Phil Lilley

If he was chuming, it is legal. If he using live bait for bait, then he was breaking the law.

Anyone else have any points? Ones we haven't heard? From members who haven't waded in?

Yep

Guess I was stating the obvious- that it will cost us money. I'm not dead set against the ban- it's going to happen and we'll make the best of it and come through it fine. And if it does keep it from spreading then that is a good thing. We already have Zebra Muscles in Taneycomo but like Al said, they don't always devastate a fishery. It hasn't ours and looks like it won't. I venture to say Zebras were brought to our lake by a boat or trailer, that's why I brought up the comparison.

I'll wade in... Like all businessmen, we have to deal with new regulations around almost every corner. The Health Department keeps us busy changing the way we serve coffee and keep our freezers and refrigerators. Glad that's all we do cause to do more means spending big money to keep thing legal. Our swimming pool- a lady drowns in another state and isn't found for three day in a public pool. The pool was cloudy in the deep end- that's what hid her body. Now, in Missouri, we have to close our pool is there's the least bit of cloudiness in the pool. We closed is several days this year by order of the H.D.. I could go on and on. Knee jerk reactions by regulators to try to keep bad things from happening- but you know- bad things keep happening and will continue. Will some of the regulations save lives (fish and humans) ? Some will and some won't. But most hurt business and this will hurt businesses in the short run. The only business it will help is the shoe makers and shoe sellers, and again, short term. I can see out of staters not coming to Missouri because of the ban and yes this will hurt our businesses and might even cause a decrease in license sales. How is algea spread from one water system to another anyhow? What's the most common vehicle? How are Zebra muscles spread? Same? Then what are you going to do with trailers and boats that carry water from one system to another? Could a case be made that trailers and boats could be more of a danger to spread didymo than boots? But there's no need to get all heated about it - we're going to disagree because it takes all kinds of people to run this world... MDC is going to do it regardless what we say- already did it sounds like. I do respects an opinion from the opposite side. It can't hurt, I guess. But it will hurt some of us in the pocket book- that's for sure, whether we have to buy new shoes or lose business because of it.

I'm surprised it didn't hit the news... glad it didn't. Still may if it's still around, especially at the Landing. I did talk to someone at the Corp and he confirmed what I was told.

We did not get out to mark the trees in the lake today. Will try again tomorrow.

posted on another thread about the oil.

I saw it on the water yesterday am. Called MDC and they said they knew about it. The Corp told them that oil leaked from one turbine. It was fixed quickly yesterday morning and then the water turned on early to flush it out. It should dilute and dissipate in time. But there shouldn't be any upstream unless they have more problems with that turbine.

