Phil Lilley

Fished just alittle bit this afternoon. Had to try the fast, shallow water before it ends tonight. At the narrows, it's a fantastic shoot- water flowing thru straight and strong. Where the gravel flat drops off from 2 to 4 feet, there's tons of rainbow holding in the current feeding like crazy. I tried a bead, then a san juan, then a scud and they liked the scud!! But nothing very big. Tried out deeper and hung a nice rainbow but didn't have him long. Had a guy and gal go past me on the bar behind me in a jet- it had to be less than 6 inches deep but they made it. But I heard they didn't make it over Fall Creek bar... big bang! Lisa and Ryan saw them hit. Dropped down to Fall Creek and anchored to the middle of the east side or the deeper side of the channel thru and past the bar. Again, most of the trout were in shallower water than you think but did like what I offered much. Hooked a few and landed a couple. Nicer rainbows here. Lisa and Ryan were drifting night crawlers from FC to Short Creek and said they had their limits in one drift. Water isn't fast at all once you get away from the gravel bar at FC but fast enough to keep a bait moving. I wish we saw this level and flow more often. Would be fun. Heard of a nice brown caught at the dam today- 7-8 pounds. Good fishing from what I hear.

Nice- the blood on the lip is from your hook up or someone's else? It's not going to end up on your grill is it?

Short Creek- Ramp at Riverpointe Estates- Gravel Bar at Fall Creek- Narrows- Lookout-

Well- waders didn't have much of a window to wade with the water down. They're already running water this morning to cover the gravel bars upstream. Good thing... hardly any fog and the sun is out. Lots of dead sculpin along our bank in the moss. Herons are having a feast. Am heading up to take some pics. Curtis and I just cut some of the trees tops off in mid channel above our place to Fall Creek. \ Of yea- they're dredging the ramp at River Pointe Estates... good for them!! Just hope they don't get caught.

I boated up to Lookout this evening- got up there about 7 pm. It was foggy so I didn't go on up and take a pic of the vehicle- sorry. The water was falling out- still moving pretty good but level was dropping. Had to watch the depth- didn't want to get beached over night. Caught one on a big yellow double humpy- was using it as an indicator for a #16 red zebra which the trout turned their nose up at. They were midging hard- aggressive- but not on what I had to offer. So I switched to a #18 red soft hackle and started catching rainbows. Man these fish fight hard!! 14 inchers kicking my butt. I took my 8 wt loaded with shooting line and a bead- Bill and I were using them the other day. 8 mm bead- silver salmon sized. I moved out and up next to the island and dropped an anchor. The water was still moving pretty good- perfect for what I wanted. First 5 casts- 5 rainbows. Cool!!! they slowed down on the bead so I tied on a San Juan - scoring again! I hooked a real big fish but the hook pulled out early. Stayed too long and headed in. Fog was thick and the midges were thicker!! A guy in a boat anchored where Fall Creek's dock used to be whistled and waved me over as I pasted. He wanted to show me a brown he had caught- he said it was 10 pounds. Was using sculpin (the real thing). Lake level is well below power pool right now by the looks of the water between our dock and the bank. As I ran downstream this evening, I saw gravel that I haven't seen in a long time. At the narrows, although it was foggy, I could see the west bank. It looked like the gravel there had built up along that bank which is weird. Also saw what looked like to be a pile of gravel against a log on top of that gravel flat, well above the surface of the water. I know the lake was still above power pool at that time. The lake may look very different when it's all said and done up there. If you're boating tomorrow- there's going to be trees all over the lake- in the middle- in the channels. Be very careful, esp before the fog lifts. We're going out with chain saws tomorrow and try to cut some out while the water is low. Chuck and Bead. Stubby!? What kind of butterfly is this? Nice sunset.

Rich- it should.

Had 3 lovely people this morning for a trip. They just wanted to catch a few trout to eat so we stayed below Fall Creek and drifted night crawlers. Caught some great rainbows up to 16 inches. All had been in the lake a while- colored up pretty and fought hard. Caught about 24 trout- Casey, the 21 year old daughter, first time fishing, caught the most by far. Use half a crawler and hook it one time in the middle and let it hang over both side. We used a drift rig with a 3/8th oz bell sinker and a #*8 hook. Had to let the fish eat it- give the rod tip and count to 3, set the hook. Stay in the middle and even then there's some snags. They took home 12 nice rainbows for supper.

