Phil Lilley

Going to close this with these words... I've known Jeremy for alot of years. He's passionate about fishing, fly fishing, fly tying and teaching both. He's just a passionate guy who likes to please people. I've put my foot in my mouth several times on this forum over the years and you all have called me out on it each time. Thank you. It's made me a better person and yes I do have to watch what I type cause being the owner of this site I'm held to a higher standard than others. I understand and respect that. "Guides" are also held to a higher standard and rightly so. And when one goes alittle far in reporting, they get hammered alittle more than others. It goes with the territory. I think most everyone here kinda knows everyone by now- our idiosyncrasies and ticks, our way of expressing ourselves- and sometimes we have to interpret "reports" in different ways and say to ourselves, "well, that's just Phil" and go on. And then I'll repeat this one from before... type it, reread it and make sure it's what you want to post in public for all to see and scrutinize.

I get it... stirring the pot!! To answer one question- all the generation and flood water pushed alot of gravel from the bottom and from the outer banks downstream and filled in some areas. Fishing comment- browns- everybody is frustrated with the situation. Very few browns right now when there should be tons. Late? Early? Skipping a year? Not sure anyone knows. DO is always bad this time of year- nothing new. Higher water temps is different and gets the blame for bad fishing days- rightly so possibly. Rainbows- Skinny trout- some are but most are not. Bill reported catching lots of rainbows spitting out lots of small scuds above Fall Creek the other day. Vince had one of the best days of guiding/fly fishing last week he'd ever had. Don't think these are the reports Jeremy was referring to (hopefully). I can vouch for either of these as being 100% accurate. Fishing is fishing and not catching! Everybody has an opinion and has a right to it. But if you type out an opinion that calls out people for lying to drum up biz... you may get pounded. Just a warning.

Lead being the first one in line... I usually put it there. I think Duane had it there too.

Drove to the dam today about 1:30 PM and found my buddy Duane (DuckyDoty) fishing. We plotted around below rebar a bit and didn't do very well. I think Duane caught a few rainbows on a light colored scud duo and I caught one on a san juan. Didn't see many caught either. Didn't see any browns this time. Duane did see 2 cruisers below #2 along the bank that would push 20 lbs so there are some around. I offered to take Duane out in my boat and he said ok. So we headed back to the resort and uplake we went. Stopped at the narrows above Fall Creek and saw the water was starting to move. We threw against the channel bank till the water started moving too fast and caught 4-5 rainbows pretty quick. Then headed up to Lookout Island, got out and fished around it. I caught 4 rainbows on the backside using my "chuck-n-duck" method and a #14 tan scud. Duane went to the front side and started drifting a san juan/scud combo and wacked them. I came over and messed around with some midge patterns but didn't do as well. I bet he caught 30 rainbows- one pushing 20 inches. Most were small though. Fun stuff! Duane said he talked to someone who talked to a either a biologist or a hatchery person about the browns. I'm going to double check with the hatchery manager to make sure this is right. Evidently the hatchery hasn't has many browns climb the ladder yet this fall. Normally, I know they have their browns by the first of October. Some think the high water temp has them heading up late this fall. All we know for sure is they're not up at the dam.... yet. Not in the numbers we are accustomed to. Did get an email from Clint at the hatchery the other day. I might have already reported this. They have not altered their stocking schedule this fall on account of warm temps or low DO levels.

??? Just checking the forum this evening. All this fuss about "nothing"?

Some guys fished Cricket/Long Creek Saturday and didn't do any good at all. They fished for crappie exclusively.

11:00 am Monday - water is off. This could be a new pattern that could go thru the draw down this week into this weekend and the following weeks. Water on in the am and off in the pm.

I would think they are... We used to pay our kids a penny each for picking them up around the resort. Accomplished two things... cleaned up the place plus made our kids absolutely sick of the smell and "yuky" part of smoking. It's like anything else- the mindset of some people and the lack of appreciation of what we've been given to take care of.

Marsha and I drove to the dam late today to take some pics, see what the water was like with the water off and to may be see and catch some trout. Did all of the above. When I walked up to look over outlet #2, I thought for sure the water was running alittle. Lots of current I thought. Yes there is more current in front of and up from #2 but water wasn't running. The area I like to fish above #2 is more shallow and faster current for sure but I didn't see very many fish holding there. But the wind was blowing and there was a chop on the water so it was hard to see. Didn't see many fish caught in outlet #2. Walked down below rebar. Rebar shoot is wider and more shallow I think but I didn't go there. There were too many people fishing it. Couple of kickers at the tree but they left quick. Caught several rainbows above the tree on a red san juan. Saw one nice brown, may be 6 lbs, cruising in and out of the deep water there. Worked down below the tree and caught several more rainbows. They looked good but didn't fight much. Nothing over 14 inches. Someone needs to take a chainsaw to that tree one night.... Trout really liked those worms... it was fun. Blew 4 horns at 5:45 so we got out. Pics later.

