Phil Lilley

You can't fish off the wall but you can off the earth bank. Below and above the Landing walkway.

MDC bans porous-soled waders to help protect trout waters from invasive algae Porous-soled waders are prime suspects in human transport of “didymo,” or “rock snot.” JEFFERSON CITY Mo – In anticipation of winter trout fishing, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) encourages trout anglers to help prevent the spread of a new threat to Missouri’s cold-water streams and rivers. Called “didymo” (Didymosphenia geminata) or “rock snot,” this invasive alga forms large, thick mats on the bottoms of cold-water streams and rivers, reducing the quality and quantity of food vital to fish such as trout. Didymo also clogs water intakes and boat motors. It interferes with fishing gear and eventually makes fishing nearly impossible, with devastating economic and environmental consequences. Didymo is native to northern parts of North America and Europe. While it has not been found in Missouri, rock snot has been found just south of the Missouri-Arkansas border in the White River. According to MDC Fisheries Biologist Mark VanPatten, didymo is kept in check naturally in other parts of the country and world by lower pH, or acidity, levels in the water. Missouri’s wealth of limestone creates higher pH levels in Show-Me waters. These higher pH levels can allow didymo to spread unchecked. “Preventing the spread of this invasive species into Missouri is critical,” VanPatten warns. “There is no way to control or eradicate didymo once it gets established in the state.” VanPatten emphasizes that recreational equipment such as boats, lifejackets and fishing gear--particularly porous-soled waders--are the most likely ways for didymo to spread into Missouri. “Porous-soled waders and wading boots, worn by many trout anglers, appear to be a likely pathway for the spread of didymo,” VanPatten explains. “The soles hold moisture for days and can harbor cells of this alga. Individual cells cannot be seen with the naked eye and only a single cell is needed to establish a stream-killing colony. Anglers who visit waters with didymo can, unknowingly, transfer these cells to the next stream they visit.” The Missouri Conservation Commission has approved a regulation change banning the use of porous-soled waders or footwear incorporating or having attached a porous sole of felted, matted, or woven fibrous material when fishing in trout parks and other specific trout waters. Pending public comment through the Secretary of State’s office, the new regulation will go into effect March 1, 2012, the opening day of catch-and-keep fishing at Missouri’s four trout parks. To help reduce the spread of didymo, MDC encourages anglers to remember: Check, then Clean or Dry. · Check all gear and equipment and remove any visible algae. Dispose of algae by placing it in the trash, not by putting it down a drain or into bodies of water. · Then Clean all gear and equipment with a solution of 2-percent bleach, 5-percent saltwater, or dishwashing detergent. Allow all equipment to stay in contact with the solution for at least three minutes. Soak all soft items, such as felt-soled waders and wader boot cuffs, neoprene waders and life jackets, in the solution for at least 20 minutes. · Or then Dry all gear and equipment for at least 48 hours by exposing it to sunlight. To help anglers clean their waders before entering Missouri trout streams, MDC has installed wader wash stations at Missouri’s five cold-water trout hatcheries: Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, Montauk State Park near Salem, Roaring River State Park near Cassville, Maramec Spring Park near St. James and Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery by the upper portion of Lake Taneycomo near Branson. All anglers are encouraged to replace their porous-soled waders with ones that have non-porous rubber or synthetic soles. Anglers can adapt felt-soled and other porous-soled waders to comply with the new regulation by sealing the soles with solutions of contact cement or marine rubber cement. VanPatten notes the cement may need to be reapplied after each use. MDC offers an instructional video for sealing waders at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_udcfZqA_w “Adapting waders is not a cure,” VanPatten cautions. “It is just one step in prevention. It is still vital to check and clean or dry all waders and all other gear that have had contact with the water.” MDC held public open-house forums in March and April in communities near Missouri’s trout parks and hatcheries to help educate anglers, outfitters, retailers and boaters about the dangers of didymo, the need to replace porous-soled waders and to get public feedback on the proposed regulation change. For more information, visit www.mdc.mo.gov and search “didymo.”

