Phil Lilley

OzarkAnglers.Com has a list of tournaments here. http://ozarkanglers.com/tr_tournaments.php

When the water temp reaches about 60+ about mid May.

Sam- I caught a bunch of black crappies last spring out towards Gages in Long Creek and you're right about blacks spawning later than whites... I hadn't thought about it. Do you think the pressure on these crappie eacly like this will make a difference in the numbers caught later- and the success of the spawn? It just seems everyone is slaying lots of keepers now and it's just January- well February.

True story- a friend of mine was fishing with Mike Abdon, a former Taney Co MDC agent on Table Rock one day. They went into the State Park Marina cove and started to fish in the empty stalls of the dock when an employee came out and said they couldn't fish there. They asked why? He said they had the right to keep people from fishing close to their dock. Mike asked by what law was he quoting from - he couldn't answer. Mike then preceded to read him the riot act, saying the State Park didn't own or wasn't leasing the water but the space on top of the water and the land adjacent to the dock. And that interfering with a law abiding fisherman by harassment was against the law and if ever did again Mike would cite him. Call the sheriff and press charges if the law allows you to.

Unique Visitors - 8,785 Visits - 25,812 Pages - 192,564 Hits - 1,607,918 Some of you know what all this means... I haven't figured it all out yet. But we're up about 30% over December. Pages were down???? and so were hits. How can that be? As I said- I can't make alot of sense of it. Maybe it's a gov't thing.

Standing- Willis/Willis - 7.92 big brown 2.84 (20.1 inches) Dudley/Dudley - 7.64 w/ big rainbow 1.44 Hittler/Dielt - 6.68 .98 Hathman/Banover 6.40 1.16 Stockton/Stockton 6.20 .98 Hawkins/Hawkins 6.12 .94 Dishman/Plotner 6.08 1.36 Dwiggins/Wucher 6.06 1.24 Burckhardt/Dwiggins 5.88 1.10 Dishman/Dishman 5.88 .94 Elfrink/Pingleton 5.70 Weldele/Frenzel 5.64 Rasnick/Pitts 5.48 Slagle/Miller 5.32 Biermann/Gust 5.20 Martin/Griesse 5.12 One brown over 20. What's with the wrestling match!?

We've seen browns up to 50 pounds under our dock feeding on fish guts. We see these "pigs" mainly in the summer. They migrate between docks up and down the lake. I'd guess we've seen a dozen over 30 pounds over the years- have found, dead, 3 browns well over 35 pounds- one over 42 pounds.

Rigging flies depends on many different situations and techniques. Just like using lures, conditions of the water, weather, what the fish are doing, how deep they are, where they are, what are they feeding on... and add hundreds of different lures and equipment- you see what I mean. Flies are not different. It may be good if you read some of the articles posted here, read some of the threads dealing with fly fishing and then ask specific questions- you're sure to get good answers. Welcome!

Greener grass??!? The grass is greenest over a septic field!! Gotta give my fishing buddy, Jeremy, a hard time. He's the best... a great fisherman with a soft heart. He's grown up here in the Branson area and knows the lakes. We're blessed to have him on the board. Now- hopefully he won't lose his job at CenturyTel for reading and writing on the forum!!!

Back from the field... great time with friends. It was 83 yesterday!! May have been a record out there. Stayed in Greensburg, KS and hunted north and south of Mullinville. Saw tons of birds, knocked down about 30 and found 17. Very poor finding them this time. Almost hated to pull the tigger if we were walking thick CRP cause we knew it would be difficult finding them But even lost one in thin wheat stubble- boy they can hide if you don't kill them. I dog would have helped. Would love to get another bird dog but just isn't the right time- Anyhow- lots of birds for next year we're happy to report!! Pics in the photo forum.

Took these at the end of the day, end of the month, and end of the bird season. We didn't even have our guns loaded- just sat and watched the colors change and listen to the pheasants cackle. http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset2-wp.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/big-sunset-1800.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset1-wp.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset3-wp.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset5-1800.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset4-wp.jpg http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2006/sunset/sunset6-1500.jpg

If you want big trout try trolling a rapala or lucky craft from Cooper Creek down to the bridges and even lower in the lake. Thanks the best and easiest way to have a chance at a big trout (brown).

Sounds like we have alot to learn from you, Jonathan. Everyone is valueable to the forum but your unique interests and location will add diversity. I've fished for many species of freshwater fish in my time but I'm getting more and more interested in fishing for carp and catfish... am even thinking about hiring a guide and fishing for big cats on Truman this summer.. Welcome!

