Phil Lilley

Never say never, Joe. I'd love to take you fishing down here sometime.

Summer has decided to stick around a little longer this year. Temperatures are in the 90's again this week, but being on Lake Taneycomo's cold water makes it bearable. The lake water is a cool 55 degrees, and the dissolved oxygen content is holding at about seven parts per million, which is very good for this time of year. The trout are active, feeding and fighting hard when hooked. What else does an angler wish for? Generation patterns remain the same as last weeks --- dam operators are still running at least 35 megawatts of power 24/7 and kicking it up to two to three units late in the afternoon and into the evening. This is to meet the power demand on these hot days. As soon as it cools off, I believe they won't run it as hard in the evenings. If you haven't read about it or seen the pictures, an angler caught another big brown this past week and broke the Missouri state record for brown trout again. Bill Babler, one of our long time fishing guides, was fishing with a friend Wednesday morning when he hooked and landed a 40.4 pound brown trout. He was fishing, yes, the pink worm under a float. This is the same bait I've been writing about in my fishing reports for the past ump-teen years, and he had rigged it the same way we've been describing. They were out just fishing for dinner . . . sound familiar? Scott Sandusky and his friends were doing the same thing when he caught his state record brown trout in 2009. He caught his fish on Berkley PowerEggs. The video of the weigh in has been viewed on Facebook more than 450,000 times so far, and the story made most of the major national news outlets. Babler's brown missed the world record mark by less than two pounds! So if you have to ask me, "What are they biting on?" I'd have to say Berkley's Pink Power Worm. I fished it the other day on One Cast and caught one and missed a couple of bites, all in a few minutes. I don't fish it much, but if you just want to catch numbers, it's the best. Duane advises fishing four- to five- feet deep early in the morning and then move to up to 10 feet deep when the sun gets up over the water. Again, two-pound line is a must. Both Duane and Bill have had fly fishing trips this week, and both said #14 or #16 tan or gray scuds in the trophy area are working well. Fish them under a float four- to six- feet deep and in tandem with an egg fly. Babler uses a beaded scud and egg for weight, or you can add small split shots to get them down. Again, use 7x tipper. We're still catching trout on jigs, throwing them straight with no float. Best colors are sculpin, sculpin/ginger, black and olive. The times I've gone out, early and late, the trout have been towards the top of the surface, about three- five-feet deep. I'm working either a 1/16th- or a 1/32nd-ounce jig using two-pound line, not letting it sink very much and working it at that depth. During the day when the sun is over the water, you need to let the same jig drop to the bottom and work it slowly. There are a lot of "stockers" from Cooper Creek down through Monkey Island right now. From my outings, it seems they are wanting to chase. So try a spoon or spinner and work it slowly and steadily, even trolling with it. View full article

Personally, I'd have a hard time hauling in a potential record - it all depends on the circumstances. If it was clear it would kill the fish... I don't know. I get real funny when I'm worried about a big fish's health... I can't help it. Everything was working well with Bill's catch. It didn't fight long and hard. He got it back to the dock quickly and it was swimming on its own in the tank. Everybody was excited because they knew it should be weighed and released.

The FB stuff doesn't bother me at all - I find it amusing. I don't comment on most of them - just the ones who seem truly interested. Have had some comments from the New Zealand folks... I find that pretty cool. Looking it up I see the guy didn't weigh his record till way after the fish was dead. It looks dried up on the scales... it must have lost a lot of weight before it was weighed.

Social Media can be a cesspool of hate, unfounded judgements and really stupid remarks, all of which I've had to deal with since Mr. Babler caught his big fish and we posted the video on Facebook. It has been interesting though. We are now up to 433,000 "views" on FB, most of them being "3 second views" which means people scrolled by and didn't give it a second look. But that's the way all of us judges whether a video has gone "viral" so I guess it's done well. At first, comments were pleasant. But those are our subscribers and their friends. Then the viral hit and the rest of the world chimed in. Granted, it doesn't take many bad-mannered gents to start a fight but they did... and for the most part I let them dook it out. Most people are mad at us for handling the fish too much and letting it die. Some called it an "innocent" fish. It's interesting how many assumptions were made as if they were here. We used tap water to fill the tank. Took too many pictures. We killed the fish for greed, personal gain, for glory. And I guess in a way they were right on that accusation. Could have just released it at the boat. But then there's those who say it swam away and died - shouldn't even be fishing in the first place. So it begs the question - and I thought it would be worth asking you guys. --- What would you do if you caught a state record? Release it immediately. Take it in to be weighed, thus probably killing it. Try to take it in and get it certified and try to keep it alive to be released. Kill it, eat and don't tell anyone. If you have other options, let 'er rip. I know it would depends on a lot of circumstances... trout are hard to keep alive. Location of the certified scales you have to take it to - how far away is it. Bill's fish died. Why? No way to know. Guesses - everybody has one. But this is about what you'd do if... It really is a personal decision and honestly there's no wrong answer. It rarely happens to anyone, a state record let along a world record.

