Phil Lilley

Not much wading expect at the outlets. Water is really high right now. With all the great fly fishing in the creeks (Beaver or Swan) I'd head there and catch some nice whites.

They should be moving to the banks real soon, if not already. Anybody finding any? Don't give up spots but reports on areas would help those looking for crappie this weekend. I've heard good things from Cape Fair area. Not much from Kings or Long yet.

Nice.

As for suggesting additional rules here or anywhere else, it won't happen. As Bill says, even if it would help the bass population, it will not happen. Big bass tourneys and tourist dollars will not let it happen.

Not sure if you read all the posts on this topic. You're overreacting to what's been said IMO. You're also addressing the discussion itself and not really the topic or issues addressed here. Ridiculous? Then we shouldn't allow any topics that are remotely controversial IYO?

We did get to the dead sea. There in January, it was cool but not enough time to get in at that stop. Others went in though- pretty cool. I still have a bottle of dead sea water- it has crystals formed in the bottom of the bottle.

Server was down for about 12 hours.

Thought that was you... I had clients waiting for me up in the creek or I would have offered a seat in the boat. But it sounds like you had a better spot. We boated a ton of small male whites and maybe 12-15 decent ones we kept (I haven't cleaned them yet). Saw a few sows caught but not many. Water was 56 and good color. Beaver is in the same condition- I took a look at the 160 bridge. We caught most on small jerk baits- rebels and husky jerks. Others were catching on sliders and swimming minnows. Not crowded in the water but the banks were full of people catching whites.

Duane called and said at Blunk the river is 4 ft up from previous days and muddy. But tons of spoonbill there.

No stopping the water... 3 units 24/7. Lots of water, yes, but much less than a year ago. Beaver and Table Rock are holding just above power pool but with rains every 3 or 4 days apart, it's hard to say there will be any relenting of this flow. Catching has been fair. Not impossible but not the best. It's not really the water's fault, I think. We usually see a slow down in trout fishing in the spring for whatever reason. Weather has something to do with it. Wind, for one thing, makes catching pretty tough. Not being able to control your boat and not being able to feel the bite are two important factors in NOT being able to catch fish and we have lots of wind here in the spring. Multiply fronts is another factor not many people consider. For instance, yesterday we had several mini fronts move through the area. If you watched the radar all afternoon you'd see lines of pressure variants pushing rain through our area. The fish would bite for alittle while and then shut off completely. Fishing isn't necessarily catching... fishing is fishing. But I've been encouraged the last few days but reports on the forum that our trout aren't as cantankerous as I believed. Bman's report and pics showed there are some hungry rainbows willing to be fooled by scuds, san juans and egg flies below the dam, either drifted on a spin cast and drift rig on the bottom or using a fly rod with an indicator fishing the flies 9 to 12 feet deep with a couple very small split shots. We've also found some nice rainbows downlake, from Scotty's Marina down to the Landing and Bass Pro. Minnows seems to be the best for catching them, along with gulp power bait, using an orange and a chartreuse egg on a #8 hook.

Was there in '97. Beautiful place! There are fish there called Musht or Peter's fish they fish for and eat in the markets around the lake. We ate some in Tiberius- boney but not bad.

If it's anything like the feeder creeks on Taney, should be in great shape. A little color will make those crappie sing!

My boat only had 6 rainbows this afternoon. My guys couldn't get the bite and the bite was short to boot. Minnows from Scotty's down past Bus 65. Babler did better with his crew but it all died after 2 drifts. We headed to anchor in some eddies at Short Creek and several places above. They did better buy still missed more than they hooked. Mini fronts all afternoon didn't help at all. Wind and short bites... nothing worse.

Being poor.... bringing up a good point. When we bought the resort, my dad made a statement- if the economy goes totally south, we can always eat fish. I'm sure there are people right now supplementing their meals with fish. Can't fault anyone for that!

Earlier in Jan when we were catching those slabs at Snapp, we were throwing back 10-11 incher because we were catching 12-14 inchers. Don't you think the 12-14 inchers are in their last year or do you think they'd live another year? I'd rather catch and keep 8-10 12-14 inch crappie than 15 10-11 inchers. I would think water conditions during and just after spawn affect numbers more than harvest does. Course you could say the same thing about bass.

Following that thought... if you're recording the catches and releasing all fish at the boat, you could allow LIVE bait. How about that for a twist!

Found this in the archives... thought I'd bring it to the top.

What size are your pics? They may be too big. Size them down and see if that helps.

Catch and release and now tournaments... man this topic is going places! The perfect bass tournament: Put a judge in each boat and have him weigh in 6 bass of the angler's choice. Once he has 6, he's done. OR weigh in each keeper and take the 6 largest- or is it 5. Whatever number. Point is- release the bass where you catch them. Non of this parade to the weigh in table and released who knows where or how. Want more coverage- put a camera in each boat too. Want crowds... have a jumbo screen at the arena and project the event live as they fish. These things are doable... just takes money.

t/t Jeremy Rasnick- he fishes the am side. He said 16 lb won it on the am side, if I heard him right. Tough day. He said his partner threw a grub all day and caught 2 short fish. Neither of them threw a stick- sounds like they should have.

Have a hard time remembering the names of where we went but may be these images will help. http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2009/costa_...ica_online.html Enjoy.

The sows I cleaned last night seemed to be spawning- their eggs were running out of the sack. Caught them main lake- exactly where we caught them 3-4 weeks ago. I think you're right- after this rain they should head up the creeks and spawn- quickly.

No dead horses yet... it's just now getting good.

My conversation with Bill last night on the phone kinda set it all in perspective... he was rolling laughing so hard about being called a jack ass and I didn't help matters by agreeing. On my recent trip to Costa Rica, we had 9 high school students from Barry's class with us. They were taking acception to some of the rules Barry was setting down and taking some of his general comments personally. I told them- be a duck! Let it roll off your back. Same thing here.... just let it roll off. Bill knows who he is and what he contributes on the forum and he shouldn't let someone, anyone on the forum get to him. I don't think he has in this case. Got to have thick skin for this job.

Not sure how to please everybody... too much info... not enough info... not the right kind of info... "catch and release" or not<sorry- had to throw that in> What would you suggest for admin? What message would you post to curtail too much detail or not enough detail? I'm not knocking your comment... just pointing out that I don't think you can control free speach on a free forum. I for one have always been as detailed and clear as I can possibly be here. And I'm not going to change.