Phil Lilley

Add that pearl/flash zebra thing... I can't remember the exact name.

When you came down the lake from Lookout, did you fish the bank? Middle? Shallow side? How deep do you think you were getting down? Last night was unique in that there was no fog. Most summer nights the fog is so thick you can get turned around on the lake in the dark and literally get lost. Plus if you're fishing the bank, it's difficult to know exactly where your fly- or lure- is landing unless there no splash... then you're in trouble. Thanks for the report.

To the concert I guess. Is that the one we got in the mail... free gift?

Well, we've seen people catching trout, and others not doing so well. But that's typical when it comes to fishing. But... the bait fishers are doing much better than the artificial fishers it seems. Power Bait ruled this week- Gulp and regular eggs, white, yellow, pink and orange. Keep switching colors and you'll get your 4 rainbows. It did seem people were taking advantage of the limits, at least out of our dock. I talked to MDC about checking the dock but they've been busy. Just a word to those who plan of staying here at the Landing... if you're fishing- off the dock or out in a boat- you're allowed 4 trout a day per person, 8 in your possession. If you keep 8 trout in 2 days, you are catch and releasing the rest of your stay unless you eat some of your creel. Killing more than your limit robs the next person of his opportunity to catch trout, especially off a dock where the fish pool is limited. If you don't like the rules, don't come. While I'm on the box, catching and releasing using bait. I assume since I've written about this many times and posted it in our rooms here at the resort that everyone knows- that's just not corrent it seems. If you're using bait you are going to lose alot of hooks so take a bunch. If a trout swallows the bait, don't use a hook retractor or forceps to dig it out. Don't touch the fish- just cut the line and let it fall back in the water. Don't handle a trout with your dry hands or dry rag. A dry rag is the worse thing you can use- you might as well hit it over the head and kill it now because it will die a slow death of desease. The mucas that comes off on your hands protect the trout from bacteria. Removed, it will develop mold on it's side and eventually die. Fishing... I've fished alot this week and it's been slow for me. I've fished the trophy area (you can read my other reports from the week prior) and have not seen the number and size of rainbows from Fall Creek to Lookout that I'm accustomed to seeing. Yesterday did impress me, catching 3 nice rainbows. I did locate a school of these trophies at the bottom end of the Narrows and there were others scattered along the bluff bank. I did not though look or fish the shallow side of this stretch so I may be wrong about the lack of trout in this area. Early and late there have been good midge hatches all over the lake. I've found that red #16 zebras are good at these times. Also some of the new zebras are working well- pearl and ugly. They ran water yesterday afternoon hard which pushed cold water all the way down to Branson so the fishing down there should be good. Even on the boat ride back from the show last night I could see midging trout in front of the boat as I moved up the lake around the bridges. Have any other questions- fire away. I'll do my best to answer them.

Nemo- welcome. Where are you from? Where do you fly fish presently?

We boated down to see the fountain tonight. We listened to the band- the echo was something else but nice sounding band. Not too loud on the water at least. The fountain went off about 10:45 pm. One song- Star Spangled Banner. On a scale to 1 to 10 I'd give it a 2. For all the hoopla and the millions of dollar spent on this thing - 'only one other of its kind and it's in Las Vegas' fire and water... IT WAS LAME! Waltzing Waters is 100x better. Nice boat ride though I'll give the benefit of the doubt. One of the guys who went with us said may be they are saving the best for... later? Keep you coming back? I sincerely hope there's more or the people of Branson are going to want their money back.

http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/planning/wrminflow.html#public Our newspaper says there's workshops scheduled- June 19, 6 pm, at the Pinkston Middle School Cafeteria at 1310 S College in Mtn Home, AR June 20, 6 pm, in the NW Ark Community College's Shewmaker Center at 1100 SE Eagle Way in Bentonville, Ar The Corp is seeking comments will July 18 on the draft Environmental Impact Statement for the White River Minimum Flow Reallocation Study. This document can be seen here - http://www.swl.usace.army.mil/planning/dra...dy_may_2006.pdf

Went out today at 5 pm- back at 7 pm. Boated to the cable, running 2 units but dropping slowly the whole time we were up there. Threw jigs- all kinds and colors and caught 3 rainbows between the 3 of us. Extremely slow and not sure why. They should have been tearing it up with the water running but NOT!

Wind chop is like a light switch... it turns the fish on. I think it brings the trout up towards the surface because they feel more secure to do so- like cover. It breaks up the light coming thru the surface and gives flies a whole new look. Plus all the other things mentioned - all good.

We've talked about having both... each has it's advantages. MDC has some guys who are higher-ups in TU that have helped us here and it would be tough to give that up. FFF would help cause it would bring Arkansas flyfishers closer to the Missouri flyfishers, in my opinion. And I like FFF because of it's active fly tyers and fly casting instructor classes. We'll see. Thanks John.

Well got out this am late- both Coy and I slept in. Got out at 9 am and headed upstream past Fall Creek. Stopped just above the Red House- no wind alittle -midging but not much. Coy threw a jig, I tried a zebra, then a scud, then a stimulator- got one rainbow against the bluff bank. Wind picked up and so did the fishing. We drifted down the bluff bank with red #16 zebras under an indicator 12 inches and caught some nice rainbows just past the narrows on the gravel bank. They were close to the bank- saw some real big rainbows there. Came in at 11:45 am.

