Shell Knob Area Report Table Rock Lake 3-16-14

[Sprint21fter]

Romp Hole is way up the kings into Arkansas FYI. There can be the motherload of all whites up there when everything is right.

[Bill Babler]

Romp Hole is way up the kings into Arkansas FYI. There can be the motherload of all whites up there when everything is right.

I believe it is 5 miles above the 86 bridge. A solid 4 miles into Arkansas. A few years ago Phil and I were up there and they were just thick up there. If you go on up you will come into a heron rookery called the chicken Coop. That area is also usually flush with them. Phil and I must have been there in 2010 as the ramp was flooded the next year in 11. Has anyone launched there this year? The deal is the rain. When warm water or even an influx of any water runing down the rivers, the whites head up in masses.

I caught them a week ago on an A-Rig above the blue hole till I was tired of it, one evening on a tip. Next two days after the cold snap they were gone, and I have not found them since.

[Bill Babler]

Most times for me white bass are just to unpredictable. You have to run clear up that river and you had better be there either early or late to do any real damage. It always makes me queezy on Table Rock to try and guide for them in the Spring.

Another factor is weekend fishing up any of the river systems. I just hate the combat fishing that they are all about. I do not at all care about wasting my time if I'm off in the evening or morning to try and catch them, but I just hate putting peoples hard earned money to the test in trying to guide for them in the Spring when they can be so durn fussy.

Regardless of what anyone says or does, timing is the only thing that matters. They are either there and they want to bite, or they are there and will not bite, or they are just flat not there. They scare me.

Bull Shoals is another matter. Here in a couple or weeks or so they are much more predictable and you can have a very good shot at hitting them.

Bass on the other hand can be caught now, not in huge numbers by me, but nice size and much more reliable. Weekends do not seem to matter as both the fishermen and the fish are much more scattered and not fishing right on top of each other.

Folks, you may go thru my website or PM me to talk about private fishing. Try just to keep it to current fishing information here. Thanks.

Good Luck

[stumpy]

Im planning on leaving work early this afternoon and putting in at Viola and heading up to Sweetwater to troll for Whites. Taking my 10-year old son with me, he has just been dying to get into white bass fishing. Im pretty new at it myself. Will be trying shad raps, berkely flicker shads, other various plugs for trolling. Will let you all know what happens.

[dtrs5kprs]

Im planning on leaving work early this afternoon and putting in at Viola and heading up to Sweetwater to troll for Whites. Taking my 10-year old son with me, he has just been dying to get into white bass fishing. Im pretty new at it myself. Will be trying shad raps, berkely flicker shads, other various plugs for trolling. Will let you all know what happens.

Keep Duck's post about the wood coming down the river in mind and be safe.

[abkeenan]

Im planning on leaving work early this afternoon and putting in at Viola and heading up to Sweetwater to troll for Whites. Taking my 10-year old son with me, he has just been dying to get into white bass fishing. Im pretty new at it myself. Will be trying shad raps, berkely flicker shads, other various plugs for trolling. Will let you all know what happens.

Might also have some good ol' white Rooster Tails in that mix for the whites.

[Bill Babler]

Sounds like a good plan. If I were you I would start on the flat just upstream on the oppsite bank from Viola. Troll that to the flat point with the dock, then cross the lake and troll in front of the docks clear around Royal Point. Should give you a very good indication. That Flicker shad in the Kings is just about as good as it gets for anything that swims up there. You have to watch them however as they will at times run way off side.

Also from what I'm hearing with the trash, that might be a chore. Let us know good luck.

[stumpy]

Bill, I tried pretty much what you said regarding where we trolled, but the water was terrible. I didnt realize we had that much rain/snow in NWA and SWM with that last bit of bad weather. It was muddy as an old farm pond. There was a lot of debris as you guys had mentioned in earlier posts. Had it been just me, I would have turned around and went back to the house, but I had my 10-year old son w/me and he wanted to fish no matter what. There were only two other trailers at the ramp at Viola when we got there, and we were the only people trolling. Needless to say, no fish. But...at least we didnt have to fight lake traffic. And my son's comment was this " at least we stayed dry this time Dad.." referring to an incident a few weeks ago that I wont elaborate on any more.

[Bill Babler]

Bill, I tried pretty much what you said regarding where we trolled, but the water was terrible. I didnt realize we had that much rain/snow in NWA and SWM with that last bit of bad weather. It was muddy as an old farm pond. There was a lot of debris as you guys had mentioned in earlier posts. Had it been just me, I would have turned around and went back to the house, but I had my 10-year old son w/me and he wanted to fish no matter what. There were only two other trailers at the ramp at Viola when we got there, and we were the only people trolling. Needless to say, no fish. But...at least we didnt have to fight lake traffic. And my son's comment was this " at least we stayed dry this time Dad.." referring to an incident a few weeks ago that I wont elaborate on any more.

Sorry, I pretty much with what we have been hearing about the Kings thought it might be a little rough. Even more so than Long Creek, the Kings will mud up and get just terrible with debris. It also with the size takes it a bit to clear out. One good note however is that it usually puts the bass on the bank and the mud brings out the wart throwers big time.

[Sprint21fter]

Getting my warts ready for battle. Love it when the Kings gets muddy this time of year. Next, we need several days of sun at least 50 degree air temps.