Phil Lilley

Much appreciated.

You got good ones and bad ones... it's the way it is, buddy. I'm going to the dam and drag some red SJ worms. My son in law graduates from college this weekend and his family is here- and we're going fishing.

Main channels are the same. Nothing major has changed even at the dam. Really can't tell for sure what has happened as far as minor changes. There is a tree right in the middle of the lake in front of Trout Hollow and one just down from Rebar. It looks like if the water was all the way down, this trees would be on dry ground. BUT the tree may cause the gravel to shift and create something different in that area. No other changes. The change Bill is referring to is the depth of the water with the boards down at the lower end. You'll see this mainly at Lookout and the otherwise shallow water there and above KOA to the dam. Just don't assume if the water is running fast that there's enough water over the gravel bars to make it.

I wanted to do some programs this summer in Springfield. What subject(s) would draw a crowd? I'm thinking about doing 2 programs in an evening. We could do waters - Current, Eleven Point, State Parks, any of the lakes. I'm thinking about doing a night on GPS and depth finders in June. I'm going check out the Nature's Center on the south side of town and see what their schedule is. Any ideas?

I did notice, for those interested, outlet #3 was very wadeable last evening and no one was on it. I"m sure it's wadeable in the mornings too- like right now it's still pretty low and slow. It should hold some fish, esp the lower end where it drops off.

http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/71.pdf Mdc's Master Angler Award

Four pound "anything" is a lunker in my book

Work it down to the bottom and "hop" it and "drop" it.

Headed out after the office closed at 6 pm. Wanted to catch some fish tonight so went to the cable and started throwing the 1/8th oz white jig. They had dropped the flow to may be 2 units. Didn't get a bite till I got to the first of the Big Hole- then one bite, one big head shake. Fought that fish all the way to the boat ramp. It may have been the longest and hardest fighting trout I've caught on Taney. 23 inches - a beautiful bow. Kept it in the water and wanted to take some great pics of it... but one click and my battery went dead. At the end of the rock at KOA, I started picking up more rainbows on the jig all the way to Lookout Island. Then drifted and fished the jig on the bluff side to the narrows and picked up a few rainbows- slow. I dinked around the island a little with the fly rod but they weren't coming up on midges very much. Finished the evening drifting the bluff bank throwing a Husky Jerk and missed alot more than I landed... nothing big.

He's fishing and I bet it's not on Table Rock

You'll just have to watch the levels along with the rest of us... I don't know.

I see where you asked about it on Western Slopes Forum back in January... can't hide from Google Power. Didn't see anything- but I'm sure you already googled it.

Caught off the dock on worms just 15 minutes ago. 22 inches. Bob Pfender from Shreveport, LA I guess fishing isn't too bad!!

Interesting numbers. More people commit suicide than are murdered.

We may have gotten an inch- not that much. Table Rock and Beaver both are holding steady so far.

Don't know. Sorry- it's all speculation. We've heard lots of rumors and even "official" reports and seen just the opposite. As far as flow on Taney, and I assume you're referring to the level of Taneycomo since you posted this on Taneycomo forum, I don't see any change in this flow for at least 4-6 weeks- more if it keeps raining.

Welcome. You're moving to a fabulous place.

Henry- I would agree with you but the water at the cable is about the same color and density as the water here at the resort, may be the water here is more stained. Your finding on the status of the bottom there at the outlet is very concerning. There are stretches in the lake where we drift where you can hear the gravel shifting under the boat and there are others that you don't hear anything. Take the stretch from Andy's down. Before the "flood", you could hear is all the way to Fall Creek. Now you can only hear it at the flats- where the channel narrows on the bluff side. We also now aren't catching many trout in this area. I just don't know what to think. I may head up there tomorrow morning at day break and see if I can see the bottom- if it's mud or if it's gravel.

Not muddy... stained. It is green but visibility is only 24-30 inches, if that. It's the first time I know of water coming from TR thru the turbines is NOT clear, probably in the history of the dam. It's very unusual to see stained water at 130 feet of water in a 200 foot deep lake. We could have a great discussion on lure vs flies. One question I'd have to ask is if you could get a fly (streamer) to act like a jig. I can drop a jig straight down and pop it right back up on a retrieve. Using a sink tip and a lead-eyed clouser, can you do the same? I believe our trout take at least a jig on it's movement rather than it's looks although I know the live action of the marabou helps. But granted, I think you can catch the same trout on a clouser most of the time vs a jig, but not every time. BUT you can probably say the same thing about a jig vs a clouser. I saw a young man fish right behind me one day above the boat ramp during low water catch rainbow after rainbow on a spin outfit and a small jig while I was using small midges and catching 10% of the fish he was. It has to do alot with talent and feel for the jig too. If you're a great jig fisher, you're a great fish catcher.

And where did you grow up? My home town is Parsons.

I used a 1/32nd oz jig head, white.

Fished this morning. Boated up the lake a quarter mile and fished the near bank down to our dock. I was told by a guest he'd done well drifting the run using power bait and wanted to pass the tip on to others if it proved accurate. But I rigged a float and jig head and tipped it with a Gulp orange egg and set it 6 feet deep. They were running may be 2 units, the current wasn't that fast. Missed a couple of bits on the drift but when I got within 100 feet of the dock I hooked a rainbow. Trolled back up to the same spot and hooked another. Long story short- there's a pod of rainbows in front of my neighbor's small dock. Tied on a Husky Jerk, blue with an orange belly #5 and drifted the stretch again. Caught 3 rainbows and then a fat-big of a brown just above our dock. 19 inches. Didn't hardly fight he was so fat. Probably been eating guts under our dock. Cleaned 4 rainbows and had them for lunch. Went back out searching for more good patterns. Threw the crank bait quite a bit and had limited success. The sun had come out and that usually is the death of crank baits. I worked the bank across from Fall Creek down with jigs- straight 1/8th oz white and sculpin- nothing. So I headed up to KOA and fished the south bank, hitting the eddies. Not until I put the boat on the bank-side in the eddies did I start catching fish. White 1/8th oz jig. Several browns and nice rainbows. They were out in the current, on the edges and in the slow water. Not the easiest fishing fighting the trees... but ok. Fished the bluff bank with crank bait and white jig down to Fall Creek- very few bites. All in all it was pretty slow. They did pretty good off the dock though. Others in boats didn't do as well. May be it was just the day- front early and sunny later.

Very nice!!

OK- it's up. I did some research and came up with a description. Didn't know much about it. Nice place for St Louis residents.

I used to catch bass, crappie and blue gill in the pits when I was a kid. Thanks a beautiful fish! Great to see a kid caught it, in a derby no less.