Phil Lilley

I'm having rack cards designed and printed for the trout parks. I'm covering Bennett. I need the other parks covered. I need a couple-few-volunteers to take the cards and give them to the local bait shop as well as putting them on cars(?) and leaving them around in spots where anglers will pick them up. These are OzarkAnglers.Com cards. I'm hoping to bring the crowds to the forum. I should have them by the end of next week. They will go out in the mail on Friday or Saturday, Feb 17 or 18. Any takers? Same message will posted on the other park forums.

I'm having rack cards designed and printed for the trout parks. I'm covering Bennett. I need the other parks covered. I need a couple-few-volunteers to take the cards and give them to the local bait shop as well as putting them on cars(?) and leaving them around in spots where anglers will pick them up. These are OzarkAnglers.Com cards. I'm hoping to bring the crowds to the forum. I should have them by the end of next week. They will go out in the mail on Friday or Saturday, Feb 17 or 18. Any takers? Same message will posted on the other park forums.

I'm having rack cards designed and printed for the trout parks. I'm covering Bennett. I need the other parks covered. I need a couple-few-volunteers to take the cards and give them to the local bait shop as well as putting them on cars(?) and leaving them around in spots where anglers will pick them up. These are OzarkAnglers.Com cards. I'm hoping to bring the crowds to the forum. I should have them by the end of next week. They will go out in the mail on Friday or Saturday, Feb 17 or 18. Any takers? Same message will posted on the other park forums.

I guess you didn't catch any fish...

You can print the full map on 8.5 x 14 legal paper. The others may be too big for 8.5 x 11. I'm going to buy adobe acrobat soon and put them in a pdf format- then they will be easier to print.

It's done except some fine tuning- see the James River Forum

Need to downsize your photos before you attach them - maximum of 500 pixels wide, 72 dpi.

http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/full.jpg This one should be printable. Full map with corrections.

flytyingforum is the forum I patterned OAF after- at least the software program. They have alot of international people there- really big. What we want to do is concentrate on local flies for trout, bass- freshwater fish in our lakes and streams.

finished, but if anyone has names of holes, bends or riffles, I can add them. http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/lower1.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/lower2.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/mid1.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/mid2.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/mid3.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/upper1.jpg

Actually fishing down there has been good- try up from the mouth of Bull Creek or boat up past Bee Creek and try trolling in that area with inline spinners or medium sized crank baits. Lots of trout reported in those areas lately.

Low water = easier to find fish? It makes sense.

Not sure if the warning is still in effect for the James- I think it is but it's got to be better than is was... Here's something interesting I found - Southwest Missouri Water Quality Project, Betty Wyse, Environmental Resources Coalition PowerPoint Presentation (Handout of presentation) Betty said that several years ago, watershed managers in the outhwest area began to feel pressure in their area from urbanization and development. There are four major active watershed groups that have been working in this area. They include the James River Basin Partnership, Table Rock Lake Water Quality Initiative, Watershed Committee of the Ozarks, and the Upper White River Basin Foundation. These groups felt they needed assistance because of the development from tourism, from retirement, and from growth in agricultural industries. They organized a Watershed Summit a few years ago. As a result of the Summit they came up with four concerns they felt needed to deal with in their watersheds. They approached their legislative and Congressional delegation with their recommendation. Senators Bond and Talent came through with assistance in 2004--$10 million over five years with no match required. The money is just now becoming available for use. Betty began working on the project in May 2005. Some of the goals include to protect water quality and maintain critical ecosystems; protect multi-billion dollar economic base generated by tourism, agriculture, and other industries in southwest Missouri; identify and address major water quality problems. Implement education and outreach, demonstrate effective water quality practices, and develop infrastructure. The project area includes the basins of James River, Table Rock, Upper White River, Elk River, Spring River, and Upper Sac River above Stockton Lake. This includes 14 counties. The Environmental Resources Coalition is the neutral party to administer the funding. An Advisory Committee includes the four original watershed groups plus the managers of two other watershed groups, Elk River Watershed Improvement Association and Shoal Creek Watershed Improvement Association. http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/wpp/wqcc/wqcc-m-111505.pdf That's alot of money- I hope they do something constructive with it.

Our shop opens at 7 am.

updated maps - http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8d.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8e.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8f.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8g.jpg

Stop in a get a map at our office. It'll have the channel and gravel bars marked. You won't have much problems till you get up past Trout Hollow. As far as where to fish jig-n-float- any place really. Go into the gym (at the college) and ask for Vince. He's the king of jig-n-float.

In the winter, Babler preaches transision banks- banks that go from bluff to flat. I've heard it's called a highway for fish to travel from deep to shallow water without having to move up and down the bank. He has a house at Shell Knob and it's his backyard so... when he gets back from St Louis Friday he can answer your question better.

No I didn't. Send it email.

