Bill Babler

Thanks Cody, glad you had a nice derby. That Texas rigged senko is a very good bet. We use it alot. Most times however we either put it on a shakey head or on a mojo or split-shot rig with a 1/4 oz. weight. Lots and lots of guys have swithched to the slim senko which is 4" in green pumpkin pepper. Jaws seem to really like it. Not as good as a tube, but they think its food. That suspending stickbait is also the "Bomb" for the SMJ's, and will catch anything else that swim here. Had a 40 pound carp on one last year. Thanks for the candid information and the location. Continued success on the BFL. Good Luck

Was he sight fishing that particular fish or was he just working a stretch of water?

That is a great breakdown of your strategy. It is and was more than sound. Here the same stuff is getting pounded and pounded. Finding a nitch that was being somewhat overlooked was a great key to your success. I have told people that even places that you know are only big enough for a cast or two, under the heavy prussure these lakes are getting now, may be the key. Just something that maybe most guys are saying NAW that is just not worth stopping for. Again Super Job. Donna, I'm not even gona go there about you taking your pants off in the parking lot. Sorry I missed that.

If you look at the BLF results from around the country for the past two weeks, Table Rock is way out in front. This weekend we just blew it up Biggest bag I have seen since February 1st. came from Sam Rayburn, with a dude weighing 5 fish that weighed 36 pounds 7 oz. In February Lake Guntersville had a fish on the Angler side that weighed 11.07 and the dude did not will the derby. A co-angler in the same derby weighed in a 13.11. Good Times for the Rock, but it still remains just a few bites per day. They are big however.

Sounds like you had to have your work cloths on today down there with 6th. being 15 pounds. That is just a Super job of taking what she was givin up today and putting them in the poke. Great Job, very impressive.

Pretty exiciting stuff. One of the co-anglers had over 20 pounds, and another one over 17 pounds.

How many did you capture?

Look forward to seeing and meeting you all that I don't already know on a personal basis. It will be a blast putting the names with t he faces. Would be there earlier, but Phil has my nose to the grindstone. I'm going to try and push my trip forward and be there by 3. As far as distance it is about 45 minutes from the dam by truck. PS. I will bring my Phoenix and my bass gear and anything anyone whould like to see will be on display. See Ya there. BB

Did not hear a crappie report from Long Creek. Just like the folks in the know here. A few dying shad are ok. Lots of them is a super bad deal. Personally I get the heck away from them. Even on Taneycomo if there are just rafts of them the trout will not do as well on artificial.. If there are a scattered few, My gosh, Brace your feet and get a grip, cause your gonna get bit very hard.

For sure give us a report on your walleye deal Tks BB Good Luck

Jerry, usually I don't wear anything, but I just had to this morning. I have some pretty good very light fleece gloves with a thinselate liner that I wear on my right hand. My left I just had a skin tight Under Armor glove. I can feel the strike right through it when fishing a stickbait. I'm sure there are others that have a better Idea, as after the 1st. bitter cold hour I had them off except to drive the sled. On a modified fishing report, my client for tomorrow is currently fishing a stickbait in the Kimberling City area. He started at 2 PM and has a nice limit and has lost 2 big fish and missed several others. Really he kicked my butt this afternoon. I think way to many dying shad in the dam area for me. We are out of Baxter in the morning and I will see if I can get him on some up there. Good Luck