I guess a nice, new red (I think) suburban was hot roddin' on the MDC boat ramp last evening about 9 pm when it hit the mossy area on the ramp and slid in the lake. Now it's down at the top of KOA. I guess the Corp didn't get the email.... Anyhow- not sure how they're going to get it out. Put floats on it and pull it with a boat? With the water dropping out, the channel isn't deep enough to float it I bet. This will be interesting. Babler went up and saw it... but didn't take pics. Dog!

These are the rainbows we've been seeing for the past few weeks. Incredible rainbows. I'm tellin' ya... it's going to be awesome fishing this fall for rainbows, as well as browns.

Off and dropping.

Had a trip this am. Took Craig and Jack fishing. Boated to the cable at 7 am and after a short instructional session, they started catching rainbows right off. Throwing 3/32nd sculpin, sculpin/peach, brown/orange or olive jigs and working them close to the bottom, we had several drifts down to KOA and caught 3-8 trout each trip. Slowed down about 9:30 as expected but picked right back up. Our last drift we caught 5 rainbows. We kept 6 under 12 inches. Some were 12-14 and a few 14-16. One pushed 20 inches (pic). No browns. Tried white and had a couple of short takes but no hookups. They want dark jigs. Lots of guides out today. Chuck, Tony and Tracy all had the same group of fly rodders and they were catching pretty good. I could see an egg fly with something else tied below it, indicator and fishing 7-8 feet deep. Generation was noticeably slower this am. Very nice flow. Trout seemed to like it. Lots of people fishing along the banks including alot of kids.

Report is wrong. No ditches above the hatchery.

I'm not so sure.

The only "trib" is Fall Creek but there are minor ditches above Fall Creek. The one that runs thru Pointe Royal and a couple other minor runoff ditches. But it might run into the lake at outlet #3. It can't be above outlet #1 unless it comes thru the rocks. The flow you see there is directly from hatchery raceways.

The good news is that the Little Red River is the closest trout stream to Memphis and Little Rock. The bad news is that the Little Red River is the closest trout stream to Memphis and Little Rock. Since the Little Red is fairly quick to get to for two major metropolitan areas, it can get crowded. In addition, there has been quite a bit of development on it and access has become more limited over the years. That said this river has developed into a legendary brown trout fishery that has produced the current world record. Rip Collins caught this massive forty pound four ounce monster trout on a brown marabou jig and four pound test line. This is the Greers Ferry Dam tail water and it is subject to severe fluctuation. Be on constant alert for any change in the current or a change in the water sounds. As soon as you detect the water is rising, get out. Hopefully on the same side of the river your car is on. The phone number for the Greers Ferry Dam generation information is (501) 362-5150. They will tell you what the current level of generation is when it began and when previous generation ended. If you are unsure about the water level or need to buy some local fly patterns, stop by or call the Little Red Fly Shop (501) 887-9988. It is conveniently located at swinging bridge, a local fishing hot spot. The Red is generally a small stream when compared to the White or Spring Rivers. It is mostly gravel and bedrock and in general is pretty easy wading. I generally fish the little Red with a nine foot four weight rod loaded with a floating line. There are a lot of weed beds that produce a fair number of sow bugs which is the dominant food source. This makes the sow bug the fly of choice. If I were to have only one fly to fish the Little Red I would choose the sow bug size sixteen. The other local pattern that is a must carry is the red ass. This is a peacock soft hackle with a red tag and red rib. Other effective flies would be bead head pheasant tails, partridge and orange soft hackles, red or worm brown San Juan worms, elk hair caddis and olive woolly buggers. One of my favorite places to fish is JFK Park just below Greers Ferry Dam. I park near the boat ramp and walk far up stream. This section has a nice population of brook trout. I think they are the prettiest species that we have in Arkansas and this is one of the best places to fish for them. There are also plenty of browns and rainbows here. There is very little current here. I usually do the best near the top where there is one shallow riffle. The best flies here are soft hackles like the red ass or partridge and orange. Another hot spot is Cow Shoals. This is where the annual brown trout spawn occurs in October. It can get unbelievably crowded during this event. There will be anglers standing shoulder to shoulder trying to land the big one. This is not fly fishing to me. I prefer to fish it in winter after the spawn before the big browns have left but after the crowds of anglers have. The rest of the year this is a great place to catch wild brown trout. Swinging Bridge is the most popular spot to fish the Little Red with good reason. There is a lot of great fish holding water there. This is named after the wooden suspension bridge that crossed the river here. A few years ago it collapsed and killed a few tourists in the process. You should Park in the lot on the west side of the river near the old bridge abutments. Directly below is a huge pool that fishes well with olive woolly buggers. Down stream is Winkley Shoals This is a long bedrock shoal that hold several nice runs. This is a great place to fish sow bugs below strike indicators in the faster water and soft hackles in the slower water. If you want to avoid crowds try fishing the Little Red during the week or during inclement weather. Nothing thins the herd like a little rain. There are plenty of good fish there. Give the Little Red a try. John Berry (870) 435-2169 berrybrothers@infodash.com www.berrybrothersguides.com

