Phil Lilley

@vonreed I just ordered some today

Fast forward to 10:00 for real action.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-outdoor-guys-radio-show/id523463773

He said he heard whites are being caught as of yesterday at Roly Blunk Bend.

I think some things you won't hear about until a few days after it happens... Beaver Creek, Swan Creek and Blunk are 3 places people are pretty tight-lipped about. But I do have a good source... I'll check with him.

As you probably have heard, they've shut the flood gates and lowered generation on Taneycomo. Table Rock is at 915.72 feet and dropping very slowly at this point. Beaver is still high but it seems like the Corps is good with holding it, while generating a few hours each day to hold it steady at 1127.5 feet. They are running 2 units all day and night right now at Table Rock Dam. The flow is dramatically different now that it was a few days ago. It is much slower and you can see the bottom most places above Short Creek. It's much more conducive to fishing, or getting to the fish now. I got out for an hour yesterday and fished from below Fall Creek to Trout Hollow. I threw jigs at first, on the shallow side. I didn't connect when fishing along the bank but did when I turned around the started throwing out to deeper water. Caught them on an 1/8th ounce sculpin/ginger jig. At about the boat ramp, I started drifting a night crawler on the bottom, mid lake. I used only a #3 split shot 18 inches above a #8 hook, 4-pound line. I hook the worm in the collar and break off the back half, letting the worm hang off both ends of the hook. I don't try to hide the hook at all. Caught 3 nice rainbows, all about 12 inches and thick, very healthy. Night crawlers are definitely the hot bait right now. Minnows are ok and so are Gulp Eggs.

That's what I was thinking.

They are running at Bull Shoals... they're not holding it. It's a good thing too... people on BS are very tired of being underwater all summer.

I'd boated to the dam and videoed up there... but didn't catch anything. The wind kicked my butt. Current is a lot slower, manageable. Looking forward to doing some serious looking around the next couple of days.

That's what they've done historically. I'm sure there's an explaination but I don't have it. I'm sure it has something to do with the capacity of each lake in the system. This is the 7-day total map. it could move west a little... hopefully not. I check it every couple of days.

Kendall Sapp with her first ever turkey she harvested during youth spring turkey season. Young turkey hunters harvested 1,723 turkeys during the 2018 spring youth season, April 7-8. Top harvest counties were Franklin, Miller, and Maries. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – According to preliminary data from Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC), young turkey hunters harvested 1,723 turkeys during the 2018 spring youth season, April 7-8. Top harvest counties were Franklin with 51 turkeys harvested, Miller with 43, and Maries with 43. Young hunters checked a little over 4,000 turkeys during last year’s youth weekend. MDC’s Turkey Biologist, Jason Isabelle, says the drop in harvest can be attributed mostly to unseasonably cold temperatures this weekend and for much of spring thus far. “Weather was the biggest contributing factor to this year’s low youth turkey season harvest,” Isabelle said. “Temperatures that were well-below average probably made it difficult for young hunters to spend as much time hunting this past weekend as they would have with more seasonal temperatures.” Isabelle also notes that in addition to cold temperatures this weekend, spring has been slow to get here this year causing turkeys to be a little behind schedule as far as the winter flock break-up. “When turkeys are still flocked up as they are in much of the state right now, it can make for some very challenging hunting,” he said. “With warmer temperatures in the forecast, hunting conditions should be much more favorable for the upcoming regular spring turkey season.” For county-specific information on turkey harvest, visit MDC online at extra.mdc.mo.gov/widgets/harvest_table/. For more information on the upcoming regular spring turkey hunting season, April 16-May 6, get a copy of MDC’s 2018 Spring Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information booklet, available where permits are sold, or online at huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/sites/default/files/downloads/2018springturkey.pdf. Hunters who harvest their first turkey can have the accomplishment recognized through a special certificate from MDC, complete with a photo. Learn more at huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/trophies-certificates/certificates.

If you find any, let us know!

Duane with his first place plaque. David Doty, 2nd place Pro Division. Seth Turner, 3rd place Pro Division. Jack Harris, 1st place Intermediate Division. Blake Harris, 2nd place Intermediate Division. Dylan Harris, 3rd place Intermediate Division. Brandon, first place in the Novice Division. Chuck Puckett, 2nd place Novice Division. Teri Doty, 3rd place Novice Division Tom Johnson, 4th place Novice Division. Honorable Mention - DJ Beal with the Duck Award.

Dennis Stead shared this with the members of the Missouri Trout Fisher's Association, Springfield today via email and I thought it was interesting enough to post here. I like it!! Here is a link to the PDF file to read.

