Phil Lilley

Great crappie fishing reported. Crappie are still staging mostly but there are some on the banks. Don't have details but lots of limits caught the last couple of days and it should get better each day that goes by. I hope to get down there tomorrow or Monday for sure. Everything's poppin' all at once. Look for crappie on the bluff bank downstream of the marina from real close to the bluff/cut banks to out in the timber but shallow. Look for whites up in Blair Branch for use. Other reports?!?

Tom Vince and I just got back from the Pot Hole- well Vince is still up there. We got there about 6 pm at Silver Creek Gravel Bar- water was dropping out- little bit of current. Whites were circling on the surface. We caught 3- 2 sows and one male. I caught one on a rebel and the others on a motor oil swimming minnow. Water started running again about 7:30 pm- we drove up to the wing wall at the dam. I caught a short walleye- purple swimming minnow. Then a keeper 19 inch. Tom caught a short walleye and I caught another 2 short walleye. Water came on again at 8:30- Tom and I left. Report is alot of walleye still in the upper lake. A few whites circling but not many. Lots of boats down below the bridge in the flats. Other reports?

Heard whites were being caught big time before the last rain. Must have been a local rain because the creek was "choc milk" last evening and this am... but I've been told after the water clears- hold on!! Whites at the 160 bridge and up. Great fly rodding. The run is on this week! Other reports???!?

No fools- I heard Swan is full of whites. Great fly fishing. Not sure if it's true- anyone hear? Crappiefisherman!!???

Only 6 teams braved the 70 degree and sunny weather today for a day of trout fishing on Taneycomo... 8 gruling hours of tough fishing ahead. Someone has to do it," said one contestant. But we are thankful for those. They'll have a great day on the water. Greg Lilley and Grandpa Dave (Woolery)

Check the topic/link that's pinned at the top of the Niangua forum. It looks at if they level hasn't changed much.

Steven Fuller, student at College of the Ozarks, caught this nice largemouth off Stormy Point this evening. Fishing from the bank for crappie, he notice a large fish herding shad in his direction so he threw his white roadrunner at him and he took it. After quite a battle he landed it. It weighed 6.94 lb dry here at the shop. I told him he may have lost as much as a quarter-pound of weigh so we'll say 7-1/4 lb bass. He's going to have it mounted. Fuller is from Pea Ridge, Ar.

I'm with Wayne... with these warm days, the smallmouth can't help but bite. Sorry I can't make a personal report!

I live for this.... Really- this forum software makes changes and fixing problems real easy- no problems!!

Talked to Vince- he's caught his limit of crappie 2 days in a row plus 2 limits 2 others caught with him today. He put in a Bridgeport and fished the flats finding the crappie close to the bottom in 6-10 ft of water. He uses jigs, buck tail jigs and swimming minnows, 1/8th oz and the usual colors, white, red, smoke and purple. Vince t/t some guys on the James Arm that said they've been tearing the whites up on the Kings arm but didn't say where exactly. With this rain and warm/windy days, both will be poppin' this weekend big time. Vince also caught a 15 lb flathead trolling a shad rap on the James. He was looking for white bass which he didn't find any.

I like a clean and tidy forum...

5 times??? What are you talking about? Rolan will be a good person to answer this one.

At the top of the TR forum there's a link to the Corp lake level site. Please use it.

I have been twice. Put in at 45 bridge. I went first time to running water at Neils Bluff to see if I could get there. Took about 25 minutes. Lots of shallow bars and shoals that were pretty hairy. Caught 2 Whites and 4 keeper Crappie. I saw a man who had a Hybrid about 5 lbs. He wouldn't devulge any secrets. I went last night. Same route. Didn't go quite as far down as the water had fallen about inches in the river. Caught 1 White and again 4 keeper Crappie. I caught about 15 Crappie that I released as they were too short. Water temp still cold. I looked back this AM and saw the bigger Whites I've caught nave been about now. Just need the water to warm a bit. I'll stay in touch.

ok- they relented. Quenten Fronterhouse and Mike Adams from Branson.

