Phil Lilley

Money was a grant, Bass Pro and a federal entity. Not trying to make it look natural. Never said that. As I've said many times... trying to create pockets to hold trout where before it was flat with no holes or pockets. Can't dig a hole- it would just get filled in.

That's right. I don't think what they've put in the lake will cause this but I will say the Corp wasn't watching when they put them in. But I don't see they'll be a problem (the rocks).

Without delving into the lengthy history lesson of Lake Taneycomo , let me just explain that we sometimes experience draw downs to repair our lower dam, Powersite. This time, though, officials are installing a new set of gates on top of the dam, which should preclude any further need for dropping the lake so low. Unlike past draw downs that lasted only a day or two, however, this one will take two to three weeks. Our lake is now four feet lower than normal with the exception of the depth of water added by Table Rock Dam generating about one unit of water. What this looks like is, in the first couple of miles from the dam, the lake level is about what it would be normally at this level of generation. But on down, the level is much lower than normal but the current is actually faster than normal because of the incline. When boating, most of our boats and guests’ boats cannot motor above Trout Hollow because the gravel bar above there is too shallow. Now I did run one of our jon boats up through this area but only in the middle of the lake and at full throttle to keep the boat up on plane. I really wouldn’t suggest this unless you want to risk trashing a prop. Our dock policy has been to prohibit rental boats going above Trout Hollow, which is probably the smartest thing to do for most boaters with jet boats as the exception. One of our guides had a very good fishing trip yesterday. He ran his bass boat up to the bottom of the gravel bar above Trout Hollow and started drifting night crawlers in that faster current. As I boated past him yesterday, I saw one client land a nice 15- inch rainbow, and the other client had one on, too. Later in the morning, the guide took his clients down and fished jigs and floats using black micro jigs under a float five feet deep in front of the Cooper Creek access. The current picks up a little there, and they did very well catching lots of rainbows. The Missouri Department of Conservation has stocked several loads of rainbows off that ramp the last seven days. Below the dam, waders are finding rainbows mostly, very few browns. It seems that our brown run is pretty much over. There’s been lots of talk about our brown trout population over the past couple of years since it seems the population is quite down. Before the 2008 season, we would see hundreds of brown trout move up below the dam in October and November to spawn, but their numbers are down maybe 70%, in my opinion. MDC has increased the number of brown trout stocked in the spring to offset this drop in numbers. Of course, the outlets are the most popular place to find trout as well as the rebar shoot and gauntlet below the shoot. Scuds, eggs and San Juan worms are the best flies. Scuds in sizes #12 to #18 in gray shades have worked well. Yesterday I had heard dark-colored scuds worked best, although when I was playing around with rainbows below the gauntlet, in the Big Hole area, that were nosing around in the dead, shallow water there and found they liked a light tan scud. I only had my spin cast rod, so I put a float on with a #14 tan perfect scud, tied by Jeremy Hunt. Although I was fishing in less than 12 to 20 inches of water, I put the float about 36 inches from the fly. If a rainbow didn’t pick it up as soon as it hit the water, I’d let it sink, then move the float/fly and drag the fly across the bottom. I had to keep it moving to see or feel the bite. That’s the disadvantage of using a spin rod over a fly rod. My float was too big to see a soft bite but needed to be that big to cast it. I also tried using a 1/100th-ounce jig under a float using the same technique. Olive/black was the best color, but , again, I had a hard time hooking or even seeing the bite better than the fly.

True. But I have thrown in a few times when it's not crowded... just to see what may come out. Camping there... that's not my cup of tea.

I just think shuffling is sad. I see fathers teaching their kids to shuffle. When I see it, I don't think bad of the people, I just think they're missing out on the thrill of fooling a fish in their natural setting and the satisfaction that brings. They've accomplished nothing but making their pole bend when shuffling. No skill involved. It is illegal in some states but Missouri is not one.

They lay eggs- they're sterile.

There's a cable that runs across the lake on the BS side that says no boats beyond this cable. You can cast to the dam though- it's that close.

Actually talked to Darrell today and asked him if he was seeing any browns- he said none. All I saw the last couple of days being caught at #2 were rainbows. Fishing yesterday at the big hole I didn't see any browns. Not saying there are none... should ask the guys who fish at light I guess. Leonard?

