Phil Lilley

Me and Ham are fishing together this time... looking forward to it. Doty is hinting he might join me. Was hoping Babler would be well enough but I'm not sure.

Have you tried jigs?

Ok I'm comin' to visit!

Think I know who he was... guys from St Louis. Maybe him. He used to do that many years ago and post the pics. But you know I do that too occasionally... when I want to show how I'm fishing, technique. But I try to do it away from the crowds.... way away.

Thanks Pat. Let me know what you need. And I'll take you up on the dri-fit shirt offer. Send to my email lilley @ lilleyslanding.com

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The debate had me so riled up I had to go someplace to cool off. Standing in cold water was the remedy. No one in the parking lot, couldn't believe it. Walked down below Rebar and started. Bite on first cast which usually is a bad thing but they were active till the lightning became too intense. Fished only a #6 purple/red hybernator, 4x tippet. Casting downstream at a 45 and letting it swing, stripping regular speed and strips, nothing fancy. They hit hard, so hard I couldn't keep hold of them. Most were heavy fish too so it was disappointing to not land them. The hybernator is tied on a 200R hook. Most of the fish I landed were hooked in the lower jaw. As I worked down, I started catching only small rainbows. Seemed like I ran past the browns so I doubled back and started the section again but no strikes. The lightning had intensified which probably shut the bite down. Walked back up to #2. Still no one on the lake but me. I casted a dozen times with one hit but by then I started hearing thunder in the distance and it was getting closer. By the time I drove out of the parking lot, the rain had started. Two browns, 15 and may be 18 inches and 5 rainbows were the total. I fished between 11:30 and 2:00 am.

Speaking of Cabela's... is anyone else getting an ad on OAF that advertises a big Cabela's sale? I clicked it and looked around. I may have to order some winter shirts.

First of all, you'll notice I used some images from Mike Brown's (Mbrown2858) fishing report post. Mike gave me permission to use them. Generation is almost predictable at the moment. Dam operators have been running water starting about 1 p.m. until dark on weekends, the amount varying from day to day. Some days they're running almost three full units (140 megawatts) while others they're running from one to two units. On weekends, no water except one hour or less of "fish water" or up to one unit of water Wade fishing below the dam is ideal every morning of the week, as well as at night if you are up for that adventure. The reports cover a wide spectrum, from "terrible" to "pretty darn good." I guess you could say the same thing about fishing on the rest of the lake. Some days have been very tough and others very good, and it's very hard to tell before hand what each day will bring. Winds and clouds help for sure, but even on sunny, calm days the fish are biting. Then the day when you expect trout to jump in the boat--they don't. Of course there's always going to be a crowd around the hatchery outlets when wading below the dam. Water flowing in from the outlets is high in oxygen and our trout tend to like oxygen. They also like the trout food that's flushed from the raceways in the hatchery when they're fed several times a day. Most are catching trout on scuds drifted under an indicator in various sizes and colors. They garner a reaction bite, at best, because the fly is drifted pretty fast through the chute. One problem fishing the outlets is snagging. These trout are so thick in the flow of water that flies run across the backs or under the bellies of the fish. The trout become tangled, then hooked in other places other than the mouth. It's been a few years back, but I stood and counted the ratio between fair and foul hooked trout in outlet #2 one day. The numbers averaged 75-25%, foul versus fair. Three of four fish were foul hooked by anglers. If you have to fish the outlets, this is the only proper way :). Use only one fly. Shorten up the distance between your float and fly so that it doesn't drag across the fish. Use barbless hooks so a fish can be released quickly, especially if foul hooked. And if you do foul hook a big trout, please don't fight it to death (literally). Break it off and let it swim. And, most importantly, don't hold up a foul-caught trout out of the water to take a photo. Nothing more disgraceful than showing off an illegally caught fish. There are some nice brown trout being caught up below the dam. Mike Brown, of the St Louis area, posted a report on OzarkAngler's Forum showing off colored-up browns he caught stripping cracklebacks and woolybuggers. They also caught fish at night stripping gray sculpins. His photos are mixed in throughout my report. I've been getting out a little and fishing from Lookout Island down to Fall Creek, mainly fly fishing with the water running and with it off. Of course, the Narrows is holding the best concentrations of trout, and I've done well using scuds on the bottom. There's almost always a current through that area and rainbows mainly are nosing up the gravel looking for bugs. Working a weighted #14 or #16 gray or brown scud across the bottom seems to get their attention to draw strikes. I'm using 6x tippet. In the deeper water, I'm using a #16 or #18 Zebra midge under an indicator three- to five-feet deep, again using 6x tippet. I'm actually doing better in the deeper water in the channel, even early and late in the day when you'd think they'd be up shallow. I did have fun one day last week working the shallow side on the flats above the Narrows, targeting surfacing rainbows using a Zebra and fishing it 12 inches under the indicator. We're still seeing a lot of small rainbows, as small as four inches long. But most are very pretty fish with long, bright fins -- fat as ticks. Handle these fish carefully when releasing, and they'll grow up to be pretty rainbows. I have been trying a dry fly up there with little success. Throwing a jig has yielded the same results. Fishing below Fall Creek, the upper line at the mouth of the creek has been a busy place lately. From the line down to the bottom end of Fall Creek Marina must be a hot spot because there's always several boats anchored there. Maybe anglers are finding trout that are coming out of the trophy area, but it's also a good, graveled area with lots of bugs, yummy food for the trout. All the natural baits are catching fish, ie. Powerbait, salmon eggs and night crawlers. I would think light line is the key to catching more fish since our water is pretty clear. We've been telling people to use two-pound line or at least a tippet section if they're having trouble catching fish. Otherwise, four-pound line is okay. I've been fishing a Zebra Midge below Fall Creek quite a bit and doing very well. I've tried the shallow side a few times but have found the deeper water to be more productive. So I'm fishing the midge four- to seven-feet deep, depending on the depth of water I'm fishing. Jig and float has been fair, and the best color has been a black/yellow combination. Brown micro with a Zebra dropper was pretty good last week. We've had a good chop on the water the last three days, and I think that's going to continue through this week, hopefully. The Berkley pink Power Worm is still one of our guide's favorites, but it's not a given you'll get bit on it. I guess there's not a "given" in fishing, but this little worm has been pretty productive all summer. Pinch off a half to three-fourths on the pink worm at the tail and tread it on a 1/100th-ounce jig head. Use Super Glue to keep it from sliding off on the cast. Fish it three- to eight- feet deep, depending on the depth of water you're fishing. Back to wade fishing below the dam. Guide Brett Rader has been putting his clients on trophy rainbows. Here's a couple of pictures from yesterday's trip. He said his cient caught them on a little coral #18 W2 egg above a #18 gray M-scud, bugs that he sells in Brett's shop and online. Lastly, meet Tippet. She's a product of one of our wild dock cats, rescued from its mom before its feral instincts kept it from being a "nice" cat. She's getting use to going out in the boat with me and Jackson, which is pretty cool. It stays in my dock office and plays with Jackson most of the day while I'm trying to work. Here, she's found some fish slim at the bottom of my display tank, anything to keep her out of my tackle box! View full article

