Phil Lilley

Back in January, lake levels got real low after Table Rock Dam hadn't generated water in a week or more. It's getting to those levels again. There is no water coming from outlet #3 from the hatchery... I don't know if they are running more water from #1 and #2 to compensate or not. But the level is low and current is alittle faster than normal below the dam. When I was wading yesterday below #2, I noticed alot of debry on the bottom like trees and stuff. If they ran water now it would be very nasty for an hour or two cause of all the trash that's collected over the weeks of no generation.

It's going to be an interesting spring run- all the whites will go up towards the dam and bypass Swan altogether if we don't get some rain.

Beaver Creek Marina reports lots of people fishing over the weekend. Catching white bass in the main lake from the mouth of Cedar Creek up to the Johnson Hole trolling shad crank baits and spoons. Crappie are being caught off mud flats in 4 to 8 feet of water on swimming soft baits and minnows. Not much action in Beaver Creek yet but some small males are moving in and out, esp in the evenings. Some walleye have been taken on creek chubs and throwing stick baits early and late in the day.

Talked to Buster today. He said he's heard excellent fishing reports on crappie and white bass from Viola upstream. Fishing the mud flats in shallow water, locals are catching lots of limits. I'd imagine, minnows and swimming baits. Out off the deeper banks, they are throwing shad-rap type crank baits and catching whites- and big ones.

Talked to a friend of mine who said the owners at Gages have "cleaned up" on crappie all winter long there. This should be an indicator of good things to come very shortly. The forecast is for 60's and 70's this week. I'm sure they'll be lots out scouting. Remember one thing if you get out-- crappie have been up close to the banks during warm spells all winter. Look on spawning banks and look shallow.

This is no joke... It's actually going to be a benefit for the Junior/Senior class of Faith Christian Academy, a Christian School here in Branson. All proceeds will go to the class trip, as well as a donation of $25 per team from the resort. http://ozarkanglers.com/april_06.html

Fished this afternoon from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. Drove to the dam with only my spin rod and a box of jigs. I bought some #2 Tectan line from Cabela's and tried it. Boy is it light!! Started at outlet #2 and worked down to top of rebar. Didn't get all the way down- too many anglers. Worked a 1/32nd oz jig off the bottom, first a orange head/brown/orange marabou- one small brown (snagged in the nose). Changed to white/red marabou- another small rainbow (snagged in the head). Was starting to get concerned about snagging fish. Changed to sculpin and started fair hooking fish but was missing alot of bites too. One more brown and about a dozen rainbows. The slack water on the north side was better than the moving on the south. I waded down the middle, throwing to both side. Interesting. Joined up with Tom Johnson who wasn't wearing waders so we headed down to the end of rebar. I missed even more bites but hooked more too. One more brown- 14 inches with huge spots- and a bunch of rainbows up to 14 inches. Finished the evening at Rocking Chair where we both hooked a couple of rainbows. Was alittle slow- trout were biting short.

Did you see alot of shad? We did while we were bass fishing Friday. We saw trout midging as well. The cleos says they were looking for shad. Would like to catch some and see what was in their stomachs.

I'll think about this one, bobber. My intial thought was those spam emails we get for "meeting people" sites... bad connotations. But it is a worthy idea.

Several things... The wire idea is very clear- no questions. My point is that IF the water is running 4 units 24/7 for months on end, not allowing any boats above the MDC ramp virtually eliminates all effective fishing in this area. This is bad management of the fishery. You're right, but again, why shutdown fishing in the best part of the lake to all effective fishing? Bank fishing when the water is running is restricted to a couple of spots and even then it's nominal at best. Sorry to disagree again. Arkansas closes these areas because of spawning brown trout. Our trout do not naturally reproduce. Has nothing to do with fishing pressure. So closing areas would not help anything. It would, though, hurt the economy.

Complicated... kinda. I've reported on all 3 lakes (Table Rock, Taney and BS) for years. I'm on Taney so I report more on Taney than others so I think the site has always had a big Taney following. Table Rock is a huge bass lake nationwide and I'm hoping to pickup more exposure there. But Bull Shoals, at least the upper lake, is not fished as much as others except in the spring. There aren't any resorts or major marinas on the upper lake which doesn't help traffic any. I hope to get more people visiting from the mid to lower BS area soon. There's some great fishing and places to stay down there- just have to get "plugged in".

