Phil Lilley

Thanks. I understand now. Anything to spur on interest in fishing- any kind of fishing- I think is a good thing. The biggest crappie of my life came from a round "tank" in southern Oklahoma not more than 70 feet across. Did it spur on my interest in catching fish as a young kids? Sure did!

I'm about to write a fishing report. I'll take about the low water in it.

Moving this to Taneycomo forum Empire drew too much water out on Wednesday and again on Thursday while Table Rock didn't run any water. It's happened before but usually TR runs water at least some during the day to fill it back up. I noticed yesterday it was up a little in the trophy area but still low. As far as being "fast", are you talking about below the dam? It would be quicker to run out because the pool below, say rebar, would be lower. I called and the level was at 701.5 which is about 8 inches low. That's a lot for up there...

Just to clarify... you did talk about the difference between wild and stocked trout and how you feel about it - you say criticize, but you called people hypocrites that spend money on Orvis equipment and fish for non-native trout. So you're not only criticizing the brand of trout fishing, you're also criticizing those people who fish that way. Or am I missing something? This thread is a little hard to understand. I frankly don't understand your reasoning but you're entitled to your opinion, as long as you're respectful expressing it. I've been blessed to fish for wild fish in many parts of the world, and I've fished for stocked trout here and other parts of the Midwest. There is a difference in my personal satisfaction fish for and catching wild trout but fishing for and catching non-native trout, that satisfaction doesn't follow too far behind. Just trying to understand your position clearly...

Interesting question. Powersite is the oldest dam built west of the Mississippi, finished in 1913. At what point is Powersite deemed too old to stand and is taken out? There would have to be more flow from the dam (minimum flow) or the upper end would be nothing but pools of stagnate water. Stripers and other warm water species would move up in the upper end of the lake at times and trout would be targeted by stripers but if MDC would take this into consideration and stock enough to keep the stripers and anglers happy, it'd be pretty cool! But that's a big IF. Not sure they could stock enough. And then when trout fishing is bad, everyone will blame the stripers - like they do when crappie fishing is bad on striper lakes.

Good post, Brian. CALL me next time you go fishing...

By John Neporadny Jr. Bluffs and docks could be a winning combination for Lake of the Ozarks anglers this autumn. “I would start in the morning and hit as many bluff end docks as I could because those big fish will come up and suspend under those docks in the fall,” says James Dill of James Dill Guide Service and owner of Crock-O-Gator Bait Company. “I have caught a lot of big fish on an isolated dock that other people just blow by.” Quality bass that usually hang along the bluff drops during the summer start suspending when the shad move to the surface in the fall. The bass suspend under the bluff-end docks sitting over depths of more than 50 feet and use the boathouses as ambush points to pick off shad. Dill notes this pattern works best when the water temperature drops into the 70-degree range from mid-September to November. The local guide tempts these suspending bass with a black 3/4-ounce Crock-O-Gator Headknocker Buzz Bait with a gold blade which he retrieves on 17-pound fluorocarbon line along the sides of the dock all the way to the front ends. “I wil start out reeling it pretty fast and then I will slow it down until I catch a couple,” says Dill. “You may hit a bunch of docks and not catch too many but sooner or later when you do catch a fish doing that it is going to be a good one.” Most of the strikes occur on the front corners of the docks although Dill occasionally catches some fish midway down the sides of the docks. The bluff pattern works for Dill on the whole lake, but when he’s fishing the lower end he usually throws a Zara Spook on 14-pound monofilament around the docks in the clearer water. Dill advises any angler practicing for a tournament should run the lake and search a 15-mile stretch for isolated docks on the bluff ends. “See how many of those docks you can find in a certain area,” says Dill, who warns anglers to avoid fishing those docks during practice. Another main lake pattern that produces quality fish for Dill in early October involves stair-stepping a jig down bluff shelves, a structure that big bass live on year-round. Dill opts for a 3/4-ounce Crock-O-Gator Reaction Jig or a 1-ounce football jig in dark colors (brown, green or black-and-blue) tipped with a bulky plastic trailer in the same color. He keys on shelves in the 15- to 18-foot depth range where he pops the jig off a shelf and lets it fall quickly to the next shelf. The local guide repeats the process until the lure drops off into the channel. Dill likes to make a milk run of bluff docks before 10 a.m. and makes about five to eight casts per dock. Once the sun rises higher in the sky and starts casting shadows around the docks, Dill moves to the back of creeks and coves to target shallow docks. “If it is quiet and nobody has been back there you can catch big fish out of a foot of water,” says Dill. The buzz bait still produces later in the day for Dill if he throws it to the shady areas of the docks. Then he likes to flip the buzzer into the wells where the lure’s buzzing sound echoes off the boat hoists. “It sends a whole different sound in there especially on those shallow docks,” reveals Dill. “When you flip all the way to the back and you bring that buzz bait and it is echoing through there, if there is a fish within 50 yards he is coming to eat that thing.” Swimming a jig along the sides and in the wells of shallow docks also produces heavyweight bass for Dill in early October. Dill advises looking for bluegill keeping a safe distance from the docks. “If you are pitching those docks and there are bluegill that are 4 feet out looking into those dock corners there is a big fish there,” says Dill. Bass can be found just about anywhere under a shallow dock, but the bigger fish tend to hide in hard-to-reach areas such as the walkways behind the dock cables and those small cracks in the flotation. “You have to hit those spots where nobody else has hit,” says Dill. 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.