To add to Mike's report, we pretty much stayed with 6x tippet the whole time. Water was fairly clear but not so clear that I felt 7x was necessary. The water was on and off each day except for Wednesday (?) morning. One generator seemed to provide good fish activity and red midge pupa for 18 to 22 worked fairly well yielding fish from about 11 to 15 inches. One guy near me did land an 18 incher on the aforementioned red pupa with a tungsten head. He tied his using larva wrap. Some weight was required to get the midges down without the tungsten head (which was what I was using). My flies had a red glass bead head and worked well. I tried streamers (wooly buggers, white marabou with peacock and muddler minnows) to no avail, although I heard others say they were picking up fish on a small (12-14) black bugger. I tried woollies in black with furnace hackle, orange, and ginger, all weighted but caught nothing. The combinations that worked for me were scuds with a San Juan worm in tow (red or brown), Black zebra midges with copper or brass wire wrap and bead heads. I caught several fish on pumpkin and partridge soft hackles on Friday. The fish were midging pretty good for a couple of hours after the water started to recede and the soft hackles were just the ticket. In talking with some guys from Kansas City close to me on the river (we were strung along the shoal downstream from the access at the Rocking Chair) they also had luck with soft hackles in olive and brown. I tie mine with a wire wrap, don't know about theirs. Bead head midges seemed to work better than those without and red or black were the preferred colors. I tried a number of different scuds and the flashback varieties out performed the others. Tried you "roo" scuds. I think I got one fish but the flashback in gray to olive really caught fish. Over the three days I only caught one brown about 15 inches. Everything else was rainbows, all fat and strong. We really enjoy your place and your fly shop is excellent with very fair prices. We'll be back. Keep up the good work. Fish more, Stan

The following is my report on Stan Hanold and my stay with you Wednesday, Jan 25 & Thursday, Jan 26th. Once again thanks for your offer and I hope you find the following useful. I want to preface this by admitting a certain apprenticeship that I am enjoying and hopefully you will understand that my presentation ability and lack of knowledge almost certainly plays the greater role in my success then what I'm using or how the fish are biting in general. However, we both enjoyed our stay and I'm sure we will be returning often to you resort and have much better numbers to relay. We got on the water around 11:30 Wednesday. They were not running any generation and the water clarity I thought was pretty good. We were fishing rocking chair and headed for the riffle on the other side, just beyond the rock that is visible when the water is pretty low. I was fishing a scud with a size 20 zebra midge dropper but had no luck. I switched to a size 18 midge and had a couple of fish take them. I went upstream toward the dam but below rebar and fished off the rock bar with a size 18 red midge and a similar dropper with limited success (one). They started generating and we closed up shop around 4. Thursday we got on the river about 11. They had stopped generating and the water was falling. We started out at rocking chair. I put on a size 18 zebra midge tied off of a flashback scud. Some success but I went on up the shore toward the dam. I had some luck with a size 10 black Wooly Bugger below the overlook. Then switched to about a size 20 double midge set up and had some success above the discharge. I fished back down the side to rocking chair with no luck using a variety of midge, scud, bead head combinations out of desperation. I will admit that there were people catching fish pretty regularly on the other side so I am assuming that what is lacking is a certain amount of skill and knowledge by the author. We fished till almost 6 that evening. Friday we got to rocking chair about 10. Water was up to the point that there was little bank or bar to walk and the clarity was fair. Stan stayed at rocking chair and I decided to go up river and fish the bank much as possible. I had a size 18 green flashback scud with a size 20 orange scud dropper. I caught 3 up from rocking chair about 200 yards around a tree in the water. I kept using the same setup and caught another couple at rebar. I continued up toward the dam and switched to a double small midge rig with limited success. Once again, there were a couple of guys at rebar and below on the other side absolutely slaying them. Pride kept me from shouting across the river for what they were using. On the way back downstream, I switched to a size 20 blue wing olive and had a few takes fishing the slack water and eddy's. Stan had good luck staying put but I'll let him report the particulars. That is about it. Once again, thanks and we look forward to our next getaway. Sincerely, Mike Pitchford

Walleye have been stocked in TR for ??? years. I've reported on this stat before but can't remember- Bill Anderson told me. I do remember the number of years was alot higher than I expected - like 10-15 years. I've search OA for it and haven't come up with the number yet.

