Phil Lilley

The first time I fished this technique was the year I bought the resort. I used a Bassnapper 1/100th oz ginger jig and caught the snot out of rainbows and a good number of browns.

We got on the water a little late, about 10am, this morning. Took out from Lead Hill and fished the flats, East Sugarloaf, and an area by Pt. 26 and down to Pt. 25. Had a two limits by 2:15pm. 25 walleyes were caught, with 8 nice fish, only one under 20 inches. Copper and brass spinners with the Northland fish graphics worked early, but Slow Death was the best from Noon on. When the wind picked up and could not slow the boat down, we ducked into Sugarloaf and caught two there. Speed was a key factor, you had to be under 1.0 mph. Next time out, I will have my drift sock in the boat to slow us down in the wind. Great day on the water. The late summer bite is holding on.

Field and Stream - Open Letter Link

After someone here asked about information on using a jig and float on Taneycomo for trout, I looked at my articles and didn't like what I found. So I wrote an article just on fish a jig and float. Here's the article - I've got it posted on the main site but haven't gotten all the images done for it. I'll post a link when I'm done. Jig and Float One of the most effective trout fishing techniques on Lake Taneycomo is the jig-and-float technique. If you hire a guide on our lake, chances are you'll fish with a spinning rod with a small jig and a float. Why? Because this way of fishing is fairly easy and it flat catches trout. Guides use spinning rod equipment when using a jig and float, but you can easily use a fly rod and be just as effective. First we'll cover using spinning equipment since this is what most anglers use. Spinning Rod A good general rod for jig-and-float is a medium action, six-foot graphite rod. Some anglers like to use a longer rod such as seven feet or even longer. Length is important because throwing the rig and setting the hook is difficult using a short rod. In setting, you are dealing with slack from the rod tip to the float as well as the line from the float to the jig. If you're fishing eight-feet deep, that's a lot of slack to pull before getting to the fish on the end of your line. A longer rod will definitely help get a good hook set. Some of our guides have changed to using eight- to nine-foot spinning rods to give them the power needed to set the hook when fishing nine to 12 feet under a float. A medium to stiff action rod is much better than a soft tip rod. You need all the power you can muster if fishing at a distance from the boat and/or at deep depths. Casting a jig-and-float can be difficult depending on how deep you're fishing and how much line is hanging off the end of your rod. Place the jig in the water behind you (assuming you're fishing from a boat). With a flicking wrist motion, propel the rig forward using the water and rod as a sling-shot. It's not a lob cast but more of a direct-line drive. Fly Rod Using a jig instead of a fly on a fly rod? Heaven forbid!! Many anglers who don't fly fish traditional ways (with nymphs, dries or streamers) are learning to use a fly rod and enjoying the jig-and-float technique. It's easy in that there's only one thing to watch -- the float. The ideal fly rod here on Taneycomo is a nine-foot, five-weight rod and simple fly reel with a minimal drag system. Nothing fancy. Float WF five-weight line and tapered 12-foot, 3x leader. Add some tippet material, a jig and float and you can catch trout to your heart's content. I like using a fly rod when jig-and-float fishing because I can recast and move my jig around with just a flick of the wrist. I don't have to reel in and cast back out as with a spin cast. It's not necessary but it's good to keep your fly line clean and coated with floatant so that your line stays on top of the water. This will help when recasting and setting the hook on a fish. If your leader is sinking, coat it, too. Line Conditions dictate what size and kind of line you use for jig-and-float. I suggest using no more than four-pound line on your reel; two-pound is okay but not necessary. Here's a quick list of conditions and what should be used with them: Clear water, bright sun, no generation -- two-pound fluorocarbon (6x or even 7x) Generation, slow drift - four-pound mono or fluorocarbon (6x or 5x) Generation, medium to fast - four-pound mono Small jigs, 1/100th or less or micro jigs (half) - two-pound fluorocarbon (6x or even 7x) Medium jigs, 1/80th or larger - four-pound mono or fluorocarbon (6x or 5x) As you can see, water color, sun, generation and size of jigs all play a part in choosing what type of line as well as the diameter. Learning how to use tippet material can be very important when using the jig-and-float technique because you can't change the line on your spools every time you want to change the line that your jig is tied to. Tippet is the line you tie on to the end of the line coming off your reel and the line that you tie your jig to. You can use a triple surgeon's knot to connect these lines. It's easy to use and will connect even a large diameter line to a small diameter line without too much of an issue. Some of our guides use a barrel swivel to connect the tippet to the line. They tie on the exact length of line they want to fish under the indicator and place the indicator above the swivel (pic). This does make is difficult to change the depth, but if you're confident that you will catch fish at that depth, it's a good way to do it. Floats Floats or indicators are used to float the jig at the desired depth and to give the angler an indication that a fish is nibbling on his jig. Size, style, shape and color are all important. If you're drifting in current and using a fairly heavy jig and it's dragging close to or on the bottom, then your float needs to be large enough not to be dragged under water at the slightest pull of the jig. Large carrot floats are good for this type of fishing. If the current is slow, a large float still may be used -- it just depends on how heavy the jig and how deep you're fishing. Large floats are also used when you're having trouble casting small- to medium-sized floats. You can pinch a split shot on the line just under, actually touching the float to give you more weight when casting. Just make sure the weight isn't too much for the float. The downside to using a large float