Phil Lilley

White Bite is still on.  But I've found it to be better below Fall Creek rather than above it.
We saw shad coming through thick at our place a week ago Sunday so all these fish, probably clear down past the Landing, saw these and fed on them.
I'm using a 1/16th oz jig because I want the jig not to sink very fast.  I'm not jerking the jig but shaking it to give it a wiggle - like the shad that were going down last week.... stunned, or lifeless and letting it just sink real slow.
I worked the bluff starting well down from FC to Short Creek, then starting where Sun Valley used to be down to our place.  I caught 23 rainbows, mostly small stockers.  But I caught these 2 rainbows and a few others in the 13-14 inch range.  The wind was tough until later in the evening when it died.  But so did the bite.

White Bite is still on.  But I've found it to be better below Fall Creek rather than above it.
We saw shad coming through thick at our place a week ago Sunday so all these fish, probably clear down past the Landing, saw these and fed on them.
I'm using a 1/16th oz jig because I want the jig not to sink very fast.  I'm not jerking the jig but shaking it to give it a wiggle - like the shad that were going down last week.... stunned, or lifeless and letting it just sink real slow.
I worked the bluff starting well down from FC to Short Creek, then starting where Sun Valley used to be down to our place.  I caught 23 rainbows, mostly small stockers.  But I caught these 2 rainbows and a few others in the 13-14 inch range.  The wind was tough until later in the evening when it died.  But so did the bite.

White Bite is still on.  But I've found it to be better below Fall Creek rather than above it.
We saw shad coming through thick at our place a week ago Sunday so all these fish, probably clear down past the Landing, saw these and fed on them.
I'm using a 1/16th oz jig because I want the jig not to sink very fast.  I'm not jerking the jig but shaking it to give it a wiggle - like the shad that were going down last week.... stunned, or lifeless and letting it just sink real slow.
I worked the bluff starting well down from FC to Short Creek, then starting where Sun Valley used to be down to our place.  I caught 23 rainbows, mostly small stockers.  But I caught these 2 rainbows and a few others in the 13-14 inch range.  The wind was tough until later in the evening when it died.  But so did the bite.

This jig bite isn't the easiest.  The reason for the light jig is to try to "float" it across the bottom.  Too deep and it grabs moss.  They are chasing, like Bill said.  My son Caleb had some luck working it alittle faster.

This jig bite isn't the easiest.  The reason for the light jig is to try to "float" it across the bottom.  Too deep and it grabs moss.  They are chasing, like Bill said.  My son Caleb had some luck working it alittle faster.

This jig bite isn't the easiest.  The reason for the light jig is to try to "float" it across the bottom.  Too deep and it grabs moss.  They are chasing, like Bill said.  My son Caleb had some luck working it alittle faster.

This is no April Fool's Lake Taneycomo fishing report!  The trout are biting!  But it is still fishing and not catching.
It did finally happen!  All day Sunday, threadfin shad poured into Lake Taneycomo from Table Rock Lake.  It was amazing.  How and why they did, just all of a sudden, is a mystery.  They came in alive and they came in stunned.  Hundreds and thousands floated down past even our resort all day Sunday.  And, yes, the trout would hardly bite on anything we threw at them.
Our jigs and shad flies weren't any match to the real thing.  And the shad outnumbered us a thousand to one.  But it all ended Sunday evening when operators shut the spill gates at Table Rock Dam.
I had reported that I thought there were shad coming through the three turbines running at the dam.  Shad were thick on the turbine side and the spill side of Taneycomo below the dam.  It makes more sense that they came over the top, but they do come through the turbines at times.  I'll leave it a mystery because I'm just not sure.
Monday, fishing remained tough.  It seemed like our trout were full and didn't want to eat.  But there were good trout caught.  Captain Dave Welch's client caught these beautiful browns on a white jig.


And Captain Darren Sadler's client caught this nice rainbow, again on a white jig.

