Phil Lilley

Truman's a crappie catchin' lake, isn't it? I've never fished there. I have fished below the dam. I've heard the arms are the best areas.

Thanks for the report. It really is good when ppl post reports even when you don't find fish. I think it's going to take a few warm days- and nights- to bring the whites back into the creeks.

There's one thing to know about forums... you're not going to be cut much slack at times. This forum is all about education. Unfortunately, sometimes the teaching is pretty harsh. Don't take is personally. Thanks for the report.

That's Bull Creek. 160 crosses it at Walnut Shade and F Highway crosses it near the "town" of Bull Creek. Don't know about access to the creek at 160- I think you can get to it right there at the bridge. Off F, drive into the gas station and straight on back thru the trailers to a parking lot near a pavilion. You can park there and walk back to the creek. Bull Creek empties into Lake Taneycomo. Bear Creek empties into Bull Creek.

He's lucky he wasn't caught. Both agents have been over there watching - almost every day last week when they were running good. They mainly catch people double dipping- catching a limit, taking them home and then returning to catch more.

Rapala of course. Pointers, rouges. About any stick bait you'd use for bass.

I use my spinning rods (Falcon blanks), Lilleys' LT6 rods- 6' med lite action and Presidents 6725 reels.

I spoke to a couple of biologist- both from MO and ARK at the meeting. They are suggesting stocking 19k 2-inch fingerlings in 2012- that's less than 1/2 fish per acre compared to Norfork, Beaver and another lake in ARK who stock 7 per acre. AJ Pratt said they would pull the plug on the stocking if they saw it wasn't working. They wouldn't be suggesting this unless they believed the lake could sustain the additional fish population. There wasn't that many people at the meeting- may be 20. But I left before 7 pm. I left a comment card.

<p><img src="http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2011/3-20-500.jpg" width="500" height="158"></p> <p>I was reminded of a fishing fact this past week.&nbsp; Fish don't like high blue skies and high pressure for an extended period of time.&nbsp; My last report I spelled that out and fishing didn't get better till this cold front rolled in and brought rain, wind and cold temperatures. <br> Now, they're running water alittle more often- that 25mw generation all day trend has started again. Table Rock has bumped up 6 inches from the rain yesterday and is still well below what it usually is for the beginning of April. This is good for boaters but not so good for those who want to wade below the dam. <table> <tr> <td><img src="http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2011/3-21a.jpg" width="250" height="167" hspace="3" vspace="3"></td> <td><img src="http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2011/3-20b.jpg" width="250" height="167" hspace="3" vspace="3"></td> </tr> </table> <p> Bill Babler, one of our guides, ventured out yesterday in the cold and rain.&nbsp; While the water was not running mid to late morning, they fished up below Lookout using olive/orange head micro jigs under an indicator 6 feet deep, using 2-pound line and they caught many rainbows in the 15-19 inch range, beautifully colored up and fat.&nbsp; He said they finished their trip drifting night crawlers below Fall Creek after the water started and caught plenty of nice rainbows to fill their limit. </p> <p>Bill is also throwing crank baits, like the pointer shown in the image above, and catching some nice browns lately. He's going out early when the water is running and fishing bluff, channel banks from the dam down to Branson. When throwing crank baits, you'll see and have quite a few &quot;follows&quot; and hits but hooking and keeping browns and rainbows on the line to the net is difficult. Try casting and jerking the bait down, then use a stop and go retrieve, letting the bait suspend in the water between jerks. Did I mention using suspending baits? Water running, darker times of the days or cloudy and rainy days are best times to target browns.</p> <p>This brown was caught and released last week. It was 25 inches and weighed about 8 pounds.<br> Another guide, Steve Dickey, says he’s been alittle frustrated with generation patterns lately.&nbsp; “It messes with the trout when they keep turning the water off and on, varying the flow all day”, said Dickey.&nbsp; But despite these conditions, trout fishing has been good, according to Steve.</p> <p>He’s been fishing mainly the trophy area and using a variety of techniques.&nbsp; Best fishing is when they’re running water.&nbsp; His best scud is a #14 or #12 dark possum brown scud under an indicator using either an egg fly or a white chammy worm as an atrractant, getting the flies to the bottom with a split shot.&nbsp; When the water is off he’s throwing a black #18 zebra midge, copper head under an indicator.&nbsp; He said a client caught a 5-pound rainbow on the zebra last week.<br> I touched on this in my last report and it still holds true.&nbsp; Those who add a couple of feet of 2-pound line will catch more fish, especially if the water is not moving.&nbsp; This goes for those using live bait and throwing small jigs.&nbsp; If you're casting lures like spoons, spinners and small crank baits, you can get away with using 4-pound line.</p> <p>Some of the guys this past weekend boated down and fishing up some of the creeks downtown including Turkey and Roark.&nbsp; They threw spinners and cleos and did pretty well on rainbows.&nbsp; Now white bass will move into Roark Creek when the water warms up again and they’ll take a white jig, small crank bait or a white rooster tail.&nbsp; Usually you’ll find them in there early and late in the day.</p>