when fishing small jigs in no current is that sometimes the trout will only slightly take the jig, "taste" it and, thus, not move the float but just a tiny bit. A large float won't show this movement but a small float will. There are all kinds of floats. We like to use carrot style-shaped floats either slit or solid with a hole through the middle for the line. Some come with a rubber band to hold the line in place and some with a wood, toothpick stop. Some anglers prefer to use a rubber band instead of a stick. If you're using tiny jigs such as thread jigs or micro jigs, you can use a Palsa style float, but these are very hard to cast using a spin cast rod and reel. Color is dictated by what the angler can see best in his conditions. Jigs Jigs have been around for decades. They are all-round great lures for all kinds of fish. Here on Taneycomo we use marabou jigs and micro jigs. Marabou jigs are tied either with or without a collar. For use under a float, we use jigs as heavy as 1/8th ounce and as light as 1/125th ounce. Marabou are feather pieces demonstrating life-like movement when under water. Marabou is dyed and comes in many colors. Jig heads are either lead or a lead-type metal and painted to the desired color. Head color does make a difference, just like marabou color. Here's a list of color combinations we use for trout on Lake Taneycomo: sculpin, brown head sculpin, olive head sculpin, orange head scuplin/ginger, brown head sculpin/ginger, orange head ginger, brown head olive, olive head olive/sculpin, olive head brown, orange head brown/orange, orange head black/black head white, white head black/yellow, black head black/olive, black head There are more colors and combinations too numerous to list here. And yes, sculpin -- named after the small freshwater "muddlers" in the lake that our browns love -- is one of the best colors to use here on our lake. Turner Micro jigs are another extremely effective jig to use for trout. These tiny jigs are made by a small company in Springfield, Missouri. Although costly, they flat catch trout and are just as good as most flies we use. Turner Micro jigs come in two sizes. We call them full and half micros. Full micros are about 1/128th ounce while the half micros are about 1/256th ounce. The hackle isn't tied but shrink- wrapped to the collar with heat, unlike all other marabou jigs. The feathers are a hen hackle, not marabou, which demonstrate even more lively movement under water. The heads are hand painted to the finest detail -- right down to the painted eyes. We use the following colors, in order starting from the best colors: [*]olive, orange head [*]olive, gold head [*]sculpin, gold head [*]ginger, gold head [*]black, black head [*]brown, brown head [*]pink, chrome head [*]gray, chrome head [*]white, chrome head Technique Trout are a fickle fish -- moody might be a better adjective. Sometimes they like their jigs moving a lot, sometimes they like them dead still, not moving at all. Sometimes they're aggressive and sometimes very lethargic. You have to determine which mood they're in and adjust your fishing to match. If you're fishing with marabou, it could be as simple as trimming the feathers on your jig if the trout are only taking the end tails. Choosing the depth at which you set your float is important. At best, it's experimenting at different depths to see where the trout are holding, especially if you're fishing deep water, more than eight-feet deep. If you're fishing eight feet or less, start halfway down and probably move deeper. Occasionally, trout are holding higher in the water column but not very often. They are usually close if not on the bottom, especially the larger trout. Fishing more than eight-feet deep takes a longer spin rod, or you can change to a fly rod. There are occasions when fishing more than eight- feet deep is necessary--when there's generation or when you're fishing lower in the lake where water is deeper. The following is likely the most important bit of information offered in this article: FIND AN AREA OF THE LAKE WHERE THE SURFACE IS BROKEN BY WIND. You can catch trout when the lake's surface is glassy, but that's far from ideal. Ideal surface conditions are from slightly to medium choppy. This works the float that works the jig below. Also, fish feed better when there's chop on the surface, for whatever reason. I've proven this out 99% of the time in many hours of fishing on the lake, with and without clients. If there's generation, a little or a lot, drifting with a jig-and-float can be very effective. Even if all four units are running, our guides fish nine- to 12-feet deep from jig to float. A good combination is a full pink micro jig with a scud trailer. A trailer is an extra fly tied on a line from 18 to 24 inches below the jig using tippet material, usually 5 or 6x. The line is tied either to the jig's eye or the bend of the hook. When casting the rig from the boat, don't cast it out so far that you can't see the float if it moves every so slightly. You can cast too far and miss seeing a subtle bite. Our trout aren't very boat shy. They won't sit right under your boat, but they won't dart out and move 100 yards away either. Fifteen to 20 feet from the boat is fine. In any surface condition, experiment with working the float. When I say working the float, I mean moving, twitching or jerking the float, thus moving the jig underneath. Try a little, just every 10 seconds instead of moving it all the time. Then try leaving it alone altogether. I typically only leave the rig in one place for about a minute at the most unless I'm drifting with the current. In that case, the rig will move along on its own. Slack control is vital no matter what the conditions but especially if you're drifting in current. Pay close attention to the line between your rod tip and float. Don't let the line swirl and twist in the current. Keep it as straight as possible by lifting the line, re-establishing the line and reeling in slack. This will make setting the hook quick and powerful. If you're not getting bit, CHANGE colors, CHANGE jig size, CHANGE depths, CHANGE locations. Keep changing until you find the right combination. It may be that the trout are just not feeding. Know that generation can stop and start at various times of the day for no apparent reason. But keep fishing. That's why they call it fishing and not catching! Good Luck

