Phil Lilley

Cool it.

Everything should be fine now.

Exactly.

We left Branson about 2:30 yesterday for Stockton, Marsha, MonaCheri, Duane and myself, with Duane's boat in tow. Our target was to put in at Sons Creek and fish the evening, stay at Stone Creek Lodge (good friends Kris and Amanda Nelson, owners) and fish again Monday morning before heading back. Put in about 4:30 and headed out. Water temp about 64 degrees I think and windy. Seemed like it was out of the SE but was hard to tell not being used to the lake and direction. Duane has a nice fish finder... and we looked for fish. We went over to the left bank heading out and started there. Duane is going to have to add to my report because he has better knowledge of water temp and depth. I caught the first fish on a chart/red tube jig - a 19 inch walleye. Thought it was on! But of course there's a big leaning curve in most fishing trips. We dinked around that area, up and down the bank, marking fish all over the place but couldn't get them to bite. Did catch one here and there, mostly keepers. Then MonaCheri stumbled onto the pattern... trolling. I'm glad we caught in on the video... she set her rod down to check her phone. She's a birder and had been "talking" to a little yellow bird (MC can chime in and add to the report too if she wants to name the little bird). After catching one while not doing anything but moving along, she caught another one, and it was one. We ran out of deep water and turned around. Catching picked up as it got darker. Started catching some shorts but most were over 11 inches. The battery ran out on my GoPro and it was on silent so we didn't notice it until we were done. Too bad... we had doubles and triples... lots of stumbling around trying to net fish and untangle lines. We ended with 25 crappie, 7 whites and the walleye. After cleaning our fish at the lodge, we decided we weren't going to get out early Monday - the girls vetoed 5 a.m. wake up call. So we didn't get out he water till after 9 a.m. Monday. The wind was already blowing, we tried the same area with little success. The troll bite wasn't there. Pulling up in a cut Kris told us about, we got out and headed inland looking for some mushrooms. Found a few. We ended finding some crappies on the south bank in deep water but they didn't want to play very hard. We gave our 3 crappies and 1 white to a guy at the ramp, pulling out about 12:30. We had a wonderful time... and the fishing was even pretty good. Look forward to going back again. This post has been promoted to an article

Upgraded to a new version. Probably should have held off but they said it could be a security thing so I did. Now some of the plug in's need to be upgraded... and one is locked up that is shown in the articles. I hate upgrades.

Anyone else having issues. Jus upgraded - it was a big upgrade. I had second thoughts about upgrading just for this reason. I'm having other issues too.

Generation patterns have remained constant here on Lake Taneycomo for the last week. Operators have run about 8,000 cubic feet per second of water for a couple of hours in the morning (two units) then dropped back to 3,000 to 5,000 c.f.s. for the rest of the day. Long term, we should see this pattern for quite a while. Beaver Lake is holding at 1127.7 feet, which is seven feet above power pool. While this seems high, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers likes to hold Beaver high in the spring, waiting for hot summer months to start generating for power. Table Rock Lake, on the other hand, is holding at 915.2 feet, right at power pool. Recent rains have kept these lakes at the same level even though both dams are releasing water. That's why I think this pattern won't change until lake levels drop significantly. The water temperature has held to about 47 degrees with visibility about four-feet deep. There's mossy algae coming from Table Rock Lake through the dam that is staying suspended in our lake, but that is normal for this time of year. Typically we see it through the month of May. It is a nuisance to us fishermen -- forcing us to check and clean off our hooks every once in a while -- but the fish don't mind it. We know they actually eat it since we find it in their stomachs. May be that's why olive jigs are a good lure this time of year! I am glad to report trout fishing has picked up the last few days! We were beginning to wonder where our rainbows had all gone. Our weather conditions had not been the best, though, with the extra weeks of cold and wind. But this past week, spring finally arrived! It's warm and the wind hasn't been too bad at all. That makes for better fishing conditions, from handling a boat, to casting and feeling the bite. Drifting bait has been very productive, from Fall Creek to past Cooper Creek using minnows, night crawlers and white Gulp Eggs. Only use enough weight to get your rig to the bottom. You will catch more fish and lose fewer rigs. Spoons have been good, too. Gold seems to be the color with a flash of red. Buoyant gold in the 1/6th ounce and Colorado silver/gold in the 1/8th ounce worked slowly with a twitch have been the best. If the current is slow, when only one unit is running, you can anchor along the edges and fish a minnow or night crawler below the boat and do well. Captain Steve Dickey is catching fish using either a white or sculpin 1/32nd-ounce jig under a float five- to six-feet deep, drifting from the cable at the dam all the way down to our place (Lilleys' Landing.) But you have to "bump it" or move the float, thus moving the jig. This doesn't have to be a big bump, just enough to move the float a bit. He's also using a #12 gray scud under a float about the same distance with a small split shot to get and keep it close to the bottom, drifting it all through the trophy area. The pink Powerworm is still doing well from Fall Creek to the Branson Landing, fished on a small jig head under a float five- to seven-feet deep. Captain Duane Doty is catching fish the same way as Dickey, plus he's drifting a smaller #14 gray scud on the bottom using a small split shot and concentrating on the Narrows. Some guys staying here at the resort this weekend set out to catch some big browns, using Duane's technique of dragging or trolling crank baits on the bottom. They started at the cable and to their surprise they were successful! But not for catching brown trout. They caught walleye instead. Five of them yesterday and 5 again today. The smallest caught was 19 inches and biggest was around 24. And yes they did keep them... who wouldn't!

