Phil Lilley

Met Jeremy Rasnick and his dad at the ramp at 7:15 this am at Cricket Creek Marina. Headed to the big point just down from the mouth of Yocum Creek and fished 20 feet of water. Nothing. Headed to the left bank up in Yocum where I caught a slab crappie on a white jig. About 8 feet of water. Then we left and headed up in Cricket where Jeremy caught a crappie on the right bank about a 1/2 mile from the mouth of Long on the right bank/flat in 10 feet of water. Then his dad caught one more crappie in about the same water about 200 yards towards Long, same bank. So spotty report. Water stained and 48-50 degrees.

http://templeforkflyrods.com/index.html Here's their site.

I think they sometime simply get too close to the 'drain' and get sucked in.

Dave- the images are too big to load on the forum. Email them to me and I'll fix it. phil at lilleyslanding.com

Thanks so much Fox... I took the liberty and added your offering to the article posted on the White River forum and gave you credit and a link to your website. One question- out of your collection of fly patterns, do you any favorites for this application?

No need for a complex... One fatality on the lake was cause by a man, wife and a daughter drifting in the Short Creek area, dragging 2 anchors off the side on the boat to "slow them down". they'd done this for a full week- were at the end of their vacation- and the anchor caught. The boat was under in less than 5 seconds. The wife and daughter were pulled out but the man didn't make it. I talked to his wife a week later- she had come back to see that the boat was taken care of. She said no one had told them all week what they were doing was wrong or dangerous. Their boat- an 18 ft Lund-type v-bottom... high sides and all. So don't take offense to either what I say or Bill. We're a little touchy about the subject... cause it's important.

