Bassing Man's Paradise

[papajoe222]

I just returned from a trip to Table Rock Lake. I haven't been there in 30+ years. All I can say is; I wish I knew then what I know now. I likely would have moved the family down lock, stock and barrel (when was the last time ya all heard that?).  Structure.....endless  Fishing pressure......non existent  Wildlife......abundant  Scenery.......breathtaking   I haven't experienced schooling 3lb.-4lb. bass anytime in my lifetime, but enjoyed it a few times in my short stay.  As far as fishing pressure goes, I can not fathom it being a factor in fishing a lake of this size even with multiple tournaments on week-ends.  it's just too big for that to become a factor to have to deal with.  200 boats on a 1200 acre lake for a two day tourney is what I consider a pressured fishery. 

Any of you that live near or fish a big reservoir, consider yourself blessed. If you can compare Kentucky Lake to Wilson or Wheeler, you know what I'm talking about.

Now I just gotta talk the other half into yearly trips, or it may be another 30 years until I get back and I'm pretty sure I can't fish from 6ft. under.

[Oregon Native]

That is one of the reasons I have felt blessed to have moved to Tennessee (Knoxville area).  So much big water...and small too all around ya in less than an hour and a half.  Glad you had an awesome trip

[Bluebasser86]

I love Table Rock. If I could fish only 1 lake the rest of my life, that would be it. It gets tons of fishing pressure and the boat traffic is starting to rival Lake of the Ozarks though. A boat on every good point or bank and a couple more waiting their turn isn't uncommon. I prefer to fish the colder months to get away from some of that. My last couple trips there have been excellent. @gardnerjigman and I won a tournament there in March, it was a blast.

 

[papajoe222]

The water level was way up there, especially compared to most of your pics.  I love that big belly on that one. That doesn't look like a largemouth, though. Are smallies fairly abundant at TableRock? I'm looking forward to another trip down there or to one of the TVA lakes and if I had my druthers, I'd rather get into some decent small mouth.

[Yakalong]

Table rock is incredible, and you can always trout fish on the back of the dam 

[Bluebasser86]

8 hours ago, papajoe222 said:

The water level was way up there, especially compared to most of your pics.  I love that big belly on that one. That doesn't look like a largemouth, though. Are smallies fairly abundant at TableRock? I'm looking forward to another trip down there or to one of the TVA lakes and if I had my druthers, I'd rather get into some decent small mouth.

We caught smallmouth, spotted bass, largemouth, and meanmouth while we were down there. All of the first 3 can be found in large numbers in Table Rock, and the meanmouths are becoming more and more common. The 3rd picture from the bottom is a very rotund spotted bass that was only a little over 16" and nearly 3 pounds. 

[Frank Long]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TableRockLake/

[gardnerjigman]

It was, without a doubt, one of the best trips I've had in years. I much needed road trip with the boys, especially on the heels of losing my Great Aunt that I was very close with. The funeral was actually day 1 of the tournament, and every member in my family told me I better not be there... that I needed to fish this. Weird how things work like that.