Phil Lilley

Nephew was over there last evening and only saw small males. I don't think it's over, just stalled. You may find them out in the lake staging- may be surfacing. They were around point 14. But they don't seem to be at Blunk for sure.

Lake Taneycomo is looking fresh and green these days, a lovely time of year to be on the water. Flows from Table Rock Dam have slowed this week as Table Rock's level approaches 915 feet above sea level, which is normal for this time of year. The dam has been generating water most of the day, though, but much slower than the last couple of weeks. Some nights and mornings have been still, and I think the trend will be toward more time with no generation in the coming days, especially for the weekend ahead. Trout fishing has improved with slower flows from the dam. It's easier to get and keep your fly, jig or bait on or close to the bottom of the lake where most of our trout stay. Bill Babler was out this morning with a couple of clients and did very well, catching nice rainbows from Fall Creek down, drifting PowerBait Gulp eggs on the bottom. Listen to Bill's fishing report that he called in today by clicking HERE. Darin filed this fishing report today as well. He's been catching good trout as well as white bass this past week. He and his dad have been catching white bass in Roark Creek early and late in the day. The fishing here has been getting better the past few days. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and the Southwestern Power Administration have cut back a little on the power generation. They are still running generators but only one in the morning and then two or three in the afternoon. I had some time to do some different types of fishing this past week. The first day when there was only one generator running I fished with Miracle flies, San Juan Worms, and Bead Head Scuds catching fish on all three flies. The fly that produced the most fish was the tan Bead Head Scud. Fishing this is pretty easy. Using a large indicator with a AAA size split on 4x or 5x tippit about four to five foot deep, dead drifting it down the lake. I also fished a few jigs. The best one for me was the 3/32-ounce, sculpin and ginger. This is a great way to catch some bigger trout if you don't like drifting. This is more like fishing for Largemouths, letting the jig sink to the bottom and bouncing it off the bottom as you retrieve it back. Many of the fish eat it on the fall, so you have to pay close attention to your line. I had some fun fishing with something new for me, a Rapala X-Rap. This was great fun! I was using a size eight and a size six both gold. They are very easy to fish. All you do is cast them out as far as you can and the reel them back in as fast as you can, stopping every few feet. I had many fish case with a couple of very big browns taking a couple shots at it. During that time I caught six browns all in the 14- to 18-inch range along with a bunch of rainbows. I (Phil) got out this morning and boated to the dam about 9 a.m. If you look at the schedule with here- see sharp dip and then a sharp rise almost immediately after the drop this morning. I boated past rebar just as it was dropping and got up to the cable before they dropped it, almost shutting it down. Bill said he called the dam at 10 a.m. and the recording said "zero units." Not so. I kept an eye on the face on the dam where the turbines are because I knew they'd slowed it WAY down. If they were going to shut it down completely, I would have had to get out of the area so as to not get stuck. (I was in a G-3, and it gets too shallow to go through the rebar area with a boat that size with no generation.) But one unit was never shut down, and there was always just a little flow. It was great fish fly fishing both for the level and flow I had for a short time. I tied on a #16 black/nickel zebra, 6x fluorocarbon tippet and a palsa 36 inches above the fly and worked the south or bluff bank from the cable down to the island. I caught may be 15 rainbows, most small, but had some real nice ones including this one about 17 inches. They blew the horn and water started to flow. I switched to a white 1/8th-ounce jig and started at the cable and north side of center. Had a nice rainbow on the first cast. I snapped a pic and headed back up. Another cast, another beefy rainbow. These trout were fat, unlike the ones I'd seen a few weeks ago before the hard, high water we had after our 5-inch rain. I snapped another pic and headed back to the cable. Another cast, another bigger rainbow. This one had some shoulders. I swooped it up in the net and swung it around into the boat for a pic, but as I took it out of the net, out came the jig and off darted the fish -- without its photo shoot. Dang! This was a perfect rainbow, big and bright. Wish you could have seen it. By this time it was time to head back and save the satisfaction of a big catch for another day.

Al, did your area get the heavy snow accumulations other parts of the Rocky's got? When do you start seeing big run off water in your area?

You will learn a lot here on the forum. If you don't read it on past threads, ask away. But there is lots of good reading here and on the main site. Welcome.

What DD said. They are great cameras. Brian Wise is using them now too.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/elk-river/2012/04/09/russs-river-report-april-9/ Here she is!

You're mean...

Cool... not that he lost it but that he had one on. That would have been a great catch!

