Bill Beck's Big Day Saturday Fishing Report

[Bill Babler]

Bill Beck, (Table Rock Lake Guide Service)  had just one of those wonderful days yesterday with good friend and Client Troy Majors.  The mission was originally slated as a walleye seeking deal, as the week before they had caught several nice keepers.  Today however turned bright and windy to quickly for that and the boys set out to try and tame the elusive Table Rock bass.

Fishing up the White River section of the lake Bill targeted suspending fish with a homemade under spin in 1/4 oz.  using a 3.8 inch Keitech  fat paddle tail as the trailer.  To say they had a really fun day would be an understatement.  Bill said they had 21 keepers mostly fishing to suspended staging fish.  I believe some locations held bait and some were just prime locations for that type of bass movement at this time of the year.

Read the BASS blog on how Mike caught his fish on the 3.4 inch swim bait and you have the same deal. 30' to 50' suspended.  Only difference is that Michael only used about 10 gallons of gas fishing the dam and take off area and Bill fished the same types of locations up the White River.

Judging from the up coming forecast and now getting into March, I don't think these will back off,  Many of you know way more then I do, about fish movements, but I think the pre-spawn and the staging process are well under way and will continue.

Get out there and try these techniques and see if they will produce for you like they are for a lot of us.

Good Luck

[merc1997 Bo]

for sure this same pattern is working a fairly large section of the lake.

bo

[Champ188]

Obviously, the aging factor of the lake itself is making this a solid pattern just about any time of the year on The Rock but it seems even stronger with the low water we have now.

Learn to catch suspended fish and you will rarely have a bad day on this lake.

[merc1997 Bo]

yep champ, it sure does have a lot with the age of the lake and not as much timber.  also, the lower lake level is a big factor also.  this is what spring fishing used to be like every year because they always got the lake down during the winter.  we just have not had what i would call a normal lake level for this time of the year for quite a while.

believe it or not, i love to catch bass shallow when possible, but it is becoming much harder to do on a regular basis.  but, the conditions give one the opportunity to really work over the shallow fish, it really pays off to do so.

bo

[Champ188]

Believe me, I've seen it change in just the 15 years that I've been fishing TR. To catch them shallow consistently, you have to love fishing that way enough to grind and grind and grind some days. Even then, it takes some tricks up your sleeve and years of trial-and-error that not everyone has. Sprint21 and a couple of others around here know the deal.

And then some days you just have to get out there with the Bo's, Bablers and Becks of the world and hope they'll scoot over and let you in on some of the deep fish.

[Bill Babler]

Guy, who was that poster fishing big creek last year with such wonderful results shallow?  Man he had some nice fish on a sort of yellow crankbait.  I believe he was starting to catch some like that just about this time last year.  I do remember however 2 yrs. ago when I was on that deep fish pattern in Big Creek the surface temps this week were 41 degree.

Some kind of different.

 

[Champ188]

I remember the guy you're talking about. They were catching some on a Wart but I think the yellow bait was another kind of critter. Can't remember. I do know that I was catching some about that same time pretty far back in Big Creek on a jerk bait and a spinner bait once the water started to warm into the 50s.

[dtrs5kprs]

28 minutes ago, Champ188 said:

I remember the guy you're talking about. They were catching some on a Wart but I think the yellow bait was another kind of critter. Can't remember. I do know that I was catching some about that same time pretty far back in Big Creek on a jerk bait and a spinner bait once the water started to warm into the 50s.

It was a Bomber. He used to post reports on BBC, may still.

[dtrs5kprs]

"Steve McBasser"

There were more posts where he was throwing a custom wart that looked a lot like the old yellow with a brown stripe back.

Not that I stalk everyone. Just those who catch fish ?.

[Bass Enforcer]

Fishing this weeked was great. Today I only had a couple of hours to fish due to having to come back home. I got on the lake around 8am fished til 10am. As i was backing my boat out of the slip I saw shad just rippling the waters surface. I made the executive decision to turn the big motor off and jump on the deck. I told my fishing partner "I dont believe there is any need to leave here." We litterally fished and area about and acre in size. During that short time my best five went 17.4 lbs.  I fished the dam area and focused my time in the gut of a creek above submerged trees. 76fow with the fish I was targeting suspended 22fow to 42 fow. My bait of choice was a 5/8 oz underspin with a 3.8 kitech.  I made Long cast and allowed it to drop for 5 seconds on the shallower fish and 13 seconds on the deeper fish. Super super super slow reeling. When they hit it, they were crushing it. Other areas that seemed to be productive this weekend were main lake points leading into creek channels where deeper water was available. Again, same technique as above.  The guy in the red shirt is my brother in law's nephew. He has only been on a larger body of water like the rock twice. Both times were with me. Last year and this year same time of the year.  After the trip last year he was hooked, after today, he became obsessed.  Today he caught the biggest fish he has ever caught. It was fun to be a part of.