Bill Babler

Not only is the Ultrex a disaster as far as breaking, it is the heavest motor on the market. It also has a top speed of 2.41 mph. This is an issue. Say you want to cut across a cove or skip a stretch of bank. With the Ultrex unless you bring lunch you have to get down, get everyone else down and crank the big motor. Ghost or Force you crank it up to 3.75 and blow across the water. Another point is battery power, I’m running my Garmin or you could a Lowrance on 24 with 2 lithium batteries. No expense or weight factor with the 3rd. battery and totally better performance. Vernon has been the luckiest guy in the world with his. We had one of the best reps here in the mid US in J.E. Vanetta. Been with HB/MK for over a decade. He finally had enough and quit because of poor product performance on both sides of the water. Good friend on a 2019 kitty is on his 2nd. Ultrex, his 3rd. Apex and his 2nd. pair of Solex units. He thinks he is a field tester for the company. This jumps back and forth, but MKHB had better get back on the ball if they want to stay competitive. If you remember we said the exact same thing with Lowrance and Motor Guide a few years ago when Minn Kota came out with the good spot lock of the Ultrex. Motor Guide had no way to grab the ball, but Lowrance did and Garmin also with pairing the motors and sonar chartplotter units.

If they were giving Ultrex’s away free I still wouldn’t have one. Bought one, they replaced it with a free one and it broke too. Replaced it with a Garmin an no problems except a worn pull cord. I really like the Lowrance also, but guys that have them seem to be going back to Garmin. My Motor Guides never did me wrong and now you need to throw Power Pole Move into the mix. I’d wait a bit on it. Over priced and not exactly the start the company wanted at the Classic, Heavy Hitters and Redcrest. Depending on your electronics I’d probably match the motor except the Ultrex.

Check with Extreme I’m sure they get them from Crowler and if not Lilleys can most probably get you a flat from Crowley.

Another report from KC of the exact same bite. 8’ to 12’ 3/8 th. GP jig. Reports of lots of fish on beds from point 9 to Cow Creek till Friday. That same depth 8’-12’ but most all vacated the beds by Sunday. Still lots of cruisers and fry guarders. Just like Steven and I almost all were either LM or Jaws. K’s are deeper but the same deal. If you want to catch a derby bag right now, chasers where you find them and big fish shallow. The fish we found chasing were keeper quality fish with whites mixed in. No Kentucky’s If you get around a bunch of the schooling K’s get out of Dodge. They say never leave fish to find fish but 13-14 inch Spots are fun and that’s about it. ie Ron’s dock up the White. Fun, but nonprofit. Good Luck Thus is current and extremely accurate 1st. Hand Information

Just a quick note, SK to point 9 including any coves, pockets or creeks has really stained. Not muddy, but a rich James River Green. Steven and I had just some wonderful fish in front of the bushes and around the docks yesterday. 12’ at maximum, I’m going to say most at 8’ or under. We threw either a Picasso tungsten 3/8th. Little Spotty in PBJ or GP Pepper with Yamamoto 4” twin tails same color as the jig skirt and crushed nice fish on it in the stained water. We left them biting. With the lake dropping don’t know how long it will last, but if you’re fishing this week it’s working. Got the same identical report from Long Creek. Good Luck

Big gills have started on the Rock too. Caught a couple on a C-rig of all things and a couple on a football jig. They played havoc with our jig trailer tails.

Way better day in the early morning fog yesterday. 15 keepers mostly LM and Jaws. Best 5 probably pushing 14 pounds. Timing and Luck are my two keys. Just idled away from the H hiway ramp to the back of the first cove due to dense fog, made a cast, caught a fish and then it was on. They blew up and chased back there for over an hour, including a bunch of whites. Surge Shad, but I’m thinking an unbaited gold hook would have worked. These bass were working on gizzard shad. When the may lay was over there were at least 6 or 8 wounded shad kind of torn up and finning around on the surface. These shad were 5 to 8 inches in length. Had never seen this, so you can imagine what it was like back there. Later in the morning we found gills in large amounts and they were big. Seem to be on the gravel in 15’ and under stacked up. Always better to be lucky than good.

