Phil Lilley

Follow up- talked to Mike Scott and his buddies- they fished the Rocking Chair all day and did exceptional. Did the best on a super scud #18 fished on the shelf rock, north bank. He released a 20 inch rainbow with lots of other nice quality browns and rainbows. Also- they mentioned seeing alot of dead trout- between 12 and 18 on the bottom from the night before. I thought low DO or they were caught and fought to death by night fishers. Not sure but it is disturbing. DO levels are very, very low at night.

Color of what?

2002 24’ Lake Sport Pontoons P #1 & P #2 $7,000.00, P # 3 $ 6,500.00 Painted Single Axle Trailers $1,550.00  14-person capacity.  6 fishing chairs, lounge seating.  2 divided aerated live wells.  12 Volt Min Kota PD trolling motor with batteries and onboard charger.  Hour meter.  P#1 756 hrs.  P#2 403 hrs. This is not accurate, new hour meter approx. 700 hrs.  P#3 684 hrs.  60 hp. Yamaha, 2 cycle, electric trim and tilt with oil injection.  Bimini Top.  Custom steel gunwales. 2003 G-3 Pro 175, 2005 40hp. Yamaha Motor 6,500.00 Trailer $500.00  4-peson capacity.  17.5’ aluminum Bass Boat.  40 Hp. Yamaha 2 stroke, electric trim and tilt, oil injected.  12Volt Motor Guide Trolling Motor with batteries.  On board battery charger.  Depth Finder.  Two pedestal deck chairs.  Aerated live well. 2002 Lake Sport CX 17 Custom fishing boat, $3,500.00 each. Trailers $500.00  Custom built for Pan Fishing, extra floatation, carries 3 big guys.  4-person capacity.  40 HP. Yamaha 2 stroke, electric trim and tilt, oil injected.  Three aerated live wells with built-in minnow bucket insert.  Tandem seating. With stainless steel side steering.  Runs shallow, fun to drive, drives like a sports car.  Entire boat sprayed with tuff liner, easy clean up.  Hour meter.  LS#1 435 hrs.  LS#2 268 hrs.  12 Volt Trolling motor with batteries and onboard charger. email - FCreek@SUNTERRA.COM

I've always done better during the new moon phaze or any cloudy night... dark. But I have done fair with a moon but not very often. Any comments?

Busy day at church today but got to get out this evening for about an hour. Boated to Fall Creek - there were quite a few trout midging, alittle chop on the water- perfect! I thought. Turned out the trout were alittle picky. Tried a brown crackleback - because that's what I finished with yesterday. Caught one small rainbow. Switched to a black #18 vinyl-bodied zebra midge under an indicator 48 inches... too deep. Shortened up to 20 inches and moved out on the gravel bar at Fall Creek and caught about 6-8 rainbows, mostly small. Wind died down but the trout kept feeding- the midge coming off were good size- #18 and grey. I stayed with what I had on and caught a few more before heading down to Short Creek. I wanted to see if there were any big rainbows left from the fall season. They were midging on the bar at Short- alot of them were way back in the mouth of the creek in very shallow water so I shortened up to 6 inches and tied a #20 black zebra on. It was tough getting them to take it but I finally got one to. Moved out and down before it got dark and caught one more rainbow. Dissapointing fishing but beautiful evening. The colors on the water are still pretty.

Jimmy T should post more pics.. esp with trout like this!!

No but I can order some. Let me know.

1 hr 45 min to Bull Shoals Dam. 2 hours to Rim Shoals. 2 hours 20 min to Norfork Dam or handicap access.

Fished alittle today - 3-dark at the dam wading. Met some guys from Tulsa FFF that are staying here for the weekend. I started above rebar shoot and they started at the head of the shoot. I believe they were fishing #16 olive scuds and hooking some trout there. I started with a #18 dark J-Scud drifting without an indicator (experimenting) and caught one brown... more or less by accident. Fishing was slow for almost everyone; not people fishing at all but I understand this morning was very crowded. We worked down below rebar and didn't do well. I saw several very nice browns and rainbows holding in the stream but they weren't doing a thing, moving away from my bug if I got it close. I caught one more brown before the horn sounded I think at 5 pm. Talked to Mike Scott when I got back to the resort- also from Tulsa. He has done well fishing from Rocking Chair down to KOA using zebra midges almost exclusively and green- yes green has been the best color- #16's and #18's. I asked him green as in olive or kelly green?? He said green. Another color I have to carry in the shop!

Two or three years ago we had a very dry winter. They didn't run much water at all and it took a toll on, I believe, the food base for the lake. Trout got pretty skinny and alot of the big trout moved out of the trophy area. A good healthy year on Taney starts with a good cold, wet winter and lots of generation. Right now, I'm hoping for a miracle and it seems it will take one to get a major change in our weather patterns. To answer your question, I don't think they will run much water if we don't see any rain.

Got a hot tip at the C of O lady basketball game tonight... white bass are being caught at Bridgeport (James River Arm) off a long, shallow point there (those who know Bridgeport know this point I guess) close to the launch. When the wind is out of the south, wade out to about knee deep and throw a rooster tail as far as you can- big whites too! That's what I heard.