<img src="http://ozarkanglers.com/ice/narrows_530.jpg" width="530" height="195"></p> <p>Since my last fishing report was almost six weeks ago, I’m going to have to cover a lot of water, so to speak, because a great deal has changed since my last report… quite literally.<br><br> At the time I was leaving for Alaska, the boards at Powersite Dam were being reinstalled, bringing our lake back to what we call “normal pool.”&nbsp; But if you’re a frequent caller to the dam hotline, calling to see if water is generating or what the lake level is, you’re used to hearing “701.3 feet” as being the normal lake level when the water is off.&nbsp; Today, that’s not so.&nbsp; The new level is 702.0 feet.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because gravel was moved by the high water from the banks and bottom above outlet #2 and piled up at the rebar area.&nbsp; It now acts as a little dam, holding back more water at a higher level than prior to the flood.&nbsp; There’s also very little current at all from the dam face to rebar, unlike before when there was good current, especially from about half way between outlets #1 and #2 through outlet #2.&nbsp; It’s deeper and pretty much still water in this area.<br><br> The rebar has changed completely, except for the fact that it’s still turns and goes to the south bank through what we call “the gauntlet.”&nbsp; Rebar isn’t one big shoot of water anymore.&nbsp; It’s four separate shoots, starting at different points but all ending up dumping into a big pool.&nbsp; I haven’t had time to look at it closely or fish it at all.&nbsp; It’s a matter of going and feeling out the area and see where the trout are holding.&nbsp; One thing positive is that I think there’s more room for anglers to find a good spot and not be as crowded.<br><br> I’ve also fished down at the boat ramp this past week.&nbsp; The water seems higher down there, too.&nbsp; The shoot at the end of the long pool down from the boat ramp has no channel whatsoever.&nbsp; It’s a shallow riffle all the way across at the top, which makes me think it’s dammed up, too, holding water behind it at a higher level.&nbsp; Also, there is not as much current either.&nbsp; This shoot at the end of the pool is much longer—extending all the way down to the former KOA property.&nbsp; It’s all filled in with gravel.&nbsp; At the end and on the south side, there’s a good channel that’s holding some nice trout, towards the point of the island.&nbsp; You can wade all the way down to the start of the KOA high rock bank, then it drops off into the deep channel as before.<br><br> Down from Lookout, the first pool is wide and deep from bank to bank.&nbsp; There’s very little left of the long shallow point just down from Andy William’s house that so many waders used to wade out on.&nbsp; It drops off pretty quickly and there are some deep holes washed out on that west side.&nbsp; There are also piles of gravel on the west side that extend well into the lake channel up and down this whole stretch.&nbsp; The edges are steep, and I’m sure loose, so if you’re wading close to them watch your step.&nbsp; You could be up to your chest in water real quick.<br><br> The narrows is another area that’s changed a lot.&nbsp; I posted some pictures of the narrows back when the boards were off and the water was running, and you can see the new shape of the gravel bar that extend from the west to east side of the lake.&nbsp; It’s higher out of the water for sure and there are all kinds of sticks, branches and small trees sticking out of the gravel all over the bar.&nbsp; All of it is buried, I guess washed down from above, and covered up by moving gravel with only parts sticking up.&nbsp; The flat used to be pretty clean of anything but gravel.&nbsp; With the water off, a lot of it is completely out of the water now, leaving just the channel on the east side.&nbsp; It’s narrow and shallow.&nbsp; When a boat is fishing the narrow, it’s tough to get around them without disturbing their fishing.&nbsp; I would not blow up through this anymore with my boat.&nbsp; There’s a couple of large boulders above the overhanging tree that come into play close to the bank and in the channel.&nbsp; You have to go slow and look for them.&nbsp; I’ve been going through with my motor trimmed up.&nbsp; This is a HUGE difference from the way it was before the flood.<br><br> Below the narrows the lake deepens out&nbsp; -- actually deeper than it was in some places,&nbsp; I think. It is much deeper along the chunk rock bank on the west side and holds a lot of fish, especially if generation is one to three units.&nbsp; The east side used to be fairly uniformed, straight and predictable—gravel bar sliding off into a deep channel.&nbsp; Now there are a couple of big trees lying on top of the bar and the bar has curves and cuts, dropoffs and shoots.&nbsp; The channel or west side is close to the same all the way to Fall Creek.<br><br> At Fall Creek, the channel most of us used to get up past the gravel bar is filled in so much that I’m not going to suggest using it anymore to boating clients here at the resort.&nbsp; The channel is deeper on the dock or west side of the lake now.&nbsp; The bar itself is not as deep all the way across, but when the water is off, it’s still shallow enough to eat props.<br><br> From Fall Creek to Trout Hollow, it’s changed, too.&nbsp; The channel is the same—along the bluff.&nbsp; There are two trees in the lake on the channel side that will get your lower unit.