Reflections, Year To Date

[Bill Babler]

Have a 1PM to 5PM trip this afternoon, and the guide business has been wonderful so far this year. My problem is the fishing has really not lived up to my expectations.

Really started to deterate around Christmas with all the cold and snow, and to this point for me, some of the other guides and by the weights in the derbys has not came thru yet.

Couple of things have been a problem, and even today, they still are. We still have Shad dieing. Denjac reported he was seeing lots of floaters in the Old 86 area, and around the dam. What is up with this???

We still have a very bad moss problem out to about 15ft. from Kimberling City area back to Clevenger. Just a green yucky slime.

We still just have stupid very uneven water temps, from up the White River temps as low as of yesterday at 60.9 to mid 60's in Long Creek.

We have some water that is as clear as I have seen it in years, and some sections are green or Ice Tea color. We have also had about as little of a breeze as I can ever remember on Table Rock. It has just been the doldrums, with slick pollen covered water.

We have huge numbers of very small LM lake wide. Lots and Lots of 8 to 12 inch fish. I have not seen very many decent K's at all, I don't mean 15 inchers I mean 16 to 18 inch fish. I usually just hammer that kind on a stickbait, and nothing.

I am not seeing the SM we should be catching this time of the year. Yes a few, but nothing like years past.

Myself some of the other guides and lots of the "Fish everyday Locals," have told me this is the worst year they can remember, even the flood year was much better.

Where are the crappie. Spoke to most of my crappie catchin friends, and they are settling for White Bass, as the Crappie are just not there.

We will see how this all plays out, but right now you can go from Hero to Zero pretty durn quick on this pond.

[dtrs5kprs]

Can't speak for the winter, but could the normal pool level be an issue now? Have had at least some high water (couple feet over power pool on up to the ultimate deluge) this month and May in 3 of the last 4 years ('06, 08, 09) if my records are correct.

Given that history it makes sense to have lots of young blacks, might be a good thing if the perch jerkers don't damage them all. I have not done well on spots, excepting deep fish, since 2007.

I grew up fishing little lakes where the only rocks were rip-rap, so the rock moss is as normal to me as not. Would the increase in it this year have anything to do with the lack of incoming water and corresponding reduced flow (essentially making a big pond)?

[Sam]

Bill, yep - and as more of a panfish guy than a bass fisherman, I'm seeing it from that perspective. It's a TOUGH year.

I went out of Bridgeport Wednesday and fished the spawning coves and crappie trees down toward Buttermilk. I caught NO crappie, just a few white bass and short bass. Water was very clear, surface temp 61 going up to 66 in the afternoon. Something that I couldn't handle got ahold of my crappie jig up in a shallow cove - I had to chase it with the trolling motor for awhile before it broke off. It's probably better I didn't see it and find out it was a carp, ' cause this way it can be a big flathead that got away.

Figuring Tablerock wasn't the place to be, I went out of K Dock on Bull Shoals yesterday (Thursday), fishing crappie banks and staging areas that have been good for years, every year. NO crappie, not one. I ended up 'way up Beaver Creek catching a few scattered white bass and again, short bass. Surface water temp in B.S. was 63 going up to 70 in Beaver, and the water had some color to it.

I've made quite a few white bass trips up James and Beaver in the last month, and while I've always caught some fish and a couple of limits, the white bass run hasn't been near as good as in past years. Yeah, there's limits being caught sometimes - but I've never seen the usual height-of-the-run situation where you can throw a jig anywhere in the creek and get a white bass most every cast.

I don't know what's going on, but it ain't good. This may be the YEAR WITHOUT CRAPPIE.

But those guys in the Stratos candy-apple glitter-boat with the big Mercury and dead batteries that I towed from Virgin Bluff to Cape Fair on Wednesday - that's the sort of thing us cheap Tracker owners live for.

[techo]

Taking over RPS saving people on the lake job? I am glad there are folks around with the Ozarkian friendliness.

I guess we (wife and I) aren't the best fisher people of all time, but we still have fun on the lake. I think one of the reasons I love Table Rock is that it is a challenge. When I fished Rainy Lake hard for about nine years...it got so we would just go out and catch fish. Eventually we would look for new locations just for fun or fish for bigger fish.

Table Rock isn't like that. I always breathe a sigh of relief when we catch a couple to get rid of the skunk smell. There have been a few days when we have caught 30+ fish, but not many! The challenege is the bait for me.

I did think that a few years after the flood they were predicting an awesome crappie year. Isn't that this year?

[Quillback]

That's interesting what you guys are seeing on TR, AGFC does a cove survey on Beaver every year, and last year there was a large increase in panfish and bass numbers in the survey, lots of young crappie and bass. So many spots that they thought about increasing the daily limit to 10. They attribute the increase to the high water the last couple of years flooding the brush and providing more cover for the young fish. You would think that would apply to TR but apparently not.

[rps]

Bill: We all feel the pain, but I think this year is only a staging year for next when the large flood year spawn hits keeper size.

Techo: So I'm a nice guy once or twice and now you'll rub my nose in it for years?

Sam: You did the right thing. The secret feel good was just a bonus.

[glennL]

I think Bill answered his own question.. The wind has more to do with fishing than, I believe any other factor.

Plus March was a cold month.

So alittle wind and some more warm days and be ready!!!!

[Bill Babler]

Sam, absolutely no disrespect ment on your rig. I base a huge ammount of my crappie information on how you in particular are doing along with crappie, and crappie5, along with SKMO.

I use you ase a barometer. WHen you are on them, I go. It ain't happened yet, and I hate to say it, but don't believe it will this year.

As RPS said, maybe this is the year, before the YEAR.

[Sam]

Sam, absolutely no disrespect ment on your rig. I base a huge ammount of my crappie information on how you in particular are doing along with crappie, and crappie5, along with SKMO.

Thanks, Bill - and I hope you know that when I sometimes joke about bass-holes in glitter-boats I'm just kidding. I've got a lot of respect for folks who put that much into their fishing and have nice rigs. I'd get a bigger boat if it suited my needs, but I keep the Tracker 'cause it suits what I'm doing.

I fish by myself a lot, and the light boat and trailer help with that. With my 4WD truck and that rig, I can put in and take out by myself easy anywere there's a rocky beach, and for panfishing I may run a few miles at 30 mph but there's no need to run the whole lake. I like to troll for white bass, and the 50 hp 4-stroke trolls down smooth and quiet. I just added a new depthfinder, a Humminbird 597ci, and I think I'm really gonna like it. I already marked some crappie brushpiles on the GPS this week for future reference - if the crappie ever start biting again.

And yeah, if I see someone on the water who's got trouble I'll help 'em out. I'll probably need help myself, sometime.

It's all good.