jfrith

I really like the look of that shad fly. Does it have a name? or is it something that only you tie up. Nice walleye also.

very nice pictures.... Is that a catfish in one of them?

Yep, seein less and less bigger browns everytime i go now, really is sad. Caught this 23" back in early January though, released in good shape too.

I would like to first thank Phil and the rest of the staff at Lilleys Landing for providing us with everything we needed and for such a great special on the room. Me and a buddy of of mine made the trip down Lilleys landing wednesday morning, leaving st. louis at around 8 a.m. and arriving a little after 12. We checked in and unpacked our bags as soon as we got there. We found the cabin to be quite nice and comfortable for the two of us, and could have easily fit another person. Next it was off to find a good access to the river, and we decided to enter at the access right below the hatchery. It was my first time ever fishing lake taneycomo and I was surprised how much it reminded me of the white river I used to fish when I was younger. The river was low but they were runnning some water when we started fishing around 2 p.m. At first I noticed a large number of fish sipping bugs on the surface so I tied on a #16 crackleback and soon hooked up with my first lake Taneycomo rainbow. I was amazed at the fight the fish put up for its small size, and also how healthy it looked. I managed around a dozen more throughout the rest of the day on craklebacks, san juan worms, and zebra midges under an indicator a couple feet with a split shot. My buddy was fishing a spin rod and was able to pick up several bows himself on rooster tails and small jigs. The next day the river was up quite a bit when we made it to the water around 8 a.m. It rained on and off all day but the fishing was just as good as the previous day on all the same flies. I did manage a larger rainbow around 15 inches stripping a wolly bugger. Both nights we grabbed a bite to eat in downtown branson which was just several minutes drive from Lilleys. Thursday morning we left early and decided to hit up the current river on the way home, which also fished really good. All in all, it was a great trip on some water I had never seen before and we will definently be booking a trip again for this summer, thanks again Phil.

Hey Phil, did you get my PM about this week?

Used to fish there a ton when I was a little, but only ever caught small blugill and bullheads. Didnt know they stocked bass in there?

Was there a week ago, tricos were starting to taper off, but i did have some good luck on small blue wing olives, definitely bring some of those. Also, they seemed to be feeding a lot right below the surface, I would bring some soft hackle, they worked well for me.

Interesting....... well darn, they were some big brookies.

Me and a buddy of mine fished the park today and the mile or so of fishable water below. Started it off at 630 at the horn and were able to catch our limit within the first hour or so. I was takin them on everything from copper jons to cracklebacks, and my buddy had good luck on yellow rooster tails. After lunch we headed below the park. Caught probly another 10 myself on soft hackle with a beadhead dropper and then was able to find this one brown on a size 16 crackleback, which I was pretty excited about despite its small size because it was my first brown ever on the meramac. Was there a stocking recently? I was beginning to think they were just a thing of the past, as I hadnt even seen one on this river for 5 years. Also, up near where the spring branch pours in we saw several 6+ lb. rainbows but had no luck with those, wouldnt even look at my black woolly. Anyways, after fishing down stream we decided to head upstream from the confluence about half a mile and found several huge smallmouth, who wouldnt even look at our lures. Also saw several gar that would have went atleast 3 feet, tried for these too with no luck. Anybody know some good ways to try for these? All in all the river seemed a little lower than usual, but not terrible. No wind, few clouds and temps. around 80 made for another great day on the meramec. OH and i almost forgot, we walked the hatchery and saw that one of the raceways was filled with Brooktrout? Never seen this here before and was wondering if they are putting these in the park or below it? thanks. Joe