Son Steven and I fished the tournament hours yesterday. We put nearly 50 bass in the boat with a Whopping 2 fish that were keepers, if 15” is the criteria. We fished shallow to deep and deep to shallow. It was pitiful. Lots of those fish were under 10”. Cold wind early with surface temps at 68 degree. By noon the wake boats were just horrible at SK. Headed out the door now in the fog. Hope it’s better

Crew said Wheeler has competed under 3 hours in 2 days of fishing and has 43 pounds. I think he is super Pissed off on how his season has gone. I expect him as well as the MLF CREW to totally put the Hammer on them tomorrow. If he puts between 24 and 26 pounds on the scale he is going to run away with it. Cause you know durn well he is going to slap another 20 plus on the scales off the ledge on Sunday Don’t care what the rookies are doing, Wheeler and Neil on the Ledge deal are without equal, except for KVD and he is just at the end of his run. 50 plus years old is a tough road to hoe, with theses young Guns, and he didn’t make the cut.

Ya, 4 of us are you, Phil, me and Steven. That’s half the field. If it’s alright let’s just regroup on this for the usual time and place next year, if the group agrees. id love to see who ever comes. But. On a Saturday this time of year we usually try and get off the water by 10 anyway.

Is only 8 people to few to do this? I know we have the regatta permit but that’s a pretty sparse group.

Exactly right, they were I’m assuming spawning on that shoreline brush at the EB ramp point. When they moved out into that 15’ to 30’ range the whites started hammering on them. There is another really good bite up the White River, but it’s not for me to disclose as I was put on it yesterday morning by a friend. If he wants to comment that’s on him. I’ll just enjoy my good fortune of him sharing the info with me. Good Luck.

That Gog had big plans. Thanks for the report. I have ten rods on the deck, look like an MLF guy with the exception of I’m not tromping on mine. You can really junk fish right now.

The docks and shoreline brush around Ron’s had thousands of Shad in and under them. Big girl came off a Shad spawn on the dock next to Ron’s, he seen me catch her. Every dock in that cove was loaded with Shad. Sounded like a war going on under them Andy Montgomery would have had a monster limit skipping under them Me, I’m not much of a skipper but I caught fish off every dock on top around the edges. Whites everywhere out in front of the EB boat ramp. Stayed up all morning, after I left the Shad spawn. Nothing on Ron’s flat, he probably only fished 45 minutes.

Welllll, not what I’d hoped. Did catch a total bucket full of fish, mostly shorts. Had a really nice keeper on a glide bait and this one on a Surge Shad. That is a big fish. Spawn worked on her hard. Secret bait didn’t get-em this time but it will 1/2 ounce Bucktail. Shad spawn is in full throttle up the White River. Also had to deal with white bass. Been several years since they have blown up around me like they did today. Good Luck

That wouldn’t have work in your favor Friday. I’ll give her a try in the morning and see. I got a solid tip from an old derby buddy. He claimed to have 17 pounds today. That really means he had closer to 20 cause he short sheets them every time. Something I have just not done but if Phil Lilley bass fished much I’m sure he would be great at it.

I don’t think there is a statute for derby cheating I believe it was fraud. They were banned from competing in tournaments for life and I believe they said 5 years on hunting or fishing which is the maximum penalty. They had won a very high percentage of tournaments they fished and there were flags that got them caught. It was highly suspended that this was not the first time they had cheated.

The topwater Big K deal had been going so well, I invited our lower end special correspondent Bobby to SK to get him some this morning. About 4:30 this morning the pyrotechnics started with thunder and lightning pounding my beloved Shell Knob. It continued till just prior to our 0630 launch. I thought it might put them down a while, but we probably should have gone to Terry’s for breakfast and then went HOME! We totally stunk or skunked it up. What ever smells the most vile, our pictures would have shown up in the Funkin Wagnals About 9 total fish with one beat up Jaw and a line burner K showcased our morning. Two topwater Surge Shad fish and the minuscule rest on a 3/8th. oz. Jig with a Smallie Beaver trailer. Fish were suspended at 8’ off the bottom in 18’ to 26’ and were totally oblivious of our extremely quality presentations. I even broke out the Duo Spin Bait. Pardon me while I throw up a little in my mouth. Fished the now World famous Ron’s dock and even Ron and his fish barking Lab were trudging back up the hill shoulders hunched tail and head down. When you would get a nip, and a nip it was, they would drop it. We both lost a couple of fish. Bobby probably had the best one on, I’m guessing a Jaw, but it spat out the PBJ Ned rig like its name sake the Trd Worm. As Mike says, sometimes the fish win. They check mated us this morning. Great company and I’ll continue to practice and have Bobby come up again when I get better.

