Phil Lilley

Did you find the crappie?

Did you use balloons? I went with a guide years ago that used balloons as indicators and drifted shad underneath them.

Bill said Buster Loving won it with 13 something...

What????

If you ever get over this way, you'll have to check out some of our Ozark waters... our streams are probably alot like yours.

Where were they... depth of water and all? I wonder if they are moving on Table Rock?

Need to firm up our volunteer list for the fair. Tyers- Leonard Mike Hayden Kent Turner Fishers- I know there are others that have told me they could help... just need names so I can assign duties. The event is from 10 am till 2 pm. The hatchery is going to have a kid's pond with blue gill and catfish in it. Kids will complete a series of "stations" before they can fish. It will probably be catch-n-keep. MDC will provide rod and reels. We also usually show kids how to cast- fly and spin. How about it?

No truth. The Corp and SPA do NOT care about fish or lake recreation. It's a nice thought but not true. There's still no room for the water in Beaver, Table Rock or Bull Shoals. When there is room (the Mississippi River Valley), hold on to your hats... they will drop the lakes as fast as they can, at least down to "safe" levels. Then they'll be back to power demand.

Remember, the boards are off so this is NOT normal pool but I think these dock owners may have problems with their docks when everything gets back to normal. Above Short Creek. The flats. I got out and walked this flat and it's CLEAN gravel- no bugs. There are midge larva though but no scuds. This is the bank along the east side of the Narrows. It's washed out and gravel and clay and exposed some rock ledges. The channel seems to be deeper here. This is the bank in front of Andy's place. The bank drops off into deep water now and the point in front of the white house below Andy's house is not there anymore. It's a deep hole. Fished a #16 dirty gray scud along the bluff bank and caught 2 nice trout- this brown and a rainbow alittle larger. Rolan was catching alot of trout using his "mink" weighted scud along the bluff bank. This was an 18 incher. Bill was up there doing very well using micro jigs under a float. 2 horns blew about 10 am.

Guess you know Jim and the fam are flying to Anchorage today...

Lots more gravel down thru outlet #2, just like Leonard said. Lake isn't very deep and the #2 outflow extends out further. I doubt if #2 attracts the trout it used to. I didn't walk down to rebar but it looks, from the pic from the top of the dam, that there's a new shoot down from the original shoot but it doesn't look very wide. The point looks like it's extended downstream and the Big Hole probably is filled in. If it is, the water will move thru this area alittle faster I'd think. But keep in mind, the water level is lower because of the boards being removed at Powersite Dam. I haven't been out in a boat yet- that's my next move. Babler said it's a different world up there. I bet it is. BUT I know the gravel bars above FC are exposed to the sun right now... same problem we've had in the past with the lake being drawn down. This will kill at least the scuds if they don't run some water today.

Ran up to the dam and took some pics...

Hey DD- you are in Anchorage- right?

Special thanks to Pat, Aaron, Micheal, Rolan, Fred, Harold and John for helping out... and Ken for coordinate the event. All forum members. And of course our staff at the resort, for all the good food and service. And the guys from FFF that came and helped out.

Last evening, Micheal and Bill did a great job talking about fishing Lake Taneycomo. Didn't have very many attend unless you count all the people down the hall in the next banquet room. But we appreciate those who did. Today's Project Healing Waters event went very well. The fish could have cooperated a but better but the weather could not- it was absolutely perfect. I think we took 13 soldiers and several staffers fishing from 10 am till 3 pm. They were more than gracious and forgiving of the slow fishing. We did catch trout though. White jigs worked early, drifting below the dam, but slowed after 11 am. We ran down to Monkey Island and drifted power eggs and caught 10 stocker rainbows. Valery, a staffer, caught her first fish... and then her second. Tim, a veteran from the camp, caught several in a row. We made several good drifts and headed back up for another try at a big rainbow. I think KSPR TV10 in Springfield will have a spot on their evening news tomorrow of the event.

See if that helps.

Is there any good river maps on the internet of the Elk or Big Sugar that you know of?

hi·ber·nate Audio Help /ˈhɪbərˌneɪt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[hi-ber-neyt] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –verb (used without object), -nat·ed, -nat·ing. 1. Zoology. to spend the winter in close quarters in a dormant condition, as bears and certain other animals. Compare estivate. 2. to withdraw or be in seclusion; retire. 3. to winter in a place with a milder climate: Each winter finds us hibernating in Florida. Leonard- your fly's name doesn't make much sense... unless you're planning on heading to Florida and using it on tarpon- maybe.

James- we'll be praying for Damien. We'll pray he will have such a personal encounter with God that his life will be changed miraculously. Then that God will show Himself faithful in his finances and his relationships.

