Phil Lilley

Babler said he saw smallmouth busting on shad this morning between Fall and Short Creek... big smallies. May be time to swim a swimming minnow up there.

The early morning bite hasn't been that good. Most of the guides have been saying it starts after 8 am, after the sun gets up a bit... which doesn't make any sense. Come by and say hi if you get a chance!

We'd love to have more posts on the Greer's Ferry forum... hard to get a new one going! Thanks for posting!

2 units tonight... real slow water. May be you need to readjust again before you go to bed

I think it was a very good year for crappie on TR - and other places. The ones I got were very nice, not many shorts at all.

I knew as soon as I posted this, things would change. Duane just texted me and said they just closed the flood gates at Table Rock Dam.

We have seen 15,000 cubic feet per second water release since last Friday evening after a more-than-expected rain event last week. The Beaver Lake area received the most rain, up to 6 inches, while our area averaged 2.5 inches. The forecast called for about an inch of rain. Beaver Lake's level was already high so this rain put it up close to their flood pool which is 1130 feet. A combination of spill gates and turbine release kept the level in check while at Table Rock Dam, water released increased to move water through the system. Now that we've had a full week of release, lake levels have slowly dropped to moderate levels, just not low enough to see a reduction in release. Turbines at both Beaver and Table Rock facilities are not being used, one at both places. Spill gates are open to make up for turbine release, 5 gates opened one foot at Table Rock. Beaver gates are now closed and they are only running one unit 5 or 6 hour a day. Beaver's level is now at 1128.38 feet. Table Rock is at 916.53 feet and dropping almost 6 inches a day. My flow forecast for Taneycomo is - I think they'll shut the gates down within the next 24 hours and run 3 units full for a while. Our trout in Taneycomo have seen a lot of shad and other forage fish come over the spill gates the last 7 days. We're catching trout that have big bellies, as well as seeing bass, crappie and walleye below the dam. White jigs, spoons, crank baits and shad flies are all working very good... but we're seeing spells when the fishing is slow. In the past when we've seen a "shad hatch", fish fill up on shad so we throw dark jigs at them and they seem to like it. So brown, sculpin, olive and black all have worked well when the fish aren't hitting white or white and gray. The white bite has been good all the way down to Short Creek, it's been reported. They're also doing well drifting #10 and #12 gray scuds on the bottom too. In year's past, we've seen our scud population explode during these high water events so this may be occurring. It's hard writing a fishing report when you know in a few hours water conditions will change, thus changing how this report should be written... but I believe drifting bait on the bottom from Fall Creek down will become a lot easier and successful once the water slows down. I think minnows will be the hot bait too, along with night crawlers. There's a lot of rainbows in the lake right now. The Missouri Department of Conservation haven't slowed stocking down because of the high water and catch and keep rates have been low. I think I'll wait and add to this report in a couple of days because of the change that's coming. I'll have a much better idea what the fish are doing and the best way to catch them. View full article

I'm back on... anyone else?

Being a state employee one of the benefits is getting May 8th off every year for Truman Day. This year I headed up to the upper Big River and put in at Leadwood Access and paddled my kayak up about 3 miles or so and floated back. Not many fish caught unfortunately. But one I did catch was this beauty 18” smallmouth. Initially had it hooked on a horny toad in which she came off but hem followed it up with a PB&J Ned which didn’t come undone. Caught another smaller small mouth, a couple small spots and largemouth, a couple green sunfish and this cool looking giggle eye. Trips like this will wear a guy out though. Needed to drag the kayak across a couple sand bars where the water was too swift. Gonna be sore tomorrow. View full article

Still working on it.

I need IP's. Wherever you can NOT get on, click on http://www.whatsmyip.org/ and send me your IP. The more info I get the better.

My guess is 5-6 days.

They’re now running 15,000 cfs out of Table Rock with 5 gates and 3 turbines. It’s equal to 4 full units. Looks like they’re keeping Beaver under 1130 which is amazing considering the rain they got.

All,We will be opening Table Rock gates 3, 5, 7, 9, and 8 to 1 ft each at 1800 today. The total spillway release will be approximately 5,000 cfs. With todays scheduled generation, the total combined daily outflow will be approximately 7,000 dsf. Tomorrow we are requiring full power from the three available units plus the 5,000 cfs spillway release for a total combined release around 15,000 dsf. We still have one generating unit unavailable.Thank-you,BeckyRebecca ShorttOperations Project Manager, Table Rock Lake4600 State Highway 165, Branson, MO 65616501-340-1220

All,We will be opening Table Rock gates 3, 5, 7, 9, and 8 to 1 ft each at 1800 today. The total spillway release will be approximately 5,000 cfs. With todays scheduled generation, the total combined daily outflow will be approximately 7,000 dsf. Tomorrow we are requiring full power from the three available units plus the 5,000 cfs spillway release for a total combined release around 15,000 dsf. We still have one generating unit unavailable.Thank-you,BeckyRebecca ShorttOperations Project Manager, Table Rock Lake4600 State Highway 165, Branson, MO 65616501-340-1220

Hope to see you a lot on the board... with lots of pics of fish caught on Stockton. I haven't had a bad trip there yet... it's a good place to move to. Befriend Kris Nelson. He and his wife bought Stone Creek Lodge near State Park. He'll put you on fish. Awesome family.

I think depending on the location on the lake, it varies because the water temp was still too cold just last week. Even though the temp is now right, it may take a little time to get ready to go. It has been a late, and a quick warm up. They've been waiting for weeks for the water to warm up. The crappies I caught in Long Creek last evening are ready and have started. But I bet some in other areas might already be done.

Out of 6 crappie, 4 were females and 2 males. Three of the 4 sows still had eggs and one was half spawned out. The whites had not spawned either.

After a far-too-cold spring, Ozarks lakes are finally starting to warm up. No one knows that better than Powersite bow fisherman Casey Rains, who shot a 32.95-pound mirror carp Monday night that should easily eclipse the current Bowfishing Association of America record for a Missouri mirror carp. "We were on the upper end of Bull Shoals Lake, in a semi-secret spot," said Rains. "We were out looking for big gar coming up from a deep channel and found this one cove with a spring flowing in back where the water was really clear." Click for Full Story Wes Johnson, WJOHNSON@NEWS-LEADER.COM View full article

Again, this wasn't forecasted. Just kept curling around and hitting us over and over. We're in our 4th round, and last. Just under 3 inches here. Looks like Short Creek was blown out... full sized, big trees floating by the dock presently. Generation on Taneycomo was off one day... that's going to be it for a long time now.

Put in at Long Creek about 6 p.m. yesterday. Check my 2 corners and they were occupied. Went on up south, under the highlines and into the cove on the left before the state line. Went back towards the back and ran the bank - caught bass. In the back right corner we caught a couple of crappie and small male white bass. Tons of small fingerling fish, may be shad. Fish were busting them pretty good. Headed back out and north. Bass guys fishing the area close to the corners so we went on up in to Brushy. Fished the first cut on the left where the eagle's net is - nothing. Getting dark, running out of options and time - headed across the water to the north bluff side and fished a cut I'd caught crappie in years ago. Scored 2 quick keepers. Worked west along the bank and caught a few more- lost 2 at the boat. Only one short. All caught on either a white 3/32nd oz white jig or a smoke swimming minnow. Most were out from the bank 8-12 feet and suspended. I haven't cleaned them yet so don't know male/female or if they might have eggs. Water temp 61 main lake, as warm as 65 in some pockets.