Outlet #2 today - 2-3 people. Rebar shoot - 8-10 people. Someone must be reading my reports... or reading the water and seeing all those BIG trout in rebar. Agent- I understand what you're saying. But we have what we have. 23 years of "somewhat" complaining about it hasn't gotten me anywhere. Taney Co has 2 agents and that's all we're going to get. We do have "roaming" agents that help with upper Taney from Stone, Christian and Greene Co's... Taney does get special treatment at times but the trophy area isn't going to get any additional enforcement than it's getting now. And I guarantee it won't get much tomorrow!!

are down fishing Rim Shoals everyday - all day - and should have some good reports for us... soon. Jeremy is still waiting on his new computer and Brian is just bumming off Jeremy till next week. Must be nice to be young and irresponsible... ...oh did I say that?! Kidding aside- they are great guys.

If you or you know someone who fishes BS please let them know... Tell us if you catch any fish!!

Buster reported he fished the James River area today and fishing was slow. But the dam area and Kimberling City area are fishing much better- if you like fishing DEEP. He said on main lake points out in the mouths of the cove in 35-40 feed deep (find the shad) and drop football jigs- normal colors (pumpkin and green)- as well as night crawlers. Catching BIG kentuckies. Cooler weather and cooler water is need to run the bass up the coves and in shallower water. Crappie- fair. Heard Cricket is just fair and a big crappie is only 10 inches. May be Buster's wife will let him used the computer someday and he can make his own reports

Fished alittle before a meeting at 1 pm... fished below the dam between 11 am and 12:30 pm. No waders- just jeans and tennis shoes. Started along the bank below #2 and worked down to #3 outlet. Still tons of trout schooling up and down, in and out and not looking to feed much. Did hook a couple of small rainbows on a #20 ostrich tan scud fished below a half palsa indicator 18 inches- 7x tippet. I've broke off more fish the last 3 days and I'm not sure why- bad tippet? bad knots? no touch?! I'm getting a complex. Down at #3 I caught another couple of rainbows at the tail end of the shoot. No one fishing it so I thought, what the heck. A nice gentleman walked down out of the outlet and slowly nudged his way down till he was literally standing where I had been fishing and started casting up the shoot. Oh well. I caught a nice rainbow out in the dead water well outside the outlet stream and called it a trip. I told him the hole was all his and he smiled and waved... he didn't have a clue he had done what he did. Talked to Jake Schneider this evening- came into the shop. He said he's had a great time fishing below the dam the last couple of days. He's here with his wife for some of the veteran activities is town. Said he caught 10 rainbows over 4 pounds yesterday and one today that measured over 24 inches. He said he's catching them on Brad's jigs - I assume the 1/32 oz he tied with a hackled body wrap. Should have asked the color. Maybe his daughter Gretchen will reply and tells us (hint). She's at home and green with envy. Lots of guys (and gals) are arriving for the weekend from the Tulsa FFF club. Tomorrow there's storms in the forecast but fishing should be great. Crowds are way down at the dam and on the lake.

Boulders... that's an idea! I think MDC should post signs that state- "For as long as an angler holds a trout out of the water, he/she is required to hold his/her breath." "If a slot-trout (12 to 20 inches) is killed due to being mishandled, the guilty angler is required to take the expired trout to the hatchery center and report the violation."

Is there much traffic on the river this time of year? Weekends? I bet the trees were beautiful last week.

I don't have an issue with the "lack of enforcement" some talk about. Sure MDC could add agents but even then, they can't be all places at the same time. All violations are never going to be witnessed by an agent. They are a deterrent- just knowing he may be across the lake watching with binoculars keeps most people on their toes. My issue is with the agent(s) not enforcing a law that's posted clearly- either enforce the rules or take them off the books. It's irritating to an angler who reads the sign, says something to the guy fishing by the "no fishing" sign and his reply is - "oh they don't enforce that law so go jump in the lake". And I happen to think there's a good reason the rule is there presently. And the binocular thing... he's called me on my cell once while I was drifting up there and ask about a brown I had just released. They are watching.

I've heard several guys are going over for the opening of catch and release season. Post a report and let us know how it was if you go. (start another topic please for the report) I know Brad Wright is going to be there but he's not computer savey so I know he won't be posting anything.

Fished again last evening- this time for supper. I boated up to Riverlake Resort (my motor got hot so I started there) and worked back down to the resort. Casted red #16 zebras under an indicator 12 inches to surfacing rainbows and caught a dozen before it got too dark to see the indicator. 3-4 rainbows were small- 5-6 inches! They didn't look like Neosho fish and it's too early for their stocking- that usually happens in December. So Shepherd must have had to dump some small ones. They really like to come up around the trees this time of year. But they still love the zebra! No surface action this am in front of the office but at the dam the last 2 mornings, midge hatch hasn't come off till the sun gets up over the water.