Found myself wanting someone to hit one out just to shut the commentators up!!! That would have been great if Gordon was faster and came around to score on that hit to the wall...

Studies show that 20% of bait hooked fish die while only 5% of artificial bait hooked fish die. That's the reason MDC and other states have this rule in catch and release areas. It wouldn't make sense to allow anglers to kill that many fish in an area where the goal is to grow fish bigger. As for ticketing anyone- if you break the law, you should pay the consequence. Yes there is grace- that's up to the agent and judge. But if you give grace to everyone - tourist - whoever, then why have rules? Why have a "trophy area"? Truth be told, our agents let more ppl off for violations than we think, I believe. Don't know for fact... just what I hear from ppl who have been stopped, checked and not ticketed for a violation they were not aware of. They're in the PR business too. Thankfully, this fall season our water quality is very good. O2 levels are much better than normal and water temperature is still in the 40's. That means big fish survive long fights better, at least this year. Yes Taney is stocked with trout but they're stocked at an average length of 11.5 inches. The 13-19 inch rainbows you'll catch below the dam have been in the lake for a long time - some over a year. You catch and kill those fish and you really can't say, "well they'll just stock some more trout". Yes they will but you're starting from scratch basically, having to grow them up again. It hurts the trophy area to have a trophy rainbow caught and killed before it reaches that 20-inch mark, especially when someone takes a 4-fish limit out and they're all 15-inch-plus trout. I've always promoted education and helping those who have trouble catching trout no matter where they're fishing on the lake. I'll approach anyone who is fishing bait in the trophy area, as a friendly courtesy, but I will not hesitate to call the hatchery and/or an agent if I see continued or blatant violations of the law. My motivation is 2-fold. I want to see big trout in the lake for all to enjoy plus, obviously, I have a financial stake in it. My business mostly depends on this fishery being the best it can be.

