Phil Lilley

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.

@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!