Phil Lilley

Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina is hosting the first ever Missouri Chapter of the American Fisheries Society's benefit trout tournament this year on Saturday, May 19th. The format will be nearly identical to other trout tournament held out of Lilleys' Landing, on Lake Taneycomo. It's a 2-person team contest, weighing 6 (six) trout per team for winning weight. It will be an artificial only tournament, catch and release. All trout will be released immediately after weigh-in. Tournament hours will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. (weigh-in). Tournament fees are $70 per team with an optional $10 biggest trout pot. Cash prizes will be 35% of the purse for first, 25% for second and 10% for third. Big Trout Pot will be divided with the 2 top finishers - 70% for biggest and 30% for second biggest trout. Plaques will also be given to top winers. All proceeds will go to student scholarships for those who are seeking fisheries biologist degrees. All Missouri game and fish rules apply. See flyer for tournament rules.

Lilleys' Landing will host a benefit tournament for C.A.M. on Saturday, April 7th here on Lake Taneycomo. Christian Action Ministries is a local food bank providing food for families who are in need of a hand-up. Each year Christian Action Ministries food pantry distributes tens of thousands of pounds of food and grocery products to hungry and needy people in our community. This distribution process is made possible by companies in the food and grocery industry and individuals who regularly donate surplus, distressed, and damaged food and grocery items to us so we may help those Taney county families who need it most. C.A.M. serves over 1,000 families per month on average. C.A.M. also guides people to other service ministries in Taney County, dealing with finances, job training and counseling. This year we are adding a new concept: Divisions. Each contestant will chose which of the 3 divisions he or she wants to fish in - Professional, Intermediate or Novice. Each division's top 3 place finishers will earn a prize. ~~TOURNAMENT FORMAT~~ Time: Start 8 am and check in at 3 pm. Lilleys' Landing will provide fish rulers to be returned after the contest. We will also provide a small notepad and pen to write each measurement to each individual. EACH TROUT caught will be scored. Note: All trout regardless of species or legality. In another words, brown trout less than 20 inches will be scored, as well as rainbow trout caught in the trophy area that measure between 12 and 20 inches. All trout MUST be released immediately, after being measured. Scoring is by measuring each trout caught by placing the fish in the measuring tray with the nose against the head of the rule. You may pinch and/or swing the tail. Length will be scored up to the half-inch. If a trout is 14-1/8th inch, it's scored 14.5 inches. Each measurement will be written down in the notepad provided along with the time it was caught. Also initial R for rainbow or B for brown trout. At "weigh-in", notepads will be turned in for tally. All measurements will be added by the tournament director and a total length will be the angler's final score. SCORE - The total of the lengths of all trout caught and recorded is the final SCORE of each contestant. If you catch 48 trout, the length of all 48 combined is the final score. Ties will be broken by the longest fish, second longest and so on. Tournament fee is $25 per person. Prizes will be given to the top 3 finishers of each division. All proceeds from entries and boat rentals will go to C.A.M.. Other rules- *NEW* DIVISIONS: Participants sign up for the division that best fits your fishing skill level - Professional, Intermediate or Novice. Move Up Next Contest: The top finisher of the Novice and Intermediate divisions must move up one division for the following year’s tournament. All contestants will fish from a boat OR from Lilleys' Landing's dock. No wading will be allowed. There is no limit to how many anglers can fish out of a boat. It is an individual contest and each angler measures and scores his or her own trout. Each boat will have one measurement ruler. This is an artificial only fishing tournament. No live bait is allowed. No scented or soft plastic baits are allowed. No Powerbait or corn is allowed. No chumming will be allowed. All Missouri Department of Conservation rules apply. We are looking for sponsors. We would ask sponsors to donate product and/or merchandise gift cards for the winners. Contact our office - lilleys@lilleyslanding.com or call 417-334-6380 and speak to Lisa Henderson. Lilleys' Landing will provide a nice meal to contestants and spectators after the tournament.

Kris Nelson, owner of that new shop, will stock his shop and run it like I have mine. He's been a guide on Stockton for quite a few years and is successful on those walleyes... he's shown me pics. But he will carry what works in his shop- baits that catch fish at Stockton. He and his wife have worked hard since buying the resort. Hope they do well. I've been trying to get him to write fishing reports on the forum... he's been too busy but I'll keep trying.

