Biglerma

Going to visit the family this weekend down in Mobile. We fish a several hundred acre golf course pond down there with A-rigs (Steelwood Country Club, you can look it up online). They have little 12 foot aluminum boats they let you take out with trolling motors. The lake is only about 15 feet deep but it is nothing but cypress stumps cut off. Last time we caught a 10.5, two 8.5's, two 7's, and 6 fish between 6-7lbs in one day. Can't keep anything over 18 inches, so it is managed for trophy fish. Last week a guy caught a 14 out of there on the Rig so hopefully they are still biting when I get there. I'll post pics! I gotta take a break from this cold nasty weather!

Mine originates at Table Rock Lake actually. My family has had a house there since before I was born. I have a picture of me when I was 3 years old holding a perch that I caught on our dock (I'm 31 now). That old wood dock with the well house has since been replaced with a newer version but that house and section of the lake at Shell Knob has always been a special place for me. Every year as a kid I would look forward to coming down to Table Rock in the spring to catch crappie. Even though T-Rock isn't nearly as good of a crappie lake as others, we always did very well and I've got countless pictures of stringers full of monster 2lb slabs. Now days my family lives in Mobile Alabama and even though I can go down there and fish the golf course ponds for 10lb+ bass, I still love fishing The Rock over everywhere else! My great grandpa, my grandpa, my dad, myself, and my brothers have all had great memories from Shell Knob and Table Rock Lake!

Wow sounds like a great day on the lake!

We should probably just make the main drop shot thread a sticky.

Should just make that Drop Shot thread a sticky.

We have watched the fireworks in Shell Knob for years and years. It draws around 1000 boats there too, with 99% being Ski Boats. There are lots of huge wakes so if all you have is a bass boat, I would advise against it. You might see if there is a place you can watch them from the bank.

I always use live crawlers... you can catch em on plastics but you will catch more on crawlers. One piece of advice I would suggest is take your worms out of the dirt and put them in just a plain plastic container. I wash mine off to get rid of the dirt which helps keep the boat clean. My cousin was drop shotting on Sunday and caught a nice 4 lb walleye which is another reason I like to use crawlers. I use gamakatsu drop shot hooks, size 2 I believe (can't remember). Just use drop shot weights. It doesn't matter too much the size, just make sure it is heavy enough to get to the bottom.

You might try docks in 20-30 foot of water. We were catching some nice slabs off of ours last weekend 12-15 feet down on minnows. The end of our dock is about 20 feet deep.

Nice report! What a great fish to catch on top water!

Down at our place this weekend. Fished this morning. Caught 19 on top water on the fin. Ended with 47 fish, 20 keepers and 1 bonus white. Only one sm all day. Most top water fish were LM with 6 or 7 being keeper. Most fish were on the drop shot with crawlers. Our drop shot fish were toads, all K's. Fished lost hill island area and deep docks. Came back to our dock and caught 6 nice slab crappies. 3 were over 14 inches and the rest were solid 11-12 inch fish. Tried the football jig, no takers. Didn't catch any on shakey head either. Today was a great day. Hopefully tomorrow morning is as good.

Fished the Jika for an hour. Didn't get bit. Boat in 35-40 throwing at the points. Switched to the drop shot and found them easily. 20-30 ft down.

What are some of the "go-to" Jika Rig baits you all have been using? Was going to give it a try this weekend but I have not fished the rig before and wasn't sure what baits have been working well on the Rock. Thanks so much!

Same.. gonna be back in town this weekend. Family has been catching some nice crappie off the dock in 20 ft of water, hopefully they are still hanging around. Otherwise gonna try and catch a few bass.

I used to use that Jeff Fletchers grub when I was younger. Man I caught a ton of fish on that thing. Used to be one of my go-to baits.

I'm looking forward to it! Last time she fished with you she had the time of her life (no pressure!). She used to fish that lake when she was young so going back always brings back good memories for her, and me too for that matter. One of the best childhood pics my family has of me is when I was 3 years old holding a bluegill on the dock in Shell Knob. Always loved the Rock and I'll fish it til I can't fish anymore!

Went down to visit my family in Alabama a month ago (Mobile area), finally got around to getting some pics. We had a blast and caught all fish on the A-rig. Caught 2 fish over 8.5 lbs, one at 7.5 lbs, and 6 that were between 6-7lbs all in one day. Gotta love those FL strain fish!

5 crappie? I bet they were pretty nice slabs if you were catching them on bass grubs.

Been here since sat morning. This trip has by far been the worst crappie trip on the rock in my life. We caught 3 yesterday and 0 today. I gave it up and started fishing bass but my dad flew all the way up from Alabama to fish his childhood lake and catch some crappie. Extremely disappointed with the rock right now. Seeing bass on beds everywhere at shell knob, all males. We fished deep, shallow, every tree we could see. Nothing. I thought they had spawned out but looking at this post I guess not. We even have cedars under our dock and not one crappie. Doesn't add up. Talked to several other fisherman today all who had caught 1 or 2. Just sucks right now for crappie up the kings. 61 degree temps.

Thanks for the update. Heading down Friday after work and fishing til Tuesday.

Anyone fishing crappie lately? Was down a few weeks ago and caught some nice fish, just curious if they are on the banks yet or not. I was fishing Kings/White area and they were not ready yet. Didn't find any males on the banks, just females deep still full of eggs. Thanks guys

Same place.

FYI - viola now has minnows again!

Fished sat and Sunday. Slow both days but we did catch some really nice slabs. Saturday we threw white jigs and only caught 10 but they were solid 12-14 inch females. Only caught 1 male. Sunday they didn't want the jigs and we used minnows. Caught 11. Biggest was 14.5 inches. Had 4 over 13 inches and the rest were around 12 inches. 3-5 boats per cove and several on each bluff but everyone was throwing the bank and catching nothing. We found fish on trees in 20-30 feet of water about 10-12 feet down. We literally only had 1 bite off the bank all weekend and everyone we talked to hadn't done much. Today we drifted minnows 12 foot under the boat and would pick one up here or there. Boat was in 25-35 foot of water in most cases. If you could see a tree to throw at that was deep enough you could catch one. Problem was each tree had been fished 10 times before you , but they were using jigs and not minnows from what we saw. Fish would not touch a jig today so if you go, bring minnows and don't waste much time fishing the bank if you don't get bit. Water temp 60-61 past viola. Would post pics but I'm still at the lake house. Good luck!

Anyone fish crappie this last weekend in the Kings? Or anywhere on the lake for that matter. Just curious what folks are seeing. Fishing Sat/Sun/Mon and I am hoping the cool down won't mess the fishing up too bad. Thanks!

LOL.. awesome!