Weekend at Table Rock (and Monday at Pomme)

[bluebasser86]

Got back from Table Rock and Pomme late Monday night. Table Rock was Table Rock and Pomme was Pomme. We started off fast on Table Rock Saturday morning with me catching a short spot on my second cast with a grub and then a keeper largemouth about 10 minutes later on a wart.

Chris caught a keeper largemouth on a shakeyhead and we caught a few more shorts of all 3 species before the sun got up. Once the sun got up and the wind died completely it got tough. I caught a short spot on a sammy (our only topwater fish all weekend) and a keeper largemouth on a shakeyhead. Chris stuck a good fish on a jig that got hung in a tree on the way up. The way he could lift it a little ways and it would stop you could tell it was on an old line. I tried and tried with my lure retriever to get it loose. Finally on a desperate attempt to just catch the line I caught something and pulled and felt a line pop. I lifted and swung in about 15 feet of line, an old jig, and Chris' keeper smallmouth that weighed 2lbs 9oz.

It got really tough from there. We tried to run to Cedar cove when my boat went into alarm because the outboard was overheating. We limped to a point and could see nothing wrong. We weren't far from Big Cedar Lodge so we putted to the docks there but they don't work on boats. Thankfully one guy had the number to someone who does work on boats and he was nice enough to listen and answer our questions. He said it sounded like my thermastat was stuck and was an easy fix and not expensive. It took about an hour to get back to the ramp at idle speed but we finally got to Bass Pro in Branson and they took a look at it. It was the thermastat but they didn't have one and neither did the 5 or 6 other shops he called. Luckily BPS in Springfield did have one so we hit the road and got the part.
Back on the lake it continued to be tough but at least my motor was working. We scratched out a couple more shorts before hitting a bluff wall we'd caught a could keepers off of earlier. It was getting dark and cold but we could see pretty well with the light bluff wall and half moon. I flipped a jig next to a tree and turned to say something to Chris when a fish about yanked the rod out of my hands. After a pretty good tussle to keep it out of the cedars I swung my biggest smallmouth of the trip in, 3lbs 3oz.

We ended day 1 with 15 fish, 7 of those being keepers.
Day 2 started terrible. 38 degrees and fog so thick we could hardly see the trolling motor. In the first 3 hours we caught 5 fish, no keepers. I was tired of picking the spots so Chris scrolled around the topo map on my depthfinder and found a spot he liked. Someone else liked it too and was already fishing it when we got there so we hit a different area close by. Soon after getting there some fish started busting shad. We caught a few short spots throwing grubs but nothing even close to keeping. I noticed a large standing tree out in the middle of the cove in about 40 feet of water so I dropped a spoon down next to it. It barely sank out of sight when my line jumped and I stopped the spool with my thumb and set the hook into our first keeper spot of the day. As I fought it up about 15 or 20 others chased it. I dropped a grub down with the first one still on and doubled on keeper spots.

The school disappeared quickly so we ran back to the bluff we'd done well on the day before. I quickly caught another keeper spot on a jig.

A couple more shorts and then I got thumped hard on a jig and stuck a good fish. She jumped like a smallmouth and fought really well before I lipped her. 20" 4lb 6oz largemouth was our biggest at Table Rock.

I wish every fish that I caught on a jig ate it this good!

We ended day 2 with 16 fish and 5 keepers. We caught fish on several different baits but a jig was by far our best bait for keepers and numbers.
Pomme was fun, lots and lots of fish but no big fish. We ended the day at Pomme with 44 fish and 14 keepers but the biggest was only a 15 1/2 inch largemouth. Chris had one muskie follow a bucktail to the boat and another hit his bucktail when he wasn't paying attention and missed it. I couldn't get any love from the toothy fish. Trip was a lot of fun and Chris got to learn a lot about fishing deep, clear water like he was hoping to.

[CamG]

Table Rock is still my favorite lake of all time. I go nearly every spring. Looks like you guys did well! Congrats!

[WatterBoy]

Great recap, Blue. Love all the details. Congrats to both of you on the fish you did catch, even if it was some tough fishing at times!

[Jrob78]

Sounds like a fun trip! I hope to get up to Table Rock one of these days.

[keithdog]

Really enjoyed your photos and the info that went along with them. I've never been to Table Rock. What kind of lake is it?

[Bassboss]

Looks like an awesome weekend, nice read and lots of pics!

Thanks for sharing!

[bluebasser86]

Table Rock should be on every serious bass fishermans bucket list. That being said it can be one of the toughest lakes you'll ever fish, or it may be one of the greatest. It has solid populations of largemouth,smallmouth, spots, and bonus meanmouths (smallmouth spotted bass mix). It has really clear water usually, 8-10 feet this weekend and the locals were complaining about the "dirty" water. I told one guy we were catching fish in 15-25 feet of water and he said he couldn't find any of those "shallow" fish. Some of the healthiest, prettiest fish I've ever seen. During the winter the spotted bass get almost as big around as they are long, you can see in my pictures a couple getting like that already. It's mainly rocks with quite a bit of standing timber and plenty of docks also. Fish can be caught on most normal techniques but there are lots of tactics that have local cult followings and can be extremely effective when it's working. It is a great family location. We stayed in Branson, less than 10 minutes from the boatramp. The hotel cost us $34 a night and was way nicer than I'd expected for that amount, even had a mini fridge and microwave and a free ice machine. My wife absolutely loves the lake for the scenery and the well kept campgrounds. If you have never been there, I would suggest you plan a trip when you get a chance. Make sure it's sometime March-May or late September-mid November though.

[carolina-rig-01]

Table Rock is a very unique lake and I am thankful that I live as close to it as I do and get to fish it fairly often. However it beats me way more times than I beat it lol, it can be a very tough lake like you said. Congrats on a good trip and those are some pretty fish. I am hoping to get down there within the next 3 or 4 weeks when the Wiggle Wart bite starts getting good.