Phil Lilley

4+ inches the next 24 hours according to the weather channel.

Because the beds will be deep because of the rising water? Won't be able to see the beds?

What may happen is TR rises so much that they start flood gates, which I think will happen by the middle of this week. Lake level will rise but fall quickly, how far it will rise and fall I don't know but falling levels aren't good for spawning fish. Crappie and whites are safe. Depends on when and what levels the bass spawn and what happens to the level after that.

Fishing for others in the trophy area was very good too. One guest here at the resort caught a 25 inch rainbow on a jig yesterday. Haven't seen pics yet but heard it was a beautiful trout.

We got out yesterday from 1-3 pm-- in between storms-- and did real well. I took a pontoon with my uncle Jerry, his son Abe and his grandson Jonah plus Abe's father-in-law Billy up to the trophy area to see what we could do. No generation yet, the water coming out of Short and Fall Creek, as well as some of the other runoff outlets, were running brown so the areas directly below these spots weren't places I'd stop to fish. There was a flotilla of boats right at the mouth of Fall Creek trying to fish the clearer water above the creek outlet. They were doing pretty good. We went up to the tennis court area and started there. The water was off colored but not bad at all. Started them off using micro jigs under a float 4 feet deep, olive half micro with an orange head. About as soon as the jig hit the bottom of their drop, the float was down and catching began. Jonah, I was told, didn't like to sit and NOT catch fish. At 4 years old I guess that's normal. But he didn't have to sit long and had a blast running from one end of the boat to the others either to reel a fish in or net another rainbow. It was pretty much non stop for 2 hours. For something different, I tied on a 3/32nd oz sculpin jig and threw it out on the shallow side, crawled it on the gravel bottom and as soon as I hopped it alittle, wham! I had a rainbow. Most of the rainbows they were catching with the micros were around 11-12 inches. The rainbows on the sculpin jig were nice ones- up to 18 inches. So Abe and Billy switched to the straight jig and started catching nice ones. We ended up with 20 - our limits of small 11.5 inchers and got back in before the rains started again. It looks likes we've had 5 inches here so far with alot more rain coming. Table Rock has come up over 2 feet and the level of rise looks like it going to go over 920 by tomorrow. If it keeps up this pace, I predict we'll see flood gates by Wednesday. In the past, the Corp will start flood gates when the level of Table Rock approaches 922-923. Two more days of rain like this and Table Rock will easily reach those levels. We've gone from very low lake levels for spring time to flood conditions in just a few days.

Cause it's always taken the wrong way by someone on the forum, although most of us get a kick out of most of the satire. YOu guys are entirely right- on both views. Wish we could discuss these things here because they are important for the most part. I do see a change in how at least this thread is progressing - you guys are getting to know each other and with knowing comes respect and less personal issues. If you know someone, you're less likely to say anything in a personal, negative way. Forums are impersonal and are fertile ground for all-out food fights with no benefit or good outcomes. Over and over I've said no politics... but over and over I let new topics go and hope they say civil. This one basically has... but now what?

Good for spawning fish!

After the spawn, blue floating rebels work good- and small sluggos. They're chasin'.

Forsyth side. It's deeper and current isn't as fast.

All, Just wanted to give you a quick update on some flow issues we are currently dealing with on Norfork. Both turbines our down at Norfork as a result of leakage problems in the wicket gates. It is not known exactly how long they will be down, but the current estimate is about two months. The reservoir elevation is just in to the flood pool and in accordance with the control plan the Corps of Engineers needs to begin evacuating that flood storage. Since both turbines are down they have had to look at alternative means. Yesterday they opened the sluice gates at Norfork to begin releasing some of the flood water. Some of you may have realized this when the flow recording was reporting 0 units on line, but there was flow equivalent to 2 + units in the tailwater. As an aside, I suggested to the Corps of Engineers last night that sluice gate releases should be indicated on the recording. The sluice gates draw water from low in the reservoir so there was no concern regarding high water temperatures. However, the Corps had concerns about cavitation in the sluice gates and has opted for flood gate releases to lower the lake elevation. Twelve flood gates were opened about 1.5 feet at Norfork at 12:00pm today and the current discharge is about 2,300 cfs (less than one turbine’s full release capacity). As the lake receives inflow from last night’s rain the lake elevation will increase, but will also increase the flow over the flood gates to about 5,050 cfs (almost 2 full units). That is where the Corps will keep it at as long as downstream conditions allow. I went down to Norfork a little while ago to check the water temperature and at the boat ramp at Quarry Park the temperature was about 56 degrees Fahrenheit….no problems. Before leaving the office I had checked on the lake surface temperature and was told it was in upper 50’s to low 60’s so I did not anticipate a problem. If this situation progresses into June, however, then water temperature will become more of a concern. This may require tempering flood gate releases with small releases through the sluice gates, but it will be up to the Corps. Another issue that I initially had a concern with was the potential for gas bubble trauma. This can occur with high volume releases over the tops of dams and was the cause of the fish kill that occurred on the Arkansas River earlier this year. The releases can cause dissolved gases (oxygen and especially nitrogen) to become supersaturated. This means that the gases are present in a much greater amount than what would normally be found. The fish have difficulty in ridding themselves of the excess gases and it can result in a condition similar to the bends in humans. I also checked dissolved oxygen when I was at Norfork and found it to be within acceptable limits. I saw no signs of dead or dying fish and given the relatively low volume that is anticipated, I do not foresee a problem with gas bubble trauma at this time. We will continue to monitor this situation closely and coordinate with the Corps to limit impacts to the fishery. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks and have a great weekend. Jeff Williams Trout Program Coordinator E: j_williams@agfc.state.ar.us | P: (870) 424-5924 | M: (870) 404 - 0503 Arkansas Game and Fish Commission 201 East 5th Street Mountain Home, AR 72653 P: (870) 425-7577 | F: (870) 425-6596 www.agfc.com