Good friends of ours from Oklahoma treated us to a trip to their vacation home on Spring Creek, a tributary of the Taylor and Gunnison Rivers, north of Gunnison, Colorado. John and Valery Johnson owned a log cabin in a tight-knit community on the Spring River for quite a few years. They recently upgraded with other extended family to a larger cabin to accommodate their growing family, adding three grandsons in the last few years. They spend as much time as work allows, although the 11-hour drive makes it a challenge to get away. We arrived Saturday night and started the day Sunday morning, trailering John's 4-wheelers to an access and running up to the upper section on Brush Creek. It was about a 30-minute ride. Most of the creek was not fishable -- too brushy and steep. But we tried a flat meadow where the creek was perfect and found quite a few cuts and browns, catching most of them on a parachute adams. Last 2 images are of a couple of trout I caught. First is a small brown trout and the next is a pretty cutthroat, both took a parachute adams. The trail up to the high country was tough even for our all-terrain vehicles, I thought, but as we were fishing, a white truck came down the same trail! Not really an off-road truck, but just a nice looking Chevy like you'd see on the highway. I wondered how in the world the driver would makes those turns, dips and maneuvers over those big rocks he had to get around?! I guess he made it because we didn't see him high-centered or stuck on the way back down. Monday morning, we headed out early to the catch-and-release area below Taylor Reservoir. I fished this water years ago during the summer. I remember throwing everything I had at the fish with little results. This time we garnered almost the same results. There were lots of nice trout milling around, taking real small insects coming off the water. I caught a couple of browns stripping a soft hackle. Did I say it was cold? The low 30's temperature and a breeze kept our hands numb. John had a real treat planned for us in the afternoon. John and Valerie, Randy and Linda (John's friends from home and neighbors there on Spring Creek) and Marsha and I took four-wheelers up to a peak called American Flag. From their place on Spring Creek, it took us about three hours to make the run. That's a long time on rough four-wheeler trails. We took two Razers and two Polaris vehicles. We traveled through mountain sagebrush meadows in fall colors and woods of tall fir and pine trees, along side small creeks -- and ventured near deep cuts that cascaded down hundreds of feet, sometimes dropping off only inches from the side of our vehicle. Most aspen trees had lost their bright yellow leaves -- but the ones left glowed against the dark green firs. Even the softwood trees that were bare had a translucent glow about them as they dotted in clumps against the vast mountain sides. Spring Creek Reservoir. The trail... As we reached the higher elevations where the snow had fallen, it was as as if God had taken His paint and highlighted the rocky slopes, making the dark areas darker. It was a masterpiece no man could have brushed. The last climb was interesting -- a 30-degree, half-mile run over snow drifts and loose rock. Our Razer had a hard time in the snow drifts, even in four-wheel drive, but we made it. We have never done anything like that before, and we came away wanting to do it again! The view was awesome -- and I don't use that word very often. We did see quite a few elk hunters but no animals. They said it had been too warm to group them up. Tuesday, John and I hit some of his favorite spots. First, it was up the road on the Taylor River at Cold Springs access. John said this spot gets hit hard during the season because of its easy access off the road, but we still found the trout agreeable. I had been doing well on soft hackles, copper johns and parachute adams, so that's what I tied on. They fish didn't like the dry very well, but the Green Butt soft hackle they did! I caught six brown trout right off, then caught the trout of the trip -- 15-inch brookie. John didn't believe me when I told him, so he came over to verify. Even then, he wasn't sure. . . I was. I knew brooks' looks could vary, and the black with yellow spots of this one was more rare. But John had never heard of a brook caught on the Taylor. Next we hit the mouth of the Taylor River above the lake -- and didn't see a fish. There was an angler fishing more out towards the lake using bait, and we did see him catch one. But nothing up in the river, so we didn't spend much time there with other places to go. We drove up to another one of John's favorite spots, Italian Creek. I barely had enough rooms to walk and cast my 3-weight since this creek was small with tight water and not much of it. I could see the small trout dart up and into their holes along the bank before I had a chance to even cast. I finally found one stretch where I could get my adams over non spooked trout and caught one rainbow. That was my afternoon. Italian Creek Wednesday we fished some private water on the Taylor. John assured me that the trout would be big and plentiful. And, yes, we could see there were both, but fooling them was another thing. None of the normal patterns worked. I guess their browns were starting to drop eggs, so John fished a bead. I found they liked to chase a soft hackle (again) and as long as I fished fairly flat water, it worked! John let me fish an extra hour while he returned to start winterizing the cabin. I found a good stretch and caught six browns and then my biggest trout of the trip -- about a 20-inch, beautiful rainbow on my last catch. Wildlife on the trip - antelope and buffalo on the way out, mule deer and big horn sheep. All the rivers and creeks were very low, and this was the latest in the fall John had ever fished. That's what we blamed not seeing any fish in places where John had always done well. Just to experience this beautiful area in the autumn and fish these waters was a real treat. Catching a few fish was a bonus. Yes, I'm smiling...

Take a pic of the boat - esp the boat you think were guides - and post it here. Also if you're at the dam, you can go to the hatchery, if open, and tell them. Take it with your cell phone. If you don't have a camera, note the descrip of the boat(s) and details about the person who you think is a guide. nothing else, call me at 417.337.4130 and I'll call the agent. I would really like to know if guides are using bait or keeping fish.

