Phil Lilley

Planning on bringing a jon or bass boat.

I'm planning on being down there at daylight on Friday.

Arrived on the Mid-day on the 4th. Temps were in the 60's and winds were lite. Met up with an old freind and floated from Cooper down to the Island. Caught a lot of good sized fish on pink power magnets and small rapalas. It was a great time and we had the lake to ourselves. Woke up Thursday to a little sleet. Waited about an hour and it seemed to clear up. We out for a couple of hours and fished the same stretch of water. Fish seemed to sleep in. Caught a few which we kept for dinner. From there things went down hill. Snow started and didn't stop until Friday afternoon. We were not able to get back on the water but did get out and about to see some sites.While i was there to fish the combination of new snow on the hills with all of the decorations for Christmas decorations and lights at nite made for a great trip! Thanks Lilleys'.

It could be a browser thing if it's not a wide spread problem.

12 inches here? May be? Up till 2 am pushing snow around. Up on the dock- lots of fun. Looks like I'm getting up there again soon. Want to go fishing... hopefully later today. Trout like to eat in the snow.

Had someone say they're having issues quoting and copy/paste links or picture URL's today. We had a TON of spammers register the last few weeks, unbeknownst to me, through a back door. That got fixed yesterday by IPB support so I'm thinking they might have cause this issue, may be, if there's an issue. Anyhow- all 3000 spammers were zapped and the door closed. They didn't get all the way in... just to the front porch.

Sounds perfect

We are on our way to Springfield rain, ice or shine. Hope to see a few of you there. Plateau Fly Shop.

Parsons is my old stomping grounds. Cut my teeth on McKinley, Parsons, Grand Lakes and countless farm ponds around the area. Didn't get over to the pits much. Big Hill Res. is just west of town. It was built after I left the area so I don't know much about if. Supposed to be a good bass lake with lots of structure left in the lake. I have a couple of good buddies that I bet would take you to a few places when you arrive in town. The Neosho River at Chepota is a good hybrid/white bass/catfish place at various times of the year and he fishes that often. Kelly is on the forum so he may jump in on this topic. Grand Lake is another good lake a short drive away.

Actually jim is supposed to be in the fly shop for the majority of the day tomorrow. It's not a presentation like I assumed it was. Jim is driving from Michigan today. Hopefully he'll make it all the way today and be in the shop in the morning. I'll post if it changes. So come by the shop any time and talk to jim.

Even if you never plan on going to alaska, come out and hear about it. It'd be fun seeing new friends.

Jim Johnson, owner of Naknek River Camp out of King Salmon, Alaska, will speak at the Plateau Fly Shop in Springfield on Thursday, December 5th. Here's what is posted on Plateau's Facebook Page: Jim Johnson from Naknek River Camp @ The Plateau on December 5th. Jim Johnson the owner/operator of Naknek River Camp and Blue Bonefish Belize will be at the shop on December 5th for a question and answer session. He’ll be in the shop because Plateau Fly Shop is very excited to be organizing a fishing / bird hunting trip to Naknek River Camp from Sept. 6-13, 2014. We will be fishing for Silver Salmon, Arctic Char, Artic Grayling and BIG Rainbow Trout. This river is known for lots of Bows and Really BIG Bows, fish from 22” to 28” are common and the lodge has caught Rainbows as big as 36” on the fly. Bird hunting will include flyway ducks. Ptarmigan hunts are also available for an additional fly out fee. We currently have 5 spots reserved and 11 openings still available. Jim will be holding the 2013 rates for the Plateau group. The price for the week will run $2,495 which includes lodging, meals, guides, Brooks Falls bear viewing trip and duck hunting. The total cost of the trip with airfare, hotels, meals, tip and airport transfers should run between $4,000 to $5,000 per person. Naknek River Camp lodge’s website can be viewed @ www.naknekrivercamp.com and check out his other place in Belize @ www.bluebonefishbelize.com If you are interested or have any questions please contact Mike Manzardo @ mike@plateauflyshop.com. Or, come on in the shop on December 5th and meet Jim Johnson. This is the camp I go to almost every year. Jim and I have been best friends since the mid 80's when I met him and his wife Phyliss at their lodge on the Pere Marquette River in central Michigan. I would HIGHLY recommend this camp. For the money, you can't find a better value in all of Alaska. These guys flat know how to catch BIG fish and lots of them. My personal best rainbow is 35 inches with numerous rainbows between 28 and 32 inches, 30-inch-plus dollies and of course big silvers. I will be at the shop on Thursday- hope to see a lot of you there.