We will be better prepared next time. We already had plans drawn up - and had bought and certified a scale. We just didn't think this would happen as quickly as it did. Now we're in full tilt... going to make more changes and build out a few things that will help next time. Who knows... it could be this fall. There are a lot of these big brown in that year class swimming around. We already have an oxygen tank and I'm looking at ways to aureate our tank.

Last I looked, our FB posts have reached well over 100k people with tons more sharing. This news should go around the world since it's close to the New Zealand record. So for a tiny percentage of people to make stupid remarks as well as all kinds of crazy, baseless assumptions about what happened to the fish, I'd say we've done a good job of getting the facts out there. I understand how Bill feels about catching it. I'd struggle with the same thing if it ever happened to me... but I think I know what I'd do.

Here's a little rebuttal I've posted on FB about the haters who say we KILLED the fish. Yes we did... but still have to push back a bit. The best way not to kill a big fish is to.... not go fishing #1. If you go fishing, cut your hook off and go for just strikes #2. Go fishing and if you hook a big fish, don't take it out of the water, just cut the line when it gets close #3. Go fishing and... I'm out of safe ways to keep fish alive, sorry. All fun aside, bringing this fish to the dock and getting a certified weigh DID kill this fish. The last state record we handled in February - we got lucky and it survived all our handling. This fish was bigger (4th largest brown trout ever caught), much worse DO levels in the lake (45 minute fight in February and less than a 5 minute fight today) and again - the transporting to a certified scale, on land, weighed by 2 state fisheries biologists. They said we did everything right except we should have had O2 on hand and a good aerator device - that's something we'll work on for the next big brown. That and I want to build a concrete platform for the scales closer to our fish tank. After the last record in February, we bought a professional set of scales and got them state certified so that we could weigh fish here at the resort instead of transporting them 6 miles to the hatchery. We thought we were ahead of the game... never thought we'd use them so soon after Frank the Tank (Feb. record). We will and do own some of the criticism we're getting for handling the fish. We could have done better. Bill could have just released it and we wouldn't be talking now. But the fish was very close to it's end of life cycle, and while we would have loved to watch it swim away, the fact is we'd still be catching grief because then you'd say - it swam off and died! So we'll never win the social media battle. Now I'll copy and paste this around so all those haters can read our rebuttal... and we'll call it good for now.

I got the call just after turning onto highway 86 heading for NW Arkansas and grandkids (Jimmy & Megan's). Bill said it was bigger than Frank. Marsha asked if we should turn around... Now Bill knows I love him like a brother so he won't get offended by me saying this but... he tends to exaggerate a bit. So when he said he had a big brown, I had to make a decision... keeping heading on or turn around with the possibility he did have a bigger brown. Sorry Bill, grand kids won. Then Ryan sent me a pic of it on the tournament scales - then I zoomed in and saw 40 pounds. Surely not. I was way past Dogwood Canyon. Duane called next. Shane was there... it was a record. I started managing from the truck (not driving now). Got ahold of Wes Johnson. KY3. They are always very good to us. Told the guys to get the gopros out and start planning. I knew they'd do their best with the fish. If I was there, I'd be thinking about the fish and not recording it for posterity. They needed to do both. Then I started managing FB comments. The fish died and I tried to explain. At this hour, I've given up. Shane has told us a few things about these big trout. One - you can break their back very easily... actually they can break their own back by just twisting in the new. That may have happened to this fish because when it went, it went fast they said - like it had a heart attack or something. It happened way before it was taken and weighed... it was already dying, lost color. I got all this from the guys - and I'll get even more info tomorrow when I see Duane. I just got home from Rogers. I don't think WE have seen this fish under our dock... not on video. It's SO much bigger than any other trout we've seen. But may be we can look at old underwater video and see some markings or something. I really don't think this one had a name - and we're not about to name it since it died. But man, think about releasing that one and letting it get just a little bit bigger.

The ironic thing about it is Bill hardly ever fishes himself. He was out with a friend this morning so he was fishing himself.

Fish didn’t make it.

The fish isn’t doing well now. Duane says something happened, like a switch was thrown. Lost color. No apparent reason. They were really being careful.