MDC encourages community support at MoNASP state tournament in Branson March 23-24. JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) and the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation are hosting the tenth annual Missouri National Archery in Schools Program (MoNASP) state tournament on March 23-24 at the Branson Convention Center, 200 Sycamore St. About 2,500 student archers from schools around the state will compete in the state tournament. New this year, the bullseye and 3D archery tournaments will be at the same venue this year and on the same days. Be sure to register for both tournaments while registering at nasptournaments.org. The public is welcome to attend to support the participants. This year’s tournament will have a gate fee of $10. MoNASP is coordinated through MDC and the Conservation Federation of Missouri (CFM) in partnership with about 620 participating schools and numerous supporting organizations throughout the state. More than 170,000 Missouri students participate in the program. MoNASP is an affiliate of the National Archery in Schools Program (NASP) and promotes education, self-esteem, and physical activity for students in grades 4-12 through participation in the sport of archery. "Missouri is a great place to hunt and fish, and a great place for shooting sports such as archery," said MDC MoNASP Coordinator Eric Edwards. "MoNASP not only teaches students the lifelong skills that come from archery, but it also helps them excel in the classroom." More than 12,000 student archers around the state have competed so far this winter in local tournaments with the hope of qualifying for one of the 2,500 spots at the state tournament. Student archers, who shoot qualifying scores at the state tournament, will earn spots at the NASP national tournament this spring in Louisville, Ky. For more information on MoNASP, including participating schools and communities, visit http://bit.ly/2FzQo9E. Student archers from around the state will compete in the MoNASP tenth annual state tournament on March 23-24 at the Branson Convention Center. MEDIA CONTACT: Lucas Bond News Services Coordinator 573-522-4115 x3243 Lucas.Bond@mdc.mo.gov

Oh Yea- I remember. All big trout taste fishy... that's what I tell people.

Haven't been down there but there shouldn't be... this much generation has pushed everything through the lake and into Bull Shoals by now.

3:14 Did that guy say he ate a 3-pounder out of Taneycomo??? Oh my!!! 4:40 Show Off 6:02 The guy 3 down on your right wants you to stringer that one so you'll LEAVE!

I'll tell ya what I've seen and heard... Yes there's threadfin shad coming through the turbines and into Taney. I think there's been a good number of them but they're not coming through all the time. And all sizes too - small and big ones. Was up there yesterday from about 2-4 pm and saw them as I pulled up to the cable. And I saw them as I finished my first drift at Trophy Run. But didn't see many at all from that time forward- they stopped coming through. They come through in schools so it makes sense that they're not coming through all the time. I caught a few fish yesterday and this morning, but not a lot. They were all over a white jig like you'd think. Did catch some rainbows that had big bellies but caught others that only had medium sized bellies- they'd been eating but not pigging out like the plump ones. Excited though... sure is fun when we get a shad hatch. Table Rock is now dropping. It's high point was 916.48 this morning at 2 am and it's not 916.38 and falling .02-.03 feet per hour. They have backed off on generation from oh so slightly, not enough to see much change in elevation or flow. The other hot spot is the creeks. Turkey, Coon and Roark are full of trout. And I'm sure they'll be full of boats by the weekend. Be careful with these high floats... we almost lost a couple of guests this morning. Jon boat lodged against a dock above Trout Hollow's dock. They got it free only to over steer and sped into the resort's dock and over turn. The owner, Lineal, happened to be watching, and was able to pull both men out of the water before they rolled under his dock. He's a lifesaver x 2.

One of the Boswell tourneys had a 13 pound brown I think. That 8 yesterday might be the biggest in a public tourney.

I said they ran 1700 cfs all day... I was wrong. 24FEB2018 0800 911.35 703.96 1479 21 24FEB2018 0900 911.47 704.19 1886 27 24FEB2018 1000 911.56 704.52 2379 35 24FEB2018 1100 911.66 704.34 2464 36 24FEB2018 1200 911.77 704.11 2137 31 24FEB2018 1300 911.91 704.24 2162 31 24FEB2018 1400 912.08 705.26 3439 50 24FEB2018 1500 912.18 705.69 4222 61 24FEB2018 1600 912.34 705.23 3560 51 24FEB2018 1700 912.52 705.16 3304 48 24FEB2018 1800 912.66 706.14 3546 51 24FEB2018 1900 912.80 706.76 5971 92 24FEB2018 2000 912.85 706.75 6062 93 24FEB2018 2100 913.02 706.46 5988 92 date ` ` ` ` time Table Rock Level Taney Level CFS ` ` ` ` ` `megawatts They were all over the place.

I guess you have to fish down there or know someone who does... I do neither. There are guys who fish these tourneys that do regularly but they don't speak much about it and I don't ask... they may tell me but then they'd have to silence me. They know me all too well.

The board tells is all. Tough fishing. This is the toughest water conditions we've ever experienced for a tournament. Three inches of rain last night and about 2 inches today. Lightning chased them off the lake about 1:30 - 2 pm. But it cleared off and fishing picked up, especially uplake close to Fall Creek where the water was clearing. Duane said we had 8 inches of visibility at 8 am. They ran 1700 cfs all day so it pushed the dirty water down, until the rain came again and it dirtied back up again but not as bad. 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. The winning fish was caught on a jig below the Branson Landing... it's the only bite Jim had until late in the afternoon. They weighed in 4 trout. 25 inches. 8.36 pounds. They kept it in good shape and it was strong when we released it. Yes it was a triploid. Winning rainbow was a 2.34 pound trout caught by Nick Whiteman.

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.