Table Rocks decline.

[bobby b.]

I haven't been fishing long enough to know if TR fishing has declined or fishing in general has declined (other lakes).  I do know that there is allot more people (pressure) fishing.  This is also true of my favorite outdoor activity - duck hunting.  It's as if lots more people stopped watching sports on TV, playing cards, or playing golf and changed to fishing and hunting.  The wakeboats aren't helping either.

I built my house here in 2006 and was a weekender until 2016.  In 2006 there was a McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Walmart and Freddies gas station and a lousy Mexican restaurant (where Tequilas is now) in Branson West - now it looks like the Kansas City suburbs where I came from.  If you needed some boat repair, Fred Ulrich would have it fixed in 2 days' time, now it can take 2 months. 

The development is the thing I don't like - on the streets and on the lake.  I am satisfied with the fishing but without those fancy electronic I would probably be out of luck.  If I wasn't so old and had a school age child that likes Reeds Springs school, I would be looking at BS or moving to Truman which would put me closer to my adult children.  

 

[bobby b.]

Last thought - after all that whining just posted, I need to say that I was fishing early morning the last three days and never saw another boat.  Awesome.

[fishinwrench]

Being about the same age as Randy, and beings as how I have been fishing just as long......I understand his rants 100%

Call it "whining" if you want, but there needs to be more guys of his pedigree that aren't too timid to say these things.

The time to start initiating these "movements" is definitely NOW, before it continues much longer.   Because he's correct in saying that if the trend continues there will be no turning back. 

Trust me, y'all don't want TR to be another Lake O ,where you can't even find a place to pull a boat up onto the bank to hop out and stretch your legs, or even find a secluded cove to have lunch and take a pee.    The development at Lake O has shown that it only takes 1/2 a lifetime to turn a huge and beautiful lake into an ugly overpopulated cesspool. 

And they aren't gonna build any more large lakes. What we have is all that we'll ever have.   

[Phil Lilley]

Again, all I have to offer is a comparison to Taney.  Here's another thought.

We thought Taney had somehow lost a lot of our big trout a year ago.  Starting in November, fishing was slow.  This continued through March.  We convinced our biologist to do a shock survey.  Even before they actually did it, the fish came alive and we started catching them again.  The spring, summer and fall season proved to be even better than the year before, which was a record, according to our c/r records..  I still don't know what happened for those 4 months of slow fishing.

[Quillback]

28 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

Again, all I have to offer is a comparison to Taney.  Here's another thought.

We thought Taney had somehow lost a lot of our big trout a year ago.  Starting in November, fishing was slow.  This continued through March.  We convinced our biologist to do a shock survey.  Even before they actually did it, the fish came alive and we started catching them again.  The spring, summer and fall season proved to be even better than the year before, which was a record, according to our c/r records..  I still don't know what happened for those 4 months of slow fishing.

What did they find in the shock survey?

[fishinwrench]

36 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

Again, all I have to offer is a comparison to Taney.  Here's another thought.

We thought Taney had somehow lost a lot of our big trout a year ago.  Starting in November, fishing was slow.  This continued through March.  We convinced our biologist to do a shock survey.  Even before they actually did it, the fish came alive and we started catching them again.  The spring, summer and fall season proved to be even better than the year before, which was a record, according to our c/r records..  I still don't know what happened for those 4 months of slow fishing.

Phil, the trout fishery at Taney can be brought back to life practically overnight, but nobody can do that with the fish population on TR.  

I don't think that heavy development hurts the fishery all that much, honestly. The fishery can recover (it certainly has here at LO) ,  but it sure takes away from the scenery and the experience of being outdoors. 

Heavy boat traffic isn't necessarily all bad either, from a fishery standpoint.  It helps keep the water well oxygenated, and reduces fishing pressure in many mainlake areas.

[fshndoug]

Table Rock is a zoo most of the year not nearly as nice as it was years ago ' The shoreline scenery is now an eyesore. Bull Shoals and Stockton are about the only ones left worth seeing from a boat.

[dtrs5kprs]

The pressure is nuts. The wood, especially the cedar wood, is not what it once was. And it's still an amazing fishery. 

The flood years seem to have helped the largemouth recover a little. Sort of think they just don't behave and live in all the same places they did before the kill.

Lots of brown fish to play with. Just lots. That's why I keep coming back.

He's a largemouth guy, who remembers the days when they were plentiful. That explains a lot of it, I think.

 

[BilletHead]

1 hour ago, fshndoug said:

Table Rock is a zoo most of the year not nearly as nice as it was years ago ' The shoreline scenery is now an eyesore. Bull Shoals is about the only one left worth seeing from a boat.

              FIFY mums the word on certain things.

[Quillback]

1 minute ago, dtrs5kprs said:

The pressure is nuts. The wood, especially the cedar wood, is not what it once was. And it's still an amazing fishery. 

The flood years seem to have helped the largemouth recover a little. Sort of think they just don't behave and live in all the same places they did before the kill.

Lots of brown fish to play with. Just lots. That's why I keep coming back.

He's a largemouth guy, who remembers the days when they were plentiful. That explains a lot of it, I think.

 

Yeah it is still a fun place to fish.  The pressure is crazy for sure,  but who wants easy fishing?  😄