Phil Lilley

We have a solid core of anglers who are great guys and gals... hope you become a regular poster. Welcome.

Anyone see this coming? And it's still raining. Those of us below dams are hoping we don't see heavy generation seeing the water quality we'll get won't be conducive to... fish. Fortunately there's lots of room in the lakes, at least right now. Wonder how far Beaver will rise? Table Rock?

In light of this rain we're having, I'll share this email I got the other day. I don't understand all of it but one thing I do. If they get in a spot where they have to release a lot of water, it'll be bad for the fishery below BS dam. Due to poor water quality conditions and maintenance on hydropower units, we are unable to make the authorized flood risk management releases without causing damage to the trout fishery. Because of this we perused a deviation from the water control plan to reduce releases and maintain acceptable D.O. and temperature levels below Bull Shoals and Norfork dams. The deviation will result in stages at Newport falling below 12 ft and prolonged empty dates at Bull Shoals and Norfork. Below is a summary of current actions taken to improve tailwater D.O. conditions:Beaver:- open vacuum breaker ventsTable Rock:- open vacuum breaker vents- ongoing LOX injection- effective without LOX RMGRBull Shoals:- open vacuum breaker vents- effective RMGR- reduced releases below authorized amountsNorfork:- open vacuum breaker vents- effective RMGR- 24 hr siphon operation- reduced releases below authorized amountsGreers Ferry:- open vacuum breaker ventsAll actions taken have worked to improve the water quality below the dams, however, as conditions continue to degrade our options will become fewer. We do not anticipate any significant impact to the fishery at this time but October rainfall could further complicate the situation. Feel free to give me call if you have any questions.

Me and DD are probably in...

Missed the introduction... but glad I'm caught up. Thanks for joining and posting. Fish pics are always welcome!

I don't think you'll see 3 units like today... back to the 35 mw all day after it cools off. We'll see .

Summer has stuck around late this fall (yes it has officially been autumn for a week now despite the 90-plus degree weather.) But we know the splendor of fall colors is just weeks away! It looks like we're in for a cool change this week. We've received a little heavy generation already this week, I assume because of the hot weather. It sure was nice, though, moving a lot of loose pond weed and other floating scum out of our area of the lake. That's one nice thing about being on a tail water -- we get new water every time operators run water at the dam. They're still running that minimum flow 24/7 as they have been since September 1st. No word of any changes on the horizon. Dissolved oxygen levels have been holding up pretty well, and water temperatures are about 57 degrees. When they do switch modes and start leaving the water off, I think we'll see no generation for most of the time and little generation until cold weather dominates our days and nights. The San Juan worm continues to be the hot item this week, mentioned on social media many times as the go-to fly. The best colors are pink and red in the micro version, which is basically a small diameter chenille tied on a #14 or #16 hook. The material is called micro chenille . . . go figure. Most fly fishers are using the micro San Juan in a double fly rig under an indicator. They're using a heavier fly up from the San Juan about 18- to 24-inches from, say, a weighted scud or a beaded midge. But you could use a beaded version of a San Juan by itself since the bead would take the fly down where it needs to be. You want to fish the worm, and scuds for that matter, on the bottom when drifting along in the current, so set the indicator at a depth where the flies rake across the bottom. If your flies are coming back with Taneycomo slime, move the indicator so that you're not fishing as deep. But you'll drift across shallow and deep areas, holes and flats, and will need to pick a good average depth to cover as much water as possible. Our dockhand Blake Wilson has been fly fishing quite a bit, scoring really well using a double scud rig. He's fishing a peppy scud (medium gray), two sizes under a float and drifting from the cable below the dam down to Trophy Run. He ties the smaller scud, usually a #16 or #18, as the bottom fly and a larger #14 on top, separating them by about 18 inches. He's using 6x fluorocarbon tippet. As far as where to fish either of these rigs, any fairly shallow gravel flats are best, and you'll find those areas from the dam down to Trout Hollow Resort. From Fall Creek to Trout Hollow, stay towards the inside of the bend. Drifting real worms is still the best way to catch trout below the trophy area. These two things will help you catch more fish. First, your weight. Your weight needs to match the flow of generation. When you throw the rig out, how long does it take to hit the bottom? If it goes right to the bottom, and you feel it catch and pull, you're using too much weight. Depending on the depth of water, of course, it should take a few seconds to reach the bottom, and you should feel a slight touch every once in a while. When this happens, you know your bait is skimming across the bottom like a natural worm would. Plus when a fish picks it up, you'll feel it immediately. With the present generation, all you really need is a small split shot to get your bait to the bottom. And less is better. Even if your bait isn't on the bottom all the time, it will get eaten. With too much weight you will only catch, snag and grow frustrated. The second thing is how you present your worm. Don't use the whole worm. No need to thread it, although that’s not a bad option -- it just takes too much time and is unnecessary. Pinch the worm in two. Take the piece and run your hook through the middle, letting it hang off each side. No need to hide the hook. I use a #8 short shank bronze hook by the way. And four-pound line is fine when drifting. View full article

