Phil Lilley

No a Garmin Virb... but I'm about ready to buy a GoPro again. The Virb is too unreliable.

Thanks - it's a tough job...

Excellent!!!!!

No problem. I took it in jest. We open at 7

We do sell them. After dinging me on Facebook about barbless, you better bend 'em down ? No barbless rules in Missouri.

You need a trout stamp. And you have to fish barbless hooks.

Didn't see this thread... Trav, I created a forum just for politics - http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/forum/326-politics-and-other-discussions-ask-for-password/ while you were gone. It's worked pretty good so far. You can't even see it unless you have the password and I'll give it to anyone who wants it - send me a PM. There are no rules there... As for this thread, I'll let it go till it turns south - if it does.

From Liz Gray Angler Education Assistant MDC, SW Regional Office The department has a program entitled Discover Nature – Fishing. This program was developed to try and reach out to anglers of all ages, helping to educate them in the basics of fishing. Our goal is that they can then go on from our program and be successful and independent anglers for life. Our program is in need of additional volunteer instructors. Our classes are held almost exclusively on Saturday mornings at locations around the Southwest region, the closest of which to Branson would be the Belladonna Pond at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery. These classes run from 9-11am, and the department provides all materials and bait for the program. The program consists of four lessons which build upon one another as the season progresses. Lesson one includes parts of a rod and reel, casting, setting the hook, fish handling, and how to put a bobber and sinker on the line. Lesson two covers tying on hooks, baiting a hook using natural baits, and stocking a tackle box. Lesson three discusses fish biology and ecology. Lesson four wraps up with an introduction to varying lures, as well as fishing regulations. Each lesson does include a catch and release fishing portion. If there is anyone who would like to help with this program, email Liz at Liz.gray@mdc.mo.gov

Not really. 2 units may be. Not 3. 2 units you could get out at Lookout Island and wade up and down it.

Healthy trout. Congrats!!

Third day of great fishing out of Lilly's Landing ! Great service and great fishing cleaning stations. Temp was 63 degrees and not as windy as yesterday. Fish bite was slightly slower than Thursday. Larger fish today with largest brown was 16". Drifted fishing in the morning with power baits, white & orange. Afternoon we trolled with Rapala's and caught larger fish. Total count of 38 caught by the three of us. Lots of fish in the Lake and great time to get out and reduce that Cabin Fever. Thanks Phil for memorable trip. David Reynolds Rick Thom Larry Hayse

On Tuesday of this week, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers shut our flood gates off, ending almost a month of high water on Lake Taneycomo. We went from moderate flows in December to flood conditions and a record breaking 73,000 c.f.s. flow in just a couple of days. As flood water moved through the system and lake levels dropped, that flow dropped to its present level. Our release has been about 6,500 c.f.s. or two units of water since the first of the week. Personally, I'm keeping an eye on Beaver Lake, the lake above Table Rock. It has not budged in weeks, holding at 1128.5 feet, eight feet over its winter power pool. I would think officials would go ahead and drop it, making room for the next rain. Not sure why they're holding it so high. Our trout saw a steady stream of threadfin shad flowing into Taneycomo from Table Rock, coming over the gates. Now that the gates are closed, the shad have stopped, and fish have started to look for them. They're nipping at anything white and shiny right now -- small stick and crank baits, spoons, jigs and shad flies. The closer to dam the better, too. Best area to drift and fish these lures is from the dam to Lookout Island. Personally, I haven't done any good at all from Lookout to the Narrows -- and I'm not sure why. But for now, I wouldn't suggest spending much time in that area. I've ventured out a few times this week since the gates were shut down and caught some nice rainbows on an 1/8th-ounce white jig. Now as the week wore on, I did better. I think the reason is that the fish are starting to get hungry. Today, I boated to the dam with friend and guide Steve Dickey. He wanted to test the waters a bit for a fly fishing guide trip he has Saturday. I tagged a long with my spin cast rig and white jig. I had time for one drift from the dam to Lookout Island since we fished between 1 and 2 p.m. I had two-pound line on (Trilene XL clear) and my jig. He fished with a fly rod, shad fly and split shot, playing around with different depths because a lot of the bottom has changed since the high flows. I landed about 14 trout, 12 rainbows and two browns. Nothing longer than 16 inches, but they were big and chunky. He boated about eight rainbows. Not bad for one drift in the middle of a bright and sunny day. Bill Babler, another one of our guides, had a trip today, and he also took his client up to fish the trophy area. They dragged shad flies and caught dozens of nice rainbows and a few browns. Bill said another guide drifting up there was using a big red San Juan Worm and did just as well as they did. I guess they were just hungry today and not too picky. Below Fall Creek, we've been watching people drift by the resort the last couple of days who are catching fish. We've been telling anglers who come in the shop that white and orange has been working good in Powerbait, but chartreuse is another good color that's been working. You don't have to use much weight to sink the bait down, especially if there's not a whole lot of wind, which there hasn't been. Drifting with minnows and night crawlers is catching bigger trout. Minnows will catch more brown trout. I usually hook them in the lips or the top of the back. I've had some guys say they've been working bigger stick baits but with no luck. It might be because of the off-color water we have right now. I've been told bass fishing on Table Rock is off because of turbid water conditions up there, but since I'm not a regular bass fisherman I couldn't tell you! The future prospect for our fishing on Taneycomo is very good, as long as the water keeps running. Some might be surprised at that -- or even disagree. But if you're fishing out of a boat, you want the water running. These fish are used to running water. Even before the high water, there wasn't much down water at all. Now if the pattern changes and we see a lot of days without generation, then the fish will adapt to that and continue to feed with no water running. But initially, they won't like the lack of current. With the higher lake levels above us and cold weather in the forecast, my guess is that we'll continue to see some generation most days. It seems like we've settled into a pattern of two units running 24/7 -- which is okay with me!! Videos from this week: View full article

You guys are digging up a bunch of old stuff... makes me laugh out loud!

Wednesday, 1/27 - Nice afternoon on the lake. They were running 2 units with caused a good flow. We only fished a couple of hours. Caught 31 nice trout, all rainbows except one 14 inch brown. Weather was perfect. A nice prelude for the next two days. Caught most fish drifting with small jigs and power bait.David Reynolds,Larry HayseRick Thom Thursday, 1/28 - Another great day fishing!! We caught 57 fish for the day. Bite was best In the morning. Several nice fish. Larry Hayse caught the largest at 15 1/2". Most fish were caught drifting , using power baits. White & Chartreuse or white & orange. Rick Thom caught fish using white jigs. Wind pick up in the afternoon & made drifting harder. View full article

SPA schedule says 100 mw or 2 units all day tomorrow. That'll be a big change!! Seriously- we may see NO GENERATION this weekend. Temp in the 60's.

There are a lot of brown trout in Taneycomo right now. MDC stocked a bunch in November because of the bad water in the hatchery. Plus they've been stocking more since 2009. In the 2 tournaments we've held this month we've had a total of 6 browns brought in to weigh - all were in the 12 to 13 inch range and all were mistaken for rainbows. The guys who are bringing these in aren't novices... these browns really look rainbow-ish. They've silver, not much brown color at all and their spots are not defined like most browns. There are the definitive markings if you look close - very few spots in the tail and a few small orange spots on the side - but you have to look close and not just assume because it doesn't look at a brown it's a rainbow. I say this because I don't want to see a bunch of browns get cleaned this winter. And I don't want to see anglers get caught with illegal trout in their livewell when it's an innocent mistake. Pay attention!! If in question - throw it back!

Nice!

What a statement!

Yea it sure is... But Trav is back!!!