I'm going to the meeting tonight and then driving to below Powersite and do some fishing. I lean to the side to not stock stripers. The lake is a good fishing lake now. Good crappie and whites are making a big comeback. Good bass and good walleye. Some stripers but not enough for anyone to make a special trip to fish for them. You have Norfork and Beaver is you want to go for stripers- but these lakes are not in Missouri. Now, if MDC is going to put stripers in the lake, why not stock hybrids too? If you're going to do it, go for it all! Not saying I'm for it BUT if you're going to add the big, aggressive stripers, I would vote for adding hybrids too. I'm sure MDC knows if the lake can sustain additional fish populations, numbers. I'd be concerned they would overpopulate the lake and we'd lose some of what we have now to big fish populations.

Buy extra batteries... Ebay

Well... I want to see the winner's pic on the forum with his new shades on. Would love to hear some stories of fish being caught, not caught and lost....

The trick is to keep you guessing. Appearance is everything. I read it but my mind didn't go there....

Went to the open house yesterday on Didymo at the hatchery. The one thing I came away with was seeing the samples of Didymo and the "look alike" in jars. They looked EXACTLY alike. So when you think you see Didymo in Table Rock, may be it's the look alike and MDC is right when they say it is not in Table Rock, or Taneycomo. The best thing to do is take a sample and take it to MDC for them to test it.

It's got to be unbearable out there this morning... cold and lots of hard rain, hail showers, no wind thankfully. Catching might not be that good today on the big lake. Those lower guesses may be the ticket.

I think Leonard has the best shot.

This is the UNOFFICIAL list. Trav - 5.97 lollygagger - 6.12 tapout - 6.22 BlueWave - 6.31 Bass XL - 6.40 Gavin - 6.50 dsigmon - 6.56 powerdrive - 6.63 Ealy - 6.81 Todd JC - 6.85 eric1978 - 6.89 McCloud - 6.92 Jack Hollister - 6.99 98rangerdvs - 7.07 Skeeter007 - 7.10 snagged in outlet 3 - 7.11 ThatCopyGuy - 7.15 minnowhooker - 7.17 Mike T. - 7.20 Just another guy'd - 7.21 Whack'emGood - 7.26 brad11 - 7.22 97procraft - 7.35 thrfrog22 - 7.38 LWW - 7.39 fozzype - 7.42 edwin - 7.48 jjtroutbum - 7.52 stock jockey - 7.56 lv2fish - 7.56 Billfo - 7.63 Gone Fishing - 7.64 skeeterp - 7.65 cotterboy2007 - 7.65 Golf Pro - 7.69 dtrs5kprs - 7.73 Paul Nienhaus - 7.75 bjovan - 7.81 wily - 7.81 KansasBoy13 - 7.82 nobutt56 - 7.83 Fisherdan - 7.84 mohogtrapper - 7.86 c0 sfiser - 7.87 -angler - 7.88 fishhook - 7.89 Evolution - 7.90 Hunter91 - 7.91 Champ188 - 7.95 skipjack - 7.95 sgunter - 7.98 KC Trout Fan - 7.99 bass801 - 8.01 Smalliebigs - 8.02 OzarkFishman - 8.06 nathan RN - 8.07 Ranger 520 - 8.09 timr0123 - 8.10 8pounder - 8.12 smallmouth's fight - 8.13 Walleyedmike - 8.14 TRRANGER - 8.15 techo - 8.16 abkeenen - 8.17 johnboy2bfishin - 8.19 Trout Commander - 8.23 duckydoty - 8.24 jmabe0455 - 8.25 mosebass - 8.27 Hughesy - 8.30 Mike Mueller - 8.30 csfishinfool 8.34 Sprint21fter - 8.35 DonnaG - 8.38 Dean Matuszewski - 8.38 UncleB - 8.41 edyer - 8.45 roy_eros - 8.48 Devan S. - 8.48 JDH_MOangler - 8.55 Cocry - 8.56 Jbrant - 8.60 FLYFISHINMAN - 8.63 chipperjones - 8.63 GNSfishing - 8.65 walleyeman - 8.68 one fish - 8.70 fullmoon - 8.72 cyclonebass - 8.73 woodyb - 8.75 Doug Weston - 8.80 Matt Henry - 8.80 Chunk Rock - 9.02 Clint Long - 9.10 Salty - 9.11 Lee M - 9.12 fish4fun - 9.15 innova - 9.19 misterpbody - 9.19 Chris King - 9.34 Hog Caller - 9.43 stratos - 9.50 bblades10 - 9.65 mrgungho - 9.81 JD Dudley - 9.82 tpierce - 10.1 Leonard - 10.07

