Phil Lilley

This is the toughest water conditions we've ever experienced for a tournament. Three inches of rain last night has left the lake a mess... it's not as bad as I've ever seen it by far but it's not good. Duane said we had 8 inches of visibility at 8 am. He checked a little bit ago and it was about 18 inches. They're running 1700 cfs so the clear water is pushing the dirty water down but it's slow - the lake is backed up from the rains. We had 50 teams sign up but I think 4-6 teams either cancelled or had issues getting started. Out of those that did start, 9 are fishing "UP" which means they headed for clearer water above Fall Creek. They're restriction is that they can only weigh in rainbows under 12 and 20 inches and over. Browns of course have to be over 20 inches. Early reports say fishing down is tough but one guy texted me a pic of a big brown they had caught. The anglers up are catching but only slot rainbows... so far. The water at Fall Creek is clearing so I would think that's the area to be this afternoon. It's raining right now... should stop about weigh in time - 4 p.m..

For locals: Brett lost all his fly tying equipment and material. All of us have extra stuff laying around we'll never use, or can spare. Go through it and box up what you can give. Keep in mind that Brett ties a lot of small flies - scuds, midges and such. Bring it by our shop at Lilleys' and we'll get it to him.

Today through Sunday... 6-10 inches is a little exaggeration.

Brett lost his house last night to a fire. They got out only with the clothes they were wearing. He's asked for fly tying equipment and materials. Nick started a Go Fund Me account for them too. https://www.gofundme.com/rader-family-fire-relief/donate Do what you can. Thanks

Just saw @Ham on KY3... you're 4 second claim to fame!

Wonderful trip. Thanks for taking us along!

Lake Taneycomo - we have a fishing tournament scheduled this Saturday at Lilleys' Landing. 2-person team $50 entry per team Big Rainbow $200 and Brown Trout $200 Cash Prize Artificial Only Contest 8 am - 4 pm weighin Big Feed after the tournament Rain is forecasted for Saturday but the fish don't mind.... they're already wet!

We don't rebuild them... we send them in.

That 10-spot keeps getting closer to SW Missouri.

7 day accumulative.

They said almost all the jon boats had damaged props Saturday - that's 10. Either rebuilt or we file them out. To answer your question - a bunch.

Did I mention we had a willow tree in our back yard?

My neighbor had 2 nice maples trees in their front yard about 20 feet apart. I got the bright idea to make a very long rubber band, secure each end to each tree, made gigantic spit wads and shot them at cars going by - at night of course. I only did it one night... I got caught.

Unfortunately, I can't control (or I don't know how to) ads that appear in the google ad spaces on OA and OAF. They are viewer driven - what you browse on your computer shows up in ads. You can click on them and object to the content or use an ad blocker. I will point out though that when you post an image of the objectionable ad, it does show up and viewable to everyone.

I haven't been out on the lake on a Saturday, in the winter, in a long time. After yesterday, I know why. And for some reason the trophy area was the place to be! We did have a couple of groups who collectively wanted to fish the trophy area this weekend - one from Arkansas and one from Oklahoma. Together they probably had 20 boats and most were fishing between Lookout and the Narrows Saturday afternoon. And I don't think the trout appreciated the traffic. The group did fish early in the morning and was able to boat past Lookout, some to the cable, and fish before the Corps drop the levels back down to 35 megawatts. They said fishing was very good - white jigs was the best lure. Some did drift a scud on the bottom and caught some nice rainbows. We're still seeing a lot of rainbows in spawning colors - real pretty. I got out about 1 pm and joined the floatilla. Did ok on a 1/16th black jig until the wind nixed my jig fishing. The guys did ok fishing a scud under an indicator (fly fishing) but as the afternoon dragged on and more boats made it up to the area, the bite shut off for us. Sun came out too which didn't seem to help fishing but it did warm us up - I think my guys got sleepy. Yea- this weekend espcially is a busy weekend on the lake - always has been. It was fun though... watching all the yea-hoos barrel up the crowded Narrows channel through traffic only to plow a row through the shallow gravel. If they only drove a little slower we might have told them.

Yesterday was incredible. Today, not good.

The switch thing... we had a weeping willow in the back yard. Need I say more. It's not the discipline across the rear that directs a child; it's the tear in the eye and the care in the heart that teaches and guides. You never hit a kid in anger - that's abuse. If you're mad - go cool off and come back to the issue when you can handle it right. If you can't, you better get yourself straightened out before your kid gets out of hand. That's my piece on raising and discipling kids. Today - its a lost art.

We caught a ton of rainbows above and in the narrows this afternoon. Black #14 zebra and I did well on a #14 blue/gray scud. Nothing over 16 inches.

@duckydoty did you hear that... "stinkin walter"

Come by sometime!

Bill Babler photobombing me... haha. I should have had him speak... he could have done a better job.