Phil Lilley

Email from Matt - Terminology Tip: Fisheries biologists use a parameter called proportional stock density (PSD) to describe the percent of fish collected during a population sample that are over a fixed minimum "stock" size and also greater than or equal to any particular size of interest (relative stock density – RSD). In general, fish smaller than the stock size are hard to collect and including them in percentage calculations could add a lot of unpredictable variability on the percentages. Example: For largemouth bass populations, the fixed stock size is 8-inches. At Table Rock Lake, a common size of interest is the minimum length limit of 15-inches. The abbreviation RSD(15) refers to the percent of the largemouth bass collected which are at least 8-inches long that are also greater than or equal to 15-inches. The term "stock" doesn't imply any type of hatchery stocking program or the size of hatchery stocked fish. This holds true for bass, crappie, trout, etc.

Cold front equals alittle wind and 65 degrees. Not good for fishing but cold?!?! Cold is what the local think. Crazy people! What a trip. Four days on a nice houseboat and taking the flats boat out for fishing everyday. Lots of sunshine and beautiful water. And not too crowded. Locals said we were between seasons- holiday and snowbirds. We polled lots of grass flats of 12 to 18 inches of water for bone fish and saw 14 one morning. I casted for 2 with no hookups but I can say I casted for one! Baracudas kept cutting our lines but did manage to land a few. Saw a ton of sharks- bonnet head, hammer head and lemon. In deeper water we saw black tips and others I couldn't identify. Lots of rays and sea turtles. Got some good pics. We tried the reefs but was slow- locals said reef fishing had been slow because of cold fronts. Caught alot of mangrove snapper for dinner fare each day. Found an old boat wreck in Long Key Bight where we did the best. Staying in the channel and following charts was a challenge. Motoring accross a flat and leaving a path will cost you $100 per foot fine which really puts the fear in a "tourist". 2 more days of pay and back to the real world on Monday late. Hopefully we'll pull alittle of this beautiful weather home with us. Sounds like we need it.

This is the first topic I've read in a week, first thanks to Dano sending me an emailing warning me about the meltdown. But I had to chuckle... First good ol' Leonard hit and run. I know sometimes fingers get itchy and you want to get someone but please... stick around for the rebuttal! And Trav... I too knew it was a matter of time when there was going to be a dog pile. And now that it's out of most of your system, will it lay? Until next time. I was glad to see someone like Trav come along. When a person joins in and share reports and techniques to any lake or river on a forum, it's a good thing- unless it's all a crock which I don't believe this is. I've always know the lower lake was an undiscovered gem of a fishery- undiscovered by most anglers that is. And I believe the brown trout info... may be it's alittle hard for us who only catch a few nice browns every spawn season to swallow that the rest of the year they are ripe for the picking someplace else. As for the bragging... I read it and go on. I take no offense to it or am I intimidated by it. Whether it's 100% accurate- don't know and don't care really- for purposes for this forum, all reports are subject to judgement. Hey Trav... you already used the list once before. Use it again and we may think you are losing it a bit.

I bet it was Bass Pro's new pontoon made just for planting trees so I also bet it's pretty big- and new. So I'm sure there wasn't any funny business (although I know you guys are just kidding). Pontoons are just like any other boat. They tip pretty easy really. Several summers ago, we were out on a small 20 footer we used to have. Had a couple of big people in the front heading upstream when I stopped the engine (hit the brakes). The bow buried itself sending the stern way up in the air. Pretty scary... and funny after it was all over. I hope their pontoon was salvageable. This is the time of year they put in alot of trees.

Matt is MDC fisheries biologist for Table Rock and Taneycomo...

It is cold here today.... 55. Headed to Islamada tomorrow and even warmer temps... and lots more fishing!\ Football now!!

The gentlemen's body was just found. It sounds like there was ice on the ramp and the van, trailer and boat went in the water. Either the man who drown was in the van when it went in or they both went in to try to save the rig... not sure. The man who drown was 80 years old. Boat ramp is still closed.

Sorry- we have one left. We sold the one that works. Have a G-3 about 17 foot, trolling motor, live well. It's about a '95 I believe. Trailer. 40 hp yamaha that has a very bad knock so it's not figured in the price either way. Boat does have a leak, just recently. Not a bad one- we haven't checked to see what the leak is from. Could be something simple. Sorry I don't have details at this time. Call Curtis is you have any other questions. 417-335-0301 cell $600

Had to post a couple of pics. Marsha was in charge of the camera today.

Just talked to Megan. She said there was a couple of guys taking a boat out at Cooper Public Access this evening and both ended up in the water. One didn't get out. Was an elderly man, long time guest from Lazy Valley. LV had it's annual fishing tournament today. They may have been in the contest too. No other details.

