Phil Lilley

Where do you fish mainly?

Thanks for posting!!

We haven't seen him since they've been generating. And Yes he is a trip! He was probably hatched in 2010.

3/32nd oz jigs and heavier - 4 lb 1/16th oz jigs and lighter - 2 lb

I remember members of the Chief's team coming to Parsons in the off season and playing a basketball game. It must have been a benefit or something. I got a lot of autographs on a team photo... and of course that's gone with all my good baseball cards worth thousands now. I remember Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell, Willie Lanier and Curley Culp. Yea it was all the big guys who played.

This tournament is unlike any other tournament on this lake, may be on any area lake. It's fun... and challenging. Every trout counts. Catch, measure and release. So far, Duane Doty has owned this contest. Someone needs to knock him off the podium... is it possible??? 2019 CAM Benefit Trout Tournament.pdf

My take on Mahomes is he has talent. But he's young and he has a lot of prove on the field. He appears reckless but most of his reckless-appearing flings end up completed passes with very few interceptions. Experience and maturity may prove him one of the best or a flash in the pan. Probably somewhere in between. But you have to admit so far he's fun to watch.

Do they have plugged in their guns???

Chiefs lost it in the first half... if they played Chief's football the whole game, it would have been a route, or at least a good win for KC. Chalk it up to experience. KC will have that next season.

My "mean" comment should have had a smiley face after it.

He edited his post... you guys are mean!

Winter trout fishing in January in Missouri? After my third year in a row having a great week at Lily's Landing on Lake Taneycomo, I can't wait to do it again. My Uncle Len and his lifelong friend John invited me a few years back and I was skeptical because of the time of year and the potential for freezing temperatures. But we've been on a run yearly having some days in the 60's and some into the 30's. They both happen to be retired and arrive on Monday, fish half a day, then 3 full days, and check out Friday morning to return home to the St Louis area. We arrived on Monday, January 7, 2019 to mid 60's temperature After putting in the boat at Coopers Creek & getting a room key from the resort, we were on the water. I was using an ultra light rod, 4lb clear mono line, and a gold 1/4 oz spoon. 1 hour in and after a few stocker size release the catch of the week was hooked. I landed a 4 pound, 20 1/2 inch rainbow. Upon retuning to Lilly's to call it a day, Phil was kind enough to take my picture with my prized catch and saved it for me on a flash drive. The next morning Jimmy in the front office presented me with a certificate, pin and patch to celebrate many memories in the future. The resort is kept very nice. Maintenance is always working to keep the basics up. I could see the many things to do aside from fishing (outdoor pool, game cart, basketball hoop, playground, multiple bbq pits & fryers, outdoor fireplaces, several outdoor sitting areas). Our room was comfortable, clean, and well stocked with a full kitchen. Forget anything for your trip or want to fish what your buddy is catching with, then head to the shop. It has almost anything you'll need. Fishing was tough but good as water movement from the dam the first 3 days seemed like three turbines although only 2 were predicted. It was tough to hold the boat on a good hole and get more than one or two casts. Further, you need heavier lures to get your presentation DOWN. Brown trout were abundant ranging from 12 to 15 inches and had to be released. Surprisingly the rainbow to brown ratio was 50/50 for all fish landed in the boat over our time out. The last day the water movement was not as Swift on Lake Taneycomo however the weather had dropped 30° and it was tough to stay out very long. Special thanks to Jimmy at the shop. He is an amazing, personable representative of Lillys Landing. He helped when calling ahead to get our dock slip and room information and got us checked in, allowing us to get on the water fast. Later in the evening, as he was locking up shop and we were bringing bags to our room, he made offer of help. It was a casual "Did you need help with anything", but since it was 6:30 pm and he was headed home as we were getting in, it was above and beyond expectations. Again, trophy trout memories as mentioned above. Checking the water levels in the shop daily, Jimmy was outgoing and friendly. Finally, at checkout Jimmy made us feel welcomed and wanting to return. (Disclaimer: I never met they guy before, didn't room with him at college, he's not in my family, and he didn't pay me to write this.) I can't wait to get back to Lilly's and will be sharing the positive feedback with fellow trout-a-holics. Keep calm & fish on, Rich Harrod

