Weekend Sum-Up 12-21-15

[Bill Babler]

Table Rock Lake 12-21-15 Mid-Lake Report

Fished both Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday being way better for me.  I have several trips I can take in the next two weeks if I can get them going deep, but am still struggling.  Saturday I did catch a few deep, but not enough to get really interested   Did an absolute zero on the shoreline.  Fished from Cow to Point 10.  As I stated on another thread water is really clearing in that section, with visibility to easy 15'.  Surface temps at 57+

Got my dander up by not catching them on Saturday and launched at Shell Knob at 7 AM on Sunday morning.  Surface water up there was 54 degree at the start and there is a lot of color still up the White River.   Visibility at only about 5'  Fished from the bridge to Big Creek.  There are quite a few deep fish in Big Creek, and they seem to be pushing to the top.  They are really small and not so much worth messing with.  I caught several on a Spro Phat fly and Ice Minnow, but got bored with that really quickly.  They are not in the creek arms deep up there or in the major cove guts.  They were there 3 weeks ago, but the shad went shallow and the fish followed them.

I had a really big day for me yesterday, starting with 2 solid keeps on the RK in Phantom Green.  I broke the bill on 2 of the durn things and that was a problem, but the 2 I caught were nice.  I also had one pull of that was pulling drag so early they were right on the bank.

Kept seeing shad flickering along the shoreline so I switched to a A-Rig and it just got silly.  Seemed any wood or even the heaver chunk rock points where the wind was hitting held some very quality fish.  I had 3 smallmouth all around 4 pounds off wood.  I also had several really thumper K's that just hammered the A-Rig.  Every bite I had was 10' and under.  Not a single LM and for the most part outside of the midgets in Big Creek, all my fish were excellent quality.

I have never had a fish break the arm off an A-Rig, and I had it happen twice yesterday.  Same Rig so it was  my fault.  Had a big fish on out of a cedar that ran deep and was also pulling drag and it just went limp.  Got the Gang in and it had an arm broken at the head and was gone.  Should have tossed it, but I just rotated the opposite arm down and ran it with 2 live baits and two dummies and about 10 throws later it happened again.  Fish hit it and was pulling good and then it went slack. got it back in and that arm was gone.  Oh Well.

Total for the day on equipment was 2 broken RK Crawlers and 1 Broken A-Rig.  That would have been a pretty pricy day, but I'm lucky its not what you know but who you know and it did not hurt me quite as bad as it would have hurt some of you.

Bite up the White was good on Saturday as Phil Stone reported to me he and several of the folks that fished in a derby out of  Viney Creek had good limits.  Phil had his on a stickbait in the Campbell Point area when the wind blew.  He said most of the tournament guys fished shallow, cranking, A-Rigging and spinnerbaiting.  I had told Phil last week that there was a ton of shad on the shoreline around the Wolfpen area and I had caught them good on the RK there.  He said on Saturday there were shad everywhere on the shoreline once the wind started and that helped him find the fish.  He looked for windy points with shad flicking and went to work on them with a stickbait.  Said he had one on an A-Rig, but they really wanted the megabass.

I did not have a LM on Saturday, everything was either jaw or K and that is silly counting the number of my fish that came off trees, and shallow docks. I quit at 11:30 to watch the Chiefs, and they were still biting when I pulled the boat.  I'm thinking I might have had 16 pounds, but probably big eyed a couple of those big Jaw's.

These fish are just super strong in this mid-50's water, both of the fish I caught on the RK tried to whip me and the one that pulled off, did.  Both of the fish that broke the arms on the A-Rig where pulling very strong, and had me bowed up to the max. It was kind of an overcast Smallmouth kind of day, especially when the wind started.  When those brown fish get to 3+ pounds, they try and hurt you and break your junk.

It was really fun, but did not solve my deep fish dilemma.

Good Luck out there and Merry Christmas

[BassBlind]

Another fantastic report... thanks Billy. Invaluable info here. 

[Quillback]

Great stuff Bill, thank you!

[crazy4fishin]

Thanks Bill....reading your report helps my lunch everyday  I think that you should Go Pro a few of your outings like Phil does.....now that would be something to watch! Or maybe Phil could be your camera guy.....Wow...I had better stop and get back to work. 

C4F

 

[cheesemaster]

Thanks for the report - and I hate when they try to break your junk. LOL.

[Guest]

Ive had the bill breaking problem with a couple RK myself. Really no reason for it to happen as it was a new RK right outta the package. Maybe my dad threw it up against a boulder when I wasn't watching. He kept complaining about the bait running foul & showed me the bait & the bill was broken in half. (his eye sight is going bad)

[m&m]

Bill, thank you for the report.  Great information.

Mike

[Bill Babler]

I think that is the 5th. one I have broken.  Most often I know they have not been thrown up on the bank.  Yesterday both were new right out of the box.  Yes I was hammering them on the bottom and digging them into shallow water ie under 5'.  That however is what that bait was built to do.  These baits cost $9.95.00 to $11.95 each.  They are fish catchers for sure, probably better than the wart as they dive at least 2' deeper.   I'm going to have a visit with SPRO and see what they have  to say about it.  Regardless I'll keep using them as they catch fish.  You bust a couple of those puppies and then for good measure throw in a busted A-Rig and a couple of Keitech baits with jig head hooks and you have just burned up a $50.00 bill.  Won't take the luster off my day yesterday, but I got to replace that stuff.

I will say in all the years of using a wart, I might have broke 1/2 dozen and I can truthfully  say everyone that broke was my fault.  From throwing them onto the rocks or hitting trees or doing dumb stuff like slapping them on the water to get some moss off the hooks. 

The RK, breaks different than the wart also.  When a wart breaks 99% of the time it is the entire bill where it joins with the body.  In the RK, the bills crack in half or a hunk gets knocked out or just a piece of the bill breaks off.  I know on some of the initial baits they would also leak and fill with water.  That problem was quickly solved so I am going to ask about why the bills are damaging so easily. I think they may be a bit to brittle.   I'll get back to Y'all on that one.

It is 2:37 here in Blue Eye and my thermo. says 71 degrees with a very nice warm breeze.  Just got to be fishin  weather when it like that.  Tomorrow is scheduled to be between 55 and 60 here, overcast and breezy.  You all need to get out there and see how many bills you can break as they are going to be chewing.

Good Luck

[*T*]

Babler,  Pretty exciting and informative report.  Still looking for that elusive big buck with my muzzle loader or I would be out there.  Maybe next week.  My jerk baits have been talking to me saying, "It's time, don't you know.  Let's go."

[MOsmallies]

1 hour ago, TrophyFishR said:

Ive had the bill breaking problem with a couple RK myself. Really no reason for it to happen as it was a new RK right outta the package. Maybe my dad threw it up against a boulder when I wasn't watching. He kept complaining about the bait running foul & showed me the bait & the bill was broken in half. (his eye sight is going bad)

I've seen Mitch fish 2 different RK Crawlers and both filled with water... They seem to have some quality control issues. I won't spend money on them until they get those types of issues fixed. For a bait that is made to bang the rocks and costs nearly $10, it should hold up to abuse.