Phil Lilley

Lots of ladies in the crowd too. Husbands and wives. Very nice to see. Thank you!

BTW- I got a unofficial count (cause I couldn't see everyone from the door) of 70... the room had a capacity of 50. Glad the Fire Marshall isn't a Stockton crappie fisherman!

I need to twist MDC's arm and let us use their auditorium at the Nature Center next year. I'll even pay for it. Al's seminar is there this next Friday. Hope we fill it up! Audio will be up later today.

Lorn M. Dennis This week my 79 year old father, my son and I stayed at Lilley's Landing for the first time. I had only seen the resort from the water and a short visit to the fly shop last summer. After adding my son at the last minute, the friendly staff was helpful in changing our reservation to a room that would accommodate the 3 of us. We enjoyed lakefront room and view. Our room was immaculate and ideal for our needs. We found the resort to be clean and well organized. Overall, it was much more than we expected. Now about the fishing: Monday morning dad and I began fishing about 9 am. Prior to this trip, I had primarily fished with Powerbait eggs which kept us out of the trophy area. I had discovered Phil Lilley's video on Jig fishing and had made dad watch it. We tied on black Bassnapper jigs and caught a dozen or so rainbows just above the mouth of Fall Creek. The biggest of these was about 14 inches but very fun catch even though they had to go back. At about 1 pm my son arrived and after lunch we headed back out. We fished just downstream from Fall Creek and caught quite a few fish on both black and olive colored jigs. Tuesday we motored all the way up to Table rock dam. It seemed they were flowing water until about 10 am and generation was just ending as we got there. We still got a good drift out of it. Almost immediately, my son hooked and landed a rainbow that measured 16 inches. In total I would say we caught a dozen or more between us on that drift through the trophy area. We saw a Bald Eagle perched in a tree overlooking the lake while we were up there. We fished the afternoon across from Branson Landing. Several nice fish and we kept about 6 for dinner. My dad and son out-fished me today. I was working the net a lot but you know what they say about fishing with kids (he is 28). Wednesday morning we headed back to the trophy area by the dam. We didn't make it up before the stopped generating so it was a slow drift out. Still, we were able to land a dozen or more fish in about and hour and a half. I'm having much better luck with these jigs and Phil's technique than I have with anything else combined. In the first couple days I tried white and scuplin colored jigs but didn't seem to catch fish with them. Black and olive were working so I quickly switched back. Maybe I just wasn't patient enough. My son had to return home for work and he left around noon. Dad and I headed downstream of the landing a short distance to a place we had heard about. This was the place to be for just the pure fun of it. Over the next 2-3 hours we landed about 50 fish between the 2 of us. We also caught about 6 small browns in the 14-15 inch range. It was almost work catching so may fish. We boated back tired and happy. Thursday after checking we headed back to the spot below the Landing. We only could fish for about an hour but during that time we landed about 20 fish between us. Did I say I like this jig fishing? The weather was changing and it was getting windy so we trailered the boat and headed home about 1130 am. A little more about how we were fishing, I have always used ultra-light spinning rods when I have fished for trout. In his video, Phil suggest using a medium spinning rod. 2 of us had medium spinning rods and found it landed more fish because of a better hookset. The flexibility of the ultra-light rods didn't allow good hook penetration. Use a heavier rod when jig fishing! I have never been able to cast a light jig very far so here is the setup I used: 7 ft. medium spinning rod with ultra-light reel spooled with 4lb. test. I added a slip cast spin float, a bead, then a swivel to the end of the line. At the swivel I used 3-4 feet of 2lb test tied directly to a jig. The spin cast floats are clear and can be filled with some water for weight to help with casting. these are not "bobbers" as they slip back up the line and allow your jig to drop to the bottom. This worked well for all of us and we were able to put lightweight jigs 100 ft or more out from the boat. We had a great time this week. The weather was perfect. 50-60 degree weather all 4 days. Water temperature was 41-43 degrees. Thanks Lilley's and Thanks Phil for the Jig Fishing Video on Youtube.