Dallas- I understand what you're saying. We're now in the flight path of the Branson Airport... but I love having the airport here in Branson!

Thanks to Rolan Duffield for taking these pictures yesterday. https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/104883236262217089205/albums/5670215263394984273

If you get the chance - tomorrow is your last day. Drive through Fall Creek compound to this area and walk down and wade there. Mid day when the water is off. There's tons of fish, great current. It may be the last time you'll ever see this - ever. When they're done with the rocks tomorrow, the water goes back up till they're done at Powersite. Then it's back to normal levels.

I'm going to back off the jealousy statement. I know that's not the reason. Sorry. But I still don't understand why so many people hate boaters up there. I was talking to someone up there yesterday and they made that statement- about boats flying up and down. I asked him... would you rather them go slow and throw huge wakes? He said, no I guess not. I would venture to say that there's generation 80 out of 100 days on Taneycomo. That again is conservative. I think it's probably more. That would mean virtually no one could fish up there when there's generation when the water is running- only the waders close to the outlets. That's a poor usage of public water.

Do the math- Top of rocks are at 702 feet. 2 units - basically is 706 feet. 3 units - 708 feet. 4 units - can be as high was 710-11 feet. That's 4, 6 and 8 feet over the rocks. These are conservative levels.

Your jet guides are completely wrong. I have been up there and standing there when the rocks were placed. At 3 units there will be a minimum of 5-6 feet over the largest rock. That means even less than 3 units you have plenty of clearance. Less than that you better know where they are. As for fishing them, I again think you're wrong. They're big enough I don't think you're going to get your junk snagged on them. Bank fisherman- you're right there. They said and planned one way and did it completely different. One problem is they aren't fishermen and don't wade and fish down there. But the rocks will serve the purpose they were put there for- to create holes and pockets to hold fish. The rocks weren't put there to create more fish. As for cutting off boaters - I don't understand the sense of this mindset. People who wade and don't fish out of boats hate boaters cause... ?? They're too fast. They make wakes? They have access to water that waders don't? That may be it. Jealousy? Come on guys... count the total days the water is running and on those days most waders stay home and if they go fishing they only have access of 1% of the fishable, catchable water below the dam. It's only fishable by boat when the water is running. Why not allow boats up there to fish? Why restrict them? There's no viable reason to- period. As for placing rocks to stop boating up there- that's absolutely crazy. Why would MDC do that? Has MDC placed the rocks where I wanted them to? No, not really. Some of them, yes but they bought too many rocks. I think they are way to far in the boating lanes and I believe this will come back and bite them.

You done good... Looking forward to seeing your future posts.

https://plus.google.com/photos/104883236262217089205/albums/5670126405818297617

I thought it's be cool to get a pic of the machine operator with a fly rod dragging the line behind him

What while the outlet anglers are standing there watching? Some of those guys carry... I bet!!

https://plus.google.com/photos/104883236262217089205/albums/5670107704920171409 More pics

I'm adding more pics to the google+ album I linked to in the second post.

I got to be honest here and I think they guys who are in charge of this project would agree. They hauled in too many rocks to be placed in the lake. They're having to find places to put all these rocks - putting them in places where they hadn't planned. They move a few clusters this morning because they were too far out in the middle of the lake channel. There's going to be rocks all over the place up there and tomorrow they'll start on rocking chair area. I talked to Mike (MDC) this morning and also Darrell who was standing with us and I told Mike that Darrell should be done there tomorrow to show them where there would be good places to put rocks. He and the other drift boat guides know that area down there much better than I. We talked about the long riffle that crosses the lake above KOA that's now super shallow and holds no fish at all. You'll see some rock down there.

Yea- I probably was too honest on those starters. These motors have been run much more than any private person would run them and we've had zero issues with them except the starters. When I said cold, I mean when it's 20 degrees out, they take a while to crank start. But no more than any other motor I guess. I could have said something else but again, when I post something on here, I treat the reader as family/friends and want to make sure I'm as honest as possible. Therefore- I probably won't sell any of these via the forum.

Branson Chapter has some funds.