by Spence Turner ~~ "When you coming down?" Phil Lilley asked. "Browns are running and the Corps of Engineers isn't running much water through Taneycomo or for that matter anyplace in the White River system." Perfect conditions, I thought. We'd talked earlier about getting together Lilleys' Landing Resort for some fall trout fishing when spawning browns move up to the head-end of Lake Taneycomo. Even set a date, which turned out to be my wife's birthday...not just her birthday, but rather her 60th birthday. When she learned of my plans...well it wasn't pretty and I'm still digging out of the hole. Women just don't have sense of humor when it comes to forgetting minor things like birthdays. Needless to say, I rescheduled. I've conducted a 30-year, dark and steamy affair with a bewitching, curvaceous, sultry, lass, who's waters run deep and cold, followed by intensely personal periods of hot, steamy, activity. I've wallowed in those waters. Felt the power and reveled in their deep, stark, beauty; savored the explosive organisms of slashing rainbows and broad-shouldered browns; and agonized over her health as she aged. Her name: Lake Taneycomo, Missouri's first lady of trout fishing. I thought about those years, the thousands of rainbows and browns I'd handled; the fights to change regulations, introduce brown trout in 1980s and a special management zone in the 90s; as I motored south to Branson and Lilleys' Landing. The changes worked: Lake Taneycomo is back with an attitude. And, I retired. Taneycomo anglers have shattered Missouri's brown trout record, and discovered a dead brown, longer than the current world record. The lake has everything needed to grow a new world record: an abundance of food; great living conditions and habitat for brown trout; and regulations allowing browns to grow large. Keep your fingers crossed. Day One I wasn't looking for a record, just a couple days of great trout fishing. The water was off and after a quick check in, I headed for the upper end at Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery. The upper pools are waist-deep at max...bathtubs filled with large cruising browns and rainbows. Anglers lined the second hatchery outlet. Not really needing company, I walked to the third outlet and waded across to the Rerod run and pool, spooking several large trout with my clumsy wading. At the head-end of the riffle, a pod of small rainbows fed on amphipods kicked loose by upstream anglers. I caught two, before wading to the end of the run and rerigging to a large black woolly bugger as light failed. As I finished, the horn at the dam blew, chasing me off the water, as needs for electrical generation took precedence over those of the angler. I waited out the flush of water and resumed fishing as water fell an hour later. Fog tentacles swirled around me as I waded back out to the riffle. A great blue heron joined me fishing the shallows. Tensions of the day and week disappeared in the darkness and fog. Two small rainbows fell to the black woolly bugger in the dark, before a heavy strike jarred my rod. The trout wallowed briefly, shaking its head, then sprinted downstream stripping line from my reel. What a satisfying sound in the darkness. It wasn't large. I quickly worked the trout back, and landed and released a 15-inch brown, none the worse for our brief encounter. It was enough for the first day. Day Two The water was off. Fall leaves floated randomly around Lilleys' Landing dock, and the bluff across the lake was on fire, cloaked in reds, yellows and greens as trees held tightly to a calliope of leaves, heralding the approaching winter. As long as the water was off, Phil suggested fishing the upper end again. We found the parking lot full, most anglers fishing outlet 2. Phil suggested rerigging for some "skinny water" trout fishing...changing leaders from the rope I used in the darkness, to a 9-foot nymph leader, tapering to 7X or 8X. In the shallows, browns and rainbows fed on midges and amphipods, backs and tails out of the water; several large browns tended a newly dug redd in the outlet plume, mostly ignored by float-and-jerk anglers. We both caught trout, rainbows mostly, with a brown trout or two thrown in for good measure; Phil caught and landed 10 trout for everyone I caught. In the afternoon facing rain, we motored up to the "Overlook Hole," and fished drys and small soft hackles to rainbows cruising the shallows, finishing the day using the old tried-and-true, weighted scuds under a small strike indicator, a technique dating to the 60s and 70s. No large trout, but lots of intermediate-size rainbows fell to the rig, and we had the lake to ourselves. Day Three Ryan Walker, White River guide and friend of Phil's suggested heading for the Norfork tailwater and fishing Arkansas' catch and release zone, downstream from McClellans boat dock. Ryan is one of the new breed of White River guides, who specialize in catching large trout using flies and artificial lures (Contact Ryan through Lilleys' Landing). I'd not fished the Norfork in over 15 years and jumped at the opportunity. We found the river almost dead low and dropping, creating a series of shallow riffles, bedrock shelves, and pools, making the entire river available to anglers. We waded down to the first riffle and Ryan suggested fishing the skinny water, shallow areas at the edge of runs, before moving to the deeper areas in the riffle. "On falling water, I've found large trout holding and feeding in shallow riffle areas, overlooked by most anglers." Ryan instructed as he pointed to a spot about 5 yards from where we stood. "You'll need an indicator." I tied on a small "dead shrimp" Ryan handed me and cast...it really wasn't a cast. I just flipped the fly and indicator to the spot where Ryan pointed. The indicator stopped and I tightened the line and was fast into my first trout, a rainbow. In the next four casts, I caught and released three trout, all between 10 and 14 inches. Nice start to the day. We caught a bunch of rainbows, several browns, a couple of cutthroats and even a brook trout before breaking at noon. I'd guess we caught and released 30 to 40 trout and the day was young. After a drink, we drove to the handicap parking lot at Goat's Bluff and walked upstream to the islands and the end of the catch and release area. What an afternoon. I watched brown trout spawn; a young women hook a huge trout briefly before losing the fish; Ryan landing an 18-inch rainbow, which weighed in at about 4.5 pounds and lose another larger trout, which took off for Missouri and didn't stop; and Phil catching an Arkansas grand slam, a rainbow, brown, brook and cutthroat trout. The largest fish of the day for me...a large sucker. I have no idea how many trout we caught and released, probably well over 100 in the five hours we fished...certainly well worth the drive from Branson. Lake Taneycomo is back; heck the whole White River system is reveling in unprecedented high quality trout fishing never experienced before. Thirty years ago I envisioned what the White River System could become, and now have seen the vision come to reality. The real winner in all of this is the trout angler. The good old days are now, with more to come. And my love affair with Lake Taneycomo continues. Not older, just better. View full article

Good info- thanks Trav.

You might want to post this again and start a new topic under Beaver Creek and Swan Creek. You'll get a better response that way.

Yellow belly... not sure what that would be. Any snake experts here?