Phil Lilley

I think these kinds of posts should stay on facebook. No good will become of talking about this.

I have one volunteer. Come on guys... give a Saturday morning to some boys who are wanting to learn how to fish. Put your action what your fingers are.

I am conflicted. I usually start out my fishing report talking about generation patterns and how they've been affecting our trout fishing here on Lake Taneycomo but tomorrow we're in for a big weather change. Cooler temperatures are in the foreseeable future and that's going to change how the Corp is running water on our lake. So, only thing I can do today is guess! See they've been leaving the water off all night, all morning for weeks, I think it's a safe bet to say that pattern will continue. There may be days when the Corp will run 25 megawatts or a half unit all day but there's usually no rhyme or reason when and why they do that. If they run water in the afternoons, it won't be 3 or 4 units like they've been running. An old fall patterns is no water all day, a little "fish water" in the evening -- may be a half units for an hour. We will see! Trout fishing has been pretty normal for late summer. Our water is clear and the trout are picky! There does seem to be more rainbows in our area of the lake and up towards Fall Creek than there's been in a month. Anglers are catching trout off our dock early in the morning on Gulp eggs and worms. But light line is a must -- 2-pound best, 4-pound is ok. One party of four rented a pontoon from us yesterday. I told them to try both down at the bridges and up close to Short Creek. They said they had their limits pretty quick and caught and released the rest of the morning. They did the best at Short Creek but caught fish at Monkey Island too. Another pontoon boat came in with another 4 trout anglers just after this groups and said they caught -- zero. We hear and see that a lot. Someone coming in with glowing reports and others with nothing. Honestly, I can't figure that out. The party that was catching -- they were using our drift rigs (4-pound line) and Gulp Eggs, mainly white, pink and orange. I got out a couple of times this week, once to video and another time to just see what was going on. Both times were in mid morning trips, when the sun was up and bright and the fog had lifted. Water was off and very little wind to start. I was determined to catch something on a dry fly up in the trophy area. I love to fish a dry and love to see the take even more. There was a little bit of surface activity under the trees, close to the bluff bank so I was hopeful. Tied on a #10 Stimulator, 3x tippet and a #18 Green Ugly Zebra Midge dropper 16 inches below the dry, 7x tippet. I had 2 "looks" on the dry and 2 takes which I missed. Caught 2 rainbows on the Zebra. I also tried throwing a 3/32nd ounce jig, straight line no float. Only tried one color -- black/olive. I missed several fish but did land one nice rainbow (video). These fish don't see many small jigs using this presentation so I think you can catch quite a few trout up in the trophy area and even below Fall Creek using small jigs. Use 2-pound line when throwing these small jigs. The wind kept picking up and dying off. It was frustrating because I wanted to switch to a small jig or fly I could fish under a float but the chop on the water kept going away so I decided to head down lake and see if I could find more consistent wind. I did. The stretch from Fall Creek around the corner to Short Creek has had good wind and chop on the surface the last couple of days from about 10 am through the rest of the day. As I came down yesterday, I passed a boat with 2 couples who were fishing. They asked me if I had caught anything up lake and I said it was slow - no wind. They said it had been great fishing for them. I told them it was on account of the wind and chop they were in. I fished a pink/white Trout Magnet under a float 7-8 feet deep using 6x tippet (2-pound) down closer to Short Creek, staying in the middle of the lake and caught several real nice rainbows. Missed a bunch though on short strikes. Again, good chop on the surface. With cooler temperatures and less humidity, we should see less fog at night and in the morning on the lake. If you're up for an adventure, go night fishing. Water should be off at night and trout do bite after dark. Typically, brown trout feed at night. If you were to target browns at night, I'd throw a medium size stick bait and I'd try to throw it in fairly shallow water to start. Close to the bank or on flats are good places. Try cranking the bait in slowly, not letting it go very deep in the water. If you're fly fishing, cast streamers such as Pine Squirrel, sculpins, Matukas, Wooly Buggers, PMS and Mohair Leeches. If you're fishing below the dam (wading) try something that stays close or even on top of the water. Colors- try both light and dark colors and see what they want -- and change often! Here's a fishing report called in by one of our fishing guides, Steve Dickey. You need FLASH to play this.

