June 18Th. Table Rock Lake Fishing Report

[Quillback]

Glad to hear you got into them Bill, and I'm sure you had some very happy clients.

[powerdive]

Sounds like fun.

[Bill Babler]

Boy's I'll tell you i had not been out long and when all the fishing prussure kind of got to me, I for a minute was in a state of panic. Whites were blowing up and with my crew this morning, that was not going to be an option. 4 people and gear is just a struggle to get from point A to point B and do anything once you get there. Especially folks that do not fish on a regular basis. Lovely, wonderful people, but the kind that I usually had to open and close the bail for them just to get the dropshot to the bottom. No matter what side of the reel I would put the handle on they would wind it off the reel turning backwards until it would fall in the boat floor. Couple of scary moments as the handles of the Sustains bounced around the boat. No way we were slinging feathered triple hooked spoons to White Bass.

Ability just don't matter if the fish are eating the paint off it. Makes a guide a hero from a zero pretty quick.

Made the decision to reverse course and head up the White. To tell you the truth, the stretch from Baxter to the Shell Knob Bridge just has not been that good of late. Turned out today out of necessity that I found a location that was holding lots of bait and bait eaters.

Most times for me it is way better to be lucky than good.

Good Luck

[Quillback]

I can imagine, with 4 novice fisherfolks using nightcrawlers, and the fish biting good, that you were one very busy guide.

[dtrs5kprs]

Boy's I'll tell you i had not been out long and when all the fishing prussure kind of got to me, I for a minute was in a state of panic. Whites were blowing up and with my crew this morning, that was not going to be an option. 4 people and gear is just a struggle to get from point A to point B and do anything once you get there. Especially folks that do not fish on a regular basis. Lovely, wonderful people, but the kind that I usually had to open and close the bail for them just to get the dropshot to the bottom. No matter what side of the reel I would put the handle on they would wind it off the reel turning backwards until it would fall in the boat floor. Couple of scary moments as the handles of the Sustains bounced around the boat. No way we were slinging feathered triple hooked spoons to White Bass.

Ability just don't matter if the fish are eating the paint off it. Makes a guide a hero from a zero pretty quick.

Made the decision to reverse course and head up the White. To tell you the truth, the stretch from Baxter to the Shell Knob Bridge just has not been that good of late. Turned out today out of necessity that I found a location that was holding lots of bait and bait eaters.

Most times for me it is way better to be lucky than good.

Good Luck

Had myself, my 7yo son and 11yo daughter trying to spoon whites. Double and triple hookups are fun but were too much to handle when I was the only one who could safely handle the whites once they made it into the boat. Guiding sounds like fun if you don't think of everything these folks go through to make someone's day on the water a good one.

[Feathers and Fins]

Days like that make you age fast Bill.

[Bill Babler]

Had myself, my 7yo son and 11yo daughter trying to spoon whites. Double and triple hookups are fun but were too much to handle when I was the only one who could safely handle the whites once they made it into the boat. Guiding sounds like fun if you don't think of everything these folks go through to make someone's day on the water a good one.

Ya, for sure there is a danger factor. It is extremely hard if you are dealing with Big White Bass and tripple hooked spoons. Everything on that fish can hurt you not counting the hooks. if the boat is crowed and there is an excitement factor that is thru the roof, there for sure is danger. Especially if you have young folks or novice anglers.

I looked like a 3 legged dog in a flea scrattchin contest trying to untangle and keep 3 folks baited catching K's as fast as we were.

At one point both gals had a fish on and they were screaming at the top of their lungs. Of course both fish were wrapped together and they were jerking the rods like crazy. Then I hear Bob in the back of the boat saying "This reel is Frozen, it won't wind in." I look up toward the trolling motor and there is splashing like crazy going on just below the surface. I stop with the gals who are setting in the middle of the boat, tangled and fish twisting and flopping together. I knew this was going to be a retie. Bob is in the far back corner of my 22' Phoenix, a long way from the trolling motor. When I get up there to the trolling motor, there is a 4 pound Channel Cat wrapped around the shaft just above the lower unit. I can see the line headed, You guessed it. Right back to Bob. How does a catfish get from there to there, without one knowing it and reeling him in?

To tell you the truth, I am laughing so hard I'm crying. These folks were having a blast and I'll retie all day to see those kind of smiles.

[Jason Essary]

Bill, thats what makes you awesome. To go throu that laughing and making that a day those three people will never forget in their lives.

[crazy4fishin]

Bill - I read this to my wife and we were both laughing...and I could relate, but not to that scale or the frequency that you go through. I picture you having the patience of Job.

[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).

We did not take the boat. Viney is a nice campground, and does not seem to get as crowded as the ones on the main roads, like Eagle Rock. We spent most of our time tooling around the area. Went up to Bass Pro in Springfield. Spent like $300, but not a dime of it on fishing stuff. They need to pull that womens clothing section out of the store. :-) We did fish some from shore today, though, at the Viney ramp. Only from like 6am - 7am. 5 keeper spots, and she actually caught one of them! Once the sun came up, I don't think we could cast far enough. Although I was really getting them out there with my Calais DC and NRX853. I'd guess in the 80 yard range. Tough to set the hook with that much line out, though! All the fish came on plastic crawfish baits. She was t-rigged, I was c-rigged.

Glad you found them, Bill. And thanks again for sharing.