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Table Rock
smallmouth tactics A population explosion is changing the pecking order at Table Rock Lake Once considered a third-class bass at Table Rock, smallmouth are no longer a minority in this fishery due to dramatic population increases in recent years. On Table Rock, the smallmouth population has become large enough for anglers to actually pattern these fish. In fact, quality brownies are now frequent catches of tournament winners at Table Rock. The southwest Missouri reservoir is now rapidly gaining a reputation for producing good numbers of smallmouth. While he’s depended on largemouth to win tournaments at Table Rock, Jackie Davis now has a hard time ignoring the lake’s brown bass. During the 2001 Ranger-Mercury Pro-Am Bass Fishing Championship on The Rock, Davis’ winning catch included a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth. The Willard, MO, angler’s favorite seasons for catching Table Rock smallmouth are the spring and fall. In the spring, Davis catches spawning or post-spawn fish by swimming a smoke-color Bass Pro Shops XPS (4- or 5-inch) single tail grub or a smoke Kalin’s plastic grub. He attaches these lures to a 1/4-ounce jig head (ball or darter shaped) in most instances and sometimes switches to a 5/16-ounce model when he wants to fish deeper. The tournament veteran favors a particular type of structure for swimming his grub. “It seems like it works best on the gradual sloping pea gravel banks,” advises Davis. “I set the boat back out in 20 feet of water and throw towards the banks.” Sometimes he casts out and starts reeling it immediately at a steady pace and on other occasions, he lets the lure sink to a 4- to 6-count so he can swim the lure deeper. He opts for spinning tackle (6 1/2-foot medium-heavy action rod) and 6-pound test line for this swimming technique. This springtime tactic produces plenty of smallmouth in the 2 1/2- to 3-pound class for Davis. He catches these fish along the pea gravel banks from Long Creek to Aunts Creek and has taken some fish up to the Baxter area on the White River arm. Standing timber and boat docks harbor smallmouth in the fall. Davis finds these fish on the main lake or in pockets filled with pole timber, cedar trees and docks where the smallies hold at various depths. “Some days they are way up shallow where the largemouth usually are and some days they are out 8 to 10 feet deep,” says Davis. Some fish suspend around the cover while others hug the bottom. Davis pitches his homemade brown 3/8-ounce jig and green plastic craw to the cover and lets it fall toward the bottom. “You have to be a line watcher or else you’ll miss a lot of the bites because a lot of times they’ll catch it on the way down. Then your line will just stop for a second, which is the fish taking it,” warns Davis. When this occurs, Davis quickly reels in any slack line and sets the hook before the fish can spit out his lure. The local angler works his jig on 12-pound test line with baitcast equipment (6-foot, 10-inch rod and Shimano Chronarch reel). Davis keys on the lower lake again for smallmouth in the fall, but he has noticed the fish have expanded up the James arm as well recently. “You don’t necessarily have to be fishing at the dam to get a good smallmouth bite now,” he says. “They seem to be branching out.” Plenty of Table Rock brownies in the 4-pound class are taken in the fall. “The size has went up so much,” says Davis. “Some 5-pounders are starting to show up in tournaments. I really believe in the near future somebody’s going to pop that 6- or 7-pounder.” For information on shows, lodging and attractions in the Table Rock Lake or Lake Taneycomo area or to receive a free vacation guide, call the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-BRANSON or visit the Branson/Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce & CVB web site at www.explorebranson.com .
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