Bill Babler

Foz, that battery is bad. Was having the same problem, and bought the best cranking battery that walmart had and have not had a bit of a problem since. All the brands are good. I would of course bought a ProGuide, but needed it fast and walmart was there. I can run both my recycle pumps, have my lights on and run both big screen LCD graphs all day no problem. Just go buy a new crankin battery, and your problem I bet will be solved.

With the lake continuing to go down, lots of the cedar-tops are coming into view. A very popular and excellent Fall and Winter pattern is fishing these visible trees, using various methods. Some cedar's are also still to deep to see, but their tops are now extending with-in 10 feet of the surface. These are very good hangouts if you know their locations. Wind is as usual always a help on the rock, and a light chop when fishing these trees is most often a blessing. Here are some of the methods used to take very nice for the most part LM from the tangled limby webs of wood. Topwater. Don't for the most part care what topwater racket maker you are using, only on your precission as a caster. For trees that I know are there, but not visible, I just love running a fin over these fishy spots. Move the bait as slow as it will travel and maintain its wiggle-diggle. Visible trees. I have heard much about the windy sides, or the shadey side. For the most part a cedar does not have or produce much shade. I just look the tree over and see how I can get my bait when retrieved to get as close to the main body of the tree as possible without hanging up. The tougher the fishing is, the closer to the middle of the tree they want it. I could get nothing going out past the limbs, it had to be retrieved thru the middle of the tree. If a hardwood is present or near the cedar, this is most often a plus. Main lake vs cove or creek channel cedars, or just fishing points is not the answer either, as you just flat don't know what tree will hold fish. You just got to hit em all. On Saturday Mine came off a mid-bluff bank. I had a stretch of nothing, then Bang two trees in a row with nice 3.5 pounders and then I missed a couple of more, One of them was Big!! Spoon Fishing the Cedars. Capt. Rick LaPoint is very good at this and has made lots of money spooning the cedars. If you are good, you can vertical jig the trees or just flutter your spoon outsided the limbs. Don't believe it would have worked this weekend, as they were so tight to the trees. Another pattern is deep jigging the deeper cedars, going just into the tops and above to lure bass out of the tangles. Better have good electronics, and know how to read them. Spinnerbaits. Without a doubt the Number 1 bait for fishing cedars. Wind is more than your friend with the SB and working it thru the limbs can get violent strikes. Try killing the bait just as it comes thru the tops, letting its blades flutter just a bit. Sometimes they want it burned thru the tops, somethime a slow roll. Jigs are very good fish catchers out of the cedars, but be prepaired to loose a many. 3/8 and 5/16 are the best, with a good fiber weed guard. Gently pull the jig over the limbs, and know it on the tree as much as possible. After the bait comes over a limb, allow it to fall and repeat. You will loose some baits. Bluegill patterns with orange or yellow are very good offering when making these kind of presentations. Drop-shotting the submerged tops. Ask Bill Beck. Bill has won thousands of dollars doing this in the Kimberling area. Again good electronics and GPS are valuble tools. When fishing the trees for active fish, it seems that the number one asset you can have is accuracy on your presentations. Hanging up in the tree and missing the tree to far with your first cast are most often doom. This year so far I have not caught a fish with a topwater or spinner, that has not been on the first cast at that tree. After catching one multiple cast to the same tree has produced nothing, although in the past I have caught several fish in a tree. Won't get into it here, but my favorite cedar pattern is December thru April and we all know thats Stickbait time. View full article

Amazing shot. Makes you wonder how we even get a bite. With the tons of food washing in and the ammount that is already in the water, I would think the trout, are on some mighty kind of a growth benge. I bet they are as full as little piglets.

Amen and God Bless

Ahoys is closed. Everyone just needs to take a chill pill till Monday. IF you do get out limit wakes to the main channel and use caution in and around the docks in the pockets. This deal will be pretty much back to normal when we get under 930 and that should be next week. Ahoys ramp will open at 930. After that, do as you will.

Fozz, can they get a foot a day? By my cal-ks, it would be at least tuesday or wed. to get to 931. at 6 or 8 inches per day. There is still alot of creeks running heavy coming in. Becky and I went to Shell Knob yesterday and lots of those creeks are still running at least bank full. The Kings at the 86 bridge is still streaming water and debris in a hurry. IF it is at 934 this morning that would be 3 ft. in 3 days. Might do it.

