October 1St. Table Rock Lake Fishing Report

[Bill Babler]

Surface temps vary but mostly in the 72 degree range, with water clarity at about 15ft. on the White Spoon test. Lake at 907.6.

Lots and lots of fish still being caught on a dropshot. Seems really that live bait vs plastic does not matter. Most any color of 4" soft plastic dropshot worm will catch you just about as many as a crawler. You will however cut out a large number of walleye and catfish with the artificial.

Fish are still very active in the 26 to 40 ft. range on the bottom and suspended,. Instead of looking at the same old places you fish time after time, start using your electronics more. If you are so luck to have a GPS system and a Table Rock Chip, look for contour line changes in the depth mentioned above. Look for locations off of the long flats or humps that have depth striations that are extremely close after a flat or as we call them Roll-offs. Lots of these locations are loaded with fish. Mostly K's, but they are also holding eyes and cats.

Beck had 42 this morning with about 1/2 being keepers, on these types of locations.

Topwater bite is starting and if the clouds are out and a very slight ripple, it can last all day. Again, last week, Bill had a 8 hr. day with over 80 fish.

Monday I had 54 all dropshot fish. guided with Bill on Tuesday and both boats put 108 bass in the two boat with 30 keepers. He caught the 80 on Wednesday, they are biting the dropshot.

Topwater seems to be the spook jr. You chose the color. Buster is just hammering them in the dam area on it. Try the commercial docks, not the Marina docks, but the other big docks. You don't have to throw it tight to the docks they can be anywhere around them.

Last weekend Phil Stone won the Buddy side of the Joe Bass, fishing a blade in the cedar tops. This is not for the faint of heart or the novice angler. For the most part you got to be good. Phil said they fished about 50 trees for each bite with probably 20 perfect presentations out of each 50.

Tips on fishing trees. 90% of us screw up the tree before we ever start and I'm going to lump me right in there pretty close to that.

Position the boat properly before you make a cast. ie put yourself in the best position for a positive result.

When you make your presentation to a tree, never under any circumstance look at the tree. Look where you intend to cast. If you look at the tree, you will throw to the tree. Cast past the tree and work it on either side usually the outside first.

The US Army in the 60's invented a shooting method called "Quick Skill or Quick Kill as it really was. It was shooting the paper off a washer with a BB gun as it sailed thru the air. Quick Skill was immediatlly looking at the target and firing instintively at the object without aiming. The BB went directly where the eye went. It works. Same with casting. You look at that tree or anywhere near it and you are gona catch it.

Don't lob a LOLLY POP at the tree, shoot a bullet past it. As the bait edges past the tree flutter or kill it for a count and resume your reeling.

If you hit it or make a bad cast, "Move along Baby, cause for the most part you are wasting your time, you done been measured and weighed."

A client and I fished trees week before last and it became quite clear he was struggling. I would cast past the tree and hand him the rod, we fished close to 100 trees and caught 2 and missed 5 others. Both of those we caught were 3.5 pounds. They are there, but put on your work cloths.

JIg bite is still very slow, but only a matter of time, before the Big Brown ones get on it.

Good Luck

[Champ188]

Glad to hear that about the cedar tree bite. Very good advice for those looking to score some darn nice K's and an occasional good LM.

[Quillback]

Great report, lots of good info, thanks again Bill!

[techo]

Thanks for the info! Taking Oct 12-21 off and intend to wear the Skeeter out with a few hours of bow hunting in there.

[eshay]

Regarding the cedar tree top bite; Is this approach fished on a cedar flat, or are you putting together a milk run of isolated trees? It's a blast to fish, but would like to dial it in a little better. Great informative forum.

[Feathers and Fins]

Bill are you sidescanning the trees to locate the ones holding fish or seeing the bait and firing the bullet?

[huntest]

Bill

thank you for the great info and tips!

[Bill Babler]

For me it just flat takes to long to scan the clusters. I can move thru the trees extremely fast and am throwing ahead rather than to the extreme side. We do find crappie schools from time to time however by doing just that.

Right now, I wish I could tell you what to eliminate, but I cannot. They may be on a cluster, or a single tree on a point or in the back of a pocket. If you see shad in the back of a pocket you can bet any cover like a tree would be more than great.

Like I said, you have to cover lots of tera firma. Put the trolling motor on 3/4 and start chucking.

Good Luck

[Champ188]

For what it's worth, here is my 2 cents.

Every lake has places that hold fish year round. They just live there ... eat there, sleep there, make whoopie there and do whatever else fish do right there. For me, many of those places on Table Rock also have cedars. Many are pockets (some big, some not so big) or small creeks with a defined channel, meaning they have both deep and shallow water, cover and usually food. Others are points or bluff ends, which also provide both deep and shallow water and usually food. Thus the reason they live in these places. No reason to leave.

When I'm looking for bass around cedars, a couple of things catch my eye. One is an isolated tree. Just like when fishing docks, it is easier to pinpoint fish on an isolated tree than in a forest. Same with a small clump ... pretty obvious where the fish are gonna be if they are there and it doesn't take long to find out. Another thing that gets my attention is a larger tree among smaller ones, be it a bigger cedar or a hardwood among cedars. This is a common occurence on Table Rock and is very well worth being on the lookout for.

As far as spending a lot of time looking for bait or getting overly technical about it, I don't generally find that necessary. Table Rock is rich enough in shad that if they are around, you won't have to side-scan for them in the trees. You'll see them on your standard downscan and you'll probably even see some flipping on the surface.

Of course, if you've spent any appreciable amount of time fishing Table Rock or other clear highland reservoirs, you know that clouds and wind are your friends. If the surface is too rough for a Fin or a Spook, pick up a spinnerbait and go to work. Might even reel a squarebill thru the cedar tops.

Have fun out there.

[Quillback]

Thanks for the advice Champ, looks like tomorrow may be bit breezy, and I'm ready to try something besides the drop shot.