Phil Lilley

not a good one... I tried one on our bank last evening

Fished late afternoon with Blake and Darin. We just got to the cable, videoing a "boat ride", the horn blew and they started shutting the spill gates. Talk about perfect timing although I didn't think they'd shut them till tomorrow. Lots of shad in the water. We drifted using shad flies, white jigs, sculpin jigs, egg flies, scuds - nothing. We tried everything. Drifted to Short Creek. Nothing. Those fish are keyed in on shad and they've had their fill today I guess. They're running 3 units at 10,000 cfs. They may slow it down tomorrow - we'll see. Table Rock is just below 916 feet and I'm sure it will continue to drop. No real rain forcasted for the next 10 days.

It started sometime this morning, early. Shad started POURING - not over the top - but through the turbines. It's 2:30 and they're still floating past our dock. The bite early was good but mid morning not so much. We did better below Fall Creek and on scuds, not shad flies. They are supposed to reduce flows either later today but probably in the morning (Monday). More info to come... and some awesome white bite fishing in the near future.

We bought this from our neighbor who is in poor health. They had it under a tarp for most of it's life. We gave the motor a tune up - runs good. Will make someone a nice fishing boat.

The Corps will reduce flow tomorrow afternoon or Monday morning.

Kayaks on Taney, esp right now, is a death wish waiting to happen. I had a guy waving his arms at me the other day as I approached. Was slowing down to idle speed to pass him and a few other kayaks and boats anyhow so I asked him if he was in trouble. He pointed behind me and said he didn't wanted to get swamped by my wake. I told him nicely that he was on the wrong lake if he was concerned about that. I think he was terrified the whole float cause it was a Saturday and the lake was full of boats.

Reports are the creeks have been pounded and few fish are left. If MDC stocked down in the Landing area, they might get replenished. There are some big blue gill being caught above the bridge and around the docks though. And reports of crappie are coming in, being caught around the docks at Rockaway Beach, upper end of the town.

There's really no good way to "handle" bigger trout in a boat. Touch them and you'll wipe off their slim. A boga has the risk of ripping out their lower jaw. Handing them even with 2 hands and they're dropped in the boat. There's no winners. Best is to flip them off the hook over the water with no pic... but that's not going to happen on a guide trip.

@Bill Babler

I found some fish this evening... some nice fish. From Lookout Island down to the Narrows on the BLUFF. White 1/8th oz jig worked from the bank out 30 feet. Pay close attention to the eddies. Caught 5 rainbows and hooked and lost 2. All were at least 16+ inches. 2 pushing 20. I measured one, it was 19.5 inches. They were thumping it.

I've always told ppl 4 to Branson and another 4 to RB. I guess I need to change my lingo.

Beaver is coming up today after the rain and TR is steady at 916.14 feet. The rain probably added 2-3 days more heavy flow to the schedule. But with the shad coming through, I'm not going to complain.

The white bite in on this morning. Phil Stone just called and said they're catching multiples on the 1/8th oz white from the cable all the way down to Fall Creek. Much better than even yesterday's trip, he said. One over 20 inches too - released.

You can definitely get up higher and that might get you some good fish. MDC is supposed to stock today and tomorrow according to a little birdie. That should help. I caught 2 toads on One Cast dragging a white jig from Andy's to the Narrows. Three good bites - not too bad. Caught some more working the inside bank below Fall Creek to RP ramp with an 1/8th oz sculpin jig.

About 8 miles. Yes there is but I don't remember the name of the dock.

I've been hesitant about writing a fishing report for Taneycomo this week because I know as soon as I do the Corps will change the generation pattern and thus completely blow my report of out the water. So I'm going to write a short one and wait for the change which I think will happen in the next couple of days. They've been blowing 15,000 cubic feet of water per second since March 15. That's 14,256,000,000 cubic feet of water or 106,634,000,000 gallons of water in 11 days. The flow is equal to 4 full tubines running but only 3 are online so they're making up for the extra flow by spilling 5,000 c.f.s. over and through 5 gates. Water temperature is about 41 coming through the turbines and about 45 over the top. When mixed, we're seeing 44 degrees down around the resort. Clarity is pretty clear. We've seen some shad come over the top of the dam for sure but we might be seeing some come through the turbines. White jigs are doing ok but dragging white shad flies is producing a lot more fish. I've been really trying to make my jigs work but I just can't beat the numbers of rainbows mainly being caught between the dam and Trophy Run. Phil Stone's clients caught some nice rainbows drifting from Lookout through the Narrows dragging small 1/16th ounce jigs on the bottom on Wednesday. And others are dragging a double scud rig on the same drift, using a #10 or #12 gray scuds with 4-pound line. Again, I worked the bluff bank using an 1/8th-ounce white jig and only caught a couple on one drift... not the success I'd think I'd have if these fish are seeing shad. From Fall Creek down, the water is fast and it's hard to get anything to the bottom unless you're drifting from the big log cabin down and staying on the inside of the lake. Scuds, minnows and night crawlers are doing just ok here. You really need to stay down below the Riverpointe Estates boat ramp, I think, to get a good drift. The flat from Short Creek to Trout Hollow has been producing good numbers of rainbows. Drifting minnows from the bend past our place and staying middle to inside of the lake has been pretty good too. The creek downtown are the best and easiest place to catch a limit of rainbows. They're going up into Turkey, Coon and Roark Creek to get out of the current and finding warmer water. Our guides are still catching them on the Pink worm under a float, fishing it 4-feet deep, 4-pound line. I've also heard of people catching them throwing spoons and rooster tails. Table Rock is approaching 916 feet, only 1 foot over power pool. It should hit it by tomorrow morning, depending on how much rain falls today. Honestly, I'm surprised they've ran it this hard as long as they have, and I'm really not sure if they will slow it down once the level drops below 916 feet. But chances are they will back off a bit, at least shutting down the spill gates. This will slow the water down and make it easier to fish, especially in areas like just below Fall Creek where a lot of big trout are usually caught. We will see. View full article

It took 2 tickets. And they haven’t acknowledged they caused the issue. They have been awesome... up to now.

A "patch" I ran last week changed my storage settings... weren't supposed to do that. I use Amazon S3. I've changed most of the settings but not sure what all was set to S3. So if you see anything that's not here on the forum... icons, images, banners - anything, let me know and I'll change that setting.

I agree.... I'll get him to kid around more. He's a lot of fun.

Will pray... what's his first name. Easier for me... not for the Lord.

I'd like to more of these.... if I can Bill to take me fishing.

Images posted or attached/uploaded on OAF are stored on Amazon s3. My account. Those are the ones that are 404.