The monkey with the gun would be up there too.

If I had a section for classic posts, this one would be at the top.

Is this a wood carving? Can't really tell. Might add another pic or two and describe it a little better. Thanks

You don't see this everyday... LINK

You're fine up to Lookout Island. You probably can go past and on up to Trophy Run if you keep it all the way up on plane. Stay middle right going up. There's a shoal/riffle on the left next to the top of the island that is shallow. Once past island, you're fine till you get past the clubhouse. Then you have to stay in the middle of the 'V', staying right again. At the boat ramp, you can stay on plane and get to Big Hole but that's as far as I'd suggest going up. Boulders on the left past the ramp - stay middle right. Now that's one FULL unit. If it's the half unit they're been running, I would not go past Lookout Island. I didn't even mention the Narrows - you have to stay left and in the channel here or you'll get in trouble on the gravel flat.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=1988+missouri+trout+stamp&_sacat=0

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/big_hole.pdf http://www.ozarkanglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/dam-ramp.pdf http://www.ozarkanglers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/rocking_chair.pdf These are some maps I've had on file. I probably need to go over them since they're more than 2 years old but the general layout should be close.

2005 Boulder Boat Works low side Pro Guide Drift Boat For Sale Trailer, Dyna King Oars by Sawyer, and 30lb lead anchor included $7500 ph. 479-409- 8789 Mark Poulos

Revenues from any game violations in the state goes to local school districts. MDC agents work regular schedules just like any of us. They have days off, vacations, off hours, training days, attend meetings out of town -- they aren't available 24/7 like, say, police or sheriff deputies. There's not enough on staff to be 24/7 game enforcers. There's 2 per county with some counties with only one agent. Taney has 2. They cover all of Taneycomo and Bull Shoals in Missouri as well as Mark Twain Forrest and all other Taney territories. I think upper Taneycomo gets more than it's share of attention, although it may not seem like it.

No details on the survey... not yet. But I don't think they do the male, female thing... No length limit on bass anywhere on Taney. Limit is 6 bass. Rough fish... I'm not sure about carp and suckers if there's a limit. 25 maybe?