I'm been playing around with new things on the forum. I should be fishing but we're just too busy here at the resort to get away so... I have to occupy myself somehow. New emotions. Kinda cool for those who like to use them. At the bottom of the index (http://ozarkanglers.com/forums) is a couple of new lists. Members online in the last 24 hours and new members signed up today. I've tried it figure out how to add images to the top of each forum- I did this a couple of years ago but they've changed the format of the forum so much it's tougher to figure out. For now I'm playing with adding a new forum to each. In the forum, I can add html and build a homepage for each forum. We'll see where it goes. I'm looking at some other "hooks". Thinking about doing a youtube video on how the forum works- just have to learn all the whistles and bells before I do it. I don't use alot of the options on the forum now. Any suggestions- let 'em fly.

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qdVweWF-h30" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> This is a camp on the Pacific coast just south of the camp Bill and I looked at last summer. I'm tellin' ya... this IS ALASKA at it's finest!!!

They're not stocked below the dam- not that I know of. They are washed over the top into BS. People do fish for them down there- they'd be ticked but you're right- stripers would head to the dam certain times a year and they would put the hurt of the trout for sure.

MDC has changed the place where the Open House Forum for didymo is to be held tomorrow. It'll be at the Shepherd of the Hill Hatchery Visitor's Center from 1-3 p.m instead of the Dewey Short Center. They is too much construction going on the Dewey so they moved it.

I guess you'd have to say BS is broke to consider planting a new species- like stripers. What I mean by broke is it needs something to help it be better (bad english I know). For whatever reason, the lake never has gotten the attention that Table Rock has gotten- development, marinas, fishing pressure- and may be that's a good thing. It's nice to go down and not see as many boats and as many homes and condos on it's banks. The physical nature of the lake, at least the upper lake, just isn't conducive to becoming a great fishery - may be. I would think a habitat project like the one on Table Rock would help although I know they've placed quite a bit of structure in the lake in years past. It is a pretty good crappie and white bass lake and further down lake it's a good walleye and small mouth lake so I don't think they should mess with it. Let Arkansas put a few stripers in just to make it interesting but not enough to ruin a good thing. Does MDC have any say in what Arkansas does, I wonder?

Hickory Hollow Resort. Google it. It's out of Shell Knob off 39. $3 to launch.

My card reader shot craps and I just got around to getting a new one sooo... Here's the pics I took of the brown and the Pointer they were using. This last image is of them fishing a jig and float, not throwing the crank bait.

They're already in BS- Arkansas stocks them. I guess Missouri is thinking about it. So the question is, I think, do you want more stripers in BS. Not in Table Rock... they'd head to the tailwater and eat all the rainbows. The feds put rainbows there because it's a coldwater tailwater and that's about all that till live up there. So stocking stripers in TR will never happen. Sorry.