It'd make my insurance company happy though! Thanks for reminding me.

We usually do but forgot to announce it at the pre-tournament meeting. My mistake.

How do you get ahold of Jim Rogers? Place of business?

The green line is the tailwater water level. It shows in the last 5 days they've haven't run water. The spike yesterday between 11 am and noon is just a very minor rise in the water level but they did not run the generators.

Take Off (Click for a slideshow) Weigh in (Click for a slideshow) Was a tough day for most of the contestants- so they say. Lots of stories of fish coming off or breaking lines. Many of the better rainbows came in from below the bridges in Branson. Some caught on crank baits and some on jigs. Father/Son team of Shawn and Garry Pingleton took first with 7.60 lbs and Shawn took big rainbow- 2.16 lbs. Second place was Jeff Cross and Greg Burkin with 6.40 lbs. Third place - Joe Whelan and Rich Holt with 6.30 lbs. And Fourth was John Hittler and Frank Dielt with 6.12 lbs. Shawn and Garry caught their fish below Rockaway Beach on cleos. They also caught and released over 30 bass!! I'm planning on talking to Shawn later today for more details... or he can comment himself on the forum.

Where are you from In Kansas? I'm from Parsons. Grew up fishing farm ponds.

I beams sitting on barges below the bridge.

Took some pics as we boated by this evening -

Had our little bass tournament here on Taney this afternoon. 5 boats. Weigh in 5 bass per boat. Noon to 5 p.m. First place went to Dudley/Whitson with 5 bass weighing in at 11.5 pounds. Biggest bass went to John Hittler with a 3.5 lb largemouth. Dudley/Whitson caught their fish in Bull Creek on jigs. John caught his fish on a spinner bait. Babler and I found our bass on bluff ends and caught them on Pointers (stick baits). We fished alot of structure and only found fish on bluff ends (where the bluff turns into flats). We fished below Rockaway Beach almost down to Powersite Dam. We found 54 degree water which was surprising. They found 57 degree and strained water in Bull Creek. I think there were about 12-15 bass caught in all. We caught a few rainbows. There were a bunch of people trolling on the lower lake and catching trout all afternoon.

Again- if there is 4 units running for months on end, then there's no fishing above the ramp... no effective fishing. There have been years when we have water running 9 or 10 months of the year. Saftey- I have major concerns for safety in our area from June thru September with fog and boating. There have been numerous close calls and several actual accidents- boat running into each other. No one as of yet has been seriously hurt or killed that I know of. Compare this with what you're refering to. I would venture to say the ratio of boats/fog/waders occurances are much less than boats/fog/boats occurances simply because of the amount of traffic above the ramp compared to the traffic in from of our dock- say- in the summer. Either situation is not good- it's dangerous. But I don't think MDC, MWP or waders or boaters are willing to give up anything to help the situation. Bottom line- people need to be careful. You can't create an environment completely free of risk.

Bill won't come out of his 'cave' to report so I will for him. He put in someplace near Holiday Island on the upper White River Arm of Table Rock and caught fish early yesterday 3/2. Used a stick bait and almost got a 7 lb largemouth to the boat. He also saw lots and lots of big crappie being caught near docks and tree structure. He started fishing at 8:30 am and did well till the wind switched from the south to the north- then everything shut down. He can give a better report... if he can get some quality computer time from Becky!

This isn't a slam against waders... it's an issue of drawing a definate line and saying "don't cross it or else!!" I think if MDC and MWP could do it they might but it would be too confusing for waders/boaters to know 'if, when, do I, should I'?? Russ is a good friend... he's not yelling in his post, he just likes to use caps- like my dad.

Release a lunker in each of the 4 parks and get a patch! Lunker is a trout at or over 18 inches. Ironically, if you catch it in the winter in the "catch and release" season, it doesn't count

Front cover - our own Chuck Gries - beautiful pic and beautiful brown trout but still no recognition. MDC magazine did the same thing to him Nov 04 and printed his pic with several nice browns but didn't mention his name. But we will here on OAF- way to go Chuck!!