Bill Babler

We have been putting 5 panel Booner blinds we buy on sale at Menards on the towers Usually have about $1,250.00 in the setup. This should finish us off unless we have some storm damage as this will give us 7, on 3000 acres.

They pretty much have it torn down. Took out the Morton Building, and have taken off the entire lake side of the house. Spending millions on it. We just love the Muddy 10’ Elite Towers. We put our own blinds on them. Theses came from Presley Outdoors at Bartonville, Il. Theses stands have super heavy ladders and really heavy structure. Two guys can put one together if you don’t mess up in 5 hrs. $7.99.00. Put one together yesterday, going out to work on another right now.

God Bless you it’s not working for either one of us. We’re living basically in a small one room apartment kitchenette and it’s tough, going from a 10,000 sq. ft. House and a 50’ by 60’ outbuilding with all my toys. Don’t feel sorry for me 🤩🤩🤩🤩 Only boat storage we could find was 5 miles away and it’s been way to hot to spend time there. We’ll get over it.

Got to admit that throwing a 10” worm in 40’ did not enter my mind. You all are way better out of the box thinkers than me. Saying that I will admit that I do have a 10” plum worm tied on. Just didn’t enter my 1/2 brain. Bobby you are right. If I didn’t have the farm to run up to in central Mo. I would be in trouble. Wife and I are used to being around people and it’s just the two of us in a very small house now. We are excited about starting on the new home but right now just in a bit of limbo. Both getting COVID did not help. We are well now thanks for all the prayers. I’m running up to N. Illinois tomorrow to pick up 3 deer hunting towers. We will assemble them this week, so that really helps.

Man did it get tough for me. Surface temps at 83 today and really not much fishing pressure out of Shell Knob. Just fished from the bridge to Campbell Point but it was bad. Might have caught more running up the White, but didn’t have the time. There are some deep K’s in the tree tops you can catch on drop shots or swimming a small swim bait around them if you have forward facing sonar to keep an eye on the bait and keep it out of the trees, but man the ones that hit us were tiny. Saw no surface activity and never caught a fish that would have resembled a keeper. Son is coming next weekend so I will probably take him one morning but then I’m not going again till I can drag a big jig for brown fish. Maybe October. Might run up to Wisconsin as Lisek is catching some huge Jaw’s guiding up there. Or maybe just work on deer hunting stuff. Good Luck

Looks like from what I’m hearing 3 or 4 guys are either retiring Or pursuing other interest. HVe to talk to Mike after the last derby and see what his thoughts are.

I’m with you, I just can’t stand more regulation, but these people just have ZERO common sense and care about no one but themselves. Needs to be a no wake zone from the bridge to the corner, about 300 yards. Why in the world they have chosen that small busy stretch to plow huge wakes, boggles the imagination.

Single motor but very similar boats. WP boats are cleaner and in better order and condition.

Agree with Quill completely. You need to hatch a plan and just hope it works and stick to it. You can waste an entire morning running thru the tackle box. I thought about the Cranker early but I believe that window is probably closed by 0800 and I was on a mission. I did throw a top water down some shady banks the last trip out with no love. Yesterday I pulled away from the ramp at 05:17 which was to early. I just don’t like ramp traffic. Speaking of that at take out there was a big wake boat putting in with 8 persons. They were right on the ramp and it took them 23 minutes to get launched. Yep, 23 minutes. I didn’t say anything but it was just terrible. There were 3 of us waiting at the end. Another pet peeve is the wake boats right at the SK bridge and ramp. There was not a single boat on that big water from the King’s up the white to Emerald Beach. There were 4 of them in that tiny spot from the bridge to the upstream bend, rolling 4 footers right at the ramp. The curtesy dock was coming completely out of the water and pounding down. I barely had my trailer in the water. Just backed in wet the bunks and jumped it on at high tide. Just totally ridiculous. Rant over.