Starting Tuesday, operators dropped generation from three full units to two units.  That dropped the lake level more than four feet from its high mark, when they were running 15,000 cubic feet of water per second and reduced the flow by quite a bit.  It made fishing much easier.
And Tuesday the fish started feeding again.  And, of course, they were interested in about anything white.
I took out  writer/ TV fishing personality Ron Schara from Minneapolis Tuesday morning.  Our first drift from Lookout Island down wasn't the best.  We started with 1/8th-ounce white jigs, and the fish weren't having it.  I was a little confused because some of the guides who floated by said fishing was awesome!  So we did it again, but this time I dropped to 1/16th-ounce white jigs.
The bite was on!  The smaller jigs weren't dropping right to the bottom.  We could let them drift without having to work them very much.  I think a 1/32nd-ounce jig would have done even better, but the wind picked up a little bit so the 1/16's worked perfectly.  We stayed in the middle of the lake, too -- that drift was good to us!
And big rainbows!  Hardly nothing small was caught.  Several trout measuring 20 inches came in and were released.  And fat , , , yes, their stomachs were bulging but their whole physiques were impressive.  And, of course, their colors were amazing.
As I said, we saw tons of shad go by our resort, so we know fish saw and ate shad probably all the way to Rockaway Beach.  That means white should be a popular color up and down the lake.
The report on creeks -- before the shad came over, the trout in our creeks had been hammered to the point of extinction.  The ones that were left had become "educated" and couldn't be caught.  But reports came in on Tuesday that giant schools of threadfin shad were moving in and out of the creeks and trout, as well as other species of fish, were chasing them.  This could become very interesting in the days to come!

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See.... my editor will take care of these little typos.  I spelled it the way it sounded   I was in a hurry!!

See.... my editor will take care of these little typos.  I spelled it the way it sounded   I was in a hurry!!

See.... my editor will take care of these little typos.  I spelled it the way it sounded   I was in a hurry!!

This is no April Fool's Lake Taneycomo fishing report!  The trout are biting!  But it is still fishing and not catching.
It did finally happen!  All day Sunday, threadfin shad poured into Lake Taneycomo from Table Rock Lake.  It was amazing.  How and why they did, just all of a sudden, is a mystery.  They came in alive and they came in stunned.  Hundreds and thousands floated down past even our resort all day Sunday.  And, yes, the trout would hardly bite on anything we threw at them.
Our jigs and shad flies weren't any match to the real thing.  And the shad outnumbered us a thousand to one.  But it all ended Sunday evening when operators shut the spill gates at Table Rock Dam.
I had reported that I thought there were shad coming through the three turbines running at the dam.  Shad were thick on the turbine side and the spill side of Taneycomo below the dam.  It makes more sense that they came over the top, but they do come through the turbines at times.  I'll leave it a mystery because I'm just not sure.
Monday, fishing remained tough.  It seemed like our trout were full and didn't want to eat.  But there were good trout caught.  Captain Dave Welch's client caught these beautiful browns on a white jig.


And Captain Darren Sadler's client caught this nice rainbow, again on a white jig.

Starting Tuesday, operators dropped generation from three full units to two units.  That dropped the lake level more than four feet from its high mark, when they were running 15,000 cubic feet of water per second and reduced the flow by quite a bit.  It made fishing much easier.
And Tuesday the fish started feeding again.  And, of course, they were interested in about anything white.
I took out  writer/ TV fishing personality Ron Schara from Minneapolis Tuesday morning.  Our first drift from Lookout Island down wasn't the best.  We started with 1/8th-ounce white jigs, and the fish weren't having it.  I was a little confused because some of the guides who floated by said fishing was awesome!  So we did it again, but this time I dropped to 1/16th-ounce white jigs.
The bite was on!  The smaller jigs weren't dropping right to the bottom.  We could let them drift without having to work them very much.  I think a 1/32nd-ounce jig would have done even better, but the wind picked up a little bit so the 1/16's worked perfectly.  We stayed in the middle of the lake, too -- that drift was good to us!
And big rainbows!  Hardly nothing small was caught.  Several trout measuring 20 inches came in and were released.  And fat , , , yes, their stomachs were bulging but their whole physiques were impressive.  And, of course, their colors were amazing.
As I said, we saw tons of shad go by our resort, so we know fish saw and ate shad probably all the way to Rockaway Beach.  That means white should be a popular color up and down the lake.
The report on creeks -- before the shad came over, the trout in our creeks had been hammered to the point of extinction.  The ones that were left had become "educated" and couldn't be caught.  But reports came in on Tuesday that giant schools of threadfin shad were moving in and out of the creeks and trout, as well as other species of fish, were chasing them.  This could become very interesting in the days to come!