Marsha's sister and brother in law, Shala and Barry, live here in Venice, both teach and both are bird watchers. Barry is very involved in the local and regional Audubon’s Society. They took us to one of their favorite kayak tours south of here and I of course had to take my spin rod. Sun came out just as we arrived around 1 pm so I knew it would put the snook and redfish down but the wind was blowing pretty good so I had high hopes. Threw a couple of things... a lead head with a gulp shrimp, a white solid tail, kinda of a slider soft bait and a white curly tail. Caught one snook on a flat using the slider. Don't really like fishing out of a kayak- too low to the water. But it was fun. Getting a storm right now. Cooler tomorrow- only 65 degrees. We'll manage somehow... Sorry about that!

Maybe it's something from the attempted blog update. I'm way behind on my forum update but I'm alittle hesitant about updating it since the blog update didn't go well.... so far. I'll contact invision about the update and talk to Jim. I bet the update will fix all our problems

I've noticed it takes longer to post some topics or replies and send pm's but I have exited out before it finishes and it posts anyhow. I'll ask Jim about the speed of the server and see if there is an issue.

What a pain... I only looked at a couple of blogs they came up fine. I tried a new entry and got an error. Looks like the data base has been corrupted. But I sent another trouble ticket into invision. It may take a day or two. Apologies.

20 cfs is no generation or power pool. 1300-1500 is ok- can wade alot of the water down from #3 outlet. Anything more is getting alittle high to take chances.

There was a guy from town fishing off the dock yesterday am and doing extremely well using yellow power bait. Nothing big though- they must have just stocked some small rainbows. If you run into him, he think he's one of Johnny Cash's kids JC didn't know about. Sings in town and has a CD- gave us a signed copy. Nice guy and we hope him well. At least he's not another Elvis impersonator... we've topped our quota on those in Branson.

Blogs are back up, thanks to my nerd buddy Jim Turner. Thanks Jim!!

I've been doing that tolk for may be 10 years now. The first time I was nervious as the dicken's, wrote up a monolog of sorts and even started to read the thing ... I'm NOT a good reader. I quickly gathered myself and winged it. Been wingin' it ever since. Tuesday I started to write an outline- that quickly ceased cause it didn't make any sense. I chance way too many rabbits to stay to an outline. I really don't have a clue what I'm going to say until I'm standing there in front of everyone. But it works I guess. I did feel like I left out alot but I talked the whole 2 hours so I must have covered alot. Questions are aways good. I can answer them with alittle more details. Steff said we had a few over 100. Most in the room raised their hands when asked if they had NEVER fished Taneycomo. That's cool. We'll have some new comers try us here in the next few months hopefully. Had a bunch of guys from Ozark FFF there. I was honored. Nice to see Mike and Dennis.... and many other friends.

Brian- email me the spreadsheet and I'll see what I can do with it. Not sure what though- I'm on the way to Florida and may not have the programs on my lap top to do the job. lilley at lilleyslanding.com

http://ozarkanglers.com/taneycomo/taney_2007.php

Brian- this is all they sent me but if there's more it'd be on the MDC site. Copy and paste anything you want to or post a link... This is great news for the NFWR!!

I emailed Matt for an explanation. I've been told what it is but I can't remember it well enough to be clear.

Dave Mayers Camping, trout fishing, canoeing, the 19 miles of river from Montauk State Park to Akers Ferry has it all. Visitors have the choice of three areas to visit. Montauk State Park Rainbow trout are stocked daily in the 2.3 miles of water within Montauk State Park. If you don't mind the company of other anglers, this is the place to catch trout. The state park here also offers lodging, and restaurant facilities. See the Trout Fishing section of this publication for more information. Blue Ribbon Trout Area The 9.0 miles from the state park downstream to the Cedargrove bridge is managed for large size brown trout on a put-grow-and-take basis. Trout must be at least 18" to keep and the daily limit is one. See Trout Fishing Section for more information. Brown trout, 8-10", are stocked each spring but do not reach legal size until at least two or three years later. Anglers in 2008 can expect to find more brown trout over 18 inches but fewer in the11 to 15 inch size range. Density of 18 inch and larger brown trout in fall of 2007 averaged 47 per mile and is up 42% from 2006. Warm summer temperatures in 2007 were probably responsible for low survival of fish stocked in late spring. Anglers wanting to catch rainbow trout should concentrate in the upper two miles of the Blue Ribbon Area from Montauk Trout Park boundary downstream to Baptist Access. Rainbow trout here make up about 25% of the trout population with the vast majority of them 11 - 15” long. These fish are the result of stocked trout moving out of the Trout Park. Downstream of Baptist Access the rainbows make up less than 10% of the trout population. White Ribbon Trout Area The 9.0 miles from the Cedargrove bridge to Akers Ferry are managed with rainbow trout on a put-and-take basis. This section has no minimum length limit and four fish per day limit. See Trout Fishing Section for more information. Rainbows, 10-12" are stocked once a month and twice a month from March through June. During the months of July and August, and when river levels are low, trout stocking is limited to the cooler section from Welch Spring downstream to Akers Ferry. Fishing in the White Ribbon Area is less crowded than in the trout park and the stream can be easily waded or floated in a canoe.