Thread fin shad kills and their impact on tailwater fisheries No one knows when it will happen -- the telltale conditions are sometimes sketchy -- but when it happens, it’s the best time to be fishing below dams that are affected. To what phenomenon am I referring? Shad kills occur in reservoirs such as Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals, Norfork, Greer’s Ferry, and even Grand, Truman and Lake of the Ozarks. Thread fin shad are specifically named Dorosoma Petenense. The Dorosoma is Greek for "lance body,” referring to the lance-like shape of young shad. The word petenense refers to Lake Peten in the Yucatan, the species type locality. Threadfin shad are usually easily distinguished from gizzard shad by the way the upper jaw does not project beyond the lower jaw. The anal fin usually has 20-25 rays, as opposed to 29-35 rays found in gizzard shad. The upper surface is silver-blue and grades to nearly white on the sides and belly. All fins have a yellow tint except the dorsal. In this species, unlike gizzard shad, the chin and floor of the mouth are speckled with black pigment. Adults are considerably smaller than gizzard shad adults, rarely exceeding six inches in length. It seems two things need to happen for shad to wash into our tailwaters -- cold temperatures and the shad “getting too close to the fire.” Thread fin shad die naturally in the winter if water temperatures drop below the mid-40s. If temps drop into the upper 30s, more shad die making it more likely shad will appear. The “fire” I allude to is the pipe that leads to the turbines and the tailwater below. Dams in the Ozarks’ region all vary in height and penstock location. Table Rock Dam’s penstocks are at 130 feet deep, so shad have to be near that level to be sucked through When shad enter that tailwater, they are either dead or dying. Many are chewed up, but some are still kicking, fluttering around like sick minnows. Either way they are easy pickings for trout and other fish to devour. Shad will come in waves, or they will trickle through the dam a few at a time. Once the eaters get wind of the run and start targeting shad, they gorge themselves, extending their bellies as far as possible… and then some more. It’s a great sight for anglers who like seeing fat fish and the prospect of even bigger fish in the future. Shad runs get our trout well-needed growth boosts. The trick is fishing at the right time, as in most fishing situations, but it’s not necessarily dependant on the time of day or weather patterns. The perfect time is NOT during a heavy flow of shad because your lure gets lost in the sea of white, and it’s NOT after a heavy flow because the fish are FULL. Since there’s really no way to predict these conditions, the best solution is just to GO fishing. Helpful hint: If you find yourself in one of those situations, use something other than a white jig or crank bait; try another color and size like a dark-colored jig or a San Juan Worm. You might have better luck with something like that. When spin fishing from a boat, of course, a white jig is one of the best baits during a shad run. Size depends on how much water is running. I like to “drift” a jig close to the bottom during a run, hovering it in the water column like a drifting, stunned or dead shad. If a lot of water is running, a ¼ oz or 1/8-ounce jig will work. If a minimal amount of water is flowing, use something smaller like 3/32 or 1/16-ounce. I throw to the side, not upstream or downstream, and let the jig fall, giving it slack, until I feel it’s at the right depth. Keeping the rod tip high, I will slightly lift the rod tip even higher, reeling a bit to “keep track” of the jig’s location. Sometimes in a tailwater, water is flowing in turbulent patterns, moving up and down in the column that will take the jig in a direction that leaves you hanging. You can’t feel the bite unless you have a direct line from rod tip to the lure. Lifting the rod every five to eight seconds keeps you in control of the jig instead of the current leading it. Jigs can be dressed up with flash-a-bou and tinsel to give them that translucent look of a shad. Combining marabou colors such as gray/white or white with a slither of black will trigger a bite when plain white will not. Spoons and crank baits will work during shad runs, too, but I have not had real good luck with them. One technique used on the White River is to slow the boat down with a trolling motor, throw a KastMaster or Crocodile white spoon out the back of the boat at a 45-degree angle and let the spoon swing slowly behind the boat, keeping if off the bottom as it swings. A floating rapala can be drifted using a simple drift rig. The bait shouldn’t get hung up, but just make sure it’s a floating bait. Many fly fishermen don’t like the idea of fishing out of a boat. They’re in love with their waders and like their feet to be planted on solid ground – at least mushy mud, sand or gravel, anyway. But I love fishing out of a boat, especially if it enhances the chance of catching more fish. Believe me, during a shad run, you want to be in a boat. What you use and how you use it varies with water conditions, just as when spin fishing. The harder the water is running, the more difficult to it is to present a fly or jig effectively. That’s simply because of the turbulants, not the depth or speed of the water. One of the best ways is to use a jig and float. Throwing this rig isn’t fun, though. The float must be big enough to float a 1/32 or 1/16-ounce jig, depending on generation. The jig needs to be down and stay down. If your jig is wandering around beneath your float and a fish picks it up, the strike may go unnoticed because the float won’t do anything. Vary the depth and see where the trout want the jig, deep or shallow. If they’re taking shad off the surface, then set the jig shallow. Using a sinking line will work, but you have to pay attention to current and turbulants. You’ll have to continually strip the line to keep track of the fly, not fast but slow. I like to slow the boat down and fish out the back of the boat. That permits me keep better control of my drift. I can control the fly’s depth and will be able to feel a strike better. With this technique it’s best to use shad patterns such as white woolly buggers, bunny shad, clousers, white zonkers or even jigs. How far down you fish from the dam makes a difference at times. Finding that “happy medium” is where fish haven’t seen the gobs and gobs of shad recently. On the White River, that may be 10 miles downstream. On Taneycomo it could be a mile or two. The White River definitely sees more shad, maybe because their dam isn’t as high as Table Rock’s… not sure. Norfork’s is even lower and, thus, has more shad runs. I’ve experienced fishing these shad runs below Bull Shoals and Norfork. They can be pretty spectacular! The bottom line is that you have to get out and fish these shad kill events -- and you have to at least try to fish them from a boat. If you don’t, you’re missing something pretty special! Taneycomo Note: I’ve been asked how far down lake the shad can drift. I’ve seen them as far downstream as Rockaway Beach. How much shad can come through at one time? I’ve seen millions at a time. One winter the shad were coming through so thick that they were washing up in eddies along the banks. I remember when the water dropped, the shoreline looked like it had snowed in some areas below the dam where there were so many piles of shad on the bank, in trees and on rocks. As far as timing, I have seen shad as early as mid-December and as late a mid-June. The June event was a freak occurrence I believe. Most of the time the runs end in April. White River Note by John Wilson: From what I can tell shad kills occur under conditions that will bring shad close to the intakes or hold them in a section of water that allows them to be pulled through the dams. There are two major seasons when shad will come through the dam at Bull Shoals and Norfork Dam. The lesser known one is during the summer time. These occasions are often referred to as a shad kill. However it is more likely the extreme decompression of going from 300 feet deep to 0 feet within a matter of seconds that does the job. People also often assume that the shad are chopped up by the turbines. Actually the shad come through the generators whole and intact. If it were not for an extreme case of the bends you could not tell that anything was wrong with them. During the summer the upper levels of the lake stratify. The first 50 feet or so of the lake will warm and the current flows across the upper sections of the lake. A thermocline forms and the shad will travel along the bottom of the thermocline where the water is cooler. Summer means we have high electrical demand thus more generation. The extra generation will actually create a current in the lower sections of the lake. Shad which have searched out the cooler waters of the depths of the lake will be pulled through the intakes. I generally see summer shad kills in August and September when generation is high and the weather is hot. The most famous shad event happens during January through March. As we have cooler temperatures the surface of the lake begins to cool. Water actually reaches it's highest density at about 40 degrees. Cooler than that and it starts to expand again. This cooler water sinks to the bottom of the lake and brings up the low oxygen water off the bottom. There will be mixing currents of cool descending water and low oxygen water forming pockets within the lake. Shad will attempt to stay in the pockets of good water and these will vary in depth and size depending on weather and conditions. Often you will see striper fishermen on the lake finding these pockets on their depth finders. They paint those pockets of shad and stripers in the lake with electronics. If there is a fair amount of generation it is a matter of time before those shad find their way through the generators. It is impossible to predict how much shad will come through the dam at any one time. Usually if you have extreme temperatures either hot or cold combined with a large demand for generation it is a good bet that shad aren't far behind. If you are on the river some of the clues to look for are gulls diving at the dam, fish hitting your white indicator, and of course shad lining the banks or floating in eddies. The shad kills can be exciting fishing. I've seen 30 inch browns taking shad off the surface like sipping a #22 dry fly. When they get turned on to shad they often throw caution to the wind. Normally selective fish will begin striking everything from white indicators to simple white flies. The guides here on the White River have gotten really plugged in to the shad kills over the last decade. it can often be the best opportunity of landing the fish of a lifetime. John Wilson is a guide on the White and Norfork Tailwaters. http://www.flyfishingarkansas.com/

