Phil Lilley

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.

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<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

Hi! This is Megan, Phil Lilley's Daughter, posting under his name : ) Lilleys' Landing is hosting Project Healing Waters (http://www.projecthealingwaters.org/) August 27 & 28, 2011. We are excited to assist them in a fishing weekend here on Lake Taneycomo, but we need help! Would you or anyone you know be willing to help guide these disabled active military, service personnel and veterans? If so, please email me or call the resort office. The schedule for both days is to start fishing at 7:30 am, break for lunch and fish till 4:30 pm. Thanks so much! Megan Cummings megan@lilleyslanding.com 417-334-6380

When the summer sun scorches the skin and sweat pours from the body, fishing may give way to water skiing and swimming. But driven anglers, disregarding the relentless Missouri heat, still can take plenty of crappie during the steamy days of August on Lake of the Ozarks. The timber was removed from Lake of the Ozarks before the reservoir was filled. Manmadestructures, such as sunken brush piles and cedar trees, serve as fish attractors in this lake. So anglers need a topographic map and some type of depth finder to locate the hidden fish-holding structures. The best locations for finding summertime crappie beds include channel bends, creek channels or points.The best bet for someone fishing the lake for the first time is to go into a cove or along the main channel and look for boat docks with lights and rod holders. Those docks usually have sunken brush piles under them. The depth of the fish varies depending on water temperature and the amount of sunlight. Usually the fish don't go much deeper than 20 to 25 feet and there are times early and late when they're up as shallow as 4 to 6 feet. Bright, sunny days and climbing water temperatures drive the fish deeper. Using your trolling motor, or drifting as slowly as possible, drop a jig straight down into the school of crappie you've located on the depth finder. If that doesn't turn them on for a feeding frenzy, try a jig and a minnow. The hue of the jig depends on water depth and clairty, but usually fluorescent-colored jigs work well. Fish the jig, or a jig tipped with a minnow, on 4-pound test line with ultralight spinning tackle. The light line lets the jig drop faster to avoid smaller fish. If you can tolerate Missouri's sauna-like summers, you can catch enough crappie for a sizzling summertime fish fry. 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 Conventionand Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com.

Try putting " " 's around the terms. I'm not crazy about the search engine on the forum either.

They release about 2-3 times a week but the spot they stock differs every day. Most of the time it's in the Branson area but sometimes it's up by Cooper or down lower in the lake.

