Phil Lilley

Fished this evening from about 4:30 till dark. Fished the same spot and caught 4 sows- slow compared to the other day. Vince trolled the whole area most of the afternoon and ended up with 18. We tried a couple of places- caught 2 in the mouth of Silver Creek. Caught a small stud and a good stud at the bend in Swan late- just as it started raining harder. Saw some stringers with 3-5 whites on each only males. Seemed to get many short strikes in Swan - main lake too. We cleaned the whites- out of 9- 6 were sows and 3 out of 6 were half spawned out. Figure that one out! Main lake is 45. Swan is 56 degrees. Where the high steep clay bank stops above Swan about a mile- there were 2 guys fishing from the bank. One was using a white gitzit and he caught one walleye about 26 inches and one more about 20 inches. I've heard of him- he flats knows how to catch walleye and proved it tonight. Vince's crew caught one keeper trolling. They were trolling all over the place. Seemed like no place better than another. Most people are trolling now on the main lake. May be we should have too... but I hate trolling.

Yes- the rule applies up in Swan Creek above the 76 bridge. If you're in the lake, which it sounds like you are, you can keep 4 walleye over 18 inches per day, 8 in possession. Walleye spawn in Swan Creek. This rule attempts to protect these fish when they hit the riffles at night to spawn. Poachers are known to net these walleye at night- or gig them.

Nice cats!! That big one... what- is it 35-40 years old? May be older.

I'm alittle groggy I guess... I don't see anything that needs to change. Help me here. I did add a link to each state site.

If they were caught above the bridge in Swan Creek. If they're out in the lake there's no restriction on keeping legal walleye.

Then they'd have say on limits and such? My gosh. Haven't they made a mess of everything already. Hope they don't succeed.

Oh my- that's a fish of a lifetime for 99% of all trout anglers! Congrats!! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks Crappie5... I was with Bill at the ramp. Sorry I didn't introduce myself. Might get over to the Kings Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. I've got trips all three days and will pick the best place to go.

You can drive thru the field road and get to the lake from the road that runs from the Swan Creek Bridge to Powersite Dam but it's going to be real muddy with this last rain now. There are several paths to the lake. Some are steep. Bank fishing below the dam isn't bad and I've done real well up there in past years. Then there Swan itself... not sure if you'll find anything there yet but you never know. Right place- right time.

http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/200...Bills/SJR11.pdf http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/200...measureno=SJR11 Not familiar with it... maybe you guys in Arkansas can shed some light on it.

If you look back, gosh- Jan and Feb, we were catching slab crappie on the drop offs and flats way back then. Same with whites. I think may be we're all gun shy, alittle fearful that the weather is going to screw up a good fishing spring season. We have a right to be... the last 2 springs have been nothing short of CRAZY bad. This spring, so far, has been real close to normal. But we're sitting on the edge of our chairs, analyzing every bite, every weather change. Some of these whites will spawn in the lake. On other lakes they do. I think. Regardless it's out of our hands. One thing is for sure... there ARE good whites and crappie out there this year. That stirs up our excitement (and anxiety) even more.

How about 5 yards.

I think this bite will be good for quite a few days to come. These white bass aren't going anyplace till they spawn. Cold temps aren't going to move them... the water is going to stay the same temp esp as long as they run water. As far as I can tell, this is one of the few places where a guy can catch some nice sized whites, not the little males everyone's been catching in James, Long and Beaver. It will change though.

I could add another dozen guides. All depends on what you want to do- Spin Fly Fish Bait Fish Just catch fish... Then we can match you up with the best guide. You can call our office whenever you get your dates and we'll take care of it. 1-800-284-2196 If you want a drift boat experience/fly fishing, call River Run Outfitters. We do everything else.

With this rain and the coming warm weather, we should start seeing the little fugi. Tell us if you do and ... generally where. Pics are always nice! Detailed maps are better!!

Hum... I thought they liked eddies, not current (walleye). Any keepers? If they keep running water, I'm going to catch me some chubs and head over and fish the eddies for walleye, if I have time.

Need suggestions for Iowa and Nebraska. Any other waters I'm missing?

No- only responsibilities.

I'm building forums on the new site. http://midstatesanglers.com/forums Membership is open- go ahead and register. I'm adding the waters suggested by you guys. I will error on the side of less... I'm not going to load up the forum with every lake and stream there is. I want to see activity on each water, big and little. When finished, I will keep adding waters suggested in the future but all waters are on a trial basis. We'll see how it goes. Spread the word!! All rules on OA applies here.

Look on the OA proper site under Bull Shoals. Upper Beaver. http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...3&Itemid=94 Gotta understand the water is 40 feet lower now than when these pics were taken.

http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...9&Itemid=94 Fished again last night. Caught 4, lost another at the boat first 10 casts. White 1/8th oz jig. They were pretty close to the bank. Got there at 6 pm. Wind was alittle tough. Good current. Not as many boats. Bite shut off quick. Stayed after dark- still nothing which I was surprised. Thought I'd hook a walleye but didn't.

Beat me to it... if you have trouble, let me know and I'll change it for you.

http://lilleystacklestore.com The original swimming minnows... not the knock offs. I have the 3 inch, not the 2 inch.

When do we go!!!???

The work to shore up the bank at the Fall Creek Condo complex continues. Boy, they're spending a ton of money on this project! Looks like they've poured concrete on the actual bank and I assume they're going to continue with the shot rock up to the buildings. Pretty impressive project!