Phil Lilley

I write reports for our newsletter, sometimes ahead of time. But I don’t like to let it sit for days because it becomes outdated.

I can safely say that the fall brown spawning run on Lake Taneycomo has officially begun. We're seeing a lot of brown trout below the dam, as well as double the number of anglers chasing them. Fishermen are reporting big crowds even during the week around the outlets. I think they call it "combat fishing." First, the water generation pattern continues to be pretty consistent, with the water off in the mornings, coming on anywhere between 1 and 3 p.m. with one to two units running until dark or a little after. Then there has been no generation all until the following afternoon. Our temperatures have finally dropped to seasonal levels, which is awesome! But we're still in need of rain. There is some great trout fishing away from the outlets. Darren Sadler, one of our fishing guides, is really doing well fishing very tiny midges. He's crafted his technique over the years, using midges as small as #30's. We are planning to produce and publish an instructional video this month featuring Darren. We've also ordered a full line of his midges to carry in our fly shop. There are basically four stages of midge flies he uses - bottom pupas, mid column pupas, emergers and dries. He fishes mainly the first three with great success. We visited over lunch this past week. One thing he mentioned is that midges generally move off the bottom to the surface mid morning as the sun gets up and warms the water up a bit. Until then, he fishes his midges close if not on the bottom. Once they start hatching, he'll use the mid column and emergers. We use zebra midges, soft hackles and cracklebacks quite a bit. Tippet size is pretty important if there's not much wind and a high sun -- I'd go to 7x fluorocarbon. In a One Cast video I did the other day, I fished the shallow side of the lake above the Narrows using a #22 thread pupa midge and caught some nice rainbows. These fish will be fairly spooky to a cast but usually don't go far, then circle back and inspect the fly. You'd be surprised how big some of these rainbows are in less than a foot of water. I also tossed one of our sculpin football jigs the other day and found some really nice trout along the bluff bank in the trophy area. It was the 3/32nd-ounce golden variant jig. I'm also starting to chase rainbows midging around the leaf lines on the lake. Each fall when the leaves start to drop, leaf lines form when wind pushes them across the surface -- and the trout love to pick off bugs in and around the debris. I generally use a #14 zebra midge in various colors, 6x tippet and a small float. I target midging fish around leaves in all areas down to the Branson Landing. We're still fishing a black jig under a float and catching fish. Now that the weather has changed, we're getting more wind, and that means fishing the chop with a jig and float! Two- pound line and either a micro, 1/25th- or 1/32nd-ounce is working. The sculpin/orange head is a good one to try, too. Berkley's pink worm is good, especially in the choppy conditions. And the mega worm. . . can't forget about the mega! Either a spin or fly rod. White, black, cream or chartreuse colors are good. Oxygen was been pretty good, especially when the water is running. Fish fight strong. It does seem like our trout are more active and feeding when the water starts in the afternoon. And it is slower in the mornings unless there's a chop on the surface. Our guides are still fishing night crawlers early in the mornings, or yellow Powerbait in the paste (Steve Dickey's favorite.) Use two-pound line for best results but four-pound is okay, too. View full article

Darren Saddler Report for 9/24. Cloud cover and cooler temps had the fish feeding shallow. Sight fishing small midge emergers to shallow cruisers put a lot of big fish to the net.

The simple fact is poaching happens, some get caught, some don't. Some get talked to, some will continue regardless because they don't care. And yet, we still have a very good fishery. I learned a long time ago it does no good, for me or the fishery, to fret over poachers. I do what I can and rest well.

All I can say is we don’t do enough of these gatherings. Best people you could hope to meet. Good fishing, which I missed. And of course the food Is always outstanding. And I think we should always invite the ladies from now on. Sandy and Pat were delightful.

Well we found a leak behind a wall in a unit. Tore kitchen cabinets out full of mold. Have to put it all back together tomorrow morning. So I’m out for the float. But I’m going to be there at 1 to meet up with the group.

If it's too low, I thought I'd put in at the Y Bridge and fish up and down as far as I could go in the jon boat. Should be a good bit of water. And good deep water to find some decent smallies.

Salmon Candy is smoked salmon glazed with maple syrup.

66... I took my Bday off facebook so that some ppl wouldn't see it because we had a big Hollister Chamber luncheon today and I knew I'd get called out. It worked! No one knew, that mattered at least. Thanks! I appreciate all you guys, more than you know. Looking forward to Saturday and fishing with a few of you. And I think my wife is going! That's rare - should be fun.

Early run. Lots of browns up there I've heard.

There'll be 2 of us. I'll bring some salmon candy.

Thanks. I may bring someone with me. I'll stick with the jon boat.

Take out at the Y bridge ramp.... where do we cookout and eat?

I can haul a grill.