Check the SWA website about 4 pm and you'll see what they'll do all weekend. No guessing. It's been accurate so far this week.

Where are the flies tied?

Fishing for bass in the fall can be a most rewarding experience for an angler's body and soul. The cooler temperatures provide a relief from the scorching heat that you had to endure during the summer and the leaves changing colors creates an eye-pleasing scene that lulls you into a state of tranquility. The fishing this time of year can be just as enjoyable, since the cooling water temperature triggers bass into gorging themselves on shad in preparation for winter. The action can get fast and furious on a variety of shad-imitating lures when you find bass feeding on baitfish. Turbid water and an abundance of flats in the upper ends of Lake of the Ozarks’ tributaries makes these areas ideal for bass in September. Some consistent fall patterns can be found on the Lake of the Ozarks in the upper reaches of the Osage, Grand Glaize, Gravois and Niangua arms. Favorite targets of local anglers are shallow docks along flats. The shad forage is tremendous both on the main lake and in coves during this time. Although patterns tend to be inconsistent in the fall due to the shad scattering throughout the lake, one type of cover always holds fish. Boat docks along flats are the best bets for good fall action, especially on the mid to upper Osage arm, which has plenty of these bass havens. A favorite fall pattern is flipping a ½-ounce black-and-blue jig and plastic crawfish on 20-pound test line behind docks or in the brush alongside docks 5 to 7 feet deep. Docks along the flats seem to produce better than the floating structures on the channel banks. The fish typically hold tight to cover so flip or pitch around the docks and let the jig fall into the cover. Allow the lure sit in the cover for a couple of seconds and shake your rod to make the jig rattle. If this fails to induce a strike, move on to the next target. A secondary pattern also works on docks or along flat points. Tie on a 3/8-ounce white or chartreuse spinnerbait with a silver single number 4 shallowleaf blade and wind it in with a slow, steady retrieve along the sides of docks. The jig pattern usually begins in late summer and lasts through October. The spinnerbait pattern works best in September and October. Since sunshine draws bass tighter to cover, the flipping technique produces better in sunny weather. The spinnerbait pattern calls for windy weather. The turnover completely shuts down fishing in the upper ends for a few days. You can usually avoid this situation by heading down lake to the clearer water areas by the dam, which usually turns over last. For information on lodging and other facilities at the Lake of the Ozarks or to receive a free 162-page vacation guide, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com.

http://www.trilakesmls.com/brn/maildoc/robertson_1317239761-Sep-28-2011-3_56_01pm.html Friends of mine asked me to post this.

This is an email I got in response to my inquiry - Contact Information Mountain Home Project Office 324 W. 7th Street Mountain Home, AR 72653 (870) 425-2700 I believe Mark Case is the Recreation Supervisor. Kelley Hurst(M) is one of the only Rangers I know down there, I believe he is in Recreation. Call this number and ask for one of those guys. I have not had time to make the call yet.

Glad to have you here, Becky. You live in my old stomping grounds - Parsons. I used to camp over where Big Hill is now. I've seen the lake but never fished it. Actually heading to Parsons this weekend for the LCMC 50th Celebration.

I drove to the dam and fished from about 3-5ish. Fished alittle after the water came on. Went directly down to Big Hole cause I hadn't been down there yet since spring. There's no long point anymore, just a big flat. Caught 4 small browns on a #16 red soft hackle and had a dozen more hook ups that came undone. Caught a couple nice rainbows in that bottom shoot dumping into the top of the hole. A guy fishing above me in that shoot hooked a nice brown but it broke him off. Looked to be over 20 inches. Saw one brown and one rainbow on the flat that were well over 20 inches. The trout I was watching down there seemed to be in good shape o2-wise. Fought hard and were feeding actively below and on the surface.

That's normal for the fall. As I've said before- the only oxygen comes from the outlets.

Love to hear how everyone does today. It's been a long time since we fished down water below the dam.