Still thinking about those walleye up the White River and just cannot get my mind off of them. Launched at Eagle Rock at 6:30 and had to make a pit stop to check a location for Bass on the way up the river. First cast splashed down with the A-Rig at 6;45 and I had a 16 pound limit off one location with a 2 pound K thrown into the mix. Had one great 5 pounder on the same deal with the K. 3, three pound LM anchored the deal. Surface temp at the start was 41 degree and the air temp at 23. Ice froze in the guides till 10 AM. Zoomed up the White to just down from Beaver Town and the White Office poontoon chugged up to just past me. I slowley jerked a stickbait for 2 hrs. and got a big ZIPPO. Buster has fished Bull the Last 3 days and he said the bite has really slowed down. I think in the 3 days he has only gotten 1 keeper eye. About 10 AM I headed back to Eagle Rock and stopped at two locations and caught a short LM on each. Surface temp at Eagle Rock was 42 degree. Boat back on the trailer and headed for Long Creek. Had lunch with Becky and was on the water by Noon. A-Riged 3 super locations and nothing. Started throwing a wart on some gravel pockets as the water in Long Creek was 46.7 degrees. It looked so good with just a slight chop on the water that I kept this deal up for about an hour, with nothing. I was just crawing it and really just pulling the wart and then picking up the slack by reeling back to a tight line so I could move it slowly. With that nice chop and it was just a Krinkle, I started working some outside cedar trees with a jerk bait and did this another hour with nothing. I had been up since 3;30 so this fat boy was starting to wear down a mite. Just had to throw the A-Rig another time or two and when to some deep bluffend stuff up past Big Cedar. First cast on the first location, a very nice 4 pounder. Went to another spot and caught a short. fished two more ends and nothing. I had, had a dose. Long day for 8 or 9 fish. The 4 pounder let me kick out my little K however and it would have been a pretty nice bag. I just cannot catch any numbers. I have spoke to dozens of guys and no one as of now is catchin many K's. This is for sure holding the numbers down with only LM and a few Jaw's commin in. As soon as the K's get up and about the numbers will increase and the size will decrease. Surface temp in front of my house when I quit was 44 degree. Long Creek was by far the warmest water. There are shad dying everywhere. I would think some would start coming thru Taney. Look out Brown Trout. Good Luck

Ryan, what temp water have those wart fish been comming from? I threw it today in Long Creek for about an hour on 46.2 degree water on just that kind of stuff with a little wind. Looked great, but narry a nip. Thanks for the info.

There is very good bassin around there. Follow this board and you should be able to put the when, why, what, where, and how together. Good Luck

There is now and Christie is on Smithwick's pro staff. It is suspose to suspend at 9ft. I believe. It is somewhat like the old spoonbill rogue that folks used to use a ton of. It also has a casting system like the other big boys and a weight system. As far as the Jerkbaits, most every pro has a sponsorship by someone and represents that brand. Just about every stickbait is customized somewhat out of the box by every pro that fishes it. Don't know how much better it makes it, but if you feel better about it you will fish it longer and fish it better. Most all these guys, reguardless who they represent,still have lots of custom painted rogues in there boxes. They are as much a novility as a Super Fish ketcher. You can bet Christie has a huge box of custom painted ones. Good Luck

Thank you so much for the wonderful pictures and the very nice info write-up. It is folks like you that are willing to share that makes this one of the if not the best fishing forum in this country. Good Luck

We are on a totally different pattern from the Winter Pattern. The fish have moved from their Winter pattern and are starting to get into a staging pattern, that can take them into early May in degrees. Late February thru early April the big females start to suspend and move into and along the channel banks, bluffends and major creek and spawning cove mouths. It's hard to say where on those channel banks they will be. I usually start where the channel swings into a cove mouth or the channel starts or leaves a spawing bank or cove mouth. I think alot of folks make the mistake when you hear the fish are say 12 to 15 feet deep. This for sure does not mean they are on the bottom up toward the bank at that depth. Most of the time this time of the year, that means they are suspended either over the channel or right at the channel bank rolloff suspended at that depth. I wrote an article 10 years ago on Bass Hwys. The Lake Biologist sent me a letter thanking me and telling me it was right on. I just kind of got lucky a little by experence and alot from listening to people that have fished like this since the 1960's. Kind of a long winded answer to say I don't know where they are on the Channel Swings. One good indication however is usually at a transition. If you have gotten on a channel bank and there is a transition from bluff to gravel or a bend or turn especially if there is pole timber on it, these Big Gal's just love that. If you know places that have deep trees next to these locations, where the trees are coming up to within 20 feet of the surface these are also locations. These big LM are not so much ambush feeders, but they seem to like the deep pole timber and the pole timber adjacent to the channel swings and transitions. Now don't take this to mean if your going into a cove and see pole timber everywhere and there is a channel bank present that it has Big LM. That is not the same thing at all. That is just a Timbered pocket. Been a ton of fish caught in these locations, but that is not of what I speak. I did get a report today of one of the locals last couple of weeks catching them on the last channel swing bank back in the creek arms. He is really reliable and i'm sure he is. Hopes this helps a little good luck

