Phil Lilley

Very nice.

Thing is that when people come from out of state on vacation and find out that 1. They need a boating license to operate a boat (born after 1984) or 2. Need a SS# to get a license to fish - they probably aren't going to know ahead of time and who carries their kid's SS# on vacation?

May be I should have mentioned.... I am going to throw 1/8th and 3/32nd ounce jigs but catching some pretty big, wild rainbows on the Naknek River in a few weeks. I have some Templefork spinning rods up there and they're ok but I need to take new ones up there. The average rainbow we catch up there in front of camp is about 22 inches. The rod needs a little backbone.

I'm looking for a good medium/light, 6-7 foot spinning rod that break down in two for air travel. If I can't find one, I'll tape 4 of my 6-foot Lilley's rods together and carry them on the plane. Ideas?

I just found this out from a post on our Facebook page... Not sure how I feel about it...

Just got off the lake. Boated above the Narrows about 8 a.m. and yes it was shallow. I dinged my prop a little having gotten over too far on the gravel bar. It happens. No generation, very little fog and no wind. There was a lot of pollen and leaves on the surface due to the wind front that went through this morning at 3 a.m.. Yes I was up.... someone thought if was funny to fire a volley of fireworks in our parking lot. No I didn't catch them. Disappointedly, there was very little surface action but I started with a red/gold #16 Zebra Midge under an indicator 12 inches and targeted the rising fish I saw. Caught a few rainbows. Switched to a spinning rod and threw a 1/16th ounce sculpin/ginger jig and caught several on as many cast. I was up there to fly fish though so I put the spinning rod down. But they were crushing the jig. Went to a #14 gray scud under an indicator, fishing 5 feet deep. Caught several more rainbows, nothing very big. By this time I was at the top of the Narrows. Fished the scud for a bit there and didn't do very well. It wasn't until I was down in the middle did I start getting any attention. Fished both the channel and the shallow flat side and caught a few. At the first downed tree there were a school of nice rainbows off the drop and caught a couple of them. Moved around Chuck Gries who was guiding a couple of people. They were catching fish on a beaded egg fly it looked like. I switched to a 1/125th ounce brown jig with an orange head, 4 feet deep, and started catch more rainbows. There was a good chop on the water which made a big difference. Continued to catch rainbows down another 150 yards. Sun was up and bright but it didn't matter. The chop was perfect and the fish bit well. Size of rainbows was pretty consistent - between 11 and 14 inches with most of them about 13 inches. Good shape, colorful. I used 2-pound line on the spinning and 6x tippet on the fly rod.

Love on your family and friends during this time... death brings healing and forgiveness at times where needed.

