Members LarryS Posted January 21, 2009 Members Posted January 21, 2009 Just a little intimidated posting my fishing observations on here with all the Table Rock heavy weights but here goes my little adventure from last weekend. Just got back from four days on the rock, eight of the fellas from the Leavenworth Bass Club made our annual winter migration to Table Rock in search of those deep schooling Kentuckies. My good Friend Bill Horvath was fishing with me and we got on the water about 1130 Friday 16 Jan, facing a brutal cold front that came in overnight with 22 degree temps and 10-15 mph winds out of the SW. We put in at Fish Hook Resort and fished the Kimberly City area. Immediately, I began having trouble getting my 520 Lowrance unit on the front deck tuned correctly. Though we found some promising deep locations with my console mounted 38C the front unit just wasn’t giving me the detailed required for fishing the deep structure. By Sunday I had figured out that my transducer was going bad and I hadn’t brought a spare. So we adjusted and start running the bluff ends with jerkbaits, football jigs, and shakey heads. The bite was tough put I did scare up a nice 3lb spot on a bluff end ledge in about 25ft on a 3/8 oz shakey head with a Gene Larew watermelon chartreuse craw worm. I did manage a couple more soft bites on the shakey head but failed to boat them. The bite was as suspected very soft with just a mushy feel all weekend. We headed in about 4:30pm and had a great catfish dinner over at Dana’s BBQ, a must stop when you are in Kimberly City. On Saturday morning, the temps were in the mid 20’s when we launched out of Aunt’s Creek around 9:00 am. We had heard that there was still a shallow 10-15 ft bite in and around Aunts Creek on the 45 degree chunk rock banks on cranks and jigs. After a couple of hours with no luck we made the move to some of the bluff ends out on the James and soon found another keeper Kentucky on the Shakey head rigged with a watermelon red craw papi on a bluff ledge in 30ft. Around noon we started looking for some deep fish in the trees along the creek channels but with the 520 still acting up and the wind in the 20mph range we gave up on it after a couple hours. We finished Saturday off back in Aunts Creek searching the secondary chunk rock points with crank baits and jerkbaits with no avail. We headed in around 3:30 with only one keeper to show for our efforts. We had a tremendous Chili dinner Saturday night stuffing everyone to the point of unconsciousness. On Sunday we decided to go after the smallies down in the darn area. Sunday started off in the low 30s but quickly warmed into the high 40s though the wind was now out of the N-NW gusting to 25. We started working some of the channel swing areas and bluff ends on the main lake with jigs and Shakey Heads and soon hooked up with a 4+ large mouth on the Shakey Head with the craw papi on a ledge in about 25ft that dropped into 80ft. We worked the deep ledges and transitions along the channel swings and some main lake chunk rock points with little success the rest of the day. We did finally get on a deep fish (Kentucky) suspended in the trees in 75ft topping out at 40ft on a chompers 4inch grub. The wind was just too tough to stay on the deep bite. My good friend Bob Greene was in his boat and did find a couple protected areas that held some good fish Sunday. He ended up with 9 keepers on the day with several in the 3-5lb range best 5 around 14lbs drop shoting trees in 60-70ft topping out at 40ft on secondary points on the main creeks around Kimberly City. Monday’s weather was more of the same but the winds were even worse early than the previous days. We started working some semi-protected bluff ends in the Kimberly City area and soon realized we had to find something more protected. Ended up 2/3 back in Cow Creek where we managed a solid 2 ½ lb Kentucky out of the tree tops on a drop shot. That was the only bite we had in 4hrs so we headed in and came on home. Though the fishing was tough it was a great weekend with good friends and good food. If you are heading to Table Rock stop by and see Richard and Brenda Cornell at Fish Hook Resort, they will take great care of you. The accommodations are great and affordable but their hospitality is even better.