Just like with all fishing tournaments, some catch them and some don't. Duane and Jack caught them... most of us didn't. I'm not going to give out numbers but let's just day Duane didn't beat last year's total but he was just under it. I'll find what he got and post it later. He took first in the professional division.... again.... for the third time in a row. Most of his fish, our the others I know where they fished, came out of slack water, different spots. I don't know what colors he threw but I caught my fish on sculpin/ginger 1/8th and 3/32nd ounce jigs. White didn't do it today. Jack Harris took first place in the intermediate division. This 19.5 inch brown helped push his numbers well over the other participants. He caught it on a crank bait drifting it on the bottom below Fall Creek. Look at the red spots!! Brandon Kossler took first place in the novice division.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports 33 news cases of chronic wasting disease (CWD) have been found following the testing of 24,486 free-ranging Missouri deer through its 2017-2018 sampling and testing efforts. The new cases were from the following counties: Adair (3), Cedar (1), Franklin (4), Jefferson (1), Linn (7), Macon (3), Perry (1), Polk (3), St. Clair (4), and Ste. Genevieve (6). Of the 33 new cases, 16 were from hunter-harvested deer, one was from a road-killed deer, and 16 were from MDC’s post-season targeted culling efforts in the immediate areas around where previous cases have been found. This year’s findings bring the total number of free-ranging deer in Missouri confirmed to have CWD to 75. For more information, visit mdc.mo.gov/cwd under “CWD in Missouri.” “For a third year in a row, we found no CWD-positive deer in central Missouri, where a single case was confirmed in early 2015,” said MDC Wildlife Disease Coordinator Jasmine Batten. “Additionally, we found no cases of CWD on the Missouri-Arkansas border, despite the high level of CWD in northwest Arkansas.” Batten added that where CWD has been found in Missouri, the numbers of positives remain relatively low. “It is encouraging that cases of CWD are still pretty low overall, and MDC remains committed to monitoring the disease and taking actions to limit its spread,” she said. “We encourage hunters and landowners to continue participating in our CWD monitoring and management efforts.” Batten added that these efforts are vital in limiting the spread of the disease. “If we do nothing, areas affected by CWD will increase in size and many more deer will become infected by the disease,” she explained. “Over time, this would lead to significant long-term population declines.” MDC will continue CWD sampling this fall and winter MDC will again require mandatory sampling of deer harvested during the opening weekend of the fall firearms deer season, Nov. 10 and 11, in and around counties where the disease has been recently found. MDC will again also offer voluntary CWD sampling during the entire fall and winter hunting season of deer harvested in and around counties where the disease has been recently found. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend hunters in areas known to have CWD test their deer before consuming the meat. More information on specific counties, sampling locations, and requirements will be published in MDC’s “2018 Fall Deer & Turkey Hunting Regulations and Information” booklet, and online at mdc.mo.gov/cwd, starting in July. More on targeted culling After the close of deer season, MDC staff work with landowners on a voluntary basis to cull additional deer within an area of 1 to 5 miles of where recent cases of CWD have been found. Collecting additional samples helps MDC scientists better understand how many deer in the area may be infected and where they are in the area. Targeted culling also helps limit the spread of CWD by removing potentially infected deer from an area. “Targeted culling has proven to be very useful in finding cases of CWD and in reducing the spread of the disease by removing additional CWD-infected animals,” explained Batten. “We found about half of the new CWD cases this year through targeted culling. Without targeted culling, those 16 infected deer would have continued to spread the disease.” She added that targeted culling is the only tested method of slowing the growth of CWD in a local deer population. “The state of Illinois has been successful in stabilizing levels of CWD through the use of a sustained targeted culling program over many years,” Batten said. “In contrast, states such as Wisconsin that have not used targeted culling, or that have only implemented targeted culling for a short period of time, have seen levels of CWD climb steadily.” Of the more than 101,000 deer MDC has tested for CWD since 2001, about 4,500 have been harvested through targeted culling, including 1,485 from the past season. “This accounts for about 4% of all CWD samples collected so far, but has resulted in finding about 49% of CWD cases in Missouri,” Batten explained. Learn more about targeted culling through this video: youtube.com/watch?v=7VitIahG5Do For more information on CWD, visit mdc.mo.gov/cwd.

No- a diploid. Adipose fin isn't clipped.

We were practicing for the tournament tomorrow... Duane's soar-lipping all of them today.

Hope you do well.

Yes it could be much worse... very grateful it's not like last year. With TR dropping almost .4 feet per 24 hours now, TR should be down to 915 within 7 days or less. At about 916, they should back off a bit. I'm telling you... when Taney drops and these fish are easier to get to, fishing is going to be very, very good.

