Phil Lilley

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.

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.