Blue Gill!! They are great for kids. There's tons of them and easy to catch... and they are even big enough to clean and eat. There's a topic already started on fishing for blue gill- check it out- keep an eye on it cause it's still going. Have a great time!

Less beaten paths... there's not many on Taney at least the upper lake. But there's plenty of places to fish around here that aren't too beated down. Welcome.

Real estate prices are up- not sure how long it will last though. Depends on the success of the landing. We looked at a lake front property yesterday just up from the rr bridge on the south side. It was a run down 4 plex with a very run down dock, fairly deep lot about 90 feet side for $299,000. The rep said it would go fast... sale ploy. We weren't interested. She said that she just sold a lot across from Fall creek for $150,000- just the lot. I'm alittle skeptical of that one. But old used houses are on the market may be a day. If it's not people local who are buying it's west coast people. It's been like this for about a year now.

One thing the Landing is doing is driving up the pay scale- almost over night. I was told employers from the Landing sought after workers in the old downtown area and offered more money to change jobs and they did. We are even reviewing at our pay scale to make sure we are in line and not falling behind. But good workers are getting hard to find. Even though a person is working and getting a better wage doesn't mean they are qualified to do the work. Qualified.... worthy might be a better term.

I'm still against the location- and the future will tell on that. I'm also worried about the other things I've heard- poor construction, cracking sidewalks, foundations sinking (Belks sinking 4 inches in some places), leased light poles because of budget overruns. Is this the tip of the iceberg? And I've talked to venders on the strip- bus is way down so far this year. Granted SDC is up considerably but the small ma and pops on the strip and outlying areas are hurting.

It must have some hefty springs feeding it because we haven't had much rain.

I still like the diving bluffs across the lake from Big Cedar cove. Some good advice given to me... tie a rope or put one anchor up shallow to the bluff and one out in the lake deep- then you can move from shallow to deep, changing your depth if needed. I like at least 40 feet of water under the boat.

Where do you fish at Rim? With the hoppers I mean. I've fished there several times and am familiar with the stretch below the access- the series of runs.

How was the water level? Good for floating?

Question- what fly(s) was he using? How small? Type? I have trouble with some flies for instance a 200R pulls out easy. 200R is what I use for thread midges which I use alot. When nymphing, I try to set the hook with the tip of the rod parallel to the water and pointing downstream, not setting the hook up in the air with the rod. It's a habit I acquired fishing for salmon- trying to set the hook in the corner of the mouth.

??????? If I go into ANY ma & pop tackle shop whether it's in Missouri or New Mexico and ask the golden question, "What are they biting on??" even if they say "purple scuds" and I have a box full of purple scuds, I buy a few purple scuds and then a few pink ones... whatever. It's like paying for the advice I asked for. I'm also NOT one of these yahoos who stop at a convienent store or McDonalds and use the facilities and not buy a water or soft drink. But some of my friends do say I'm alittle "touched".

No question the Landing and BP will bring more business into town and others will benefit by it. Personally I feel no threat at all from BP's presence- I think we will compliment each other. Funny story- I was in Wal Mart yesterday picking up some bass baits with Coy Howry when one of the sport department clerks, whom I know well, came up with a customer and asked if I had flip down magnifying glasses for caps which I said yes we do carry them in our shop. The customer had already picked up power bait and some other items from the shelves- I had already noticed them since they were some of our resort guests. They said yes we are staying at Lilleys- thanks. We can't compete with Wal Mart on power bait and a few other items but we can on most plus carry more speciality items... flies, jigs, accessories. BP's prices will be higher than most of us and still won't carry everything. And yes- both BP and WalMart advertise alot more than I so more power to them!!

Southern Living... ooohhhh, aaahhhhh!!

Coy and I made it 3 evenings in a row- headed back downstream and tried the bank across from Blue Haven again using the senkos- not much luck. We thought it may have been the change in weather and wind- it was out of the north and pretty breezy. But I did land a couple 2.5 lb'ers out of a trees and both of us missed some bites. Then we went over and checked out the place where we saw the fawns- they were gone. We boated upstream a bit and tried the bluff bank on the east side again slow. We got almost to the transision and I said why not try a top water. So I tied on some kind of popper I think Coy called it a mule back. It was jointed with a hair tail. I caught a bass on the first cast... first cast curse? Not really but didn't catch one for a ways. Got to where it started flattening out- there was a tree in the water and a dock- wham! Another hookup. Then Coy hooked one- then we both hook one at the same time. Mine was a nice one but Coy's was strange looking. TWO BASS AT ONCE! My my- never seen that in person. In a rush to get mine in and get the camera, I broke mine off- probably the best fish of the day. Was caught a couple more because it got dark. Lots of fun! Will get the poppers out much earlier tonight!!! May be take the fly rod. Drove to the dam this morning with my mom's cousin from Denison, TX Frankie Lawrence. He's used to fishing for stripers on Texhoma and does fly fish for blue gill but never trout. We walked in above #2 and started drifting thread midges #22 red and brown plus a #18 sow bug Leonard ties. Very slow action but some. Frankie caught his first 5 rainbows on a fly rod which thrilled him. I caught a few before heading up to #1 to see what was up there. Very little water running in #1 now- probably cause of the construction. But there was a few nice ranbows at the tail end of the stream so we tried for a few minutes. I hooked and landed 2 of the nicer rainbows- one in the pic. Not many people fishing but very little action. Hardly saw another fish caught even in #2 outlet. Lots of fish though- as usual.