I was out of town... but had internet. Back now and into the fray of biz and family in town for the weekend. I think you guys are getting tired of arguing actually... this topic is fizzling out fast. May be you're starting to see the light! Happy Good Friday! PTL Chief's not in jail!!

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Chief asked me to delete everything but the petition posts. I locked it so that he could print it without any other discussion. He is taking it in to the sheriff's office in the am.

I haven't been apart of these discussions and don't float many rivers... so I plead ignorance. I read in a post about "low water mark" and came to that conclusion. As for the thread being locked- Chief asked me to delete all the posts except the petitions so I did. And I closed it so other discussions wouldn't show up on the thread.

If I owned land along Shoal Creek, could I run a front loader down the creek bed, through both water and dry gravel, as long as I was in the creek bed, and then take gravel from my neighbor? Would I be trespassing? I know that's a far-fetched "what-if" but same would go for running an atv down the creek. I believe "low water mark" is just that... anything out of the water. I think a land owner on these creeks do own the gravel bars and should. This guy- don't know him from Adam- but I bet he's been abused verbally and his land has been abused for years. I'm not making excuses for bad behavior but ya gotta see where he's coming from a little bit.

LOZ forum is getting more play this spring which is nice... it's a great fishery.

I believe that if someone interferes or harrasses with a person fishing within the banks of a stream or river that has been accessed by way of a public boat launch put in by the Missouri Department of Conservation, then the harrasser/interferer should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. The state of Missouri has laws in place to keep this from happening and yet it still happens all the time. The only way to stop this type of harrassment and intimidation is to punish the law breakers. This stream, Shoal Creek, has obviously been deemed navigatable by someone in the higher powers of the states government, or the MDC would not have put in, not just one, but five public boat launches on the stream in order for the public to navigate, explore, fish, and clean up trash and debris on the stream. I, Phil Lilley, resident and taxpayer in Branson, Missouri, strongly demand that something be done in order to correct this wrong doing and to insure that it does not happen again

We looked for whites in the back of coves- found 2 males. That's the first time I've been in Indian in 15 years.

Not very smart keeping short walleye fishing from the bank, esp on the Forsyth side. Bucky lives just up the hill. I saw 2 boats trolling but didn't see them catch anything... but wasn't watching that close. I hate to troll and wouldn't even if meant catching a few. That's all for me for a week - heading to Texas to visit the grandson!!

They were dark and all probably males but had no sperm sacks. Could it be they haven't spawned yet? I didn't have a temp gage so I don't know what the water temp was.

What, like this one? Put away those fly rods and throw a jig.

Put in at Indian Point Ramp this morning at 6:30 am. Headed up Little Indian and worked some cuts for crappie. Found a pod of them on a gravel bank- they were from 6 to 15 feet off the bank in 5 to 10 feet of water. Caught them on smoke and chartreuse swimming minnows, 1/16th oz heads. We worked other cuts both in Little and Big Indian and didn't find them schooled together- just one here and there. Caught 2 whites- both males. Caught LM, K's and SM. ALL of the crappie we caught had spawned out completely. The whites had not. We ended up with 2 whites and 29 crappie. Didn't have to measure any- all from 11-15 inches. These are the kinds of banks we fished for the crappies.

Put in at River Run at 6 pm. We headed towards the dam and started fishing the left bank and caught one white on a chartreuse swimming minnow right off the bat. Thought we were into them. Not so. We tried all my spots including Swan Creek at dusk and didn't catch another white. Saw a few on stringers- bank fisherpeople. One guy in a boat said they'd caught them off and on all day but it was a "long day".

Got out yesterday afternoon and fished with a couple of friends from Oklahoma- John and Brent. 2 units running all day, which isn't what the SPA schedule said for either Saturday or Sunday... they lied again. We drifted from Lookout to Fall Creek several times using Babler's pink micro/scud combo 9 feet deep and did ok. John tied on a pink marabou 1/50th oz jig and started catching way more trout than we were catching. I didn't have a jig like that so I messed around with some other combinations. Ended up tying on a 3/32nd sculpin jig and caught some real nice rainbows. We fished from about 2-5 pm. Pulled out and headed to Bull Shoals... report continued on the Upper Bull Shoals Forum