Phil Lilley

Trip Report, March 28 Boated up to just below the dam this morning. They were running just under 2 units at 706 feet, then dropping to 705 feet. I started throwing an 1/16th ounce black jig, 2-pound line with no results. Switched to a 3/32nd ounce sculpin/peach/orange headed jig, 2-pound line and caught one small rainbow. Then went with a heavier 1/8th ounce sculpin/brown headed jig, 4-pound line and started catching trout pretty consistently down past the boat ramp. The smaller rainbows weren't biting, only the better ones. Landed 2 rainbows in the 17 inch range. Switched to a white 1/8th ounce jig just to see if they were interested in a light colored jig and they were. Landed one more nice rainbow and a small brown.

Our areas has seen little rainfall since last summer and the White River Chain of Lakes had all dropped to low levels. But we had good amounts of rain here in the last 10 days and lake levels have risen an average of about 2.5 feet. Beaver Lake is approaching 1115 feet, up 3 feet, Table Rock is at 910 feet, up 3 feet and Bull Shoals is up almost 2 feet to 953.5 feet. But all lakes are still below normal pools for this time of year. In its position in the chain of lakes, Lake Taneycomo is a pass-through lake, rising and falling with generation from Table Rock Lake. We haven't seen much generation in months but with the rains and rising lake levels, we are starting to see more running water. The pattern has been generation in the mornings and then in late afternoon into the evening here on Taneycomo. They've been running from one to two units at times, enough to clear out any dirty water from heavy rains. Our water has good color and is clearing up more and more each week. Water temperature is about 50 degrees. Overall trout fishing the last month has been very good, I'd say better than pasts winters. Although catching has been very good, the average size of rainbows caught has been smaller than normal. I believe these small rainbows have come from the federal hatchery at Neosho, Missouri. They have a history of stocking smaller rainbows in our lake. The good news is, though, that we shouldn't see anymore federal rainbows stocked the rest of the year... so the rainbows stocked from our local hatchery, Shepherd of the Hills, should bring up the average size. There's really nothing new about how rainbows have been caught lately. We've had very good reports of good numbers down at the Branson Landing, Monkey Island, Cooper Creek Flats and from Short to Fall Creek. Anglers have done well trolling or casting spoons and spinners. Freshly stocked rainbows generally like to chase things to you'll tend to catch those fish that haven't been in the lake very long on lures like this. Fishing something under a float, whether it's a jig or pink Berkley's Power Worm on a jig head, has been our guide's go-to method of catching lots and lots of trout. That pink worm just keeps producing! But the jig and float has been good too. Turner's Micro jig in ginger or olive, marabou jig 1/125th - 1/32nd ounce in brown/orange head, sculpin/orange,brown head or black/yellow/black head have been good colors. Use 2-pound line for best results. Night crawlers, minnows and Gulp Powerpait has been catching trout too. Use 2-4 pound line with a small weight, enough to get you on the bottom and that's all. If you're drifting in current, same thing. Use a small bell weight on a drift rig, just enough to tick the bottom. The trophy area has been fishing very well, especially the area from Lookout to Fall Creek. The Zebra Midge has been the hot fly lately along with the scud. Best Zebra's have been a P&P, a rusty or a green midge. Best scuds have been the larger ones tied on the 200R hook, #12 or #14 in gray, brown or tan. I'm catching bigger rainbows on the scud verses the midge. Fish the scud on the bottom, dragging it in the gravel. Use 6x tippet. If the water is running, throw a marabou jig straight line. Best colors have been black, brown, sculpin or light/dark combos like sculpin/ginger, black/olive or brown/orange. Depending on how much water they're running, use the weight that works best - 1/16th, 3/32nd or 1/8th ounce. I'd use 4-pound like to throw the 1/8th and 2-pound line to throw the smaller jigs.

Have any of you guys been to the Fishing Museum here in Branson? I'd love to be the bug on the wall and listen to you guys talk about the stuff in that place. If an OA group every wanted to meet and go, I can get a group rate. He needs more exposure for his place.

Who? That guy in my intro? Naw....

Is it because forums and BBS's are so easily impregnated with viruses they are flagged automatically with windows platforms?

I gave my opinion early on. here, in the paper and on that other forum. Now I'm going to be quiet simply because there's a lot of unanswered questions and all the chatter now is speculation and social drama. You guys bring up good points but they're common sense to us that know what boats do. The operators of this boat MIGHT go up lake ONCE and then never do it again. Way to narrow and 10 times the traffic. The people would get treated to a slow tour of the lake. Going down, they'd see MUCH less traffic and wider water. Why they (owners) don't come out and state they only will go down and squash all the speculation I have no idea.

I'm not going to let this go on.

Very nice!!!! Thanks for posting your report.