Well, it might have been. I made it my mission yesterday to try and relocate the walleye. I came with CRAWLERS. Tried the spoon for over an hour and nothing but a few small K’s and 3 perch. Got serious with the crawlers and it was really more than I expected. I had again and I didn’t count but I’m guessing 20 plus walleye with more than 1/2 keepers. Kept 2 small ones for dinner. One 18” and one 20 inch. I had one that was a total monster at 26 inches I’m guessing. I will tell you the walleye are in schools. Multiple fish if you can find them. I now know them really well on the Live Scope as well as the 2D. They look and act way different from the bass. I just have not figured out how to safety photography a big walleye, first for their safety and also mine, so I get them back as quickly as I can. Another note here is when you bring a walleye up from 35 plus feet they seem to blow up almost immediately, way quicker than bass as I believe the bass are moving a lot more thru the water column and the walleye yesterday were really stationary on the bottom at depth. So, really no time for anything if your not keeping, just get them back in the water as fast as you can. First time I’ve been checked in forever. I caught about 1/2 dozen bass while he was watching, and he saw me chunk them all back. He wanted to see my license but when I told him how old I was he couldn’t believe it. Had a good laugh. Surface temps at 85. Fished till 11:00am. Used 40 crawlers and I cut them in half. Had a total ton of keeper and short bass all 3 varieties. Fish were deeper for me, best walleye and bass bite on the live bait was 35’ to 40’ with 37’ being the magic number. No perch out that deep, I don’t think I had a perch bite other than the spoon Fish were not suspended like earlier in the week, sucked tight to the bottom yesterday. Good to hear about the jig bite I’ll try it on Monday. Goid Luck

Wrench, has it right. The Forward Facing sonar has made a huge difference on a national catch and release deal but on local deals I think the Alabama Rig has been as much of a game changer as anything. A handful of these pro are so go and have their units so dialed in they pretty much are in the top 10 anytime it’s an off shore fishery. For gosh sakes Wheeler was seeing a single fish sitting by a grass clump and cranking it up.

WWM, They said today that 7 guys were moving up next year from the TWC. Do the 7 lowest guys in the points standings get cut, or how does that work? They were also talking about someone retiring, was it Elias?

WWM, thank you so much. That had to be simply fantastic to be in the boat with that group of pro’s. I have to say I did get totally sick and tired of hearing about Bass Force. Alton Sr. Seems like a good guy but he was totally outside the box and really a total bore during his time on air. Seemed like the on air crew kind of got a poke or two at him too. I think someone said he might be over cooking it You know there was a bunch of guys that did not catch them. Would love to take a wing at that lake however. Again thank you so much.

Said he was seeing them on Active Target next to grass clumps 12’ and throwing reeling it right past them

Good Golly what a catch fest. Connell and Wheeler battling almost fish for fish, with the 2 combined at over 100 pounds In the 1st. period. Dustins best 5 at 24 pounds. The Beam team is pickin, rackin and stackin. We have lots of really good crankbaiters on this site but do you all see the fish your catching? Wheeler said he is seeing every fish and throwing the cranker to them. Said if you miss them by 6' they won't bite. He is now on a drop shot. Dustin has been on it all morning non stop. How about a 7:10 jaw by Ebare, this is just crazy. I'm guessing 115 pounds to win this deal. Two guys are going to get close.

Well the fishing train pulled out of the station without me on board this morning I was the first boat on the SK ramp today for all the good it did me. Started at 5:22 with surface temps at 85.6 and water color still James River green. Only about 4' of visibility. Nothing to speak of on most every location I fished early. One here one there, all suspended. No fishermen launching, but a boat pretty much on everything I wanted to fish. Don't think it matter as they have up and Runned Off. One single bass and a handful of BIG Gills on the spoon. Gills are pretty thick around Emerald Beach. 20' to 30'. Really big ones. Saw Quill around 7:30 up the White, at that time I had 5 scrawny 15' to 17' keeps. I fished till 12:30 and had 1 more keep and 6 shorts. I think I could have caught them this afternoon as I found a ton in deep tree tops. Picked up Becky for lunch at Campbell Point and fished one deep tree top caught this nice keeper and the tree just exploded with them. Top in 30' tree in 50'. She said that was the end of the fishing day, this was a lunch date. Lost 2 nice Walters off Roaring river on a jig, saw them both come unbuttoned. Not exactly the entire story, I tried to swing a 22 incher and it came off. Me Bad. Caught another nice 20 incher at Campbell Point on a FB jig. Gave him his unconditional release. Post spawn is over, its hunt and peck now and I did have several run like a scared rabbit from the drop shot Best bait was the Keitech morning dawn 4.5" worm. Best depth was 30' suspended. Good Luck

Good Grief. Both Wheeler and J. Lou are 100 pounds over the cut line. Lots of have and have nots in that game. Wheeler is on all LM. Got to believe he has brown fish in his back pocket when they run out. Marty Stone said as much.