View full article

This is no April Fool's Lake Taneycomo fishing report!  The trout are biting!  But it is still fishing and not catching.
It did finally happen!  All day Sunday, threadfin shad poured into Lake Taneycomo from Table Rock Lake.  It was amazing.  How and why they did, just all of a sudden, is a mystery.  They came in alive and they came in stunned.  Hundreds and thousands floated down past even our resort all day Sunday.  And, yes, the trout would hardly bite on anything we threw at them.
Our jigs and shad flies weren't any match to the real thing.  And the shad outnumbered us a thousand to one.  But it all ended Sunday evening when operators shut the spill gates at Table Rock Dam.
I had reported that I thought there were shad coming through the three turbines running at the dam.  Shad were thick on the turbine side and the spill side of Taneycomo below the dam.  It makes more sense that they came over the top, but they do come through the turbines at times.  I'll leave it a mystery because I'm just not sure.
Monday, fishing remained tough.  It seemed like our trout were full and didn't want to eat.  But there were good trout caught.  Captain Dave Welch's client caught these beautiful browns on a white jig.


And Captain Darren Sadler's client caught this nice rainbow, again on a white jig.

Starting Tuesday, operators dropped generation from three full units to two units.  That dropped the lake level more than four feet from its high mark, when they were running 15,000 cubic feet of water per second and reduced the flow by quite a bit.  It made fishing much easier.
And Tuesday the fish started feeding again.  And, of course, they were interested in about anything white.
I took out  writer/ TV fishing personality Ron Schara from Minneapolis Tuesday morning.  Our first drift from Lookout Island down wasn't the best.  We started with 1/8th-ounce white jigs, and the fish weren't having it.  I was a little confused because some of the guides who floated by said fishing was awesome!  So we did it again, but this time I dropped to 1/16th-ounce white jigs.
The bite was on!  The smaller jigs weren't dropping right to the bottom.  We could let them drift without having to work them very much.  I think a 1/32nd-ounce jig would have done even better, but the wind picked up a little bit so the 1/16's worked perfectly.  We stayed in the middle of the lake, too -- that drift was good to us!
And big rainbows!  Hardly nothing small was caught.  Several trout measuring 20 inches came in and were released.  And fat , , , yes, their stomachs were bulging but their whole physiques were impressive.  And, of course, their colors were amazing.
As I said, we saw tons of shad go by our resort, so we know fish saw and ate shad probably all the way to Rockaway Beach.  That means white should be a popular color up and down the lake.
The report on creeks -- before the shad came over, the trout in our creeks had been hammered to the point of extinction.  The ones that were left had become "educated" and couldn't be caught.  But reports came in on Tuesday that giant schools of threadfin shad were moving in and out of the creeks and trout, as well as other species of fish, were chasing them.  This could become very interesting in the days to come!

View full article

Well after a day and a half, they started biting. Crazy bite this morning. The rainbow with my grandson Jerry is well over 23 inches. 

He said it is the first time back since the early 80’s. His timing here was perfect. Will try to get him out again this week. 

That is cool I really enjoy his shows also and I am a lab guy so I wonder if he brought Raven? Tell him he has a good following in Mo. and looks like he has had some good success already.
 

Well after a day and a half, they started biting. Crazy bite this morning. The rainbow with my grandson Jerry is well over 23 inches. 

Well after a day and a half, they started biting. Crazy bite this morning. The rainbow with my grandson Jerry is well over 23 inches. 

He said it is the first time back since the early 80’s. His timing here was perfect. Will try to get him out again this week. 

Well after a day and a half, they started biting. Crazy bite this morning. The rainbow with my grandson Jerry is well over 23 inches. 

Well after a day and a half, they started biting. Crazy bite this morning. The rainbow with my grandson Jerry is well over 23 inches. 

not a good one... I tried one on our bank last evening

Kayaks on Taney, esp right now, is a death wish waiting to happen. 
I had a guy waving his arms at me the other day as I approached.  Was slowing down to idle speed to pass him and a few other kayaks and boats anyhow so I asked him if he was in trouble.  He pointed behind me and said he didn't wanted to get swamped by my wake.  I told him nicely that he was on the wrong lake if he was concerned about that.  I think he was terrified the whole float cause it was a Saturday and the lake was full of boats.

not a good one... I tried one on our bank last evening

not a good one... I tried one on our bank last evening

not a good one... I tried one on our bank last evening