Phil Lilley

Beautiful Cut. Thanks!

It's really never slowed down except the "white bite" did somewhat. Drifting scuds is still real good with lots of 20"+ trout caught and released. The warmer water over the top helps the bite. The cicada bite is good early, then tampers off later in the day when the cicadas start hitting the water is droves. Still not much action below Fall Creek which is disappointing. Black jig plus a sculpin/ginger jig with an orange head is hot too. My sources say we're supposed to get a lot of rain in the next week so we may see more gates open through the holiday weekend.

At least the ad content is better, at least for me. That Chinese company isn't coming up on everything anymore.

It is a write off. And I'm sure not complaining about anything dollar-wise. We are blessed beyond measure! And I did run my own ads most of that time, pointing to our online store. So I am wrong about not running ads completely. I do wish I could trim them down though here... I could control them a little better a year ago but they're upgraded the forum and changed things. Now they're everywhere and I don't have much control how and where they go. Or there's a way and I don't see it. That's one bad thing about Invision - they're short on instructions. And Yes! We do get our money's worth with you, Glenn. I wouldn't have it any other way

I went year with no revenue.... I gotta pay for the overhead. Incidentally, I'm only making half what I was making before I stopped last year. Views are the same. I thought about charging a one time fee annually to view the forum but I'm afraid it would kill the site.

The ones that have caught on here are now fatter than fat. They don't come up and slam it either. They slide up slowly and slurp it in. It's funny to watch. They know it's not going anywhere and they're too fat to move.

I picked up 28 dozen cicada flies at Jeremy Hunt's shop yesterday and they said the fish on the White weren't on them yet but the Norfolk was good. You just confirmed it. Enjoy!!!

I don't know... I'm doing pretty good so far. I do think our cicada flies should be a bit bigger but not necessarily oversized, although I have no reason to say so- yet. Too early in the game. As I say in today's one cast, the only place I've found the trout taking them consistently is in the trophy area. None below, although we are seeing them in our area every once in a while. Hopefully they'll catch on. But for now, the ones on the bluff below Lookout are keeping me entertained.

Yes they'll run water for a while. How much I'm not sure. I'll try to take a pic of the 2 kinds we carry in the shop.

Fishing the bluff from Lookout to the Narrows. Best stretch was lower section. Had 6 takes and 3 hookups. Saw lots of cicadas hit the water and almost every one got eaten. It’s only going to get better!

It's a G3 GatorTough 2072 center console. We rent them out here at the marina.

Generation down to less than one unit. TR is at 917.2 feet. More than an inch forecasted today and tomorrow so TR should go back up past 918. Gates? Or will they have the units back online?

Lots of fun!

I think you'll have better luck pitching in and buying a memorial bench and get MDC permission to place it somewhere in the area. You can have more than one. There'd be a lot of people in the running for naming something like the pavilion.

Yes they are.... but the bite was slow today. I caught them on scuds below FC pretty good. Monkey Island was hot using powerbait I'm told.

All but 2. But it's supposed to rain from noon till 6 this afternoon. Looks like quite a storm coming. TR should jump back up to 918 I'd think.

Really slow this evening. But they always do this after it goes from big flow and warmer water to slow, colder water.

TR is 917 this morning. But rain at noon. Scud bite is crazy below FC this morning. Starting to hear cicadas in the trees last evening... it's starting

Sorry I didn’t recognize you. Couldn’t believe everyone left just as it got real good.

need I say more? Young lady landed 9 rainbows by herself, white jigs. Family caught 25+. Saw shad in the water. Saw schools of shad down lake in May areas with trout feeding on them. This flow will last till Table Rock drops to 917.

Heard today that they will run this water till Table Rock is back down to 917. Week, 10 days with some rain in the forecast?

TR is still inching up. 917.95 this morning. Now I think they run this flow maybe through the weekend.

There's never a perfect time to write a fishing report it seems, because as soon as you post it, conditions change and some of the report becomes inaccurate. This report has the same issues since our water conditions will change later this week --but I'll try to cover what I think will work then, too. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers opened nine gates at 10 a.m. Monday, April 29. They were opened one foot each with a flow rate of about 1,000 cubic feet per second. That's about 6,500 c.f.s. coming through two turbines, and about 9,500 c.f.s. coming over the top ,totaling 15,000 c.f.s. -- equal to a full four turbines running. Table Rock should crest at about 918 feet Wednesday, May 1, so I expect operators will run the present flow until at least Thursday, may be as late as Friday, May 3. With so much water coming over the top of the spill gates, we're seeing some thread fin shad in our lake and the trout are biting a white jig and the shad fly. This is what we locals live for -- the white bite. This bite should only get better in the coming days, even after the flow is slowed. We're throwing either a white or white/gray jig, 1/8-ounce, using four-pound line and almost dragging it on the bottom from the dam down past Lookout Island. I'm sure the fish will start holding in the eddies along the bank and behind islands soon, so target these fish with white jigs and shad color crank baits. The scud bite is really good, too, drifting a #12 gray scud on the bottom. Our guides are using a tandem fly rig with a scud and egg fly. Four-pound line is perfect. I would try drifting a scud clear down to our resort.. . . ,, this bite should only get better and better. Also try a red or pink San Juan Worm along with a scud. Drifting Powerbait and Gulp Eggs from above our place down to Monkey Island is producing some nice limits of rainbows. Early and late, working a jerk bait along the deep banks is producing some big rainbows and brown too. Almost any bait that's shad color, dives about four to six feet and suspends would work. The big cicada hatch is supposed to happen sometime in May and we're excited. We've stocked up on cicada flies for the big event. The last time it happened, as soon as the bugs landed on the water, a trout would come up and devour them. Topwater fishing should be excellent. View full article

We caught a dozen nice rainbows this evening below the dam on white jigs. They're not going crazy on white but I think they're seeing some shad. With 9 gates open, it's hard not to think some are coming over. It has to be on the bottom to get bit. Long One Cast... couldn't stop fishing.