Wonderful- thanks for sharing.

Wouldn't there be a lot of old Indian artifacts close to a spring? Someone could have been "rooting" for them.

Last active means he hasn't signed in. He still could be reading. It should go without saying that if you buy property along a floatable river like the Niangua, you should be aware of the laws pertaining to access and trespass. Buying land and then promptly placing a chip-on-shoulder is not the way to live life, especially if you're blessed enough to purchase such a beautiful piece of land. It just stressful. Since he hasn't re posted, it's easy to misread into what he has said, at least the motivation behind it. May be he's the type of landowner who would ride down early in the morning to a camper on a gravel bar and have a cup of coffee, chat for a while. I hope so.

Switch your video setting from private to public...

We have a last minute opening tonight and tomorrow night in a 2-bedroom, offlake unit - $89 per night. 1-800-284-2196

by John Neporadny Jr. While the fall weather turns Missouri's trees into a sea of red, gold and orange, the cooler temperatures also energize bass. After spending the hot summer slumbering in deep-water haunts, Lake of the Ozarks bass follow baitfish to the shallows during autumn where the cooler water triggers a feeding frenzy. The recurring fall scenes of bass busting through schools of shad makes this season one of the most exciting and frustrating times to pursue bass. The thrill of watching these fish churn the surface climaxes when your topwater lure disappears in a frothy explosion. However that excitement can quickly turn into frustration when you make countless casts to these marauders and the fish continue to ignore your offerings. The vast waters of my home lake offers anglers a wide variety of areas and patterns to try throughout autumn. After the Labor Day holiday, boat traffic decreases and the bass fishing turns on in the backs of major feeder creeks and the upper ends of the main tributaries. The best areas to try in early fall include the upper sections of the Osage and Niangua Rivers and the backs of feeder creeks, such as the Gravois, Little Gravois, Grand Glaize, Linn, Indian and Soap. Lay-downs and wood stick-ups are key targets for bass in the shallows of the creek. When largemouth bass are chasing shad in these areas a variety of lures will catch fish, including topwater chuggers such as Rebel Pop-Rs, buzz baits and spinnerbaits. One of my favorite techniques for these active bass is to bump a shallow-running crankbait into the wood cover. If the weather turns sunny, I key on shallow boat docks where the bass suspend under the floating piers to ambush shad. Running a spinnerbait or twitching a soft jerkbait close to the sides of the dock usually coaxes a bass out of its hiding place. However the best way to trigger dock bass into biting is swimming a jig and plastic or pork trailer along the dock's foam. I prefer using a 1/4-ounce light-colored jig with a white pork chunk or blue plastic crawfish that I quickly retrieve in a hopping fashion within about 1 to 2 feet of the surface. The main lake also produces plenty of action for spotted bass in the early fall. Marauding gangs of spotted bass can be seen slashing through schools of baitfish along main lake points and islands. The best lures for catching these fish include topwater chuggers, 1/4-ounce Rat-L-Traps and 1/4-ounce spinnerbaits. My guide trip clients usually caught plenty of spotted bass when they worked small topwater chuggers next to main-lake boat Some quality largemouth can be caught in the mornings on chrome-and-black Storm Lures Wiggle Wart crankbaits along main lake points. Later in the day, the bigger fish move into brush piles 10 to 20 feet deep where you can catch them on Texas-rigged 10-inch plastic worms or jigs and pork chunks. From mid-October through November, the lake level usually starts dropping and bass concentrate on the chunk-rock primary and secondary points. Some of the most productive techniques for catching late fall bass on the points include waking a 1/2- to 3/4-ounce spinnerbait, slowly cranking a buzz bait or working a Heddon Zara Spook with a walk-the-dog retrieve. Swimming a jig along the main lake docks also takes both keeper-size largemouth and spotted bass. If the lake level remains high, then flipping a 3/8-ounce jig and pork chunk along seawalls on secondary points also produces keeper bass. 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.