OK... I was running when I posted cause Bill was hungry and crying... so I just posted the pics and left. Bill had a friend of his from Camdenton here for the day- Mark- and I hopped in and went along. Yes white jigs- 1/8th oz. They were building the generation most of the time we were out there- 9 am till noon. We caught alot of trout... about 1 brown for every 3 rainbows. Bill biggest brown was pushing 19 inches. I tried to take pics of all the "nice" trout but finally gave up- way too many. Bill wouldn't pose for any after a while- we lost several at the boat- it wasn't gang busters by any means- averaged 10 on every drift from the cable to KOA. The wind was tough- blowing upstream but that's the best direction it can blow if it's going to- keep the rod tips low to the water and crank slowly. Didn't lose too many jigs either- lucky.

Any size? I assume they had fat bellies?

Didn't get out today. Got back from Lawrence about 1 pm and had to catch up with things here. Our dock hand is still on vacation so dad and I have had to work the dock. Hope to get out tomorrow early for a few drifts. MyDucky dropped by this afternoon. He said he saw people catching trout at the dam- those in boats at least. One big brown landed and put on a stringer by someone in a boat he said. Tony Wedele, one of our guides, had a good afternoon. They did well at the dam on white jigs, nothing huge but most good fish. He did best drifting from Lookout down to Fall Creek using a white flat fish rigged carolina-style, drifting on the channel side of the lake. He said they were really "whacking" it. Power Bait fishing and drifting minnows from Fall Creek down was good today. No wind and almost 70 is a good day even if the fish don't bite!

Anchoring takes thought. First, if anchoring will help you catch fish? Most of the time it won't. Better to drift. There are places along the bank- eddies and cuts- where fish will hold and wait for food to drift by. Those places are good but again, you have to look and plan your attack. Be ready to cut the line if you get in trouble. Don't anchor off the sides or back of a boat- only off the front and only if the front of the boat is high- not close to the water. You don't want the boat to get sucked under the water.

Are you coming back for the tournament?

Quickly- leaving for Lawrence in minutes. Bill called me at 10:15 and said they were tearing up the trout below the dam. I was going up to pick up his camera, rob some pics for my presentation, but I had to fish too! I caught a dz trout, most 15 inches and up on white 1/8th oz jig. He can tell you more about the morning later when he gets in... and more pics cause I didn't have a cord for his camera. Here are my pics- I could have taken a bunch more but I didn't want to stop fishing (catching).