I'm still planning on it. Trailering a jon boat

We look forward to hearing how you do with the slam. Hard to believe the forum has been around for almost 20 years.... I remember when I started my first "forum", before OAF. It was a basic text thread style board with no controls, no membership and very hard to delete posts. I had all kinds of problems with a few people just wanting to cause trouble. First members - @Brian Wise @Brian Sloss @Brian K. Shaffer @Seth @Rusty @Danoinark @Leonard Keeney @jOrOb @John Smoot @Wayne SW/MO @Jeremy Hunt @Troutbum @Gabe Cross @Sam Potter @3weight @David Carlile @Jcvistait @hunter@heart @rainbow @Steve Smith @Snow Fly @mhall02 other notibles @MoCarp @Rolan Duffield @duckydoty @Bill Babler @jjtroutbum @2sheds @vernon @Gavin all joined in the first month.

Jeremy Hunt sent a pic of a nice brown - said there's been shad come through their turbines a week now.

yeah you're going to have fun.

Our generation schedule here on Lake Taneycomo has been almost exactly the same every day for the month of August with very few exceptions. The water is off every morning, while generation starts about 1 p.m. continuing until dark or after. The flow is dictated by how hot it is on that day, meaning how much generation is needed to produce electricity. So that being said, as fall temperatures arrive, we should see slower flows in the afternoon. But I don't think the pattern of no generation in the mornings will change. Our lake temperature is about 53 degrees while the dissolved oxygen content has plummeted to two parts per million (raw water coming through the turbines.) This is normal for this time of year. Liquid oxygen is injected into the turbines during generation, bringing the DO levels up to five ppm-plus. This will continue until Table Rock "turns over" later in December. While fishing Friday morning, I took water readings just above the Narrows in the trophy area and found the DO to be five ppm and the temperature 55 degrees. I also found the trout I caught very strong and active. There are reports that good-sized brown trout have arrived at the hatchery outlets below the dam. This brown trout run should continue through the month of October, and with low lake levels in the system, we should see a lot of down water for ideal fly fishing conditions through the run this year. Very good catches of browns and rainbows have been reported on stripping sculpin flies, wooly buggers, cracklebacks and soft hackles, as well as midges and scuds. Egg flies should start showing up on the top of our lists for good flies to use later in September. For night fly fishing, stripping a PMS, sculpins, leaches and other streamers should be hot for weeks to come. Also use a glow indicator and a black mega worm or a black 1/50th ounce jig under it. In and out of the trophy area, when the water is off, we're using a mop fly or mega worm in white, cream and peach under a float and good catching some nice browns as well as rainbows. Also, the 50th-ounce black jig is out-producing most other colors of jigs, even in still, clear conditions. The Zebra Midge is working most of the time under a float. Good colors are black with red rib, red flash with red rib and root beer with black rib, all with a black tungsten head. But there's a midge that's doing very well and that's the "snow cone" midge. It's a white head and fished with black/red rib or black with gold rib. Use size, but #18 to #20 in still condition and #14 to #16 if there's a chop. Use 7x fluorocarbon tippet in most conditions, but if the water is running you can go to 6x. Scuds are working fair when the water is off and good with it running. The Provo rig is our guides' choice to drift flies. Fish an egg and a scud combo with the scud on the bottom. We usually get a fair topwater bite in the fall, and after a very good cicada bite in June, I thought this year our trout would be looking up more than past years. I believe I’m right! We’re seeing a lot of activity on top lately, along the banks and out in the middle of the lake. And we’re also a good number of takes using hoppers, cicadas, beetles, ants and other terrestrial flies. This bite should continue through October. You can also drift a scud using a spin cast. I just tie the fly at the end of the line and add a split shot 18 inches above it. The size of the split shot depends on how much water is running. Use two- or four-pound line. And use a #14 to #18 size scud. Drifting below the trophy area has been pretty good lately, especially down at Monkey Island. I've found a good number of rainbows down there eager to eat. I've used both Power Eggs (pink) and night crawlers and have done exceptionally well when the water is running. I've also used minnows up in the area of the resort and caught some nice rainbows. Use four-pound line. Our guides have been catching big trout on jerk baits early and late in the day. They are starting before daylight most mornings and the good bite ends before 7 a.m. Starting about 5 p.m., the bite is good along any bluff bank and continues well into the night. Look at the colors in this brown Darren Sadler caught the other day. Amazing! View full article

Test out repellents? I'm not going to do anything of the kind... once is enough. Got to get some permethrin.

Miles and Michelle stayed with us last night... they told me you guys booked the cabin. I'll go if my schedule allows.

The article doesn't say but I wonder if deet or something keeps them from biting...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/08/13/oak-leaf-itch-mites-cicadas/74780235007/ After walking through our property last week (in the woods), the next morning I had what I thought was poison ivy on my feet, although I couldn't figure out how because I had tennis shoes on. The next day it had moved up to my thighs. Then I had it all over. I get PI but not like this... and the way it was spreading wasn't typical for ivy. Now I just have small scabs and it's all but healed. Then my daughter sent me this article! I didn't have PI - I'm sure it was mites. My wife got them too, not as bad. Greg, who walked most of the places we went didn't get any. Anyone else encounter these mites?