Phil Lilley

Lots of rain last night in the White River watershed... NW Arkansas got more than we did (up to 3 inches) and we got an inch. The lakes above us are going to shoot up and that means we'll probably see flood gates again opening today or tomorrow. I'd imagine the level will be the same as before- equivalent to 4 units.

I feel your pain...

Generation has been interesting this week. And for that, I have delayed writing my report because as soon as I get one written the Corp turns on 8 flood gates and everything changes. So I'm going to try to get it all in before the next change. Lake water temperature is 45.7 degrees which is up from the 43 degree water we've been seeing for most of the winter and spring. That's good for our trout and for catching fish. The Corp ran 8 flood gates earlier this week to stabilize Table Rock after a big rain sent both Beaver and Table Rock shooting up. At Table Rock Dam, two turbines are down (not able to generate) leaving only two units to control water flow from the lake above. This isn't a problem unless the need to move more than 6,500 cfs of water through the system. This is when they have to open the flood gates to make up for loss of the 2 broken turbines. When the flood gates were open, the water over the top was about 59 degrees and cloudy compared to 45 degree clear water coming from the turbines. The first time up there to fish, I thought for sure I'd find trout on the warm water side, thinking they like the 58 verses 45 degree water. I was wrong. We caught fish in the middle to over to the cold side of the lake, not many on the warm side. I'm reporting this because we're only one rain away from flood gates again. Personally, I get real excited when flood gates are open on Taney, especially in the spring. The fresh, warm water seems to bring up the big trout. No telling what is washed in to the lake but my guess is small shad, minnows and other warm water fish. One thing is clear--our trout start looking for and hitting about anything white after flood gates are opened. Last week, we caught quite a few rainbows in the 15-19 inch range--we just couldn't break that 20-inch mark. Other anglers did including Steven Stammer with a 22-inch brown and Steve Bartholomew with a 21-inch rainbow. These trophies were caught on jigs and both released. I was lucky enough to land this 23.5-inch rainbow on an 1/8th-ounce sculpin/ginger jig Saturday morning. He was on the inside bank across the lake from Trout Hollow. Steve Dickey's clients did well while the gates were open, landing these two rainbows coming on shad flies. After the gates closed, back to 2 units 24/7, trout fishing continued to be good. Marabou jigs from the dam to the MDC boat ramp, both white and darker colors, still caught some nice rainbows and a few browns. And also back to drifting a scud/San Juan Worm or scud/egg fly combos. But the other day, Steve Dickey told me his clients were having trouble hooking their trout using the drift rigs and flies. He said he picked up a rod and tried it himself. He felt the bites and set the hook but missed every one. He thought if he couldn't hook the fish, his clients didn't have a chance. So he rigged them up with a float and ran the same flies 12 feet under the float with a couple of #4 fly shot to get the flies to the bottom. They started catching fish immediately. No dry bite yet. I see where this may be, should be a big cicada year. Every spring, I'm hopeful we're covered up by the big, noisy bugs because fish love them. When there's a bunch in the trees along the lake and they start falling in the water, we'll throw a cicada fly. That's a blast! But we'll see what kind of numbers there are. Prime time in late May to early June. Below Fall Creek, I've seen some real nice rainbows brought in, caught on night crawlers and Gulp Eggs, drifting from the mouth of Fall Creek down past our place. There doesn't seem to be any big schools of freshly stocked rainbows anywhere but we're still looking.

You're right- but they are getting more user friendly, advanced which is nice for people like me who don't do remote control things or play video games. I would own a drone camera setup but for that reason. I would buy this or something like it.

I'd put my money down for it but it bothers me that it won't ship till next year. I'm sure they're trying to raise money for production but that's a long time for the competition to put something out before it even comes out. Then I'm stuck with a product that may be obsolete and I don't even have it yet! I sent it to my son in law who works for Garmin and told him to get busy making me one

https://www.lily.camera

By John Neporadny Lake of the Ozarks pros Guido and Dion Hibdon tinkered for a long time with a ball head jig- and-worm combo and devised a screw lock keeper on the jig head that is now standard equipment on today ís shaky heads. The shaky head concept has been around for years, but the popularity of this lure has skyrocketed recently due to the latest innovations in ways to hold the soft plastic on the jig and make it weedless. A shaky head jig combined with a 4-inch finesse worm has become a deadly tactic on Lake of the Ozarks and some anglers are discovering the jighead also works well when combined with other soft plastics. Dion Hibdon favors this rig because the shaky head makes a worm stand straight up for a more natural presentation than a Texas-rigged worm, which tends to lie flat on the bottom. ìIt makes it look like a minnow feeding on the bottom,î describes Hibdon. A plastic craw is also one of Dion Hibdonís choices to attach to a Luck ìEî Strike Finesse Round Jighead. The Missouri pro has occasionally paired the shaky head with a Zoom Brush Hog, but most of the time he sticks with plastic mud bugs such as a Luck ìEî Strike 3-inch Guido Bug. Hibdon favors using the Guido Bug on a shaky head because the craw stands up better than when it ís attached to a conventional skirted jig. He also believes the shaky head craw has a more natural appearance than the standard jig-and-craw combo. ìThey make these crawfish natural-looking enough now and if you put it on a skirted jig that is just a little too much,î Hibdon advises. His color choice for the shaky head craw is melon pepper, which he describes as a translucent green pumpkin hue. He also gives the craw a more natural look by dying the tips of its pincers chartreuse or orange. The former world champion employs a different retrieve than most anglers use with the shaky head. He makes sure his craw stands up more by letting his line go slack as the jig sits on the bottom. ìI believe in giving all of my lures a little slack line,î he recommends. ìA lot of people move their lures way too much.î After letting it sit on the bottom for awhile, Hibdon will twitch the shaky head craw once or twice and move it with his rod. Then he lets it sit on the bottom for awhile before moving it again. Hibdon will shake the lure constantly when he is fishing for spotted bass. He works his shaky head craw on a 7-foot American Rodsmiths Magnum Spinning Rod (medium/fast action) with a Bass Pro Shops Johnny Morris Signature Series spinning reel spooled with 8- to 10-pound line. The shaky head works best for Hibdon in the clear sections of Lake of the Ozarks, but the touring pro has noted co-anglers fishing behind him have caught fish on this rig in dirty water too. He opts for the shaky head craw any time he wants to target spotted bass. It is especially effective for him in the fall when the fish are hanging around rocks. A shaky head craw also draws more strikes for Hibdon than the conventional jig-and-craw when bass are on the nests. He has noticed nesting bass will ignore the jig-and-craw, but inhale a small craw rigged on a shaky head. For information on lodging and other facilities at the Lake of the Ozarks or to receive a free vacation guide, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com. Copies of John Neporadny's book, "THE Lake of the Ozarks Fishing Guide" are available by calling 573/365-4296 or visiting the web site www.jnoutdoors.com.