Thought I could fish this morning if I could find a ramp. Put in at the steep ramp at Viola. Water temps at Big M. at 56.7 with plenty of muddy current. Visibility at 3 inches. From the shore out about 10 ft. just a mat of leaves and debris. Could not get either a jig or a blade thru it at all. Fished 2 hrs. in the cold muddy water without a bite. 6 of the guide buddy's out since 6:30 AM. As of now at 9:20 no one has had a bite. Water depth on the locations I was catching them a few days ago is 28 to 32 ft. Cold and Muddy. Could not get a bite on the old bank line at all. This will be far from a wackfest, if they have it, which is in doubt. The lake is totally clogged with floaters and debris. I believe there is a huge safety issue. Even where I thought it would be better up the White River, there are floaters everywhere, that are just visible and could destroy a boat. The fish could move up by Thursday and it could get better, but the safety issue will still remain. Be safe out there.

We are approaching 930, and I just heard from one of the Pro's that 265 across the dam closed because of Mud Slides. Where is this going. How can they possibly get this tournament off. With the way down town is and no access this is on humdinger. It i 5 AM and I am getting ready to see if T and I can catchem. Maybe.

You all need to remember, these guys and gals are not for the most part the Bass Master Elite guys. There are lots of Q School guys just viaing to get to the Elite Series. That being said there are some very good fisherman commng, as was mentioned. Faircloth can fish this lake, and has proved it. Of course the situations was a mite different. Maybe those Power Poles will come into play. It may be a moot point however, as they just closed Moonshine Beach and Mill Creek. From my understanding right now, only State Park is open. I think there will be a lot more twist and turns before this derby is over. As for not practicing, Not So. The folks staying at our lodge have fished every minute from dawn to dark in this rain. These folks are working tirelessly to learn this lake as it changes by the minute. Rain and Lighting have not slowed them down one instant. Everyone is going to be on a level playing field. With the sight fisherman that would have come in with the big bags out of play. It will be a bush, rig, jig, topwater deal. I would not be suprised to see some very nice stringers of Jaws come to the scales, and if the big blackies get in the bushes, it might be great. That is if they can get her done. Wait and see will be the best attitude to take Good Luck

After the first few Boomers, we put it in Lilleys' dock. 2 hrs. later we put it on the trailer. It is not good to mess with mother nature.

My thoughts are you will not find a nicer guy out there than Phil. Good buddy, class act and a very good fisherman. You just posted what we all already know. It is always great to hear it.

Denny answered Phil's question. I am up to 5.5 here at the lodge since yesterday morning, and it is raining so hard right now, I cannot see the lake. Man, this is going to be a real Humdinger of a lake rise. Does our lake level may show a Real Time Lake Rise? Or, is it just posted several times a day.? Happy Easter Everyone

I'm right with Phil on this. Couple of things. Crappie and Whites are 99 percent done. Lots and Lots of Bass are done and the ones that are bedding now will stay at that level. The newbies will make a move for the bushes and right out in front. Lots and lots of bass will continue to spawn thru the Full Moon in May. I believe again, this should be a good one. Even if they start to drop the lake, I'm confident that it will be ok. This is going to just about put a stopper on the bed fisherman that are comming in, and level the playing field for all involved in the BASS derby. Going to be real interesting.

Some of those Char, that Phil and I were catchng in Alaska last year, had a length of 36 inches and a girth of 28 inches. I would have loved to have seen a LM with a girth of over 20 inches. What a pig.

