Phil Lilley

ST. JOE, Ark. -- Summer may be just now coming to a close but the season was over before it even began for some Ozarks businesses. Canoe rentals just aren't big business during the worst drought in five decades. The half dozen river outfitters still open along the Buffalo River in northwest Arkansas have been powering through painfully low water levels since June. There are 12 total; the upper portion of the river is usually unfloatable by now and those businesses close in early summer, but even one outfitter in the middle river is no longer renting and the ones that are renting aren't renting much. Read More... http://articles.kspr.com/2012-08-21/buffalo-river_33307974

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/jig-fishing/ In any jig-and-float technique, you need to think “long rod”. Casting and handling long leaders below a float takes a longer rod than you’d usually use when just jig fishing. Seven feet is minimal. Some buy or make custom eight- to nine-foot rods just to jig and float. These rods have to be fairly stiff to get a good, strong hook set. The size of the float is most important. It can’t be too big or too small. The size of float is directly related to the size of your jig, and visa versa. Depending on the speed and depth of the water, you pick the size of the jig. Using an eighth-ounce jig under a float is pretty extreme. I would recommend starting with a 1/16-ounce and go from there. Watch your slack. Because you may have 10 feet of line between your float and jig, you’re going to need all the hook setting power you can muster. Slack robs you of power. By the time your rod is at the farthest distance in your set, it has to have made “contact” with your jig and hopefully fish- plus some. Add the distance that your rod tip travels and the length of your line and a 10 foot rod doesn’t sound that extreme. The same principle applies when fly fishing and using the same length rod and the same rig. Wind? Same as before. You’ll have to go back to a heavier jig to compensate for the wind, but you still can work it slower and feel the bite better. When watching the speed of your drift compared to the current, I’d rather go slow in the current than fast. Throwing out to the side also plays into this thought. If you have your boat anchored in any current and you’re throwing out and working the jig back to you, it drifts downstream and you’re working it upstream, against the current. This is a natural look- a minnow holding or swimming upstream in current. It’s the same with moving in current but slower than the current. Plus you keep a better handle on where the jig is and you have a more direct line to the lure.

You'd be surprised how many browns are up in November... and the crowds are less. We haven't had a "typical" fall season in 3 years. Seriously... depends if you want to fight crowds or fish. October is crowded. May be a little more fish but November is very good too. I see the largest browns in September though. Ken would be the one who would know.

Scratch it... things have changed. Not going to KC. Not leaving for AK till September sometime. Canceled flights. My dad isn't doing very well. He's battling a blood disorder, liver issues and now gall bladder issues. Not a good time to be gone.

In the boat, they like one unit a lot where I fish.... I know it's tough on people wading.

http://www.sportsmansalliance4ak.org/ This group is collecting signatures to combat the Pebble Mine in SW Alaska. You're probably familiar with the issue so no need to go into details. If you own a hunting or angling business or represent a sports group, all they need is: Name of Group or Business Name of Person Signing Title of Person Signing City, ST and send it to Scott Hed at scott@sportsmansalliance4ak.org Thanks

by Randolph Stainer Why many people avoid using worms and insist on artificial baits would make an excellent topic for a psycho-social doctoral thesis. I won’t be writing that. Instead, this article is intended as a primer for fishing worm harnesses in Tablerock and the other White River impoundments. What I will share comes from fellow walleye fishermen who have showed me a number of tricks. In particular, I want to thank Chuck Etheredge of Holiday Island, Arkansas. Chuck holds the Holiday Island Marina walleye record at 14.5 pounds, and he is the one who taught me about his harnesses for brush fishing crawlers. Read More . . . . http://www.ozarkangl...n-worm-harness/

55 mw is one unit. 25 is less than one. Check out the maps here on OA. I have Rebar marked. Yesterday, a couple of the guys fishing the tournament caught a 24 inch brown above Fall Creek. They said they caught a lot of rainbows in the 18-19 inch range, all on jigs. They had trouble catching rainbows under 12 inches... they weighed in the brown and 3 rainbows. They could have and should have weighed in 8 trout total. I guess I'm saying this because they had trouble catching rainbows under 12 inches. Hope you can do better Would be a beautiful day to be out there.

She's safe from me... going to KC for a couple of days to see the grandkids, then have to really bare down and pack for Alaska. I leave a week from today- be gone a month. Someone else and luck into her. Hopefully it'll be in October when I get back... I'd like to be around for that.

I don't have exact weights at this time but I do have the winners and their approximate weights. The Wheelers, father and son team - - took first with a little over 8.5 pounds, 8 rainbows. Bob Dwiggins and Bill Friese finished 2nd with about 7.5 pounds and Gerry Dwiggins and Tom Burckhardt 3rd with a little more than 7 pounds. All rainbows. Big trout was a 4.44 pound brown caught by Colton Neal. All these trout were caught on jigs and all were released. Colton's brown was caught in the rebar area. The 3 finishing teams fished below Fall Creek. I should be able to get the exact weights tomorrow. Someone didn't take a pic of the board (me). 23 teams competed.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="478" height="640" /> Micheal Kyle reports of 3 days of fly fishing on Lake Taneycomo. Good fishing... lots of trout on a variety of flies. Hear his full report by clicking here.