I got this email from David Pitt sharing with me an app his company created. I tried it and it works. Current generation is pretty cool. Phil, I fish the white river tail waters quite a bit, also enjoy "one cast", so my company has created a free SMS (text message) app to obtain current and scheduled generation for White River Tail waters. It's been helpful to get this info on the water, or when away from a computer. Current Generation Text to 913.270.0360 following for Tablerock. >g table or > gen table Scheduled Generation Text to 913.270.0360 following for tablerock. > s table or > sched table Current day will be used by default, but you can also specify a day of week as follows... > s table fri or > s table wed For other tail waters, just replace "table" with the following... bull - Bullshoals beaver - Beaver littlered - Greers Ferry norfork - Norfork

There are fishing reports that are hard to write, and this is one of those hard ones. Why? Because up until this morning (Wednesday), catching trout on Lake Taneycomo has been fairly difficult when it really shouldn't be. I have learned not to discourage people from coming because of fishing reports because if I do, and fishing all of a sudden picks up, some might miss out on a fishing trip of a lifetime. This actually happened before -- and I was scolded by a man who didn't take my advice to cancel fishing here. He ended up catching fish, a lot of fish. So you never know . . . that's why we call it fishing and not catching. From the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock Division this morning: Generating Units 3 and 4 are both going to be offline for a time today. As a result we will augment release by opening spillway gates 6, 4, and 2 at one foot each. The total spillway release will be increased from 5,088 cfs to 8,141 cfs (cubic feet per second); however, the total outflow from the dam will remain around 15,000 cfs. Once unit four is back online, we will close gates 6, 4 and 2. So the Corps plans to open three more gates this morning. That would make eight gates at 8,000 cubic feet per second, plus two turbines at 7,000 c.f.s.. The water temperature coming over the dam is 49 degrees and 44 degrees through the turbines. We haven't seen any shad coming over the top so far, and the trout are hardly biting on white at all. Very, very strange indeed. There is no doubt some small forage fish are coming over the top, including threadfin, but not many or we'd see something. We are catching a few bass but not like in past years. More gates open should help our trout fishing, if not now, at least when the flow slows down and the fish are more accessible. Table Rock is dropping .3 feet per day right now. That will increase as the flow into TR decreases, which should increase to six inches a day. TR is at 918.3 feet right now and should be below 918 feet Thursday, 917 feet by Saturday -- and maybe, just maybe 915 feet by the middle of next week. But there are a lot of factors that could change that -- flow from Beaver Lake, more unexpected rain or decrease of TR flow before then. Fishing has been tough, no way around it. It is frustrating, too, because the techniques that usually work when we have this kind of high water event have not been fruitful, at least not yet. We generally do look forward to high water with flood gates because that does warm the water and puts more food in the lake for our trout, but so far the trout just haven't turned on to these prime conditions. We are catching trout, but just not the numbers we think we usually expect. Starting at the dam in the trophy area, 1/8th-ounce jigs are catching some fish, both cold- and warm-water species along the banks in the slower water and close to the bottom. Good colors are white, white/gray, sculpin and sculpin/ginger. Also drifting shad flies, #12 gray scuds, red San Juan worms and egg flies on the bottom are picking up some nice rainbows. Duane Doty came up with a technique last year during our high water event that's catching big trout right now. It's drifting a crank bait along the bottom -- but not just any ordinary crank bait. He's pinpointed a certain crank bait that works better than others. The only problem is that they're hard to come by, at least so far. It's the Bomber, Fat Free Fingerling in shad or pearl color. Yes, that's its name. While drifting, throw the Bomber out behind the boat like a drift rig and reel down a bit, but not far. The natural action of the bait will take it to the bottom, and it will stay there, digging its bill into the gravel bottom. Brown trout love it, or hate it enough to clobber it as it goes by. And, yes, you do lose baits, a lot of baits. Some anglers won't think it's an even trade, to have the chance for a trophy brown versus the cost of losing baits at $6-7 a pop. Yes, jigs are much cheaper -- drift jigs even more so -- but this technique has been proven to catch good-sized brown trout! Your rig must be heavier than the average trout rod and reel. You need to use at least six-pound line or even heavier. And your rod needs to be fairly stiff to handle the pull of the lure as is plows a row under the water. Writer Ryan Miloshewski has written an article about his experience fishing with Duane last week and catching some really nice rainbows and brown. You can read it here on OzarkAnglers.Com. The Missouri Department on Conservation have been stocking rainbows routinely in the Branson Landing area, and some of those trout are showing up in the creeks down in that area, but not like they did a month ago when our water was high. That doesn't mean they won't find the slower and warmer water of Turkey, Coon and Roark creeks, so it's always good to check those places out. The best way to catch them in these creeks is something under a float, such as a jig, a Berkley Powerworm (pink) on a small jig hook or even a Gulp Egg on a jig hook -- that works, too. They'll also chase a spinner or a spoon since there are a lot of minnows in these creeks. There are anglers doing fairly well just drifting either Gulp or Powerbait on the bottom from Cooper through Monkey Island. Boaters need stay in the middle or inside of the bend and away from the outside of bluff bank where the water is faster. Working the inside bank should be pretty good, too, with Cleos, jigs and small to medium stick baits. The water is really slow enough to anchor (very carefully) and tight line a minnow or night crawler behind the boat. Anchor off the front of the boat, not the side or back. In yesterday's One Cast, I show and explain how I'm anchoring and fishing with minnows. Stay tuned to all our media outlets for current fishing reports and especially changed to flow patterns - Youtube, Facebook and Ozarkanglers Forum. Also! Don't forget about out benefit fishing tournament this Saturday, April 7, here at the marina. Don't let the cold weather keep you off the water! View full article