Phil Lilley

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!!

A long time friend, Tom Johnson (Branson) came into the shop looking for bugs to use below the dam. I gotta rag on him alittle- he had an old hand-made fly rod of mine that the tip had broken off and been repaired; old-old fly line and a tippet section all of 24 inches long, 3x. He fished the other day below rebar using a #10 elk hair caddis and amazingly caught a rainbow. He wanted to do better... So I fixed him up with a Rio 12' tappered leader and tippet and a few flies and we headed to the dam to try it out. It was 5 p.m. so we had all of an hour to fish. We walked into Rocking Chair from the north side- only a couple of waders in sight (no boats ) and midging trout as far as me could see. First cast for Tom using a #18 nickel-beaded black zebra midge under a palsa indicator scored him a small chub. Then is was 3 or 4 more ranbows before I even got out. We ended up catching 10 or 12 rainbows largest being about 14 inches- very pleasant evening of fishing followed by dinner with the wives at a Tai place on the strip. Oh we did switch to #22 blood thread midges about half way thru the evening.

Walleye Wally- welcome back! Where have you been? If you don't mind, I'll move this topic later today to the Bull Shoals forum- you'll get more answers if your question is posted there. Bear Creek has been a hot spot I understand. Fishing at night using slicks- most fishing is being done from the bank.

Where would this sign be? How many signs would you have? This is a mile stretch- a boat can be at the dam when the water increases to 2 units and boats at the dam wouldn't know if the sign was at the ramp. Brian- others- you have to do a better job covering all the possibilities to make your point valid, not just "they should do it!" Remember, this would be LAW, provable in court beyond a reasonable doubt. I understand your concern about speed and fog... we deal with it every evening and ever morning on the main lake. It's bad. People are stupid- and there will be an accident and someone will get hurt. It's a miracle no one has gotten seriously hurt yet.

This pic was sent to me by Rolan Duffield. I assume he took it. Rolan?

"unless there is a certain amount of generation present" How do you let this amount be known to boaters? A string of flashing lights along the bank? a continuous horn? a big ruler planted someplace showing the depth of water? Not being condescending- just trying to present the same questions posed by MDC on the bait/generation question 10 years ago.

One correction - live bait WILL be allowed. I'll have to change it on the html page.

If I see waders next to Lookout Island, I won't boat up there. But I know there are others that do and would- that's just me though. I've been on the other side- been wading in the Rocking Chair Hole and have a boat or boats cruise within casting distance... smile and keep fishing. Taney isn't that big- not as much wading area as most would like and that's one of it's downfalls. Again, I totally understand Michael's and others points... I just don't think it's feasible to expect MWP to make laws that would be difficult to enforce, especially since there's no precedent.

April Fools Trout Tournament Appropriate name don't you think. Am I having a tournament or am I not!?!?

When MDC was hosting public forums on the new regs (trophy area) back about '95, one comment was - artificial lures and flies when the water was off but allow soft plastics when the water was running (power eggs). MDC response - at what point do you call the water running? I know and you know when it's "running" but to make this a black & white issue, it would be tough. There's always movement/current say just above the ramp. Missouri Water Patrol would have to enforce this law, not MDC. They would have to make a determination, clear cut, that the Corp was actually running water to write a citation... or create the law in the first place. MDC was very reluctant to make that determination based on current/generation. I seriously doubt if MWP would make it either. They'd be more inclined to draw a line and not allow boats above- period. Much more black & white, easier for the boater to understand and easier for the courts to understand.

It's an interesting concept but it will never happen. With 2 or more units running, this will make that portion of the lake virtually unfishable. And there are periods, sometimes 3-4-5-6 months when there's 24/7 generation. Not to allow boats anywhere on a tailwater like Taneycomo is unreasonable in light of management/tourism issues. Good discussion though.

Is there any info on the internet? When? Where? Sounds interesting.