John Ackerson The Eleven Point River is one of the most scenic and diverse fishing streams in the state. Special regulations on shadow bass (goggle-eye) (8 inch minimum length limit) and smallmouth bass (15 inch minimum length limit) has protected important sizes of these fish. These regulations are for the 50 miles of river from the Thomasville Access to the Arkansas state line. Daily limits are 1 for smallmouth bass (6 total for black basses combined) and 15 for shadow bass. Gigging (Sept. 15th through Jan. 31st) of suckers is a favorite tradition but is prohibited in the 5.5 mile section of the Blue Ribbon Trout Area. The 17 miles from Thomasville to Greer Spring offer excellent fishing for warm-water species. Smallmouth bass, largemouth bass and shadow bass are the most sought after species in this section. As part of the U.S. Forest Service's Scenic River program, access to this area is limited to Thomasville, Cane Bluff, and Greer so plan on bringing a canoe to help get to the better fishing spots. According to the 2007 surveys, approximately 28% of shadow bass and 6% of smallmouth bass are legal sized. Float early spring when water levels are higher, or plan on dragging over shoals in summer months. On days when bass are not biting, a good population of longear sunfish will shorten the time between bites. Greer Spring instantly transforms the river into a coldwater fishery, and the next 5.5 miles downstream to Turner Mill Accesses is home to some large rainbow trout. This area is designated as a Blue Ribbon Trout Area. Special regulations include an 18 inch minimum length limit, one fish per day, no gigging, and flies and artificial lures only. Synthetic eggs and soft plastic lures are specifically prohibited. In 2007, we stocked this area with 5,500 rainbow trout in July and numbers were still high in our September sample (1,100/mile). This estimate is not as comparable to last year (120/mile) due to the new stocking season but still a promising direction for this fishery. This is another great section for catching smallmouth bass (9% legal sized) and shadow bass, make sure to use the approved artificial baits. Public access is limited to Highway 19 crossing at Greer and U.S. Forest Service gravel roads to Turner Mill North and Turner Mill South. If launching a boat, don’t use the Turner Mill South Access due to excessive gravel deposits. The next 14 miles from the Turner Mill accesses downstream to Highway 160 at Riverton is managed as a put-and-take rainbow trout fishery (White Ribbon Trout Area). From March to December, 16,000 10-12 inch rainbow trout were stocked. Statewide regulations of four fish per day and no size limit apply. Access is provided at Turner Mill North, Turner Mill South, Whitten and Highway 160. The 13.5 miles from Highway 160 downstream to the Arkansas state line offer great fishing for smallmouth bass and shadow bass. Smallmouth bass population density in 2007 was about 300 fish/mile with 7% of these being legal sized (15 inches or greater). Numbers of larger smallmouth is on the rise as we continue to see the effect of the smallmouth bass regulation. Smallmouth numbers will vary throughout the river. Look for smallmouth in cover provided by rocks, bluffs, or rootwads with plenty of water current. Shadow bass density in 2007 increased to 680 fish/mile with approximately 21% being legal sized (8 inches or greater). Shadow bass can be found in rootwads and submerged vegetation in the tail end of riffles where the current begins to slow or pools with adequate water flow. Chain pickerel are becoming popular on this section of river. Best fishing is in the spring in backwaters and around structure before the aquatic vegetation becomes too thick. On slow fishing days try live bait or spinnerbaits to enjoy a fierce fight from a hungry pickerel. A few walleye can be found in the deepest pools. The minimum length for walleye and sauger is 18 inches and the daily limit is 4 fish. Over four hundred walleye have been tagged with angler reward tags since 2004. Sending a tag back to the address on the tag will yield a $10, $50 or $100 reward for aiding us with valuable catch information. Wade fishing on the Eleven Point is possible; however, the deep pools can make it difficult getting from shoal to shoal. A leisurely float in a canoe or jon boat will help make fishing on this scenic river more enjoyable. The Eleven Point River is always floatable downstream from Greer Spring but expect some dragging if floating downstream of Thomasville Access in the late summer months. Best bet in 2007: Rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, shadow bass (goggle-eye), and chain pickerel.

Blue Ribbon Trout Area: Rainbow trout have not been stocked into the North Fork since 1965 and since then the population is sustained by natural reproduction. With a good year class in 2006/2007, the rainbow trout population has maintained itself at a respectable 360 fish/mile. This is the fourth consecutive year that the population has remained over 320 fish/mile. Also, the number of fish longer than 15” and 18” is nearly double the values estimated in 2006. These values are the highest since 2003. Therefore, anglers have the potential for catching good numbers and quality-sized rainbows. Red Ribbon Trout Area: Brown trout are annually stocked in the lower portion of the river’s trout water. Their numbers continue to increase and are at their highest level (543 fish/mile) since 1998. Also, the number of fish greater than 18” continues to increase and has reached its highest level since 1998.