Fishing off the dock has been fair. Did have a big rainbow caught 2 days ago and a spot! A kentucky bass about 17 inches! Both on a brown 1/32nd oz jig. Both released.

Cold weather has come to the Ozarks just like most of the Midwest. Do fish like the cold? Yes they do! Not just trout but warm water species like colder water temperatures, too. The change triggers a big feeding binge before hard winter sets in, just as a bear gorges before he hibernates for the winter. Taneycomo trout like colder water temperatures simply because they cause Table Rock Lake to turn over, sending water high in oxygen into the lake. That energizes both rainbows and browns to start their own feeding frenzy -- a dream come true for us fishermen! The annual event that we all look forward to has happened -- Table Rock Lake has turned over. Without going into a lot of technical jargon, let me explain a little: Table Rock's layers of water, separated by temperature, density and varied levels of dissolved oxygen have mixed together, all throughout the depths of the main lake (over 200 feet deep at the dam face), sending good oxygenated water down to the depth of 130 feet where Taneycomo gets its water. Now the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers can release water through the dam and not have to inject liquid oxygen into the flow because O2 levels are good coming from Table Rock. They will be until later next summer when Table Rock's water will start to separate again, and we'll start this process all over. Fish pic courtesy of Steve Dickey. With the turnover a couple of things happen that affects our trout fishing. First, the O2 levels are very good and our trout can now breathe easily. They are also free to feed without having to pause to get their breath, literally. We see a big increase in our trout biting, aggressively. Second, the lake's water temperature rises a few degrees. Third, the water we're getting now from Table Rock has a lot of dark silt in it. Visibility lessens for about a month until the silt settles back down to the bottom of Table Rock. Silt is kicked up by the turning of the lake. Cold water from Table Rock's surface sinks (cold water is heavier than warm water) causing the warm water below to rise and the mixing action causes turbulence, which disturbs the bottom of the lake. This silt doesn't really bother our trout, but we do have to present our lures, bait and flies with this in mind. We tend to use bigger and brighter flies during generation, the same for lures and live bait. Generation the last few days had been non stop but now has slowed, with only one unit running or less all day. Now that Table Rock has turned over, it's hard to say if this pattern will continue. As I said, the Generation can make it tough on wading below the dam, but it does make boat fishing pretty sweet. Fishing pressure has been minimal the last few weeks, giving our trout a break from the pounding of anglers up and down the lake. In the little I've fished, the rainbows have been hungry and aggressive, taking small jigs I've thrown under a float. We ventured out last evening for a couple of hours, boating up below the dam and drifting back down. Fish pic courtesy of Steve Dickey. We started throwing 3/32nd-ounce jigs straight, with no float, but the wind was making it hard to see or feel the bite which was soft. So we put a float on and dropped to a 1/32nd-ounce jig. White worked real well, but so did a brown with an orange head. I set the float any where fromfour- to five-feet deep and drifted without dragging it. That's important. If you see the float dragging at all, it means you're jig is riding up and not working as it should. I had to make a conscious effort to keep the boat moving at the same speed as the current, which was blowing up lake. The bites were pretty hard, taking the float under, but some were slight so we really had to watch the float closely. We caught quite a few rainbows, hardly none below 12 but nothing longer than 14 inches. Leonard Keeney was fishing out of the back of the boat and throwing small crank baits. He was using a Live Target Rainbow lure. He caught as many rainbows as we did on jigs but again, nothing very big. I boated up to just above Riverpoint Estates this morning to make one short drift to see what they trout were doing. Pinched a night crawler in half and hooked it on a #6 hook, in the middle letting the worm hang off both ends, and pinched a #7 split shot 18 inches above the hook. They're running 80 megawatts of water at 706 feet which translated to 1.5 units. And yes it was brisk! Kept the boat in the middle of the lake to avoid the snags on the bottom on the bluff side of the lake. First bite took my crawler. . . I'm out of practice drifting with crawlers. Second try -- fed another trout. Third try I timed my hook set right and hooked a nice 13 inch-rainbow. Fought hard, dogs were excited. Darby (Jackson's mom) is visiting for the holidays and loves to fish. Jackson, of course, does too. They both went into fish-pointing mode when the rainbow broke the surface. Next I put on two PowerBait Gulp Eggs, orange and white. Hooking fish on this rig is easier than crawlers, and it didn't take me as much time to hook my second and last "picture fish." Beautiful morning... two deer and one fox on the bluff bank and lots of herons and two bald eagles.

