Phil Lilley

I have scales...

Let me clear it with staff (my wife & daughter mainly). We have a big writer's event that week but this shouldn't create too much work for us. I think it'll be an off weekend being between tournaments.

Again- I'm not a bass guy but are you going to run into conflicts on any weekend you pick? Might look at the regatta's already issued in March.

Ron and Susan Bland We arrived at Lilley's Friday afternoon, December 12th, and two units were running. We unpacked and I drove to the dam to check out the water level. With two units running I hesitated to try fishing because of the limited wading. I finally decided to give it a try and fished below the boat ramp for about half an hour just before dark. I had a couple strikes on a micro jig and a Crackleback, and hooked and lost a nice-sized fish. On Saturday I woke up to two units running again. With my wife along and knowing wading was going to be tough, I volunteered to take her to the outlet malls because I knew she wanted to go, and I thought it would be good time to get it out of the way. I thought it would only take a couple of hours max (I should know by now!). Anyway, about 3:00 she agreed to let me go back to our room to retrieve my fishing equipment and then drop her off again at the outlets (mall) while I fished. Long story short, I got to Taneycomo about with two units still running. I walked down below the boat ramp a ways and fished along the bank. I really wasn't set up like I should have been for the heavier current, and didn't have a lot of time to fine tune things. I hooked a nice fish on a black/yellow micro-jig and fought it for quite awhile before the hook popped out as I prepared to land it. One more fish was hooked that gave me a short fight before escaping. I was on a quick-release roll. Finally, as it was getting dark I noticed a few midge rises close to the bank, and the current appeared to have let up a tad. As I prepared to change to a midge pattern, I realized that the light was too dim to see to tie on a fly with my prescription sun glasses, and my regular glasses weren't with me. (I made a mental note of that situation for future reference!) Anyway, I finished off with the micro-jig without any other strikes, and the current seemed to pick up again. As I was leaving I made a decision that if the water releases were high again, I may try to hit either Crane Creek or Roaring River. Up to this point although conditions had not been ideal for wading and my fishing times had been short, I was pretty sure that it wouldn't be too hard to exceed the low bar of fishing performance I set so far. Sunday I stayed on Taneycomo and was able to fish for about six hours. One unit of water was supposedly running so fishing was easier for me than the previous couple days, although there was still quite a bit of current. I fished again downstream from the boat ramp and caught several fish this time. I didn't really hammer them, but had enough action to make things interesting and caught fish on a variety of flies. That was part of the problem because I never could really narrow it down to one fly they were really hitting (most likely a personal problem). I would catch a couple fish on a particular pattern/color, and that would be it. I caught fish on zebra midges, micro jigs, soft hackles, and a nymph. The fish I caught were all rainbows that were all pretty normal-sized for the trophy area. A couple fought like wild trout, making long runs and jumps. It was one of those days that makes fishing so fascinating to me. I always leave the water trying to figure out what I can do to improve things the next time out. No day fishing ever quite reaches perfection and some days make me wonder how much I really know about the sport. Fishing is not like some sports where you can determine pretty quickly are going to require skills that you were not blessed with and will never achieve. Fishing can participated in and enjoyed at a multitude of levels as a life-long sport for just about anyone. (A little off the subject there.) Monday morning Taneycomo was running four units, and the wind was howling. I decided it might finally be a good day to try Crane Creek. I didn't arrive at Crane until after , and not being familiar with the area, it took me a while to get my bearings about the lay of the land and access points. I ended up fishing maybe three hours, and caught a handful of trout. The trout weren't big but fought very hard, and were beautiful. It was a fun afternoon, a little like a combination of hunting and fishing. Casting was tough with the brush and the wind, but I somehow managed to get back with all of my flies. Crane Creek is definitely a place I would like to fish again when I get the chance. One of the things I have heard mentioned in reference to Crane Creek is that is a snaky place. I will have to say, at least in the area I fished, it looked like that could be the case at the right time of the year. Maybe that helps keep people away.

OK- the only weekend we have openings is the last weekend of January - 30-31. Would that work?