Speaking of flying- a helicoptor made a crash landing in the field above the resort yesterday. He was flying down the lake when his engine popped and stopped. He was about 500 feet up and managed to bank to the field and set it down. Did bend the landing skids. It was a 2-seater, one local guy flying. He's one of the "airport bums" at C of O's airport, friend of my father-in-law who's also a pilot. He was very fortumate! Helicopters don't glide very well.

Or something like that... I'm going to take a pic of the signs MDC has posted at the outlets cause... I'm real confused. Above the present lake level means what???!! Set your head to the waters surface and look sideways and you'll see the "present level". Then pear to the outlets and you'll see the water in falling down the sloop which means the water level in the outlets is higher than the present lake level. Then there should be fishing in the outlets!!! But I asked one of our agents and he said he wouldn't write tickets for fishing in the outlets. That's where my confusion starts. If you're going to have signs and/or rules - enforce them. If you're not going to enforce the rules- TAKE THE SIGNS DOWN!! Simple! BUT I have a problem allowing people to fish for those trout in outlet #3. They're in a small stream not more than 12 feet across and 24 inches deep and they are simply trapped- they can't get away from the angler with his 9 foot rod. They get hammered all day unless they are caught out or happen to have the sense to move down out of there. I don't see anything wrong with throwing a couple of times at holding fish in the shoot as you walk through... it is fun to be able to watch how a trout reacts to a fly drifting by. But to stand and cast to the same 3-4-5-7-8 fish for hours on end in a limited stream like #3 is too much. Get a life! And where's the challenge in hooking these fish? It's not like Crane Creek where you have the same conditions but you have to literally crawl to the holes or the trout will disappear because they are WILD TROUT and they have places they can hide. Sorry for those who kick- and those who fish outlet #3 - but you really should learn how to fish before you call yourself a fisherman.

Fished with Vince Elfrink this morning- got to the tailwater at 6:30 am and walked in to below the rebar hole and started drifting egg flies and scuds. Vince joined me about 7 and quickly started showing me how to do it. He was using #20 tan or ginger ostrich scuds and kicking my butt. So I switched and started doing better. We caught about half rainbows and half browns- Vince had one brown pushing the trophy limit and I caught a brown with the biggest brown spots (pics). Vinced hooked 2 trout- one rainbow and one brown- that would have gone over 25 inches each but the hook pulled out of both. Before we quit at 1!:30 we fished between #2 and #3 along the bank using the same flies and caught some nice rainbows and saw some real big trout. There are still ALOT of browns below the dam and tons of rainbows- just lots of trout. It was definately better later in the morning. I'm going to write an article on presentation very soon. More and more I reallize it's not the size tippet, it's not even the fly but it's presentation that catches fish. If that fly doesn't look right in the water, if it's not in the right place or moving naturally, it won't get bit. Did see 2 things that didn't make my day. An angler fishing in the rebar shoot early hook and fight was appeared to be a fouled hooked big fish, land it, hold it down on the gravel for the longest time, it looked like he was digging something out of it's side, holding it up for a pic, dropping it on the gravel, putting it back in the water and working with it maybe for a minute (tops) and watching it float downstream. Later I fished in the hole below the shoot and found a freshly dead rainbow, still limber, about 18-19 inches. I kicked it up where I could pick it up and found the gills still pink. It was the rainbow he had killed. I believe he was a local so if he reads this- congrats! You killed a nice fish for what??!! You should sell all that fancy gear you had on and go back to school- learn how to be a real angler. #2 - this one I'm not going to be quite as tough on simply because I didn't go up and ask to measure the fish but... A guy carried a rainbow out of the stream #3 outlet and cleaned it, bagged it and carried it to his car. It looked to be short of 20 inches. Vince thought it would have been close- I didn't think so. He came back to the stream and continued fishing. He saw me look at him... and again, I'm not swearing it wasn't 20 but I'd bet a bunch of money on it. I thought it was 17-18 inches. But that brings me to my soap box and fishing #3 outlet. I'm going to start another thread on that point.

Pattern Name: Zebra Midge Category: Midge Difficulty: 1 - Easy Target Species: Trout Hook: TMC 2487, #12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22 Thread: Uni-Floss or Uni-Thread 6/0 in red, black, olive, white, tan Tail: none Rib: midge or small copper, silver or gold wire, depending on the size hook Body: Thread or other ribbing material such as vinyl rib, D-rib or lavra lace (Orvis) Head: Tungten bead (gold, silver, copper) or glass bead (red, black, clear) , again depending on the size hook Instructions: Run the bead up on the hook and start thread at head, securing the bead and working down on the hook. Some like to start the wire at the beginning by sticking the end up against the bead and wrapping back across the hook and wire. Stop the thread at the desired body length and wrap back to the head. Wrap the wire, segimenting the body evenly. Some like to add a turn or two of natural peacock herl at the head behind the bead. Tie off and cement. Vinyl ribbed bodies don't need segimented... subtract the wire altogether from the recipe. How to Use: Under an indicator anywhere from 12 to 48 inches, depending on where fish are holding. If fish are feeding on the surface, set the indicator shallow. Use a Zebra as a second fly under a scud close to the bottom. Change depths and colors till you find the right combination.