Phil Lilley

It's already taken... .club is available

Selling stock options yet?

Scuds, man... scuds! Bigger the better. Gray.

Corp said they'd shut it down when it hit 1129.

It's unbelievable how good fishing is here on the lake right now. Drifting a scud on the bottom from Fall Creek to Short Creek is as good as it gets. And big fish... browns and rainbows. Our trout are packed full of scuds too. Steve Dickey pointed out that the trout smell different. They smell like warm water fish but stronger. The scuds they're eating are turning them rainbow colors so fast, we're not seeing hardly any gray stockers right now. Yesterday morning I made one drift from FC to SC and caught 15, 1 brown. Had several others pull off on the way to the boat. And that drift is a fast one right now! Caught this morning - Steve Youngblood from Kirksville, MO. Went out with Duane. Caught on a #12 gray scud right at Short Creek.

This has been a very wet spring for us and most of the Midwest. We have been spared the deluge that areas like south-central Oklahoma, north and south Texas and other isolated parts have seen, but we've had our share of water. A series of rains have dumped up to 12 inches of rain in the White River Basin over the past month. That has left our lakes, starting with the upper lake, Beaver Lake, high to the point of having to release water through flood gates to maintain safe lake levels. Beaver Lake crested at about 1,130 feet, which is considered the top of its flood pool. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers (operator of the dam) will release whatever is needed to keep the level of that lake below 1,130 feet, which is what operators have been doing. Beaver is dropping at a rate of four inches per day and releasing about 11,000 cfs of water. Table Rock Lake is at 919.5 feet and rising. The Corps is releasing a little less than 16,000 cfs through two turbines and 10 flood gates presently. The tailwater lake level is 711 feet, which is 10 feet higher than when they're not running any water. This is about a foot higher than if all four turbines were running. The unofficial forecast (my best guess) is that Beaver Lake will run water for another three to five days, then shut down. This will give Table Rock a chance to catch up. Table Rock will run the present flow until its lake level drops to about 917 feet which may take up to 10 days to two weeks, assuming there's no additional rainfall. Water temperature is a big concern for us here on Lake Taneycomo because trout are a coldwater species. Rainbows are known to survive in temperatures up to and exceeding 77 degrees, but they stop growing at 73 degrees. Low oxygen content in warmer water also contributes to stress, but I don't think it's an issue here. From what I've read, brown trout can take the heat better than rainbows so they should fair better. The water coming over the flood gates from Table Rock is about 70 degrees and the water flowing through the turbines is about 44 degrees. Because of the location of the gates versus the turbines at the dam, the warmer water flows down the south side of the lake, and the cold water the north side. At first, this water doesn't mix well because of the density of each but as it flows down lake, it does mix. For example, at our dock the water temperature is 57 degrees. It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyhow -- we've been finding most of our fish hanging from the cold side to the middle, with very few on the warm side. One thing we're seeing run through our lake with this warmer water is the bug population absolutely loves it!! We're finding rainbows all the way to the Branson Landing with scuds (freshwater shrimp) in their bellies. And our midge hatches in the evening are massive!! I've never seen anything like it, except maybe on the tundra in Alaska during a big noseeum hatch (which is no fun at all!!). Higher, faster water isn't something that should be taken lightly. We emphasis boating safety when checking out boats and are requiring renters to wear life jackets, at least when they leave our dock. The law does not require you to wear a jacket if you are over seven years old -- only to have it accessible -- but it would be smart to keep it on if you're the least concerned about being in such water conditions. We are also demonstrating how to dock a boat in current. It's actually pretty easy if you take your time and let the engine on the boat do all the work. If you try to "shoot" the stall, you will crash and do damage to the dock, the boat and possibly your passengers. We have a Youtube video online showing the safe and proper way to dock a boat in current. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lcz08fjsDJQ Watch Your Wake!!! Most people who boat rarely look behind their boat them to see what kind of wake they're throwing. Did you know you are RESPONSIBLE for your wake and the damage it might do? Bigger boats, deep V hull boats can throw huge wakes when coming out of the hole or when running at slow speeds. These wakes could swamp a smaller boat or flip a kayak well after you're gone up lake, leaving people in the water. It happens. It's happened twice this past week! Thank the Lord, no one was seriously hurt. Last but not least, don't forget your boating safety license. In Missouri, any person born after January 1, 1984 is required to have a boating license to operate a boat. If you're planning on renting a boat in Missouri, get a license! The state of Missouri recognizes other states official boating license so if you have one, you're good. There is a one-time day license we can issue for a non-Missouri resident. **Official Email today (6/1/15) from USCE - Little Rock. WHITE RIVER SYSTEM. All lakes remain in their respective flood pools and are rising after the weekend rain. Downstream stages continue to restrict releases to firm power from Bull Shoals and Norfork. The two most critical projects are BV and TR with less than 0.5" and 3.0" of runoff storage remaining in their flood pools. No rain Sunday night. Beaver is releasing 11.2k cfs, the pool has crested and we will shut back to two units at nameplate sometime today. Table Rock is releasing 15k cfs; Table Rock may not exceed 920' since inflows are not rising, however if we reach 920' we will increase released to 20k cfs.

