2-22-20 White River Table Rock Lake Current Report

[Bill Babler]

White River Outfitters Guide Service Eagle Rock Report

 

Had to go home so I could catch a fish.  Launched at Eagle Rock at 6:45 this morning and was not the first rig at the ramp.  Surface temp at 47.8 water color was James River green with about 4' visibility, some folks would say just perfect and it was pretty perfect for me.  Air temp was 22 degree when I started and both the reel and rod kept freezing for the first couple of hours.  Didn't seem to matter as the LM were up just where should be.

Bluffends, points in front of big spawning pockets and timbered transitions leading in to those pockets.  Kind of like Dockit the other day, had a nice limit by 8:30 and these fish kept biting.  Had one bluffend point that I caught 11 with 10 keepers off of.  Most all fish with the exception of two keeps that were caught on a Pig Sticker with a Chompers twin tail were caught on the A-rig.  2.8 Keitech in Pro blue Red.

Water was really slick and I tried the floater but no success.  Also tried a jerker when it started to ripple a bit but nothing except A-rig fish.

Bite started funny, as they would push it and it would also go slack.  I was having a hard time until they started eating it.  One of my shorts came as a double and while I tried to get that picture they both came off.  Wanted to take it in the water but good luck with that.  On one of the catches I had either 3 or 4 followers swimming below the caught fish, so for a change I was around them.

Pretty sure they were all Bucks, just full of shad coming out both ends.  Best one today was 3.60.

Fished within 1/2 mile either side of the 86 bridge, and left them biting at 12:00 noon.  

Lots of boats and fishermen out, but nothing like the Dam/Kimberling area.  I just don't think those fish were nearly as beat up as they are on this end.   Every fish I caught was a LM and I had about 20 total.

Surface temp at the ramp at noon was pushing 49 degree.

Good Luck

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[Dock-in-it]

Thanks for the report...A bunch of really nice healthy fish.

The Kimberling area was just stacked with tournament boats. It will be interesting to see the results.

[Quillback]

Nice to see a good bite up in the Eagle Rock area!   

[Bill Babler]

Heard there were 128 boats in the AA derby today out of KC  Winning string I believe was 23 lbs.  I think second was 19 but not for sure.  Get ready for the big one this coming weekend when BFL gets here, first part of the week.  They will have probably close to 150 boats, I think in the past they have exceeded 175 boats.

In a multi-day derby those Eagle Rock and above fish can come into play but that is a boat ride, especially if you don't find them.  I presume they are going out of KC, if its State Park, you just about cannot get there from here.

Good Luck

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

I got a pic from a buddy of a giant that was caught, no details on what tourney it was yet

[Bgctrading]

Bill are you using live scope to locate these fish or using normal traditional methods of knowing where they are this time of year?

 

[Steve McBasser]

great report Bill.... thanks for sharing.

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

Well the Giant i was speaking of was 7.30.  The pic it looked much bigger than that.. Still one heck of a Table Rock fish

[m&m]

Bill, healthy looking fish. Thanks for the information. 
 

Mike

[Bill Babler]

Wish I had Panoptics, one of these days, its just a matter of time.  Nope, I found these the old fashion way, I caught them there before.😄  

From what i heard yesterday one of the guys that had a big bag said he would have never been able to catch them without Panoptics.  I believe he was winding an A-rig deep right over the trees and could see the fish come out of the trees at the A-rig.  I think he said with out the Livescope he would have been hung in the trees all day.

Spoke to another guy fishing the same pattern and he caught a limit around 14 pounds the same way but using an underspin just over the trees.  He did have Livescope but still lost about a dozen.Jewel under spins, and 2 A-rigs.

Quite a few years ago here Brian Snowden won an event prior to the A-rig and underspin and won it the same way however he was cranking a DD22 thru the tree tops.  He lost about a dozen of them, but he was totally sponsored by Bill Norman so it didn't cost him anything.

Really and Dockit and Bo will back me on this, way prior to the Rig we have seen huge bags swimming mostly C-tail grubs thru deep trees this time of the year.  It's been a pattern here since I can remember.  It has just been refined with new baits and new electronic technology.

I got lucky yesterday and did not lose any.  If your just fun fishing and have to pay full price for your baits, some of these patterns just don't come into play for a normal recreational angler as with the price of baits today it is just flat to expensive.  You have to wait a bit for the fish to get a bit more available and out of their Hiddy Holes and it won't be long.