Phil Lilley

Low levels at Beaver Lake are beginning to expose more and more of a century-old historic site in Northwest Arkansas, and the future of that site is also in question. http://5newsonline.com/2012/07/29/low-lake-levels-revealing-more-of-monte-ne-historic-site/

Well put. I believe there's several rainbows swimming in the lake that would break the record.

Here's a 30-inch rainbow Steve Brigman caught on Naknek.

We have in stock now here at Lilleys' Landing Resort. Or you can find them online at http://www.lilleystacklestore.com Search term "kyle"

I'm gonna be ticked if this gets more views and posts than my big rainbow topic!!

Watch the video... you'll know exactly where it was released...

I'm going to break one of my rules here... although you could argue this isn't politics. It's still a hot-bottom topic that may not last long. But I have a question to those who know about insurance. I don't see how an insurance co can stay in business when they're forced to allow for, not turn away people with pre existing sickness. Honestly, I don't know how any of this will work or is supposed to work in the future... have to buy insurance - fined if you don't - But right now you don't really need to buy it - just wait till you get sick and then buy it. When you're treated and it's paid for, drop the insurance till you're sick again. May be you won't be allowed to do that... I don't know. But forcing companies to take ppl who are already sick - sounds great but - nothing is free! If you don't now you will pay in the future somehow. Insurance companies have to make profits to pay off claims, pay employees, build up funds to that they're not put out of business when calamity happens. They'll get their monies somehow. I would think is would be by charging higher premiums. That means all of us pay - businesses, employees, self employed and I bet retirees too. Again, I am not up on this stuff... just asking common sense stuff. No emotion...

GoPro video to follow...

Whole story: http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/2012/07/30/another-large-rainbow-caught-on-lake-taneycomo/ Weight - I honestly don't know. You be the judge. Tom said on camera at least 12 pounds. I would agree with that.

Caught this morning, July 30 on Lake Taneycomo, 8:30 am. Phil Lilley, Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina 29-inch rainbow Caught on a 3/32-ounce brown/orange/brown head marabou jig, spinning tackle. Hooked about 500 yards above the mouth of Fall Creek. Released just below Fall Creek Marina's dock, mid lake. Fishing this morning with Tom Burckhardt and Gerry Dwiggins, a couple of the best jig fishermen I know. Both are from St Louis, came down for a couple of days of fishing. Yesterday they caught over 100 trout each using straight and jig and float techniques. We caught quite a few this morning... but this one was pretty incredible. This is my largest Taneycomo rainbow to date.

For the past two seasons, Bob Cooke has been wrestling with the same weather anomalies as his fellow bait-and-tackle business owners serving fishermen at Lake Barkley, Taylorsville Lake and the Cumberland River. Too much water last year, not enough this year. “It’s been kind of rough,” said Cooke, who owns the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop, an Orvis-endorsed outfit near Mountain Home, Ark., that’s ground zero for many trout anglers who journey here to fish the famed White and Norfork rivers. “We didn’t have any wadeable water last year because of all the flooding, and this year has been a drought. But things are getting better.” http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120728/SPORTS09/307280076/The-Norfork-s-hot-Arkansas-tailwater-offers-trout-action-match-weather?nclick_check=1

Guide Jeff Moore of http://arkansastroutguide.com had a fisherman land this fish. 36.7 pounds. Released. Near State Park below Bull Shoals Dam. Pic sent to me by Jimmy T. No other info. There's a thread on John Wilson's site started about the fish. http://flyfishingark...sh#.UBU0e0RciSw

Leaches were the ticket last night on Lake Taneycomo, fly fishing with guide Michael Kyle. They fished from 10 pm till 4 am and sounds like they caught quite a few trout fishing Kyle's leaches. Hear his full report by clicking HERE. By the way, Lilleys' Landing now carries Kyle's leaches, along with a large array of night time streamers.

The ONE thing I've been saying is go light line. My last report about gave all our "secrets" away. Unless you're wanting to do a particular type of fly or spin fishing, info is here. If you're wanting something specific, ask away. Thing is... you have to post a report, with pictures!!

I think there's a group of ppl down here in the Branson area that are exploring a church plant using some of those ideas. There's a church in the St Louis area that's grown pretty large that focuses on the outdoors, fishing and hunting. Anyhow, I think it's a good idea. The only issue is for those of us that are committed to our own churches and other activities, carving out time for another group (in my case at least). But I'll support this effort on the website all I can.