I got this emailed to me... the party, whom I can't mention any names, didn't give me permission (yet) to post their pic. But you know, they sent it to me so it's mine- right? Anyhow, I'll reveal the faces and names only when they say it's ok. They may not have had a OK fishing lisc... you never know about these characters. They caught them in the vicinity of hwy 10 bridge on 1/8th oz white and white/black rooster tails.

Well last week my neighbor and I decided to try something different and fish up on Lake Taneycomo for a few days, and despite everything seemingly against us, we managed to have some productive time on the water. We are both fly fishing guides on the White River and Norfork in Arkansas, and we enjoy using some techniques at Taneycomo that do not work as well down here (this time of year, especially). Anyway, we finally got on the water in the afternoon on March 22nd. The weather was cold and nasty all morning, but the sun peeked through right when we started wading. We met up with a friend by the dam, and the fishing for all of us was good from the start. We were using #14 and #16 scuds and getting a bite on virtually every cast. The fish were decent size, with many hard fighters in the 13 to 16 inch range. When the breeze died late in the afternoon, I did well on a tandem midge pupa combo, while the scud was still working on my friend. On this day we just wanted to catch some fish just in case the weather made fishing too uncomfortable over the next few days. The next morning was indeed chilly, but knowing there was no hurry, we didn't get on the water until 10:30am. It was just my neighbor and I, and he started with some cracklebacks and I used scuds and midge pupa patterns. We were near the boat ramp. I started out catching some nice fish (and some dinks) with my nymphs, and when the sun came out it really got good. The dry fly presentation was working alright for my neighbor, but nothing crazy. Around lunchtime we were sitting in the boat and I enjoyed seeing him start getting rises in 6-inches of water. So to get away from the "normal" nymphing we do day in and day out, I fished a small crackleback on the surface all afternoon. We both caught countless fish (which seemed to run bigger on the surface) and missed many more. Sometimes the wind was too strong to get the fish to rise, but for the most part conditions were perfect. Unfortunately the winds and cold temps would not elude us so we decided to come home Friday instead of fishing. It had been a fun trip for all of us, and we know we can jet back up when the weather looks better. Still, it was nice to see some nicer fish on upper Taneycomo, although it does seem like the numbers of trophy fish is down from what we could see. But the crowds were fairly light and like always on upper Taneycomo, we didn't have to move much to stay on hoards of fish. Gabe Cross http://arkansastrophytrout.com

Where is this? Is there a website with info?

Put in at River Run at 7 a.m. No one at the ramp- concerning. It was cold and foggy so I guess the die-hards slept in (smart!). We headed downstream to one of my best crappie holes at Barker and started throwing swimming minnows- no bites. We proceeded down, stopping at several spots, fished up in Beaver up to the first bend, fished up in Cedar Creek about 200 yards before catching our first crappie. It was our last (keeper). We fished back towards Beaver on the bluff around a log in the water and caught 5 more short crappie. Also threw blue rebels in various places for whites- nothing. Lots of boats came out in the am at Beaver and at River Run. Didn't see any fish caught and no one said they were doing any good. I don't have a temp gage (sorry). Water is great color and should warm up quickly as it gets warmer this and next week. Swan Creek Looking upstream from Barker Hole Looking downstream from River Run Ramp

Thanks for the report... we're alittle short of LOZ traffic but hopefully this will change soon.

Oh... that's good stuff! I will mention it for sure. If he didn't- you must have. What do you have to say for yourself!

Fishing-wise... would be nice to have the smallmouth back on the old White River. Flood-wise... would not be nice to see our countryside flooded every few year. The dams do serve a valuable service. It has its pro and cons.

Call Beaver Creek Marina and ask them. I'd love to see them do it but they'll have to get on it quick. 417-546-5121

Very illegal.

Depends on the depth of water. Set it 12 inches off the bottom.