&nbsp; We took a chain saw to them back when they drew down the lake in July, but we couldn’t cut them low enough.&nbsp; We have tied buoys to them twice but they’re broken free.&nbsp; We are going to attempt to mark them again Friday (tomorrow) so that boaters can see where they are and avoid them.&nbsp; (There’s actually another tree about 1000 yards above our place (Lilleys’) that we will also mark with a buoy)&nbsp; You’ll see that the gravel is piled up high on the inside of the bend.&nbsp; If you have a depth finder on your boat, you should notice that the channel is deeper than it was before.&nbsp; There are actually several holes that are as much as 16 feet deep at low water.&nbsp; The gravel bar at Short Creek, the one that ate more props and lower units than any other on the lake, extends less than half what it used to; where the main part of the bar used to be, the water there is 10 feet deep.&nbsp; Amazing!&nbsp; It took that gravel and moved it about 300 yards and spread it all the way across the lake.&nbsp; There are two trees lodged on either side of the lake above Trout Hollow.&nbsp; At that point, the lake shallows up to less than four feet deep from bank to bank.&nbsp; There’s no channel.&nbsp; You can boat through this area with little trouble but back when the boards were off and the lake was lower, you could barely get a jon boat through this area with the motor tilted up.<br> No other noticeable changes below Trout Hollow.<br><br> Generation patterns have been fairly consistent this past week but should change as this cold front moves through the area later this weekend.&nbsp; The water has been off until mid day and then one to three units have been running until evening and off by 10 p.m.&nbsp; The DO (dissolved oxygen) content is starting to drop and is low when they are not running water.&nbsp; It jumps up when they run water because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is injecting liquid o2 in the water as they generate.&nbsp; This will continue to be a factor until the lake turns over later in December.&nbsp; Our water temperature is higher than normal because of the hard rains and flooding in the spring.&nbsp; It’s running about 57 degrees while normally it’s closer to 50.&nbsp; Low o2 levels coupled with high water temperatures means trout will feed less, and be less active than normal.&nbsp; They also won’t fight quite as hard and will be harder to release successfully.&nbsp; This means you need to fight them quickly and return them back to the water immediately.&nbsp; When flyfishing, don’t use ultra light tippet like 7x.&nbsp; A larger trout will literally give his all and you’ll fight him to his death— which is counterproductive when you want to catch and release.<br><br> Seems like to me our trout are looking for scuds when flyfishing.&nbsp; I’ve had the best luck fishing scuds early this week, before the water starts in the morning.&nbsp; Conditions have been rough with no generation, no wind and very bright sun.&nbsp; Those can make for a slow fishing trip most of the time, but we’ve been fishing with long leaders (5x or 6x fluorocarbon) and #14 gray or brown (mink) weighted scuds under an indicator and doing well.&nbsp; I’m fishing 1.5 times the depth of the water I’m fishing, setting a palsa indicator on the line and letting the scud drift to the bottom.&nbsp; Then I move it, swimming the scud across the gravel bottom.&nbsp; The trout are picking it up pretty quickly.&nbsp; I’ve been fishing below and above the narrows and between the narrows and Lookout.&nbsp; When the wind picks up and there’s a chop on the surface, I’ve gone to a jig and float and done well.&nbsp; Olive or tan micro, sculpin or ginger marabou jigs are great.&nbsp; Chuck Gries also sells a white micro jig that does real well, too.&nbsp; It has a chenille body and tiny marabou tail.&nbsp; They are chasing a small #16 wooly or crackleback, too, in windy conditions.<br><br> I ventured up below the dam this morning and visited with Tim Homesley from Roaring River.&nbsp; He was having fun catching rainbows close to outlet #2 on a white San Juan worm.&nbsp; I picked up a few rainbows on the north bank below outlet #2 on a #16 brown trout crack scud.&nbsp; I didn’t get to fish much before the horn blew. &nbsp;Night flyfishing has been pretty good, I hear.&nbsp; Some anglers are launching their boats at the boat ramp and fishing that area using darker jigs, PMS and sculpin patterns.<br><br> When they’re running water, I’ve done well throwing a 1/8t-ounce jig against the bluff banks from the dam clear down to Trout Hollow.&nbsp; Good colors have been sculpin, olive, black, brown, ginger and white.&nbsp; If they’re only running one to two units, throw a jig and float and fish it five-to seven- feet deep.&nbsp; Use white or pink micro or marabou jigs.<br><br> Air-injected night crawlers are catching most of the bigger trout below Fall Creek.&nbsp; I’d inject them either with the water off or running right now.&nbsp; Use the least amount of weight as needed to get the bait to the bottom.&nbsp; Unfortunately there’s more on the bottom of the lake now to get snagged on when drifting.&nbsp; The Missouri Department of Conservation has stocked rainbows this week in preparation for the Labor Day crowds, probably releasing them from Branson up to Cooper Creek because of water temperatures.&nbsp; It would be too warm for them to stock below Branson from now through the fall.</p>