Getting out yesterday (off my sick bed), I visited with some people staying here, as well as doing a weigh in for a group of guys who have a friendly fishing tournament every spring, and I found out MDC as stocked some nicer, longer rainbows lately. Yeah! For the past couple of months it's seemed like, all we've been seeing is small Neosho rainbows along with the holdovers from early winter stocking. Even the upper end of the lake has been infested with 9-10 inch rainbows, usually beating all the other trout to the Zebra Midge. People were catching good numbers of trout at the Landing and at Monkey Island on jigs or the pink worm under a float or powerbait on the bottom. But they were also taking a spoon pretty good, especially if there was a chop on the water. These nicer fish must have been stocked late in the week because I didn't see any of them when I fished Thursday afternoon in the trophy area. You can tell a rainbow is freshly stocked if it's purplish color and dark, that is if it's from Shepard. Freshly stocked fish from Neosho are harder to tell because they are silver and clean when they are stocked. Rainbows stocked in Taney are supposed to be 11.5 inches long on average throughout the year so I guess if you have a ton of 9-10 inch rainbows stocked from Neosho then MDC must have to stock bigger ones to bring the average up... sounds nice but I'm not sure that how it works. There's still a bunch of fish out in front of our dock. Steve Dickey said his clients (3 of them) caught 110 rainbows in a 4-hour trip yesterday morning.

Like this post!

Just sounds like a lot of drama... I dislike drama. Life is about relationships, vertical and horizontal. If you believe there is a God who is watching and you keep a bent knee and lowered head to Him (humble and meek), and believe He expects the same treatment towards everybody He brings into your path (be a servant), life is good.

What's a rally?

Linc and I took the new Jackson Mayflies out yesterday afternoon for a test drive. Put in at the dam 2 pm. Breeze out of the west. We both had zebra midges on, about 18 inches deep under a float. The bite was on. I say the bite was one but all that was interested were small rainbows, mostly 10-11 inches. Had 2 about 12 inches in the mix but hooked a couple that felt larger but they pulled loose. Caught them on a rusty, a P&P and a green #16, 6x tippet. They were midging all over the surface. Got down to the Narrows where I switched to a #16 gray scuds. First 3 rainbows were 15, 14 and 15 inches. Bigger ones were looking for meat. The kayaks worked great. I've never been in a Jackson, or really any upscale kayak before. The seats were amazingly comfortable. I finally had the nerve to stand up at the Narrows but I made sure I was in 6 inches of water. No problem! I'm already planning on adding a couple of things - a small anchor and a container of some kind to put a couple of fly boxes and misc things next to the seat. We visited with a guests of the resort that has a Big Tuna and he was telling us of all the accessories you can buy for them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For the rest of the lake, the Berkley's Pink Powerworm or the Gulp Pink Worm is still king. Linc tried an orange one and caught fish too but we're not going as far to say they work as well as the pink. Our guides started using it about a year ago and that's about all they use now - on a small jig head under a float 3 to 5 feet deep. They're still catching them out in front of the resort fairly well but they've seemed to have gone up lake a bit - from Trout Hollow to Fall Creek. Also had a bunch of guys go down to the Landing yesterday and came back with limits in short order. Off the dock, the pink worm is good but they're catching them on Gulp eggs and Powerbait paste too. Some on night crawlers but we're not selling very many worms. Saw some guys throwing a small gold spoon just below the Narrows yesterday and they were hooking a lot of rainbows. Again, most were the small ones. I'd think the spoons would work down lake too. Had this picture sent to me a couple of days ago - 28 inch rainbow caught on a 1/16th oz sculpin/ginger jig just below Fall Creek, released.

My story is I was a light weight, uncoordinated wimp in school. Then I bought a resort and didn't have time except for the occassional round of golf. About 12 years ago I started playing basketball at the CofO gym with a bunch of guys. Switched to the local Rex Plex a couple years later. Still go - Mon-Wed-Fri at 6 am. No major injuries - 2 bent fingers and stitches over my eye. Seen young men get hurt real bad over the years - ACL's and the like. Hoping to make it to 60 without getting killed. Champ -- if you and Donna put together a day this spring/summer, I'd love to come over and play (golf).

When are we all going to get together and play a round?

I had no idea what a Midge Oreno was so I googled it. This came up #2

I don't see where Jackson offers a mount for a trolling motor but there is a place and screws on the back end where a plate could go for a trolling motor. If someone doesn't offer such a plate, I bet we could build one. But it won't be any time soon....

Just in... Jackson Mayfly Kayaks at Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina http://jacksonkayak.com/blog/kayak/mayfly/ We're not going to get in the normal kayak/canoe business. These are specialty kayaks, made for fly fishing although you could spin fish out of them just as easy. We haven't come up with a rate yet or how we'll offer the kayaks (with or without a shuttle). But for the rest of March, if you want to come and try one out, we'll make you an offer you can't refuse, for a fishing report and review of the kayak, of course. The chairs is what caugh my eye. I haven't liked any of the kayaks I've riden in, especially fishing out of them, because of the seats. But these look real comfortable - they even have lumbar supports. And I guess you can stand up in these and fish... can't wait to try one out!

In Missouri you need a permit to have a wild animal (ask Doty). Bobcats are not endangered though.

The last 2 are the ones that stick out in my mind. They were characters.

Funny... I had to go see who is on OA's banned list... here they are. Recognize anyone? Probably not. I've had a few asked that their accounts be deleted. They aren't on this list.

Hey- that's all I got! It's Table Rock, not Taney

I'e caught a good number in Little Indian in past year.

Those are incredible!