Generation has been fairly consistent, even on weekends lately. Operators at the dam have been leaving the water off until about noon to 1 p.m. and then kicking it on and running anywhere from two to four units at 6,800 to 12,000 cubic feet per second. It's been pretty hot in the afternoons here, so I'm sure they're running a lot of water for a high power demand. It's back off by 8 p.m. each evening and off all night. We've noticed that they've been drawing the lake down overnight, so in the mornings the lake is unusually low. This is not supposed to happen, but it does occasionally. You will not see any variation in the official lake level at the base of the dam, but you will see it below Lookout and down lake. Duane Doty told me today that the lake level at the narrows is so low that the channel is less than 10 feet wide and very shallow, barely enough water to boat up past it. So be careful when boating under these conditions. Water temperature is holding at about 48 degrees and clear. When they run water, of course, it gets murky and blows out algae that's grown on the bottom of the upper lake. It all clears out in about hour after it starts. Two things we want to report about our rainbows -- there are a lot of them in the lake and they are bigger than normal. They are both longer and thicker than newly stocked trout of the past. Of course, this is great news for all anglers fishing the lake right now. But, of course, it's still "fishing" and not "catching." Some days are better than others as far as catching numbers and size, but overall it's been very good. Our rainbows are still wanting to chase something, especially early in the mornings. Spoons and spinners are working good, either throwing and reeling them in or trolling behind the boat. Duane's been trolling his crank baits and doing well, landing seven trout longer than 20 inches and losing eight at the boat just in the last week. He's also been throwing stick baits on quite a few guide trips -- after writing and posting his article, Committing to a Big Brown, about catching so many big brown trout using these methods. The Berkely Pink PowerWorm is still a must for anyone struggling to catch fish. I can't stress enough how well this works. Fish it four- to five-feet deep early in the morning, and then move it deeper as the sun gets higher in the sky, seven-to eight-feet deep. Use two-pound line as tippet for more bites, but four-pound is okay. Small marabou jigs are catching big numbers of rainbows below and above Fall Creek in the mornings. I boated up to the Lookout Island area early Saturday morning and threw sculpin/ginger and sculpin/peach 1/16th-ounce jigs using two-pound line and boated several dozen rainbows in the 11- to 15-inch range. Later in the afternoon, after the water starts running, we're throwing 1/8-ounce white jigs below the dam and all the way down past Fall Creek and hooking good rainbows. Guide Bill Babler reported fishing above the Narrows this week using the jig-and-float method with either a sculpin or ginger micro jig, two-pound tippet. He's caught good numbers of rainbows. I haven't been up there yet to try it, but with the water so low above the Narrows, boating up and wading this area should be excellent. If I get up there, I'll fish a #16 to #18 weighted gray scud or a San Juan Worm or a Mega Worm and probably will try a Zebra Midge and a soft hackle if they are rising on midges. I've been told there are big numbers of rainbows in the Narrows, and the stretch is full of freshwater shrimp. Wading below the dam, I'd use the same flies. I saw on a forum post where a friend fished up these on Saturday morning and caught more than 50 rainbows on mainly small midge flies. View full article

Tough duty...

Get MLB TV - can't listen to games because it's considered an in-market game. Anyone find a place to listen to a game online?

The trout are biting. That's about all I need to say really. I sent 2 guys I grew up with out yesterday at 3 p.m. - bright sun and they had just started running 2 units. The lake was starting to fill up with green slim moss from the generation startup. Gave them my Pink Worm rods and told them to start at Cooper Creek, float down. They caught a lot of rainbows. Their brother arrived at 5 p.m.. They went back out and caught even more rainbows. Then it started raining. Big downpour for 25 minutes... just ask Duckydoty about it I took these guys fishing this morning. We left at 6 a.m. and headed to Lookout in the fog. No generation. It really wasn't too bad and there weren't many boats out yet. I had 4 rods rigged with 2-pound line and 1/16th ounce jigs. They hadn't jigged fish much. We had doubles and a few triples all morning -- worked our way down to Fall Creek. Caught rainbows the whole way down - lost track of how many. Nothing really over 15 inches until we got below the Narrows - bigger fish there. Had a few up to 17 inches. I hadn't done that in a long time... worked that whole area with the water off throwing small jigs. They wanted sculpin/ginger or peach... no dark only colors. And white was just ok. They really liked the dark/light combo. View full article

In the past couple of years, they've gone from leaving the water off part of the day and running water hard during peak power times to this minimum flow and bump it up a bit in the afternoons/evenings. That's been the general pattern... not like it used to be. Not good for waders below the dam for sure. Good for boaters.

Cool!

I guess a grub swam on about any gravel bank is producing lots of fish. I just wish I could pull myself away from these HUGE brown trout and go over and fight a few cousin brownies up there!

I wrote this a couple of days ago... has been waiting on my editor's desk since (Marsha). I have more to add, especially since they're not running water this morning!

Answers coming.

