Phil Lilley

https://youtu.be/v9zbA2v33mo

RAIN COULD PROMPT LARGE RELEASES FROM WHITE RIVER BASIN LAKESLITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Army Corps of Engineers is advising people in flood plains downstream of Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork dams in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri to maintain awareness and monitor lake levels and weather. These lakes remain nearly full from spring rains, and more rain is forecast in the coming days.In the last 180 days, between 25-50 inches of rain has fallen across the White River Basin. The average is between 20-25 inches. During May and June much of the rainfall fell in areas that are not controlled by the White River dams. The uncontrolled runoff from those rains have kept the river high at Newport and Georgetown reducing our ability to lower lake levels without impacting farmers during their crucial planting time.So what does this all mean?"Our water control manual dictates how and when we can release water from our White River dams and we have been making maximum allowable releases from our lakes this spring although they have been holding more and more water," said Col. Robert Dixon, Little Rock District commander. "Our lakes are performing as intended but they have limitations and cannot prevent all flooding."Once a lake is full, it has reduced capacity to lower downstream flood crests. Water still flowing into the lake must be released from the dam because there is no storage space left. This is sometimes referred to as "passing inflow." When passing inflow, a dam does not make conditions downstream any worse than what the natural condition the river would be without the dam in place. It is just that the dam is unable to do as much to reduce downstream flooding under those conditions. "The reservoirs have limitations that Mother Nature can exceed, and sometimes she does," said Dixon. "If the National Weather Service's forecast for the next seven days holds true, we may need to make releases from Beaver, Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes." People in at-risk areas should stay in contact with local emergency officials. If larger than normal releases are required from a dam, warnings will go out through local emergency management channels.

Our weather has tamed down this last week here in the Lake Taneycomo area. The upper White River watershed has received less than an inch of rain which brought Table Rock Lake up inches and Beaver Lake about a foot. Beaver Lake is now about 9 inches from topping their flood pool, 1130 feet. If ti goes over, anything that runs into Beaver Lake gets released, no matter how much water that is. There's some rain in the forecast but not much. We'll see what happens. Generation here on Taneycomo has been fairly consistent. There's no generation mornings during the week with 2 to 3 units in the afternoons but on weekends they're running 2 units around the clock. Not sure if this pattern will continue. Our water is very clear, temperature is running about 45 degrees. When they are generating, we're seeing quite a bit of green algae flowing down the lake. Most of this is coming from Table Rock Lake but some is breaking loose from the bottom of our lake. Algae doesn't hurt the fish -- they actually eat some of it. It does muck up our bait, lures and flies when fishing though. Our trout have been a little fickle this past week, biting some days and not others. Even when fishing conditions are good (cloudy, a little wind), they aren't bitting like they should. That's my take anyhow. Early and late in the day is the best fishing, and stay in the shade as much as possible when fishing on bright, sunny days. If the trout are really getting fussy, I suggest tying on a 2-3 foot section of 2-pound line or better yet, spool an extra spool with 2-pound line. I'm going to almost exclusively 2-pound line when throwing small jigs when the water is off because I'm having much better luck doing so. I'm throwing 1/32nd and 1/16th-ounce jigs when there's no generation and working them fairly deep. Best colors are sculpin/ginger or peach, olive, brown and brown/orange. When the water is off and you're bait fishing, I'd definitely suggest using 2-pound line, especially if you're not having much luck. Under these clear-water conditions, fish will see your line when it's stationary and not bite because of it. If you're fishing a jig or fly under a float and it's stationary, again, fish will see the line and not bite. Two-pound fluorocarbon is the best thing to use when fishing anything stationary (not moving). But if you're catching fish on 4-pound line, don't change. Just keep the 2-pound line in mind. If fishing is tough, change. Change locations, change lures, change colors, change flies, change line or tippet. Don't just expect the trout to suddenly change their mood and bite your line. Drifting scuds, eggs and San Juan Worms is still doing pretty good. But we're having to drop to #14's in some cases to get bit. Best to drift from Lookout Island down to Short Creek and either stay in the middle of the lake or on the inside bend. Use as little weight as possible to keep it off the bottom and out of the algae. Best scuds colors have been different shades of gray, olive, tan and brown. Best egg, is peach and best S.J.W. is red or pink. The pink Powerworm is still working most days but when it gets sunny, you have to fish it deep under a float. Duane was fishing theirs 8-9 feet deep the other day and doing pretty good. Think about using 2-pound line on this rig too. View full article

August - Silvers and Rainbows September - Some Silvers and Big Rainbows October - the Biggest Rainbows! Check out both places. Send Jim an email and see what he can do for you, especially if you have a group, even a small group. This might be your year! http://www.naknekrivercamp.com/

When we floated the Kelly 10 years ago, Bill and I mailed our stuff up there a month before but had to leave some of it at the hanger because the plane only carried so many pounds and we were over. Once on the river, the rafts will carry whatever we take so that's no issue. I want to take more video cameras, batteries and SD cards on this trip. Probably new camera mounts... will try to be creative.