Thanks for sharing, Al.

Took 4 little cousins out fishing yesterday for a couple of hours. Boy they can work you! Took the pontoon- beautiful day. Drifted from Fall Creek down. First used night crawlers. Big mistake. Bob Klein caught some nice rainbows the other day so I wanted to try. Problem was they were getting so many bites, I couldn't keep up. A couple of hooks ups but nothing to the net. You have to let the trout take the night crawler- at least the way I hook them which is half a worm hooked one time in the middle, hanging off on both side. The trout will actually follow the worm downstream, munching on it. John's worm was shredded when I had him check his bait. So we went to Gulp Eggs- one white and one orange. Each kid caught at least one. They loved it. Bill said fishing this am was very good below the dam. He said as long as the fog stayed, the big rainbow bit. Guess they like that low light time. I got out this evening- boated to the dam and started below #3 working the bank using a sculpin 1/8th oz jig. Caught a couple in the slack water them 3 more before getting to the boat ramp. Nothing over 16 inches but they were fat. Another 3 before getting to Lookout. Switched to a split shot and red San Juan Worm and 4 more rainbows, 2 before Fall Creek and 2 below. Missed several too. Great evening- had the lake to myself. A little fog, no wind, very peaceful.

Kevin- no fishing above the line- by remote or otherwise. http://lilleyslanding.com You'll find rates and directions. Blue- Not sure about your first question. Maybe someone else can answer. We get a few mayflies and lots of midges. I've been told it's a temp issue. The White has great hatches. Not sure what the diff is between us and them. About the same temps and flows.

Sit down for class-- Our temp always rises in the fall. Summer warms the water all thru the lake but what's different about this year is all the warm rain we got in April. There was one event where runoff from Long Creek hit the dam, mixing the water all the way below the 130 foot level- that's where we get our water from. That's why we had dirty water for most of the summer. Table Rock's layers of water virtually mixed, replacing winter, cold water with warm spring rain runoff. Now instead of water on the bottom of Table Rock measuring 45-49 degrees (normal) it's in the mid 50's. We usually get a 5-7 degree bump in the fall but we may see even more- not sure. But even temps in the lower 60's will be tough on trout, especially browns. Browns can take warmer temp compared to rainbows BUT they stress easier than rainbows and the stress will kill a brown faster than physically tiring it out. DO- I have several articles and lots of posts on low DO in the fall on this site. It's a "natural" occurrence on all tailwaters and something we "suffer" thru each year. Combine the two and you have a deadly mix. This weekend is the drawdown so you may not get to the dam in a pontoon not because of high water but because of low water. We'll just have to see what happens. But regardless, any traffic above our place will be tougher than normal. Water will be very low.

http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/Wcds/Plots/TRDO.jpg Anyone notice the rise in water in? In just a few days, Taney's incoming flow has risen one degree. 56 is pretty high for this time of year. As I said earlier in the summer, our trout, especially browns, are going to be super stressed by these conditions as the fall season approaches. DO is already down to 4 ppm which isn't surprising. The mix of high temps and low DO will play havoc on big browns at rest, not to mention browns hook and fought... some unfortunately to their deaths.

What is the flow like?

Welcome. I know of several other Pitt State people on this board. I grew up in Parsons and have alot of friends who attended there.

Kevin- you're from west Kansas?

http://ozarkanglers.com/fff/nafff-08-08_newsletter.pdf

He was in Branson not long ago- stayed at the Landing.