Phil Lilley

A couple bought is about 1985 from KC. He passed a few years ago and the widow sold it to a couple from Tulsa last year.

I forgot to mention covid made its way through camp. I got a mild case last weekend. It only kept me from fishing one day. Other cases were mild as well.

Just got back from 2 weeks of very chilly, rainy weather, a stark contrast to what home has been. We saw the sun 2 days and the temp on those days rose into the 60's. Otherwise it was 45-55, breezy and rain. But the fishing was pretty good and the bugs weren't very bad. The 2022 sockeye run was early and light. We're still waiting on the official numbers as well as what the commercial fishermen's report. Sean Guffy is just finishing up his drift boat stint so I'll talk to him in a couple of weeks. But the fish count on the Naknek was lagging according to the F&G people. Jim said they had a pretty big early run but while I was there I'd put the run at below average at best. But even if a few are coming up, we can catch them and fill our fish boxes - and we did. The rainbows however were off on my trip. Again, the smolt came out of the lake early and I guess the rainbow hammered them in June. But when I was there, I didn't see many smaller rainbows like last year. They were in the usual places - in the boulder fields waiting to ambush the small bait fish as they schooled down the river - but the smolt were few and far between. You usually anchor in the area and wait for the boils, casting while you wait. I drift and cast around the areas and usually pick some up but not this time. I figured it out late in the game, at least with my "4-pound circuit" as the guides call it. I've taken my trout rods up there and throw jigs like I do here. I anchored over the boulder fields, casted an 1/8 ounce jig up and let it sink to the bottom, working it threw the big rocks. I caught and landed this 28 inch rainbow. I have my usual expression... I don't like holding a big fish out of the water so I'm concentrating on the fish and not the camera. We boated to Brooks one day and saw the bears. They put on a good show. Fished Margot Creek the same day. Disappointing but it usually isn't a good early fishing spot. Did find some lakers in the mouth but only caught one small one. We limited 5 days on sockeye (5 per day) and filled our boxes. It's always fun fighting these fish. Big Creek, one of the better places to fish for kings, was blown out most of the 2 weeks I was there but did fish the last day (Friday) and found 5 jacks ready to play. Not big kings, but we only fished for them a couple of hours.

This report is from a sample that was taken on Lake Taneycomo in August of 2021. 2021 Lake Taneycomo Annual Report.pdf View full article

Our skies have dried up now that it's summer in the Ozarks and our lakes have somewhat stabilized. Beaver Lake is still a bit high but Table Rock Lake is below its seasonal power pool so our generation is slow and consistent. They're running a little less than a full unit 24/7 which makes trout fishing pretty good. At the present flow, you can boat to the cable at Table Rock Dam if you know the channel above Lookout Island. If not, I wouldn't chance it. It get pretty shallow in spots and there's some big boulders that have been places for structure that can cause some serious damage to lower units. From the cable down, marabou jigs are probably one of the best lures to use. Dark, earth colors are the best with sculpin, olive, brown or black the base colors highlighted with ginger or peach, all with either orange or brown heads. You can use with 2- or 4-pound line -- the trout are not line shy at this point. If you're using 2-pound line, throw 1/32nd- or 1/16th-ounce jigs and if you're using 4-pound line, use the heavier jigs like 3/32nd- and 1/8th-ounce. They're still drifting flies from the cable all the way down to Short Creek, either straight line with split shots or under a slip float. Scuds is still #1 but they're catching trout on a red San Juan Worm, peach egg flies and the white Mega Worm. Use a small #16 grey scud with a little flash in the dubbing. Night crawlers is king below Fall Creek. The current is slow enough to either spot lock or use an anchor off the front of a boat but be careful and judge the current before anchoring. Up toward Fall Creek, the current is faster so anchor to the side. Anchoring in the Short Creek area and across the lake from Trout Hollow has been very productive. Straight line a night crawler, salmon eggs or Powerbait using 4-pound line. The current really slows down down past Trout Hollow so just use a little split shot to get down when drifting. The Berkley Pink Worm under a float is working early before the sun gets up over the water. Stay in the shade of the bluffs for as long as you can. Fish it about 5 to 7 feet deep. The Branson Landing area has had a lot of trout stocked recently. They're hitting the Pink Worm as well as spoons and spinners. They're also catching them on small crank baits -- they like to chase things. View full article

Yep- my family is from Denison and we moved to Parsons when I was 3. So we traveled that corridor many, many times. I remember the first KFC in Muskogee when it opened... that was a must-stop for us. And the azalea festival in the spring.

I'm sure it gets fished... I guess I was referring to pleasure boats. I just came across the dam at Table Rock - too many boats to count. If you're cruising on Eufaula, you got the lake to yourself!

@Fish24/7 fishes lower BS. Not sure if he's posted any reports lately. Heading to AK Friday for 2 weeks.

The north side is red mud. The south side is much clearer, at least right now.

Great report. Glad you had a good time. Loved the part about Jackson. He’ll be 11 soon. He likes his visiting friends.

Schedule says 0 till 8-9 am today, then 50 mw all day. Was looking forward to that! Got up at 4:30 and instead of heading to play ball I headed to the dock. Wanted to fish no water and do One Cast. Got to the Narrows and there's current. Not a lot but some. Looked like one unit. I said ok... and started throwing a jig. Fishing wasn't as good as yesterday morning but it was ok. I fished till 9. Ended up below Stafford's old cabin. Caught them on a variety of things but nothing big. Seemed like the water was really slowing down. It was. They shut it down. Went back out at 10:30. Boated to the Narrows - no one there. I finished with a #14 black zebra under a small float so that's what I used. Caught fish on every cast for a while - all over 15 and up to 19.5 inches. I could see them and pick them off one at a time. They got smart. I moved around, caught 30 rainbows. Lots of fish at the Narrows. Fly fishing is going to be awesome if they keep the water slow or off. Lots of big bows.

Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.

I tried Zenni Online. I've been buying regular glasses from them for years but never bought their sun glasses. But finally bought a pair a couple of months ago. I like them. They're not the classy sport glasses but they look nice and do a good job on the water. $140 vs $600. Progressive bifocal.

We drove highway 75 over Eufaula yesterday and today (back and forth to Texas). I counted 3 boats and a jetski yesterday and one boat today. It's about 13 miles to get clear through the lake... could not believe I didn't see more boats. Drove over 86 bridge today. I couldn't get a count... lots of boats.

I knew I knew you last evening... I should have said something. Glad you had a good time.

Great report. Sorry about the hook-in-the-hand.

But all that goes into the Arkansas River which affects release from Bull Shoals...

Wow last time I saw a real level it was down to 1122. It's come up. This last rain missed us. It was close. https://www.iweathernet.com/total-rainfall-map-24-hours-to-72-hours

Yeah you're right....

All the gauges I see for Beaver are wacky... what is the real elevation right now?

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