Phil Lilley

I'll get out tomorrow and see.

Putting some info together on the tailwater. Here are some questions: Boating- if someone was thinking about bringing a boat to fish the Beaver Tailwater, what should he know about the layout? I know some of the 8-mile stretch below the dam is too shallow for even a jon boat, much less a larger boat. Is there good wading at most of the access points? What should a person be mindful of before trying these spots. Difficult? Thanks

The Corp won't let them do it - for boating reasons but more for operation reasons. Anything that holds back flow below the dam creates head pressure and they won't allow it. I'm surprised they've let the water level stay at 702.0 instead of lowering it back to 701.3.

I did see 3 big browns below the Narrows last evening. All 3 were 24 inches or bigger.

They're estimating 2 weeks.

Means they'll be running one unit. Wading is still possible.

Empire Electric is installing a new gate system all the way across the top of Powersite Dam starting today. They estimated the work will take about 2 weeks. For the duration, Taneycomo will be drawn down to allow work to be done at Powersite. To keep the upper lake watered, the Corp will run about 30-40 mw of power from Table Rock Dam and Empire will run the sam amount of water from Powersite. This will put more water, higher level of water in the upper end of Taneycomo with fairly fast current but not much will be noticed down past Cooper Creek. Boating past Trout Hollow will be tricky. It will be shallow! Be careful of bars and stumps even in the middle of the lake and channel. Past Fall Creek will be even more tricky.

Friday, the Corp will leave the water off and MDC will start placing these rocks in the lake. The one area they will put most of the rocks is starting across and upstream from outlet #2 down the south bank to rebar. Andy Austin, out of the Springfield office, has experience at Montauk in their fish habitat project and he will have suggestions where they will place the rocks. They are also eyeing a few places down below Rocking Chair (where the rocks are on the bank). The goal is to create deeper water for fish to hold. They are going to stay away from the middle of the lake so as to not interfere with boat traffic. It starts Friday and will continue into the following week. I don't think they'll be in the lake working on the weekend.

I tried to find an old post on this subject but... it was a long time ago. I mentioned it in my fishing report. Friday, the Corp will leave the water off and MDC will start placing these rocks in the lake. The one area they will put most of the rocks is starting across and upstream from outlet #2 down the south bank to rebar. Andy Austin, out of the Springfield office, has experience at Montauk in their fish habitat project and he will have suggestions where they will place the rocks. They are also eyeing a few places down below Rocking Chair (where the rocks are on the bank). The goal is to create deeper water for fish to hold. They are going to stay away from the middle of the lake so as to not interfere with boat traffic. It starts Friday and will continue into the following week. I don't think they'll be in the lake working on the weekend.

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Friday and Saturday, I got out and fished with a friend from OK - Coy. He doesn't fly fish but that's what we were going to do. High sun and flat water. it was tough but we boated quite a few rainbows. Started at Andy's house below Lookout and worked the shallow side using mink or peppy weight #12 scuds. Always had plenty of tippet under the indicator to keep it on the bottom, scooting along. The takes were slight - had to really pay attention to the float. If we got a chop on the water, the bites picked up. Fished this evening with Paul Clark, a friend from KC. They're drawing the lake down to work on Powersite - last time! After they install these new gates on top of Powersite, no more boards and no more drawdowns. We boated to the Narrows and found it running pretty fast and shallow. I'm uploading a couple of videos on youtube that'll be ready in the morning. Lots of scuds and sow bugs along the gravel edges moving out with the drop of the water. Lots of scuplins too- lots were stranded on the gravel- I rescued a bunch. The rainbows were up on that bank feasting on the bugs, backs out of the water. Paul hadn't fly fished so we stayed out in the main stream and did ok. We did better late, coming back down in front of the resort and catching rainbows on a red #16 zebra midge under an indicator 12 inches and casting to rising trout. They were agressive and fought hard. SPA schedule says they're going to start generation at 7 am tomorrow. This is a normal procedure when they drop the lake- run less than one unit at Table Rock and then pull it through the turbines at Powersite. The lake level down here will still be low. The levels above Fall Creek will be higher, but not real high and the current faster. Below the dam, you won't see much of a level difference, just a unit's worth of current. This is to keep the gravel areas from the dam to Fall Creek watered while the construction is done. On Friday, MDC will start placing boulders in the lake starting up from outlet #2 down past the boat ramp as part of the habitat project. They're planning to work into the following week. That means they'll have the water off for the times they're working those days... but you'll have to share the lake with a couple of front loaders.

Line class record- isn't that catch and release only? Title of the topic is it was killed... was it?

