Phil Lilley

We put in at Moonshine this morning at 5:30 am and went out just in front of the buoys that stretch across the lake blocking off the new spillway. Dropped 1/2 oz jerk spoons down 25-35 feet and went to work. Unfortunately the whites didn't go to work till 6:30 but for about 45 minutes it was fun. We caught 8 whites up to 3 pounds, broke off 2 whites, one spot and missed a bunch. These whites have been doing this for 3 weeks now. The guides have been finding them with their fish finders in that area and out off the round point south of that cove in the main lake. Seems like they prefer deeper water- 40-70 feet but suspended. Tim Paige was out there- said his screen went black from 25 to 35 feet several times. We found a few shad and a couple of crawdads in a couple of the whites stomachs but most were empty. No telling how long they'll be there. Coleton & Tom

http://lilleyslanding.com/availability/avail_0706.htm None. Lisa will update the chart tomorrow. We do have the condo at Pointe Royal open for a partial week.

Double or triple surgeons? A Frog Hair rep told me you have to use a triple- I was tying a double. It did make a difference. Bad tippet? It can happen. The 6 wt is heavy for that kind of tippet. 4 wt should be ok. And lastly, heavy hand. I have a friend who can't set the hook softly... he gets too excited. You might tie in some expandable tippet- what's it called? It's on the tippet of my tongue.... SHOCK GUM!

Looking forward to seeing the clan and talking Cardinal baseball...

I don't know... I'm thinking about buying a jet ski myself!! I can see it now... a instructional dvd on fly fishing, jet ski style. :)

Just talked to Jim Johnson, my friend who just bought a camp in Alaska and is entertaining clients as I type. The sockeye are starting to run up the river they're on but the locals say they're late this year. Jim says he thinks there's 10,000 per day moving past his camp but that number will increase to 100,000 within the week. He said in the evening at his camp the rainbows are chasing minnows on the surface like whites on shad- pretty incredible. He landed his largest rainbow yesterday- 11 pounds. They haven't seen a rainbow less than 5 pounds yet. They've ran down river and caught some kings but it's still very early... they won't come in good till mid July. Made a trip to Brooks Lodge and watched 20 bears in the river feeding last week. They have bear come thru their camp everyday but they stay away from humans- so far. Sung goes down about 12:30 am and rises again about 3 am. The bugs are thick! Esp in the morning and evening when the wind dies. http://www.naknekrivercamp.net/

I was awakened this morning by our office saying someone was in the office at 7 am telling a story about a "family" fishing below the dam this am using night crawlers and keeping all kinds of trout. Two men told Kathy they approached the family and told them it was wrong. They said they didn't know but they had took 40 home the day before... fishing was good!! I jumped in the van and ran up there. I knew none of the agents were going to investigate a call when I had no details what so ever. I wanted to find them, get descriptions, location and then call. I didn't find them but I found a whole lot more. I drove to the boat ramp first- because that's where I figured the 2 guys had gone. It's easiest to access. I found about 12 people fishing from the bank with their lines out like they were fishing bait- they were. I commenced walking up and, using a loud voice, telling them about the rules and that an agent had been called and was on his way down the hill. Hardly none of them blinked. 7 of them were not from the states, spoke broken english. One had a few small rainbows in a sack- the others didn't have fish. I ended up explaining why they weren't catching fish, gave them maps to Cooper Creek Access and told them to buy drift rigs and power eggs. There was one group beyond the big tree below the ramp that didn't leave. But they heard what I said. I called and left messages with Buck and Quinten- none have called me back. I intercepted a dad and 3 boys in the parking lot. They knew about the flies only but didn't have trout stamps. I told them where to go (Cooper Creek Access) and to get stamps. The area was packed with fly fishers- packed! I saw 6 drift boats go in while I was there. The area above #2 wasn't too bad at all.

May 26? I don't remember. I don't do crafts.

No change in traffic. Hasn't been too bad today it seems. BPS is only going to have 16 stalls for their boats... for test driving and selling. One thing about it- I have a friend who has a shop at The Mill on Gretna. He said this morning that he can tell you the exact day the Landing opened by his and all other sales reciepts. Their business died that day and he said he's talked to other vendors on the strip that said the same thing. Not sure if it's true or just an excuse. The thing about the Landing bringing more people to town hasn't kicked in, I pointed out. It's when the convention center opens and brings all those attending big events that aren't now. So all the shops are in competition with other shops/eateries on the strip now. But they are ALOT of people in town this weekend!! Lots of traffic.

Nationwide. This is a no call program by the gov't. It's for all cell phone companies. If you get calls 30 days after registering with donotcall, you get their company name and phone # and report it to the website or call the 888#. That's what the recording says when you sign up. It sounds too good to be true. I have not had any calls... yet.

I do agree. If I can bring myself to pay another $300 for a new forum license, I'll put it on Ozarkhunters.com But I'll have to think about the format. I don't have any article to create interest either. I love to hunt but I don't have the expertise to write on the subject. Let me ask you all- what are some good hunting forums?

Starting 6/30/06, our cell phone numbers will be released to telemarketers. Call 1-888-382-1222 from your cell phone to put a stop/call from these marketers. Visit http://donotcall.gov to register all other land lines. It takes 30 days to take affect.

