Table Rock Lake in Branson, MO Fishing Report
Capt. Eric Prey
April 7, 2011
Table Rock - Freshwater Fishing Report
Lake - Table Rock
4/7/11:
Kimberling City Area: Water temperatures are on the rebound through out the lake, the cold rain and colder nighttime temperatures had dropped temps as much as five degrees and for the most part they have bounced back up to within a degree or two of last week's high. Fish are still shallow and cruising in the mid lake area, while the bigger fish have pulled off the bank smaller males can be caught on Jewel Spider jigs, Squirrel Heads and split shot rigs on gravel points and inside grave pockets. Larger fish are in these same locals usually a little deeper and they can be caught by using Rapala X-Raps and Jewel football jigs.
James River: Stained water in the James cools faster but it also warms faster; this has caused some dramatic changes over the past week with five to ten degree temperature changes taking place. Within a given day you can see a five degree swing on particular banks as the sun warms the shallows, look for banks that draw direct sunshine for the longest part of the day to warm the fastest, on these banks search for isolated pieces of cover and work them over thoroughly with a series of baits. Begin using fast moving baits in tight to the cover; Chompers McCutchen spinnerbaits and Luck – E – Strike RC crankbaits are great choices, run the bait into the cover to draw strikes, then move in and work the cover over with a Jewel Eakins jig hitting every bit of shade with the bait and making multiple pitches to each shady area, finally a weightless Chompers Salty Sinker on heavy line should be dropped into the same shady spots, allow the bait to sit on the bottom for a few seconds before moving it.
White River: The White River has been the most stable portion of the fishery over the past week, despite the temperature swings in the rest of the lake the White has remained fairly constant. Because of this fish are holding in traditional staging areas; mixed gravel and rock points near spawning coves and cuts will have multiple fish on them. Rapala X Rap and SPRO McStick jerk baits have be very effective on windy days; work each of these bait as shallow as a three feet with an erratic action to draw strikes. On calm days back out and alternate between a Jewel half ounce football jig and Squirrel head working both baits along the bottom from ten to twenty feet deep.
Dam Area: The lower end did see a temperature drop as well and the clear water near the dam is taking a little longer to rebound than the rest of the lake. Chompers single tail grubs fished on a quarter ounce head has been tough to beat on shallow pea gravel when the wind is blowing. On calm days a Jewel spider jig with a J tail trailer will catch a mixed bag of smallmouth and spotted bass. While the spawn is not far away on the lower end the fish do not seem to grouped on points as well here as in other areas, look fish to be holding a little deeper on drops of points near spawning coves.
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