Just got in. The wind must have laid down a bit- more gusty which let us fish some. We made a few drifts and did fair on white jigs. Then they shut the gates down. Don't understand- TR is still above 917 feet. We did better after the water shut down. Some on white, some on brown/orange head jigs. Report coming....

Jerkbaits - use as heavy of line as you want. Doesn't matter. You're working it so fast that they don't see it.

Water is in great shape. No mud.

Looks like they'll run it for at least 3-4 days. That's with no more rain and no water from Beaver. Dickey said his clients CRUSHED big rainbows this morning on white shad flies below the dam. 20 rainbows in the 16-18 inch range. No monsters yet. If you're heading this way, take advantage of this run, even if you don't like to throw stuff like this. I think you could catch some fish at the boat ramp- shad fly with some weight, may be a 1/4 ounce bell. Steve said they didn't have to get to the bottom- fish were coming up and taking the flies up in the water column.

4 is fine.

The water isn't coming off the top of the lake - but 10-15 feet down? At least that deep.

56 coming over the top, 42 from the 2 units. 53 at Lookout.

You got it!

May be just below the cable above outlet #1 but it'll be a roll cast of bring a spey rod. Lots of sink tip.

Just Received: I wanted to update you on some things that are happening at Table Rock Dam and releases that will happen later today. During the storms this weekend, we lost a transformer differential and we are in a forced outage (can't generate power) with Units 3 and 4. Since the lake is predicted to crest at 918 msl, we are required to release 15K CFS. We can only pass approximately 7K through Units 1 & 2, so we will be spilling approximately 8K CFS through the spillway beginning sometime around 12:00 today. I'm passing this information on to you as I expect you might get questions from the public/visitors. This would be the same discharge we would have if all 4 Units were running (generating power). I would expect this operation to continue until we get back into our conservation pool. Jim Sandberg Operations Project Manager Table Rock Dam I know this might scare a few people but... historically, I've had some of the best fishing on Taneycomo when the gates are opened in the month of May, which seldom happens. This flow will only be as high as 4 units normally. It's not "flood conditions". Get your white jigs out!!

http://extra.mdc.mo.gov/documents/area_brochures/9725map.pdf Was driving by the other day and had some extra time so I decided to drive off highway 60 down to Capps Creek to see what was down there. I hadn't really looked at any maps or info on the area so I had no idea what to look for or where to go if I wanted to wet a line. I drove as far as the bridge crossing the creek. The water was covered by trees and brush - not inviting. But I knew there had to be more angler friendly areas to go, but I didn't have that much time to explore. So for the novice you wants to explore Capps Creek, what should we look for? Thread pinned.

Just wanted to give a report. The rains have changed things up a bit. They're running 2 units 24 hours a day now. That much better than 3 or 4 units. Table Rock has jumped up 1.5 feet and probably will go may be 6 inches higher. Beaver on the other hand has really gone up and that water will have to pass through Table Rock at some point. As things stand now, I think 2 units 24 hours a day will stabilize Table Rock for now but another rain may mean heavier generation. Yesterday was tough fishing for everyone. When the water temp goes from the 50's and 60's down to 43 the trout don't like it. Seems to put them in a trance. If they bite it's real short and fast. But they'll snap out of it. Today should be better.

I'd say generation, hopefully just moderate, for most of the time. But with more rain in the forecast... we may see heavy flows.

I've heard of ONE person getting out of a similar situation with white bass on Bull Shoals years ago but I wouldn't recommend it. Clean the fish, store them then go back out after midnight.

I pinned this topic Should help you out. Any other explanations- just add them to the pinned topic.

Another member alerted me to the news. Searching his name, I only see who handled the funeral arrangements. I will follow up next week and see if I can get any other information. It would be nice if we can find out there's a memorial fund we could give to.

Wayne SW/MO passed away on April 25th. George Wayne Kirtley lived in Rockaway Beach, Missouri and had been a member since the forum's creation. I didn't know Wayne well but he did fish a few of our trout tournaments over the years. His posts will be missed.