Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Fishing Table Rock Lake

Hey, I'm going to be in Missouri in the middle of April and plan to try fishing Table Rock Lake. Anyone know anything about this lake and perhaps provide some fishing tips for bass and crappie?

It all depends on how high water is up, and how much the corps is releasing. I have had alot of luck near the dam when water is up and gates are open. Target coves with flooded willows. Use rattle traps, wiggle o's, spinner baits and pig and jigs to work tree tops. Crappie will suspend near same areas as the bass, just a little deeper. While you're there, might as well hit the white bass and small mouths. Top notch fishing. Also, try the tail waters off the dam (Taneycomo Lake) lots of trout in there. You can see the trout and bass hanging off the same log.

Lake Taneycomo is a good lake for trout. I havent fished on Table Rock so I cant help you there. If you go to http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/ you can ask for help. Good luck.

If you have never fished Table Rock Lake before I would highly suggest you use a guide. I have fished this lake many times but until I learned where to fish I had some water hauls. I know it can be considered expensive but in my opinion Table Rock is a hard lake to learn. 39,000 acres, every cove full of standing timber, depths up to 200 ft. (The reason Tanneycomo has trout is that the water for that empoundment comes off of the bottom of Table Rock at about 214 ft. Very cold). The lake is also around 50 miles long, so knowing which part you are going to would be helpful. Googleing Table Rock or checking a good map with dock names and phone numbers will help you pinpoint which part of the lake, and therefore what boat dock you will fish out of. IMHO fishing without a boat is nearly impossible for anything but panfish. I fished out of Campbell Point boat dock and they had some great guides there. Calling the dock closest to where you are staying and checking out the guides and their rates would help. Generally if you fish Taneycomo you would want to fish for rainbow trout.

BZ, My wife and I have fished Table Rock for several years, hiring a guide for a half day or so would be a good investment. However, we have done really well in April fishing around the numerous boat docks and the back of coves.
Guide or not, it's a great lake to fish

Thanks guys, you've already given me some good tips. I'll be fishing in the Kimberling area and will have my own boat. I've never fished the lake before but probably still won't do the guide thing. I've done that before and while it usually puts you on some fish I'd rather see if I can figure things out. To me more than half the fun is being resourceful. If there is good fishing to be had I'll just keep coming back until I figure it out. If I don't find them this year I'll find them next year and I'll enjoy every minute of trying. To me that's what makes it fun. I don't know why I'm this way, maybe a little pride going on there, I don't know. To me it's an adventure. I have been to the area before and I've seen the trout in the lake below the dam. I also visited the trout hatchery. That was cool. In the mean time I'll do as much reading as I can and take any tips I can get and then see if I can figure it out. I've dreamed of fishing this lake ever since I was a kid and saw Virgil Ward fish there in his TV shows.

Stop in at the marina in Kimberling City and they can tell you where the fish are.

Hey bz not sure of your exact date for heading to Table Rock but here is a heads up. The Walmart FLW tournament is going out of Kimberling City the weekend of the 14th of april.

Thanks for the heads up JBL, we will be there on the 14th. Is having the tournament there a good thing or bad thing? Is it a bass tournament? I know around here you don't want to be on a lake the same day as a tournament cause you'll never find a place to fish. I would think Table Rock is a large enough lake so that's not a problem though. We probably won't even fish the weekend since we've promised the wives to do some shows and nice dinners on the weekend. I've also never seen a tournament other than being on the lake at the same time. Will there be something worth seeing?

Yeah it is a bass tournament. I have never been to one of the qualifying tournaments but am guessing it will be pretty big. There payouts are based on 200 boats. My best guess is that things will be pretty crowded around Kimberling City that weekend. Here is the link if you want to check it out. http://bfl.flwoutdoors.com/tournament.cfm?cid=2&tid=5742

While doing the wifely thing make sure you go to Branson Landing, a new shopping area on Lake Taneycomo in old Branson. Yes, I know, shopping isn't my thing either, but they have a trout oriented Bass Pro Shop there. Make sure you check out that display of mounted ducks over the waterfall and the trout aquarium. It is a mural that goes around three sides of the store. It starts with painted ducks, then moves across the store with mounted ducks in flight and finally goes back to a mural. Impressive. Joe's Crab Shack is always good and there is an Irish Pub where the brew is cold. As far as shows goes you cant go wrong with The Presleys, Sohji Tabucci, and Mickey Gilley. If you like old Rock & Roll then Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater has some great acts. In the basement of that theater is a collection of 57 Cars. Yes, 57 fully restored 1957 cars in a 50s setting. It the Patches collection that I think was moved there from Reno NV. Bet you already know that driving through Springfield MO without stopping at the first and arguably best Bass Pro Shop is considered a sin in that Bible Belt town.

Bing

Don't forget about silver dollar city.

Bing, we'll be traveling on whatever north-south interstate that goes I think just east of Springfield. Is it easy to find the Bass Pro from there?

I think you are refering to I-44. Hop on 13 hwy and run it on thru Springfield until you run into the HUGE sign that points to outdoor world.

Thanks, if the wives will cooperate we're going to try to stop there.

bz...
I mentioned on a different, recent thread, that I just took Donna-ski to the new Bass Pro Shop that opened in Portage, IN. It was both of our rookie visits. D-ski has very little interest in the fishing and outdoors stuff, but when we left the store, she admitted that she really enjoyed the place; thought it was very cool. Anyway, I heard that the Springfield MO store is like the Grand-daddy of 'em all...can someone confirm or deny?

The original is still the best.

Too bad Hemmingway's doesn't still give out free drinks while you wait in line. Got tanked there many times and never made it in to eat.

The BPS in Springfield is pretty amazing. I took my wife there when we went to Branson last fall. She does not like fishing at all, but she was still looking when I got ready to leave. I had to wait on her! Pretty typical of all our shopping trips. She has even gone to our local one here in Clarksville, IN without me.

Report - Well, I went, I fished, I caught nothing! Spent the week last week fishing Table Rock. Awesome lake. I can tell it has great potential but nothing was biting. Not even the guides were brining anything home. The week before I got there the weather was cold. The water temps droped from the low 60's to 50. This turned everything off. Only caught a few stray bass. By the day I left the temps had crept back above 60 and things started to turn on. We had a good time. The potential and the challenge will bring me back.

Brettski, I didn't get a chance to stop at the Bass Pro in Spingfield but they did just open a new one in Branson. My fishing graph crapped out the first day of fishing so I went there to get a new one. This also is quite a big store and was fun to visit. My wife is not a big fisher person either and she really didn't spend any time in the store. The store in the old town mall and there is lots of cool shops along the strip. She hit the other shops while I grilled the sales guy about fishing graphs.

When I was in high school, my folks purchased a small pc of waterfront property on Bull Shoals and built a modest house and garage. It was one of a few "on again-off again" plans for retirement. We spent alot of time in the region on vacations and the like. That entire White River system is awesome...nothing quite like it that I have ever seen. Next time, consider a canoe trip on the Buffalo.

Bz,

Table Rock can be a great lake but it is fished so heavily it can be really tough at times. My favorite in that area is to fish the White River system and especially the Norfork river which has some great trout fishing and flows into the White below Bull Shoals.

Not sure if it would still be there, but there used to be some great BG fishing below the dam on Table Rock

I've always wanted to do a float trip on the Buffalo as Brettski suggested but just haven't got to it yet. Friends tell me its a great trip to take.