May 4, 2020 Table Rock Lake Current Fishing Report

[Bill Babler]

White River Outfitters Guide Service May 4th. 2020  Cow Creek to Point 5 and after Breakfast Ole 86

Pulled up to my first spot at 5:50 this morning and could see just decent with the cloud cover.  Wind was out of the North East pushing in on the flat gravel between KC and point 5.  Put the boat in about 20' and he first cast with the megabass vision 110 I had a nice jaw.  I worked the flat point and continued to catch fish, all nice quality SM.  Got back in the pocket out of the wind and started looking for beds and the pocket was just absolutely full of beds with bass on them.  Probably 30 plus beds in the pocket and bass on at least 1/2 of them.  Beds were in 4 to 6 ft.   Could not resist and flipped the ned in on one and caught a nice LM.  I didn't mess with any of the others but could have caught them as they really wanted to bite.

McClelland has been catching Goggle Eye by the stringer full so I though I would try and catch enough for dinner.  1st. pocket I stopped in and started swimming the keitech I caught 6 really, really nice ones.  If it had not been for the goofy 2 lb. smallmouth i probably could have caught more.  I think the durn things this morning would have bitten a baitless gold hook.  They just tore up the 2.8 

I figured 6 Gog's were plenty and they are really to many once I got them filleted.  Should have stopped at 4.  I got back on the SM on the jerk bait on any of the windy flat points going back into Cow.  Really just one right after the next.

Went into Breakfast at 9, as Becky was fixing Homemade Cinnamon rolls for our guests and I hate to miss out on those babies hot and fresh right out of the oven.  Yum.

Put back in at Old 86 and just dropped the trolling motor.  Caught 8 more SM in about an hour with 6 of them solid keeps.  The SM were really dark green this morning a total change of color from the other day.  Just beat it back in prior to the rain.

Water is clear to 15 plus feet in the area's I fished and the moss seems to be subsiding.  Surface temps this morning at 62.6 on both locations.

 

Good Luck

[Quillback]

Dang goggle eye, I have yet to catch one on Table Rock.  I'm assuming they are good to eat?

[dtrs5kprs]

3 hours ago, Quillback said:

Dang goggle eye, I have yet to catch one on Table Rock.  I'm assuming they are good to eat?

Just don't break a discontinued Ned rod high sticking one. Don't ask me how I know. 😒

[Hunter53]

Replace it with a Loomis NRX 901s or 902s. Fantastic Ned rods.

[MOPanfisher]

Someday I'm going to splurge and come to the Rock strictly on a smallmouth fishing trip I love them things

[dtrs5kprs]

1 hour ago, Hunter53 said:

Replace it with a Loomis NRX 901s or 902s. Fantastic Ned rods.

Only thing I could find locally (Rogers, lol) was the Falcon Expert 7' "finesse jig" rod. 

Light, sensitive, accurate, and feels like you are fishing with a golf club when you stick one. Zero shock absorber effect, especially close to the boat.

It's a tricky blank to get right. Needs some power, but absolutely has to have enough "tip" to prevent taking it away from fish. Like a drop shot tip, with a shakey head butt. Walleye rods come the closest, but tend to be too moderate. Hardest part is just not being able to find any to look at.

[mixermarkb]

1 hour ago, dtrs5kprs said:

Only thing I could find locally (Rogers, lol) was the Falcon Expert 7' "finesse jig" rod. 

Light, sensitive, accurate, and feels like you are fishing with a golf club when you stick one. Zero shock absorber effect, especially close to the boat.

It's a tricky blank to get right. Needs some power, but absolutely has to have enough "tip" to prevent taking it away from fish. Like a drop shot tip, with a shakey head butt. Walleye rods come the closest, but tend to be too moderate. Hardest part is just not being able to find any to look at.

I've found my holy grail Ned rods. Lews Mach Speed Stick, 6'9" finesse spin. My hookup rate this year is much better with these rods, than the Loomis NRX and GLX I've been using. Something about the slightly less sensitive rod, with a little softer tip than the Loomis Shakeyhead and Spin Jig rods. I've lost count of the 18" to 20" smallies I've boated on these this year. I may try having someone relate the first two guides with Fuji, because they have a kinda silly microwave guide deal that I think shortens casting distance a hair. Otherwise, it's the best Ned stick I've used. 

I still like my Loomis stuff for swimming grubs and dragging tubes, but these relatively cheap Lews sticks are dead on for the Ned. Plus I've been using the XS-30 spinning reels out of the refurb bin at the lews shop in Springfield. Drag has performed as good as my Shimano stuff. I hadn't had great luck with Lews spinning reels in the past, and I still have a couple minor quibbles with these, but the dang cheap stuff has caught loads of bass. 

[dtrs5kprs]

5 minutes ago, mixermarkb said:

I've found my holy grail Ned rods. Lews Mach Speed Stick, 6'9" finesse spin. My hookup rate this year is much better with these rods, than the Loomis NRX and GLX I've been using. Something about the slightly less sensitive rod, with a little softer tip than the Loomis Shakeyhead and Spin Jig rods. I've lost count of the 18" to 20" smallies I've boated on these this year. I may try having someone relate the first two guides with Fuji, because they have a kinda silly microwave guide deal that I think shortens casting distance a hair. Otherwise, it's the best Ned stick I've used. 

I still like my Loomis stuff for swimming grubs and dragging tubes, but these relatively cheap Lews sticks are dead on for the Ned. Plus I've been using the XS-30 spinning reels out of the refurb bin at the lews shop in Springfield. Drag has performed as good as my Shimano stuff. I hadn't had great luck with Lews spinning reels in the past, and I still have a couple minor quibbles with these, but the dang cheap stuff has caught loads of bass. 

Slightly less sensitive is a plus. It's counterintuitive, but the whole thing is, really. That softer tip is key to not pulling it from them, and from not swinging on every perch.

We use a couple of cheapo Lew's 7' UL speed sticks all summer, including here.

[mixermarkb]

y'all hunker down over there. I'm sitting here in Theodosia watching a storm cell on Radarscope that looks like it's got some for real golfball or bigger hail in it drifting my way, looks to be just a bit south of Shell Knob in the next few minutes. I'm hoping it loses steam by the time it gets to me, but you TR guys are fixing to get pounded....

[dtrs5kprs]

5 minutes ago, mixermarkb said:

y'all hunker down over there. I'm sitting here in Theodosia watching a storm cell on Radarscope that looks like it's got some for real golfball or bigger hail in it drifting my way, looks to be just a bit south of Shell Knob in the next few minutes. I'm hoping it loses steam by the time it gets to me, but you TR guys are fixing to get pounded....

The green sky does point to that.