Phil Lilley

Beaver- 1111.83 - 1116.63. +5 Table Rock - 911.59 - 916.29. +5 Bull Shoals - 650.64 - 659.78. +9 Norfork - 551.43 - 567.48. +16 Greers Ferry - 453.95 - 454.61 +0.6

Is the Bryant going to end up like the North Fork, scoured?

I think they got it pretty close, at least where the heaviest rain would fall. We're at about 7 inches here. Table Rock basin didn't get it too bad. Bull Shoals is jumping and you can see why.

Looking for a friend. Who’s guiding on the upper 11- point?

Thought I'd start a new thread, now that I hear the first rain fall outside, the beginning of what they say may be 6-10 inches of rain in the next 3 days. Our lakes at least can handle quite a bit of water. I'm concerned more with flash flooding, as slow as this system is moving through. And I'm concerned about how warm it is and how it's really not going to get cold in the foreseeable future (10 days). Here are the lake levels this morning- Beaver- 1111.83, Table Rock - 911.59, Bull Shoals - 650.64, Norfork - 551.43, Greers Ferry - 453.95. South into Arkansas, looks like they may get more than southern Missouri.

Thanks for sharing. Simple pleasures are sometimes the best treasures, and most times overlooked as just another fishing trip. Nature has a way to heal.... thank you Lord for your gift to us.

Crazy to think the forum is almost 20 years old.

Trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo is holding up fairly well this fall. We can't complain about the weather, that's for sure! If anything it's been on the warm side. Table Rock's water was in the 70's for most of October. It really needs to cool down for Table Rock Lake to turn over. Looking into the future, I see some cool weather coming, but not really any cold temperatures yet. Depending on what the second half of November does weather-wise, the lake won't turn over until well into December. Our water quality hasn't been terrible, in my opinion. Of course in the fall months, the water we get from Table Rock is low in oxygen because it comes from a depth of 130 feet. When the U.S. Corps of Army Enginers runs the turbines at Table Rock Dam, officials inject liquid oxygen into the water to bring the O2 levels up to at least four parts per million. I've been taking some readings and finding levels between four and six ppm during generation and about four ppm when the water isn't running. Our lake water temperatures are holding at 54 degrees right now. The trout I've been catching are fighting hard when hooked. I've been very happy with the condition of the trout, so I don't think the low DO has affected them very much. BUT we have been seeing a fungus on our larger trout called saprolegnia that has cause some problems. Our Missouri Department of Conservation has studied this fungus and published an article just the other day with information on the issue and what can be down to minimize damage to our trout. Here's the link to the article - Mold-based infection being seen on some Lake Taneycomo trout. As stated, this is a common problem our coldwater fisheries have to deal with and is treatable within the raceways. But MDC cannot treat the trout in the lake, so they have fight off the fungus themselves. I assume as soon as our lake water quality improves, this fungus won't be a problem. But we should continue good handling practices regardless if there's an issue with fungus or not. Generation patterns remain the same. Most mornings there's no generation until noon or after. Then the water is running anywhere from 25 to 90 megawatts of water until dark. Then it's off again until the next day. Cooler weather may change this a bit. We may see less generation with less power demand, but some running water does distribute good oxygenated water downstream where it's needed. The following report is written by Blake Wilson, a dock hand here at Lilleys' and a full-time fishing guide. In the mornings with the water off, many fish can be found from Cooper Creek all the way to the Branson Landing. They can be caught using the Berkley's Pink Power Worm trimmed to one inch on a 1/80th-ounce jig head. The head color doesn't matter much. Fish it anywhere from two-to nine-feet deep, moving it deeper as the sun gets higher in the sky. October has been fairly windy this year. Most afternoons you could find a good chop on the surface of the lake anywhere on the lake. In the trophy area, when the water isn't running, use a miracle/egg fly in orange or yellow, paired with a #14 to #18 zebra midge in black/copper, root beer or ruby as a dropper. Fish this under a float and keep that bottom fly within a foot or so of the bottom. The white or chartreuse mega worm under a float is also catching some nice rainbows and browns, along with a Lilley's 1/50th-ounce sculpin jig under a float. With generators on in the afternoons, the UV orange egg fly #14 paired with a #14 to #16 crystal gray or tan scud, using the slip bobber (Utah Rig) is great, drifting from the dam clear down to Trout Hollow. Also try an orange or red San Juan worm. Be mindful of the algae that is kicked up when generation starts at the dam. This mucks up the water for about 30 minutes before clearing out. ~~~ I (Phil) have been throwing a few jigs and catching fish, with the water running mainly. I've heard a few people using white jigs and catching some nice browns and rainbows up below the dam during generation, but I haven't had any such luck. Black and brown jigs, along with sculpin, have drawn the fish for me. The weight of jig depends on how much water. Fishing off our dock has been spotty. Night crawlers have been best, injected wth air when the water isn't running. Use two-pound line for best results. View full article

Kris Nelson is posting good looking crappie pics on FB. Seems like he's always in them...