Here on Lake Taneycomo, every day is different . . . and every day is almost the same. The same in that it's been generally hot and sunny, good for White Water and jet ski rentals and tough for theme park goers. But different in trout fishing methods and the varying conditions that dictate whether it's a good catching day or a slow one. There are plenty of rainbows in our lake, thanks to Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery and the federal hatchery in Neosho. Just getting them to eat is the issue most days. Weather conditions play a major part, as they have this past week, this past month. You could say trout fishing has been tough this week, and you'd be right in some cases, but you could also say it's been incredible -- and you'd be right again. The bottom line is that if there's a breeze at all and a chop on the water, our trout will bite. If there's not, if the water is slick and clear, catching is tough. You get what the weather gives you. The heat actually doesn't play a major part at all here. I just saw a pontoon come in to our dock with a couple of men and four or five boys. They pulled all their rainbows out of the live well, hung them up on stringers and held them all up for a group photo. Estimating that there were six in the group, I figured there were 24 rainbows altogether -- an impressive sight flashing their colors in the sun! Catching was good this morning for this group. Memories were made and captured on film. Guide Bill Babler reported his clients caught more than 50 rainbows yesterday morning on a trip above Fall Creek on olive/orange head micro jigs under a float. He said the breeze was perfect and the trout responded accordingly. He said it's been like that for the last month. Wind/chop equals catch lots of rainbows. Gray and ginger micro jigs have also done well, but remember to use two-pound line/tippet. Set the float about four-feet deep. Fly fishing below the dam continues to be very good. Again, a chop on the water dictates the behavior of the trout and how to go about fishing for them. When you have that chop on the water, strip soft hackles (red, olive, black #18) and woolies (olive, purple, black #10) and try #16 black ants, #14 adams or #8 hoppers. With a glass surface (these also will work with choppy water), use scuds (#14 - #18 gray or mink), sow bugs (#16 - #18 olive), thread midges (#22 - #24 red or black), RS2s (#18, #20 olive), WD40s (#18, #20 cream), and San Juan worms (micro red, white, purple). Use 6x tippet if you're fishing moving water like at the outlets, Rebar Hole or the chute below the ramp, but use 7x - 8x if you're fishing still water. I recommend using fluorocarbon. I've done well throwing hopper patterns late in the afternoon, but the water level has to be just right for it to be good. It appears that when the lake level is 706 to 707 feet, the run between Lookout and Fall Creek fishing the bluff side is perfect, and the trout are looking for bugs to come out of the grass and trees. They've been aggressive taking hoppers. Those trout are much larger than you'll find taking other smaller lures and flies. But if the lake level is higher, the bite is usually not there. You have a better chance if the water is lower, but the best level is about 706 feet. Hopper patterns that have been working are Rainy's Hi Viz yellow, flesh or brown #8, Furimsky's Hot Legs chartreuse #8, Goodman's Mosh-pit tan hopper #8, and Doman's Insect brown Hot Rod #6. In the evenings when the dam is generating, one-eighth ounce marabou jigs have been working well, fishing from the dam down to Fall Creek and even farther down past Short Creek, working the deeper, channel water. Brown/orange, sculpin/ginger, olive, black and white are the best colors. Work them close to the bottom and slowly. Strikes have been fairly hard and aggressive. Night fly fishing has picked up. The fog at night has been minimal, so it's not as damp and cold as normal. Stripping woolybuggers (#8 - #10 black, olive, purple, white), leeches (#8 blood red, purple, black, ginger), articulated streamers (Galloup's Dungeon (black, white, olive, natural), Circus Peanut (yellow, brown) and Galloup's Bottom's-up (cinnamon, olive, white, black). Some anglers are also throwing mice patterns, too.

Micheal Kyle put in a full night and day of fishing here on Lake Taneycomo. Sounds like he did pretty good too! Hear his full report by clicking HERE.