A big rainbow has been seen the last few days above the Narrows... over 20 pounds easy is what I've heard.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Taneycomo-02.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="256" /> Summer can't make up its mid whether or not it's done with us or not. Hot temperatures the last couple of days with low 80's in the near future. Generation has followed the heat pretty much. When it's real hot out, they are running a bit more water in the afternoon and evenings but no more than 2 units. The last couple of mornings have been tough catching. Not a breath of wind and high sun, the trout had all but shut down until the wind starts and that differs daily. That hasn't been the case all week though. We took out a group of boys from a boys home in Arkansas Tuesday morning. Two pontoons of kids and sponsors, we headed up past Short Creek and anchored towards the shallow side of the lake above the Riverpointe boat ramp and fished with air injected night crawlers, 4-pound line and small split shots. In about a 3-hour trip, they averaged 7 trout apiece with one brown and the rest rainbows. All were released. The wind didn't pick up until about 9 a.m. but the trout bit even when it was dead still. So you never know. Ginger or olive/gold head micro jigs under a float 4 feet using 2 pound line is also a good way to catch trout early before the wind starts. Use this technique from Short Creek to Lookout Island. Once the wind starts and there's a chop on the water, a orange headed sculpin or brown marabou jig under a float 4-5 feet deep from Trout Hollow down to Lilleys' Landing on the shallow side of the lake worked very well, especially later in the afternoon into the evening. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/23-inch-brown-2.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /> http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/23-inch-brown-3.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="375" /> Later afternoon into the evening especially if the wind is blowing and there's some cloud cover, hoppers have been good from Lookout Island down to the Narrows against the bluff bank. I'm still doing well on a flesh or pink #8 Rainy's Hi Viz Hopper. Caught a 23-inch brown earlier in the week on one plus lots of rainbows between 14 and 19 inches long. If the water isn't running very hard and there's not a lot of wind, try a #10 black beetle or black ant in the same areas. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Taneycomo-01.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="306" /> http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/Taneycomo-03.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="286" /> When the water is running, work a 1/8 - 3/32-ounce marabou jig in the channel from Rebar Hole down to Fall Creek. Good colors are white, sculpin, brown/orange head, sculpin/orange/orange head, brown or purple. Here's a report from Darin on fly fishing below the dam: The fishing here on Lake Taneycomo has been getting better. The weather is cooling off a little bit and we have had some rain. The Corps of Engineers has been running the power generators usually just in the afternoon but the last couple of days they have been running them all day. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/dry-rainbow.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="350" /> http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/pat-brown.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="276" /> http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2012/08/pat-rainbow.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="284" /> Wade fishing while the power generators is possible, you just have to find the right areas that you can safely fish and that are holding fish. My favorite spot when the generators are is the Pointe Royale access. There are two good spots to fish there. The first one is just down stream from the access path. Where the lake starts to curve there is a little bit of slack water that holds fish. They hang out right where the fast and slow water meet. Fishing this can be a little difficult with the current moving at different speeds. I always put my fly just on the slow side of the current. The second place is upstream for the access path. There is an island that has water behind it and holds fish most of the time. I fish my way up all the way to where I can’t walk on the bank anymore. Some of my biggest fish have come from back there. Both places I mainly fish the Miracle Fly about five feet under a Palsa on 5x or 6x Fluoroflex tippet. At the lower place I also fish Brad Wrights’ sculpin pattern on 3x or 4x Powerflex tippet. I fished both these the last few days and have caught fish every time I have gone out. Talked to Tim Homesley from Tim's Fly Shop at Roaring River State Park. He fished Tuesday morning wading below the dam. He said he's starting to see more larger browns move in which is pretty early. By the end of this month, normally there are good number of brown trout in the first mile of the lake.

Those are Babler's images he asked me to post for him. He should be on shortly to explain what they are.

#1 #2 #3 #4 #5

Neither. The agent wasn't able to get to the guys.

Russ Stoval, owner of Hog Heaven Canoe and Campground on the Elk River, called in one of his famous river and fishing reports this morning. River levels are very low but fishing is very good. Listen to Russ's full report by clicking this link. Hog Heaven Canoe Rental and Campground

These are cell phone numbers to agents in Taney County: Quenten Fronterhouse: 417-294-5543 Buck Nofsinger: 417-546-0833 OGT Hotline: 1-800-392-1111 These are now the official contact numbers for these fellows. Plug them into your phones. Again, if you're below the dam and see a violation and it's during hatchery hours, call John at the hatchery at 417-334-4865 dial 0. Have good descriptions and information ready for the agents.