Volunteers Needed! Saturday, September 27th - 9 a.m. till noon Joplin, Missouri Cub Scouts, "Hooked on Fishing" About 300 Cub Scouts will be going for their Fishing Badges on Saturday, September 27 at Camp Mintahama; Girl Scout Camp, 6 miles South of Joplin. They will be required to go through 7 stations on instruction, including tying knots, rigging, tackle, rules of fishing and water safety, identification and handling fish and casting. They will also be fishing. The event will be held starting at 9 a.m. and will last 3 hours. Lunch will be provided for volunteers and their families. Other scout activities will be offered during the afternoon up until "free time" in which scouts will be able to fish again. For those who would like to stay and help with this session, dinner will be provided at 6 p.m.. Each volunteer must take an online course called Youth Protection, it can be found at: https://myscouting.scouting.org/ . It should take only 30-45 minutes to complete. OzarkAnglers Members have been asked to help with this event. It's time to hand the fun and skill if fishing to the younger generation! Contact me a.s.a.p. at lilley @lilleyslanding.com if you're serious about volunteering.

I think some of you guys need to lighten up.

That's some good fishing! There must be a bunch of rainbows at the Landing. Thanks for sharing!!

Yea- he's scratching his head about now...

I don't understand this post...

Fishing has improved. Less pressure and more trout stocked helps. I just posted a report. Hope it helps. They're supposed to run 25 mw all day tomorrow.

Weather change!! This is a good fishing thing. Cooler temperatures here on Lake Taneycomo mean cool breezes (and chop on the water!), a little rain, clouds and less generation in the afternoon, all good for fishing and fishermen. But what are our trout biting on? I won't lie, catching trout has been a little tough this last week. Our water is still cold and very clear. I believe the lake right now is full of trout, at least this upper part of Taneycomo. Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery has been stocking rainbows both last week and this week in preparation for the big holiday weekend. Weather and plenty of trout -- everything's coming together for a nice trout fishing weekend. There's been no generation at night into the morning every day for the last month it seems. Then generation starts most days about 1 p.m. but some days it starts mid morning and builds to 4 units by 3 p.m.. But with mild temperatures in the forecast, we may see that change to less generation in the afternoons. We will see. Yesterday, I found clouds and a nice south breeze as I boated up to Fall Creek mid morning. I tied on a olive micro jig using 7x fluorocarbon tippet with a #16 black Zebra Midge as a dropper 18 inches below the jig. I was fishing in about 5 feet of water so I set the small float 4 feet from the first fly. It wasn't fast action but I was getting a bite every 4 to 5 minutes. My breeze would come and go and my bites followed. When there was a chop, they bit. When there wasn't, not so much. I caught 8 rainbows, 2 on the jig and 6 on the Zebra. I missed a dozen strikes and hooked another dozen that didn't get in the boat. That's been a common tale lately -- lots of short bites and long ranged releases. Our trout are tentative when feeding, at least on what we're offering. I did not try 6x tippet so I'm not sure if it would make a big difference but it goes without saying, smaller tippet equals more bites. This shows the chop that was on the surface yesterday morning. Perfect! I got up below the dam Thursday morning for a short time. I only fished one place -- just above outlet #2. I offered a #18 red Zebra Midge under a very small float and fished it 12 to 24 inches deep. I had several very soft takes with only one hookup -- a small rainbow. I walked up to outlet #1 just looking at fish. What I saw was impressive -- quite a few 20-inch class rainbows cruising around. With the slick conditions, no wind and sunny skies, it may be tough to fool these big fish but I'd throw a sculpin at them if I had another chance. That or may be a big, ugly dry fly -- something they haven't seen much. The trophy area had been fishing fairly well and should be good this weekend because of the wind and clouds in the forecast. In the mornings, I'd throw what I threw yesterday -- a jig with a midge dropper. When the water starts, I'd fish a float, setting it deep with enough split shots to get your fly to the bottom using a #12 grey scud of a white San Juan worm. Guide, Jeremy Hunt had his clients fishing with what he calls a Gut Worm which is a big white San Juan. Even with no generation, rainbows were eating this fly. Jeremy would watch the big white fly and when it disappeared he'd tell the client to set the hook. It worked! Below Fall Creek, inflating night crawlers with air is catching some really nice rainbows from Fall Creek down to Lilleys' Landing. I'd stay off the bluff banks and fish the middle to shallow side of the lake. I'd also try that jig and float or a Trout Magnet and float. Fish them deep if it's sunny but only 4-5 feet deep if cloudy, early and late in the day. Photos courtesy of Capt Steve Dickey, fishing guide.