Are you guys seriously getting into it about baseball??!?!?

First time poster.... featured on OA's main site. Thanks!

You're right about that! Should've left Wano in... feel for him. Pitched his guts out. The Giants flat beat the Cards with a little help from the Cards. We'll see how they do against the Royals. Should be a good series.

Yep...

Generation on Lake Taneycomo is less than it was a week ago. Right now water is running only in the evenings for a short time, with a few exceptions. The water temperature remains at 49 degrees. The wind earlier in the week left tons of leaves in the lake, which made fishing difficult in some areas, but they are gone for the most part. With wind and leaves comes bugs in the water, so you could key in on this when fly fishing or even spin fishing. Fishing small jigs or wet flies under a float close to the surface works well in the fall months. Garlic scented baits have been the fad lately for trout below Fall Creek. Berkley's paste or egg Powerbait has been jumping off the shelves and is catching good numbers of rainbows off our dock and out in boats. Not sure what it is about garlic all of a sudden, but you can't argue with success. The best color has been yellow. Night crawlers is still the bait that catches bigger trout. Either shoot air in the worm or put a floating Gulp egg on the hook ahead of the worm to suspend it off the bottom. Four-pound line is still okay to use since our water isn't as clear as it was this summer. Below the dam wade fishing, there are still a good number of browns up around the outlets as well as rainbows. Scuds, midges and small streamers are the ticket to catching trout up there. Cracklebacks stripped fast when there's chop on the water, as well as soft hackles, are working well. At night, PMS, leaches, Hybernators and sculpins are the top choices. Using a fly with a little red in it seems to be doing the best. Pink Trout Magnets are catching mainly rainbows from Trout Hollow down past Lilleys' Landing, fished mid lake from four- to eight-feet deep under a float. Four-pound line is fine, but two-pound line is better.

and probably the series

Hard to watch

I got ESP... I knew that was going to happen.

That's my target day - Thursday - so I'll stay Thursday night. But it's not set in stone for me yet. When I get to that point, I'll call them and get a room - then post and see if there's anyone who wants to join me. I'll bring a boat, fish part of the morning Friday and head home. Wish I could do more... just a bad weekend for me.

That's an accomplishment!! On 7x. Taney?

Got out last night. Pulled into the parking lot at 10 p.m. and to my surprise, no cars. Zero! I thought this would be the perfect night to be out - no moon, windy, a little rain. Not complaining... it was nice having first dibs on any spot I wanted to fish. I picked Big Hole. Walked down and started just below the stump. I haven't been up there wading during the day this year so I didn't know how it had changed. So walking through it I learned most of that area had filled in with gravel until you get down to the washed out bar on the opposite bank. Then it drops off pretty good. There was good flow through this area too which I liked. I started with a sculpin, #8 gray. Nothing. Then I went to a PMS Olive and I added a large tungsten cone to the line for weight. I casted down at a 45 degree angle downstream (with the wind thankfully) and sued long, slow strips with a small jerk at the end, then pause. I got hit on the swing most of the time, then at the end of the swing. I worked down about 100 yards, catching a dozen rainbows up to 18 inches. No browns. Missed more than I hooked. Broke off on one fish and one hook set. I think the cone was weakening my knot. Walked back up to outlet #2. There was one guy there using a glow stick. Saw him land one nice brown, I think. Two more guys were walking down to Rebar. I waded in above #2 and started fishing the far side to the middle, casting a quarter downstream like I had before. Nothing. Changed flies a couple of times. Nothing. Moved down below #2 and caught 2 small browns. Called it a night at 2 am. Didn't see many fish jumping at all. I know that's not unusual... sometimes they're pretty quiet. It was nice getting out again. I need to get up there during the day and see all the changes before I go back at night.

Royals 4-0 against the O's. Not sure if they'll lose any against the NL team either. Wouldn't that be something!!

Did anyone else have the feeling last night, even at 2-0, the Cards looked hesitant and played like they were still trying to catch up. They need a little of the No Fear the Royals are showing. Loosen up and have fun. I think the Royals are going to win it all... unless they hit a brick wall and the life goes out of 'em.