Phil Lilley

Even after the forum was back up, we were blocked for some reason. The fixed it and we're back on.

MDC clips the adipose and pelvic fins, not the pectoral fins. This fish lost his dorsal fin another way. Not sure you can tell a triploid brown from a regular brown by looking. I can ask...

http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx%C2'> Check this site out tomorrow afternoon and you'll know what SPA "say" what they'll run this weekend. Hard to say. Right NOW it says 2 units for a couple of hours in the am then off the rest of the day. Doesn't lit Saturday yet. Read my last 2 reports. I can't add must to them. Conditions and fishing hasn't really changed in weeks.

Sent to me from John Wenzslick- Over the weekend two of us drove down to Broken Bow, OK for a TU meeting at this beautiful little gem in the Ouchita Mountains. The Beaver Bend State Park is built around the Broken Bow Lake on the Mountain Fork River which eventually runs into the Arkansas. The Oachita’s remind me of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas because they are more steep and rugged than the Ozarks in Missouri but the striking difference is that the forest is mostly tall Southern Pines. The park is a 450 mile ride from Mid-Missouri but is within about 150 mile radius of big cities in three states: Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock and Dallas/Fort Worth. One of our hosts from Tulsa pointed out that 5 out of 6 license plates you see are from Texas. We ended up fishing parts of two of three days that were cold and rainy, Saturday March 1st an all-day meeting so of course it got up to 75F that day. The Mountain Fork is unique for a tailwater because there are two dams on Broken Bow Lake. One is a spillway which has flood gates for emergency release at the top but has water drawn from the bottom continuously. It flows down a fairly steep grade that has pools and runs. This is called the Spillway Run and the pools run swift but are wadable, you just have to be careful navigating around the big flat pieces of shale rock that are strewn at different angles all over in the 30 ft. wide river bed, with some flat bare rock on the bottom that I was glad I had studs on my wading boots. Our second morning there I caught a nice rainbow about 15” on a mini bead head olive woolly bugger and my buddy caught one about 17”. The very next cast he caught a Brown 18”. A young man who guides for the parks Fly Shop sat on the bank and was watching us fish, he told me he was waiting for the BWO hatch which should start about 11AM. He had been stalking for a while a big Brown Trout and wanted to catch it with a dry fly. About 11:30 I heard him yelling for me, I was just upstream, he had it on and wanted me to take a picture for him. When he got it into the net it was a long lean stream bred Brown 18”-20”. It made a fine picture and had a size 26 BWO emerger in its top jaw. Pics to follow... Thursday afternoon when we arrived, we were directed by our host to try the gentler meadow part of the lower Spillway Run that is called the “Evening Hole”. The sun was out and there was a small March Brown hatch and one angler up from me was getting them on the surface. Our host was picking up little browns and rainbows on a hares ear soft hackle and a woolly bugger and my buddy was catching a few on browns zebra midges. One of the ladies from TU in Dallas started getting them on the surface too. I finally did snag a couple nice 10”-12” rainbows stripping a #14 green Crackleback. In about the middle of the Spillway channel the state has fixed up a little quarter mile run that is about 10 ft. at the widest point and resembles a beautiful little spring creek. We didn’t fish it because we found it our last day there but there was a man and his young son getting a few small rainbows with the fly rod. The “Evening Pool” on Spillway Run The other dam about a half mile to the east of the spillway on Broken Bow Lake houses the power plant. It spills into the main channel of the Mountain Fork passes the Heritage Center, Restaurant and campgrounds and a little below that goes over a re-regulation dam, there it is a 200 ft. plus wide river. When the generators are running this stretch is a typical tailwater, it’s not wade fishing. We were going to fish the Red Zone (Trophy barbless hook area) down here on our last morning but the sirens went off right before we got there so we took a look at the area and went back up to the upper spillway branch, where the water is always running steady at the same flow and is just like a beautiful freestone creek, and caught three fish each before the thunder and lightning started. This is really a delightful place but we were told it really gets crowded in the summer. The regulations on most of the water are Blue zones where you can keep 6 fish per day with one a Brown trout of 20”, there are also a Red zone on the Spillway Run and on the Mountain Fork Tailwater where it is barbless hooks, C&R. You are assured though that if you make the long trip down that you will get to fish for trout. When you arrive it isn’t like your typical tailwater. Even if they are running a lot of water you still have miles of stream that you can catch brown and rainbow trout and if they aren’t running water you have a chance to catch a really big trout in the tailwater section.

