Phil Lilley

Ham- I'd love to come down. Might have some time in February. We'll see.

1/8th ounce with this much water. 4 pound line is fine.

Another video I shot this morning. I found out why they are liking white jigs below the dam... threadfin shad are coming through the turbines from Table Rock Lake. While I did not see any in the water, some of the rainbows I caught had fairly large bellies and they would not leave my white float alone. Another verification- Babler guided this afternoon and told me he had rainbows spitting up shad. Dickey also cleaned rainbows with shad in their bellies. I don't think many are coming through. The trout below outlet #2 don't seem to be very interested in white lures so what's coming through are getting eaten before they get to the outlet. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long, continuous shad run this winter.

I'm uploading another video shot this morning. it's taking forever... it's a huge file.

Looking forward to fishing with you someday, Hamilton!

Line- it all depends on water clarity. After the lake turns over, our water is dirty. it will clear up by late spring. When it's dirty. like now, I use 4 pound line regardless if the water is on or off. Unless I start using Turner's micro jigs or a small fly (water off). I know Babler uses 2 pound Vanish but it's diameter is comparable to 4 pound Trilene except it's fluorocarbon. Even when the water is clear in the summer/fall, if the water is running hard, I use 4 pound. It's debatable if I'm missing fish.

I actually don't like bass fishing much except in streams. But thanks for the mention. I'd just love to fish with the aforementioned... minus the real pros.

Trilene 4 pound XL

Shot this yesterday. Trying out a new camera.

What I could have done: The local vet told me on my 3rd visit to call the specialist in KC. I didn't. Not until it was too late. She said almost right off the bat it could be a fungal infection given the area I lived. Throw in the holidays- falling on Wednesday- it was tough staying in contact with the vet and the attention spent on visiting family. Jackson is doing well. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for me and may be someone else on the forum if it happens to them.

The Branson Airport - runway runs North and South. The C of O runway is East and West. Lots of lights surrounding the college a/p. No lights around the commercial a/p. They just made a big mistake. Thankfully it didn't cost them their lives and lots of others.

Attention! Because of so many seminars, speakers and coordinating meeting places, you need to double check this forum/topic for changes to dates and meet places on an on going basis. Hopefully there won't be many changes. I've added 2 seminars in March. Here's the latest schedule: Seminars will begin at 7 p.m. at each location and end before 9 p.m.. We will have to be out of each facility by 9 p.m.. Each seminar is free to the public. Be SURE you note the location of each seminar. You don't want to show up at the Library when the meeting is at the MDC Nature Center. January 24th - Phillip Stone, Tournament Kicker Bass & Electronics - Springfield Library (South Campbell) Stone will be teaching techniques in catching big bass in tournaments. He will review types of bait, patterns, types of structure and banks that produce locations where big fish live. He'll also discuss electronics and equipment that has proven to be successful. January 31st - Round Table, Trout Fishing, Lake Taneycomo - MDC Nature Center Phil Lilley, Bill Babler and more... Question & Answer session with the Pros. February 7th - Buster Loving, Walleye Fishing, Bull Shoals - Springfield Library (South Campbell) February 20th - Bill Bennett, Crappie Fishing, Stockton Lake - Springfield Library (South Campbell) February 28th - Al Agnew, Smallmouth Stream Fishing - MDC Nature Center Matt Wier and other guys from the Missouri Smallmouth Association will be in attendance. March 7th - Steve Dally (& friends), White River - Springfield Library (South Campbell) March 14th - Brian Wise, North Fork of the White River - Springfield Library (South Campbell) Brian will be talking about how to fish big, ugly streamers on the NFOW. Springfield Library 4653 S Campbell Ave Springfield, MO (417) 883-5366 MDC Nature Center 4600 S Chrisman Ave, Springfield, MO (417) 888-4237

No one hurt- that's the main thing. Listening to KWTO 560 radio this morning. New guy- don't like him. He's spouting off about the incident without doing any research into what happened. Going on and on about it- telling you to call in but he doesn't stop talking. He was harping about making the passengers sit on the plane for 70 minutes... fact is they had to bring a ladder over from the big airport to safely get them off. See they had to transport something like that 8 miles- 70 minutes is pretty quick. Bad they made a mistake but cuddos to them for getting it stopped on such a short runway.

What's amazing is that they got it stopped on the short runway at the college's airport. Could have been a major disaster. http://www.ky3.com/news/local/raw-video-authorities-assist-passengers-on-southwest-airlines-jet-at-wrong-branson-airport/-/21048998/23896516/-/rasvboz/-/index.html They had to bring the ladder over from Branson airport to get the 137 people off the plane.

Lab results- it was a fungal infection. That's why the eye didn't react to any of the medications.

