Phil Lilley

It's been tough. Tough for everyone this week. High blue sky and high pressure- these trout haven't been hungry all week. Our guests, as well as our guides, have struggled to catch their limit of trout each day while a few (Leonard) have found a few things that did fairly well. I got out and took some kids from a Wichita boys home the other day and we fished with inflated night crawlers in the Short Creek area and caught 3 rainbows in 3 hours. They did miss a few fish, being novices, but I watched their rod tips and I didn't see the "fish bump" much in those 3 hours. Babler said it's been tough for him too, although his clients did better than the normal Joe. He's been fishing a pink full micro under an indicator 5-7 feet and adding a red zebra midge 18 inches under the jig and floating the channel from Fall Creek to Trout Hollow. He's using 2-pound line too. When fishing gets this tough, all the guides go to, if they don't use it all the time, 2-pound line. I talked to one angler the other day and he said he was throwing a jig and not doing any good. He dropped to 3-pound line and still didn't do anything. It was only after he respooled with 2-pound line he started catching trout. Our water is clearing up and light line does make a difference. We had a front move through last night. It's cold but more importantly it's a weather change so we'll see how the change affect the bite here. Will report back.

Super!

http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/maps/ This link is to the maps I have for the James River. The link is at the top of the James River Forum.

This might help.

What do you guys use for your blackened recipes? Sams used to carry a blackened spice that was great but I don't see it in the stores or online anymore.

Forsyth Taney Center 20130 U.S. Hwy. 160 Tuesday, March 29 Stop by between 6-8 P.M. Gainesville Library 160 Bulldog Dr. Tuesday, April 5 Stop by between 6-8 P.M.

Forsyth Taney Center 20130 U.S. Hwy. 160 Tuesday, March 29 Stop by between 6-8 P.M. Gainesville Library 160 Bulldog Dr. Tuesday, April 5 Stop by between 6-8 P.M.

PM or email me and I'll take care of it. I bought 10k several years ago from the outfit in Florida.

220 is max. Divide by 4 and you have your answer.

I don't think you can go wrong with Culligan. Key is to have someone you trust that will stand behind it.

I carry the original motor oil swimming minnows. See our online store. http://lilleystacklestore.com

Me and a fishing buddy hit Swan Creek about 10 pm last night. Couple of waders in the water at the park and a couple up on the rocks. We casted for 20 minutes - no action. Drove up towards the dam and across the field to the left and fished the high dirt bank for 45 minutes- nothing. They were running water at Powersite. Then up to the dam. Fished both the eddie water on the Forsyth side and where the current hit the bank. We caught 5 good sized males on swimming minnows. Fished over an hour there. They shut the turbins down at midnight. Couple of guys down alittle further and they caught some whites as well. But it was slow-slow action. Headed to Beaver Creek. Went down to Slough Hollow and fished off the big rocks. Nothing. Last place- drove around to the Tin Whistles. Couple of people in a Scout and one on the bank. Caught 2 decent sows and a short walleye. We were there just short of an hour. Moon was bright but clouds kept hiding her. No patterns- I think all the fish were caught on a swimming minnow, 1/16th oz head and they were either purple or motor oil color.

Saw the title and thought... are you placing a softener in your spring for fishing???? I think this has got to be the strangest topic started in the Fishing Discussion forum... strangest cause it could be fishing related, but.....

Heard lots of whites were caught in Swan and Beaver yesterday. Not sure of details but if they're spawning on the James, they're probably spawning at these places too. If you're going to go, now is the time!

Too busy this evening but MIGHT make it over late. We'll see.

You didn't call me...

He didn't want to post anything initially cause he didn't want to sound braggadocios... but I think he will post a "report". Football jig and float and fly is what he told me.

Did you fish the same area? Below the bridge? One of my keepers was a male 10 inches but the other was a female about 13 inches. Didn't keep either. We didn't go up by the big pile of brush below the bridge. Probably should have. Catch any whites? I wondered where they were. If I was in a faster boat, I would have looked around more. I was in one of my jons with a 25 hp. All our bass boats were rented here on Taney. I need to get my own boat!!

Vince and I put in at Hickory Hollow Resort Ramp at 4 pm yesterday. Babler said he'd heard some very good white bass and crappie reports from that area. I thought we'd pick a good time since it got cloudy and the wind had picked up. Not so. Temp dropped and it was chilly. I didn't take enough cover and got chilled. The fish were chilly too. We headed up. There was a boat with 3 guys at a brush pile along the left, channel side and I saw them catch a crappie as we passed. Water was stained- good color. We boated on up a couple of bends, about 1.5 miles, and saw some more boats. We fished the flat for whites, nothing. Went alittle ways up, now in sight of the 86 bridge, and saw a group in a deck boat catching crappies right and left on the shallow flat close to a stump. Most were short. They were using floats, most of them. After they moved on, we pulled in and caught.... nothing. Man, brought us down a notch. they moved down on the same side and continued to do pretty well down to where the bluff starts. I say this for those who might go to that area. We ended up catching 2 keepers out on the flat there in I'd say 7 feet of water. We didn't have a depth finder nor a water temp gage. There's lots of brush up there so when they move to the bank, I think this area will be great to go back to. Not sure where the whites were. They might have been up further in the creek. I thought we'd catch at least a few but didn't.

