6-27-14 Shell Knob To Owl Creek

[Bill Babler]

Good friend and client Ed Shawbaker and I started at the Knob at the 5:30 whistle this morning. Right off the bat he hammered a 2.5 lb. white on a spook and we thought that it might be on. That was the last topwater bite of the day and almost the last bite.

IT WAS HARD!!!!

We fished everywhere and threw everything and caught nothing. 5 hrs. on the lake netted us the white bass and 5 other bass with 1 really nice keeper Jaw. and a nice LM on for two jumps on a big Swimbait.

Weather conditions: Light breeze scattered clouds

Water conditions: Slight chop slight stain, surface temp at 81

Fish Location: I presume in the lake at some depth

What they were biting. ???? We had 3 bass on a wobble head in 18' 1 bass on a drop shot at 30' and 1 bass on a bluffend suspended in 20' over 60' on the swimmer.

Spoke to Quill at the mouth of Rock Creek, and I believe he was doing better than we were. NO RPS he was not on the runnout he was on the South Side.

Will let him divulge any info on his day that he wishes. We fished from in front of the bushes to 60'. I'm guessing I was in panic mode about 1/2 way thru the morning and just fished to fast.

What ever the case may be, I left a horrible stink on that water that either myself or someone needs to get off there soon before it becomes a problem up there.

Good Luck

[Quillback]

Bill is right, it was tough, it was much better a couple of days ago. I picked up one here and there fishing c-rigged Trick worms, several different plastics on the wobbler, one jig fish, and one Old Monster fish. I stayed shallow, fished in front of buck brush and rocky edges. Just one here and there, can't find a consistent pattern or a concentration of feeding fish.

I started at 0530 also, saw some top water activity for 30 minutes or so and then it just shut down. I saw lots of shad flipping in the shallows, but no bass bothering them - weird.

Next time I see Rps out there, I may have to ask him for a couple of crawlers.

[danop69]

Pretty much the same for us too. We started at 5:00am. Fished a flooded brush point and was throwin jigs, wobble head and topwater. I only managed one short brown fish on the wobble head with a zoom gr pumpkin speed craw and no top water action what so ever.

Left there at about 6 or so and wanted to be on a main lake hump by the time the sun came from behind the clouds. Was fishin drop shot anywhere from 20-40 over 50' and managed a couple spots there. While there the surface came to life within a cast from the boat so we threw over immediately and caught a real nice white and a 14" spot and then they we're gone. After another 15 min or so decided to make a move.

We ran over to pt. 7 where where we had had some luck earlier in the week and found some suspended fish at the same depth and caught 4 there including a real nice keeper spot and a 16 1/2" brownie then it slowed again so we went back to check the hump again but couldn't get bit.

By the way Pete Wenners was fishin the same hump near us a couple days in a row and he actually went to our dock nearby to clean fish for his clients and there were two other boats with him as well. Had a group of 6 I think. Chatted with him briefly. Awesome guy to say the least. Just a real friendly guy to chat with. Also Brian Snowden dropped off some clients at our dock this week too. Pretty neat.

Will have a post later about our week here later on.

[Jacob W]

Planned to fish out of big m tomorrow, but it sounds like I may need to just stay home!

[rps]

I did not go out today. Chores and such. I plan on going out tomorrow, but sure sounds like I better put my game face on.

[Bill Babler]

Everywhere we went this morning there were gizzard and threadfin shad surfacing and playing on the water surface. Lots and lots of big gizzards. On a couple of locations we were drop shotting you would feel the shad bumping the line.

The fish we caught were not on the bait and the meager amount we did catch was spitting craws. That big LM that jumped off on the second jump that was suspended slung at least 4 big craws on the first jump.

It has gotten downright tough if not using live bait, and then it is not a free-bee either. Most of these guides are working extremely hard dangling night crawlers to even get bit. A good 4 hr. trip from LongCreek to Shell Knob has been 8 to 15 fish on most days using the live bait.

Usually we can say the K's are going to be at a certain depth, usually just around the thermocline, but not this year. They are not ganged up and instead of catching 6 or 8 off a deep flat, hump, or channel swing, we are catching maybe 1 or 2. Kind of funny, they can also be anywhere on those locations from 20' to 60'. It is hard for most of us to look that deep.

