June 16 2025 Shell Knob

[Bill Babler]

Launched at H hwy. at 5:30 this morning. Surface temp at the ramp 75.7. Some  folks are telling me  they are finding 80 but not here today. 

Saw ZERO surface activity and made a point to fish yards and tree trunks this morning. Jig, shaky head, blade, chatter bait, buzz bait, frog and whopper plopper. No bites. Fished it for at least two hours from main lake to back in coves and creeks. 

Yards were full of bluegill. Really don’t understand why they were not on them. 

As you can imagine it was slow after a Zipper for the first 2 hours. I did around 8 am catch a real nice 4 pounder off a dock on a blade. Junk fished and caught another dozen knot heads on a jig, Keitech and a shaky. 

There are millions and millions of shad from Baxter to Shell Knob in the main channel.

Whites and whites alone are busting them. They are unreal easy to catch if you so desire. If you have a LiveScope it turns into not fair. 

1/2 oz spoon and they are all over it either casted or jerked vertically. 

Guide buddy told me about it yesterday. Said they were going from point 9 to point 19. 

Small pods but lots of them. You can drive and look for them or just sit out in front of Wolfpen or point 19 drink coffee and wait.

They run thru the shad or push them but then zoom back down to 25’ to 50’ and suspend or track under the shad. 

Be extremely careful around Baxter the camp kids are totally out of control running ski boats and jet skies. Keep your head on a swivel as they are more than dangerous. 








 

[Quillback]

Thanks for the report, I figure about September I'll be able to get my boat in the water at Big M.  Water temp was 79 over on Beaver today.

[Bill Babler]

Bridge ramp or parking lot at Shell Knob is a no go with the wake boats and summer traffic, just way to congested.  

Campbell Point is OK if there are 2 of you, no dock. You need a bow protector there. Plenty of parking. 

H hwy. Ramp by my house is fine with SOME Parking. No wake boats there to speak of. Dock in good shape and I’m going to say maybe 25 parking spots. 

 

[Quillback]

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

Bridge ramp or parking lot at Shell Knob is a no go with the wake boats and summer traffic, just way to congested.  

Campbell Point is OK if there are 2 of you, no dock. You need a bow protector there. Plenty of parking. 

H hwy. Ramp by my house is fine with SOME Parking. No wake boats there to speak of. Dock in good shape and I’m going to say maybe 25 parking spots. 

 

Might come over and check out H someday - that's a haul for me.