Nice- I'll use that in a good place on the new site. Thanks

I was asked to delete this topic but instead I've deleted some posts and edited another. Let's keep private parts out of the forum, please.

<img src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/10/1234-362.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="228" /> Kenneth Liberton, caught 10/16 between outlet #2 and Rebar on a #18 KB Special We're pretty much at our fall color peak here on Taneycomo this week. The dry weather this summer hasn't really dampened autumn colors so we're enjoying bright yellows and oranges on the bluff across the lake from the resort. The trout . . . they don't care about those things. They do like the bugs that fall from the trees with the leaves though. Generation patterns have been consistant for the past couple of weeks until yesterday when the cold front forced the Corp to turn up the power and generate through the day. I believe once it warms back up, they'll go back to no generation during the day with slight generation mid afternoon till about 10 pm. Oxygen levels are almost nil when the water is off. The only oxygen we're getting is from the hatchery outlets and when they generate--they are injecting liquid O2 into the turbines bringing the O2 levels up to about 5 ppm. Sunlight also adds O2 to the water as well as wind. This is a seasonal issue we face every fall and both the trout and anglers have to deal with it. It tends to make fishing (catching) tough some days. The trout tend to kick back, using as little energy as needed to survive. High blue bird skies and no wind don't help either. The last couple of weeks, it seems that about every other day has been fair fishing and the other day has been poor. Again, this is pretty normal for this time of year. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1187" title="Taneycomo Brown Trout" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/10/DSC00517.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="281" /> Big trout are still being caught though, not just below the dam but down here too. Steve Makarewick caught a 9-pound brown last week below Fall Creek on a sculpin. It measured 27-inches. Other decent rainbows have been caught down close to the Landing and bass are being caught down there too. The rock wall bank along the Landing walkway has been a good place to look for bass--if you walk along the rail you will see them just off the bank. Of course, the Landing security won't let you fish off the walk. Up below the dam, we're seeing quite a few brown trout now. They are around outlets #1 and #2 as well as down in the rebar and gauntlet areas during the day. There are also a good number of big rainbows too. You'll see some fish on redds (spawning beds) in the rebar and gauntlet areas. Now on into November and December, we'll see the browns leave and more big rainbows move in to spawn. Night fishing has been pretty good. I got out last week one night and caught a few trout but also caught a bass and 2 walleye, nice ones too! Caught them on a sculpin 1/16th-ounce jig, working it off the bottom up by the cable wading just off the bank on the hatchery side. Others have been casting hibernators, leeches, big streamers, PMS in dark colors like black, brown, purple, olive and sculpin. Also pack some light colors too - white, gray and orange. You can work all the areas clear down to Trophy Run. During the day, scuds are working the best. I caught some rainbows this week using #12 gray or mink scuds tied on a 3769 TMC hook (straight rather than curved) and I use fire orange thread. The orange shows through the dubbing giving it a "dead" look. Freshwater shrimp turn orange when they die and dead scuds are easier to eat then live ones. I would drift them in the faster water at rebar and below. I was sight fishing to some rainbows in the lower section of the gauntlet (shoot below the rebar), had caught a few small ones when all of a sudden a large rainbow moved up into the water I was fishing. He moved up right in the middle of my drift so I let the line go ahead and move through so as not to disturb him. But he moved right into my line and my fly caught him in the back. Darn! When he felt the hook, he bolted upstream. Fortunately the hook didn't snag him but he didn't stick around to give me another shot. When the water is running, we've been working 3/32nd-ounce jigs from the dam down to Short Creek and doing pretty well. Good colors have been sculpin/orange, brown/orange, sculpin/ginger, sculpin, olive and white. Bites are soft so you really have to pay attention to what your line is doing. Night crawlers are still catching some nice rainbows between Fall Creek and Short Creek. This time of year we are thinking about going to 2-pound line but not yet. Water still has some color to it--it's not as clear as it usually is for this time of year so 4-pound line it fine. In our area and down lake, Power Bait is working good, especially when the water is running later in the day. I've been watching people anchored in front of our docks catching quite a few rainbows this week. Trolling has been good too. The trout seemed to be holding close to the surface so pulling a in-line spinner or small spoon through the water has snagging some rainbows. Problem is you have to dodge all the leaves.

Have a son in Beverly. Love your part of the country but haven't wetted a line there yet. Caleb's not an angler so he's no help. Glad you found us.

Got to go!! Driving back from Dallas right now. Be back tonight and am going in the am. Might go tomorrow night.

Use to go snake hunting in the flint hills of KS when I was a kid. Lots of fun. Timber rattlers and copperheads were the best finds.

