Kings river spawn

[Bill Babler]

Ticker, that gives us a little more info, thanks.  Last year was the first year that TR did not make Bassmaster Magizine's top 100 bass fishing lakes.  Trophy fish here, I guess to say are at the fisherman's discretion,  with beauty in the sole eye of the beholder.  If a 5 lb. LM is a trophy a 4 lb. SM and a 3 lb.plus K is what you are thinking, then yes coming in March thru May 15, you got a good shot.  Not so much up the Kings River.  If you however are river fishermen and like to float then you have a deal. You can launch up the Kings as far as Grandview which is 6 miles from Berryville and float and catch some very nice river ie creek fish.  Lots of 2 pounders, and very little traffic,  beautiful sceneic floating.  You can get canoes and flat boats in Berryville.  Depending on the river you can have some dragging from pool to pool on the upper river, but not bad even for me at 60 yrs. old with bad knees.

If you were here last year and stayed on the main lake at Shell Knob and did not catch good fish at that time of the year,  I'm sorry to say it was probably on you.  You have to remember that Table Rock is not like fishing a river or anything you have in Texas or really most any other place.  It is a clear White River mountain lake and fishes unlike most any other.  Now if you tell me you had your boat sitting in 30 to 35 feet of water swimming a 4" Ctail grub on a 1/4 oz. ball jig head off the main lake points and long gravel runnouts where the majority of your cast land 100 ft. from the shoreline, then I will say its on the fish.  If you were dragging a very small 4 inch worm on a split shot rig or fishing a 3 inch ned rig, slowly twitching an dragging them in 18 to 30 ft. of water, I'm gong to say it was on the fish.  If you were throwing an horse head underspin in 3/8th. or slow reeling a wobble head or Biffle bug on a 3/8 oz jig head with a 3 inch craw trailer in 18 to 30 ft. of water and not catching them, I'm going to say it was on the fish.

If you were not doing any of the above, you might give that a try out of Shell Knob, and see how the Table Rock Bass treat you this year.

Good Luck

 

[dtrs5kprs]

19 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

Ticker, that gives us a little more info, thanks.  Last year was the first year that TR did not make Bassmaster Magizine's top 100 bass fishing lakes.  Trophy fish here, I guess to say are at the fisherman's discretion,  with beauty in the sole eye of the beholder.  If a 5 lb. LM is a trophy a 4 lb. SM and a 3 lb.plus K is what you are thinking, then yes coming in March thru May 15, you got a good shot.  Not so much up the Kings River.  If you however are river fishermen and like to float then you have a deal. You can launch up the Kings as far as Grandview which is 6 miles from Berryville and float and catch some very nice river ie creek fish.  Lots of 2 pounders, and very little traffic,  beautiful sceneic floating.  You can get canoes and flat boats in Berryville.  Depending on the river you can have some dragging from pool to pool on the upper river, but not bad even for me at 60 yrs. old with bad knees.

If you were here last year and stayed on the main lake at Shell Knob and did not catch good fish at that time of the year,  I'm sorry to say it was probably on you.  You have to remember that Table Rock is not like fishing a river or anything you have in Texas or really most any other place.  It is a clear White River mountain lake and fishes unlike most any other.  Now if you tell me you had your boat sitting in 30 to 35 feet of water swimming a 4" Ctail grub on a 1/4 oz. ball jig head off the main lake points and long gravel runnouts where the majority of your cast land 100 ft. from the shoreline, then I will say its on the fish.  If you were dragging a very small 4 inch worm on a split shot rig or fishing a 3 inch ned rig, slowly twitching an dragging them in 18 to 30 ft. of water, I'm gong to say it was on the fish.  If you were throwing an horse head underspin in 3/8th. or slow reeling a wobble head or Biffle bug on a 3/8 oz jig head with a 3 inch craw trailer in 18 to 30 ft. of water and not catching them, I'm going to say it was on the fish.

If you were not doing any of the above, you might give that a try out of Shell Knob, and see how the Table Rock Bass treat you this year.

Good Luck

 

What this man says, but maybe a little shallower and heavier on the Ned. We like him, but he has kind of a phobia about getting within rifle shot of the bank .

If you are not familiar with TR or the Ozark lakes, that darn little rig is the fast trip to happy town. The grub can be a little touchy feely if you are used to bumping cover with baits. Same for the underspin and soft swimmers. The swing head is good if you are not willing to go the spinning route. You can run it on a 7' jig rod and 15# line. Just keep it low and moving.

