Table Rock Lake July Fishing Report

[Bill Babler]

Listened to the news today and they said for next week, dangeriously HOT. That has not been what the fishing has been on the Rock for the past couple of weeks. It has been very hit and miss. Some guides report drop shot fish as shallow as 15 ft. and other catching a few at 35 over 100 in the tree tops. No one that I have talked to is by any sense of the imagination doing very well.

Bite has been early and I mean super early, and not very often. Most of us guide types if we can have been perched on 53 degree taneycomo if at all possible.

Table Rock surface temps ranging from 87 to 91 depending on the time of the day and the lake location. As RPS stated on another thread thermocline is ranging in the 26 ft. depth level, with the entire lake being slightly cloudy or somewhat of a green type of moss bloom.

Never have I seen a year with a worse topwater bite or the absence of any type of a White Bass schooling bite. Did for a while have them at Turn Around Island at the mouth of the Kings River, but they seem to have vanished.

Excluding the limited dropshot bite the bite for most of us is still from the bushes out to the origional 910 bank line. Lake wide the bite and tenique is the same, and that again is more than a little bit strange.

Big 10 inch green pumpkin pepper worm- 1/2 to 3/4 oz. Green Pumpkin/Purple jig with a big trailer or a 5 inch twin tail--Deep Cranker--or swimming a 5 inch smoke pepper grub.

Fish have been on the bluffends, long gravel runouts and cove mouths, and not very many on each location. You can pretty much pull the troller up after the first or second fish, and be better off with your time. If there is a drop of breeze even if the location looks yucky, fish it.

The big Worm is catching the LM and jig and grub the Jaws or K's. It is hard.

You all know how much I love Shell Knob, and it has just flat sucked the past month. Yes, you can catch some fish from Campbell Point up the Kings away and then on up to Big M, but they are for the most part very young. Most still having milk on the lips.

James River still is maintaining the bite, but it is covered up with fisherman. You pretty much have to take a number to get to fish a spot. Beck was at the Ramp at Cape Fair this morning and at 5 AM there was a crowd. He said at one point he looked up looking down the lake from PigPen and there was more fisherman than he had ever seen.

This lake is packed with fisherman and pleasure boaters, it is the season. Bite in the dam area is still one of the best on the lake, but it is slow. Maybe we have to retool our thinking and believe any bite and any fish is better than nothing. Spoke to one of the Big Cedar Guides today and he had 7 fish on his guide trip yesterday and thought he had won the lottery.

Get out early, catch 5 or 6 and head for the showers. You might still get a big-en on that big worm or that jig. Just not the big numbers of dropshot fish we usually see at this time of the year. It is however a steller BlueGill year, and you can catch all you want in 15 ft. on crickets

Good Luck

[Martin]

Glad it's not just me....Haven't been out alot, but I've had some slow fishing, even with nightcrawlers. Haven't skunked out yet, but it's really slow and frustrating when you can see lots of "fish" on the graph...

[glennL]

Listened to the news today and they said for next week, dangeriously HOT. That has not been what the fishing has been on the Rock for the past couple of weeks. It has been very hit and miss. Some guides report drop shot fish as shallow as 15 ft. and other catching a few at 35 over 100 in the tree tops. No one that I have talked to is by any sense of the imagination doing very well.

Bite has been early and I mean super early, and not very often. Most of us guide types if we can have been perched on 53 degree taneycomo if at all possible.

Table Rock surface temps ranging from 87 to 91 depending on the time of the day and the lake location. As RPS stated on another thread thermocline is ranging in the 26 ft. depth level, with the entire lake being slightly cloudy or somewhat of a green type of moss bloom.

Never have I seen a year with a worse topwater bite or the absence of any type of a White Bass schooling bite. Did for a while have them at Turn Around Island at the mouth of the Kings River, but they seem to have vanished.

Excluding the limited dropshot bite the bite for most of us is still from the bushes out to the origional 910 bank line. Lake wide the bite and tenique is the same, and that again is more than a little bit strange.

Big 10 inch green pumpkin pepper worm- 1/2 to 3/4 oz. Green Pumpkin/Purple jig with a big trailer or a 5 inch twin tail--Deep Cranker--or swimming a 5 inch smoke pepper grub.

