Phil Lilley

I still hear people talk about David in our trout circles... he made an impression on a lot of people.

http://www.brentfrazee.com/2017/02/22/another-river-monster-is-caught-on-the-muddy-mo/ Big blue cat caught.

That's the best post you've ever made, Chief!

Not sure if that would spin...

Someone was talking about the museum at the media event here last week. They said when it opens, it's going to be pretty incredible. All I remember is he said there would be sections devoted to varying climates like deserts and rain forests featuring sights and sounds as well as smells. Sounds interesting. Hope it's as good as it sounds.

First, I'm going by strictly rumor so everything here is speculation. It's speculation because the people who are putting in this attraction are being pretty hush-hush about it. Why? It may because it's controversial. It's a speed boat going out of the Branson Landing, carrying up to 50 people. It's thrill ride, reaching speeds of 65 mph and does donuts. There's a question of who's supposed to declare this a safe ride... in the past we believe it was the Missouri Water Patrol - they've supposedly squashed this before. But since the MHP and MWP converged, the powers that be aren't sure they have the authority to do anything. I'd think the Corps would have to approve and issue a permit but we're not sure. They have a dock already and are building a kiosk at the Landing. Negative aspects: Width of the lake. They sure wouldn't go up lake where the lake is narrow. Down lake it's wider but wide enough for such a boat? Present traffic. Fishing boats, kayaks and canoes. Kanakuk Kamps, just below the Landing. Lots of summer time traffic from the camp, again, kayaks and canoes. Fog is the summer. I'd think they wouldn't go out in the fog... would be very dangerous. We'll try to find out more about it but they are trying to open May 15th. They're trying to fly below the radar... we'll try to not let that happen. I'm not opposed to new attractions... but I want them to be smart and safe.

I'll quit calling.... I promise

They ran water this morning and the lake is back up. I never found out why they did that... No ill effects. The triploids - their adipose fin will be clipped. I can't see it in the photo.

When you say 4-pound line, what kind is it? I can't throw a 1/16th ounce jig very far using 4-pound Trilene and I sure can't throw a 1/32nd, hardly can with 2 pound. What colors worked best?

Impressive numbers... did you notice the lake being low in the afternoon?

Just saw this topic. @Girschwinn that was a loaded question and I have to be honest, the guys were easy on you. Report a "hot spot" on this forum and you may find a dozen boats on that spot tomorrow. That's why anglers don't usually share spots, not here at least. They do share a whole lot of good information - 11 years worth. Just go back and read some of the topics.

When we bought the resort, we weren't in the flood plain. Now we're past that- we're in the flood way.

I talked to a TU guy last fall about Didymo. He said the same thing Ham said. It's everywhere, just thrives in certain conditions. Just like Zebra Muscles. They're in lower Taney but haven't showed up in the upper lake. Why - I couldn't answer that. The TU guy made a good point about wading shoes and felt... why couldn't the spores be transferred just as easy in the fabric of the shoe? Answer - they are.

No scented baits. No soft plastics.

I haven't been reading the forum much lately... Let's try to keep the crude remarks off this forum. I'm sure there are other forums that allow that kind of stuff...

