June 18Th. Table Rock Lake Fishing Report

[Bill Babler]

Have now had close to 130 days on the water this year, between Taney and the Rock. Back and forth a bunch. Keeps me out of trouble and off the computer. I am on a first name basis with Tackle Warehouse.

Table Rock this morning is in the low 913's and if we don't get rain it will be moving on down. Taney needs the water to keep the fish going and it has really been coming thru sparingly. Water is still off color with the Algie bloom and the surface temps have risen to 83 degree, in the dam area.

If I'm on the Rock, I'm trying to start by no later than 5:15 AM. Bite really falls off for me after about 9 AM.

First deal in the mornings I have forsaken my beloved topwater and am throwing a Swimbait or a big Crank. Has worked very well for me and I'm catching far better fish on this than I have in years past on the topwater junk.

Fished the dam this morning and our first fish was a very nice 3 Plus pound Meanmouth. Followed it up with a 4 pound plus Jaw and 4 other keeps, including a LM. Caught 2 on a Spro-Little John, and 4 on the Swimmers. I'm thinking about 16 pounds for the best 5.

Had the boat in 26 ft. throwing in. Caught the big Jaw in the same place I lost the big fish last week.

All of this by 6 AM and then it got tough. Went fishless for about two hours trying to throw a jig, and then went to the dropshot. Had 8 dropshot fish, nothing huge, but all keepers. We did not have a short fish this morning, and that should tell me something, but I can't think of what. Dropshot fish were for us at 36 ft. in the Point 5 area. We fished some docks and some runnout points at that depth. All our dropshot fish came off the bottom. Pretty nice keeper K's, all on a Chompers 4" cinnamon purple dropshot worm. Best of the Lot were in the 16.5 inch range.

I'm going to tell you right now, 14 keepers in 4 hrs. is what I call a SUPERDAY. Seemed slow because we went dry for a two hour period, but give and take, I'll take that in a morning.

Spoke to several guys that stayed out till noon, and said they just beat their heads against it from about 9AM on and should have come in.

[denjac]

Was fishing a runoff this morning and had a small blowup 50 yards from me. Went over to them and they had went down so I dropped a spoon down and it had went 15 ft a spot hit it. Dropped down 7 times with 7 fish, 3 spots and 4 whites. On the eighth drop I caught this guy, a 6 or 7 pound drum. I guess thats my first drum on Table Rock that I can remember. Had to get off the troller while getting that drum in, what with having to go to the back of the boat to get the net. It blew me off of the mother load and I couldnt find them again. Felt like an idiot not being able to find them again. All 3 of the spots were keepers. My weekend fishing was fair to poor as most of my fish i caught were short with the exception of dropshot and spoon fish. Top water bite was poor as having only 1 or 2 each morning. Had 0 on top today. Dragging a tube got me bit but like I said most were short. On the water at 5.15 off no later than noon, mainly because of weekend boat traffic. Today I was off at 9.00 . Saw Bill today and said howdy. Its tougher than it needs to be for this lake fishing small.

[Bill Babler]

Denny, you are really right about how the lake is fishing. You just have to get on a deal. It seems that it is on fire for a few minutes and then goes totally dead. I spoke to several guides this morning fishing crawlers and they were struggling big time.

I had a very nice run this morning just before full daylight, and then went to absolute nothing for really over 2 hours. I hit 6 locations in that period of time with a nice breeze on them and skunked.

Went to your good Hiddy Hole and got hung up twice and lost two dropshot rigs and was just ready to punt when I saw the dropshot fish on a long runnout while I was idleing in to throw the jig that was not working. We dropped on them and they were all keepers. Hit a couple of docks on the way in and caught fish on both, to come up with the save.

In 4 hrs. plus, we really had about 30 minutes of great action. We did make the most of it and boated all our bites.

Good Luck

[jeb]

Thanks for the reports guys. Wife and I will be camping at Viney this weekend, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth bringing the boat. I'm sure she won't want to get up early enough to get in on the good fishing, and boating on the Rock on weekends sucks with all the big boats and wake board boats (as it does here on Beaver as well).

[rps]

Thanks for the reports guys. Wife and I will be camping at Viney this weekend, but I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth bringing the boat. I'm sure she won't want to get up early enough to get in on the good fishing, and boating on the Rock on weekends sucks with all the big boats and wake board boats (as it does here on Beaver as well).

Sadly, my experience the last several days has been too similar to Bill's - except he caught fish. I believe that it's go early or not at all right now.

[TRRANGER]

When yall rig your drop shot what are you using for the actual lure(ie) finnesse worm, senko, or what? and what sort of color scheme are you guys using? thanks for the help to a drop shot rookie. TR

[riverfish]

in bills original post he said he caught his drop shot fish on a 4 in cinnamon purple chompers drop shot worm. they are good ones too. i also use the kinami kut tail worms in 4 or 5 inch and i found some purple with silver glitter sliders at academy a year or two ago i bought all they had and i am really starting to like those as well

[abkeenan]

I am also a drop shot novice as I give up on it quickly if I don't get much action and don't particularly like it. I have one question, are you always just dropping it straight down vertically or do you ever cast it out like you would a texas rig/split shot/carolina rig/jig and just work it back to the boat?

[Bill Babler]

First off, let is really figure out what a dropshot is all about. It is a way to catch fish that you have located using your electronics that are either tightly schooled or singled up in a stationary location. This is not a serach bait it is a fish catching bait.

I wrote an article a few years ago, Droppin in on Table Rock Bass. I believe you can still find it. Bry covered it pretty well. My best rig is a 7' Falcon rod with a Shimmano Stradic or Sustain spooled with 8pound test Maxima to a size 12 swivel. From there to my size 1 either Daiichi or Gama dropshot hook , I am using the same 8 Pound line to a either 3/8th. or 1/4 oz. dropshot round ball weight. Swivel to weight is 3'. Hook is tied about 18" down from the swivel using a palamar. If the hook faces down, just run the tag end of the line back thru the eye of the hook and the hook will point up. Need it to do this.

Thread on a drop shot worm from the head back about 1/2 inch hook exposed and you got it. For worms it is your choice. I have caught them on most everything. I prefer the Chompers drop shot worms. They are great size and color and they last really good. Used to use Kanami and Yamamoto, but just not worth it as they disinagrate on the first bite and they are twice the price of Chompers. I also don't like the Glup, as this time of year, they dry out and turn to stone faster than a Pork chunk on a hot deck.

Table Rock colors are PBJ, Green Pumpkin, Plum, and Sand. You really don't need anything else. The dropshot was made to be used with Electronics, yes you can still drop it into the top of trees or on bluffends that you suspect you know how deep the fish are, but for the most part it is to fish up and down and catch fish that you can see on your graph.

Good Luck

[Bill Babler]

Bry, Thanks, great info. Another trick that has been done is to also use a 1/4 oz white or grey crappie jig as your weight. When we first started on this Buster used to put a 1/2 bass jig on as his weight. I saw him boat 10 in a row on the jig one day. We used to always put two hooks and two dropshot worms on. As you mentioned not good around trees, but fine on long points. Good Stuff Bry.

Where else besides Ozarkanglers are you going to find this kind of hard earned information?

Good Luck