I like it. I'll do whatever I can to help. I'll supply the trophy- we're making custom trophies for our trout tournaments right now- can put a couple together for this. I can cook too. But I may even put in a team. See if this trout fisher can put one on you bass guys...

This is actually kind of interesting... I wonder when you click the like button it records another page view. Heck this might be a money making deal for me!!

I'd like for everyone to consider Taneycomo for the next group outing. As far as lodging, a weekend in December is easy for me to offer a next-to-nothing rate. There might be a weekend in January I could do something. Boats - stalls I could comp. We may put something together for this January.

Depending on the forum and the traffic it gets, it takes a LOT of traffic to make google ads pay anything, and again, depending on the site, there are expenses. I pay 2 companies hosting fees (one for the forum and one for the main site), domain fees and support fees for this site. After that, I do make a little money but I try to do things with that money like OA decals, functions and sponsoring events. I also advertise OA a little.

Can't like your own post... sorry. To "unlike" is to reverse the "like" vote. Carry on...

I can turn on "negative" votes too but I thought that would brand too many members as being negative all the time. And we wouldn't want that... not PC.

OK- I set the limit to 50 per day. It wasn't allowing anyone to "like". Should work now.

I'll check the settings...

He catches them on stick baits- suspending. I'd guess RC Sticks?

They only show up if they're running either flood gates or sometimes when they're running 4 units for a long period of time. So- not very often.

I didn't know it had limits...

The "like" thing I just turned on. I thought it might be amusing.

From today - The walleye are 18.5 inches. Compare them with the crappie- those are big crappies!

A little... I was just curious about Firefox. Thanks

My understanding mostly on stick baits between K and Beaver Creek.

Just curious.... how many people block ads on ozarkanglers? I just updated Firefox and now it automatically blocks google ads. Didn't know if this was the case for everyone.

Thanks for the report - and appreciate you jumping right in and posting a fishing report.

Friday pics -

Duane, Cody and I put in at Rim Shoals about 9 am on Thursday. They were running minimum flow? Not sure. But we got above Red Bud Shoals pretty easy with Duane's Tracker. It's got a jet! Inboard. We wanted to throw jigs- and we did. Mostly 1/8th ounce, some 3/32nd ounce. Sculpin/ginger was the best in the morning. We ran quite a ways up river and started drifting. Was a little hard getting the fish started but they came around. Mostly rainbows with a few browns mixed in. Plus - a nice surprise - we started picking up cutthroats! Nice! No brookies though. We made one drift down to the shoals, then back up. More water! And junk in the water - grass and moss. So we ran up futher- almost to Cotter and the RR bridge. Water was lots clearer and fishable. Duane started throwing white and we followed cause we was catching more fish. More browns started showing up. Then I hooked a nice brown - about 20 inches. Ended the day with 9 cutts! Cool!! Not sure how many other fish we all caught. Over to Riley's, grilled salmon and deer back strap- then bed. Friday morning, I wanted to show Duane some new water. Schedule said they were going to run one unit till 11 am so we put in at the dam at 8:40 am. Boated up to the red signs and Duane caught a nice rainbow on his second cast. It's on! Nope- it's off. They shut the water off and it dropped out fast. No more fish- pulled out and headed to the confluence and Norfork. Decided to put the boat in at Norfork and run up in the tailwater till we saw wet spots on the bank. We didn't get far. Fished out to the White - nothing. But we did find a few there where the two came together. Pulled out again. Drove to Handicap Access and waded in. We were fishing there at the first shoal when a guy in a truck pulled in to the parking lot, milling around. I remember this place is known for break in's so we didn't go far. He left but we didn't change our location. Caught a few on Zebras and soft hackles. Back to Rim and headed back towards Cotter. Looked like they were running 150 mw again but wasn't sure. We threw white jigs and the trout liked them! Lots of browns- more than Thursday. At one point we caught 9 consecutive brown trout with a cutt thrown in. It was fun throwing to either wood or rock and see browns come out of dark places after our jigs. Ended the day at dusk. Back to Riley's to meet the boys. Had a great time meeting and visiting with guys from the forum. I think everyone had a good fishing day. Thanks for the good food!! Hope fishing was good today.