Last 6 Days On The Rock

[Bill Babler]

Going to run thru my last 6 days since I've been home from Alasky. Lost two guide trips because of the plane malfartion.

Starting with a double on Friday. Morning trip out of Baxter, even with all my contacts I struggled about a dozen fish with 1 keeper, all on a 3/8 oz watermellon candy jig and twin tail of the same species.

Friday Afternoon Williams Electric corp Group. 20 fish with 3 solid keeps all on Crawlers in the 30' range in the Baxter area.

Saturday same group Full day trip with 30 fish and 5 keepers. Was really slow till about 1 Pm and then started catching them on a drop shot. Same 30ft. depth with a PBJ Chompers drop shot worm.

Sunday afternoon 30 fish with 3 keepers, all on Crawlers out of the Knob, 26 to 32 ft. on the flats.

Monday, could not put a fish in the boat and did not till 9:30 after starting at 6:30. Fished these folks some extra and ended up with 17 bass with 5 keepers and 2 keeper walleye. All 31 ft. in the Baxter area on Crawlers.

Tuesday took a BLF fisherman out of Eagle Rock and Fished a Full day plus. Fished to Baxter and put 50+ fish in the boat with 11 keepers. Had one 3 pounder and the rest were just keepers. Caught fish on a jig, dropshot, and topwater. Two keeps on top, 1 on a the shot and the others on the Watermellon Candy jig.

Fished today with a great guy Scott Driher out of St Louie. First two jig spots zelch. Next jig spot we caught 5 shorts. Saw some topwater fish breaking and caught 10 and 2 whites, all the bass were short. Moved to the next jig spot and caught 3 shorts, and again saw fish breaking. another 10 and 2 on a dropshot, again all shorts.

Motor shot craps on me and had to get off the lake. Took it in and they replaced all 6 coils. Hope that was it, they say it was.

I have about a dozen days in a row remaining and I hope I can get into some quality fish. There are tons of topwater fish, but they are just not the right kind. Fun, mind you, but just a little to short between their nose and tail.

The lake is showing the spawn from the flood. From Big M to Baxter there are litterly thousands of topwater fish. These fish are very evenly mixed with K's, LM, and Jaw's. They are chasing fingerling shad which there are also millions. These shad are about the size of a nickle. I saw in one group of chasers yesterday, I'm going to say there were several hundred on the surface up near Big M. They stayed up forever. Biggest are the LM. they are about 13 inches, the K's and Jaws are in the 11to12 inch varity and are just thick.

I weighed two 14 plus in K's yesterday that were so fat I could not believe it. They were dribbling shad out the butt and had there mouths and guts full. The two I weighed were both right at 2 pounds.

I saw these blowups the last two days both above the Knob, and in the Baxer area this morning. Hope these translate to some nice keeper size fish in the next 5 yrs.

Good Luck

[Duck]

Bill same thing Craig and I have been getting, usually about 40 fish a day, half on top and the rest on drop shot, all but one or two 12-13 inches. I'm also looking forward to the next few years. Glad your back and appreciate your reports. Duck.

[Bill Babler]

Duck, they say it takes the 5th. year for a LM on Table Rock to hit the 15 inch mark and the 6th.or 7th. year for a Jaw and a K to get there.

I am going to say in 2012 or 13, we will be seeing a very nice boom of quality fish, that should last for another 5 yrs. after that. The Flood was 07, so hang on.

Surface temps today in the 81 to 85 range. Still bath water like. Yesterday afternoon at Shell Knob at 4 Pm I had water at the Knob, at 86.7.

[edwin]

Great time today Bill...first rate trip for sure. Too bad the Merc had other plans as I was able to get back on the topwater bite for a good part of the afternoon. Hope they got you back up and running.

[Spinnaker]

Warm water but you still had topwater luck. I know size matters but for me a 20 plus bass day of shorts would still be outstanding. I hope the topwater continues to be robust next week as I am coming down Sunday. Red Lund usually around the dam.

[Bill Babler]

One blown coil on cy. number 3. They replaced all 6 coils, as merc had a recall on the coils. 08,09,10. and a new set of plugs. Ulrich Marine, jumped right on it. They are a great friend of the local fishermen.

Not going to say, but it is a darn good thing It was still under warranty. It would have been in the upper 3 figures. If these things break, it is a huge expense.

If you are running a outboard motor without warranty, I will prey you are walking with the big guy upstairs, as it is a disaster when they break.

Scott, yours are under a warranty recall also. Might think about a set if you have not had it done. That boat of yours is as nice a boat as I have ever seen.

Good Luck

[Quillback]

Thanks for the report Bill, good info as always. Same sort of thing is going on at Beaver that you're seeing on TR. Hey, your name is mentioned in In Fisherman magazine in the Adventures section this month. You're a celebrity!

[Champ188]

Good to have you back from the Great North, Mr. Bill. You were missed.