Seasonal Guide for Table Rock Lake Fishing

This Table Rock Lake Fishing Guide will help you fish this world-class destination which is a 43,000 acre Highland Reservoir located in southern Missouri. Table Rock Lake is unique that it supports all 3 species of Black Bass: The Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass and Kentucky Spotted Bass. With all 3 species in the lake, it offers a variety of fishing techniques as well as constant fishing throughout the year.

Winter

In early winter there are both shallow and deep fish. Crankbaits, spinnerbaits, and jigs will catch most of the shallow fish. Look for them to mostly be in areas that have close access to deep water. The deep fish can be caught on jigging spoons and grubs fished vertically. Good electronics are a must for this type of fishing. Look for the fish to be suspended over deep trees and out in the middle of large coves. Midwinter is time for deep fishing in the same locations as early winter. Late winter starts bringing the fish up to the shallows again. After a few warmer days the fish will move up to feed. Look for these fish to be moving closer to the spawning areas.

Spring

Springtime means shallow fishing. A variety of baits will catch fish during this time. You can catch them on crankbaits, spinnerbaits, grubs, split shot rigged centipedes, lizards, plastic worms and topwater baits. This is the best and easiest time to catch fish on Table Rock Lake. This is also the time to catch the biggest fish the lake has to offer. Look for the fish to be from halfway to all the way back in the creeks and coves as this is where they will spawn. After the spawn look for the fish to be making their way back out to the main lake.

Summer

Early summer finds the fish out on the main lake. You will find them feeding heavily on the points and flats. Again crankbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater baits, plastic worms, shaky heads, and Carolina rigs will catch most of the fish. As summer progresses the fish will move out deeper off the points and flats and deep trees will start to come into play. The fish like to suspend out in the deep trees and they move to the top of the trees to wait for baitfish to swim by. This time of year the drop shot, and live nightcrawlers are the best ways to catch the fish. Again good electronics are a must for deep summertime fishing.

Fall

Fall can be a tricky time of year to fish Table Rock. Early fall still finds most of the fish out deep but the Smallmouth will start to move up on the points around 25-30 feet deep. Football head jigs are the best way to catch the Smallmouth at this time. As water cools, more fish will start to move shallow but at the same time, a lot of the Kentuckies will actually start moving deeper. Jigging spoons are the best bait to catch these deep Kentuckies. By late fall, these Kentuckies can be as deep as 70 feet. The smallmouth and largemouth will be shallower in late fall and the spinnerbait and crankbaits will catch most of the fish.

As you can see Table Rock Lake has a wide variety of fishing throughout the seasons. This is just a general seasonal pattern to the fishing on Table Rock Lake. More precise patterns exist for each species throughout the seasons but this will give you a good starting point for successful fishing on the sometimes stubborn Highland Reservoirs of Southern Missouri.