This is mainly K's with some Jaw's, and if your alert you will see them off the major flats and cove mouths chasing shad. This can be a very good numbers bite. 2 Bank bite in front of the bushes. This bite is mostly a LM bite with a Jaw or two thrown in depending on your lake section. This bite would work mid lake. Feed your favorite TW bait in front or thru the flooded bushes and work it our. Not as many bites, but a much better chance of catching larger fish. 4 Early morning tree bite. The LM and some very nice K's are now starting to suspend in the Cedar Trees and in the pole timber, you can work this bite, best with a spook or a fin. Another low numbers big fish bite. 5 White Bass Bite. Mostly traveling and watching for surfacing fish. They have been off the flats on most lake sections Mid-Lake, but they are hardly ever in the same area two days in a row. Mouth of the James, Goat Island and the flat across from Baxter are good locations for this type of action. When the fish go down and it is usually as soon as the sun hits the water, so if your out at 0500 you have at least 2 hrs. of solid top water. Then look for the same fish right now on the bottom in 28 to 36 foot. These fish are holding off the ridges and runnouts on most of the major lake flats from Lazy Lee's past point 7 to above Campbell Point. Drop shot. If your not that much of a top water chaser there has also been a very good early tube or finess drag bite in front of the flooded bushes. I'm using a green pumpkin tube or a green pumpkin candy zoom fish dr. As the sun rises continue to get deeper. Fish have pretty much kept to the bottom out to about 36 and I know they will eat a hula grub or a jig in the same locations. If your into catfish or big bluegills I've been catching some on the same locations using live bait rigs. Hope this helps, Good Luck

There is no such thing any longer as a little guiding on the side. You take money to take people fishing you had better be a Federal Captain with a licenses and at least 2 million dollars in insurance coverage. Especially on the Lake of the Ozarks. It is not only State, but Federal Law. Anyone that take clients or passengers for hire and does not possess these type of credentials is subject to a $5000.00 fine and imprisonment. Charges or guide fees are a direct result of the experience on the body of water and the cost of maintaining and keeping the quality of equipment that a modern day guide must have, along with everyday cost of bait, fuel, transportation, insurance, advertising. and boats, not to mention repairs and replacements and daily wages. A good rule of thumb is if a guided fishing trip sounds like it's to much money or to expensive for you it probably is. It is however what the guide has to have to keep his or her business current and take care of a family. The guides on Lake of the Ozarks are hard working and will work to get you bit regardless of the conditions, and they can be tough on that pond. Not only on clients but the guides and their equipment. That being said, for a quality bass fishing trip contact Big Ed's Guide Service 573-692-6710. I have fished with Ed. many times and he is very good on LOZ. He and his wife operate Bass-n-Baskets Bed and Breakfast and he is not only a long time resident, but a super guide that will keep you safe on the water and put you on fish. Good Luck