What incident? :-)

If there was a "like" button, I'd hit it. Good post.

#1 rule - I share 95% of my spots. The other 5% are the ones my friends tell me NOT to share. Not trying to be a "nice guy". I figure most of my spots on Taney are already fished. If they're spots on other waters, I don't fish enough off my home waters to make a difference. If I find, say, a good crappie spots on Table Rock, I share it cause I'm not going back to it- probably. But that's just me...

Little video from yesterday.

You didn't tell me about that!!

I did several years ago. I actually called him and visited quite a few times with Rocky. Was going to fly in to his camp a number of years ago and visit while up there but it didn't work out. Haven't talked to him since. Quite a story. Being in the same boat with then President Bush with a buck knife on his hip... not many people were allowed to do that I bet. And if you live and fly in Alaska long enough, you WILL crash. Question is will you live to crash again! I have not had any close encounters but I can sure see how it happens.

Generation has varied some everyday this week but with mild temperatures this weekend, it looks like they're going to run it all day at least Saturday and Sunday. Not very hard though which should make any type of fishing pretty good. Drifting bait will take a light hand, especially from Lilleys' down lake because the water is going to be moving pretty slow. Use as little weight as possible to get the bait to the bottom and stay towards the middle of the lake. If using worms, inject them with air or use a Gulp Egg to make the worms float. I use a white egg usually and a half worm hooked in the middle. Four-pound line is perfect right now. Our water still has some color to it. A pink Trout Magnet has been fishing lights out according to some of our guides. Either use 2-pound line and throw it without a float, letting it sink close to the bottom and feel for the tap or under a float 4 to 6 feet deep. Also a brown jig with an orange head, 1/50th ounce has been working below and above Fall Creek. Still catching a few crappie and bass down at the Landing in front of the wall. Trolling an 1/8th ounce jig, white or brown, or a swimming minnows, purple. Cast it and work it back from the wall too. I found a school of nice crappies last week right in front of Garfields. Guys last weekend found a school of nice 3-pound rainbows down close to the MDC dock below Branson, same side of the lake. It's located down by the treatment plant. Look for the big stocking boat. They caught them on either jigs or spoons. These rainbows were probably stocked the week before off that ramp close to the dock. It's hard to say if these fish have moved. Worth a try though. There does seem to be a lot of rainbows between Short and Fall Creek. This week we've seen dozens of trout rising in the evening all over this area. If you're fly fishing, a Zebra Midge would be good under an indicator anywhere from 12 to 36 inches deep. This holds true above Fall Creek too. If you're fishing above Fall Creek, boating all the way to the cable and fishing down to Lookout is the best place to catch some quality trout. Almost all trout will be under 20 inches but they're fun to catch and release. And there are plenty of sub 12-inchers you can catch and keep. Throw an 1/8th-ounce jig and work it off the bottom. Try a light color, then a dark color to see what they're liking. White or ginger for light and sculpin, olive, brown or black for dark colors. Jig and float- same thing. I'd use a 1/32nd-ounce jig under a float 4 to 6 feet deep. Brown/orange head still one of my favorites but I'd try a white for sure. You never know when and if these fish are seeing any shad come from Table Rock through the dam. Medium size stick baits work well sometimes, especially on large trout. But in bright sun and little wind, they don't work as well. I did real well Thursday throwing an olive 3/32nd-ounce jig straight fishing from Lookout down to the Narrows. They were chasing my jig, getting multiple hits on almost every cast. But in that case, as soon as the water stopped moving, they quit. This weekend, the water isn't supposed to stop. Today it's sunny, warmer but windy. Most stretches of the lake, the wind is blowing down stream. When drifting anything on the bottom (bait, worms), the wind blows your boat faster than the current. This makes your bait rise up off the bottom and travel faster than the water current. Fish just won't bite a presentation like this. They look at it going by and say, "That's fake! Not eating it," so says Steve Dickey (fishing guide). So the key is slowing the boat down to the same speed as the current OR SLOWER. If you have a boat with a front bow mounted trolling motor, I would suggest both parties (assuming only 2 in the boat) stand towards the front of the boat and then point the boat upstream. Then use the tolling motor to slow the boat down. Watch the water next to the boat and make sure it's not moving faster than the boat. We also do this when drifting over a deeper area or drop offs. Slowing the boat down allows the weight and bait to drop down that drop off instead of flying over the top of it. Trout will hold in the drop offs or deeper areas waiting on food to wash through. You can also let line out when drifting over these areas--basically does the same thing.

I couldn't tell ya. I had it restored later. Sold it early 90's.

Sorry I didn't get a recording on this. Hope you and others can make it to the round table talk on January 31st in Springfield. I will get an audio recording of hopefully each seminar and post them.

Ranger! It was my first boat.