OAF will donation September's Google Ad check to a conservation group of your choice. You have today and tomorrow (Monday and Tuesday) to suggest a conservation group, any group. Then I will create a poll and you, our members, will vote.

I got this email on Friday, August 30th, forward by Shane Bush. It's from a person who works for SPA (I won't post his name). Civil Engineer (Hydrologic) Division of Resources and Rates Southwestern Power Administration Just wanted to give you a heads up that Bull Shoals regulation stopped working yesterday, and the plant was placed in manual mode. As a result, you may have noticed that we switched regulation to Table Rock and will continue regulating with Table Rock until Bull Shoals is fixed next week. Because of Norfork’s RMGR and Greers Ferry’s flood requirements, Table Rock is our only available option for regulation. This is unlucky timing as I’m sure there were many folks looking to fly fish in Taneycomo over the holiday weekend, but unfortunately this is our only option. I asked Shane about "regulation" and this is his reply: It’s my understanding that regulating means they run round the clock to adjust for the small fluctuations in power demand. I’ll try to get a full explanation of it at our meeting with them in October. So I guess nothing has changed since then although we've seen no generation a couple of times but only for about 12 hour periods.

Scotty's Trout Dock is hosting a tournament in October you should fish...

Night crawlers are still king on Lake Taneycomo. Brown worms and pink worms. Real worms and rubber worms -- our trout like 'em both. We're still seeing non-stop generation 24/7 at 35-45 megawatts of power, which translates to about 2,500 - 3,000 cubic feet a second of flow with a bump late in the afternoon on warm days. There's no way to know how long this pattern will continue. I know there's a lot of anglers who'd love to wade and fly fish below the dam this fall. With a flow of 2,500 c.f.s., you can boat to the cable at the dam, but it is tricky. You need to know the channel and where some obstacles are, such as boulders and a stump or two. If you don't know, I wouldn't try it. The Narrows, about a half mile above Fall Creek, is the first place you need to be in the channel which is on the far let heading up. Stay close to the trees in the water. There's a big branch hanging over the lake there, so boat under the limbs. At Lookout Island, go middle right. At the clubhouse at Trophy Run, start staying middle right again, then move a little more right and stay parallel with the right bank, then turn up lake towards the top of the Chute. From there, stay in the middle all the way to the cable, but you have to stay on plane. You'll go through some real shallow water, but you should make it fine. If you don't want to take that chance, stop even with outlet #4 , where water is coming out of a pipe on the right bank. Below Fall Creek, drift night crawlers on the bottom, but you'll need to get creative on which weight to use. It all depends on where you are and how fast the water is running. In most places, you'll be using a split shot. I would not suggest using one of our drift rigs because the smallest weight is an 1/8th ounce and that's too big for most places, unless you're only drifting just below Fall Creek where the water is fairly swift. You only want to use enough weight to get your bait to the bottom, even if it takes a few more seconds to get there. You want to use enough to feel it tick on the bottom, but you don't want something too big where it bumps and hangs all the time. If you're using a drift rig, simply tie a knot on the end of your weight tag end and pinch a split shot on the line. The knot will keep the split from sliding off. Generally, if you're weight gets hung up, it will just pull off past the knot and save the rest of your rig. Pinch your worm in half and hook it once in the middle, letting it hang off the hook. You don't have to hide your hook. If the current is very slow, you may want to inject some air in the worm using a blow bottle or a syringe. This will float your worm off the bottom. On Duane Doty's guide trip the other morning, his clients - - two ladies "about my age," caught some real nice rainbows on black marabou jigs and his signature painted jerk baits in the trophy area. He said they even caught some below Fall Creek towards the end of their time, about 9 - 10 a.m.. So black may be the new color. I've been throwing the old reliable sculpin/ginger jig and doing pretty well. The best size of line and size of jig depend on the application -- and