Been fishing that gravel run since 1980. Always good this time of year. Really good in the Fall in a big jig. Pulled up there one day in June 20 years ago and Becky swam around on a floaty while Steven and I caught top water fish while she swam. Livescope looked like the stars in a night sky there yesterday. Not far from your brush pile either. I had a nice LM off it also and a couple of spots. Over the years I bet that house has sold a dozen times.

I’ve seen a wave of the rough tongued critters more than once come in on Memorial Day weekend, around the next full moon. Spots can get extremely hard to find in the dam area this time of year. Seems like Baxter is the partial stopping point. Yesterday a guy standing on his dock said he had 32 on a spook and 1/2 were keeps. This is up in Quills territory. Yesterday I had more LM, zero jaws and a few K!s, but I was fishing where the LM live most of the morning.

Just a lazy day up the White out of SK. Started at 5:40 and was the 5 th. boat at the bridge ramp. Surface temps at 68 degree and they really stayed about the same, all morning When I put her on the trailer at Noon it was 68.2 Really not a crowd today, when I got back to the ramp only 3 rigs in the lot. Kind of reverse order for me, jig bite early then topwater mid-morning had maybe 10/12 keeps and could have weighed in 13.5 pounds of LM, all coming off shallow docks. Surge Shad, Keitech and Dixie Jet on 30’ deep gravel finished me off, and I left them biting. Hopefully we have guys coming to side the house tomorrow and framers for my boat barn. Good Luck

Just got off the phone with the Corp. Very helpful. Old rule 50’ from a gas dock. New rule and it may be changed 50’ from any commercial dock. The commercial chart may not be correct, you have to go by the 50’ rule. A commercial zone cannot be 100/200’ of empty shoreline between docks so that’s why the chart is off. It is simply 50’ from the commercial docks. Rule is not enforced by the Water/ Hwy. Patrol. Marina operators can ask that you stay 50’ away. They are also asked to not let slip owners fish, but the Corps know that they do and it is really not enforceable unless a ranger sees it. They are also not out there to measure 50’ for fishermen. They just don’t want lures clanging off boats. She said it’s really the honor system and both commercial operators and private fishermen neither are adhering to it. She said it’s basically unenforceable. I know for an absolute fact there are marinas that let not only slip rental clients fish but let a couple of the old time guides and their clients in the off season walk the dock and fish their slips. Hunter was correct in that the kids should not have been allowed to fish a dock slip. It’s coming to you will need GPS cords and a range finder for TR. Totally ridiculous.

The High School kids cannot fish within 50’ of a GAS dock or any dock that is directly touching the dock with a walk way attached to said gas dock. If it’s just a row of slip rental docks that are attached to the bank and not the gas dock it’s perfectly legal to fish them All other tournaments cannot fish within 50’ of a gas dock but can fish any dock connected or not, as long as they maintain the 50’ distance from the pumps. Just because there is a sign the dock owner put out there does not mean it’s law. Went over this with a couple of the boat operators Sunday. Both guys I spoke with had range finders in their boats. I was in the Campbell Point Cove. Those red signs really mean totally squat. A lot of tournament’s will make certain marina’s off limits, but you or I just out fishing can fish anywhere, except within 50’ of a gas pumping dock.

Put about 20 Grand worth of Livescopes and Garmin Gear on it plus Monster Mounts and you will be allowed to fish LOZ and Truman. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

That is some great advice from Wrench. I’d also pack the wheel bearings and make sure the rubber on the tires are not dry rotted. Beautiful outfit. Back in her day she would have been a head turner as she is now. Don’t forget the new ProGuide Batteries. 😀