Is winter over? The long range forecast says it might be. But it is only February 8, and there's well over a month left before March 21 arrives here. And even then, you never know. Snow could be right around the corner . . . but for today, there's a 75-degree Saturday in sight (after our 75-degree Tuesday yesterday!) And Lilleys' Landing Resort has openings. Generation patterns have been pretty consistent. Generation officials have been running water most mornings and evenings up to two units with no generation during the middle of the day. We're still dry here and need some rain to bring the lakes up. Drifting with several flies has been working, starting at the dam and working down, when the water is running and you can get up there by boat, Red or brown San Juan Worms, egg flies and scuds are good. Scuds in size #14 and either olive or gray. Bill Babler said he did well Monday using a small floating minnow lure like a Rapala, Rebel or Trout Magnet on a drift rig. The floating bait keeps your hook from getting snagged on the bottom -- most of the time. If you're throwing jigs, good colors have been sculpin, sculpin/peach and ginger. White isn't working since there have been no shad coming from Table Rock. Size depends on how much water is running, which has fluctuated between a half unit to two units. I'd throw the lightest jig possible. I wouldn't throw an 1/8th unless they're running more that 90 megawatts of water, or almost two full units. The jig-and-float method has been working, too. Colors are about the same. As far as weights, most of the time I'd put a 1/32nd-ounce under a float three- to six-feet deep. Line size - I'd use two-pound line no matter what you're throwing. I talked to a good friend about line size last week, and he said he had noticed that his heavier line wasn't doing as well as his partner's two-pound line although his 4.4 pound Tec Tan line usually does really well. He changed to two-pound P Line and started catching right along with his buddy. Anglers have been catching some really nice rainbows below the dam and down through the trophy area. But along with the 17- and 18-inch rainbows there are more of the very small 9- to 10-inch rainbows up there and down here around our place, too. Not sure when these small rainbows were stocked, but they seem to be schooling together and attacking everything they run into. Take great care in releasing these beauties since they are the ones that will get smart and grow to be trophies. If you're wading, now is a great time to come to Taneycomo. The water conditions are very good, and the area below the dam is full of beautiful rainbows in spawning colors. Here's a rainbow caught today by local angler Mike Curry. Below Fall Creek, we've seen some incredibly nice rainbows brought in at the two trout tournaments we've held in the past couple of weeks. In the last contest, where no one fished above Fall Creek, there were more than a dozen 18-inch-plus rainbows weighed in as well as two legal browns. I was just amazed at the number of colored-up trout that had clearly been in the lake long enough to lose their grayish, freshly stocked look. Most of these rainbows were caught on bait -- night crawlers and various colors of Powerbait -- and were caught between our dock and Fall Creek. Guide Steve Dickey has been catching trout on a ginger Turner's micro jig under a float four- to six-feet deep. He's using light 6x or two-pound line. Of course catching is better if there's been a chop on the surface. He's also still catching fish on the pink Berkley's Power worm, too. Roy Anderson just stepped in to my office to ask if I could take a picture of a rainbow he'd caught. I did, and he promptly released it. He caught it close to Short Creek on a sculpin/orange 3/32nd-ounce jig. If you're interested in bass fishing, I've heard they're catching some nice blacks and kentuckies down on the lower lake throwing an A-Rig.