If you want to try your hand at a trout tournament, this is one of the only tournaments this summer on the lake. http://www.lilleyslanding.com/news/4th-annual-guns-hoses-fishing-tournament Should be a lot of fun.

Good deal... glad for ya!

Dangerously Low Water Levels on Table Rock Lake Ground Boats The Missouri Water Patrol takes KSPR on a tour of Table Rock Lake to us how accidents have increased as a result of unusually low water levels exposing dangerous obstacles. BRANSON, Mo. — Table Rock Lake is full of people but not water. The Army Corps of Engineers says it's dealing with "extremely unusual" conditions due to the widespread drought. http://articles.kspr.com/2012-08-10/table-rock-lake_33142609

Follow up to this post Talked to John at the hatchery. He went down and talked to the 2 guys fishing with worms yesterday at Rocking Chair. They had 12 rainbows in one stringer, using worms and all were in the slot. Eight of 12 were still alive and they were released. The other 4 were taken by John and are in route to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield to be fed to the eagles there. The guys didn't take any fish home. So there... call the hatchery at 417-334-4865 if you see something during their hours of operation.

I think this is about the 3rd Saturday in a row they've ran water all day. Only 1/2 unit but it's enough to eliminate most of the wade fishing below the dam. Too bad... ruins a lot of anglers day if all they want to do is wade. But fishing out of a boat- this is my favorite flow. Jig fishing is great- either throwing or using a float, drifting is easy and it's not too much current to drop an anchor is you want but you have to still be careful about it. I'll go out here in a little bit and try... see what I can find. Spent the morning in the laundry... I've had enough towels and sheets for one day!

Operation Game Theft is one number - 1-800-392-1111 Branson Police 417-334-3300

With the exception of a few days, this has been one of the best "catching trout" summers we've had in years. Normally we'll have a week or more in June and/or July and for sure in August when our trout just don't want to eat. I remember some weeks where people will check in to the resort and fishing will be tough for them all week. But not this year. We've had very few complaints. Generation continues to be the same with a day or two in the week when the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers changes up things. Monday and today (Thursday) officials are running a half to one unit from midnight to midnight. Otherwise it's no generation all day until about 4 p.m. when one to two units runt until 10 p.m. Check the SPA Website for daily schedule. We've had some big trout caught this week. Kris Nelson, one of our guides, helped his client catch and release a 27-inch brown this week. It was taken on a night crawler between Fall and Short creeks. Their picture is featured as the header image for this article. I was blessed with a very large rainbow a week ago Monday while fishing with a couple of friends. None of us were looking for a lunker trout, especially as big as the one that appeared on the end of my line. She measured 29 inches long with an impressive girth, but we released her without getting a weight. In most cases, trout that size can't survive out of the lake very long. I certainly didn't want to hurt her, so she was released relatively quickly to safely swim away. I hooked her mid-channel in the lake about 500 yards above Fall Creek with a 3/32nd-ounce brown/orange marabou jig. I just named a couple of the best baits used this week -- night crawlers and jigs. That brown/orange has been a great color lately, but Ryan, our dock hand, caught "the most trout ever" the other evening, fishing the shallow side of the lake from Trout Hollow to Lilleys' Landing with a sculpin/orange with an orange head. He caught mostly rainbows with two browns mixed in. To use night crawlers, inject them with some air and let them fly. Use just enough split shot for weight to get the line out from the boat or dock. Not too much. I set the rod down and watch the tip of the rod. When you get a bite, let the fish take the worm just a bit and then set the hook. To drift with a worm, use the same technique, except for setting the rod down. Not a good idea if you plan to keep your rods and reels in the boat! Drifting Gulp eggs later in the day from Cooper Creek down through Monkey Island has been good for catching mainly stocker rainbows. I found a good school of trout up at the "bend" of the lake above Lilleys' Landing. The bend is where the docks start on the southeast side or bluff side of the lake, opposite the resort. They've been closer to the bluff bank than the other side. I caught them on an olive 1/8th-ounce jig in the evenings, but I'm sure they'll hit bait or another lure such as a Cleo or Rooster Tail. Also in the evenings, I've been fishing a jig and float from that bend down to the resort, casting a ginger or pink about six feet deep, mid lake. That little micro jig has been deadly early in the mornings when the water has been dead still in the trophy area (above Fall Creek). With no wind that glass-like water isn't the best condition to entice bites, but our trout are liking this little jig, fished under a float four- to five- feet deep on two-pound line. A close second choice is an olive/gold head micro jig, and third is a black micro jig. I've been getting away with using 6x fluorocarbon tippet, but when the sun comes out I would suggest using 7x. Fishing is best between the Narrows and Lookout along the bluff bank.