Phil Lilley

Fished some yesterday and today- both in the afternoon. Two different drifts- first from the dam down to past the ramp. Drift the north side to outlet #3, move to the middle and to the south side at the path to rocking chair. Reason- more fish, less depth of water and more gravel. Drifted a tandom- egg and scud. I used #10 scuds in olive or gray. Egg- pink or orange. Just like in the video. We used a 3/8 oz bell to get down. Caught 2-4 rainbows on each drift. A young man here at the resort caught a 23 or 24 inch brown on a white jig today- I assume at the dam. I tried a white jig and caught a couple of one drift but the guys fishing with me didn't catch anything so we went to the drift rig. Then we fished the Branson side on the lake from Andy's down past the narrows (steps coming down the mud bank). Again it's the shallow side. Same rig except a subed out the egg for a red san juan. Caught more rainbows and just as nice, mainly on the san juan. The wind was tougher on this stretch though and it got colder late in the day. Blowing upstream. Our guest have had a hard time catching this week and understandably so. Lots of water and lots of current. HAVE TO GET THE BAIT ON THE BOTTOM AND KEEP IT THERE. If you can manage that you will catch fish. You can use a fly rod and fish 20 feet under a float but again... HAVE TO GET THE BAIT ON THE BOTTOM AND KEEP IT THERE. Figure it out and you'll do almost as well as using a spin rod. The only problem is controling the boat so that you stay far enough and close enough to your float long enough for the fly to get to the bottom for any amount of time. If that doesn't make sense... try it and you'll see. With the wind, current and turbulants, it's tough keeping your boat straight let alone moving the same speed as a float. I see Bret Rader guiding 3 fly fishers out of a boat and catching a few fish and think... what a guy! Lots more patience than I. You gotta REALLY want to fly fish to take that kind of abuse. I mean it's work- both the boat handler and the fisher. Try to do both and you'll end up throwing something in the lake- I promise. Saying all that- fly fishing isn't impossible but almost. I have seen a drift boat parked behind Lookout Island for long length of time and I heard they're catching some fish. I saw a guy parked behind the first island and he was catching some fish on I think a jig. Some guys staying at the resort are drifting down at the bridges with power eggs and doing well. We tried fishing the mouth of Short Creek yesterday and didn't do well BUT we saw trout midging like crazy up in the creek towards the bridge. That's a great possibility. Roark has a ton of fish in it again- trout. Jig and float using a pink jig will work. But they are alittle picky. We caught them good yesterday but reports today were not so good. There are some white bass running up by the resort in the early am and late pm- just studs so far. If you come in from the 65 bridge by foot and wade the very upper part I guarantee you you'll catch whites on fly rod in the late evening. Great water for fly fishing. And yes it's cleared up- no trash no mud, clear water. And I bet there's the same in some of the other creeks around. I heard Turkey Creek had a bunch of whites in it before the rains. No whites at the dam. They might not go there. In years past when they've gone up there it was later in the spring and the water coming over the dam was warmer. Water over is 50 and under is 42. May not be warm enough to draw them up. BUT I'm extremely surprised we haven't seen more shad either from over or thru the dam. It still may happen.

If anyone has any lead laying around they need to find a way to process it into weights and sell it... sell it for half what BP sells it for and make a good profit. Esp if there's a shortage of 8 oz lead. I assume it's used for snagging?

In today's paper: Table Rock will crest tonight to tomorrow at 929, highest level since 1985. Water released: 37,400 gps over the top and 112,000 gps second thru the turbines. Water will be released at least till 4/8 when the lake is expected to return to normal level of 920 ft. Carolyn Parker is quoted in saying, "It's making it tougher because the water is dirty. It's hard to see them." This must be an old quote because the water is very clear- it's just deep and fast. "The fish are really deep right now but in a couple of more days, it will be better."

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...ONTPAGECAROUSEL

Look at Bull Shoals go.... 681 and climbing. Table Rock isn't going to get to 930 which is a good thing. They're pushing alot of water thru here.

What are they running now at BSD?

Have friends in the Baldwin area. They've said it's been a bear up there this winter. I'd think by 4/5 Table Rock will have settled down a bit. At least you should be able to get a boat in by then. Fish should be settled into spring patterns.