This has been one of those weeks when anyone can honestly say that it would be easy to be a successful fishing guide... almost everyone is catching trout right now. Water flows have been angler-friendly too, running minimal water most of the day and night with increases some afternoons of up to 2 units. Most of the time they're running only 35-45 megawatts or a half unit, 2,500 - 4,000 cubic feet per second. Water temperature is holding at 48 degrees. Steve Dickey, one of our guides said "it's crazy easy right now... and they're good size rainbows too." The Missouri Department of Conservation has been stocking larger rainbows this week it seems, anticipating a busy Memorial Weekend. We've had spotty rain showers but nothing to effect water clarity or flows. The best, again, at catching rainbows and lots of them is the Berkley Pink Worm under a float. I've been putting this in my fishing reports for a couple of years now but I really can't help it - this pink worm works. Our guides fish it 80% of the time. Why? Because it's easy and it works. And no, I'm not a part owner in Berkley! They're fishing it anywhere from 4 to 6 feet deep, 2-4 pound line and a small, 1/100th ounce jig head. If you're by the resort and have questions, please stop and we'll show you how to use it. Anglers are catching trout on other Powerbaits too - white paste actually caught some nice browns this weekend from Cooper to Monkey Island, drifting on the bottom. Also minnows and night crawlers did well, catching bigger fish on average than Powerbait. But with this low flow, you need to drop to just a split shot, just enough to get your bait to the bottom. Spoons are still catching good fish early and late in the day. Gold and red seem to be the best colors. Also throwing or trolling Flickershad, Shad Raps or Fingerling Fat Free Shad Bombers -- they've been picking up nice browns and rainbows on these baits. Our browns have been doing something a little strange, at least in our memory and experience... they're been feeding on small threadfin shad in the surface early and late in the day. But it's not a "busting the surface" like bass do. It's more like a big gentle swirl and slurp... hardly any sound to it. See one and throw a white jig or small spoon or crank bait. In the trophy area, it's been pretty good! White jigs close to the dam has been best but white jigs all through the area is very good. Not as many bass, crappie and walleye as a couple of weeks ago but very good size rainbows in the 15 to 19 inch range, and beefy! Duane was drifting a shad fly in the Narrows late last week and caught some trout that were regurgitating fresh shad so they are still seeing threadfins in that area at least. So white jigs, shad flies, white wooly buggers imitating shad is number one but throwing darker jigs is good too. One angler told me he couldn't get bit on white the other day so he switched to peach and started catching. Crazy! Spoons will work too as well as small crank baits. Fly fishing has been good using scuds, egg flies and shad flies under an indicator. Have not heard of any dry fly action yet -- it's still a little early. View full article

Good way to end this thread.... on a positive and agreeable note.

Edited... I left out the last paragraph.