New underwater housing Gopro just came out with and a cheap gorilla grip mount from Wal Mart.

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I called to ask Clint Hale, hatchery manager, a question about a water sample they were taking and ended up talking about a few other things I thought I'd mention here. First- MDC conducted their survey on the upper lake the other day. Clint said since he's been here, and I think that's about 4-5 years, he's never seen as many brown trout as he did when shocking. No huge browns - he said 7 pounds was the biggest, but the numbers were impressive. They survey from about Short Creek to the dam. Rainbows- didn't really discuss them. Smallmouth - he said there are big numbers of smallmouth bass from Trophy Run to the dam. None really over 14 inches though. Yes- this is a huge surprise to me. I bet there's quite a few along the rip rap at Trophy Run. Lake Temperature - it's been holding at 49 for over a month now and that's GREAT! Do is holding at 3.2 out of the pipes, before it enters the hatchery which is excellent! Looking at the profile the Corp posts for Table Rock, he thinks this may hold for a while and that we may see a mild fall season as far as water temps and low DO levels. I'm sure the Corp will have to inject liquid dissolved oxygen later in the season but water temp is key too. Colder water holds oxygen better and warmer water puts more stress on the trout. Official results of the survey aren't usually done until December or later.

I see Zenni's ad popping up here... that's where I buy my glasses. Less than $50 for progressive bifocals with shipping... was paying $400 at Wal Mart for the same thing. Now I buy them 2 at a time for less than $100. I'm hard on glasses!!

I fished yesterday midafternoon below the dam, from about 1:30 till 3 when they kicked the water on. I walked in at Big Hole and walked down to the top of Rocking Chair. Waded out to the Rock (if you fish this area you should know where the Rock is) and started fishing a #18 rusty midge under a palsa 18 inches deep, 7x fluorocarbon. Not seeing many fish, I was blind casting around trying to start something. Made a long drift down the backside of the cut between me and the north bank. It's not deep and I still didn't see anything but at the end of the drift the float disappeared. Set the hook and immediately knew it had some weight to it. The rainbow never broke the surface of the water, just made a bee-line downstream, pealing off line. I couldn't stop him... he just kept going. Almost to my backing, he stopped to rest, then made lots of head jerks and went to the middle of the lake. I worked him back within 30 feet of me... I really wanted to get a good look at him in case he........ hook pulled out! My next rainbow was 18 inches and fought nothing like the one that got away. I'd guess he was at least 22 inches. But he was a horse! It was fun... hope to get a hold of him again!