Right. Need heavy generation for them to poor through. None that I know of but I personally haven't been up there fishing with the water on for over 2 weeks. White still has been a good color even down here in mid lake.

Deer go to water when injured. Cold water must feel good to them.

OK- that explains it! Our resort office has been getting calls today. I'll let them know. I need to contact Adam about speaking for us sometime. I know the biologists down here but not Adam. Thanks!

There's been some confusion about this seminar... I've heard Springfield News Leader posted today that the seminar is NEXT TUESDAY!! I never was contacted my them nor did I send them any information on the event. Hopefully those who are planning on attending has the right date -- TONIGHT!! It is open to the public - FREE. No strings attached.

Yes I'll bring a projector. Just bring your presentation on a thumb drive.

Milder weather has brought the anglers out to play. And there's lots of trout in the lake to play with! The lack of fishing pressure this winter has created a glut of fish it seems. Unfortunately, a good number of them are on the small side. Generation has been slight, running 1 or less units in the mornings and off most afternoons. But there have been some days where they're running half to one unit all day long. No real pattern. Check the SPA chart the day before for generation. We've been seeing these 8 to 10 inch rainbows for some time now. They seem to stay in schools and swarm anything that hits the water. Today I fished at the Narrows, about 3/4 mile above the mouth of Fall creek on the flat shallow area and caught all I wanted on a #16 Ugly Zebra Midge under a float 12 inches deep. One out of 10 were at the 12-inch mark. I did find larger trout close to the east bank, fishing the midge 30 inches deep. I did not catch any of the smaller rainbows there. I can't stress how important it is to seek out a choppy surface when fishing here on Taneycomo. There are dead calm days where you can't find a ripple anywhere but most days when the wind is slight, you can find a chop on the surface around most corners. Even if you have to chase the chop, it's better than sitting in dead calm water and not catching anything. This goes for any type of fishing but especially for using a lure under a float (jig or fly). Our last winter trout tournament is this Saturday and everyone's looking for that edge. . . where to catch the bigger trout. Well everyone wants to do that! The usual places aren't really producing bigger fish it seems. Most times, anglers will concentrate on the area just below the mouth of Fall Creek down past Short Creek, thinking trout have moved down from the trophy area into the bait area and are easy to catch. But we've seen most of the good rainbows come from areas well below the Trophy Area. I've been reporting catching crappie this winter down in front of the Branson Landing. I've also mentioned catching some very nice rainbows while fishing for crappie. Those rainbows are still being caught--there and even further down lake. This levels the playing field, I believe. Almost anyone can fish an obscure area and find a pocket of 16-18 inch rainbows and win this contest; or go home with a nice mess of trout and a good fish story to tell. Need to try down the lake further. Duane Doty fished today and caught some nice rainbows along a bluff almost 2 miles down from Branson. White Trout Magnets under a float 6 feet deep. These trout seem to be suspended for the most part. So fishing either a jig, Trout Magnet or Gulp eggs under a float is working better than fishing something on the bottom. White still seems to be the best color. The depth seems to be 6 to 7 feet deep. Four-pound line is perfectly fine fishing something under a float too. Our water is still pretty stained. Just to clarify, if you're fishing our trout tournament, you can't use Gulp eggs or any other soft plastic baits, nor anything the smells. Flies and lures only. This past weekend when they were running half to one unit, guys did real well drifting a #12 gray scud under an indicator 4 to 5 feet deep with an egg fly dropper 12 inches and drifting over the flats at the Narrows. That was their hot spot. I'm sure drifting the flats from Lookout down through this area would produce fish too but this flat seems to hold the most rainbows.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/blogs/lateral-line/2014/02/potential-world-record-brown-trout-through-ice?src=SOC&dom=fb

It's nothing out of the unusual... it's not a big jump. Traffic has been climbing for the past week. I was just trying to make light of the Bassin' Bob thing...

