Biglerma

Caught some nice walleye last weekend on Table Rock. Jig head/night crawler 15-25 ft of water off points where deep water was present. Nothing on the flats from what we could find. Biggest fish was 21.5 inches, others were between 18-20.

Amen to that. Haters are always gonna hate. Screw em, who cares what they say. Your knowledge has LITERALLY taught me how to bass fish table rock over the last 15 years. The few times I fished with you it was just INVALUABLE! We just bought a house in SK on Mill Creek and thanks to you I am able to go out in the mornings and catch fish (fishing deep of course ha!) The way I look at it is this - you have more knowledge than anyone else I know on this lake and I hate to see that knowledge for lack of a better word wasted and not shared. Regardless if you decide to post again or not, I genuinely appreciate your contributions to this forum. I hate to see one or two A-holes put a bad taste in your mouth. There's nothing worse than a keyboard warrior who thinks they fish better than you do from the couch and who always thinks they are right. I've sung your praises for years and referred several clients your way. You were always THE go-to guide on Table Rock. Thanks again! Mark Bigler

I've really noticed a change in the forums since he's quit posting as much. Always highly valued his information and input. Hate to see someone like him lose the desire to post due to 1 or 2 bad apples criticizing him. Bill is a true class act. We just bought a house on the lake at Shell Knob. I hired a guide and even though the trip was good, it wasn't as good as it would have been with Bill.

The Madison river and Gallatin river in Montana are both iconic. The Gallatin was in a river runs through it and the Madison is just an amazing fishery. Eaton's outfitters out of Ennis MT is who I recommend for the Madison. Fished with em probably 10 times. You fish out of drift boats, very enjoyable experience.

Nice fish

Shad spawn in full swing every morning. Surprisingly not as much fishing traffic as I expected this weekend. Fished Sat/Sun/Mon mornings on the water at 5:30. Top water bite was good Saturday and Sunday with lots of schools of K's chasing. Saturday had a nice mega fat 19 inch LM and 18 inch SM along with some other keepers. Mostly on WP or fin. We threw 1/4 oz swimbaits the rest of the time. I use the speed shad vs keitech. Saturday I would say we caught 25. Did not see another fishing boat for the 1st hour. Switched to crappie fishing w/ scope at about 7:30 am Saturday morning. We cleaned 12 nice fish. Just one here or there on deep timber down 12-18 ft. Minnows. Sunday the top water bite was hot again. Fished til about 8:30, caught 30 or so. Sunday evening was flat out insane. Threw swim baits off points and just absolutely smoked em. At one point my father in law had 7 fish in a row. We fished 2 points all evening and caught 25-30 mostly K's with the occasional LM or SM. Saw maybe 2 other boats. Monday morning the fish just did not want to do anything on top. Threw swim baits and still caught em but there was far less chasing. I think we caught 3 or 4 on top was all. Still managed probably 20 for the morning before we headed home. Most top water fish caught on WP and when they wouldn't hit that we threw a fin. Could not get bit on surge shad. -Mark Bigler

Thanks folks!

Who's the next best guide to hire on Table Rock?

Tons of great advice on here!

Last report I saw was that they were 8-12 ft down on pole timber over 20-40 ft of water. Still pre-spawn. Most of the guys on here are bass guys and not crappie fisherman. I fish crappie at T-rock more than I do bass and it's tough to find good reports. Any of the river arms should produce as I would guess water temps are around 56-58 by the weekend if you run far enough up river. If you don't have live scope I've had good luck just slow trolling through tree lines dragging a 1/8 or 1/16 oz jig over the tops. If you don't know where the trees are it could be tough. Side scan sonar sure helps. I've fished T-rock since I was 8 year old (41 now) and back in those days the trees were all over and crappie much easier to find. Now you have to just remember where the trees used to be as most have broke off but are still present subsurface.

Thanks for the replies. Super helpful!

Figured I would get some advice from the best online fishing community there is! I don't post much since I don't live down at T-Rock but I do fish it as often as I possibly can. So for as long as I can remember I've always had trouble spooling new mono onto spinning reels. I hold the new line spool like a hockey puck and let it come off counter clock wise, the same way the reel is spooling it on but no matter what I do you end up with a decent amount of line twist. I've spent HOURS researching what folks do. I feel like everything that exists on the internet still results with a decent amount of line twist in your spool. I pinch the line to give it some pressure. I've tried soaking the spool in hot water (which some guys online swear by). I always have to end up dragging my line behind the boat after I put it on to try to remove as much twist as possible. I'm curious what you folks do. Headed down to the Kings this week to chase some crappie. My dad & I have done this trip for 33 years. Earliest spring I can remember! Normally we are 3rd or 4th week of April but due to schedules/real life it ended up being in March this year. Thanks for the replies gents! -Mark

Thanks for the help folks, ya'll gave me several things to test out.

So I have a couple of the Pflueger Supreme spinning reels. They are 35X size. What I've noticed is that on my spinning rod when I reel in a bait (like a swimbait for example) it is creating rod tip vibration as I turn the spool which I feel is due to the rod having guides that are maybe a bit small for that size of the reel. I was curious if anyone else has experienced this issue and if the solution is just getting a rod with a bigger 1st guide on it or if it is perhaps something else. Thanks for the help folks! Mark Bigler

Join table rock crappie hunters on FB, great group focused on crappie fishing on table rock. All the info you would want. This forum is 95% bass focused.

No was a private lake near where I live, but Clinton should be poppin right now. Especially with the warm weather in store for this weekend.

Not a Table Rock fish, but a dandy none the less. Was walleye fishing up here in Kansas and pulled out a lake monster. She still swims! Thought I was hung up on a rock when she hit, then drag started singing as she made a big run. Honestly thought I had a carp at first. My wife netted her and yelled "OMG you caught a dinosaur!" I'll never forget that HA! Just figured the folks on this board would appreciate her magnificence! Fish was right at 9 lbs -Bigler

Thanks for this post Phil. Was wanting to get an update on water temps up that way. Appreciate it!

Glad to see that folks are willing to give back and share things with Bill, especially given all the fishing reports he's shared with us over the years. Don't let one cranky butt hurt poster in this thread ruin it for ya Bill. Everyone else on this forum appreciates everything you do. Much respect!

No, we did weigh it though and it was 1 lb 15 oz. If we had caught it pre-spawn it probably would have been over 2!

Thank you!

Not table rock.... but I don't post on any other forums and I know yall like to see good fish. Went fishing at a 65 acre farm pond here in KS this past weekend. Caught some nice fish on the ned rig. Gotta give props to everyone on this site as this is where I learned what the ned rig was! Mark

Or wind!

We had shad spawning in our cove on Saturday morning. Bass were tearing them up, pretty cool to see.

Bill thanks for the great report as always! Headed down this weekend, hoping to catch a few on top!