Bill Babler Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Very nice an very informative post. You all were a lot braver than us locals. You all might have been locked into just to small of an area. For instance, last week we fished from Campbell Point to Eagle Rock in a 3/4 day outing. Found fish on only probably 4 locations, and had probably 20 stops. Throwing a stickbait most of the time and would hit transitions, with wind. Fish 50 yrds pretty quickly and if nothing, GONE. It was pretty windy for us to fish deep, so didn't even bother. Bite was not exploding, but a couple of dozen fish a day. Seemed like if we were going to do any good, we would have one in the first cast or two on a location. If we presisted on a location that we were not immediatly bit on, we didn't do any good. They were there or they were not. Again, thanks for the fantastic report. http://whiteriveroutfitters.com http://whiteriverlodgebb.com
Members LarryS Posted January 22, 2009 Author Members Posted January 22, 2009 Come back in the Spring! Tim I will be back before that enjoy the pearl of the Ozarks way to much to stay away for long. Planning another trip for Presidents day weekend in Feb if the weather will cooperate. I will be back in late March for sure with the Leavenworth Bass Club. We have club tourneys down there in Nov and March every year. Thanks Bill for the remarks, I have been a big fan of your posts for over a year. I have only been fishing these Ozark Lakes for three years. Grew up fishing KY/Barkley then joined the service and fished where ever the Army sent me. NC, GA, HI, Panama, La....Man I loved my time at Fort Polk, La on Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn. But very few fishing spots can best the Ozarks....The highland resevior learning curve has been step, but thanks to you guys and the LBC I usually luck in to a few Good Fishin Larry
BlueWave Posted January 22, 2009 Posted January 22, 2009 Larry, Did you get a chance for snook and red snapper in Panama? My father was in the Air Force and I spent my Jr. High years (a long, long time ago) there. We tore up the Snook and the Snapper. As a kid living in the Canal Zone you could get on a bus for a nickel with your rod and tackle box and they would drop me and my buddies off at miraflores Lake to fish snook. It was a great place to be a kid!! Great post on how to tackle our Lakes in the Winter!!
Members LarryS Posted January 22, 2009 Author Members Posted January 22, 2009 Larry, Did you get a chance for snook and red snapper in Panama? My father was in the Air Force and I spent my Jr. High years (a long, long time ago) there. We tore up the Snook and the Snapper. As a kid living in the Canal Zone you could get on a bus for a nickel with your rod and tackle box and they would drop me and my buddies off at miraflores Lake to fish snook. It was a great place to be a kid!! Great post on how to tackle our Lakes in the Winter!! Well hello their zonie........I didn't get to do any snook or snapper fishing while I was there Dec 86 - Aug 89 but I did fall in love with the Peacock bass chasing them around the Chagres river and Gatun lake. Also became a master driver so spent some time lobstering and spear fishing on the Atlantic side. I did get a chance to catch a few Tarpon bank fishing in the mouth of the channal on the pacific side. Great time and place for a 19 year old kid some of the most memorable days of my life.
BlueWave Posted January 23, 2009 Posted January 23, 2009 Larry, I missed out on the Peacock Bass. This was in the mid 60's and no one even mentioned them back then. I have just booked a trip to the Amazon next January to fish for them for the first time.
Members NuB2TR Posted January 23, 2009 Members Posted January 23, 2009 Larry, I missed out on the Peacock Bass. This was in the mid 60's and no one even mentioned them back then. I have just booked a trip to the Amazon next January to fish for them for the first time. BlueWave, here's a story you might enjoy.... http://journalstar.com/articles/2009/01/18...4c343074827.txt
CaptainJoe Posted January 25, 2009 Posted January 25, 2009 Larry, Great report. We (ABA District 64 tournament) went out of Aunt's Creek also on Sat. I saw you guys drive in. I was fishing one of the points by the ramp. It was a tough day for us, as well. We had one angler with a limit fishing deep and the other had 4 keepers. The rest had zero, one, or two fish. When I was able to find the fish deep, they were all the same size (14 1/2 inches). Joe Captain Joe Hreha Owner of MO Fenchbulldogs.com; Captain Joe's Guide Service (Retired); OAF Contributor; & Captain, U. S. Marine Corps (Retired) http://www.mofrenchbulldogs.com
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