Summer Fishing Prespective Happy 4Th. Of July

[Bill Babler]

Table Rock Lake July 4th. 2013 Fish Report White River Outfitters Guide Service

I never guide on the 4th. and try to spend it with family, but everyone is still snuggled in and this is a good time to put out some good patterns for Summer Fishing the Rock. Hope this help and good Fishing.

Table Rock Dam Area to Point 6

Clear water fishing pressure and pleasure boat numbers are always a factor in this area of the lake. The lake will warm up but with the last few nights in the 50's surface temps have fallen lake wide to around 80 degree. There is a very soft thermocline forming at 22' but nothing is locked in.

Everyday is different, with some surfacing action one day and then nothing for a week. With the lake at 916+ there is still water over some of the shoreline bushes. There has been good activity lake wide in and behind these bushes early. Try a jig, frog or a buzzbait behind to thru the bushes and see if a nice LM will accept your offering.

This is also a time for the dock bite. Pitching drop-shot, jigs and spoons in and around the shady parts of the docks can be rewarding for nice K's and some very nice LM.

Summer is also a wonderful time to locate and mark deep trees and humps on the Rock. After your morning action, take an hour everytime you are on the water to find a new location. Use your map or your electronic map to find and mark fishy looking deep locations. Look for tree tops that rise into the 30 ft. depth range and see if you can entice a fish to rise to your drop-shot or spoon presentation.

Drop-shot are most often suspend this time of the year. Look for these K's out the long ridges and swings where you found them shallow and continue out. Sometimes to over a 100 ft. over the river channel. Most will be suspended at or near a hard thermocline, usually 26' to 36'

Kimberling City to Baxter Point 7 to Point 19

Very much the same pattern as the dam area, but you can look even shallower for the K's in this area and for some reason you can also get a very good Summer bite here on Smallmouth.

Flat Rolloffs and Humps seem to rule the lower Whhit River Stretch, with concentrations of nice Spotted bass and smallmouth hanging in and loving that 22 ft. range. Dragging a jib here just like fishing a Carolina rig is a sure way to catch these Table Rock Beauties.

Another great pattern from here up Eagle Rock is a spoon or drop-shot patter using artificial or live bait.

Good catches of walleye, catfish along with the bass species are possible targeting vertical presentations on channel swings and the rougher heaver rocked run outs in this White River Section. 22' to 30' is always a good number.

James River

Probably my favorite Summer fishing location. People always ask me what I like to do and this is it. I'm lumping in the Kings, and LongCreek here.

Probably our best Largemouth fishing comes in these locations. This is the time for the "Big Boy Sticks."

Big jigs, Brush Hogs, and 11 inch worms come into play in the Summer on our tributary river systems.

Early and late even Night fishing these river fish will come shallow and with the above goodies you have a chance to catch your personal best of the year. During the day on the Rivers, again look for shade and depth. Not uncommon here to drag that bigger stuff in the 22 to 36 ft. range off the flat point up the rivers and catch nice LM.

Numbers here are sometimes high on smaller LM, but most often fishing larger baits here will mean less bites and bigger fish.

Shell Knob Point 19 to Eagle Rock

Most often my Summer time home. This area of the lake more than excels during the heat of the Summer. It is time for the Knob. Weather fishing nights or during the day there is something for everyone.

White Bass in this area as well as the Mid-James river seem to stay pretty active off the major lake point early and late. In the spree and chasing their food down you will also find most all the game fish that swim in the Rock up on top early and late. Not everyday, but it is something to look for.

Fish at Shell Knob, love to suspend in the Summer. This pretty much knocks the pressure off cause very, very few of the fishermen target these fish. Most guys say its tough or they are just not biting. I will tell you at Shell Knob they are always biting. You or I may just not catch them but someone will. That is just the way it is.

Look for concentrations of bass setting off the channel swings and major river and creek arm swings and roll offs. 26' here just seems magic. But and here is the Caveat 26' over WHAT!!!!

Why oh why do we think the fish need to be near a tree the shore of the bottom? I will tell you now they don't and if your going to fish the Knob in the Summer and be successful everyday you had better figure this out. Good electronics here are just about more important than gas in your engine. You don't have them and it can be a struggle. You have them and learn how to properly use them and Summer fishing at Shell Knob is a play ground.

Walleye at the Knob are a hoot in the Summer and we have been catching them here fishing for bass for all the years I can remember. Again look under the docks and the humps and deep turnouts next to the river channel. They love spoons in the summer. Look for lots of shad activity and you most likely will find both bass and walleye.

Fish with your eyes as much as your equipment, looking for bait, and breeze. Table Rock can be fished this time of the year with great success, but remember we have visitors here that also deserve a place on the water for their activities and we all know from the wakes who they are.

Good Luck this Summer on beautiful Table Rock Lake.

[Diamond City Fisher]

Great report and very good advice. I fish Bull Shoals most of the time and will take you advice on looking for humps and timber....Thanks!

[Quillback]

Thanks for taking the time to put that together.

[gabe]

Awesome report. Have a safe 4th

[rps]

Bill is right. There are no fish above Eagle Rock. In fact, upriver of Big M is rather lean too.

[Bill Babler]

Bill is right. There are no fish above Eagle Rock. In fact, upriver of Big M is rather lean too.

Glad that you brought this up. I struggled with giving a Summer Report for above Eagle Rock, as I just do not fish up there this time of the year. We all know it can be very good however and would appreciate you taking it from where I left off at the bridge at Eagle Rock and perhaps going to Beaver Town.

Thanks in advance.

[rps]

Above Eagle Rock, maximum channel depth is much more shallow. While this does not change the developing thermocline, it does change the fish location.

For example, the dock pattern requires you to throw into slips and fish the shady interior. Drop shotting to 20 or thirty feet means you need to look for outside bends with a "change" that causes the fish to hold. Old Fishing Facts terminology would be "a break on a break." If you need to visualize, run to the big flat at Stubblefield Branch. Sit on the flat and look at the outside bend. Jolmes Branch and another small creek break the steeper outside wall. Close to each, bass and walleye will suspend. Forgive for not saying exactly where, but they are there this time of year and will bite a drop shot or spoon.

By the time you are above Holiday Island, the channel depth will be at or above thermocline by the middle or end of July. That changes the ball game to cover at or on the break into the channel from which shad schools can be ambushed.

Above Eagle Rock, another summer factor that matters is the release from Beaver. While they release water temp drops and a noticeable current develops. Fish the downstream side of breaks in the flow.

In other words, what Bill describes as the pattern remains true, but you must adapt that information to adjust for the shallower depth and the current.

[jmes]

Thanks for the great report. The tournaments start to slow way down and now the time to learn your electronics. That is great advice to find a least one if not two new spots.( trees,brush,dock,rock piles ) Even if you don't fish tournaments now a good time to go a learn a little more.

[flyman]

Good info. Thanks!

[Champ188]

This thread is worth saving for anyone who fishes TR from daily to once a year. Bill and rps know from whence they speak, and for them to open their minds like this for free is pretty darn generous. Better rathole this info in a handy place. It will stand the test of time, i.e. you can come back to it 20 years from now and every word will still be true.

I will try to remember to toss out some nuggets of what I've learned over the years about the shallow bite in the fall ... topwater, flipping shallow cover and of course throwing a blade ... once that time gets here.