Spring River is running muddy... but there's whites in Sycamore Creek... got it on a good report. Friend of mine caught dozens on Sunday evening.

I don't remember catching them in BS- now TR I have. Will have to target them if I get to go... they are great eating.

I think it was down below Rockaway Beach on the opposite side. You got to it off E 76.

I've seen people leave the dock, not knowing how to steer or accelerate and get them backwards while leaving the stall. I thank the Lord when they return safely. Jon boats with small motors are pretty fool proof; bass boats are another thing. Pontoons, well they are big and clumsy and get beat around but seldom does anyone get hurt on them. There have been several fatalities on Table Rock, one that I can remember recently, involving a guide and the USCG cracked down on guides, even though the guide was certified (Bill, correct me if I'm wrong). In Missouri they have a boat lisc now if you're of a certain age which is a good thing but that doesn't give people experience. Heck, if you buy a boat, there's no class how to use it or operate it. You can pull off the trailer and immediately send the boat down the river at 70 mph! Bottom line, people have to die before anything is done. What is done is sometimes justified, most of the time overkill- knee jerk reaction. As for Arkansas, they'll do something one of these days to tighten up guide licensing. Might as well go ahead and get your 6-pack... then we can call you Captain Davy!

Do I carry circle hooks? That sounds bad... I know I ordered some to check out... must have made it to the shop and on a shelf. What am I chargin' for them? I got them from Hagens. I'm looking at the catalog now. They have Eagle Claw 15/0... is that big enough for ya!? Vanadium makes a #6, sport and sure set That's the smallest in Hagens.

Boated to the dam 10 am this morning - trying to get some pics for a presentation I have in Lawrence, KS tomorrow. Water running fairly hard and LOTS of shad flowing... not good for catching. I was able to pick up 10 rainbows, the largest coming at the last at KOA on a 1/8th oz white jig. I drifted using my fly rod, float and 1/16th oz white jig 5-9 feet deep and caught the most fish- best against the south bank between the cable and the first island. They didn't like my red/white jig, only white. I missed several fish too... so fishing wasn't all that bad.

I have a forum for fishing organizations now under fly fishing. That's enough for now.

John, we're putting this request on our church prayer chain. If there's anything we can do, please let us know. I attend Covenant Life Church in Branson. We are a Body that is dedicated to helping people who need it. Father, please let Your presence be felt by those seeking Your love, help and guidance in John's family. You are faithful; You want the best for us. It's tough times that make us strong so we draw on Your strength. In Jesus' Name, Amen

Wish they more pictures.