Speed of current and distance traveled - 15 minutes at least, may be as much as 25 minutes. Very hard to say. I think everyone, anyone who reads this would do the same . . . As far as CPR - there's classes online. I just took one for my coast guard license renewal.

That would be tough, Marty, for both of you to experience something like that. Life is fragile. Make good choices.

O-tay!

done

I have put in a request that the tree be removed. It's nothing more than a "sweeper" that's waiting to swallow another boater.

Wasn't sure I wanted to be the first to post this... since I was directly involved. But I'll comment. They were trying to free fly line in the tree just upstream from the first island below the dam. Corp was releasing 210 mw or 4 full units are the time. They made several attempts to free the line, only to release more line into the tree. They admitted after the fact that they should have cut the line. On the last try, they pulled in to the tree, beside the tree while 2 of the men tried to pull the line out. That's when water rushed over the side of the boat, flipping it, rolling it under the tree. There was one angler fishing at outlet #2. He saw everything. As soon as the boat rolled, he ran up and used the EM phone to call the Corp powerhouse and told them to shut the water down. They did. He also called 911. Gary went into the water and went downstream. The other two men were trapped under the boat, one was pinned briefly. They both managed to get out from under neath the boat and up onto the boat which was above water, up-side-down. That was a miracle in itself seeing both were in their 70's and both with health issues. They had to force their way underwater to get out from under the boat. One man said he had to go under the tree, under water again, to get where he could get up on the boat. One man, who had been in the water, pulled his cell phone out and to his surprise, got a signal. He called my daughter, Megan. We were in our house- I listened to her repeat what he was saying. I got, "We're in the water" and 'we're just below the dam". I rushed to the dock, informed one of our guides who was dropping off some vets, grabbed some rope and a dock hand and headed up in my boat. The guide beat me- his boat was faster. He was holding on to Gary who he found in the water face down and unresponsive. We were just in front of the MDC boat ramp. It took all three of us to get him in my boat. He was very heavy and his clothes were slipping off. Once on the deck, I started CPR. They drove my boat to the ramp where one EMT was waiting. He took over CPR. More emergency personnel arrived. Me and an officer jumped in a boat someone brought up from the resort and headed up to retrieve the others stranded. We found them on top of the jon boat. The water had dropped considerably and there was little current. They were unhurt but cold. EMT's worked on Gary for may be 30+ minutes. With no response, they stopped, but when they did, they got a heart beat and blood pressure. So they took him to Cox where he died shortly after 10 pm. Gary was a Franciscan priest from the St Louis area. I visited with him earlier that day. He was a very nice guy and everyone from St Louis loved him. He attended at the Healing Water meetings there as support.

It was a "Barry Good" event... A little hot late in the contest but everyone seemed to have a good time. I'll post some pics and results later today. Getting ready for our Healing Water event today.