Is winter over? The long range forecast says it might be. But it is only February 8, and there's well over a month left before March 21 arrives here. And even then, you never know. Snow could be right around the corner . . . but for today, there's a 75-degree Saturday in sight (after our 75-degree Tuesday yesterday!) And Lilleys' Landing Resort has openings. Generation patterns have been pretty consistent. Generation officials have been running water most mornings and evenings up to two units with no generation during the middle of the day. We're still dry here and need some rain to bring the lakes up. Drifting with several flies has been working, starting at the dam and working down, when the water is running and you can get up there by boat, Red or brown San Juan Worms, egg flies and scuds are good. Scuds in size #14 and either olive or gray. Bill Babler said he did well Monday using a small floating minnow lure like a Rapala, Rebel or Trout Magnet on a drift rig. The floating bait keeps your hook from getting snagged on the bottom -- most of the time. If you're throwing jigs, good colors have been sculpin, sculpin/peach and ginger. White isn't working since there have been no shad coming from Table Rock. Size depends on how much water is running, which has fluctuated between a half unit to two units. I'd throw the lightest jig possible. I wouldn't throw an 1/8th unless they're running more that 90 megawatts of water, or almost two full units. The jig-and-float method has been working, too. Colors are about the same. As far as weights, most of the time I'd put a 1/32nd-ounce under a float three- to six-feet deep. Line size - I'd use two-pound line no matter what you're throwing. I talked to a good friend about line size last week, and he said he had noticed that his heavier line wasn't doing as well as his partner's two-pound line although his 4.4 pound Tec Tan line usually does really well. He changed to two-pound P Line and started catching right along with his buddy. Anglers have been catching some really nice rainbows below the dam and down through the trophy area. But along with the 17- and 18-inch rainbows there are more of the very small 9- to 10-inch rainbows up there and down here around our place, too. Not sure when these small rainbows were stocked, but they seem to be schooling together and attacking everything they run into. Take great care in releasing these beauties since they are the ones that will get smart and grow to be trophies. If you're wading, now is a great time to come to Taneycomo. The water conditions are very good, and the area below the dam is full of beautiful rainbows in spawning colors. Here's a rainbow caught today by local angler Mike Curry. Below Fall Creek, we've seen some incredibly nice rainbows brought in at the two trout tournaments we've held in the past couple of weeks. In the last contest, where no one fished above Fall Creek, there were more than a dozen 18-inch-plus rainbows weighed in as well as two legal browns. I was just amazed at the number of colored-up trout that had clearly been in the lake long enough to lose their grayish, freshly stocked look. Most of these rainbows were caught on bait -- night crawlers and various colors of Powerbait -- and were caught between our dock and Fall Creek. Guide Steve Dickey has been catching trout on a ginger Turner's micro jig under a float four- to six-feet deep. He's using light 6x or two-pound line. Of course catching is better if there's been a chop on the surface. He's also still catching fish on the pink Berkley's Power worm, too. Roy Anderson just stepped in to my office to ask if I could take a picture of a rainbow he'd caught. I did, and he promptly released it. He caught it close to Short Creek on a sculpin/orange 3/32nd-ounce jig. If you're interested in bass fishing, I've heard they're catching some nice blacks and kentuckies down on the lower lake throwing an A-Rig. View full article

Interesting results yesterday. More people didn't weigh in and some said fishing was really tough- that's pretty normal for any fishing day. But there were more of them than usual. In contrast, the weighs were bigger and there were a big number of quality rainbows - over 18 inches. And lots of what I would consider trophy area rainbows, all caught below Fall Creek. No one declared "up" so no one fished above Fall Creek. Most of the big weights were caught on bait. There were 2 legal browns weighed in, both by the same same. Jessey and Margie Rock, a wife and husband team, each caught the browns within 10 minutes of each other. They were scheduled to run a half unit all day but didn't. The water was off all day. There were 66 teams in the tournament. This is a invitational tournament, private. You have to be asked by someone that's fished the tournament. This is their 36th year.

We have started building pieces - mainly dressers. If it counts, we all had a lot of respect and admiration for the structure. It did hurt a little when it came down but the reality of it was that the barn had not been used in decades and people had already been picking at it. The owner manages thousands of acres, farming and cattle. He would have never used it. Now, at least, the wood will be used for something. We would have taken more of it if it wasn't so tall. We would have had to rent at least a 50 foot crane. I heard there was a wonderful barn close to Halltown that was burned by the owner a while back... now that's a waste.

We salvaged as much wood as we could from this barn. We would have loved to have taken the structure pieces without pulling it down but it would have taken a 50-foot crane which would have been too expensive. But much of the beams were is very good shape after falling, even some of the mortise and tenon joints. We plan on using every bit of wood taken, mostly for furniture.

Nice.

Nice.

Wanted to correct an error on our resort website regarding this year's Elfrink Tournament. We give away $400 each year for the biggest trout, $200 for a rainbow and $200 for a brown. Of course, each year we give away the rainbow pot of $200 but we don't have a legal brown weighed in each year. If we don't, we carry over the money to the next year. Last year, we paid out $1200 or $1400 for a legal brown caught, can't remember the exact amount. We mistakenly carried over the amount of $1400 on website when it should have been $200. It's been changed... Wanted to make sure no one expects the $1400 for big brown...