We're back to full generation after three days of steady rain last week. Our upper lakes only rose about a foot each, but it was enough for the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers to spring into action. Officials are keeping to the schedule to lower lakes down to power pool before the next rains arrive. The last time they ran four units our trout seemed to lapse into a coma. But this time it's not as bad. Anglers are still catching trout drifting bait and lures on the bottom. I wouldn't call it good catching, but here on Lake Taneycomo we're pretty spoiled. If we're not catching four to five fish an hour, we feel like we've been robbed. I've been getting out and trying minnows, drifting them on the bottom using either a drift rig or just a split shot to drop it to the bottom. I'm also trying to drift on the inside of the bends where the current is slower, but not too close to the bank because there's trees that will eat my minnows . . . and everything else on my line. Now while I'm getting a lot of bites -- and I am getting lots of bites -- I'm not hooking many trout. I've tried hooking the minnow in the nose and in the back, and the back location is doing a little better. But they're getting my minnow more times than I'm getting them. But! I feel like I have a better chance at a bigger, more mature trout including a big brown. Here's the 3 videos from One Cast where I drifted minnows: While I haven't tried night crawlers, I know they'd do just as well -- AND -- I bet my hooking/miss ratio would be better. I would advise hooking the worm in the collar one time, letting the worm hang off both sides of the hook. And I would, while getting a bite, give the fish my rod, or extend the rod tip towards the biting fish, so that he should get more of the hook in his mouth before I set the hook. That's the idea anyhow. I've seen fish caught out in front of our dock by people drifting by using PowerEggs, too. The key in drifting is to get to the bottom, definitely bouncing on the bottom. If you're not bouncing, you're not catching. That's T-Shirt material! We haven't been throwing jigs much lately but when anglers did last weekend (before all four turbines came on), there were some good colors the trout snatched. White/gray and black/chartreuse were the best producers. The white/gray was very good up close to the dam in the trophy area, specifically Lilleys' jig, 1/8th ounce. Remember, our jigs are heavier by size than PJ's jigs, so I'd go with the heavier of the two. I'd still throw a sculpin or brown jig because they are our staple colors. No shad to report coming through the turbines. The fact that white jigs are starting to draw bites is a good sign, but no one has literally seen threadfin shad in the lake. Guide Steve Dickey is still reporting fair numbers of rainbows caught drifting a pink or orange PowerWorm on the bottom, hooking the worm "wacky style" or in the middle of the worm and using a drift rig to get it to the bottom. Now I've been drifting the minnow from just above the Riverpoint Ramp down past Short Creek. That area does have good numbers of trout, but the current is faster there than, say, down past our place (Lilleys' Landing.) I would still suggest keeping the boat on the inside of the bend where the current is slower. It's not that there's more fish there --- it's a matter of ease, keeping the bait or lure on the bottom. While we're seeing heavy generation, it's a good time to get out the bigger baits and cast for big browns. Jerk baits, the MegaBass 110+1 in the bone and pearl, have been the best, working the banks and even out in the middle. While we haven't done it a whole lot, running a crank bait across the bottom has worked in the past. It's best to use a white crank that gets down seven to 10 feet and just drift it on the bottom. Of course, after you cast it out upstream of the boat, crank it down fast, then slowly until you feel the lure ticking the bottom. Then it should stay on the bottom as you drift down. Fly fishing is pretty tough in this kind of flow, but I did see a couple of people drifting down lake in an inflatable raft yesterday along the opposite bluff catching fish. One guy rowed, keeping the boat in a good position, while the other guy was casting something under a float and fishing the slack water along the bluff. I'd say it was a jig under a float, but he was fishing it only about four- to five-feet deep. We are still seeing fish caught drifting a scud on the bottom from the dam down past Fall Creek. Again, if you're drifting from Lookout down, I'd stay on the inside of the bend in slower current. View full article

Trophy Area people didn't weigh in

Ah... brings back memories. Snow ball fights, man we had a blast growing up. We'd either be in the basement entry where we could wing 'em at cars going by at our church or on top of it bombing them from above. It was a block off main street, a busy street too. Snow forts... tunneling under... I miss those days.

Fishing finally turned on today. Not a lot of big ones but numbers were good. Couple of keeper browns.

Can't make it... have fun!

Did you guys set a date? I'm not seeing it.

Flow is down to <2 units this morning. I knew as soon as I wrote a report, the Corps would outdate it.