Nope. If anything, they can now run more water, almost unrestricted, without spending $$$ on oxygen.

A Corp internal notice- Dissolved Oxygen conditions in the tailwater of Table Rock dam have improved, the new recommended maximum generation rate is 80% nameplate capacity; 160 mw total or 40 mw per unit. Please continue to spread the load across all units. If generation above 160 mw is required, LOX injection is available with 42.5 T LOX on hand. Should oxygen levels in the tailwater during 80% nameplate generation prove to be less than 4 mg/l, then LOX injection should occur as needed.

You're in a good place... lots of members up in your area and fish the Gasconade. Welcome

We have 2 winter trout tournaments scheduled this winter. The first is on Saturday, January 25th and the next is on Saturday, February 24th. Both are buddy tournaments, 2-man teams fishing out of a boat (no wading fishing). http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/2013/11/24/winter-trout-tournaments-scheduled-2014/

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/2013/11/24/winter-trout-tournaments-scheduled-2014/

My nefew Ryan killed his first deer Friday- a button. Then he killed another button- his shot was 315 yards. Pretty neat. We came home with 2 does and 2 buttons. I passed on a very nice 8 which I should have dropped... hindsight. I'm not used to seeing bucks that big. The farm I hunt on frown on killing small 8's and I misjudged this one. I compared nicely with the racks on this living room walls. I was after meat- not a rack though. Had a great time. Hunted up close to Browning, MO.

Steve Brigman says he's coming but staying with a friend in Cotter.

Sorry Ron, we've identified the weekend as the 14th weekend. Hope you can come fish with us. I'll be down there all day Friday.

Pontoon: 2006 Voyager 22-foot pontoon, 2006 75 hp Honda motor. Center Console. Good shape. This is a pontoon from our rental fleet so it has a lot of usage, but good upkeep and maintenance. 2 live wells. 4 fishing chairs-2 front and back. No trailer but we have a trailer you can borrow to move pontoon to wherever you need it. We sold a twin to this pontoon last spring for $7,000. Truck: Need a good work truck, 4-wheel drive. Prefer a full size bed. Looks is not a consideration.

I assume because there's no posts here says killing this weekend was tough? I bet it was extremely tough. I did not go. Will go Thursday to north Missouri where hopefully it's colder. This is great fishing weather though!!!

Chiefs went man-to-man. Nor sure how many teams go man-to-man against Payton and come out on top. And yes- give him all the time in the world and he's going to burn you. The announcers said they didn't know why Denver just didn't go to the short pass all night because it was there almost every time. I agree. I think Denver will see a lot of changes to our defense in 2 weeks. That's on the coaches...