Nice.

For those who don't know what Jig Fest is.... it's a gathering of OAF'ers at Riley's Station on the White River every winter season. Most of us throw jigs but that's not to say some of us pack the fly rod. We usually catch tons of trout and eat some real good food. The fellowship isn't bad either. So come and join us if you can. And watch for our reports!

I'm going to start a new thread so the date of the event is in the title.

It's not bad. The fish I've been catching below Lookout and not showing ANY signs of lack of O2. They're fighting like it's spring time.

There's a benefit race that will put about 40 canoes in to Taneycomo at the Rocking Chair Access this Saturday morning. This group will paddle down lake down past Cooper Creek to eventually the Branson Landing. I post this because the entry is above the boat ramp where kayak companies usually put their boats in and I'm sure there will be quite a few anglers wading the area between Rocking Chair and Trophy Run. These guys will be racing so they'll be through quickly enough. They also will be staggered at the start so they won't all come down at the same time. You've been warned...

I believe I'll be there. If I am, it'll be Thursday for sure, probably Friday and leave Saturday. I hope to bring at least one other person and will pull a boat over.

We didn't get much rain at all. Water is great.

It's Tippet (Morgan named her even thought Duane wanted to call it "Walter"). One of our dock cats had a litter of 4. We pulled them from the mom after 4 weeks - didn't need 4 more dock cats hanging around. Gave 3 away and kept this one. She says in my office on the dock. Started taking her out in the boat a few weeks ago. At first, she wouldn't come out from underneath the console but lately she's busting out and playing with Jackson while I'm fishing. Yea - it's pretty cool having a dog... and a cat for a fishing companion.

Not my dock....

Need to enlarge, blow up and put on my wall... God is awesome!

Humm... I think I have your wife's email.

This has to be short because I don't know much... Guides have been struggling the last few mornings. They've had to fish some pretty small stuff to get bit. #18's and 20's and dropping to 7x tippet. They're fishing zebra midges from 3 to 6 feet deep in dark colors - dark red, black and brown. But people fishing with bait this morning did well off the dock. Yellow was the go-to color.

Yea- there's really only 3 good photos in the lineup... the others are photos anyone can take, just nice scenes. Yours is the hardest to get right. Congrats.

Drag and drop images in the space below the text box. Thanks for the report.