Sculpin is a color that's done very well for me on smallmouth and trout alike. It's a drab olive color, army green. We mix sculpin with other colors too - orange, olive, ginger and peach. The sculpin/orange is a great crawdad color. The size depends on the water you're fishing. Faster current and/or deeper pockets and holes use 1/8th oz. Slower current and shallow water use 3/32 or 1/16th. Under a float--experiment with what they'll hit. I know Brian Sloss loves to use a jig under a float in faster water. We do sell marabou jigs. You can find them here - http://lilleystacklestore.com

call me if you do...

Got it thanks.

I cleaned 21 this morning (2 people fishing). All but 3 were females. Out of those, eggs were bloddy in 4 and one looked to be spawned out. Other eggs sacks were firm.

Put in at 3 Hills about 4:30. Fished a couple of promising places before finding a bank that had fish on it. Actually I think there's fish all over Stockton - I'm really impressed with that fishery! We fished the same side of the lake as the ramp, up the arm about a mile. The bank was ledge rock that dropped off into 20 feet of water with pole timber. We found the crappie somewhat scattered on the bottom 20-30 feet from the bank. Not really around timber but it seemed it was everywhere (wood) so... who knows. We lost ALOT of baits- which were swimming minnows purple, motor oil or black. Water temp was 65. Five us us I think kept 55 keepers with one 17 inch walleye. The crappie went from just 10 inches to 12 with more in the 11 inch range than the last trip which we had more in the 12-13 inch range. Bite was very light, most time when it was dropping. We had quite a few small ones- 5-6 inches.

This is what I've been told. Pole timber in 20 feet of water close to transition banks. They're about half way down close to timber. You'll catch a few off each tree. Also we troll for them. Troll down the middle of a cove, slowest speed you can go. Use 1/8th oz jigs or swimming minnows.

fixed.

Took a family out for a quick trip on the lake this morning. Started on 7 am. Water was really slow here at the dock, almost too slow to drift so we boated up past Short Creek where it's shallower and faster current (still pretty slow though) and started drifting Gulp eggs using just a couple of small 3/0 splits above a #6 short bronze hook, 4 lb line. One white and one orange- as soon as we hit the creek mouth, they started hooking rainbows and caught them good all the way down past the old Sun Valley Resort. They probably boated 15 rainbows in all, some up to 14 inches, most over 12 inches. Fought good. All released. The second drift was less fruitful. Ended the trip at 10 am, drifting down to the resort. Big midge hatch this morning but the trout weren't paying much attention to them. Wood ducks, heron, song birds of all kinds out this morning. Hardly anyone out either. Wonderful morning.

From March 29th - <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7pWrU2XtuFc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Crap! I need my head examined. Bittle- you're right. Nix the judging thing... I'll have it back up at the beginning of May.

May be... not sure I'd sub out part of my trip to the NFOW for Taney though! Hard to beat that little stream. But if you do come, I caught some nice bows and a brown this am on white along the bluffs. Nice flow for it too.

I was a couple of days of on my guess. When Table Rock hit 916 ft, the Corp decided to slow generation. Today it looks like they're going back to the pattern they ran before the rains, slow in the am building in the pm. We'll see how the trout respond to this change. Heading out this morning to try it out.

Jon, Branson is a great place to raise a family. It's a very different kind of town though... most everything circles around tourism. Kinda hard to explain. When I go back to my home town in Kansas, I notice the difference right off. I miss the small town, home town feeling but I still like Branson. Drop by and say hi. We'll help in any way we can. I do have some friends in the real estate business. You'll find out it's not cheap living here compared to communities to our north. A lot of ppl commute just for that reason. But you're coming at a good time. Jobs and housing are starting to open up for the season.

The countless fleet of boat docks attracts bass at the Lake of the Ozarks most of the time, except in April when the fish feel the urge to spawn. Then the bass shun their classical floating cover for the temptations of rock (chunk and pea gravel rather than Van Halen or Aerosmith). This 58,000-acre reservoir lost most of its natural cover when the standing timber was cleared before the lake was formed in 1931. New cover has developed over the years as dock owners and anglers have planted brush piles throughout the lake. Bass also relate to natural structure such as steep bluffs, chunk rock and pea gravel banks, dropoffs and points. Lay-downs and logjams attract bass in the undeveloped coves. Normal pool elevation for the lake is 660 feet above sea level. READ MORE

Just a best guess. From what they did before the rain we got, they were keeping it about 915. I doubt if they pull it down much past that. I expect a drop in generation when it hits 915. They already slowed it down today.

I like it! Thanks for posting.