Stevan Mayes Lake Tanycomo Fishing Buddy Report - Sunday (2/16), Monday (2/17) & Tuesday (2/18). Originally planned to head to Taney on Monday, but left Sunday to beat the ice storm that was forecast for St. Louis. Arrived at Lilley’s mid-day and decided to fish from the dock. Spend a couple of hours fishing and each got our limit of nice skillet size trout, most in the 12” range. Caught most using orange Power Bait on a treble hook, rigged with a small slip sinker held in place with a small split shot. That was enough to keep in on the bottom even though they were running one unit. Also caught a few using a combo of white and orange power egg. Monday morning we got up early and started fishing from the dock around 8:00 AM, but had no luck, so we headed for the dam to do some wade fishing. As luck would have it we must have hit it during stocking as I have never caught as many fish as I did on this trip in the fifteen plus years I have been making trips to Tany, although I'm not a pro by any means. We got there after generation had been cut off, around 10:00 AM. Fished from the cable to the first outlet. I was using a 1/8th ounce solid gold colored Kastmaster, and my friend was using a Super Duper, gold with a red tip. Both of using six foot medium light action rods and two pound Maxima green line. The wind was really kicking up and causing a considerable ripple on the surface, at times almost blowing us off balance. The fishing was fantastic. We fished for about two hours, catching and releasing over sixty trout. Most were in the slot, and averaging twelve to fourteen inches, although we caught a considerable number of fifteen and sixteen inchers. Got one that went right at twenty inches, and that was our biggest of the day. We released everything, which is made much easier by pinching the barbs. Went back up to the dam around 2:00 PM and started in where we had left off. Still no generation, plenty of wind and catching and releasing one after the other using the same lures. Fished for an hour or so and caught and released at least thirty apiece. Drove down to the ramp and saw a ton of anglers catching and releasing one after the other using fly rods and ultra-lights. Got up Tuesday and headed right up to the dam again, knowing there was no way we could equal the day before. We didn’t, we surpassed it. When we got to the dam there was generation, so we waded in as far as we could, again just below the cable. Fished from the cable to the outlet and caught trout on almost every cast. While generation was on, we threw the same lures at about a forty-five degree angle toward the dam and retrieved pretty quick until a strike. Shortly afterward, generation was stopped and it seemed that resulted in even more action. We starting throwing as far as we could straight across and doing a slow retrieve, again resulting in strikes almost every cast. Broke for lunch as we hit eighty fish on our counter. Went back to the same area in the afternoon and fished a couple more hours with no generation, same lures same pattern and caught sixty more before quitting for the day. Many of the fish we caught Tuesday were bigger size, with many in the sixteen to eighteen inch range. The largest nineteen and a half. All catch and release. For a person who does not fish Tany regularly, this was really a thrill. Packed up and headed home Wed., with sore shoulders, back, feet, etc. But, well worth it. Thanks again to Phill and all Lilley’s Landing Staff for the special lodging rate and their friendliness and first class service. Can't wait to return this August for our regular week at the lake.

Yeah- I know it's fishing fever. Traffic has been building for the past couple of weeks. From now till the end of April is crunch time. it is cool to see the site get busier each year.

No spots, Scott!

We had a record day yesterday here on Ozarkanglers. 2,757 unique visitors, over 4000 visits and 25,898 pages. Wonder if it was Bassin' Bob and his friends?

Oh man... that would be a first I bet!

I can bring some but can't do any business in the library. Their rules. But can afterwards in the parking lot. I can bring short and long sleeve shirts and hats. $10 each.

Just come!

Sweet!

Bob Bennett will speak at the Springfield Library on South Campbell this Thursday at 7 p.m. Free to the public. Bob is a fishing guide on Stockton and has specialized in catching crappie throughout the year. Please plan on attending - tell your friends!

Pics?

Several guides have big enough boats on Taney, they can handle a family of 5. You can call our office at 1-800-284-2196 and ask about rates for guides and our units.

Yep- need flash. Ipads and Iphones won't work.