I got out about 5 pm and boated up to Fall Creek. They are running less than one unit, much less. Wanted to relax and fish a jig and float with my fly rod. Went back to the sculpin/orange head 1/125th marabou jig about 4-5 feet deep. But didn't really do any good at first. Then about the Riverpointe boat ramp, I picked up 8 rainbows between there and Short Creek. It started misting some and then a midge hatch came off. Rainbows started midging the surface so I tied on a #16 red zebra and set the float at 12 inches. Caught several before heading down. Once I got within sight of our dock, trout were all over the place midging so I shut it down and started to catch rainbows at will... almost. I targeted a rise and most times got a hit. Most were small rainbows but there were a few pushing 13 inches. Lots of fun!

Leonard....

I've got several new maps done of the upper end, mapping the changes we've seen. Lower Trophy 2011 Changes.pdf 2011 taneycomo lake map of upper 5 miles of the lake 72 dpi.pdf

Chris- you shouldn't have any problems up to Trout Hollow and you could possibly get up past there to Short and then Fall Creek. Depends on the levels. Fishing should be about the same as now- fair. People are catching rainbows pretty well. Should stay consistent through the fall months.

Now at some point, the Corp has agreed to leave the water off for a day or two in October so that MDC can go in and add fish habitat to the stream bed. The plan was to place boulders in key areas and it may stay the same but they want to look at it again since the river bed has changed.

No- they will run one unit. The level will be about what it is now, may be a little less deep but not much. They do this every time it's lowered to work on Powersite. They can't leave it off, especially during the day and leave the gravel bars exposed to the air.

Keep in mind, they will run water at Table Rock and pull from Powersite's turbines at the lower end at least during the day light hours.

As we have been visiting about for some time now Empire is ready to schedule the gate installation job at Ozark Beach. We will start the Taneycomo draw-down on Saturday evening of October 22, 2011 with the idea of dropping the elevation slowly through Sunday and having Taneycomo to the 696.50 level by early Monday morning the 24th. The gates that we are installing are manufactured by the Obermeyer gate company WWW.Obermeyerhydro.com take a look. The work that we have to do involves removing the flashboards and pipe that are now there, grouting the top of the crest to make it as level as possible, installing the rubber bladders, installing the steel gate, sealing from gate to gate, and then adjusting everything. We are trying to do everything possible before we start this actual install to keep the lake draw-down as short as possible. Having visited with the man that does the installation from Obermeyer we are saying the installation will take between two to three weeks. It will be our intention to work long hours and as many day as it take to get the job done quickly but I’m sure you are all aware that there are many factors that get involved in this the weather being the biggest. We will try to communicate with everyone as we go to let you know of our progress. Empire, The Corp of Engineers, SWPA, and the Mo Dept of Conservation are working together to insure the fisheries are protected during this extended drawdown. We are aware that this will be a hardship on those people that make a living on Taneycomo and an inconvenience for those who use Taneycomo for recreation but we really are trying to keep this is install as short as possible and are sure that when we get the new gate installed will have better control over Taneycomo elevation during high flow. Tom Snyder Plant Manager Ozark Beach