Sounds fine.

Watch the dry timber and fields. We are trying to figure out where our guests can shoot fireworks. It's really dry.

It's been 2 weeks since my last report... it's been a busy 2 weeks. But fishing conditions haven't changed much at all neither has fishing itself. We're in the dog days of summer when patterns are pretty much set in stone and the only thing that varies is generation schedules. Speaking of... they are still running "fish water" late afternoon for a couple of hours. I think this will change somewhat once the heat sets in. Beaver Lake is low, Table Rock is about normal and Bull Shoals is alittle low but not much at all. It's kinda hard to guess what the Corp has in mind for water management now that we're in another drought- only 1.5 inches for the month of June officially. Not good. Will they conserve water and not run as much as they would if the lakes were higher and it was actually raining occasionally? It seems so far at least that they are conserving and not running even on hot days (over 95). Not running water affects water temps and the boundary of very warm water seems to be Branson. I heard water temps were in the 80's at the bridges the other day-- that's surface temps with subsurface temps I'm sure safely in the 60's--- for now. But more of the same will mean MDC will not be able to stock rainbows very far downstream. They won't even be able to load their stock boat at the Branson ramp- they'll be confined to the Cooper Creek ramp and higher... so you know where the higher concentration of fish will be- upstream. I've talked about bass fishing on Taney more this spring and summer than ever before. Why? Because it remains a viable option for anglers here on Taney. Because Taney isn't deep, bass remain fairly easy to get to even in the middle of summer. I haven's been in a couple of weeks but I'm sure soft plastics and crank baits would be good along it's banks from Branson downstream. I need to go out and try some different baits including jigs and grubs targeting smallmouth. I also want to hit the coves and creek for some big blue gill and popping bugs with the fly rod. All I need is TIME. Speaking of bugs- Brian Shaffer showed me a small beetle he's been using along the banks and says they are tearing it up. It looks like a small June Bug about an eighth inch in diameter- it floats and he says he slaps in on the water and gets a big take. Babler has been seeing alot of action along the bluff banks from Short Creek to Lookout early in the mornings but hasn't had the chance to throw any dries at them. With all the bass along our bank, a big popper might just draw a bass- or trout bite. Sounds fun! Night fishing below the dam has been a hot topic on the forum. Lots and lots of interest and quite a few OAF members actually fishing at night lately... me not one of them though. I need to give up on watch the Cardinals play (and winning) and just go fishing I guess. The last couple of weeks, fishing has been real good for our guests, best has been out in boats using power bait. White egg and something else- a combo of contrast. From Cooper Creek down to Monkey Island has been the best for using bait and morning time the best time. Jig and float using the micro jig- THE micro jig Babler has made famous- orange headed sculpin micro/micro jig. Later in the morning is better- the wind needs to be blowing a bit chopping up the surface. Lots of rainbows from Fall Creek to the Narrows - LOTS! Even in front of Fall Creek Marina LOTS of rainbows. Linc has been driving to the dam and fishing his Zebras at the Rocking Chair and tearing them up in the evenings. Another hot spot, he said, is the Gauntlet below Rebar- fish on every cast at times. He fixed up a gal who was struggling the other day and after catching a fish on her third cast told him that was her first trout on a fly rod... cool! Linc is our new office/dock guy.

Someone needs to make a "fly rule" on fly swaps... you know like the "man rule" on the beer commercials. John needs a big book and a big pencil and when everyone decides the rules, write it down forever to be etched in the "Fly Book of the Ages".

Gay Rory- not Brewer. My fault.

I'm sure not too far down- 2-3 feet may be. But if they don't run water soon, trout will be migrating upstream.

Water temp at Branson - surface - 80.

Supreme does make a great boat and probably is the easiest to buy since they have them in stock. Shawnee on the other hand is another good jon but they make so few and demand is so high you'd have to wait at least a year to get one... if they keep making them. Gay Brewer makes them literally one at a time outside of Yellville, Ar. No website- you can get their number thru directory assist. There is at least one other manufacturer in that area but the name eludes me. One thing to consider is the width and depth of the jon. Some of the river jons are narrow and shallow and aren't very stable- some people like them this way esp. those who fish the White because they will go thru the riffles easier, being narrow. We use the wider/deeper jons on Taney for stability.

Hey Michael- t/t your friends at Lawrence Photo about providing info on the forum under the photo forum - primarily on new cameras and other equipment. They'd be great and maybe pick up some business.

Water temp has warmed up enough again to lure bass to our bank for spawning. Bass typically spawn late on Taney... this is very late. But it's happening as I type!

TroutCam is back up. Still have not solved the issue of limited to only 5 users and the computer we bought to beef up the connection locked up when we installed the upgraded software for the video card... nothing is easy about this stuff! http://ozarkanglers.com/troutcam.php

You should try for bass/blue gill. No length limit on bass to keep on Taney, limit 6.

No- t/t someone who caught a ton of whites in the mouth of the Elk not long ago. If there's food in the creek, they will wonder up and feed I'm sure. they could even push the shad up there- stripers herd shad, why can't whites? I'm sure there's shad in that area but the puzzle is- why just crawfish? Will have to study it further.