by John Berry Last week I had a two day guide trip with Roy and Devonne, two anglers from Houston. On the first day, we fished the White River in the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam. The upper White has been fishing better than the rest of the river and this day was no exception. We tried a lot of different flies with limited success in the morning. It was brutally hot and around 2:30 PM when the guys were ready to pull the plug. I knew that early afternoon was generally the worst time of day to fish and that things would generally improve later in the afternoon. I talked them into staying on the water for a while longer, with the promise that if the fishing did not improve soon we would quit for the day. On the next drift, we picked up several nice fish. The bite was on. Over the next couple of hours we caught several nice trout and finished the day with around twenty five nice fish. They were pleased with the results and were glad that they had stayed on the water until 5:00 PM. I suggested that we try something different for the next day. I wanted to take them to the Norfork but I had not seen the Southwest Power Administration’s generation prediction and was not sure what the conditions would be. I explained this to the guys and suggested that we get an earlier start to beat the heat. We agreed to meet at six. They were up for anything. We were on the Norfork a little after daylight. It was cool and there was a dense fog on the water. We knew that the temperature would climb to over one hundred degrees with plenty of sun. We made our way upstream to the Catch and Release section. The water was low and gin clear. I put Devonne in a fast stretch of riffle water and rigged his rod with a black zebra midge, a bit of lead and a strike indicator. I placed Roy downstream and rigged his rod with my green butt on a twelve foot leader tippet combination ending in 5X tippet. Devonne was into fish immediately and over the next few hours caught fish after fish. From time to time the action would slow down and we would change flies. This generally produced more fish. Over the course of the morning, we fished zebra midges (size 20) in red and black, pheasant tail nymphs, copper Johns, brassies, Y2Ks, disco midges and worm brown San Juan worms. We caught trout on all of them. A small egg pattern had no takers. Roy caught about ten rainbows on the green butt but was ready for a change. There was a midge hatch coming off and I saw a few mayflies. I was unable to catch one as the hatch was very sparse. Roy wanted to try a dry fly. We talked about the hatches coming off and agreed on a size 22 parachute Adams. The problem was that I had a difficult time tying it on. My eyes were not up to the task. I borrowed Roy’s reading glasses and was finally able to thread the hook. I put some fly floatant on it and Roy was ready to go. He was an excellent caster and a good dry fly fisher. He was into a nice trout immediately and was quite pleased. Devonne was steadily catching fish but was ready for some top water action. I suggested a hopper and he agreed. I removed the strike indicator, lead and nymph. I cut off the 5X tippet and tied on some 4X. The leader tippet combination was the nine feet long. I tied on a Dave’s hopper and added a black zebra midge as a dropper on 5X tippet. He only had one take on the hopper but was catching trout after trout on the dropper. We fished till noon. The generation prediction had been for the water to come up at eleven. For once, I was glad that it was wrong. We went back to the access and had a nice lunch on a picnic table in the shade. After a brief break, we decided to return to the water and waded back to our spot. It was getting pretty hot (102 degrees) and I was beginning to regret not wet wading. Roy stuck with his dry fly with the exception of having me tie on a larger fly, a size sixteen Adam’s parachute. He was on fire and caught trout after trout including a nice cutthroat and several fine browns. Devonne had a single goal; he wanted to catch a brown trout on a dry fly. I took his leader, cut off the flies, added a three foot 5X tippet and added a size sixteen Adam’s parachute. I applied some floatant and steered him to some good dry fly water. He was fairly new to dry fly fishing but was interested in honing his skills. Over the next couple of hours, he was able to land several nice trout including a fat fourteen inch brown. I spent my time mostly netting fish and taking photos. I watched the water level carefully. I felt like the water would come up at any minute. About three o’clock I noticed the water creeping up. I told the guys it was time to leave. They reluctantly left and we walked back to the access with no problem. The early start had been a good idea. We had caught most of our fish in the cool of the morning. I was also nice to get into some nice dry fly fishing. They caught and released around ninety fish. Not bad for a brutally hot day!

I'm wearing one of the new OA long sleeve tees...

Linc and I arrived at Dally's place at 3 p.m. sharp. We were to meet our guide, Marc Poulos to do some more hopper fishing. Linc bought another 3-day license and we were off to Wildcat Shoal access. Put in and ran up river to the White Hole access and worked the banks from there down. They weren't running a lot of water--Marc said they were running less than what was scheduled which I think was 65 mw. I'm not use to gauging generation on the White like I am on Taneycomo. It was enough water for us to get above the shoals in his Supreme river jon. I had on a small, thin hopper pattern Marc had given me, about a size 8. Not sure what Linc was using but it was slow going early. Marc said they were bringing the water up which was a good thing. I did notice that there needs to be a certain amount of water running for there to be enough current on the banks, close to the edge of the bank, before fish move in and start looking for bugs to drop in. We picked up a few small rainbows to start, a lot of lookers and misses too. The sun was dropping behind the bluff and it got good about 7 p.m.. We found a great bank, one we'd fished last week, with trout holding right on the edge and grass overhanging the water. We plopped our hoppers (I'd changed to the pink Hi Viz Rainy's hopper I used last week and Linc again was using something Marc gave him), within 12 inches of the bank and wham! the action started. Linc had 3 or 4 nice 17-20 inch browns to the boat while I had one decent brown and several misses before we knew it. I think we had a couple of doubles but it was hard to keep track--we were too busy fishing. Linc was landing a nice brown and I was thinking about getting the camera when I looked up and saw that where my fly had been, now there was a big ring in the water. Yes I had had a take and yes I was extremely late on the set but the fish was still there. At first sighting, this brown looked very large... and 22-inches is a nice brown! He put up a great fight, took me around a big rock which we had to run above to get unwrapped. Had a big head and good girth, unlike most of the other browns which were fairly skinny. We finished out the day with more browns but that bank was the highlight of the afternoon. We only ran it once... didn't want to abuse the run for others who were fishing. Linc did put it to me, getting me back for last Wednesday's trip. But he was back next to the guide who's instruction and netting ability I'm sure made the difference! Marc talked about catching smallmouth bass on poppers--they'd been fishing Crooked Creek and doing well. He said he wanted to try the lower Buffalo River... sounds like another trip to Arkansas! My camera is hiding from me this morning. I'll post pictures as soon as I find it!

Welcome to the site...

Night fly fishing on Lake Taneycomo sounds pretty appealing considering the day time temperatures right now. Micheal Kyle gives us a report today of his fishing last night on upper Lake Taneycomo. Hear his full report by clicking HERE.