Phil Lilley

Rabbi- thanks for sharing! What waters do you frequent? Is the weather in NY as warm as it is here in Missouri? We've been having incredible spring weather the last few weeks. In my "old age", my measuring stick has migrated a bit to the side of not the length of number of the fish brought to hand but to the cast placement and hookup of a fish whom I was 'shooting' for. That and just the overall experience of being on the water in God's creation. Thanks again!

Catch and release only??? Never heard of such a thing in MO. Where is it?

Sorry- didn't see your post. I have not talked to AJ or any of the crew. Not sure how much they'll share with me but I'll try to give him a call tomorrow and see what they say about the walleye population.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?07054080

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?07054080 River says it's 12 inches high at Bradleyville so it might not be good tonight. I've heard of some whites and walleye at night at the Maiden Hole. Anyone fishing? I bet it's getting crowded about now. Anybody?

Not the exact spot... but what part of the lake were you on?

Wind wasn't bad till about 11 am.

Mr Babler had a trip this am with Mr Steiner and I tagged along. We put in at Yocum bridge up in Long Creek and fished the east bank across the mouth of Yocum, the north bank of the mouth, out north or downstream in Long toward the dock we fished the left or west bank where the house burned a few years ago and then back to the first bank. Water was 57-59 degrees. We found crappie scattered mostly in 6-10 feet of water and well off the bank, all but one which was right on the bank. One male white bass mixed in and several k's and l's and one mean mouth. Fished with smoke, motor oil and chartreuse swimming minnows on an 1/8th oz head. Started at 8:30 and quit at 11:30 am. Fish have already been aten.

SF- you're right on the camera. Hard to make the fish set still for a pic. Si- I have no idea what you're talking about. Did get to meet FlyTrap from OAF yesterday.

Soft hackles if it's breezy- working excellent. Black #18 are perfect but try others just for the fun of it. They hit hard and you miss a bunch and even pop some off. Also have a variety of scuds on hand. They are liking the bigger ones it seems- #16's and even a #14. And of course have some zebra midges too. Lots of rainbows below the dam... and all over really. Hope you can drop by the shop. Phil

Oppp... it's way too early in the am for me... I totally didn't see the labs at the end.

Have a great day today- and thanks for reporting back on your success. We're fishing this am with Babler someplace for crappie... may be Long Creek.

Patricks... if I didn't know better, this sounds like a spam email, but there's no links!! Maybe you just dreamed this.

One more guide trip... took Mr. Steiner to the dam for some good old wading. Started above outlet #2 about 8:30 am, throwing a #20 black soft hackle at 'em and they took it pretty well. Good current and some fish rising. Lots of people still fishing outlet #2 just like in the fall... what's up with that??? Oh well, plenty of fishing and fishing opportunities for everyone. We worked down to rebar and switched to a double rig- black #20 zebra and a #18 brown scud for Darrell at the top of the shoot and he hooked rainbows on every cast for 30 minutes. They'd only hit the zebra. I stood above him and had a red zebra over a #14 grey thin-skin scud and I caught rainbows on every cast for 30 minutes but only on the scud. Funny. Flipped a switch and they quit. Walked down to the bottom of the narrows and tied on another soft hackle and finally started hooking fish again. Went to lunch little after noon- good morning. After lunch, we started at Rocking Chair, wading from the north side... and we didn't move much till 5 pm. Water was up over a foot over normal and not much current. There was an intermittent breeze- upstream and then down- and the trout bit when it riffled the surface. Darrell fished exclusively with a #20 black zebra (silver head, silver rib) under an indicator 6 inches and I switched around with alot of different bugs including a couple of experimentation soft hackles and zebras which did fair. We did well. All day, lots of rainbows, no browns and nothing over 14 inches. All were colorful and healthy though. Pics... First is the fish ladder they're working on (I guess) running up from outlet #3. It's going to be a REAL long ladder to go all the way to the building. Hope it works. Others are from me playing with my underwater camera... again. Couple of new avatars- I uploaded them to the avatar directory.

I forgot... Took this pic of Tony Weldele guiding this am... 3 boys, a mom and grandpa. Who said guiding was work!!

Sure sorry to learn of your friend... losing a dog is tough. They make great friends... good listeners and they never disagree with you. Hope you find another soon.

Fished with long time friend Darrell Steiner today. We started at the ramp near Riverpointe above Short Creek where Bill Babler said there's tons of rainbows... there is!! They would swarm a jig, fighting over each offering. Got bored and headed up to the trophy area. We caught quite a few on micro jigs under a float 5 feet- olive with an orange head. Nothing big at all but fun. Quit for lunch. Headed down to the Landing and around... caught trout down there too. Went up in Roark- lots and lots of rainbows. They loved a 1/100th oz white jig under a float. Took this pic of Tony Weldele guiding this am... 3 boys, a mom and grandpa. Who said guiding was work!! The old pirate ship- the Sammy Lane- getting gutted today by a backhoe. I happened to be there to record another Branson icon destroyed.

Nice avatar! Thanks for hanging in there! Phil

Just saw for myself what Bill was talking about at Riverpoint... schools of rainbows all over the place and swarming a zrbra on every cast. Crazy. We fished there for 30 minutes and got tired of catching fish this way- felt like the hatchery. Headed up to the trophy area and caught rainbows on a olive micro under a float 4 feet but they weren't any bigger than the rainbows at Short Creek... and they bit just as fast. Going back out this afternoon downstream to catch some of the larger rainbows.

I'll be exploring some spots in the coming days... it seems they are most everywhere where's the brush from Branson down. I'm going to check some small creeks and cuts and see.

My gut feeling, not base on anything scientific, is that the lake has aged to the point they will never be at the levels they were in the 60's and 70's. Increased minimum flow would help a bunch though.

As I was fishing yesterday in the Rocking Chair area, I couldn't help but noticing the condition of the moss on the bottom of the lake. Last time I was up there, in December, the moss was dead-looking, a mucky brown tone. This time it was green with more definition. Here's a pic I took (playing with my underwater camera again). Notice the green bottom in the background. I've talked about how running water, or generation, is good for this lake. This shows it.

Bill just came in for linch between trips. He told me there a ton of rainbows in the Short Creek area that just showed up. They did real well there this am and he's going back there this afternoon. He thought they'd stocked off the River Point Estates ramp yesterday by the looks of the number of trout.

Jeff Cross caught this beatiful brown off our dock early this morning. He was using power bait, 6 lb line and a small treble hook. 24.75 inches with a 16.5 inch girth. No weight was taken but guessed it to be about 8.5 pounds.

Take 'em trout fishing. It's easy for kids and there's usually alot of action. Kinda read up on Taneycomo here on OA and ask questions. Watch the reports. Don't know what you're accustomed to in NE but I'd say we're a good 2-3 week ahead of you right now... but it's early yet. You'll enjoy the great blue gill fishing on the Rock this summer.