Water temp is the key. You're going to have to go above the bridges I'd think to find good fishing for trout. Creeks aren't going to help at all- they're even warmer than the lake. I'd go up as far as Cooper Creek or further is needed. Probably not going to see much current either. Anchor and still fishing with night crawlers. Boating- watch your wake and you'll be fine.

Nice fish- nice report. Thanks for posting details! Appreciate it.

Sean- we 4-wheeled over the pass over to Saltry last year- it was a cool ride. The river was slow though and not many fish- lots of people. There's one or two lodges over there now and with others going over I guess it's getting popular. Thanks- we did have a great trip.

The 2nd Annual Lake Taneycomo Shoreline Cleanup will take place on September 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. They are looking for volunteers to team up at 3 different locations: Branson Park Campground near Scotty's Dock, Rockaway Beach near Rainbow Haven, Empire Park at Forsyth, and possibly starting from Lilleys' Landing. Sign up with the link below! http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=jsiefwcab&oeidk=a07e4k69or35671486c

For those who knew Gabe when he lived and guided on the White and Norfork, Gabe died last evening. He was living in the NE- Idaho I think. He was a nice guy. Good guide, fisherman and writer.

Not sure it will cover Taneycomo. It's pretty vague- no date. We'll see what happens.

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rKi0y0rORys" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e193RorGNiI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> These are pink salmon running the beaches of Kodiak. We hit the fresh run pretty much right on. The guys had hookups almost on every cast at times either throwing a pink, weighted fly or a pink jig and by the video, you can see why. I sat the camera, on a tripod, in about 2-3 feet of water off the beach and it wasn't long the pinks would school by. You can see some that are already turned into their spawning colors and others are still silver, fresh. We kept the silver ones for eating- they are very good if they're fresh out of the salt.

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BOnSFxSUfJI?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> These are humpback whales. They were feeding on small fish all around us. We were drifting, not really fishing but did have lines down. We sat and watched them for about 30 minutes... was one of the highlights of my trip.

Thanks, Eric. Didn't double check it.

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-branson-tourism-down-for-summer-one-business-begs-to-differ-20110826,0,5270752.story#tugs_story_display Joanna called me about 2 pm yesterday out of the blue. Said the chamber gave her our number. She was looking for a story to verify the chamber's news release about visitors being down in Branson this year. I guess my comments weren't what she was looking for. Our business has been up. Our room occupancy is the same but boat rentals are up for the summer. I've done TV and Newspaper interviews before. You give them a lot of information and then you never know how the story is spun. Joanna actually included much, much more information than I expected - she asked a lot of questions about fishing, about the flood and about our resort and the people who stay here. Altogether, her and her camera person spent an hour here at the resort and on the lake.

Got out this morning with Vince Elfrink and Rolan Duffield, 2 very good friends. Boated up close to lookout and started from there, about 9 am. No generation, no wind. Water is clear now- not like it was a month ago before I left for Alaska. Caught very few fish until about 10:30 am when the wind picked up and the surface of the lake started breaking up. When the wind started, we were close to the Narrows and there is pretty good current there now because it's much shallower and narrower then before the flood. We caught rainbows on sculpin 1/100th oz jigs under a float 4-5 feet deep, especially good below the Narrows where is deepens out. Nothing big. Here's some videos from the morning's trip. <iframe width="640" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nMoJ_qS89fk?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="640" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RGF3YqUEOb8?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="853" height="510" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/L_BbCcgUd3M?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Well... our fishing isn't quite over.

Our fishing is over. We flew to the Uganik River again, the same float we did last week. Fishing was better, if that's possible. Dolly Varden by the thousands and easy to catch. Fished the bottom part of the river and caught some nice pinks and one chum salmon. We saw, no exaggeration, 50+ eagles. Adults, pairs, young eagles, a dozen nests. Never has any of us seen that many bald eagles combined in our lives. We could be more than a dozen at the end of our float on the flats. None of us had a decent camera to record the sight unfortunately. Not even the videos turned out. Rainy, cloudy day so light was low. Also saw a sow with 3 small cub yearlings and 3 more bears on the river. The river's level was up about 18 inches so the float was more enjoyable. We'll get our clients off tomorrow and prepare for our trip home Tuesday. Our plan is to fish Willow Creek on Tuesday, north on Anchorage, if we get out of here early Tuesday. Our flight out Tuesday night is at midnight so we have a full day to kill. Might as well fish!

New clients this week. Eight guys from the Kansas City area. All friends, fishing buddies- real nice guys. The first 4 days have been charter boats and beach fishing. Because the charters can only take 6 clients out at a time, we've had to send out 6, then 3 on alternative days. Learning about this deep sea fishing here... there are tons of two species- halibut and black sea bass. Now finding the BIG halibut are alittle tricky but it seems the smaller "chickens" are all over the place. Sea bass are also abundant and they're the best eating. Fishing the tide currents is also interesting. Not saying I've figured this all out and going into the charter biz= no way! I went out on Tuesday- blue skies, 8 feet swells and I didn't do well, even after taking miedication. I get motion sickness pretty easily so charter captain isn't in my future. The guys have done well all week. They had pretty rough seas yesterday but did the best, catching their limit of halibut, sea bass and king salmon plus some silvers, pinks and ling cod. About 200 pounds of meat. The weather did turn yesterday. Fog this morning, drizzle and about 55 but it's supposed to be nicer by Sunday. On the off days, we've been fishing the beaches for pinks. Still finding tons of fresh, silver pinks on fly rod. You can find some pics posted here - https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=104883236262217089205&target=ALBUM&id=5642773027353704673&authkey=Gv1sRgCM3xr6mMoqK4Ug&invite=CP2F7dEK&feat=email