8 4 lb line I can get an 1/8th down pretty well.

I saw the last 5 minutes of the Drake game- great game! What about that last second 3... man what a bomb.

I'd say that's just units, not flood gates. I don't think they can measure flood gates unless they estimate.

I have NC, ARK, OK, LOUI, S AL, TN, VIL, VAN, GONZ, GEO, MEM, MISS, MIAMI, TX, DRAKE, CONN today. Have NC, MEM, KS and Duke in final 4 with NC winning it. I'm pretty predictable.

Well I missed Kansas State's upset but that's all I missed yesterday.

Stole this from Fox News.

Really!! I'll have to head down there first of next week and try my main lake crappie and white bass spots.

Not much of a temp difference- over the top or thru the turbines.

Ras... I edited you post. Dam is a thing that hold water back. Damn is cuss word- I think. You should have dove in and got it for me... the walleye I mean.

I'm not sure about the crest at 931 now. It appears it's already crested at 928.something. Look at the chart. It was at 927.9 this morning and it's at 928.4 this evening. If they do release more water it will only help the level. Also- Curtis was at Lowes this am and talked to an Empire worker that said that the boards at Powersite were down. For those who don't know- there's a wall of boards/plywood the stretches across the top of the dam. The water usually goes over the boards. It's 4 feet high. One year in December when Table Rock was shooting up they shut the dam down, lowered the lake (taney) and cut the wood wall out so they could send more water thru Taney. Then they supposedly designed the wall to give way when alot of water flow over it... I guess it worked. There's also 2 sections of the spillway that gives way but it's only about 5% of the total length. So- they are able to release more water thru Taney on its way to Bull Shoals thanks to the boards being down at Powersite. That makes our water run faster!

We had them under our shirts... Babler wears his around his belly. Really- I need to invest in the inflatable ones... the way I move around in a boat a jacket would put me in the water faster than not wearing one... if that makes any sense.

Check out oa.com and click the video button. We're going to try to put up better quality video in the future- I just wanted to get this up while it's fresh with the flood gates.

Thanks

Friends traveling from OK on 44 last night said that the message boards were saying to expect 44 to be closed at mile marker 142 and to expect 1-3 hour delays. 142 is this side of Rolla?

Table Rock's gates are not wide open. If they were I'd be under 70 feet of water according to the Corp. Our water level has stabilized... Bill said they have 5 gates open at Table Rock right now.

Jenny at the station asked me to post this a week ago... just found it. Hope she start reporting again soon.... Yes, it is that time of year again. Fishing fever is high and Tylenol ain't helping. To answer the question on many folks mind, Yes, it is worth getting out there already. Is it outstanding? No, not yet but definitely fair to good most days. And at this point in the season it is well worth coming out of hibernation to breath some fresh air and take your chances on some good fishing. Walleye are coming in occasionally, some reported of size, 9-10lb. range. Crappie are biting but very light so those equipped to handle the light bite are catching some nice sized fish. The whites are also starting to hit. A few rumors of big cats here and there at night, but I'm not so convinced those aren't just rumors. But then again, what is fishing without a tall tale here and there? Don't forget to stop in and get your 2008 fishing License. We're pretty sure the game warden will not forget your old one has expired.

http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...6&Itemid=91 It appears Beaver's level is over flood pool. That means, I think, that water is flowing over the flood gates. I know they have them open 3.5 feet.

These pics are from DOLOOKIT, Jim Hagan. This is the fishing pier located by the power plant at Lake Springfield (under water) This is looking downstream from the dam at Lake Springfield (James River) This is the bridge on the Finley that CNN and stations from St.Louis were televising from. Located by the park in Ozark. This is the crossing that goes across the James at Rivercut Golf Course, which was totally flooded. Also this is the crossing where a car was swept off. This is on 160 just before you cross the James going to Nixa. That is what is left of Carson's Nursery on the right. This is looking down 65 toward the Finley bridge. All the fields on both sides were covered. This was the car that was swept of the low-water crossing. The man died of a heart attack and the woman was able to get on top of the car and was rescued.