February 10Th. Current Fishing Report White River Table Rock Lake

[Fish24/7]

I keep over 100 Diiachi Deathtraps weighted in various ammounts and change them as I think will be the best. If you notice the weighted hook is on the megabass 110. Sometimes I will weight the 110 plus but really feel the need this time of the year to get that bait down in the 15 to 20 ft. range. It just will not do it by its self.

I like it to drop a bit tail down or drop at an even keel, and thus the weight in the middle. They are all different however and you just have to experiment.

Never had a single bite on the cast and just a jerk or so that bait had to be at least 1/2 way back. I had to fish it and twitch it a very long time to get the tick. Seemed just a twitch or two prior to a recast was when I got the Howdy.

Good Luck

tail dropping stickers are the way to go ,especially on high pressured waters where most angler's jb's are probably sitting horizontal, or nose down. Just gives the fish a diff. look from the "norm"and, it stays in the strike zone better.

There are times I like mine to perfectly suspend and seesaw while presented half moon.

When the susp. super rogues first came out I bought a bunch and went about my usual "how can i modify this bait to make it better" spell, lol

After a few days of trial and error, I finally figured out how to get the susp. super rogues to "seesaw" or 'teeter totter" w/o moving forward in cold water. During the pause the bait just sits there SLOWLY rocking back and forth like a seesaw. The fish like it too!

It can't be done with any other version of susp. rogues. I've tried.

[Bill Babler]

Very good information. I have watched dying threadfin shad really for hours at a times. They seem to either fall tail down, or most often fall almost flat, on their sides again displaying that rocking motion that you speak of. Really however more as a coin would sway back and forth on a decent but much, much slower. Usually after a couple of feet of free fall they wiggle rapidly upward or up at a 45 degree angle and again either a very slow tail down or side sink before the process is repeated.

Mike McClelland probably one of the very top tournament pro fishermen will preach to not allow the head of the bait to pull the bait head down as this is not a natural presentation. Thus he never uses FC to fish a stickbait, as its weight pulls the bait nose down.

His Spro McStick is designed to fall on a bit of a tail down attitude but really in almost a flat horizontal drop. The bait is designed for 50 degree water as are most suspending stickbaits. As the water either chills or warms, that is where your adjustment comes in, weather it be the old Rogue, the Thunder Stick, the Rapala or any of the Modern suspending baits.

Appreciate the info.

[Dewayne French]

Thanks B.B. I always wondered what the temperature was that company X,Y, or Z made them suspend or set at. I figured it was different per each company, but I always did the "tinkering" method with which ever model at the cold to warmer temps. You a box for cold temps. One for cool temps. One for over 48ish temps. The add-age one size "fits" all usually does not work with the true JB person

[merc1997 Bo]

the tail down drop is what makes the "holy rogue" so deadly. i still fish it, and it will catch fish 20 feet deep on the bottom, if will just let it sink down there. you do have to go through a few short bill rogues, to find the ones with the right movement on the twitch. when you have staged bass suspended 20 to 25 feet down out off a point, the "holy roque" is quite hard to beat.

back when mike sowders and i fished tournaments, we won several of the early march and april tournaments on the "holy rogue". with practice you can make it sit by a cedar almost indefinitely. back in 1979, we put together a tournament sack of 10 that weighed in at 52 and some change.

there certainly some really nice jerk baits on the market now, but it is hard to pick one up and throw them when the "holy rogue" still produces for me.

bill willis and bud guthrie from OK taught me about the "holy rogue" many years ago in 1977. that thing is just like plastic worms. the bass keep eating it every year.

bo

[Jozark]

Bo

When you mean holy rogue are you referring to a old smithwick rogue weighted so it tail end would suspend lower than the rest lure?

[merc1997 Bo]

Bo

When you mean holy rogue are you referring to a old smithwick rogue weighted so it tail end would suspend lower than the rest lure?

it is the smithwick roque, but you actually put a hole in it to fill it with water. you can sling it a mile into any wind, and i still fish it more often than any other jerk bait, but i have confidence in it, and just how deadly of a technique it is. you hang up a lot in timber, and have to go retrieve it, but it will also catch them when they are on the bottom. mike and i actually fished them side by side, which is way ahead of the A-rig. it was very effective have them twitching along right beside each other.

bo

[Bill Babler]

Jeff Fletcher and some guides out of his folks resort was probably one of the first to fish it on Table Rock. I believe Dan Langley also fished one years ago.

I'm talking 1960's here.

I have tried it and to tell you the truth, not done well with it so I just moved on. Perhaps I'll give her another toss. One of the reasons folks used to fish it was it threw way better after the first cast than the regular rogue. Once you got the weight in it you could throw it a mile. The reels of 30 and 40 yrs. ago did not have the breaking systems we have today, and when one of those bait turned sideway and started to spin on you, I don't care who you are, you got a ME double ss.

That old presentation had completely slipped my mind, as has the old spoonbill that I loved to throw up the Kings. I lost a entire box of all those old baits 15 yrs. ago. I left them on the back deck of my boat and that was that. I had modifications you would not believe.

First I'd heard about guys fishing it in tandem to represent a school of bait. Merc, you were thinking outside the box back in them days.

[Guest]

jerkbaiting & cold water are absolutely my weakness, I have zero confidence but its my own fault.

The first time I threw a rogue was at Quachita in 1986. we had to mash tiny split shot on the line about 18" ahead of the bait.

That was the only way to make it suspend. I didn't know jack about modifying anything in those days.

I've got a box full of old rogues that I could tinker with, but I don't know what im doing.

Thanks for the tips

[willyfish]

How would you compare the fishing on the ozark lakes in the 70's to today?

[Bill Babler]

How would you compare the fishing on the ozark lakes in the 70's to today?

As far as stick baiting, it does not compare. As Bo pointed out there were some huge bags to be caught 99.9 percent largemouth.

Really the evolution came after the fish kill. Prior, except for the guides and those being the guides on the lower end probably starting at Kimberling City and going to the dam, Spotted bass were really not considered to be much to fish for and really to bother with.

Cannot really remember the date, but I fished the Redman circuit in the early 80's and I really cannot remember seeing at that time very many K's weighed. Was like if you bought one to the scales, you were not going to win squat. And yes even then we had huge K's. Mostly caught in the dam area, but they were lake wide, big time. We mostly just power fished with big baits trying to catch the big fish that the lake was known for. They were here in greater numbers, but really don't know if they were here in greater size than we have now.

The last few years the A-Rig and the float-n-fly have shown us what is out there. Just not the numbers of 4 to 8 pounders we used to have.

In the 70's and 80's it was a really big deal to catch a decent smallmouth. There were a few. I think Ron Vaughn had one pushing 7 in 85, but they were the exception even in the dam area rather than the rule.

Largemouth ruled this pond in those days, and a suspending sticker was the way to tote a big bag of them to the scales.

For cripes sakes I even fished the bank in those days. I'll probably never say the fish kill was a good thing, but it for sure made all of us better fishermen and really it made a career for me that was better than I had ever hoped as I had to become more versatile. I had to really, really learn the lake, as did everyone that fished here.

It was a life changing event for the fishermen of Table Rock lake. Kind of worked out ok however and we are truly blessed to have this type of fishing for 3 solid species of black bass.

Good Luck