Keith- I'm going to tell your story at Vince's service this morning... thanks!

Sweet.

I use floral orange thread when tying the scud. The orange shows through the dubbing, especially when it gets wet and worn. I cut the fur off a mink pelt, then cut small pieces out of the antron dubbing, trying to cut it all in half-inch strens. Put in a blender and mix it up. 3 parts mink and 1 part antron. Scuds turn orange when they die. Orange is a good attractant.

Visitation is at the College of the Ozark's Chapel Friday evening 5:30 - 7:30. Service is Saturday at the chapel - 11 am.

Those of you who knew Vince, you know we've lost a great friend, angler, worker, father and husband. Vince passed from this life to the next chapter of eternity last night at 7:10 pm. His family - wife Jo Beth, sons Joel and Luke and daughter Mica - all were singing praises to God when he breathed his last breath. Vince was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor last August, just before he guided for the Healing Waters event here at the resort. I remember his steadfast resolve and faith that no matter what, he was to keep living his life just as he had lived it- to the fullest. Vince and his family believes in a loving God, a personal God, who loves us in spite of our short comings (and we have many). They believe God is God, Almighty, Creator and Father. They believed God could heal Vince in a nanosecond, but also believed that His plan is not ours. In the end, we all knew we'd see a miracle- Vince couldn't lose- if he got up from his sick bed and started dancing a dance of healing, he'd win. If he went to sleep and woke up in the presence of Jesus... man! he would really win!!! And we'd rejoice either way- and we are. Although the illness took his speech a few weeks ago, he has been alert and responsive until a few days ago. He has not been on any pain medication since recovering from a brain biopsy last fall and wasn't last night, nor was he in any pain to the end- a miracle. The tumor affected the area of his brain that controls his emotions, so during all of his illness, he was always in a great mood, cutting jokes and firing off quick witted remarks. Sometimes they didn't make a lick of sense--but that just made them funnier. Vince was an avid outdoorsman and when I say avid, I mean his budget at home counted on fish and game in the freezer. He bow and gun hunted. He'd be in the woods before and after work this time of year. He had a true sportsman heart, being respectful and grateful for each animal he harvested and the laws that govern hunting and fishing. And boy could he catch fish! As much as I love to fish, he could fish me under the boat. On many fishing trips, I'd be ready to take a break but not Vince. We'd drive separately sometimes cause he was afraid I'd want to come in early- and he wouldn't have that! He loved to fly fish and spin fish. He'd work a jig to perfection. He tied his own jigs and flies and hardly ever bought new fishing equipment. I had to force him to buy new rods and reels when he began to guide several years back cause I told him no one would want to go out with him and use that old stuff. But he could make those old rod and reels sing! Vince and his kids competed in Like Father, Like Son National Fishing Circuit back about 10 years ago. He and his son Joel won the national tournament I think the second year they competed and won a log cabin kit. They had bought some land 25 years ago off Acacia Club Rd in Hollister and several years ago, constructed a small 2 BR cabin there in the woods. Their house north of town burned last spring, totaling the structure, so the cabin is where they've been; it's where Vince passed. He fished many of our trout tournaments here on Taneycomo but I don't think he ever finished first. He and I finished second in a Fall Creek Contest years ago and he won big trout- that's the best we ever did. But he also caught a keeper brown a few years ago during the Team Tournament. The brown trout pot had grown to $1800 and I remember saying - "If I had to give a big check away, I'm glad I had to give to my best friend! Now he owes me lunch!!" Vince was 52, 2 months younger than I. We were best friends, best fishing buddies for 27 years and I will miss him. But I know, I know! I will see him again soon and we'll have all the time there is to do those things God has planned for us and I trust, not just saying this, but I believe there's going to be some fishing involved. Our trip to Alaska 2 summers ago - <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EwpUB6teIxk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

For reasons I'll share later today, I headed to the dam about 11:30 pm to spend some quiet time with my God. I took the spin rod and 1/16th oz jigs. One car in the lot. He was at outlet #2. I went up to outlet #1. Caught 3 rainbows of decent size on a grey jig. Switched to purple and dropped down below the flow and caught 3 more fish- 1 smallmouth about 14 inches and 2 walleye about 20 inches. Yes, Leonard, they're still in the lake for ya. Beautiful night. Moon was full and lite up the night when it peeked out from the clouds. Laid on the bank looking up at the skies for a while and marveled at the sight. It was a good time, good conversation. I need to do it more often. We all do, I think.

I didn't know about holding a big fish upright till earlier this year. I don't think it's widely known. Boga- yes I learned that in Alaska.