Phil Lilley

Had a bear come up on my porch at Naknek one night - found footprints on the deck. Hear him- felt the cabin rock. The doors on those cabins are hollow core... wouldn't take much if he wanted in.

1 and 3 are the same fish. I didn't notice the order... I take pics of the head and full fish usually.

I think they may be so convoluted now that no one can name them anymore. Been catching some males, yellow tints, that are really pretty. Clear bold spots and nice red sides. A lot of the males are dark and not pretty though.

Caught these just off the gravel bank below the Narrows today on a #14 Peppy scud tied on a 200R hook, weighted. More rainbows caught but I didn't want to get the camera wet!

What are you LOL'ing... Update: Water is off color a bit at our dock this morning but fishing is very good. Ryan says anything "garlic" is catching rainbows off the dock and in boats.

I don't think so. Gig marks would come from the top wouldn't they? A heron stabs his prey- this looks like a stab mark but an old one. It could be either... Giggers haven't been on the water since last spring? Or early summer. Not sure when season is.

Generation on Lake Taneycomo still hasn't changed much. If anything, a little less water is running in the afternoons with less volume. The water temperature is the same -- 48-49 degrees coming through the turbines, and oxygen seems to be staying at high levels -- all good for trout fishing. Even with good conditions for October, that doesn't mean our trout don't bite at times. Two days this week you'd have thought someone had shut off the feeding switch. Even our guides said it was tough, especially after the sun rose high in the sky. Those who did catch a few trout found where the surface of the lake was choppy because of a slight breeze. Those who went to fishing night crawlers, injecting them with air and floating them off the bottom did the best this week. Using four-pound line was fine for even fishing still water -- no need to go to two-pound line. The best areas were from Short Creek down along by Lilleys' Landing. Where there is wind, that area has been a good stretch because it blows south northward. Fishing a Trout Magnet under a float five- to seven-feet deep in a south wind down lake from here has been working very well for most people. In the Trophy Area, fishing has been pretty good fishing out of a boat using scuds and midges from 7:30 to 8:45 a.m., but after the sun comes out, it has been tough unless the wind picks up. "Peppy" or gray scuds in sizes #12-#16 or "mink" or brown scuds in the same size have been working good as long as you get the fly on the bottom and crawl it along. I ventured out yesterday afternoon right as the water came on and started fishing at the bottom of the Narrows. At first I had a small zebra midge under a float fishing it deep in the channel, picking up a few, but when the water picked up, I put on a #14 Peppy scud with a #3/0 split shot and set the float at six-feet deep. I worked the east bank, which is the more shallow side, as the water came up and picked up rainbows on almost every cast. They were moving up with the water, feeding on bugs that were in the gravel, I guess. I worked this bank almost to Fall Creek. There's a long, flat bar that extends out and there were fish all over it. I did take off the split once I started fishing the flat because the water was only 12- to 24-inches deep, and my scud was weighted. Here's a map marking this bank. It really is one of my favorite shallow banks to sight fish for trout. Click the map for a larger view. Orange marks the best area. I also caught rainbows on a #16 ugly zebra midge under an indicator 18 inches deep. I caught those fish along the same bank and on the flat in 24 inches of water, targeting trout I could see. Another hot combination is a Miracle Fly (egg fly on a small jig head) under a float and a zebra midge dropper 18 inches below the egg. Fish it three- to four- feet deep early, then move it within a foot of the bottom as the sun gets up. From the looks of other reports and Facebook posts, anglers are catching some nice brown trout up below the dam. They are making their annual spawning run. Browns are being caught around outlet #2 on a variety of scuds. Once the water comes on, anglers move back and line up below the outlet as the water rises. Then it's dead drifting scuds along the bank where you'll see both browns and rainbows lined up. The trick is to change flies often -- big, little, gray, brown, olive, with and without tinsel or flash. It really can be good fishing! I've seen people do well stripping a crackleback for browns this time of year. I've caught some nice trout below the Rebar in the swift water stripping crackleback and woolies in the film. You might try it. Michael Kyle with a nice brown he caught Thursday night. Night fishing has picked up, too. Quite a few anglers are fishing at night, wading in below the dam and throwing streamers from the cable clear down to Trophy Run. Sculpin, leaches, PMS, wooly buggers, pine squirrel, even dead drifting scuds where there's current. Friday, October 10 We received a reported 2.5-inches of rain last night and this morning, but it was a slow rain and the ground soaked up a lot of it. Run-off was minimal but it did color up the lake from the dam down to Trout Hollow. But I actually like this colored water -- it's still a green tint, and the fish were feeding for much of the day today. One unit is running as I type this, so by morning most of the colored water will move below our place. Friday afternoon I again hit the bank at and below the Narrows. I started with the same #14 Peppy scud under a float six-feet deep but added a fluorescent pink San Juan worm 18 inches below the scud. I worked the bank out and picked up a few really nice rainbows around the laydowns (trees in the water). Four pictures follow: Note the heron beak marks on the first rainbow. I'd say he got lucky. The second rainbow is a male -- note the dark colors. Both these trout were NOT hooked in the mouth. The first one was hooked in the anal fin and the other in the cheek. I hooked and landed two other smaller rainbows on this bank -- they were hooked in the eye socket. On all these hookups, the indicator moved just as it would with a normal "take," but all were not hooked in the mouth. Strange! My net is 21-inches from the end of the handle tube to the top of the hoop, so both rainbows were pushing 18 inches. I didn't do as well on the gravel bank or flat. The lake's surface was flat, which attributed to the slow fishing. Fishing today off the dock and out in boats was pretty rewarding. We've told people to try night crawlers. They're always good after a rain because worms get washed in the lake during a rain. I'd try close to mouths of creeks for at least a few days because the trout should be looking for worms! Additional Scud Info: Here's a picture from my archives: I had in an aquarium of freshwater shrimp a few years back. Note the colors; I count four different colored scuds in this image -- olive, gray, tan and brown. Here's a picture of the Peppy scud I was using. The Peppy scud was created by Rolan Duffield of Leawood, Kansas, a long-time Taneycomo trout fisherman. He uses fur from his dog, mixed with gray antron dubbing to make the Peppy.