That is a wonderful fish reguardless of Wt. Quill, I have tried that out on all our Black Bass Species--Jaws,K's and LM and it is not even remotely close. It is so far off that you really don't even have an idea. I have tried it againt a Cull/Rite that is very accurate and the formula is both over and under. It is really off on Jaws as they are long and wide and usually very light. It had my 6.3 pound Jaw, weighing about 9 pounds. It had the bass I caught a couple of months ago, weighing 13.34. See what it says about a 16 in K. It will not be as close as a pound. Would be great if there were indeed a way to just measure the fish and determine the weight. Unfortunatly we ain't seen it yet. Good Luck

Table Rock Lake Report April 21st. 2011 Shell Knob to Eagle Rock Upper White River Water temps at 61 degrees and very clear. Lauched at Viney and fished from there to Roaring River, hitting bluffends early yesterday morning with Richard Long. We topwatered most of the ends and timbered secondary points in the creeks and major coves, for at least an hour and a half, with very limited success. Run and gun, throwing across the point maybe 4 throws each and then going on. Did have one monster blow up off Owl Creek, but no hookup. Moved back into several rock/gravel spawing pockets and saw lots of beds but nobody to home. Moved into the back guts of the pockets and starting throwing at wood and it kind of got started. 5 nice keeps, all LM off the wood, and another dozen shorts, mostly K's. Fin. Headed back down stream and started hitting flats and major spawing pockets after the topwater eaters quit. Really just a zoo up there with numbers, but little of no quality at all. Probably 70 shorts and a dzn. keeps, with the best 5 of the day at 13.5. Lots and lots of spawned out K's. Red flat bellies and broomed off tails. Kimberling City and Lower James Water temps at 62 degree clear. Fished out of Kimberling Monday and Tuesday. Monday was a very good day on a Fin and also swimming a 4 in. smoke pepper grub. Dennis and Larry caught at least 20 fish each and both weighed in 4 keeps each on their little derby. Beck had a better day with his guys weighing in 5 each. He had 11 keeps and I had 8. Again, no size. My best fish around 3 pounds and his at 3.7. Lots of great fishing and topwater action however. Tuesday in the wind was another situation alltogether. We only had 9 total fish with one squeeker keep jaw. My guys were out of the boat on a full day trip by 12:30, just flat beat to pieces. Dennis, mentioned to me he did not want to go into the main channel, as he was scared shirtless. Easy 4 ft. water at Kimberling City. I was completely worn to the ground after fighting it for 6 hrs. Just about as tierd as I have ever been after a day of fishing. Beck told me he was completely beat to the ground. Fishing should not be that hard. Dam area from LongCreek to Cow Creek Today. Water temps ranging from 57 to 58.1 on the winder banks. Water Very Clear. Fished today with Ranger Pro Janet Parker {janetparkerfishing.com} Janet is currently 6 th. in the Central division standing. She is the first lady with two top ten finishing in a row, and is trying to achieve a top 5 yearly standing to put her on the elite circuit. She fished last night with Pete Weeners and they had 8 keeps mostly Jaws in the dam area, So we hit it again today, to try and define her some spots. They are fishing out of State Park. Janet is a very good and very patient fisherwoman. We worked it hard today and it again was very breezy. 10 keepers probably 14 pounds of Jaws and several spawned out K's, and several staging K's full of eggs. In this wind the topwater bite was off quick. 1 Jaw our best fish of the day came on top. Seconday pole timbered point. From then on, we mostly tried to stay in the boat and keep it in calm water. Had lots of competition hiding just like us but found her several good locations, where we could have caught bigger numbers but left them alone. The dam area Jaw bite is really turned on. Spoke to the clan, most all members were out today reporting similar results from point 9 to Longcreek.

It's extremely hard to tell the way you are holding her. If she were upright it would be easier. That big girl I caught 3 weeks ago, was the same length, She was 9.6 on a Repala Scale. Did not measure girth, but yours looks much heaver thru the gut. If you were holding her by the jaw it woud have been easier to tell. Great Catch, what ever she might weight. A real trophy.

That does seem strange. Hey, Donna, at least I'm not up on the bank crankin that Red Eye Shad. Still kickin myself in the tail for not getting on that deal earlier. Huge mistake on my part when you can cull 3 fish in the last hour, plus throw a 6 and a half pounder in the boat, on a bait, I knew I should have been using all day. What a dumbass. Lots of others this weekend said they moved out. They were just hammering that blade in Aunts yesterday morning, if we could keep it in the water. Had one go around the weathervane on the top of a 20 slip dock, another richoet off the face of a cabin that was about 80 yrds. off the lake, and get hung in a picket fence and another that I believe is still in orbit. $21 dollars worth of Wareagle blades later, we went to a shaky head. Good Luck