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Duff-Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /> Not much has changed this week compared to the last couple of weeks here on Lake Taneycomo. Generation pattern is the same most days--running 25 to 50 megawatts (up to one unit) of power starting anywhere from 3 to 5 p.m. until dark or a little after dark. The last two weekends, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has run 25 mw of power all day and night, Saturday and Sunday. For what we reason, we don't know, but the flow has been nice for everyone except those wanting to wade below the dam. You could still wade and fish but in far fewer areas. First I'll talk about fishing the slow flow, 25 megawatts or a half unit of water. This raises the lake about two to three feet just below the dam, about 18 inches at Fall Creek with hardly a raise at all at Cooper Creek access. The flow of water below the dam is fast, leaving pockets of slow water along the banks. At Lookout and below, the flow is steady but not fast. The water along the bluff bank is slow in some stretches but eddied with no flow in most spots. Most of the current is in the middle of the lake. The Narrows area is fast but shallow. The water picks up again at the mouth of Fall Creek but slows considerably from there down. At Lilleys' Landing, it's barely moving. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Jeremy-Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="276" /> Starting at the dam, by boat, you can run up and get to the Rebar Hole, but getting past this point takes time and effort. The water is still shallow and fast until you get up close to outlet #1 where it deepens. You'll be surprised how many trout you'll see up in this area holding in the current. We threw jigs up there last evening and caught a few rainbows, but they shut the turbines down on us before we could figure out a good pattern. Floating a jig, a Zebra midge or a beaded scud under an indicator would be good up in this area down to Rebar. If there's a chop on the water, stripping a soft hackle or wooly or drifting a hopper, beetle or ant along the south bank would be good. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Project-Healing-Waters-Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="288" /> Watch out for the boulders both when running upstream and drifting back down. From Rebar down, work a 3/32nd or 1/16th-ounce jig, sculpin, brown/orange, ginger or olive jig off the bottom. This is especially good in the Trophy Run area. Drifting a #12 brown or gray scud with an egg fly, spinning gear using just a small split shot to get it down works well. With anything you're throwing, two-pound line is best, 6x tippet if using a fly rod. We fished a 1/50th-ounce marabou jig under a float about the depth of the water we fished from Rebar down through Trophy Run last evening and caught some nice rainbows. The hopper bite has slowed some, mainly because the conditions haven't been right. For it to be effective, we need at least one full unit running and/or some good wind making waves. If conditions are not ideal, we have been dropping in size to ants and beetles and doing fairly well. Below Fall Creek, drift with night crawlers or Powerbait Gulp Eggs. I'd still inject air into the worms to float them off the bottom. Only use enough weight to get your bait to the bottom. Too much weight will get you snagged more often, and you won't be able to feel the bite as well. You can anchor in slower current, off to the sides of the lake. Always anchor off the front of your boat, never off the side or back, and always have a knife ready in case you need to cut the rope if you get in trouble. When there's no generation, mornings are a little tough. Mornings have been very still, no wind. Our water is still very clear and cold - 49 degrees. Again, you'll do better if you use two-pound line when using bait. Just tie on a three-foot piece of line to your line and tie your hook to the two-pound line. Attach the two lines using a triple surgeon's knot. It's easy to tie. Triple Surgeon's Knot -- This animation shows only a double knot. Run the tag end and tippet through one more time to make if a triple knot. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/August-24-Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="266" /> Our jig- and-float technique has been working fairly good early. Try the bank across from Trout Hollow down almost to Lilleys' Landing using a brown/orange/orange head under a float five-feet deep. Use two-pound line or tippet. Jerk the float every five to eight seconds and then leave it alone. Watch for slight movement and set the hook fast. Also, ginger-colored micro jigs have been working well, especially early up in the trophy area. Again, the trout don't like a lot of movement but they like some. The depth is determined by the depth of water you're fishing. If you're fishing 6 feet of water, set the depth about 5 feet deep. Down lower in the lake where the depth could be 10 feet deep, try different depths, setting it at 5, then 6 and even going deeper. If you're not getting bit, keep trying different depths, colors and even moving and trying different areas of the lake. If you see trout midging or dimpling the surface of the water, tie on a Zebra midge and fish it 12 inches under a float (palsa). Target the fish feeding on midges. The best one has been a rusty or black Zebra #16 or #18. Trout usually midge early and late in the day. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Below-the-Dam-at-Lake-Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="333" /> For fly fishing below the dam when the water is off -- there are lots of very nice rainbows and a few browns now below the dam. I've been fishing from the Big Hole down to the tower or where the horn is on the north side of the lake above the ramp. If the wind isn't blowing, I'm sight fishing for rainbows using a single palsa, long leaders and a #18 rusty, red or black Zebra fished about 18 inches deep. I've also been using a #18 trout crack scud or a #22 red thread midge -- using 7x fluorocarbon tippet. If there a chop on the water, I tie on a #16 black Rainy's HiViz ant and the trout been taking it pretty well. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/August-24-Rainbow-Ant.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="238" />

You’d think last week’s intense downpour would have helped refill Table Rock Lake, even at least a little.But that didn’t happen, says Lake Manager Greg Oller. The lake was still dropping slightly a day after parts of the Ozarks saw some flooding and as much as an inch and a half of rain. Read more.... http://www.news-leader.com/article/20120823/LIFE06/308230044/table-rock-lake-water-levels-drought-boating?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s

The $7 one day is for anyone who wants to fish, non resident or resident.

Photographer Laura Simon captured this photo at Cape Rock earlier this month, demonstrating the low river level. River levels along the Mississippi continue to drop, and are expected to stay low at least into fall. The low water has caused closures of stretches of river -- one 11-mile stretch just reopened -- which has in turned caused the shipping business to take a big hit. In Memphis, the river level is reaching a record low. Read More http://www.semissourian.com/blogs/sanders/entry/49176/

I've looked through there quite a few times and haven't seen anything yet. Lots of moss on the bottom unfortunately - could be covering up the reel. Hopefully it'll show up.