Most traffic is between the Kings River and Big Creek, just past Campbell Point. Numbers are probably comparable to Indian Point but water is way skinner up here. I’ll PM you.

Yes, Shell Knob has more wake boats than Indian Point. 3 of the biggest dealers on the lake right here in town. Also lots of big Cobalt’s Its crazy on the COVID right now. Talked to the Dr. one day last week and he thought 90% of the US population had had it in some form. Lots and lots of folks not even knowing they had it. Lots of folks have had it multiple times even being fully vaccinated Being elderly we did everything we could besides locking ourselves in the house and still got it. It’s gone from my head, but I still have a very sore throat with coughing. Becky seems to be doing way better, I’d say she is within a few days of being over it. Kind of comes and goes.

Monday is tournament day. Yes it is busy by 5am. Rest of the week you are fine 5-5:30. 6 is pushing it. Lots of parking and a great dock. Past 6 the wake boats start showing up and the bottom parking spaces get filled and they just take to long fiddle farting trying to get all the kids and a weeks supplies in the boat Launch on the upstream side as the downhill side is a bit slanted and caved off. It’s a two rig ramp, but 1 at a time works way better. Like all the other ramps it used to be easier till they put all the riprap in. It does help on erosion here however as Shell Knob is the wake boat capital of Table Rock. Good Luck

Great report, thanks. Wish we could say the same thing on the hook holes. Im totally surprised when I catch one without multiple hook holes in their head. Caught 20 some K’s off a bluff end the other day, no keeps in the group and I bet every single fish had at least one hook hole. I’m guessing all the keeps in the school took a crisco bath.

If your used to catching Gog’s in August your going to have to let us in on your secret. Lots of conversations on the Gog’s this year as in prime time March thru May they we’re stingy this year Starting last week a 1/2 or 3/4 oz. white jigging spoon has been out preforming the artificial drop shot worms. However 3.5 to 4 inch purple or morning dawn worms will still catch ‘em. 3.5 or 4 inch Yamamoto purple laminate cut tail is still the bomb Like most everything else Keitech has some of the best worms I’ve ever used. Durn things are expensive and they tear up easy but you can just bite them off and keep retreading them. When you put them in the water they look like they’re shivering. Mornings have been way better but a lot less fishing pressure in the evenings. The boats have just stirred the water to a froth by then. Sounds like you did really good though, thanks so much for the pictures and report. Good Luck

When you get one on, you know in about 10 seconds it’s a walleye instead of a bass. A catfish will fool you at times but the walleye are very distinct. It was educational and interesting watching how the walleye schools reacted to both baits and then after you hooked one watching the schools reaction to the caught fish. All my years fishing it was a totally new experience. For one thing the live scope and for another a school of walleye. Randy, why do you think all these walleye are males being caught lake wide? Every fish that has been cleaned that I personally know about has been a male, and it’s for sure easy to tell.

With the tourist season and the proximity of Baxter to the KC area it is also handy for guides coming out of Springfield and it has had some pressure put on it. I haven’t fished up that way but have spoken to several guides and they are catching some including some really nice walleye. Key in that area is don’t fish till you find them. They should be in that 28’ to 40’ range but I have not fished there. They will also suspend quite a bit. Way more guide traffic in the SK area than I have ever seen and all are crawler fishing. Saw at least 4 today and to tell the truth I didn’t know any of them. 2 were up the White and the other 2 were at SK. All deep fishing with 3 to 5 clients in their boats. Looked like they knew where the fish lived. Saw one guy up the White on a deep hump I have never ever seen anyone on and he had 4 crawler fishermen in the boat. I will guarantee they were catching them as I was headed for that spot. Still plenty of room, just gotta use your underwater peepers.

2 vaccine and 2 boosters, but I don't think they work on that new strain except they make it a very mild case. No respiratory issues except a cough. Sneezing is crazy. You just have a fit with sometimes a 1/2 dozen sneezes at a time and always a mild headache. I'm doing better than she is. Thanks.