We got current! I didn't realize the area had gotten that much rain last week but all the lakes jumped up to the point the Corps felt the need to open up the turbines at least at Table Rock Dam full blast. Table Rock's level is only at 916.3 feet and Beaver is right at 1121 feet. How long will they run this? Hard to say. But I'd think they would back off as soon as Table Rock is below 916 feet. Power pool is 915 feet. I always have theories as to why the trout don't bite. So at first I said it was because the fish hadn't seen this kind of generation since last summer. Give them a day or two and they'll get use to it and start eating again. Then I said the water was getting colder... rainbows don't like it real cold. We're on day 4 and I'm running out of ideas. It's not like they quit biting altogether. Duane caught this nice 23 inch brown the other day on one of his jerk baits. I got out this evening and drifted a gray scud just up above Fall Creek and caught a few rainbows in short succession. May be we're starting to figure them out. May be they're starting to get hungry. Regardless, here's what to do if they're running 4 units of water. Get your bait, lure or fly on the bottom or over in some slower water. For the most part, our trout are seeking out slower water -- eddies, slack water, even down close to the bottom of the lake the water will be slower and that's where they'll be probably looking for food passing by. That's why my scud got hit -- because I was rolling it across the gravel bottom like one had been dislodged out of the rocks. I was using a regular drift rig with 4-pound line and an 1/8th ounce bell weight and a #14 gray scud. But I would suggest using a larger scud, like a #10 or even a #8. An egg fly should work too. Below Fall Creek, that scud will work too. I'd stay on the inside of a bend where the current is... yes slower. I've suggested this in the past when they're running this kind of water, even flood gates, but you have to be very careful because if done wrong you could swamp your boat. That is anchoring on the side in slower water and fishing tight line with a minnow below the boat. You don't want it to go to the bottom, just down 3-4 feet deep and holding up in the current. Hook the minnow up through the lower jaw in to the upper. They'll eventually start eating again -- probably tomorrow! But it still applies... keep you bait on the bottom.

First contest of the year... tough fishing. The guys who came in early in the week were greeted with generation. This week's heavy flows are the first our trout have seen in months and I guess that's the reason they're not biting very well. Can't think of another reason. They're there... big fish stories are abundant. But they all got away this time.

We are well into our winter season here on Lake Taneycomo, and things are looking very positive. We're not flooding for starters!! It's cold but not too cold. Lakes in our White River Chain of Lakes are all in good shape -- all are at or near normal levels. Taneycomo's water has cooled down from 52 (the high this fall) to 46 presently. What we haven't seen until the last couple of days is heavy generation flows which have moved a lot of old water out of the upper lake and replaced it with clearer, colder water from Table Rock. When Table Rock turns over in December, the water coming in to our lake has a lot of silt in it. It's dark and dingy, and our trout don't seem to like it. Fishing is good but not as good as it is after the silt moves out and the water clears up. That's what we're seeing now. Fishing off our dock and in boats using bait has been spotty. Some days we hear of people catching big numbers of rainbows, mainly on night crawlers and homemade dough bait, and then there are days when it's tough catching a limit of four. Berkley's Powerbait hasn't been the food of choice for our trout lately , and I'm not sure why. Now the pink Powerworm is still a good way to catch a lot of rainbows, on a small jig head under a float, but the Gulp Eggs and nuggets just haven't been producing, especially if the water is off with no generation. Jig fishing has been somewhat the same. We've been throwing a variety of colors and sizes of jigs, which have produced some high yields on some trips and slower on others. We've had some pretty calm days with very little wind when throwing smaller jigs on two-pound line has been pretty effective. Black/yellow, black/chartreuse and black/olive combinations have made a comeback lately. We didn't do very well in the summer or fall using black, but the trout are hitting it pretty well now. We've also started using white and white/grey to pick up bigger rainbows and a few browns. And our mainstay colors that we use all the time are doing well, too -- sculpin, sculpin/ginger, sculpin/peach, brown/burnt orange and brown/black. We are excited to see more generation with the anticipation of using our crank baits and jerk baits for bigger trout. Duane Doty has been taking a lot of guide trips this winter throwing jerk baits in the trophy area. When the water was not running much, his clients have mainly only seen chasers and not takers. The heavier the flow the better these baits do, plus, we're still seeing a lot of big browns up and down from Fall Creek. Hopefully we'll see more of them tagged here in the coming months. Fly fishing has been very good this winter so far, especially with periods of no generation lately. Scuds and sow bugs are still the top flies to use -- from big ones to small ones, #12's to #18's in gray, brown, tan and olive, with gray the best color. The Mega Worm or Mop Worm, as some call it, has caught some bigger trout lately in the trophy area. Used mainly under a float, this is a white yarn fly tied on a small jig head and fished a lot like a Powerworm. There still seems to be a lot of trophy browns and rainbows below the dam around the outlets and places where there's moving water. View full article

My biggest fish is a 35 inch rainbow on 4 pound line. My biggest bass is a 7.5 pound LM on 10 pound line.