Phil Lilley

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

You won't find a better friend and fishing buddy anywhere. Rolan is a master fly fisher and can still shoot under 80 any day of the week! I'm still trying to best him in either sport! He taught me how to tie flies. His Peppy Scud is the best fly on Taneycomo. I'm honored to have fished with you in many of God's awesome fishing destinations and I look forward to many more years of fishing next to you, here on Taney and other Ozark waters. Hope you have a blessed day today! Get out and play 18 for me!

I had a big sale yesterday in the shop. Almost $300 in feathers. They bought several $35-$40 rooster saddle necks that have been on the rack for years along with a bunch other necks and saddles. And it wasn't to a fly tyer... it was to a hair salon owner. She didn't bat an eye on the price of the necks, nor the final tab. Asked if there were any other fly shops in town - they were from Springfield. This isn't the first sale to a hair salon... I don't think I can replace what they bought either. Wapsi is out of most necks, especially the grizzly colors. This new fad is hurting supply and driving the price up on feather materials.

Going to add- A client came over from Kansas to fish for the day. They took a boat up to the trophy area and started at Lookout. Water was clear above Fall Creek, they reported. Very windy, blowing downstream. They threw, with spinning gear, 1/16th and 3/32nd oz sculpin/ginger jigs and let the wind push them downstream, drifting the jigs along. They were moving fast enough the jigs didn't get to the bottom. They caught a bunch of nice rainbows up to 19 inches doing this. I'm sure Kelly will report when he gets back home tonight. Bob from St Louis is here for the weekend. He said the same jig caught him some great rainbows yesterday in the trophy area with one unit running. Today they didn't run any water.

No. Nothing. Any other grumpy comments?

http://www.polleverywhere.com/multiple_choice_polls/MzcyNzgyOTM1 It's pretty cool. I set the poll up.

6- 8. Probably 6 for that bait. Bill will have to answer the style question.

How are those minnows working? Is blue working?

Taney up here is alittle off color. Wonder what it looks like at the Pothole today? Wonder if Bull Creek is flowing brown? Not sure how much rain we got but the water temp should be decent. I'd think it would help catching whites unless there's a bunch of trash in the water.... from the rains.

It’s spring! Trees have popped out the last few days. Everything is green. It’s a great time to be an outdoors lover. Mild temperatures and little rainfall means very little generation for Taneycomo. They’ve been running water in the evenings for a few hours and this is good for the lake. Algae has been growing during the day in the upper end of the lake and after a couple of days it builds up. When the water kicks on, it breaks lose and washes down lake. It’s nice being on a tailwater for several reasons and this is one good reason. Catch has been pretty good the last couple of weeks. MDC has been stocking rainbows often so the population has been good, especially up in our area of the lake. Even fishing off our dock, as well as the Cooper Creek public dock, as been fruitful. Mainly bait off the dock—night crawlers and Power Bait. Out in the boats, the creek mouths are still producing some trout. Even on up in the creeks, where the water is alittle warmer, trout fishing is good. In Roark Creek, I’ve been down there looking for crappie and notice a lot of rainbows midging the surface. Try a rooster tail or small stick bait in the creeks, as well as a jig and float. The water in the creeks is warmer and you’ll find those trout more active and more readily will chase down a lure than trout in the lake. Also there’s a bunch of trout in the Monkey Island area as well as between Short and Fall Creeks. Again, jig and float works. Drop a micro or marabou jig down 4 to 6 feet deep. Good colors have been olive, brown, sculpin, tan and pink in that order. Because they haven’t been running as much water, our water isn’t as clear as it’s been so 4-pound line is fine to use. A couple of weeks ago, I was advising anglers to drop to 2-pound line because our water was so clear but not necessary now, unless you’re using small flies or jigs—then I would say to go to 2-pound line or even less. Don’t think the channel or deeper water is the only place to look for fish. Sometimes I’ve found that trout move to shallow places where boats and people aren’t. Move around! Try new areas. I see people sitting in the same spot for hours not catching. When guides go out, they are constantly moving around, especially if they’re not catching fish. Air injected night crawlers and minnows have been catching more trout than any other live bait, bar none.

Galena isn't that far but I think they go up to Hootentown... anyone?