One more.

Largemouth and Spotted Bass 2014 data.pdf Here's a chart that Shane Bush sent me. It shows 2014 figures and compares to the last 2 years.

Not sure if I ever posted this. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/table-rock/2013-table-rock-lake-annual-report-mdc/

From our biologist, Shane Bush. He's over Table Rock and Taneycomo.

I don't know.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/2014-m-d-c-lake-taneycomo-annual-report/ Shane noted the progress on our brown trout - he's very pleased.

Finally are ready to start taking orders for this great painting. Here's a link to a page I created -- http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/?p=3832 David himself may be coming this weekend to deliver some of the art. If you want to secure a special number (#5-150) or have him do an artist remark, let us know and plan to be here at the resort sometime this weekend.

Thanks for posting!

Tracy Frenzel is a great artist - and that's what you need to have a good replica made. Measurements and a good pic - that's what you need to provide. Length and girth. If there's any special features on the fish like spots, white tips on fins, color- try to get those pics, closeups.

I started with 5x cause that's what was on my rod when I started. But went to 4x after breaking off - it didn't seem to make a difference. In the past, I have gotten leery of using heavier line at night- after not getting a bite for a while, I've been known to tie on 6x... I usually still don't get bit.

I could fish Thursday, may be Friday but like last year I have a party coming in that weekend at the resort that requires my attendance.