Put some fat on those bones... it's called insulation!

No shad. Marsha asked as we're watching the video... "You're really not going that fast are you?!" Wish I was... they'd be fun. DD- you never saw my Shawnee 18' jon I had with the 90 hp motor, front stick steering... that was FUN to drive!

Phil didn't go.... he had to stay home and catch trout. Key word: "had".

Here's another extended version.

They aren't going to outlaw it. Too subjective. Enforcement nightmare. It's been discussed many times. I understand and agree with MDC's stance.

1/8th ounce white jig. It's a rod I have made in Harrison, AR - one piece. I have 6 and 6"6". I like them...

This will come out with my report later today but I thought I'd post it early.

OP- I think you have to be here and see it for yourself AND you have to be an avid trout fisherman to understand.

Gezzz that's nothing. Taney's trout can flat get with it behind someone that's shuffling. I may have to go out and see how many rainbows I can get touching my feet. At least we'll have the San Juan beat at something...

There are areas on the upper lake that are ideal for shuffling and there are areas that are not. You need current and gravel to shuffle. If you really look at the wadable part of the lake, most areas are not good for shuffling thus you can get away from them if you want. I fish the Rocking Chair down to the boat ramp, catch nice fish, and never see anyone shuffling because the bottom and current isn't conducive to shuffling. Boat ramp to Trophy Run- the chute there may be good for shuffling but don't know if they've found it. By boat- the whole trophy area can be waded if you have a boat that can take you there. So the only area that shufflers use is from the cable down to Big Hole. If that's the only water you like to fish then you're affected by the shuffler's technique. But Taney's much more than just this quarter-mile stretch. BTW- using your hand to fish like that is illegal I believe although it is splitting hairs.

Told ya I videoed the weigh in... my near camera didn't work out.

Ice is already gone. Remember the water from Table Rock is a balmy 43 degrees. Supposed to be in the 70's by the weekend!

I've only seen Lake Taneycomo completely freeze once in the 31 years I've had the resort. That was back in the 80's and it only lasted over night. When they kick the water on it breaks up and goes down lake. I didn't get up early enough to see the lake frozen but this is evidence that it did and it was rather thick. Big chunks floating down lake - quite a sight to see.

Buster Loving will be conducting all the classes on March 8 and half of the classes on March 9. March 8 11am Locating Bass in New Waters 1pm Local Techniques for Bull Shoals Lake 2pm Spinning Reel Tactics for Bass Pro Shops 3pm Does the Color of your Bass Lure Matter? 4pm Become a Smallmouth Specialist 5pm Choosing the Right Soft Plastics for Bass March 9 11am Locating Bass in New Waters 1pm Topwater Techniques for Bass 2pm Spinning Reel Tactics for Bass Pro Shops 3pm Does the Color of your Bass Lure Matter? 4pm Become a Smallmouth Specialist 5pm Choosing the Right Soft Plastics for Bass

The presentation Al did last evening involved mostly images of sections of rivers and creeks he fishes, taken from google earth and enhanced to show depths and current. He explained basically where to look for fish in these situations. Providing the audio of his talk won't do the listener any good because he won't have the images Al is referring to and Al does not want to post these images. I am going to go through the recording in the next couple of days and see if I can edit and provide at least some of his talk.

I'll start a new topic and announce this... The presentation Al did last evening involved mostly images of sections of rivers and creeks he fishes, taken from google earth and enhanced to show depths and current. He explained basically where to look for fish in these situations. Providing the audio of his talk won't do the listener any good because he won't have the images Al is referring to and Al does not want to post these images. I am going to go through the recording in the next couple of days and see if I can edit and provide at least some of his talk.

Real nice to meet you guys. Sorry the fishing was so tough for you.

Someone just pointed out that I had the incorrect dates for Steve Dally's seminar listed on this thread. It is Friday, March 7th! Thanks!

Good to see you here again, Clay. Thanks for sharing a very special event in your life!

Mark Wittington is providing updates for me. He's pretty involved in this process.

The Missouri senate closed today without bringing the bill to the floor. It will convene on 3/3. That means you still have time to email your rep/senator.