No, Bicknell has nothing to do with SDC.

Bicknell! I hope he doesn't have anything to do with SDC. I'll ask around.

Thanks for a great report. Yes, not a lot of reports anymore. Only fish and grin fish pics on FB.

The shame of it all Awesome!

And two... Scrappy bunch. Good pitching! Hope they go far this year.

I write reports for our newsletter, sometimes ahead of time. But I don’t like to let it sit for days because it becomes outdated.

I can safely say that the fall brown spawning run on Lake Taneycomo has officially begun. We're seeing a lot of brown trout below the dam, as well as double the number of anglers chasing them. Fishermen are reporting big crowds even during the week around the outlets. I think they call it "combat fishing." First, the water generation pattern continues to be pretty consistent, with the water off in the mornings, coming on anywhere between 1 and 3 p.m. with one to two units running until dark or a little after. Then there has been no generation all until the following afternoon. Our temperatures have finally dropped to seasonal levels, which is awesome! But we're still in need of rain. There is some great trout fishing away from the outlets. Darren Sadler, one of our fishing guides, is really doing well fishing very tiny midges. He's crafted his technique over the years, using midges as small as #30's. We are planning to produce and publish an instructional video this month featuring Darren. We've also ordered a full line of his midges to carry in our fly shop. There are basically four stages of midge flies he uses - bottom pupas, mid column pupas, emergers and dries. He fishes mainly the first three with great success. We visited over lunch this past week. One thing he mentioned is that midges generally move off the bottom to the surface mid morning as the sun gets up and warms the water up a bit. Until then, he fishes his midges close if not on the bottom. Once they start hatching, he'll use the mid column and emergers. We use zebra midges, soft hackles and cracklebacks quite a bit. Tippet size is pretty important if there's not much wind and a high sun -- I'd go to 7x fluorocarbon. In a One Cast video I did the other day, I fished the shallow side of the lake above the Narrows using a #22 thread pupa midge and caught some nice rainbows. These fish will be fairly spooky to a cast but usually don't go far, then circle back and inspect the fly. You'd be surprised how big some of these rainbows are in less than a foot of water. I also tossed one of our sculpin football jigs the other day and found some really nice trout along the bluff bank in the trophy area. It was the 3/32nd-ounce golden variant jig. I'm also starting to chase rainbows midging around the leaf lines on the lake. Each fall when the leaves start to drop, leaf lines form when wind pushes them across the surface -- and the trout love to pick off bugs in and around the debris. I generally use a #14 zebra midge in various colors, 6x tippet and a small float. I target midging fish around leaves in all areas down to the Branson Landing. We're still fishing a black jig under a float and catching fish. Now that the weather has changed, we're getting more wind, and that means fishing the chop with a jig and float! Two- pound line and either a micro, 1/25th- or 1/32nd-ounce is working. The sculpin/orange head is a good one to try, too. Berkley's pink worm is good, especially in the choppy conditions. And the mega worm. . . can't forget about the mega! Either a spin or fly rod. White, black, cream or chartreuse colors are good. Oxygen was been pretty good, especially when the water is running. Fish fight strong. It does seem like our trout are more active and feeding when the water starts in the afternoon. And it is slower in the mornings unless there's a chop on the surface. Our guides are still fishing night crawlers early in the mornings, or yellow Powerbait in the paste (Steve Dickey's favorite.) Use two-pound line for best results but four-pound is okay, too. View full article

Darren Saddler Report for 9/24. Cloud cover and cooler temps had the fish feeding shallow. Sight fishing small midge emergers to shallow cruisers put a lot of big fish to the net.

The simple fact is poaching happens, some get caught, some don't. Some get talked to, some will continue regardless because they don't care. And yet, we still have a very good fishery. I learned a long time ago it does no good, for me or the fishery, to fret over poachers. I do what I can and rest well.

All I can say is we don’t do enough of these gatherings. Best people you could hope to meet. Good fishing, which I missed. And of course the food Is always outstanding. And I think we should always invite the ladies from now on. Sandy and Pat were delightful.

Well we found a leak behind a wall in a unit. Tore kitchen cabinets out full of mold. Have to put it all back together tomorrow morning. So I’m out for the float. But I’m going to be there at 1 to meet up with the group.

If it's too low, I thought I'd put in at the Y Bridge and fish up and down as far as I could go in the jon boat. Should be a good bit of water. And good deep water to find some decent smallies.

Salmon Candy is smoked salmon glazed with maple syrup.

66... I took my Bday off facebook so that some ppl wouldn't see it because we had a big Hollister Chamber luncheon today and I knew I'd get called out. It worked! No one knew, that mattered at least. Thanks! I appreciate all you guys, more than you know. Looking forward to Saturday and fishing with a few of you. And I think my wife is going! That's rare - should be fun.