Big browns can be caught on just about anything, anywhere, any time of the year on Lake Taneycomo. The current state record caught by Scott Sandusky, weighing 28 pounds 12 ounces, was caught on power bait around Cooper Creek. The previous state record brown of 27 pounds 10 ounces caught by Rick Osborne, was caught on a scud (fly) up by Table Rock dam in the trophy area. Big browns are caught on flies, jigs, night crawlers, power bait, spoons and other lures all year long. Increasing chances at a trophy fish of a lifetime While big browns can be caught on anything, any time, you can increase your odds of catching one. Targeting bigger fish is a key way to make this happen. Browns, like all other fish, will take advantage of an easy meal. The bigger the meal the less energy they have to expend. Start presenting bigger meals. The bigger fish are looking for the most bang for their buck. They expend much less energy eating a good sized shad or rainbow rather than spending all day collecting midges and sow bugs to fill the hole. Start using a bait that represents something that would satisfy a big fish for a good meal. Make it big enough that a big fish would have to eat it, or a very aggressive smaller fish with a huge appetite takes it. Everyone loves the numbers game Catching 100 fish in a day has always made for story telling tails that last for years and make great memories. I still like to play the game of trying to catch 10 fish in 10 casts. Number games are fun! I also like catching trophy browns. When I decide to chase the big boys, it is not a numbers game. I do not catch them every time I target them, but I am catching them on a more consistent basis when targeting them. Committing to catching a big fish The idea seems simple, but it is really hard to commit to catching a big fish. Making the commitment means using lures that do not normally catch big numbers of fish. If they do catch fish, chances are, the fish will be big, or at least, be an aggressive fish with a lot of gumption to hit a lure that big. For me, at first, it was hard to keep throwing a 5 inch jerk bait or deep diving crank with out getting bites on every other cast knowing that if i was throwing a jig, I would be seeing that kind of action. Shad on Lake Taneycomo Bigger fish are keying in on shad. Proof of this is when catching bigger fish, they are spitting up shad. Bigger browns that are being brought in to be weighed are leaving regurgitated shad in the live wells. I have been noticing increased shad busting activity mostly in the early morning hours and later in the afternoon. This is not happening only when the flood gates are open, or in the trophy area. It is happening all up and down the lake. Baits When I am targeting big browns, I will use bigger baits that are normally thought of as being used for bass and walleye. Mega Bass 90’s, 110’s, 110+1’s, Bomber Fat Free Shad in the Fingerling and Fry sizes, and Berkley Flickershad in 7cm and 5cm are the main baits I like to use and each one is for different water conditions, time of year, and flows. I loose a lot of gear! On a four hour trip, I average loosing 4-5 lures, but I am catching a lot of big browns. I guess I have to look at it as, “What is a trophy class brown worth?” Five baits at about $7 each equals $35. Is that worth it to me? The answer is yes! Flickershad are relatively cheap and catch big fish. Do you have to throw $25 Mega Bass? No. I just like throwing them under certain conditions. Bomber Fat Free Shad are about middle of the range and probably my favorite. I started to make the change to targeting pigs two years ago during a high water event. The flood gates of Table Rock dam were open along with 4 units of generation with about 24,000 cubic feet per second of water flowing. Tons of shad were coming over the dam and jig fishing was incredible catching good sized rainbows and some browns. The problem was, the only way to get to the bottom was to be using two 1/8 ounce jigs. I decided one day to throw a Mega Bass that I normally used for walleye on Upper Bull Shoals in the winter. First cast I caught a 20 inch brown. I lost the lure on the second cast, so I knew it was getting to the bottom, but loosing $25 hurt. I had a Bomber Fat Free Fingerling in Bill Dance pearl white that I decided to try. While drifting in 24,000 c.f.s., I cast the lure back up towards the dam. I started reeling it down, and to my surprise, after about 8 cranks on the reel, it hit bottom. I stopped reeling to let it get off the bottom, and again, to my surprise, it just kept digging the bottom. Twenty seconds later, the rod was almost jerked out of my hands. After a good fight, I landed a 22 inch brown. I continued fishing that way and after 4 hours, I had landed 6 fish over 20 inches. I found after time that I could keep the Fat Free Fingerling down from the dam to Short Creek with 3 or more units of water flowing. That's almost 5 miles of water under the right conditions you can just drag a potentially big fish catching crank bait. During the summer months of July and August, the Corp began a pattern of running 4 units of water in the late afternoon. I took the Mega Bass 110+1 up to the trophy area and gave it a try. First time beating the banks in high generation produced 4 fish over 20 inches in two hours of fishing. That became a habit every afternoon. I think I had one or two trips that summer during flows like that where I did not boat one over 20 inches. I did loose 10 of those Mega Bass lures in those two months. That method of jerk bait fishing for big browns was productive from the dam down to Fall Creek. During lower water conditions, I still had been noticing big browns being brought in from all over the lake spitting up shad. Another phenomena that was happening was seeing big browns all up and down the lake busting shad on the surface. This is not just happening in the trophy area but I have seen it as far down as the Branson Landing area. Throwing the Mega Bass 90 has been a good way to target the shad busting browns during the heat of the moment. I have also started playing with the Bomber Fat Free Shad in the Fry size with lower water flows. I can get that bait on the bottom with 2-3 units of water flowing and keep it down by just dragging, from the cable to Fall creek. I have also begun trolling that bait along with the Flickershad from Fall Creek to Branson Landing and catching trophy class browns. In one 4 hour period, that method has produced 3 big browns to the boat. The results are in! Since making the decision to make a commitment to fish for big browns, I have increased my catch rate on the trophy class fish. I no longer go out fishing with hopes of catching a big brown every now and then. I now know its just a matter of time before I catch another. The change in technique, lures used, and the commitment to sticking with it has put several trophy class browns to hand and seems to only be getting better. Give it a try. on your next trip down to Lake Taneycomo, commit 2-4 hours hunting for that trophy class fish. You might be pleasantly surprised! View full article