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1072" title="Lake Taneycomo Canoeist 9-20-11 on OzarkAnglers.Com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/09/Lake-Taneycomo-Canoeist-9-20-11-on-OzarkAnglers.Com_.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="232" /> Generation patterns remain the same as last week, the same almost each day. They are running what amounts to be 1/2-turbine or 30 mw of power for most of the day and night and double that late afternoon for a few hours. Oxygen levels seem to be holding nicely and the trout we're catching are fighting pretty hard. It doesn't seem like the Corp will change these patterns anytime soon. <img title="Lake Taneycomo Wade Anglers 9-20-11 on OzarkAnglers.Com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/09/Lake-Taneycomo-Wade-Anglers-9-20-11-on-OzarkAnglers.Com_.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="150" /> I've been out several times this week with mixed success. Earlier in the week, I spent quite a bit of time up in the trophy area trying to catch fish on the fly rod. Had some success stripping a soft hackle (#16 red or black) below the Big Hole. There's dead water on the north side of the lake and the seam towards the middle where the current starts. Rainbows were holding close to the surface taking small midges off the surface and in the film. I also got them to take a small WD40 (#20 cream) as well. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1073" title="Lake Taneycomo Fly Guy 9-20-11 on OzarkAnglers.Com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/09/Lake-Taneycomo-Fly-Guy-9-20-11-on-OzarkAnglers.Com_.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="257" /> Drifting from there down to Lookout, I tried several colors and sizes of scuds and didn't do well. May have been middle-of-the-day blues, don't know. I did catch rainbows on an olive or sculpin jig 1/8th oz pretty consistently. That's my fall back. From Lookout down, I threw a dry- #4 sofa pillow and a #2 big ugly along the banks and got nothing- no action. Felt like the current needed to be faster along the bank. Too many eddies and lots of fallen leaves. Again, the jig worked, but nothing of any size. No browns. Darin said he got out the other day and they drifted his white shad fly on the bottom from the cable down and did real well. His first fish was a 20-inch rainbow. I did see a big school of small fish in the Big Hole. They weren't shad and they were not trout. Not chubs. Long and slender like trout. But they were just the right size to be eaten my a big rainbow or brown. I do think there's still threadfin shad up below the dam and I still hear of people catching crappie, white bass and black bass. . . just not that many. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1075" title="Lake Taneycomo Rainbow 9-20-11 on OzarkAnglers.Com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/09/Lake-Taneycomo-Rainbow-9-20-11-on-OzarkAnglers.Com_.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="214" /> The 1/8th oz sculpin jig did real well working the bluff bank from Fall Creek's dock down one evening this week. I didn't catch that many rainbows but what I did catch were good sized ones. Today, this evening, they were running 30 mw when I got out but I think they increased it while I was fishing but not by much. I started above the River Pointe Estates boat ramp 4 docks up. I'd planned just to fish a jig and float and drift lazily down till dark. But some midging trout caught my eye over in the shallow water on the south side. They were up real close to the bank and then out further but still in less than 18 inches of water. I tied on a black zebra midge #16 and pinched a half-palsa on the line 8 inches above the fly and proceeded to catch 4 small rainbows and one small brown. Then tried a soft hackles with no takers. I was still determined to go to the jig and did, tying on a 1/125th oz marabou jig, sculpin with an orange head, 2-pound tippet and a float I set at 5 feet deep. I kept to the middle to shallow side of the lake and drifted down past Short Creek, picking up 8 rainbows between 9 and 12 inches. Caught 3 more before hitting the tree field goals above Trout Hollow. Wanted to fish the water up and in front of the resort before it got dark so I headed down. The have been midging consistently so I knew I'd have some luck and did. I think altogether I caught 16 rainbows and a small brown in about 90 minutes of fishing, much better than I thought I'd do. And gosh, what a gorgeous evening! Fishing off our dock has really picked up the last couple of days, mainly on Power Bait and night crawlers. Curtis said some guys went out mid day today and weren't out very long and came back from the Trout Hollow area with their limit of rainbows caught on Power Bait.

What about fishing in the fall? Say during the week, is the traffic much less? I guess a question would be what's the best time to fish it if you had the time whenever... Weekdays of course are best off-season, right? I'd think winter would be good too during warm spells.

Lodging Specials for September 25 - 29, 2011. Here are two special options for any new reservations: #1 - Stay Two nights & Get Third Night Free! #2 - Stay Two nights & Get Jon Boat Free! Give us a call if you're interested. We'd love to have you! 1-800-284-2196

Good info- perfect. Thanks Gavin. Any other thoughts? Anyone?

Not making myself clear. On my maps I did for oa, there are mileage points but with so many access points, which are the most common/popular floats- between what points? The float companies have their favorites and may be that's what I should go with. But more than that, since I've never been on this river, I'd like to provide a fishing description of different sections of the river, different floats. The distances are not necessarily important because I can figure it out but it is important in fishing cause you don't want to do a big long float in a day when you want to take time and fish. In a recent post here, someone mentioned, Gavin I think, that one section is a dead zone. That's good info for an angler. Thanks.

Yea- I copied and pasted but didn't change the name of the river.