Table Rock Lake

Top Water early on points, Carolina Rig or Jig for small mouth in the after 10:00 daylight hours. This is a real transition time at Table Rock. They could be anywhere still yet. Depends on rain and weather. BCB

Was there last weekend in a 40 boat company tournament, Lots, i mean lots of beds, mostly kentuckys. the few that did find smallmouth or largemouth beds were lucky, most beds with big females were off main lake cuts, youd have to do a lot of hopping around to find them with quality fish on them. a lot of pressure on the kentucky beds down by kimberling city area, boat traffic everywhere. bass were scattered very much, the success I had was on the way to the kings river arm, all main lake cuts, and like BCB posted, topwater early, and as the sun got higher, followed them down to the 40ft range with shakey heads, carolina rigs, and a grub. the smallmouth were very abundant as the day went on, the better fish came early over trees and brush, catching spawned out largemouth on topwaters in 25-40ft of water. this is very early to try and make a success out of the rivers, that is more of a summer pattern, my brother who was fishing against me that weekend, reported the same, he spent two days in the james river looking for fish, and small fish were moving up, but the spawned out females had yet to come, bluff end fishing came into play as well, flukes or red-fins were catching limits of spots (kentuckys) early in the morning, but it was harder for most guys to catch anything over 12lbs worth of kentuckys in a whole days time. you best bet is to look for those transition areas and capitalize on the early bite, then hunker down and fish deep.

The rock will have several different bites going on Where you launching out of? How far you want to run? What do you feel most comfortable fishing? Answer these and I will try to get you closer than a shot in the dark.

Go with your strength in water that has depth clarity of from 3 to 4 feet, or from in the 20 ranges. There is not often a consistent shallow water bite on Table Rock in May. The flippin bite may work, though you know how many will try. The best pattern(s) in May are shaky head around the Kimberling area and drop shots on the long points. The fish will move up and down with the weather each day. Depths to fish will be from 6-8 down to 20-30 plus. Analyze the points in practice looking for isolated brush piles on long points. You can drag a creature bait of some sort, though it will not generally outperform others. We would try one for variety if they quit a bite though. The Top Water bite is a maybe, though if you find a good school you can drop shot those if there is brush during the day. Always have a good topwater and a Wiggle Wart on at Table Rock, did we say always. Just brush close to a point and crank it quick to keep them honest. And always try a top water early in the mornings. You could find those schools running early in the morning at 30 to 45 MPH and covering water watching as easy as any method. Dont even fish a school in practice, once you figure it (the bite) out. Just find them and watch them each morning to make sure they are surfacing. The only consistent shallow bites will usually be up the Kings River, White River and James arms. Though there will be plenty of traffic. We would not blow our practice unless we could not make the middle of the lake work for us. Spend your time being consistent and trying to qualify as the southern shallow water teams will have lots of trouble adjusting at Table Rock. Producing shallow for three days is harder than one realizes on this fishery also. Someone will, though needle in a haystack for those visiting. The only shallow water pattern that might be reproducing is a spinner bait bite and covering water. That bite can be patterned easily and finding the same structure is able to be replicated in many arms. Hope this information helps! Of course it probably just helped someone else also, thus be aware there could be a crowd. BCBLast edited by Bass Cat Boats on April 27th, 2010, 1:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks for the help. The Rock is a massive lake. I have spent $500 in egg beater tackle this week. I hope I dont have to throw it, but will if I need to. My head is spinning right now.

Corps is pulling water hard now and has got fish on points in 15-20. Drag just about anything you want out there.

They are in guts or drains as they draw it and out on points. There were a couple of events there last weekend and the flipping bite was off Sunday, though it was on Saturday. The more they pull the fish seem to be adjusting.

Once the spawn is over, night fishing is best. Football jigs for deep fishing and various lures for suspended bait schools. At Table Rock, the rule is “find the forage, find the bass”. A mantra Ozark anglers learn from our families at an early age.