Phil Lilley

We've had 19 new members register so far this month.

I'm just throwing this out there for discussion. I'm certainly not going to change anything without knowing for certain the outcome. I feel the same way about closing it to members only... it will die. I found the way to choke down the ads, restrict them so that hopefully no undesirable ads appear. But it's cut my revenue by 85%.

I would point out that alot of you have said they won't post here because ANYONE and EVERYONE can be in the background "lurking" and take that valuable info and take advantage of it. That's basically what Facebook is... free and open to anyone. There's no difference between a group on FB and OAF.

Fished with friend Paul Crews Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. He's dialed in on the summer crappie pattern on Grand. We boated to some spots and found small structure on the bottom in 12 to 16 foot of water in the Berenice Area and used small shiner minnows to catch our 2-man limit in about 3 hours. Friday morning we put in at a small private ramp in Grove and fished close to Bird Island. Deeper water - up to 20 feet deep - but same structure. He used minnows and I used my white 1/32 oz jig, 2 pound line and caught 1 to his 3. But it was still fun. Paul caught 2 15-inchers off a big log. Live Scope rules!

The only common sense reason is less water flowing out of the pool between the dam and rebar. Thus rebar is slightly higher, holding back water. No other reason I can think of.

There's 15k+ members here but only a fraction visit/post. Lots of viewers. And I know members don't like to post detailed info anywhere because of the lack of control to who sees the posts. I'm not saying I would do it but it's tempting to make the forum membership only, forcing ppl to join to view. The other possibility is membership dues. It would be a token amount. $1/month?

I'm not sure what's driving this move to join OAF but we've had a couple of dozen new members sign up the last couple of weeks. Do you think people are getting a little tired of the FB groups and are coming back to forums?

I didn't like that either... I sure didn't set it up. Just started doing that. Yeah that's what prompted me to shut things down.

That's a cool looking river. Is it inundated with people in the summer?

After a couple of weeks with no ads, I turned them back on in hopes that they might get reset or something like that. Don't understand all of it, just that me and others were getting some racy ads, no fault of our own. If this doesn't work, I'm going to have to find another way of generating revenue and covering expenses.

That's pretty cool. I wonder if they're up on the bank on TR... need to go over there soon.

Looks like fun! Thanks for the report

We are enjoying a mild start to summer here on Lake Taneycomo. After a relatively dry spring, there's not much rain in our forecast. Our lakes are fairly low with the exception of Beaver Lake, which is a few feet high. Generation pattern? There isn't one. When I write a fishing report, I attempt to explain generation patterns because flows dictate how we fish on Taneycomo. As I sit here at my keyboard, I can't tell you why the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decides how to manage the flows. But it appears the plan is to drop Beaver Lake and run water at Table Rock and Bull Shoals, like a pass through. But that will leave all our lakes at power pool (normal) levels at the start of summer. And summer is when the dams need to generate electricity for air conditioners. Our lake levels are normally a little high to help with this demand. So right now, operators are running water most days at flows anywhere from two to four units, especially in the afternoons. But some days they're leaving the water off in the mornings. Each day is different. But I predict in the near future we're going to see a lot of down water -- no generation -- because the weather forecast says mild temps will prevail and at some point, so all lakes will be at power pool. Our lake water temperatures are good, holding at about 47 degrees, and when I checked the oxygen content, it was about nine parts per million, which is excellent. Clarity is excellent and there hasn't really been a big moss issue as in previous years. Now there is a big push of moss when the water is kicked on after being off for a while. This is from algae growing on the bottom, when the water is off, which is then dislodged by the current. It clears out after a short time with very little issue. I'm seeing a good mayfly hatch late in the day but no surface action related to this event. No fish are taking dries except early and late in the day and they're taking midges. If the water is off or running up to one unit, I am doing very well using a zebra midge or micro jig under a float anywhere from 18-inches to five-feet deep. The best is a #14 red or black zebra or a sculpin, olive or brown micro jig. I'm using two-pound test or 6x tippet. Seek out the chop! If there's a riffle on the surface of the lake, fish it! But this technique is working even if the surface is glass. The Berkley Pink Worm under a float is working if the water is off. Best early in the day in the shadows but is using in the sun, go deeper. Two-pound is best. I could also say the same thing about using a mega worm under a float. Chartreuse has been hot with the white mega right behind it. The pink worm has to be fished below Fall Creek while the mega worm can be used anywhere including the trophy area. Jerk baits are hot! They are almost every summer. They're usually best when the water is running but not always. One of our guides, Jack Harris, had a trip this week early one morning in which is clients landed five trout all topping 20 inches on jerk baits. There was no water running. They were fishing in the trophy area. Some of the guides have started fishing at night. They start at dusk and fish until about midnight, throwing jerk baits for big trout. Duane Doty is the master at this, using his patented jerk baits. If the water is running, drifting bait or flies on the bottom is what most anglers do, including our guides. Night crawlers and Gulp eggs below the trophy area are working as well as scuds, pink worms and minnows. In the trophy area, scuds are king along with an egg fly or a san juan worm. View full article

Good report. I'm finally enjoying some fishing, although our pool still isn't finished. But most projects are now done and all we have to do is take care of people. Scuds. Almost anywhere in the trophy area. Just got off the water (3;30 pm). They turned the water on at 2:30ish instead of 4 like the schedule says. But it was good... narrows wet wading. They were taking a 18 gray scud while the water was rising. Headed to Lookout Island and fished behind it while it was coming up. Lots of moss but the fish didn't care. They ate a #12 zebra and a #14 scud. Back in the boat - gopro battery died. Spot locked on the inside bank - gravel bar below the tennis courts. Lots of NICE rainbows holding there. Site fishing, hooked a few nice ones, then a solid 20 inch rainbow. Wish the video worked! No pics.

Difficult on the food base too. Scuds don't do well.

Looks like we're in for an unusual summer fishing season here on Lake Taneycomo.  Normally this time of year, the lakes above us are pretty full.  They are not this spring because of a lack of big rains and the fact that the Corps has stayed on top of the rising lakes and kept them close to power pool. Today the schedule says no generation all day except for an hour of "fish water", a burst of current for about an hour this evening.  This probably will be the generation pattern at least through this holiday weekend. Docks and banks will be lined with anglers with the ideal conditions for still fishing.  And the fly rods have come out and are poised to fish things under an indicator like micro jigs, scuds and midges. With the big numbers of catch and release trophies recorded the last few months, it seems there are a lot of big trout to be caught in our lake.  With the water off, it may be easier for the novice fisherman to catch one of these.  We had 2 20-inch plus rainbows caught off the dock just yesterday, both released. View full article

I thought about that. I appreciate the offer.

I've turned ads off till I figure it out.

We can get them but you have to order on Mondays.

There's 3 designated areas I can place ads - header, footer and in posts. I disabled the post ads. See if that makes a difference.

That started after this last update. I went in and looked at the "advertising" settings and they haven't changed, or at least I haven't changed them in probably years. I need to go to the invision forum and see what others are saying. Maybe there's a way to cut down on them. They keep growing in numbers but I don't see an increase in revenue. It's dropped actually while hosting charges increase.

@Quillback I'm confused... is the OA outing tomorrow on or off?