Fish have been on the bluffends, long gravel runouts and cove mouths, and not very many on each location. You can pretty much pull the troller up after the first or second fish, and be better off with your time. If there is a drop of breeze even if the location looks yucky, fish it.

The big Worm is catching the LM and jig and grub the Jaws or K's. It is hard.

You all know how much I love Shell Knob, and it has just flat sucked the past month. Yes, you can catch some fish from Campbell Point up the Kings away and then on up to Big M, but they are for the most part very young. Most still having milk on the lips.

James River still is maintaining the bite, but it is covered up with fisherman. You pretty much have to take a number to get to fish a spot. Beck was at the Ramp at Cape Fair this morning and at 5 AM there was a crowd. He said at one point he looked up looking down the lake from PigPen and there was more fisherman than he had ever seen.

This lake is packed with fisherman and pleasure boaters, it is the season. Bite in the dam area is still one of the best on the lake, but it is slow. Maybe we have to retool our thinking and believe any bite and any fish is better than nothing. Spoke to one of the Big Cedar Guides today and he had 7 fish on his guide trip yesterday and thought he had won the lottery.

Get out early, catch 5 or 6 and head for the showers. You might still get a big-en on that big worm or that jig. Just not the big numbers of dropshot fish we usually see at this time of the year. It is however a steller BlueGill year, and you can catch all you want in 15 ft. on crickets

Good Luck

Thank you for the great report. For awhile I thought maybe it was me. With the floods this spring over both of my weeks vacation and then the 100+ temps on my last one, fishing has been terrible. Bet all the fisherman on the lake is because they can finally get to their boats and are probably trying to make up for the past lost fishing time.

I was out fishing at night and caught a few shorts off a chunk rock wind blown shore. Then when dark hit. Nothing. Gar and bluegill loaded on surface in early am for a very short time than quiet. Then too hot and too many boaters. Bring on the fall!!

[Bill Babler]

Most of the fish we are seeing on the electronics, are not bass. Here is a tip on your electronics, you may only get here. If you see multiple targets that are very loosly formed, single targets that are suspended and targets that are stationary near the bottom, Very few are bass, if any.

Fish that are moving in the water structure for the most part either rising from the bottom and then returning are Bass. Usually K's. Fish that are rising and moving in the upper water sections are also usually small K's.

Fish that are relating to the tops of structure have not been bass. Mostly Gills. Fish that are rising to your presentation, from the interior of the structure weather they accept it or not are bass.

This pond is crowded now with Gills, Gar, Spoonies, and all other sorts of fish that are not bass. I am still struggling with catching any bass if Gar are working the area, and for the most part they are working everywhere.

Good Luck

[rps]

My recent experience has been "not very productive." Fish have not disappeared. Instead, we are all struggling to find something and somewhere to apply what we do know. Anyone who finds clues should help us all.

[Dutch]

Thanks Bill. I'll have to say that it doesn't make my vacation at Table Rock next week look very promising with the added triple digit temps in the forcast but one never can tell what MO weather will be when one has to plan ahead of time.

[vacation]

I'll chime in on the night time bite this past week. Keep in mind, started at 8pm and fished until 11pm 3 nights this last week. Between my buddy and myself we have caught over 35 keeper largemouth, 2 over 6lb and one over 7lb and another that broke a rod as she headed for deeper water.

The key has been shakey head senko, baby brush hog and regular brush hog. I'll post an update on last nights moonshine tourney as my buddies were fishing it.

Our fish have been between 1fow and 15fow and we are fishing in the dam area. My biggest fish came last tuesday and it was a 100degree day.

AGAIN, this is a night time bite vs. what bill is referring to and that is a day time bite. I will echo the topwater has been non existant this year.

[techo]

Bill,

Are the week days getting as bad as the weekends now? Wonder why the increase in gar this year?

[Champ188]

Donna and I have been driving Titleists lately rather than the Champion.

[JEVPhoenixBass]

Donna and I have been driving Titleists lately rather than the Champion.

Well.... you must be the Sissy cause I KNOW Donna would be a fishing!!!

Love to ya both!!!