Quillback

Nice ride!

If I was going to book a guide trip I wouldn't do it this time of year. That being said, if I had to I would want to be out as early as possible as it's cooler, minimal recreational boat traffic and I just like fishing early, my favorite part of the day. As far as fish catching, it's a tough time of year, all I would expect from a guide is to give me his best shot at catching some. Bass fishing to me is partly about catching them on artificial baits, so I would not want to fish crawlers. If I'm going to break out the bait, I'd rather just fish for bream or crappie. I think a guide trip for some bull gills would be fun this time of year, I think I would just as soon do that then fish for bass right now.

Nice bass Bo!

Sounds like a good place to stay. Do they have a dock where you can park a boat?

Hard to say without trying all the models out there. BassPro has a price filter on their website, you can got to fish finders and then you should see a filter where you can look at what is available in your price range. See what models have the features you want, you should be able to get one with Down Imaging, Side Imaging, GPS (Some models come with Navionics maps), and CHIRP which is pretty much standard these days. If you can get it narrowed down to specific models you might be able to get some input on them from people that own that model.

Well good to hear you got into some nice fish. Sounds like you have your own personal "stalker".

Coppermine is the only place I can think of. It's right on the east side of the 12 bridge.

Speaking of Tenkiller - BASS magazine has a pic of a guy holding a 6 lb. 10 oz smallie from Tenkiller.

Nice looking lake, looks as if the water is high but clear.

I always wondered about how many people bass fished there. Sorry to hear you couldn't get a place to fish, I was curious how the bass fishing was there.

Good for you on having a good time, that it what is important. This is a tough time of year to fish the Rock as far as catching numbers of fish. If you do come back for a fall trip, I would wait until at least mid-October, fishing can be really tough in September.

Have not tried it, as a matter of fact never heard of it till now. Looks like it should catch fish - you'll have to let us know.

Way to go! I am jealous, 4 days of camping and fishing.

Well I have not been to Table Rock in a while, but a buddy of mine fished a club tourney on Tuesday and they had some success on Ned rigs on steep banks and bluffs. If I was going to go, I'd do like Bo says, look around for bait and/or fish. I would check gravel points and points at the mouths of coves. I'd probably try swimming Keitechs deep, dragging jigs, C-rig, and maybe try a drop shot. I would be out on the lake as early as possible. Might be worth fishing docks later in the morning too.

I remember reading an article years ago where people where cutting disks out of ray wings and selling them as scallops. Scallops are tasty, if ray wings are similar they would be worth keeping.

I am dining on bream fillets tonight.

Bferg has excellent advice. I would add that your best bite is going to be early or late most likely. I'd probably go right to a jig myself, with an eye out for top water fish. Half ounce bluegill pattern or GP/Orange. And I'd use a Rage Craw as a trailer, pinching the first two segments off. I have found that PB&J color in the Rage Craw seems to be a great color for smallmouth. Smallmouth will hang around trees out in 10-20 FOW, trees and rocks is a good combo. I'd drag that jig on the bottom, and also swim it. I'd like to get out there myself and give it a shot, maybe next week after the 4th weekend is over.

I think that they are still waiting on the Mississippi and/or the Arkansas rivers to recede before they start releasing water. if anything it should provide good cover for this years fry, hopefully leading to good numbers to catch down the road.

Braid on a spinning reel eliminates all that line twist/loop stuff. You can add a leader at whatever pound test or type (mono or fluoro) you want.

Are you seeing fish on the finder? If I'm vertical drop shot fishing, then I need to see fish and I'll move around until I find them.

It's easier to throw a heavy lure with a bait caster, at least for me. Top water fishing for stripers, I need long distance as the fish are spooky and you need to get that lure on them fast. I'll throw my 3/4 oz top waters with a 7 foot rod and 12 lb mono. It doesn't hurt to have clean spool bearings on your bait caster. You want a rod that is rated for the weight you are throwing. If you're getting close to 50 yards, that's pretty good.

Way to go!

You guys done good, those are some quality fish.

Cool, I haven't used a Lazy Ike in many years. Lots of action on a slow troll.

Interesting read, hard to compare a study on a 15 acre lake compared to something as big as Table Rock and the bass that live there. https://www.post-gazette.com/life/outdoors/2019/06/13/Largemouth-bass-fishing-Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania/stories/201906130067