I'm Jess, and will be going out to Table Rock in early April and are going to be down near Branson. I was wondering if you have any tips, tricks, or spots on the lake we could try open to anything?

best,

Jessica

That’s a long way in the future to try to predict what will be happening down there. If you haven’t already scheduled your trip you might want to look at the tournament schedule and avoid times that have large tournaments.

https://www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov/WP04Web/app/searchRegattaWeb?action=Search+Again

You can follow some of the guides who regularly make reports. Pete Wenners typically makes a weekly report. I hope you have a memorable experience.

I've only been there three or four times so am not real familar with patterns and strategies. Last time I visited was in the spring and the water was high. Stayed for a week and was on three patterns. For largemouths I was catching them in flooded brush with a buzzbait. I caught smallmouths on points from about 7 to 20 foot deep using tubes. Then was sight fishing for nesting spotted bass using the same tubes.

Table rock? Use the biggest stuff you have!!!

I have had the most success on Texas-rigged craws in shallow cover.

Thank you guys

April is pretty wide open on Table Rock. You should be able to catch a few however you want to catch them if you're stubborn enough. If you just want to go and make sure you catch fish, it's pretty tough to beat a natural colored trick worm on a shakyhead. It probably won't catch the most or biggest, but you'll catch fish. Swimming a grub or a 3.3/3.8 size swimbait on a jighead will catch fish. If it hasn't warmed up too much, a jerkbait will likely still get bit. A Spot Remover or Mouse colored War Eagle spinnerbait is a great way to get bit on days with some wind and/or clouds. Finesse or football jigs, Rock Crawlers, drop shots, glide baits, maybe some topwater mixed in, obviously a shaking minnow if you have scope, like I said, it's pretty wide open around then.