Tablerock Lake Report

[Bill Babler]

Started yesterday at Baxter, early and worked my way clear to Big M on a sunshiney flat water day till the storm hit about 3:30.

Caught and released about 20 keeper size Ky's and one really nice Largemouth. We fished 27 different locations with a fish or two per spot, even if we saw more on the graph, we just couldn't get them to go in numbers.

At the start there was a bit of a topwater bite on a silver-blackback fin. I think if I would have went after the topwater harder, we would have been able to fish it the entire morning, but just didn't want to run all over the flats chasing them.

Fish in the Baxter to Campbell Point area were on the bottom from 18 ft. early to about 31 ft. after about 11 am. There is a thermocline at 26 ft. so that is a good number to start with, either suspended or on the bottom.

I am sticking with that watermellon candy zoom finess worm or the chomper drop shot worm in plum. They seem to be outpreforming the crawlers in the upper lake region. I am using two worms about 2ft. apart and dropping on the flat gravel and hump areas, just next to deep water and on channel swings. Long points are also producing early.

We caught about the same number of fish late as we did early, just a pretty consistant bite if you didn't hang in one location to long. We had to move to get bit. It seemed your first drop, was by far the best, even if you could see fish. After you caught 1 or 2 you had might as well go as the rest just wouldn't bite.

They are biting the plastics, better than crawlers around the knob, I don't know why. Had a trip on Sat. that I put 3 dropshot hooks on a line and placed a crawler on the bottom and one on the top and a drop shot worm in the middle. They took the plastic almost every time. Comtinued to move the worm to all three locations on the dropshot and it didn't matter, they wanted the plum worm or the wattermellon candy worm. The crawler only caught a couple of fish.

Had a school of white come around me chasing and just couldn't get them to bite, threw the kitchen sink and they just didn't want it. They were chasing shad that were about the size of a dime or smaller and just would not consider anything bigger. Didn't want them anyway, as my guys were after the catch and release Ky's.

I can say that since I didn't catch any, if we had caught some I would have wanted them.

Guys we are always intrested in what and how you are doing. If only a few of us are giving information, that establishes very few patterns. Don't always take our word for it, try something different and let us know, we are always ready to learn.

Whites are still going in the slot at the dam. Seems, 6;30 to about 7am, then over. Ky's are suspended in the 26ft. range on the guide holes and traditional spots. Fishing over the trees is becoming a very good summer pattern in the dam area.

James has slowed down a mite, but fish are coming from Buttermilk up to Cape fair in that same 26 ft. range, suspended over trees and on the bottom..