Here's the response from MDC Phil, I am not aware of this algae having been found in Taneycomo to date. However, I can't say that we have loooked either. We will check it out. I have pasted in some information from Mike Kruse and Craig Fuller below. Mike wrote: It's known also known as "rock snot." Its an invasive algae that has recently made an appearance in a variety of North American and New Zealand trout waters. I did a google search and found a few items: http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/13654884.htm http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?i...on/75-algae.inc Like most invasives, its real effect on native biota is unknown. Craig wrote: Historically, Didymosphenia geminata was a rare and beautiful diatom restricted to pristine lakes and streams of northern latitudes. In recent years, its reputation has been compromised. While the diatom is still lovely, it is no longer rare. Didymosphenia geminata now forms excessive growths in Boulder Creek, as well as many streams of western North America. Didymosphenia geminata attaches to stream substrates by secreting a stalk. In some streams, the stalks of D. geminata cover almost all available substrates, forming dense mucilaginous mats up to several centimeters in length. The dense mats prevent the growth of other diatom species, which are an important source of food for aquatic invertebrates. Associated with increased populations of D. geminata is a decrease in abundance of aquatic invertebrates. In turn, the species and availability of invertebrates impacts fish at the next trophic level. There is reason to be concerned about the negative impact of D. geminata on fisheries, especially given the spread of the diatom across watershed boundaries. What has changed to allow D. geminata to take on the characteristics of an invasive species? Has the environment changed, or did an aspect of the ecological tolerance of D. geminata itself change? Connections between the features of the diatom (cell size, stalk composition), other organisms (mayflies, stoneflies, midge larvae), and the physical environment (stream flow, ultraviolet light, temperature, sediment) may play a role in explaining the dense growths of this diatom and its impacts at the watershed scale. http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/crg/colloquia/2005/feb17.html Chris Vitello Fisheries Regional Supervisor Missouri Department of Conservation

If you have problems- send me an email phil@lilleyslanding.com

Some guys cleaned a bunch of suckers last night and they had tons of eggs. Alot of the guts dropped into the tank where the camera is mounted (fish aquarium), behind the camera upstream. The trout this am were fighting to get ot the guts and were all over the camera- the water was running so the eggs and other morsels were floating in front of the camera so we had a chance to watch the eat- and eat. There's still alot of stuff in the tank and when they start running water toight- if they do- it should be interesting. So it's sucker eggs you're seeing.

I'm leaving myself for a day with my daughter in KC--- Be patient in trying something new like jigs. They will work extremely well if you give them the chance. Change colors, depths, areas- seek out riffled surfaces if they are scattered. Trim your jig if bites are short- pinch don't cut!! And under a float, micros are the best if you want to pay the price. Brown, olive, black or scuplin. Pink if the water is running.

In regards to Steve's post and the eggs- they wouldn't be legal in Missouri, fly/lure only. They are soft plastic, regardless of being scented. They look real good though!!

Glad to see you... Hope we can help you with your fishing on the Little Red.

Got a reply from Chris Vitello, MDC. Here's what he wrote - 1/26/06 Phil, I have consulted with others within MDC and have actually secured one of these lures to consider its status. A couple of points. 1. I suggest that you post the following information from theWildlife Code of Missouri somewhere for your clients ... maybe on the forum: 3 CSR 10-20.805 Definitions (22) Flies, lures and baits: (A) - Natural and scented baits - A natural fish food such as bait fish, crayfish, frogs permitted as bait, grubs, insects, larvae, worms, salmon eggs, cheese, corn and other food substances not containing any ingredient to stupefy, injure or kill fish. Does not include flies or artificial lures. Includes dough bait, putty or paste-type bait, any substance designed to attract fish by taste or smell and any fly, lure or bait containing or used with such substances. ( Soft plastic bait (unscented) - Synthetic eggs, synthetic worms, synthetic grubs and soft plastic bait. © Artificial Lure - A lure constructed of any material excluding soft plastic bait and natural and scented baits as defined in (A) or ( above. (D) Fly - Artificial lure constructed on a single-point hook, using any material except soft plastic bait and natural and scented bait as defined in (A) or ( above, that is tied, glued or otherwise permanently attached. The lure in question as pictured on your website and the one that we examined is definitely NOT a fly, because it has two hooks. However, it is legal in Lake Taneycomo both above and below Fall Creek because it does qualify as an "Artificial Lure" under the definition above. Hope this helps.

I find when trout are midging they are mostly taking pupa from the film Imitating this is tough- for me anyhow. I have better luck using zebra midge which are beaded or a midge like a miracle or even a thread midge and sink it under the surface 3-6-12 inches deep. Then even in slick water conditions, a good drift will produce a take while something on the surface or in the film may not look right to the trout. I borrowed the image from http://westfly.com

Castaic makes a big rainbow soft plastic bait. Made just for those California lakes.