Don't know if you all remember a blog on the Classic Trackker that was talking about KVD. He was making a Milk Run and timing his locations I think he had 4 locations. He was fishing each exactly 30 minutes in a rotation. This time of the year that is a great stradagy. As the water warms throughout the day and the fish rise in the water column or move toward the bank or for that matter just turn on and off you have got an excellent chance doing this. Mostly hitting time and location. The other day when I fished those Bluffends up at Baxter and didn't catch squat early and came back and caught them late, it kind of setup a rotational pattern with timing being the number one factor. I got lucky, but KVD knew what he was doing. He just as I thought ran out of water with so many guys fishing the same junk. Good Luck

At times there will be multiple there, but on Table Rock? Never Stacked unless we are talking about Summer Time K's. When was the last time any of us pulled onto a transition or a bluffend or a spawing cove mouth this time of the year and limited on LM in a 100 yrd. stretch. I did it about a week ago and cannot remember the last time other than that. You really hope for a couple per location. As I stated no one is catching lots of fish. This is a good time of the year to create a Milk Run. As the water warms during the day other buddies can join the fish that are already on these locations. Fish for sure are not everywhere either. If you have caught fish there in practice and you pull up in a derby and don't get bit, do not assume they are gone. Come back later and check it again. Also during your practice if you have caught fish on a spot rememberr the time and try to be on location at that same time. Ryan found where they were, and I will bet they are still there. Good Job. Timing and presentation are the key to them biting. This bite right now is for sure very early as he said he had a nice limit before 8:30. From then till 11 it flat goes dead. After 11 its on the move again, so its easy to get frustrated if you don't get that early bite. Then if your in a derby you simply "Go Crazy." "You start fishing like Old People have sex." "Poorly." I spoke to a guy that followed Mike McClelland in the Classic. He had also watched him practice. Mike is one of the best fisherman in the World and has won well over a Million dollars. He is a stud with a rod and reel. This guy said Mike was fishing at least twice as fast the first day of the Classic as he was in practice, and he was not catching them early. Here is the difference. MIke, instead of changing locations and running around like a mad man took a deep breath and squared his head on straight and Slowded down. First thing he said on the Classic Stage when he weighed in was. "I fished way to fast today, and I know it." Kind of takes away our sins when a guy like this cannot help screwing up a bit.

These are also 4 dollar Smithwick Rogues that have been rebilled custom weighted, custom painted and rehooked. Very similar to what Jason Christie was using. Sounds good. But! He also said the bait was reworked and custom painted. Price just jumped up to $30.00 to $40 Bucks.

May not have made a hoot of difference, but I will tell you this. Never-Never-Never check on your fish on Table Rock. The locations will replenish, but to hook even one a day or two before the derby is one less when you need it. Put bent hooks on your stickbaits and check for bites if you want, but don't put a hook in them. Hardly anyone even the guys with the big bags are catching many fish. Just the right ones. a dozen bites for a team aday is about where its at right now. This time of the year, you never have to check for size. You just want bites on Channel Swings there are Big Bites. If you have an idea and you won't throw the A-Rig, after you fish it with the stickbait go right back a swim a grub. That is usually how the Fann Boys catch them. Guy in the front swimming the grub and the guy in the back on a stickbait. Da-Da-Da-Da, Now the A-Rig.

Excellent observation and right square on the money.

Terry, your memory is way better than mine. I cannot remember the year, but it was before the kill. Dan Langley and i had I think 21 pounds in a Big Redman with a 7.5 pound kicker and we did not get a check for Big or for stringer. Think that was 94. I think Beck got a check but he was up in low 20's Langley and I fished another one and I think it was on March 20th. Shell Knob that day got 30 inches of snow. We had 19 in that one with a 6 pounder and no check I think that was 96. McChutchen and Sonny had close to 30 I believe on that deal swimnming a grub, plus some other big March sacks. Those were all 5 fish limits. Used to always be 120 plus boats in those old derbys. As to your question, the answer nowadays is NO. Only other way as I see it now and you got to have the perfect condition is the float-n-fly. You still would not have that many over 20 pounds but my biggest fish in the last 5 yrs, with many over 8 and one over 9 came on that crazy little thing. March and Early April

Thanks. I hate it when coffee comes out my nose.

Wait a Cold Frozen moment. Are those walleye pictures from the owner of the Walleye Winabago?