Hey guys. We've been so busy here that it's hard to post reports and pics. I still can't upload videos- and I have some great clips to show off. We spent the week fishing... our clients said we fished too much, if that's possible. They certainly caught a lot of fish!! Didn't have a bad day. We spent several days fishing off the beach for pink salmon, throwing pink jigs with spin gear and pink or chartreuse flies with fly rods. They hit both. My underwater Gopro recorded the action- hundreds of pinks schooling only 60 feet off the edge of the beach, easy distance to cast to. If you waded out too far, you'd be right in the middle of them. They averaged 4 pounds with some up to 5 pounds and they fought hard. Most were silver, fresh out of the deep ocean. The rivers and creeks here are very low due to low rain fall but every pool up in the creeks are packed with pinks waiting for more water to move up. There's reports of some silvers starting to show up but we haven't seen any. The sport fishing boats are catching a few silvers and kings just off shore but it's been slow- too early for them. The limit is 10 pinks per person per day. We kept a few pinks to eat during the week and a few more at the end of the week to take home. They are very good eating if they're fresh and silver- the mildest tasting of the salmon family. Our fly out was great. We flew to Unganik Lake and floated the river out to the ocean. It's a good sized river but not a fast ride. It's full of dolly varden- and I mean full. A small spinner was used and I honestly think if you tried you'd get a strike on every cast, if not a fish. We had to clip off 2 of 3 hooks off the trebles just to give them a sporting chance and to release them easier. They took a purple egg sucking leach too as well as a black wooly bugger. There were pinks in the lower river as well as some chum. Supposed to have been reds or sockeye but didn't see any. We saw some bears on the lower flats as we flew over but they were gone when we got there (darn!). Was one bear on the bank of the lake when we landed but he scooped away and was gone before we got out of the planes (they flew us over in 2 beavers). The sport fishing out in the ocean was incredible. Bill had a trip the first part of the week with 3 clients that wasn't so good. His captain wasn't experienced and they didn't go to the places the fish were. But the other 2 trips with the rest of the clients- all went twice- was awesome. Each trip, one halibut over 180 pounds was caught. We had others over 100 pounds and others well over 60 to finish the limits (2 per person). Then they pulled over to a spot and we were told to drop our lines 50 feet using lead jerk spoons. It didn't get to 50 feet before we each had a black rock bass. Didn't take long to catch our limits- 5 each. Now these are what me and Bill wanted to take home. Best eating fish up here. They ran an average of 5 pounds each with some up to 7 pounds. Then we headed over to another spot to troll for salmon- silvers and kings. Didn't do very well. No one was. Both trips were about the same- great fishing. Our guys caught more fish they could take home. While out fishing one day, we were drifting on a flat. We'd caught our rock fish and were hoping to see some salmon. We saw some Humpback Whales in the distance- it's was cool! But funny thing... they came closer. Then more showed up. And they got closer. Before long we had an estimate of 30 whales all around us. And when I say close, I mean within 100 feet of the boat! The estimate of 30 whales was from the captain of the boat. We saw pairs swimming together, all porpoising and blowing air through their air holes. We all forgot about fishing and watched- for over 30 minutes. People pay big money to go whale viewing and don't see something like that. Got good pics and video- wish I had a better video camera. Today, Bill and I went out with 3 guys who are staying here at the lodge. Without going into alot of detail, one if from here, Ronnie- a native, Kenny- a guy from Florida who spends alot of time here and the last, Richard who spends the summer here. Richard has a boat they take out on nice days and Ronnie knows the holes to go to. We caught one "butt" about 80 pounds and 2 other "chickens". In the same spot, we caught a bunch of nice Black Rock Bass. We also caught a nice Ling Cod and other fish I can't identify. We grilled up 2 filets when we got back to our place. We caught most of the fish on a lead jerk spoon tipped with a piece of herring. One hundred feet of water and most of the fish came off the bottom. The second set of clients get in early tomorrow morning and are here 8 days. We'll do a fly out and 4 days of sport charter fishing. Hopefully we'll see some silvers off the beach this week but if not, there's plenty of pinks.

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http://www.katmailand.com/bear-viewing/index.html Brooks is a special place, unlike any in the world. Everyone has to go to "bear school", a short lecture and video on what to do around these bears. Plus I've been there now about 20 times so I'm used to being charged... well kinda.

Thankful... Thanks for sharing, Al.

<iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/auE8P6fMkro" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Watch in the upper right corner of the screen for the bears to come out of the woods.

Wish I could... better here today but cold front hitting tomorrow- wind and mid 40's. Better in Kodiak I hear. Be there tomorrow about 3 pm. Boated and drifted the river from camp down 2 miles last evening. Caught 40 rainbows on sculpin 1/8th oz jigs. Most were about 14-18 inches with one pushing 20. Hooked one monster but hooked pulled out. Had 5 bears fishing with me. They'd walk the banks up and down looking for a floating fish. Then swim out and around and then across the river. Laundry day today before leaving tomorrow. If I get my things around, I'll do some fishing up at camp again later today. Chum Salmon Naknek River Camp Naknek Rainbow Bear Roaming the River

Just saw Duane on the river... had a client fishing for silvers. He pulled up just about the time Hunter and I were ready to leave. Told him I'd take $10 if he wanted our spot- he countered with $5 and I said deal! We were anchored at the mouth of King Salmon Creek, a creek that's used by thousands of silvers for spawning. Their heading up on every high tide. Hunter and I are taking a break --- at Eddies!!! --- then heading back out for high tide. We hooked 10 silvers and landed 2. Landed a nice chum salmon- my first. More video... and a few pics. Posted later. Drizzle, rain and 50 degrees today. Good fishing weather.