Biglerma

Thanks everyone for the nice replies! A great time was had by all!

First off thanks to everyone on the forum including Mr. Bill Babler for the tips/etc via threads and PM's on how to fish grubs, neds, and everything in between. Sorry for the late post, been out of town. Went down to Shell Knob Friday before memorial day after work and fished Sat/Sun/Mon morning before heading home. Yes the boats were everywhere but the bite was really good Sat & Sun and slowed down a bit Monday morning due to the rising water and poor clarity/trash in the lake. Saturday morning I fished with my best friend Brian who was also down at his house as well. We pulled up to our first spot and the top water bite was insane. I wish I had been counting but I'm guessing between 30-40 fish by 8:00 with a decent grub bite after that. Several 15 inch spots with a couple nice LM's. Most fish caught on a 90 series WP in monkey butt color and a 3/16 oz jighead with a keitech 3.3 in Tennesee shad (was the only color cabelas had left in KC). Sunday morning I was fishing by myself. I had 26 fish by 8:30 with several really nice ones. I caught an absolute stud 18 inch spotted bass on top water as well as a nice 17 inch smallie. Also had a bonus short walleye that was released back. Sunday evening I took my two cousins out to show them something new. Previously all they ever do is drop shot since they don't have much fishing experience nor the tackle/gear to do much else. We went from point to point and my cousin Kristina caught a nice white bass, with the very next cast landing her a monster LM, the biggest fish she's ever caught. Later that evening we hit another point and my cousin Steve caught 2 fish on one WP which was awesome. The bite really only lasted 45 minutes but I would say we had 20-25 fish and that isn't bad considering this was the first time these two had ever thrown top water or swim baits. Monday morning went out again and Kristina caught another stud LM on top water and that day the SM showed up in force! She caught her first SM ever that morning as well. We must have caught 10-12 SM's on top water, all small but boy they are fun. The bite really only lasted 2 hours before slowing down. We had a great time and it was my very first time "seriously throwing" a swim bait and by god we caught fish on it! Thanks again, Mark

Viola is getting one. Nice steaks and Italian food from what the owner told me.

Pizza Hut has a dock at shell knob.

Crappie are tough to find on Table Rock (at least for me) in months other than the spring. Years ago when more trees were visible around the shell knob area you could find some crappie on the river channel side pretty well by dropping a minnow down pretty much any time of the year and catch em. We used to do that in Mill Creek as well. Now most of those trees have broke off or decayed away. They are there as we catch them under our dock in the summer time but you need to be in 25-30 ft of water hopefully with some brush on the bottom. In the summer we usually only pull 4-8 fish a day from our dock but all are solid 12-14 inch fish.

Not sure if anyone has been down there lately but they are opening a new restaurant right there at the marina. They said it should open in 2 weeks. Said they will have nice steaks and Italian. Also they have really stepped up their tackle selection. I was surprised to see whopper ploppers, a nice selection of jerk baits, jigs, cranks.. things that people actually throw here on table rock. I remember years ago the people who used to run it never had anything in there worth throwing. The folks that bought the place a few years ago are really trying to step things up. Good to see!

Not sure if anyone has been down there lately but they are opening a new restaurant right there at the marina. They said it should open in 2 weeks. Said they will have nice steaks and Italian. Also they have really stepped up their tackle selection. I was surprised to see whopper ploppers, a nice selection of jerk baits, jigs, cranks.. things that people actually throw here on table rock. I remember years ago the people who used to run it never had anything in there worth throwing. The folks that bought the place a few years ago are really trying to step things up. Good to see!

Fished kings river this past weekend Sat/Sun/Mon. Me and my dad absolutely smashed em catching 180 crappie in 3 days. Stopped each day when we hit 60 and went home. Half were keepers half we dinks. Bobber/minnow 2-3 ft down throwing 5-7 ft off the bank on anything in the water would yield a fish or two it seems. Fishing log jams mostly. Some coves had em, some didn't. One cove they were just freaking everywhere and another one we went to not even 1 bend up the lake had nothing, go figure. Caught 5 slabs at 2 pounds, biggest going 15.5 inches. I'll post pics when I have time. Sunday the big fish bit and we caught 8 or so over 13 inches but Saturday/Monday we only had a few at 13-14 inches, nothing over 14 that day. Not sure how many bass we caught, probably 20 a day. Nothing huge but my dad did have one that broke his line because his drag wasn't set. Our best guess is a fish in the 3-5 lb range. Water temps 60-62. I'll post up pics when I have time. Just wanted to get this report up.