Generation patterns have remained the same for well over a month here on Lake Taneycomo, even though typically this time of year a restriction is usually put on the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers as how much water can be run through Table Rock Dam. The water has been off most mornings, coming on about 1 p.m., building to four units by 4 p.m. and gradually dropping to zero units by 9 p.m. Most tailwaters experience seasonal drops in dissolved oxygen in the fall months because of the depth of the lakes above the dams. Liquid oxygen is injected into the turbines as the water is run through to boost the O2 levels. Even then O2 levels can be dangerously low for fish in the tailwater, so restrictions on flow are made. One thing that can make a big difference in retaining O2 in water is water temperature. Our water temperature is normally in the low to mid 50's in September and October, but right now it's 48 degrees. This helps O2 levels and keeps our trout from stressing in current and when being fought by an angler. This could be a big reason why dam operators are still running up to 200 megawatts so late in the season. I have noticed when fishing and fighting trout in Lake Taneycomo that they are fighting just as hard as they fight in the winter and spring when O2 levels are at their highest. This is particularly good news for the big brown trout making their way up to our headwaters to spawn. Bigger fish need more O2 to live and if they're hooked, fighting hard to free themselves off light line can be a death sentence in warm, low O2 water. There's a little color starting to show up on the bluff . . . The best fishing lately has been early in the morning before the sun gets up over the bluffs, from 7 a.m. until 8:30 a.m.. It's also been good after generation starts in the afternoon remaining profitable until dark. Mornings have been pretty still, no wind. When there's no wind and the surface in glassy, fish don't tend to bite well. It's been best to use either bait on the bottom or a lure under a float. Live bait bests: Night crawlers or Berkley's Powerbait. Minnows are not attracting trout well right now. Anchor well off the channel and fish where the water drops from shallow to deep. Using four-pound line is fine right now since our water isn't as clear as it was this summer. Inject air in the crawler, making it float off the bottom, or add a Gulp egg above the crawler to do that same. Suspend a Trout Magnet or Miracle fly under a float from four- to eight-feet deep and fish the deeper water from Lilleys' Landing down to the city bridges. Also try a jig and float, same depth, using a 1/100th-ounce ginger, brown/orange, brown/orange head or white jig. If fly fishing, fish a #14 red or P&P Zebra Midge under a float either 12 inches (if trout are rising) to fie- to six-feet deep. You may want to drop to two-pound or 6x tippet when using small flies. Our guides are fishing either in the trophy area below Lookout or staying below Fall Creek and fishing down to Cooper Creek. They're fishing the Trout Magnet when fishing below us and a variety of small flies and jigs under a float if fishing in the trophy area. Pink or pink/white is still the TM of choice. As far as flies and jigs, they use lots of different kinds, colors and sizes. The key here -- they change lures often. One jig may work to catch a couple of trout, then nothing. That's when to change. Don't keep throwing the same lure over and over again thinking the trout will wise up and hit it. Show them something new, and chances are, they'll take interest. When the wind kicks up, that's the best time slip on a float and tie on a jig, even in the middle of the day with a high, bright sun. The chop on the water acts as shade for the fish and they tend to rise in the water column looking for food blown in to the lake by the wind. Also try a dry fly along the banks. The breeze will blow grasshoppers and other insects out of the trees. Good dry flies to use would be ants, beetles, hoppers, Stimulators, Elk Hair Caddis and a fly called the Big Ugly. Also when it's choppy, strip a wooly bugger, soft hackle or crackleback, especially if you see rising trout. We haven't had a lot of good midge hatches this summer, but when we have, the trout are keying in on them. Fish a Zebra Midge under a palsa float 12 inches below the surface around midging trout, too. Keying in on brown trout moving up the lake to spawn is always a question we get this time of year. When the water is running, especially on cloudy days or late in the day, throw stick baits and work the lake from the Landing all the way up to the dam. Not all the browns will spawn at the same time. This period is spread out over a six-week period from the first of October through mid-November. Brown trout