Official 40.4

New state record brown. Official weight 40.4 pounds. Caught by Bill Babler, a long time guide. Caught near Fall Creek on a pink power worm.

Anyone going? https://mscenicview.com/ Mark your calendars and sign up today for this event at the Meramec Scenic View Resort. Gregg Lamb, one of our fellow members is the owner and we'll have access to some great water. Fishing: You have at least 3 different floating/fishing options: Birds Nest to Garrison’s Garrison’s to MSV and MSV to Onondaga. We can self-shuttle to any of these locations. Both the Courtois and Huzzah are also close by. If you don’t want to float you can easily wade up and down from Greg’s gravel bar or the lower Huzzah is about a 15 minute drive and you can wade there. Dining: We’re providing diner on Friday; breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday. BYOB. Campfire on Friday and Saturday night. Lodging: Greg’s lodge sleeps 16-18 people. Full bathrooms, showers, kitchen. (take a look at the website). MSV isn’t a crazy campground. This is a very laid back, and quiet location. RSVP So is this free? Unfortunately not, but for $35 per night per person will pay for your lodging and food for the weekend. If you can just make it for the day, please come out and fish, hang out, eat, and just enjoy a beautiful spot. Please donate at least $10 so that we can cover all of our expenses. This is a very low-stress, fun, and relaxing way to get out and fish a really nice section of the Meramec while meeting and having fun with some of your fellow MSA members.

Come by our dock and have one of the guys show you how to rig the worm... it makes a difference.

Ha... I want to come down there and throw a hopper real bad.

It's open and very useable.

No there's not way to tell. Could be a week... could be till Christmas.

Trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo has been pretty good lately. One of our guides, Bill Babler, said his clients caught 77 trout in a 4-hour trip yesterday, both on the Berkley's Pink Power Worm and night crawlers. I'd say that's pretty good "catching". Our generation schedule has been consistent too, with no generation at night through the morning, then moderate flow in the afternoons ending about sundown. But that changed today when problems at Bull Shoals Dam caused a shift in providing power from the group of hydro dams in our grid. Here's the jest of what happened, from an email forwarded to me this Friday morning from Southwest Power Administration via Missouri Department of Conservation, Fisheries Division. "Bull Shoals regulation stopped working yesterday, and the plant was placed in manual mode." Regulation means, "running water round the clock to adjust for the small fluctuations in power demand". One dam in the system must be running water, generating power, all the time so there's no interruption of power when there's fluctuations in the grid. Regulating shifted to Table Rock Dam so now Table Rock has to keep running at least 35 megawatts (may be less, I don't know for sure) of power 24 hours a day till something changes. This minimum flow isn't much water. It's less than one full unit. The current at our dock is barely noticeable and it doesn't affect dock fishing at all. I does, though, affect wading below the dam and there is pretty good current down through Short Creek to Trout Hollow. Bottom line, we like this minimum flow because it helps trout eat more, and more often. When food is moving down with the current, fish can't help themselves - they eat. We're still on 2-pound line watch! We're telling as many people as we can - it makes a big difference! Blake, who is one of our dock hands, told me yesterday that he's converted many guests fishing off the dock to 2-pound line. After not getting a bite, he will offer to tie a short piece of light line on to their line, retie the hook and let them try again with 2-pound tippet. Wallah! They start catching trout. All it takes is about 24 inches. Why 2-pound line? Our lake water is very clear and trout see the line. I know I sound like a broken record, reading my fishing reports but I'm not going to lie, or try to sell you a different lure or bait just to sound different. The Berkley Pink Worm is still catching most of the fish for guides and second best thing is night crawlers. The go-to jig color last weekend at the Branson Firemen's Benefit was black and brown. Just ask Gerry Dwiggins, long time trout tournament fisherman, who landed and winning trout - a 23.65 pound brown trout. He hooked it below the Branson Landing and took 45 minutes to land. He was using a 3/32nd ounce jig and 2-pound line. Our brown trout do make a run to the dam area in the fall to spawn, although they are not actually successful creating any young trout. They go through the actions and lay eggs but because of water flow and temperature, none hatch. Some browns are showing up early and are being caught on small scud and midge patterns. They are seeing some nice rainbows up there too but wade fishing will be limited to close to the shore because of the minimum flows for now. Boating to the dam, though, should be easy. There's plenty of water to get to at least the Big Hole and fish the area from a boat. I'd throw a variety of jigs colors starting with black/brown, sculpin and even white. Again I'd use 2-pound line and either 1/32nd or 1/16th ounce jigs. View full article