[Champ188]

6 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Ticker, that gives us a little more info, thanks.  Last year was the first year that TR did not make Bassmaster Magizine's top 100 bass fishing lakes.  Trophy fish here, I guess to say are at the fisherman's discretion,  with beauty in the sole eye of the beholder.  If a 5 lb. LM is a trophy a 4 lb. SM and a 3 lb.plus K is what you are thinking, then yes coming in March thru May 15, you got a good shot.  Not so much up the Kings River.  If you however are river fishermen and like to float then you have a deal. You can launch up the Kings as far as Grandview which is 6 miles from Berryville and float and catch some very nice river ie creek fish.  Lots of 2 pounders, and very little traffic,  beautiful sceneic floating.  You can get canoes and flat boats in Berryville.  Depending on the river you can have some dragging from pool to pool on the upper river, but not bad even for me at 60 yrs. old with bad knees.

If you were here last year and stayed on the main lake at Shell Knob and did not catch good fish at that time of the year,  I'm sorry to say it was probably on you.  You have to remember that Table Rock is not like fishing a river or anything you have in Texas or really most any other place.  It is a clear White River mountain lake and fishes unlike most any other.  Now if you tell me you had your boat sitting in 30 to 35 feet of water swimming a 4" Ctail grub on a 1/4 oz. ball jig head off the main lake points and long gravel runnouts where the majority of your cast land 100 ft. from the shoreline, then I will say its on the fish.  If you were dragging a very small 4 inch worm on a split shot rig or fishing a 3 inch ned rig, slowly twitching an dragging them in 18 to 30 ft. of water, I'm gong to say it was on the fish.  If you were throwing an horse head underspin in 3/8th. or slow reeling a wobble head or Biffle bug on a 3/8 oz jig head with a 3 inch craw trailer in 18 to 30 ft. of water and not catching them, I'm going to say it was on the fish.

If you were not doing any of the above, you might give that a try out of Shell Knob, and see how the Table Rock Bass treat you this year.

Good Luck

 

Take this and run, don't walk, to the bank.

[Bill Babler]

IF I had to give folks my best tip for fishing the Rock, it would be it is not what your using, but where your using it.  90% of the folks that are struggling here are close to fish,  they are just fishing out of the wrong side of the boat. 

[Ham]

34 minutes ago, Bill Babler said:

IF I had to give folks my best tip for fishing the Rock, it would be 

To go fish Bull Shoals instead

[snagged in outlet 3]

Haha

[wdberkley]

3 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

IF I had to give folks my best tip for fishing the Rock, it would be it is not what your using, but where your using it.  90% of the folks that are struggling here are close to fish,  they are just fishing out of the wrong side of the boat. 

Wise old fella once told me that on Table Rock, the banks are only there to hold the water in....

[Quillback]

2 hours ago, wdberkley said:

Wise old fella once told me that on Table Rock, the banks are only there to hold the water in....

I like that one, I'll have to remember it.

[Ticker]

Champ, you are correct as it was def on us last year. I've learned a whole lot more over the year and may head out for a day to the main lake. River fishing is just fun for us. We throw noodles out for the kitties while bobbing in the water ourselves with a cold one. I threw right up on the bank last yr. with all kinds on ned rigs and dragged em back out to the boat. That was prolly our problem. Down here in TX the big uns build those beds right up on the bank and you can basically cast parallel to the bank line for the best LM bite. From what you say, we were just too shallow. And boy howdy, we are used to some clear water (I'm in Austin but raised in MS) but not that clear and deep. That threw us off a bit. I looked at the place we are staying this year and that is by Arrow Point. It seems that the river it much wider there than all the way down to Berryville. To be clear we didn't fish down by Berryville but not as close to Arrow point if I have my directions right. Any of you fished the Kings around Arrow Point?

[dtrs5kprs]

Yep. Think most of us have fished up that way a bunch. Personally, I prefer the area just up or down from Viola, about to Sweetwater, and not quite out to the White. 

That "little" water up there can be a lot more fickle than the lake, at least for me. Inflow and fronts just play more of a role. Can really get crowded too. Will be a lot of boats up that way during the Shrine tmt, if you hit that week/weekend. Fish tend to be more focused on wood, but finding the right kind of rock is still a key. Fish up there can start early and finish early too, in terms of the spawn.