Headed down to Shell Knob today, going to fish way up Kings. Hope we can find some shallow.... by far my fav way to catch em. Would love to see warm water temps up river.. fingers crossed!

Gonna be down Friday-Tuesday. Hopefully me and my dad can catch a few crappie. Would love to see a few close to the bank. Hard to beat bobber/minnow fishing. Just fun stuff!

With the early spring and much warmer than normal water temps, how has the crappie bite been? Coming down in 2 weeks, hoping they are spawning and we don't miss it with these really warm water temps. Thanks, Mark

Nice work!

I agree. I booked a trip with Bill Babler, showed me everything I needed to know and I had fished the lake my entire life. After that trip I actually started catching fish vs just fishing for them. Money well spent!

Minnows

Fished Kings river last weekend with my dad. Caught 9 big ole slab females off 1 tree that was in 32 ft of water. They were all 13-15 inches. All females had eggs and we threw the banks all day long and found 2 pockets of spawning males but most were shorts. Really tough fishing compared to last year for us. The water temps were 66-69 degrees and I felt like all the females should have been spawned out but they weren't. Only caught 2 females shallow rest were 8-12 ft down on trees in 30 ft of water or deeper. We didn't take many pictures.. caught around 15 keepers each day, fished Fri-Sun. We worked hard for them.

Last year me and my dad crushed them. Minnow/bobber catching limits each every day while we were down, boy what fun! We caught a few 16 inch monsters too! Fingers crossed that more moved to the banks and we can catch more than 1 here or there like last weekend. This darn rain is gonna honk things up though I fear.

I think it has been off this year. They should be thick on the banks right now but they aren't. Water temps are right, just need the fish to get it on.

Yeah I'm headed back down this weekend for a planned trip with my dad. Hopefully it doesn't rain all day and we can sneak a few slabs!

I haven't got to get her down to Table Rock the past couple of years. It's on our agenda to do again for sure!

Took a trip down to Shell Knob with my wife and best friend. Fished hard Friday and Saturday. Fish were scattered all over the place. We threw bobber/minnows at the bank and caught 1 here or there. Caught some fish on a split shot with minnow throwing the bank and drifting out over 10-15 ft of water. Caught some on trees in 35 ft of water, just no pattern at all. You would fish 1 tree and get 1 bite, the next 5.. nothing. Who knows? Bluegill are up on the banks now and were stealing our minnows pretty regularly but we caught some absolute monster gills which we gladly threw in the box. Threw jigs to try to keep the gills from biting, only caught 1 crappie on the jigs. Day 1 we caught 18 keepers with only 2 or 3 shorts + a monster 25 inch walleye. Caught some huge female slabs. My best friend caught the eye and we were WAY up the Kings when it bit but I had to get a pic with it too Water temp up there was as high as 67.5 degrees and even in that cove the fish were still not on the bank! We caught females out of that cove with eggs not even ready to drop yet. Walleye was a female, spawned out. Weighed her at 5 lbs, who knows how heavy she was with eggs! Lots of bass with one nice 18 inch LM. Most coves 63-64. Day 2 - few more fish on the banks today, only caught 14 keeps, maybe 4-5 shorts. Had 2 locations where we pulled 2 fish from the same spot on the bank but other than that it was 1 here 1 there. Lots of bass, lots of big gills. Didn't catch as many big females today, but still had a few nice ones. I wonder if half of the fish have already spawned out? With water temps as warm as I am seeing them I was shocked that fish were not all over the banks. What do you guys think? Enjoy the pics!

This early spring sucks! I have 2 trips planned in April to fish the crappie spawn but it looks like it will be all but gone by the time I get there. This is the earliest I've heard of fish being on the banks in years.

This right here is why I love this forum. Such great people!

I'll see if I can get you a video Tuesday since I'm off work and going to try to give em hell. We ended up shooting our 12 ducks in about 45 minutes. Was "World War D" and the ducks lost! Ended up with 1 greenhead, 1 widgeon, 1 gad, 3 pintails, 6 GW teal. We had 25 mph sustained wind gusting to 42 mph on Sunday which was a total bummer. Forecast for next Saturday is 20 mph wind again.. ugh.. I am having a love/hate relationship with Kansas the last few days!

Our season in KS opens tomorrow. 21 mph winds in the forecast won't be fun! Taking the airboat out to see if we can get a few at a hole I scouted last Saturday.