That is just about as cold as I ever want to be. Air temps at launch this morn. 39 and wind howling with 35 mph gusts. Picked up the boys in the back of Aunts and had about 15 fish in 2 hrs. Tried to get out of the creek, and the waves and spray just were miserable. Decided to call it a day and do it again tomorrow afternoon in the warmer weathers. Spinner and shaky head were the deal, if you could keep the bow out of your line to feel the bite. All LM today and 10 were keeps, up to 4 pounds. Pretty good 2 hrs. Twice as many keepers as I had yesterday. I bet some braver souls really caught them today. Trout for me in the morning and then back to Aunts creek to fish the bass trip in the afternoon. Good Luck

It's 5 in the AM and I am heded out the door. Will be fishing Aunt's today. I will try and stay out of the wind. It's ok right now on no wind. There will be wind everywhere today. Probably not the day for the fluke or the chugger. I am probably going straight to a head. Edwin and Dave both right on the head 1/4 to 3/8th. Good Luck

Unbelieveable is the best way to put this. Launched at Viola at 6:15 in the AM. thermo. in the truck read 59 degree. Lowrance in the boat read a surface temp of 64 at the ramp. Motored around to Royal Point to pick up Ted and his Papa Dean. They were a bit late at the dock so I wacked 3 around their dock while I waited. All LM and all topwater. 13/14 inchers. This was going to be our pattern for the day. In 30 years, this is the most LM bass I have had to the boat in one day. Close to 70 fish.. Now the Caveate' only 4 keeps. The Kings is loaded and full of Buck bass on the banks. We did not have a female all day. The 4 keeps were two LM and 2 K's. Probably 12 pounds worth. Fish after fish on top. Working the surface chugger very slowly on mixed gravel and chunk. When the wind became extreme, the shaky head caught fish after fish. WMC cenipede up close to the bank worked very slowly would get you nipped big time. At 2:30 we froze out, still catching fish. Surface temp had dropped to 59 and air temp in the truck when I put the boat on the rack was 43. I was completely chilled to the bone, but reguardless of size, when you are around that many hungry bass on the Rock, it is a very special day.

First off, take a deep breath and Slow Down. That area is covered with fish that are tearing it up. You only need 3 baits, but you need to be able to fish them properly. I mean this, no fooling around. You asked for this advice. You are here to fish and I am going to tell you how to catch them, but you had better take this to heart. SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!!!!! The 3 baits are a surface chugger. Don't really care what it is. Chugbug, PoP-R, Yellow Magic, does not matter. Early in the morning, Get started no later than 6:30 AM, it to the bank, in any pockets with mixed gravel and chunk rock. Does not need to be on a point, just cuts, coves and pockets. YES, with the Boys you will throw it on the bank, you will get hung up in shore debris, all things bad will happen. "That's Fishin." Work the chugger out to about 20 ft. from shore and then recast. Work it very, very slow, with a pop-pause method. When they come up and eat it, don't jerk or set the hook, just wind them in, they are on it, and all over the bait. 10AM Change to a shaky head if the topwater bite has stopped. Use a Watermellon Candy Cenipede, or 4 inch worm of the same color. Throw it in the same place as the topwater and work it very slowly in a hopping dragging motion back to the boat. Kept my boat most of the day in about 18 to 22 ft. 3Rd. Bait same locations, Fluke, White, Silver, Black, Does not matter, same locations. Throw it to the bank and jerk it and let it set. Work it very slowly back to the boat. Had 15 fish day before yesterday in the cove directly across the lake from point 10. It is loaded with fish. Gravel and chunk rock mix. They were chasing like crazy over there. 4th. Option, if you cannot get bit around Aunts Creek like this, either play golf, or hire someone, they are eating the paint off of this junk. Good Luck, and Best Wishes

About as good a report as I have had the pleasure to read. Nice adatpation, and way to hunt them down. Great Week of fishing and we appreciaite all you put into this Thanks Bill

Our old lake Biologist told me a male bass will sometime make over 2 dozen beds. The female will only use one. Location, Location. Also any rise or fall in the water will make them rebed. Just givin those gals something to chose from.