Table Rock Lake Fishing Report June 5Th. 2011

[Bill Babler]

Met Steve and Jim Kroke at Pine Tree Jct. at 5 AM to get a cool start to a hot day. Had planned on fishing the Kimberling to Indian Pt. Circuit, but to tell you the truth, I am tired of pounding the same water I have been on for 3 months. Along with every other guide and fishermen in the area.

Bite has been so predictable for me the last few days that I needed a shake-up. 5 AM till 8 AM and done.

That way yesterday, for most of the boys. I believe they stayed on better for Phil Stone and Don House, but for the most part they get pretty lazy after 8 AM.

Becky and I drove up to Viney Creek last night to check out the water clarity, and see if I thought I could get a topwater nip. Looked great, so I had Steve and Jim tossing fins off the flat points up there in the 5:30 AM morning light.

Nothing much schooling or chasing, but action was really great, on Whites, LM and K's from Viney to Cedar Creek. 35 fish to the boat on topwater and another 4 on the bottom, with one being a 6.5. " Ya, I caught her, and it killed her dead as a stone." In between unhooking the fin fish for the boys and visiting with them, I was paying very little attention just dragging a jig out ot the deep side of the boat. 30 ft. I felt the tap and set the hook. She drove down on two good runs and then jumped twice, and then floated to the top. She was hooked in the roof of the mouth and I guess the jig impailed her pea-brain. Put her in the livewell for 30 minutes on full O2 and rejuvine-x, but her gills were white in 15 minutes. She also spewed out the most foul eggs in the well that stunk like rotted fish. Had to go to the car wash. She was a beautiful healthy fish, that had not spawned and was sluffing her eggs.

Hated to kill her. I have done that before, but not very often, maybe once every 5 yrs. or so.

Had 3 fish on the jig with 2 keeps. One short on a rig and 35 on topwater with 32 LM and K's and 3 whites. About 7 other Shell Knob K keepers and 2 more LM keeps with 1 at 3.5.

Water clarity at Viney-Big M. Stained with lots of floating leaf debris, and small sticks. Very hard to work the bait, but they just swarmed it. I also threw a spook 4 times and caught fish on all 4 throws, so I put it down. Boys were spinning gear guys and the fin was their deal. Surface temp 79 degree.

Both Beck and Lisek fished out of Kimberling City this morning and reported great topwater action, till 8 AM and then done. Our bite was also pretty much over at 8 AM and we tried some very nice runouts with a cenipede with no results.

Good to see Viney, I will be back up there tomorrow.

[dtrs5kprs]

Much appreciated, as always. Sorry about the big girl, have lost a few that way on the FB jig also. Seems like it is never a 12" spot, usually a nice black.

[Bill Babler]

d5kps, Now that I think about it, I believe you are right. Seems everytime that happens, it is a FB stuck in the roof of the mouth just in front of the crushers, on a nice LM.

You know it is kind of like a head shot on a quail, where one pellet finds the head. The quail will fly straight up and then just fall. She jumped twice and then just turned her belly to the surface. My line just went slack and she was done. I told the boys, OOOPS! I think I just killed that one.

Felt like an idiot for catching her anyway. If I would have wanted to, I couldn't have.

Guess it was her time. Does worry me a mite about her sluffing the eggs.

[dtrs5kprs]

d5kps, Now that I think about it, I believe you are right. Seems everytime that happens, it is a FB stuck in the roof of the mouth just in front of the crushers, on a nice LM.

You know it is kind of like a head shot on a quail, where one pellet finds the head. The quail will fly straight up and then just fall. She jumped twice and then just turned her belly to the surface. My line just went slack and she was done. I told the boys, OOOPS! I think I just killed that one.

Felt like an idiot for catching her anyway. If I would have wanted to, I couldn't have.

Guess it was her time. Does worry me a mite about her sluffing the eggs.

I'm with you on the eggs. Not a good sign for the spawn, maybe not for the health of the fish overall.

[dtrs5kprs]

Forgot to include...have a partner who will not fish a jig (flip or other) with an EWG type hook. Says he has killed too many with them, especially on short line and big rods.

Honestly, the trouble I have had is with regular round bend gamakatsus, but thought it was an interesting note. If it was a hook issue you would think it would show up with EWG type worm hooks also.

[Tfsh4bass]

Forgot to include...have a partner who will not fish a jig (flip or other) with an EWG type hook. Says he has killed too many with them, especially on short line and big rods.

Honestly, the trouble I have had is with regular round bend gamakatsus, but thought it was an interesting note. If it was a hook issue you would think it would show up with EWG type worm hooks also.

Not sure what everyone was throwing Sunday at the AIA but there were too many fish killed for there only being 39 boats. AIA runs good tournaments but it sure was sad to see the aftermath floating around Ahoy's yesterday.

[Golf Pro]

Forgot to include...have a partner who will not fish a jig (flip or other) with an EWG type hook. Says he has killed too many with them, especially on short line and big rods.

Honestly, the trouble I have had is with regular round bend gamakatsus, but thought it was an interesting note. If it was a hook issue you would think it would show up with EWG type worm hooks also.

Typical tourney in June. the fish are stressed and just can't keep them all alive. A friend fishd it and had a fish die. He did everything he could to keep them alive and one still died.

[Tfsh4bass]

Typical tourney in June. the fish are stressed and just can't keep them all alive. A friend fishd it and had a fish die. He did everything he could to keep them alive and one still died.

I understand the post spawn plus the sudden rise in water temps played a part...just hard to see 30+ bass dead. Like I said AIA does a good job and were just a victim of circumstance more than anything.

[Guest csfishinfool]

I understand the post spawn plus the sudden rise in water temps played a part...just hard to see 30+ bass dead. Like I said AIA does a good job and were just a victim of circumstance more than anything.

Yeah i fished the AIA and noticed the dead fish also, All the ones we caught swam away just fine. With the right amount of ice, and that rejuvinade our fish were super alive. I walked them down to the tank and told the guy to put those fish right into the lake that they were ready to go. WE finished with 12.63 pounds, three solid smallmouth, a good large mounth and one little kentucky. Our bite was best around 10:00 am. We found a school on a underwater rock pile on the side of a boat ramp and caught the fire out of them. Every fish we caught off that place had at least six more trying to get the jig out of thier mouths. We just couldn't get the big fish to go for us. First thing in the morning i seen a seven or eight pounder eating shad that were spawing off a boat dock. That was as close as I got to any big ones. On a side note, one of the kentuckys we culled had eggs coming out of it in the well. We caught 15 keepers throughout the day. With only a few short fish. Best producers were an eakins jig, and a baby brush hawg.

[Stump bumper]

I understand the post spawn plus the sudden rise in water temps played a part...just hard to see 30+ bass dead. Like I said AIA does a good job and were just a victim of circumstance more than anything.

Do they have cooling tanks? Most of the small tournaments I have seen anglers will line up in the parking lot with five fish in a bag resting on the parking lot for 30 minutes or more and I am surprised that there is a live fish released after those conditions. I always keep the livewell running with ice until I see the line go down, but seems the heat effects the common sense of most the anglers too.

The easy fix to that would be to put the scales close to the water and not in a black top parking lot and require anybody standing in line to rest thier bag in the lake, but then someone would raise up and protest the scales are not on a stable footing. I would refund his money and ask him not to fish with the club anymore, but guess that is why I am not running a tournament.

If you see someone putting a dead or dying fish back in the lake please ask them to remove the fish or someone close by with thier boat in the water. I have never had anyone refuse to do so or even give an attitude. Just seems as temps get higher people need more direction but are still willing and egar to do the right thing.