Hey- I like flowers too!

Generation patterns, as well as fishing patterns, have not changed much here on Lake Taneycomo in the past 2 weeks. Some days on the lake, the water runs all day at one to a half unit and some days they run 1 to 3 units in the morning starting early and only running it for 2 or 3 hours. There’s not any big rain events on the horizon it looks like and our lakes are still pretty low for this time of year so I don’t think we’re going to see any major changes to this pattern. Trout fishing continues to be good for most anglers. The major key is still light line and small weights. If you want to catch more trout and you’re bait fishing, use 2-pound line and use just enough weight to get you out and down to the bottom. If the water is running, don’t think you need a lot of weight to get to the bottom and stay there, you don’t. Using big bell weights is over kill—you’ll only loose more rigs and you’ll miss more strikes because you won’t be able to feel the strike. I usually use split shots instead of bell weights because they’re easy to change out and they don’t hang up as bad. I mentioned this in an earlier report but it’s worth talking about it again. We are selling weightless rigs in our shop. Instead of a weight, we’re tying a knot on the end of the line. When you add a removable split shot to the line, the knot keeps the weight from sliding off. Minnows are doing the best right now below Fall Creek. We’re getting reports of some brown trout being caught on minnows as well as rainbows. Anglers report catching bigger trout on minnows and night crawlers compared to Power Bait. Inject air in the night crawler to float it off the bottom, whether you’re drifting or still fishing. Bill Babler was out yesterday with a client. They were hog hunting. They were throwing Pointers against the bluff banks from Lookout down, early in the morning while the water was running. His client, Kevin from KC, on his first cast hooked and landed a nice 24-inch brown trout that they guessed weighed over 8 pounds. It was released after taking some pictures. They had several other browns and rainbows swipe at their crank baits but only caught a few rainbows, no other browns. Pics to follow… my card reader conked out on me and I’m going to have to buy another before posting the images. We’re still doing well throwing jigs, when the water is running and when it’s off. We’re throwing 1/8-ounce when the water is moving and dropping down to 3/32nd or 1/16th-ounce when it’s not. I didn’t pretty well using white yesterday morning from Lookout down and working the deep channel but sculpin, brown, black and other combination colors are working just as well. Most of the guides are using jig and float with the water is off. Turner Micro Jigs are doing the best in tan, olive and gray. Be sure to drop to 2-pound line when you’re using these small jigs. They’re too small to be using 4-pound. Fish them 4-5 feet deep most of the time but if they’re running water, go to a full micro and fish it 6-7 feet deep. Pink with a chrome head is the best when the water is running.

I wonder how Michael Kyle did last night there at Long Camp?

Oh yea= where does the "river" start? Where is it legal to keep a bass on the James and where is it closed till Memorial Day Weekend?

Duane and I hit Blunk Ramp about 4 today. Water was moving fast and alittle off color with quite a bit of trash (leaves and sticks). Ten vehicles in the parking lot and some bank fishermen. Headed down- never been there when the lake is that low. Shallow going down- df read 2.4 feet at one point. Was concerned about getting back up without hitting anything- we did ok. No problems but I don't think I'd try it again with a prop. Saw some ppl catching whites on the left bank going down. I think we caught a small male on that bank. Heard something about Long Campground (?) (Duane can help me out) and so we headed down a ways. There's a big field and ramp on the right going down and several boats fishing. Saw a few whites caught so we pulled in on the shallow side- left bank. We may have caught 3 keepers and a couple of small ones there. Headed further down just to see what we could see- caught another keeper or two down 2 bends on the inside bend in 6 feet of water. The whites definitely liked the slower water and eddies. Back up to the previous bank and caught a few more. Up to the gravel bar where they were catching them pretty good. I caught 4 crappy- they might have been 10 inches but didn't have a ruler and didn't want to mess with them. Went back up and fished the straight stretch below Blunk and caught more whites on both bank but only where there was slower water. Caught about 20 whites, 10 keepers, a few blacks, small and a half dz crappie on white 1/8th oz jigs, white sliders and a gulp minnow Duane brought. This weekend should be EXCELLENT white bass fishing but it may be crowded. No pics... had 2 camera. I forgot the card for one and the battery was dead on the other. Water temp 54 degrees.

This isnt' a full fledged report- I've been swamped in the office most of the morning and can't get it written. Bill called me this morning about 7:30 am and told me to head up and take a pic of a brown his client caught. First cast just below Lookout on a pointer. <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5c99IfdBdiY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I got pics too but again- no time to download and process. Bill said they had several more browns and a few rainbows swipe at their baits but no good hookups. I fished up there for a while and caught several very nice rainbows on a white 3/32 oz jig- it's the only jig I had- it was on the rod I grabbed. Chuck Gries was up with a couple of clients drifting a gray scud under an indicator and was wacking them good! Lots of doubles on. Got them on video too but... you know... can't get them uploaded.