that changes moment to moment. Here's why: Any jig sinks faster the lighter your line is. Wind and current will not bother, say, two-pound line as much as four-pound line. And the faster the current is on Lake Taneycomo, the more swirls and under currents there are. So heavier jigs work better because they tend to slice through these currents better than light jigs. Same for thinner line. So I throw a small, 1/32nd-ounce jig when I want to work close to the surface in no current or slow current, two-pound line. I can work that same jig deeper if there's little or no wind but would have to go to a 1/16th-ounce jig if it was windy. If I want to work a larger profile jig like a 1/16th, I'd throw it on four-pound line. It won't sink as fast as using two-pound line. If the wind picks up and/or you've got medium to heavy current, I'll go to a heavier jig and use four-pound line. I'll pick either a 3/32nd- or an 1/8th-ounce jig depending on those factors, wind and/or current. Current depends on how much water dam officials are running, but it also depends on where you're fishing. During that 3,500 c.f.s. of flow, the current will be much faster close to the dam versus down below Cooper Creek where it will be barely moving. The Berkley Pink Worm is still catching fish early. I've seen several guides fishing in our area from daylight until 10 a.m. catching fish all during those hours -- still using two-pound line! I've seen more and more top water action above Fall Creek but haven't ventured out to try a hopper or stimulator. Shouldn't be long! There are some brown trout showing up at the outlets below the dam, but finding a spot to wade is frustrating. There's not much room up there, but if you do get a spot, a brown, tan or gray #18 scud or egg fly is working. Just ask Wendell Beard, a local, long time fly fisherman who caught and released this beautiful brown the other day. He told me he's seeing a lot of browns moving around in the past week below the dam. If you're lucky enough (and patient enough) to get a spot below outlets #1 or #2, another thing to keep in mind is that you have a pretty good chance hooking a big trout. I know I've been preaching 6 and 7x tippet lately, and you can use light tippet up there, but you're going to probably do one of two things -- break off or fight a big trout to its death. Wendell told me Monday morning that he's switching from four-pound tippet to six-pound because he's breaking off too many big browns. Food for thought. If you boat up to the cable below the dam and drift, try a beaded fly under a float with a smaller dropper. For the beaded fly, use a miracle fly (beaded egg fly), a Y2K or a beaded scud, #14 or #16. Drop a San Juan worm or another weighted scud under the beaded fly about 18 inches and fish this rig from four- seven-feet deep. Drift from the cable down to the top of Trophy Run and then drift the section from Lookout Island to Fall Creek. View full article

Love seeing the pictures... thanks

On Wednesday, October 2nd at 6 pm. Branson/Hollister Lions Club (Same location as the Branson Fly Fishing Expo.). The Branson Trout Club will have a meeting. Please join us and bring your family for Pizza and soft drinks and meet all the new members. At 7 pm. Mike Kidd (Missouri Trout Fishermen Association (MTFA) Branson Chapter Club President) will give a presentation on Crane Creek and his recent trip to Alaska. And we will talk about upcoming trout club activities.

Anybody go today? Still wanting to go may be next week.

I called Jeremy and he told me the shad were coming through starting about 1 pm. Said the fishing was slow till then. Not like Taney... once those fish see shad, they hit all the time unless they're gorged and even then they bite a little. Might have to get away from the dam area and go where they're seeing a few shad get through the gauntlet of fish. He said a peach mega worm was doing good... getting away from white. I couldn't go today. May be next week. A shad event in the fall is very strange. We've never had one here I don't think.

Think I may run down there tomorrow morning...

He's throwing a grey/white beaded streamer, not very big. But a small jig or clouser or anything white/gray should work. Unless they're seeing a ton of shad, the fish won't be too discriminating. Yeah - I'd love to make a day trip.

Jeremy Hunt just texted me pics of threadfin shad and nice rainbows caught below BS Dam today.

Incredible tools for tailwater anglers... Thanks for posting. Need to get this word out to the masses.

No I think there was a bigger brown caught in Michigan.

It's possible... sadly.