Updated maps - these are split so they are bigger and easier to read. Christian provide me additional accesses. I need road names next- the map I have doesn't have names. But they should be easy to get. pl Comments!!?? http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8a.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8b.jpg http://ozarkanglers.com/james_river/2-8c.jpg

The Corp is being very stingy with their water (and it is their water!) these days. Like this morning (Tuesday), they're running just a tad. More likely you'll see it running in the late evening but mostly- no generation. Some have asked about generation this weekend- don't count on it... very doubtful! So it's fishing no current- flat water- which we've had for months now. That's not a bad thing. The trout are used to no water... they are confortable... and that's good for us fisherpeople. This past weekend, bait fishing was almost excellent. I always hesitate to use that word- excellent- because someone in the newspaper business (Larry Hazelrigg from the Sringfield NewsLeader) told me one time that excellent meant EVERYONE was catching fish and that's had to say. But it was almost... Power bait in white and another color like pink, orange or yellow was good using 4 lb line and a split shot. Night crawlers shot with alittle sir to float them was good too, catching alittle bigger trout than PB. Minnows were slow but you have a better chance in catching a brown using a minnow. Fish them on the bottom or under a float 5-7 feet deep. Jig fishing was great except when the wind got going Saturday. Straight line jigging was almost impossible but using a float wasn't bad. Dark colors worked best- brown, black (Best), sculpin and olive. Micro jigs worked best under a float in olive... fishing it 4-5 feet deep. Use 4 lb line - ok - but using 2 lb best. The area around Short Creek was hammered over the weekend so not sure you're going to find any quality trout there. The biggest rainbows were caught down at Monkey Island and even further downstream- post the bridges. Trophy area - zebra midges in black with a metal head (gold, silver or copper) under a float 12 inches was king. Lots and lots of rainbows caught but not very many caught in the slot (12-20 inches). John Johnson fished a bit last week and used a stimulator as an indicator and caught several rainbows on the dry fly. He was fishing from his boat below Lookout. Micro jig under a float still was best using a spin cast- 2 lb line. Below the dam, not a whole lot of people fishing during the week. Midge larva out performed scuds with all the midge hatches going on. Thread midges, miracles, WD40, RS2... small in #20's and #22's using 6x to 7x fl tippet. Cracklebacks and soft hackles when the wind picked up and there was a little chop on the water. Even a wooly worked good in really choppy conditions. Also dries did fair- renegades, elk hair caddis, griffith's gnat. Lots of rainbows but the small ones have invaded up there too so you have to fight thru the dinks to catch the big ones. Night fishing continues to be the best time to catch bigger trout below the dam. Throwing floating rapalas - very good - working them slow across the surface. Woolies, buggers, streamers, matookas, mohair leach, sculpins.

You guys should get Vince Elfrink to take you fishing. Franks- Vince started the same way you did- fishing from the bank. I remember those good ol' days.

Just wanted to put a bug in your ear... and hopefully a big red "x" on your calendar: 2nd Annual YMCA Fishing for Families Lake Taneycomo Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina Date: Monday, May 15, 2006 Format: Enter a full team of 4 people to fish out of one boat -or- Enter a team of 3 people to fish with a "guide" in his boat, with his tackle. So Pro's and Am's and fish this! Costs: $375 per team. If you're using one of our guides, each person pays $125 each. The guide donates his time, boat, tackle and gas. Otherwise, it's still $375 per team. Schedule: • Check-in starts at 7 a.m.- Of course you don't have to be here that early but we will have breakfast for those who come. • Instruction at 8:15 a.m. - We will hold a short-n-sweet Trout Fishing 101 course for those who have never fished for trout. • Drawing at 8:40 a.m. - For those who don't have a full team (with a guide), a drawing will be held to put guides with teams. • Briefing 8:45 a.m. - A briefing will be held at 8:45 a.m., quickly going over the rules, getting everybody into boats, life jackets on and hats pulled back. • Start fishing 9 a.m. - Leave the dock... you're off! • Weigh-in 1 p.m. - that’s when the fish hit the scales! Rules: • Each team is allowed to weigh 8 trout- (2 per person.. the guide fishes too!). • Heaviest total weight wins. • Tie—largest trout will determine winner. • Bait is allowed. • No culling what-so-ever. Once you have 4 limits of trout in your livewell, you're done "keeping" trout. You may continue fishing but you can't catch and replace trout from the livewell. • All MDC rules apply. Prizes and trophies will be awarded. Lunch and fellowship follows the tournament. All proceeds will go to the construction of a new YMCA facility in the Branson/Hollister area. In 2005, over $5,000 was raised at this event. We are currently looking for "guides" and team members to sign up for this event. If you'd like to become a guide, you must have a boat that will hold 4 people comfortably as well as knowledge of Lake Taneycomo, catching trout and the equipment for 4 people to do so. If you'd like to fish on a team or enter a team of 3 fisherpersons, send me the money! Teams will be limited to the number of volunteer guides. In 2005, there were 16 teams. Scenes from the 2005 event - http://ozarkanglers.com/YMCA/fishing2005/

There's a road that takes off to the east/south from Blue Eye and ends up in Long Creek- actually Bushy- that's great crappie fishing in April. Also, another road takes you into Ark to Long Creek- the road crosses Yoccum Creek- there's bank fishing there for whites and crappie.

http://www.mcflyshop.com/reports/ A duplication but worth it.