Phil Lilley

Was invited to fish this tournament by Lane Shumaker today. Gosh what a nice event! Yesterday they took us all up to the back of Dogwood Canyon to shoot. I can't tell you exactly what we shot but they were 320 sniper rifles (I think). Renaissance brought in 2 Marine Camp Pendleton sniper instructors to demonstrate and then let each one of us shoot targets at 200, 300 and 430 yards. Most of us hit the targets, I was 1 of 3. One guy hit the head (8x6 inch target) at 430. The rifles were built by the marines themselves and were not gov't issue. Pretty awesome stuff! We were treated to a nice dinner at Big Cedar, over night at Spring Valley Lodge and then almost 6 hours of fishing this morning. Renaissance brought in 15 pros to fish with 30 guests. The winners were Pete Wenners and Danny Cox (pitcher for the St Louis Cardinals). They're 3rd angler could not make it so they boated just over 12 pounds between the 2 of them. We only ended up with 2 keepers (smallies) caught by Lane. Lane actually caught 3 other keepers but the pro could only have 2 of the 5 fish weighed in. Gregg Bettis (Our other angler), and I caught several 14 inch smallies and both lost keepers at the boat. Great time! Now for a fishing report. Water in most places was very clear and low to mid 60's. We didn't look for or see fish on the beds but anglers did say they saw and they did catch some bass on beds. Lane said most beds are deep - 10 to 15 feet deep. We fished with and caught our fish on either a shaky head, a tube or grub. I fished mainly a grub, smoke, and got my bites in 13 to 20 feet of water. We didn't catch much up shallow at all. Wenners and Cox caught all their fish on topwater! Pete said he had been fishing corners of docks close to spawning banks. He said this by far was the best topwater day so far this season. Others caught fish on topwater but most fished shaky heads, grubs and tubes. Pretty equal I'd say. If you could find any colored water, the bite was better. We found some in the last 30 minutes in Clevenger Cove, right side, but it was too little too late for us. I felt out of my element... haven't fished for bass in a very long time.

You added another feather in your cap - Grandpa. They change your life, Doty!

I knew I'd catch it on the shorts...

I frantically was trying to find out what was running... making that noise... when I opened this thread. First I thought it was the google ad or someone hacked the site with a mp3 file. Annoying is an understatement!!

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I use facebook. Use it for keeping up with friends, family. Use if for our business, church. It's a good tool. I don't really seek out fishing stuff on it though. To be honest, facebook is direct competition for OA and OAF. But it is what it is. I don't begrudge people who use facebook for their fishing stuff. I believe a forum is a better medium to share information to a broader audience. But that's not what some want to do - and again I understand it. I'll be very honest - I've wanted to have a site built to incorporate the forum and website into a combined site, integrated with social media like facebook. The developers said they could build a social site around fishing- they'd be nothing like it. But the cost, 6 figures, put a damper on the idea. I don't have the business savy to do it. I think fishermen will keep coming back to the forum for one simple reason - because there are good anglers here to love to share information, and as long as you all stay, OAF will do ok.

We have 2 G-3's in our rental fleet plus I used them as my own when they weren't rented. First I love Yamahas - have used them for 10 years and have had little trouble with them. The G-3 is great for the money. I like how the handle and fish. I'd get at least a 90 hp or you'll have problems getting out of the hole with more than one person in the boat. I do use 2 strokes. The 4 stroke may create problems with weight but not sure.

I think he took it back... Regardless, we need to move past this.

I've been told the white bass are thick upper Bull Shoals between Barker and the dam. "Easy to catch".

I had a long post written this morning before I had to run off to church. I was going to exert my "admin authority" and rebuke, delete and ban. Now that was funny! I've been thinking about requiring all members, now and in the future, to use only their real name as screen names. I think it would have helped in this topic. It's easy to talk smack when you're not invested personally. And it's an unfair advantage when you battle a person who's name is known and yours in not. But don't worry- that won't happen... any time soon. Lighten up, everybody. Go fishing, then write us a fishing report with pictures!

I made a quick run up to the dam this evening and made 2 drifts from the bottom of Big Hole to below the MDC boat ramp, fishing the north bank with an 1/8th oz white jig. I caught 8 rainbows, these averaging 14-15 inches easy. But that's not the norm lately. Usually catch a bunch of 11 inchers along with a nice one here and there. Then I made a drift from well below Lookout and worked the bluff bank down to the Narrows. I caught 4 rainbows. These averaged 13 inches. At the Narrows, I'd given up and was going to go in, reeling in my last cast quickly when a saw a very, very nice brown on the tail of my jig. I could see it as clearly as anything, as I stopped, he caught up, took the jig and started to turn his head. I set the hook only to pull the jig out of it's mouth. That was way cool man! Worth the trip out in the cool evening air. This picture doesn't do the real thing justice...

In the trophy area, right now I'd say 13 inches on rainbows. Hard to say on browns since I catch 100 rainbows to one brown.

For your first post, you're starting off on the wrong foot... unless you left off a smiley face at the end of your statement.

Had a couple of clients out this morning. Catching was slow except for this nice rainbow. 21.5 inches. Drifting a miracle fly- hooked her just above the MDC boat ramp below the dam. Released. Kyle Long from Wichita was the lucky angler. We drifted miracle fly (egg fly) up at the dam for a while but they just weren't taking it. Tried scuds over the flats at the narrows. Steve Dicky was catching some there but we couldn't get bit. Ended up drifting Gulp eggs, orange/white, from Fall Creek to Short Creek and picking up quite a few- and caught some nice rainbows too. That was our best bite this morning. Running supposedly 75 mw or 1.5 units today.

We are working on our monthly newsletter (Lilleys Landing) and Megan wanted me to get some fresh fish pics... what a pain!! Lots of water running this evening. Ran to the dam (boated) and made a quick drift working an 1/8th oz sculpin/ginger jig on the bottom. Only one rainbow. Tough to feel the bite I think. Ran back up and made one more drift, this time with a white jig. Lots more bites and hook ups. 3 rainbows and a brown. Had the place to myself.... imagine that!

I think you'll find quite a lot here. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/eleven-point/

I don't think this will change things much. Fish won't move... they'll be back to the same patterns quicker than everyone thinks. I thought may be the crappie would shut down yesterday because of the change in weather but they didn't.

Pat- You're thanking the right person. Glory to God.

As soon as I report they're running water all the time, they leave the water OFF ALL DAY.

You're signing off "moderator" now? This authority is going to your head! Nice report, Darin. Too bad you can't catch crappie...

Well, Duane and I braved the cold front this afternoon, putting in at Bridgeport about 1 p.m.. Met a couple of guys going home with may be 10... said they'd been limiting everyday this week before noon but today they were tough- off the banks. We hit a couple of brush piles, marked and unmarked, from the ramp towards Cape and caught fish off all of them. We caught them 24 inches deep over brush on a jig and float. We caught them in 8 feet of water on the bottom around brush 25 feet off spawning banks. We didn't find any on banks. Warmest water temp was 65. Most was 63-64 even when I pulled out. Air temp was 51 dropping to 40 when we pulled out at 6:20. We had 15 nice keepers and one white bass. We caught, I bet, 40 shorts and a handful of bass.

I think what they're saying is there is no Turkey Creek on Table Rock.

If answers to these questions are answered.... I'll pin this topic for future study!