Mike Webb told me the other day he is catching them at 55' suspended as good as any. Usually suspended out in the channel, over depth. Not a ton either, just a couple per location. Takes a very dedicated deep fisherman to continue to look and catch suspended fish at that depth. Or a fishing guide that has no other viable ideas.

Most of our Summer clients are not throwers, they are at best danglers, and for us not to be able to find and catch these K's is pretty hard on the psyche.

Most of us that fish everyday here have seen this sort of coming for the last two years, with the Summer time K's. they have either completely changed their 30 yr. died in the wool patterns or they are not there as they have been.

Most of the topwater fish that we have depended on for years here on both Table Rock and Bull Shoals are K"s. I asked the question earlier and really got laughed at with folks saying they are catching them by the bucket-full. The guides are not and have not. If you are good for you.

Very little topwater and very little drop shot fishing for the K's at a time when they are really the easiest to catch. Makes you wonder.

Good Luck

[Champ188]

Was trying to decide whether to come up Sunday or go to Grand. I think you guys swung the balance beam to the old ugly lake to the west.

[rps]

Bill, your experience is no different than mine. Walleye are as difficult.

The weather + water + temp has sucker punched us all. Next year will be different. In the mean time, we do the best we can. Fortunately, I have no clients to please. For that I am very grateful.

[dtrs5kprs]

Everywhere we went this morning there were gizzard and threadfin shad surfacing and playing on the water surface. Lots and lots of big gizzards. On a couple of locations we were drop shotting you would feel the shad bumping the line.

The fish we caught were not on the bait and the meager amount we did catch was spitting craws. That big LM that jumped off on the second jump that was suspended slung at least 4 big craws on the first jump.

It has gotten downright tough if not using live bait, and then it is not a free-bee either. Most of these guides are working extremely hard dangling night crawlers to even get bit. A good 4 hr. trip from LongCreek to Shell Knob has been 8 to 15 fish on most days using the live bait.

Usually we can say the K's are going to be at a certain depth, usually just around the thermocline, but not this year. They are not ganged up and instead of catching 6 or 8 off a deep flat, hump, or channel swing, we are catching maybe 1 or 2. Kind of funny, they can also be anywhere on those locations from 20' to 60'. It is hard for most of us to look that deep.

Mike Webb told me the other day he is catching them at 55' suspended as good as any. Usually suspended out in the channel, over depth. Not a ton either, just a couple per location. Takes a very dedicated deep fisherman to continue to look and catch suspended fish at that depth. Or a fishing guide that has no other viable ideas.

Most of our Summer clients are not throwers, they are at best danglers, and for us not to be able to find and catch these K's is pretty hard on the psyche.

Most of us that fish everyday here have seen this sort of coming for the last two years, with the Summer time K's. they have either completely changed their 30 yr. died in the wool patterns or they are not there as they have been.

Most of the topwater fish that we have depended on for years here on both Table Rock and Bull Shoals are K"s. I asked the question earlier and really got laughed at with folks saying they are catching them by the bucket-full. The guides are not and have not. If you are good for you.

Very little topwater and very little drop shot fishing for the K's at a time when they are really the easiest to catch. Makes you wonder.

Good Luck

We did catch a lot of spots, but they were in odd locations for K's. Brown fish places. That was around 13, not up the rivers. Could be the rivers are just off for some reason. Never did find any deep fish, either when it was still cold, or after it had warmed up.

Sort of have a bad feeling about the deep spots. Keep hearing about various other guides cleaning them for clients (more than have been mentioned here), and also have to think maybe the improvement in electronics is finally taking a toll. Easy to lose those deep fish if they are not well treated. Some folks know how and will take the time, others will not. And not to knock the summer guide stuff, but all the crawler fishing could certainly be hard on them also. Maybe not on the guide trips, but perhaps the next day if folks try to duplicate that bite and do not handle them as carefully.

That 2011 high water is going to bite us at some point. Came up too fast, with too many fish on beds. I'm sure it will get pooh-poohed for lacking evidence, but it stands to reason that a 20' + jump in lake level, smack in the middle of the April spawn, will have an effect.

[Jerry Rapp]

Bill, all of you guys are not idiotic fishermen. They are not there, and you can't make them be there. When I fished every weekend, plus, sometimes the fish just weren't there where they were supposed to be. Take a day and doing something totally off the wall. Way up the river? SHallow docks? Those fish didn't disappear, and aren't where they are suppose to be, if they were at least one of you would figure it out.