Taneycomo Report Saturday October 25th. 2008; Boated to the dam in the fog at really slow speed, as the Lake was just about at carrying capasity as far as fishermen were concerned. First drift from the cable to Clay Banks netted us 4 brightly colored bows and 1 very nice 18 inch brown. All fish were caught on a size 14 grey scud, fished on a drift rig. The scud being the lower fly on a tandem with a red Sanjuan about a ft. up. Nothing on the next drift, NODA. Third drift, we caught 4 more bows on the red-worm, this time. Next two drifts from the cable to the conservation ramp, nothing.... Told the clients this is the last drift, making one more before noon, and caught 6 bows, all on the scud. Boats were wall to wall, and at one point I counted 32, counting drift boats from the cable to the conservation ramp. Motored down past Andy's as the water fell out. Generators shut off around noon, and after the boys ate their beans, the water had stopped. Midging started along with lots or surface activity. Caught fish with great consistancy on zebras and sclupin 1/2 micro's. Could not for the life of us get them to hit the scud under an indicator. Tim Paige had his clients casting a 1/8 oz. sculpin jig with a scud attached 18 inches back. They were reeling the jig/scud combo right along the bottom very slowly, and I believe they caught dozens doing this. all on the moving scud. I would never have thought of this, and will probably never do it, but it was the bomb. Beck and Paige had started in the bait area below Fall Creek and said fishing was just about impossible with all the boat traffic. Boats running a high speed very close to drifting boats, and also having boats anchored in mid-lake with the water running at 4 generators. Just lots of folks out on a beaufiful day. Lake was stocked heavy on Friday from the Landing thru Monkey, so when the water goes off this week, I would say it will be really good down there. Stockers seemed to be very nice size in the 11 to 14 inch class.

Where are all the fishing reports???? I know some fished below the dam today. Water will probably be off for most of the day tomorrow too.

?????????????

If you search the forum for minimum flow, there's alot of info already posted on the flows. Also, see John Wilson's forum for information. http://flyfishingarkansasandmissouri.yuku.com/

Sounds like if you like to wade, Tuesday will be the day.

Wading- should be no different than it is now. Boating- about the same below the dam. Levels are lower from about Fall Creek down but still moving water no faster than it is today. No different in actually fishing really. Should not affect fish at all. Should be back to "normal" by Friday at the latest. Past that- it's anybody's guess.

Tom Snider from Empire contacted me to tell me that they are going to draw Taneycomo down 4 feet at the lower end to work on the splash boards. The draw down will start about noon on Tuesday. They will shut Table Rock Dam down and let the lake drain to power pool, then draw it down further using the turbines at Powersite. At some point Wednesday morning, the Corp will start running some water to keep the upper end "watered" so the gravel bars won't be exposed to the sun and heat. This will continue into Thursday until the work at Powersite is done.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wants to raise Bull Shoals Lake by 5 feet to improve trout fishing in Arkansas. The lake’s normal pool level of 654 feet feet above sea level would hit 659 if the effort is ultimately approved. “We are working toward making this happen at the direction of Congress,” said P.J. Spaul, public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District. “We did not initiate this legislation.” The Corps is nearing completion of a study on the impact raising Bull Shoals Lake would have. The new minimum flows are intended to sustain the trout fishery. “It is solely to support the trout fishing industry,” said Mike Biggs, a water resource manager with the Corps. “(Trout fishing) supports a lot of jobs and it creates a lot of spending. People literally travel from all over to trout fish.” Spaul said raising the lake could, at times, limit the amount of storage for flood water. But that wouldn’t always be the case, he said, because the water would constantly be flowing. “If, in fact, we went into this spring, if minimum flows would have been in effect, the lake would have been lower because they would have been releasing,” Spaul said. Biggs said that even though it’s a 5-foot increase, because of the constant water flow, on average, Bull Shoals will be 2 feet higher. Before the plan could be implemented however, some changes would have to be made. “About a mile stretch of Slough Hollow Road (in Taney County) will have to be raised,” Biggs said. Biggs said Shadow Rock Park would not be affected by the additional water. “You won’t notice any difference at Shadow Rock Park,” he said. Biggs said it will probably take several years before minimum flow goes into effect. Currently the Corps is holding its final public comment period on the project through Nov. 3. Printed copies of the draft environmental document are available for review at several locations. Copies can be viewed at the Corps’ Table Rock Project Office on Missouri 165. Copies are also on hand at the Forsyth Public Library and Taneyhills Community Library in Branson. In addition, the document can be viewed on the Internet at swl.usace.army.mil/planning/wrminflow.html. The project began when Water Resources Development Act of 1999 and the WRDA 2000 directed the Corps to provide minimum flows. The White River Minimum Flow Study has been examining both the good and bad impacts that could result from reallocating storage in Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Norfork and Greers Ferry lakes to maintain minimum flows to improve trout fishing on the White, North Fork, and Little Red rivers. Issues that were considered in the study were flood control, hydropower, water supply, fish and wildlife, and recreation in each lake and in each river downstream. As part of the study, the Corps is also preparing an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS, that will be part of the final report. An energy and water resources development act in 2006 authorizes the implementation at Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes with no implementation at Beaver, Table Rock or Greers Ferry. The impact statement must be completed and congress must appropriate funds for the needed construction and funds for Empire District Electric Company, for loss of energy production. The storage at Bull Shoals and Norfork must be captured before minimum flow can be implemented.

Our flies are tied in tandem just like when fly fishing. Tie them inline about 12-18 inches apart. The scuds are the same as used by fly fishers wading below the dam. Nothing fancy.

Boated up this evening about 5 with Randy Waggoner and friends. To the dam and made a couple of drifts. All throwing jigs, mainly white 1/8th oz. Lots of rainbows below the boat ramp to KOA in the channel. Another hot spot was against the bank at Point Royale. Then caught them all the way to the Narrows on the bluff side. No skinny rainbows. All were 14-16 inches and nice colors, good bodied and fought good. Quite a different story from what we've been hearing. Good numbers, good fights, good quality.

Exactly right. In trouble??? "PHILLIP!!"

Looks like we need some more Crooked Creekers on the forum... it's a famous place it seems but not fished much? Not sure.

Who knows where she got "Phillip"... may be my mom put her up to it. I knew the gal would flub up on getting the story right- she puts Table Rock and Taneycomo all together in the article and makes it confusing. Oh well... wish they'd have a outdoor person who hunts and fishes write their outdoor articles.

Congratulations!

Great idea- I'll get you some flies.