will be in different stages in different parts of the lake. Leon Johnson with a pretty nice brown caught last week close to outlet #2. Brown trout are typically aggressive feeders and will chase lures like stick baits. Guide Bill Babler says to use a Lucky Craft Point #78 in Brown Trout or a Luck-E-Strike RC STX in either the 3.75- or 4.5-inch deadly black illusion or the secret night color. Both these baits are suspending and work best when retrieved hard and fast with long pauses between jerks, as when fishing for bass. Trout Magnet makes a good, affordable crank bait that works well. There's a 3.5- and a 2.5-inch bait in either brown or rainbow trout. And of course there's always the old standby -- the Rapala. Bill recommends using the floating series in gold or rainbow, picking the F-5 or F-7 in size. Anglers target browns, and rainbows, at two of the hatchery outlets below the dam, especially when there's generation. Trout bunch up in the flow of the outlets in the fall because the water coming from the hatchery is rich with oxygen. Most fishermen are using flies such as San Juan worms, scuds, woolly buggers and streamers. Night fishing in the fall for big browns is very popular below the dam when the water isn't running. Try stripping medium to large streamers from the cable below the dam clear down to Lookout, all accessible by bank. Be sure to be familiar with the lake before wading in. Know where there's deep water and big rocks since both can cause a wade fisherman problems. Good streamers are pine squirrels, leaches, PMS, sculpins, and woolly buggers, as well as big articulated flies. I drove to the dam last night for some night fishing. I pulled into the parking lot at outlet #2 at 11 p.m. to find only four vehicles. The moon was in the Waxing Gibbous phase (half) and starting to drop behind the bluff to the south of the lake and there was a light fog on the water -- the combination lit up the whole lake. I waded in just above outlet #2 and started casting. I started with a #8 blood-red beaded leach, casting almost straight out and letting the current swing the fly downstream. If the lake is drained totally out from the previous generation, there should be a slow current in this section of the lake. I caught a brown right off the bat and missed several other strikes before breaking off on a bigger fish. I tied on a ginger PMS and on the first 10 casts I caught three rainbows and another brown while missing another three strikes. Then it went dead for a while. I kept moving around to cover more water, walking out, then down, then back, moving about 10 feet each time. I varied by retrieve -- the most effective was a slow, long strip pausing 3-4 seconds between strips. They seemed to like it just swinging in the current. The strikes were sharp and fast, most times setting the hook themselves on the strike. I broke off on one strike it was so hard. I ended up moving down past the outlet for a short time before calling it quits. Caught one more brown on an olive PMS. Dress warm, even on a warm night. The water is cold and so is the fog. Remember, brown trout have to be 20 inches or longer to keep and you're allowed one brown per day. If you're thinking about getting a trophy mounted for the home, consider having a replica made. They are basically the same price now, they look the same as a skin mount -- most times better -- and a replica will last much longer than a skin mount because the skin mount will break down. The biggest and best reason to choose a replica is that the trout returns alive to the lake to be caught again as an even bigger trophy!!

I belonged to Friends... we dissolved the non-profit years ago. The Branson TU chapter is still viable but inactive. That would be the easiest thing to do is to reactivate the TU chapter. I'm the president... all we need is new leadership, fresh blood, new ideas and it would go. There has been talk of discontinuing the chapter though. Since new chapters in St Louis and KC have started, the Branson chapter isn't needed anymore. The BTU chapter was started in the early 90's when MDC started talking about new regs on Taney. The chapter helped give support. Since then, the chapter has had trouble coming up with new ideas and projects. The old guard served the chapter well but most have moved on, passed on or lost interest. So... I'm open to whatever.

Fishing actually was very slow for me. Snags beat Fish 8-3. That means I lost 8 jigs and only caught 3 trout.

Caught a nice rainbow this evening. Below Lookout, water dropping out but still running may be 2 units. White 1/8th oz jig. Looking for browns...

Thanks for the report!

Nothing wrong with a challenge... and that's how it was meant.

I wasn't naming names... no need to take offense. Besides you don't live in the area.