Big Time White Bite

[dtrs5kprs]

You Red Fin lovers need to try a Wake Up Lure by Buckeye. Those whites will go nuts on these things. A bit pricey but they do work.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1369917883.387074.jpg

Those are nice, but there are better baits .

[danop69]

Bill, you've got 'em figured out - they're on a 5:30 to 8:30 a.m. schedule, and at 8:30 they turn off like hitting a switch. A friend and I put in at State Park this morning and fished nearby, mostly around the Branson Belle and the Dam area. Early, I don't think it mattered where we fished - most all the banks had boiling white bass with baitfish jumping up on the shore. We didn't see any real big boils, just little bunches of whites all along the banks. We only caught 14 but they were big, and I think we lost almost as many as we landed.

The idea of putting a single circle hook on a Roostertail didn't work. I was missing 3 out of 4 strikes with that rig, and soon went back to a Roostertail with a treble. My partner was throwing a small chrome spoon with a treble hook, and that worked fine, too.

I treated myself to a new Lew's Speed Spin reel last week and I filled it with 10 lb. PowerPro braid and used it for the first time today. Caught a big white bass on my first cast with the new reel - that's gotta be a good sign, huh?

Sam. I just bought a Lews speed spin combo. Can't wait to try it out!

[Bill Babler]

You Red Fin lovers need to try a Wake Up Lure by Buckeye. Those whites will go nuts on these things. A bit pricey but they do work.ImageUploadedByTapatalk1369917883.387074.jpg

I've got a 1/2 dozen of them you can have. Way, way to wide of a tail wobble. I've have thrown them till I have gone nuts on the Rock and just have not had the success I need. Yes, I have caught some fish on them, but like Dave said they are pretty far down the evolutionary ladder.

Good Luck

[Sam]

Sam. I just bought a Lews speed spin combo. Can't wait to try it out!

I like the reel a LOT. I didn't spend the money to get a combo, so I put the new 200 Lew's reel on a medium-action Browning spinning rod I had. They work fine together, but I'm pretty sure Browning is a Bass Pro brand so I've been watching for smoke in case those two self-combust from touching. hehe.

Dunno about you guys throwing top-water baits with THREE treble hooks at these big whites. I think I'd about as soon hire somebody to hang me - I've been having enough trouble getting just one treble unhooked and back in the water while they're boiling. I bet you'd get some double hookups that way because most every white I caught yesterday came to the boat along with others trying to take the Roostertail away from it. I don't need that - It's hard enough for me to get these monsters in one at a time.

[Bill Babler]

Sam, I'm for sure with you on this deal. You can just flat get hurt messing with this deal. I cannot urge folks to be very careful. Not only getting hurt, but just flat destroying your boat. You get a white in a seat with all those hooks, and it I can tell you is not a pretty sight.

Be careful out there, this is suspose to be fun.

[Sam]

Thanks, Bill. I'm thinking back to a time when I was by myself on Bull Shoals and I had a big, flopping walleye in a landing net in the bottom of the boat. This deal quickly deteriorated into the rear treble hook of my plug being hooked in the walleye and tangled in the net, while the front hook had two hook-points buried beyond the barbs in my hand. It took quite a bit of blood, pain, and work with pliers to get myself out of that mess, and I wouldn't recommend it to others.

Hey, there are often posts here by people without a boat asking where they can find some good BANK FISHING on Tablerock. If this early-morning white bass bite keeps up for awhile I'd as soon be casting from that bank just north of the Branson Belle or from the long rip-rap rock bank just north of the Dam as from a boat. People were jogging on a path just inside the trees there by the Branson Belle, so I guess that's part of the State Park. Just north of the Dam, I noticed a parking lot on top and a concrete sidewalk that switchbacks down to the water through the big boulders. First light, that's where I'd be throwing an in-line spinner or a small plug or spoon. Hope this helps someone.

[Sore Thumbs]

Be glad to buy some from you Bill. Gonna have to enlighten me on some better options. I have had really good luck with it, but if you guys say there is something better I believe you. If they are secrets send me a message:-)

[Bill Babler]

Thanks, Bill. I'm thinking back to a time when I was by myself on Bull Shoals and I had a big, flopping walleye in a landing net in the bottom of the boat. This deal quickly deteriorated into the rear treble hook of my plug being hooked in the walleye and tangled in the net, while the front hook had two hook-points buried beyond the barbs in my hand. It took quite a bit of blood, pain, and work with pliers to get myself out of that mess, and I wouldn't recommend it to others.

Hey, there are often posts here by people without a boat asking where they can find some good BANK FISHING on Tablerock. If this early-morning white bass bite keeps up for awhile I'd as soon be casting from that bank just north of the Branson Belle or from the long rip-rap rock bank just north of the Dam as from a boat. People were jogging on a path just inside the trees there by the Branson Belle, so I guess that's part of the State Park. Just north of the Dam, I noticed a parking lot on top and a concrete sidewalk that switchbacks down to the water through the big boulders. First light, that's where I'd be throwing an in-line spinner or a small plug or spoon. Hope this helps someone.

Sam, that is just a wonderful post. You know Table Rock is very seldom a bank fishing lake, but for gosh sakes, right now you have got a great shot at catching fish from the bank.

On another note one of my clients said he has been into the largest bluegill he has ever seen and they are biting like pigs in the back middle sections of the flat pockets. He said some of them were just silly in size, being way bigger than your hand. That fits in with the bank fishing abit. Sam, thanks abunch for those thoughts.

Good Luck

[Jason Essary]

Went this morning, on at 5am off at 8am. No whites, fished spillway to sportsmans. Did have a 13lb limit by the time we were done.

[Jason Essary]

Forgot to post pics.