Table Rock Lake Current Fishing Report 8-6-18

[Bill Babler]

White River Outfitters Table Rock Lake Current Fishing Report

Well the Surface temps have upped  and then down and now back up.  We have gone in the mid-lake area from 88.9 down to 79.9 to today at 84 degree in the last 8 to 10 days.  My gravy train of concentrated fish has ended and they have scattered throughout the entire water column.  We had top water fish this morning and If I had been there quicker we would have had more.  This deal has really changed.  Lots of singles and very few multiples.  The best fish chasing are SM and they will hit a top water if you can get it to them in a hurry.  Had been catching some of the Dixie Jet but just a couple of pecks on it this morning.  Most fish coming on the drop shot in 27 to 36 ft. either on the bottom or suspended.  Again lots of nice size K's not as big as they have been but most pushing the 14.5 to 15.5 inch mark.

There are shad of every size right now and the K's seem to be hitting the young Threadfin and the Big Jaw's are after the small Gizzards.  When you see a single fish chase its going to be a nice jaw in the mid-lake area, if you see multiple its K's and Whites.

On the drop shot this morning if we could see them we got bit most of the time.  We however were hunting for singles and doubles and did not see a single set of marks with over 3 fish in the school.  The last month I've been fishing to worming schools of K's that had multiples of 10 in them.

Man we had a great bite here from May to August 1st.   Now we are kind of back to Summer fishing where the fish have seen just about everything we have to offer them and on top of that they decided they don't like each other and have singled and paired up.

There are probably some big whites to be caught if you wanted to work at them, but most of my folks have been after the green fish.  I believe however you could target them in the pockets.

This morning we had LM-K-SM and White so a bit of everything except my normal Eye.  Shad shape worm and a cut tail early then they got fussy and wanted the real thing about 9 AM so we gave it to them.  Nothing on a jigging spoon, only the top water and the drop shot baits.  

The photo's are from the last several days.  Here is a really nice Jaw on a Lake Fork 6" chrome spoon that was chasing Gizzards

Here is the release swim away

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[Quillback]

Thanks for the report Bill, haven't been on TR for a few weeks myself, probably going to hold off until school starts and Labor Day weekend is over.  Good to see your clients getting some in the meantime!

[Bill Babler]

Thanks Quill,  really at this point we have not had to contend early with mid-week boating traffic, and have been able to target them until about 9:30 before it gets tough.

Most school starts next week either the 12th. or the 15th. so this coming couple of weekends prior to the holiday will be really dead.  I expect to be able to catch them fairly decent.  Not going to be the same as earlier as they have really split up, but fish slow and watch your underwater peepers and it should be fun.

[Carl W]

Thanks for sharing Bill.  I am like Quill. It will be September before I hear back up but it’s nice to live vicariously thru your posts and RPS’s. 

[IL Fisherman]

I had a great time fishing with Bill today.   He’s a class act and a darn good guide.   I could feel his frustration as the fish were really spread out.   Caught 3 in a couple spots others wise we were in seek and search mode.  Caught at least one in every spot but it seemed like that one would sent out a distress signal and we had to move on. 

[Guest]

bill

the thermocline, especially the dam area, is somewhat non-discernable.  as you come up the lake, it gets better.  bait can be found mostly in shallower water than what the bass are holding in.  i am finding many back in coves now.  takes some time looking, but when you do find them, there seems to be a whole wad of them.  most of my bites, even at night, are really close to 30 ft..  they are still dining on shad.  bottom on my boat now has grey looking carpet instead of blue.

i really believe that the bass are in the process of making another depth adjustment.  when this occurs, they always seem to scatter for a week or two until they get to where they are going and then settle back to a more defined routine.

bo

[Champ188]

Could be the shad are starting their fall migration into the creeks and pockets. When those big gizzards start moving into the creeks, the bigger green fish go with them. 

[Bill Babler]

2 hours ago, IL Fisherman said:

I had a great time fishing with Bill today.   He’s a class act and a darn good guide.   I could feel his frustration as the fish were really spread out.   Caught 3 in a couple spots others wise we were in seek and search mode.  Caught at least one in every spot but it seemed like that one would sent out a distress signal and we had to move on. 

That 2nd early location where we caught the 3 top water fish, we also had 4 drop shot fish so our best location was 7 fish.  The deal was 3 of those drop shot fish had milk on their lips.  I'm thinking that is perhaps the only location where we could have caught more, but they were definitely not what we were looking for. 

A couple of those 30' roll off locations we fished today had been covered and they moved.  Where there were 10's we only saw doubles and singles and they were scattered up and down thru the water column.  I really don't think they changed depth as we covered a wide range of depth patterns, I more believe they scattered into much smaller units instead of the large post spawn schools that had been out lazing in the cool Table Rock waters.  As you said, there were fish everywhere we stopped, just not many.

Thanks a bunch it was great fishing with you too.

[Guest]

53 minutes ago, Champ188 said:

Could be the shad are starting their fall migration into the creeks and pockets. When those big gizzards start moving into the creeks, the bigger green fish go with them. 

it sometimes has to do with lots of wind.  that is somewhat part of the issue of the bass being scattered is the wind seems to blow from a different direction everyday.  not only can wind redirect where the shad are, but also is changing the O2 layers.

bo

[Champ188]

17 hours ago, merc1997 said:

it sometimes has to do with lots of wind.  that is somewhat part of the issue of the bass being scattered is the wind seems to blow from a different direction everyday.  not only can wind redirect where the shad are, but also is changing the O2 layers.

bo

This is very true, and thus the saying that "wind is your friend" … especially on these deep, clear Ozarks lakes where the fish are incredibly nomadic. As Bo said, it moves the bait and the bass follow.