One of the most popular, if not the most popular, relaxing ways to fish is drift fishing. Just set the boat mid-stream, shut the motor off and relish only the sounds of the birds, the wind and the splash of jumping fish -- and yes, the occasional neighboring boat buzzing by. Cast, relax and let the drift do all the work. The idea is simple: To present your bait as naturally looking as possible to the fish. Trout tend to stay close to the bottom when the water is running for two reasons -- to stay out of the current and to stay close to the food. So that’s where you want your bait. Now, what’s the best technique to sink the bait down -- and keep it there -- and still feel the strike -- and not get snagged up and lose the whole rig? First, use the right amount of weight. Whatever you use, whether its split shot, bell weight, sock weight or lead core weight, you want the right weight to take you to the bottom and keep you there while still allowing your bait to skip over snags and not hang up. Split shot is okay, but it probably is the worst of all choices. Comparably it has the flattest sides and tends to catch more than its counterparts. Bell weights are a close second. Walleye walking weights are designed to tick the bottom and hop over rocks, so I’d give them the next spot. But the weights that win, in my book, are the long, skinny weights. The can be made either of parachute cord loaded with split shot with the ends sealed by melting the fabric, or of lead core with either a hole punched in one end or surgical tubing with lead core stuck in one end. This makes a weight that has little surface to catch, and I’ve found to be the best. But how do you rig this rig? Some use a three-way swivel, attaching the line from the reel to one loop, a tag line for the weights and a line for the hook. The weight line is usually a third of the hook line in length and can be much heavier in strength. So can the line off the reel. The line that the fish see is the hook line and this line should be four pounds in the winter and spring and two pounds in the summer and fall seasons. Hint: If the hook snags, you only lose that portion of your rig. With the same idea of length and line strength, other rig conformations can be used. A store-bought drift rig consists of a straight line, about 40 inches long, with a hook tied on one end and a bell sinker tied on the other; a loop knot is tied 12 inches from the weight. It’s pretty simple and easy to use -- just tie a swivel on your line, clip it to the loop and you’re ready to fish. Another method uses only the line on your reel. Tie a hook on the end, come up about 40 inches and make a loop knot creating a 6- to10-inch, non-slip loop knot. Then tie a small, simple cross knot at the end of the loop to keep the split from slipping out the end and attach your split shot to the loop. One of my favorite ways to rig uses a technique I learned in Michigan, fishing for king salmon in the Pere Marquette River. Take the line from the reel and run a snap swivel onto the line through the loop, not the snap. Then tie a barrel swivel onto the line from the reel. The snap is free to slide up and down that line but not over the barrel swivel. Next tie your “tippet” to the barrel at about 30-48 inches. Tie your fly or bait to the tippet. On the snap swivel you hook your weight. I personally use lead core. It comes in two sizes, 1/8-inch and ¼-inch and can be cut to the length you need. I use a tool called a LeadMaster which is a pair of pliers designed to cut, flatten and punch a hole in the lead core. This technique is quick and easy to use and cuts down on losing rigs. Plus I get the bait to the bottom and it stays there. I don’t feel the bottom as much, which allows me to concentrate on feeling the tug of the fish. Because of the way the rig is set up, it allows the bait to move close to the bottom in a natural way, not appearing to be drug through the water. Distance from the boat is pretty important. The bait should be about 50-70 feet away from the boat when fishing directly upstream. If you’re fishing off to the side, 30-50 feet is plenty of space. I tend to use less weight if I’m fishing off to the side because I feel I have more control and know exactly where the bait is to follow it better. Wind plays a big part in drifting. The trick is to keep track of the bait by sight and feel. A trout won’t hold on to the bait for very long, and you have to be quick and hard on the hook set. Too much slack will cause you not to hook the fish, as well as sometimes to miss the bite altogether. With your trolling motor, try to keep the boat moving at the same speed as the current. If you can’t keep up, fish out to the side and keep your rod low to the water to prevent slack. You’ll have to cast, drift and reel in more, but that’s the only way to fish effectively. Bait fishing, using worms, minnows or Power Baits are easy ways to catch trout on most tailwaters when the water is running. With night crawlers, pinch the worm in half and hook the worm anywhere from the middle or out to either end. When you feel a bite, let the fish take the worm by counting to three; then set the hook. For minnows, hook the minnow through the eyes and follow the same technique as night crawlers. Power Baits, either Gulp variety or regular eggs, are the easiest and most effective bait. Don’t load the hook too much. Use a #8 short shank hook and slide on two eggs. Hook them in a straight line, so they won’t spin in the current. Using two colors of eggs, generally white and some other color, works most of the time. Drifting flies is a great way to catch trout in restricted areas. Egg flies are probably the favorites on Lake Taneycomo. San Juan worms, scuds, woolies and others are also extremely good. Rig them the same way. You can even use tandem flies. Tie one fly on, and then using a 12-inch tippet tied to the eye of the first fly, add a second fly. Our guides like using a San Juan and an egg … “Breakfast is served!” Where to drift is a problem for many anglers. They make the same mistake repeatedly and then lose a bunch of rigs. Now that’s great for selling rigs, but it’s not necessary. Stay in the middle of the stream and away from the sides, especially off the bluff banks where there’s a lot of trees and brush. If you drift a certain section and consistently catch one or two fish each time, keep up the pattern because you’ve found a place where a large school is holding, maybe a hole or a rock, something that the fish like. I know the bottom of the lake pretty well on Taneycomo in certain areas. When I’m drifting and come across a drop-off or hole, I hit the trolling motor and slow the boat down just a bit, letting the bait hesitate and drop down in the hole. Sometimes I’m rewarded for doing it just right – with a big trout! Hope this helps next time you’re out fishing in high water. Keep the rod high, locked and loaded. Watch the rod tip for that tap and pull. That’s the key when a trout has picked your offering out of the current and is holding it, saying, “Set the hook!”

Yellowbank? What's that?