Table Rock Fishing Report

[focused fishing]

Kimberling City Area: First let me apologize for the lack of reports over the past couple of months, I have been extremely busy with off the water projects and when you combine that with guiding there just haven’t been enough hours in the day to sit down and write any reports. O.K. now the good news, the mid-lake area is on fire, water is up almost 20’ feet and dropping and the fish have finally acclimated to the high water. The best bite by far is on a spinnerbait, white and chartreuse or all chartreuse with painted willow leaf blades is the ticket. Personally I prefer the new Jerry McCutchen spinnerbait from Chompers, ½ oz. chartreuse / white with two chartreuse willow blades. Look for banks that are fairly open to be the best to fish; get in behind the brush and cast to anything you can see in the water. Most of the fish are coming from the bank out to about 10’ deep.

James River: The James has been very productive as well, the color is starting to clear and there are a couple of bites starting to develop. The best bite is still a spinnerbait, same pattern as in the Kimberling City area. In addition, several fish were caught over the weekend on a shallow crankbait; Lucky Craft R.C. 1.5 & 2.5 in chartreuse / black has been the best color, just like the spinnerbait, hold the boat in 6’ – 10’ of water and hit everything use see with the crankbait to e successful. The floating worm bite is starting to heat up as well, if the wind ever quits blowing this will become a very strong pattern, match the worm to the water color, dirtier the water bright the worm.

White River: The clearest water on the lake is in the White River, all of the water coming out of Beaver has pushed the dirty water to beyond the mouth of the Kings. Just like the rest of the lake a spinnerbait is the ticket right now, same pattern but use white and shad colors seem to be a little more productive in the clear water. Have spoken to a couple of anglers that have been doing very well on weightless Senkos and Floating worms in the backs of creeks and big pockets out of the wind. This is a target specific pattern; you will need to throw the bait at something (bush, tree, lawn ornament, etc...) to be successful. I can’t emphasis enough the importance of hitting the cover with whichever bait you choose, I caught two fish off of one wood pile (yes, a pile of firewood) on Friday both over thee pounds.

Dam / Branson Area: The lower end of the lake has had the toughest fishing, spinner baits are still king but the fish don’t seem to have moved to the bank in the dam area like they have on the rest of the lake. Most of the fish are being taken on the outside edge of the bushes near the old bank line; in addition you will need to slow roll the spinner bait through the bushes to draw strikes. Further up Long Creek the bite is similar to the Kimberling City area and James River, Chompers McCutchen spinnerbaits and Lucky Craft R.C. series crankbaits have been effective on flat shallow points.