I've always admired "that old guy" that goes out and fishes all day, takes his time and covers a lot of water looking for that crappie bite and ends up with his limit most of the time. First, I've never had that kind of time to spend on the water and second, I haven't the patience to cover water - I tend to hit a spot here and there and then get frustrated. But yesterday... I became "that old guy" and was pretty happy with the results.

Put in at Long Creek Ramp at 4 p.m. and boated up (left from ramp). Hit a few old spots - first one produced a nice keeper right off the bat. Lost another, then the spot went cold. Moved around, nothing. Tried another spot, nothing. Then went to good spot #2 and found a real hot spot - caught 4 real quick. Noticed baby thread fin against this bank and the crappie were under them. Moved around and caught another. Went back to spot #1 and caught 3 more keepers. Ended with 8. Didn't have to measure any... all over 12 inches. Haven't cleaned them yet- they're in a live tank so I don't know what they are but I bet males. Caught all but one on a smoke swimming minnow on a 1/16th oz head. 58-59 degree water. I caught most within 8 feet of the bank in 4-8 feet of water, a few out from the bank in 15 feet suspended. Really none on brush. Spot #1 has a green MDC structure sign in the back, 3 cuts from the ramp on the left bank and spot #2 also has a sign and it's the first cut on the left. Both are kind of corners... I caught them close to the signs but that wasn't why I fished either spot... I've done well on those banks before they put the brush there. Pattern? Not really any pattern... just covered a lot of area and made a lot of casts. Oh yea... caught 15 stinkin' bass too, mostly dinks. This post has been promoted to an article View full article

He doesn't own past the take line... why in the world would that water be off limits??!! @Bill Babler

Did I say that

Duane, Mona Cheri and I put in at Bridgeport about 3 p.m. yesterday in search of crappie. We hit Bear Den - brush and standing trees - found what we think were crappie close to the bottom but they'd only peck at our offering. Live minnows might have caught them. Boated up to Flat Creek and hit a few spots - nothing except a few big blue gill. So we went way up in the creek in search of whites. Found a few but they weren't in the mood either. Only 3 small males. Water temp 59 to 62.

I turkey hunted until 1 then hit the lake. It was the best day of walleye fishing ive ever had on stockton. Caught 20-25 in 3 hours. All looked like spawned out females, of the 4 i kept they were all females. I didnt catch a walleye under 17in with the biggest around 7 or 8 lbs 25"+ getting off right as i tried to net her. I knew she was about to get off so i dove over the bow to try and scoop her out, in the process gouging out a chunk of skin from a tie off cleat. All were caught 15-18 fow on yum worms with a silver spinner rig. One of the bigger eyes had about a 7" shad down her throat. View full article

They are starting to generate more, probably to drop Beaver. But it's not all the time. Can't help you on the fishing... sorry.

Thanks for the report. I love that area... always caught a lot of smallies there.

Caddis, no. We don't have many caddis here. Not sure why. The guides caught trout this morning throwing silver spoons down around the Landing. Nice ones.

Well, we've been through another rain event which, at least for us here on Taneycomo, has ran its course. Table Rock is back to power pool, and the powers who have run water through Table Rock Dam have cut back flows to a minimum (as of today). Beaver Lake, on the other hand, remains very high and show no sign of being dropped any time soon. One good rain puts more water on us, but the 7-day forecast calls for less than 1.5 inches over the area. Our lake water looks to be in great condition. Water temperature is running about 46 degrees coming out of Table Rock Lake and I would expect our water to warm up with days in the 60's and 70's in our near future. Because fishing has been so tough, really for most of the spring so far, there should be a build up of rainbows in the lake, especially from Branson to the dam. There simply hasn't been the volume of trout cleaned, at least at our cleaning stations lately. Before the last rains, our guides and other anglers were catching a lot of rainbows on the pink Berkley's Powerworm under a float. I saw one of them this morning fishing it in front of our dock and catching fish so I guess they're picking up where they left off. The BPW should work - I'd use 2-pound line though - to catch more numbers of trout. Night crawlers are still one of the hottest baits right now. With only 35 megawatts of power running (3,000 cfs), I'd only use a small split shot for weight, just enough to get it to the bottom. We sell drift rigs with 1/8th-ounce bell weights... unfortunately, those are too big for the current we're seeing right now. Just tie on a #8 hook and pinch a small shot 18 inches above the line. Two or 4-pound would work fine. Don't wad the worm up on the hook... pinch the worm in half and slide the hook through the worm at the center point, letting the worm hang off both sides of the hook. You don't have to hide the hook at all. Inject it with air if you want but when drifting it, you really don't have to. Jig fishing should be very good with the water as low as it is. Either throw a jig straight of use it under a float. The sculpin/ginger or sculpin/peach has been the best color lately with white and white/gray a close second. I've been throwing black and black/olive a lot with little success, which is surprising. That was the best color this time last year. Fly fishing should be heating up too with the lower water. We have seen big midge hatches the last few days and the barn swallows are back in big numbers. You can tell when there's a hatch because the swallows are swarming all over the surface of the lake picking off bugs as they hatch off the water. So midges - soft hackles and zebra midges should be good as well as cracklebacks. I'm being pretty general in my reporting because we haven't been out enough to see how the trout are reacting to this new generation pattern. But we are looking forward to doing some more scouting very soon! View full article

Even more so west OK... they're really hurting for rain.

This is the 7-day accumulative forecast. I'm hoping it's accurate!

Oh the old dock is parked down at the grandparents house for now.

@MickinMO the angled slips are part of the old, new section. The new, new stalls are double with a divider. Angled stalls take up a lot of room.