Babler and I are floating the Holitna River central Alaska in August. Haven’t been told what our weight limit is yet but I’m looking for things like a sleeping mat, bag and cooking equipment. Bill has a lot of it but I want to consider upgrading some of it. Also I need solar chargers for cameras.

Cool.... thanks. I'll take a look. Square things...

Going to do some float camping... flying in so need to keep it light. Any recommendations for equipment... sleeping mats, cooking stuff. We have a tent. Also, solar charging devices for cameras.

Paul, Duane and I started heading up lake this morning at 4:30. Yes it was dark but the fog wasn't too bad. No generation. Duane was driving... he treated us to his world famous stick bait guide trips using his custom painted baits. Boated to just above Fall Creek and made our way up through the Narrows. Caught a few rainbows but it was slow. Boated up to Lookout and trolled past the flats to Trophy Run. Fished that area with little success. Back down to the Narrows - still slow. On down to Short Creek. My shoulder was getting pretty sore so I switched to a jig. Caught this nice rainbow on a 1/16th oz sculpin/ginger jig. No browns. May be a dozen rainbows on the stick bait. Slow morning according to our guide.

I'll have to try fishing down there, Travis. May be picking your brain soon.

Here on Lake Taneycomo, we're finally seeing some slower generation after months of high water. But we're an oasis in the middle of flooding, all around us. There are so many people affected by flooding, our hearts go out to them. We could easily be in the same position if weather patterns shift. We've had rain this past week but our watershed hasn't been blanketed with inches, only isolated storms delivering a half-inch at a time which soaks into the ground with little runoff. So our lakes are not jumping up and generation has slowed. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been running up to 3 units, starting early in the morning and shutting down after dark but this isn't the case every day. Today, they are not running water until 2 p.m. which gives those who like to fish from the bank, or dock or wade a chance to enjoy some quiet water. Hard to say what will happen in the coming days... we are forecasted to get quite a bit of rain this weekend but we will wait and see what falls and where. Duane had a guide trip this morning, early, and Steve did great throwing a stick bait. He landed 4 rainbows over 20 inches, all in the lower trophy area. Speaking of scuds, a beaded scud under an indicator works well, using 6x or 2-pound line from Short Creek up. So will a zebra midge. I really don't have specific colors and sizes because I haven't been out to try it yet. Same size tippet on the Zebras. Air injected night crawlers almost always catches fish anywhere on the upper lake but especially in the Short Creek area. The pink Powerworm caught this 15-pound brown in the Short Creek area last week. We like to think a brown is smarter than that, growing from a 12-inch stocker to a 30-inch brute without being caught. Taking a pink Powerworm shouldn't have been on this guy's menu. See all the trophies caught and released on our Trophy Page. Black/Olive marabou jigs have been doing pretty good so far this week, even out fishing the sculpin/peach jig. White is still the color on the first half-mile of the lake, then switch to the darker colors. View full article

Find some of the MDC brush piles and look there. I found some in them around the dam. I'm going this week too... I usually find them in 18-22 ft of water this time of year on the bottom.

I do like videos... Youtube is my go-to place to find out how to do something. And they're easy to make as long as you don't get into a bunch of fancy editing things. I takes me about an hour to do One Cast from beginning to end each day.... sometimes longer depending on how long the video is. I'd love to do some OC's on Table Rock but there's not enough hours in the day. That'd be 100 times more popular than Taneycomo's trout.

Wonder where the browns are?

Roark Creek is full of stockers right now. Anything under a float will catch them. Jigs, power worm.

It's pretty much a website... not what I had in mind. But it's nice. What about having an app for every fishing hole... I won't cover every water on the forum, just the well used ones. May start with Table Rock Lake and see what happens.

I'm sorry I totally missed this post. Hope you worked it out.

Jim is usually booked up this particular week but he's had a cancelation... July 27 - August 3. https://katmaitrophylodge.com/

I think I'm ready to pursue an app for OA but I need input. I'm not very versed on apps really, but I have an idea what it may look like. First, is there any fishing apps out there we can pattern off of? I guess it would have sections with favorite waters, fishing reports for those waters and other information. It would work with the forum in some way... I have a guy in Springfield that builds apps but I'm open to suggestions.

Lakes are in pretty good shape especially compared to other places. We should do ok. Thanks for thinking of us!!

Collin Leslie caught and released this 15-pound brown this morning fishing with Duane Doty. It was 30 inches long. Caught between Fall and Short Creek on a pink Powerworm.

https://lilleyslanding.com/trophy-catch-release/ Check out our new Catch and Release page on our website.

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/forum/344-skiatook-lake/ Here you go, Randy.