This has been a very wet spring for us and most of the Midwest. We have been spared the deluge that areas like south-central Oklahoma, north and south Texas and other isolated parts have seen, but we've had our share of water. A series of rains have dumped up to 12 inches of rain in the White River Basin over the past month. That has left our lakes, starting with the upper lake, Beaver Lake, high to the point of having to release water through flood gates to maintain safe lake levels. Beaver Lake crested at about 1,130 feet, which is considered the top of its flood pool. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers (operator of the dam) will release whatever is needed to keep the level of that lake below 1,130 feet, which is what operators have been doing. Beaver is dropping at a rate of four inches per day and releasing about 11,000 cfs of water. Table Rock Lake is at 919.5 feet and rising. The Corps is releasing a little less than 16,000 cfs through two turbines and 10 flood gates presently. The tailwater lake level is 711 feet, which is 10 feet higher than when they're not running any water. This is about a foot higher than if all four turbines were running. The unofficial forecast (my best guess) is that Beaver Lake will run water for another three to five days, then shut down. This will give Table Rock a chance to catch up. Table Rock will run the present flow until its lake level drops to about 917 feet which may take up to 10 days to two weeks, assuming there's no additional rainfall. Water temperature is a big concern for us here on Lake Taneycomo because trout are a coldwater species. Rainbows are known to survive in temperatures up to and exceeding 77 degrees, but they stop growing at 73 degrees. Low oxygen content in warmer water also contributes to stress, but I don't think it's an issue here. From what I've read, brown trout can take the heat better than rainbows so they should fair better. The water coming over the flood gates from Table Rock is about 70 degrees and the water flowing through the turbines is about 44 degrees. Because of the location of the gates versus the turbines at the dam, the warmer water flows down the south side of the lake, and the cold water the north side. At first, this water doesn't mix well because of the density of each but as it flows down lake, it does mix. For example, at our dock the water temperature is 57 degrees. It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyhow -- we've been finding most of our fish hanging from the cold side to the middle, with very few on the warm side. One thing we're seeing run through our lake with this warmer water is the bug population absolutely loves it!! We're finding rainbows all the way to the Branson Landing with scuds (freshwater shrimp) in their bellies. And our midge hatches in the evening are massive!! I've never seen anything like it, except maybe on the tundra in Alaska during a big noseeum hatch (which is no fun at all!!). Higher, faster water isn't something that should be taken lightly. We emphasis boating safety when checking out boats and are requiring renters to wear life jackets, at least when they leave our dock. The law does not require you to wear a jacket if you are over seven years old -- only to have it accessible -- but it would be smart to keep it on if you're the least concerned about being in such water conditions. We are also demonstrating how to dock a boat in current. It's actually pretty easy if you take your time and let the engine on the boat do all the work. If you try to "shoot" the stall, you will crash and do damage to the dock, the boat and possibly your passengers. We have a Youtube video online showing the safe and proper way to dock a boat in current. Watch Your Wake!!! Most people who boat rarely look behind their boat them to see what kind of wake they're throwing. Did you know you are RESPONSIBLE for your wake and the damage it might do? Bigger boats, deep V hull boats can throw huge wakes when coming out of the hole or when running at slow speeds. These wakes could swamp a smaller boat or flip a kayak well after you're gone up lake, leaving people in the water. It happens. It's happened twice this past week! Thank the Lord, no one was seriously hurt. Last but not least, don't forget your boating safety license. In Missouri, any person born after January 1, 1984 is required to have a boating license to operate a boat. If you're planning on renting a boat in Missouri, get a license! The state of Missouri recognizes other states official boating license so if you have one, you're good. There is a one-time day license we can issue for a non-Missouri resident. **Official Email today (6/1/15) from USCE - Little Rock. WHITE RIVER SYSTEM. All lakes remain in their respective flood pools and are rising after the weekend rain. Downstream stages continue to restrict releases to firm power from Bull Shoals and Norfork. The two most critical projects are BV and TR with less than 0.5" and 3.0" of runoff storage remaining in their flood pools. No rain Sunday night. Beaver is releasing 11.2k cfs, the pool has crested and we will shut back to two units at nameplate sometime today. Table Rock is releasing 15k cfs; Table Rock may not exceed 920' since inflows are not rising, however if we reach 920' we will increase released to 20k cfs. View full article

Hogwash...

Duane and I boated to the dam yesterday- fished from 3-5 pm. I drifted a Trout Magnet stick bait- they're small and cheap so losing one isn't a big deal. Problem is the trebles on them are so cheap the hooks kept bending and breaking off on either fish or rocks. I've been reporting they good mainly off others reports but I was wrong in doing so. Babler uses blue back Rebels. Didn't catch anything on small stick baits, even when I changed to a small Rapala floater. Duane caught several nice rainbows on the red San Juan but most were smaller ones - 11-13 inches. They looked good though- all eating lots of scuds I guess. He caught one real nice probably 18 incher on a white shad fly. I switched to a 1/8th oz white jig and caught a couple before heading in. Others up there were catching them on the red SJ worm too.

Sounds perfect to me.

I've been told that the Corp will increase the flow through flood gates from 15,000 cfs to 20,000 cfs starting sometime tomorrow. Last water temperature taken at the dam - 70 from flood gates, 44 from the turbines. Water temperature at our dock is 55 degrees. Fishing: Guides did very well this morning drifting up below the dam using #12 gray scuds and red san juan worms. Rainbows are full of scuds. Good from Lookout down to Fall Creek on the same. Below Fall Creek, night crawlers and Gulp eggs. Best and slower current from Monkey Island down through the bridges.

Lots of reports this week . . . lots of water and good trout caught. After big rains in the upper White River Basin, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers opened flood gates at Beaver and Table Rock dams. Beaver Lake's level is inching back up to 1129 feet even with big releases and Table Rock's level remains close to 918 feet. Table Rock is releasing the equivalent of four units plus a little with two units running as well as 10 flood gates opened reportedly one inch. It's hard to imagine that much water pouring in through that small one-inch space, but that's what I've been told. How long will that much water be run through Table Rock Dam? With the water that's in the system as I type, I'd say we're looking at another four to seven days. But there's rain in the forecast -- even this evening and tonight we're looking at a couple of inches in the basin. This weather pattern hasn't changed in a few weeks, with systems moving from south to north, slowly moving through to the east. This is why each system is dumping so much rain -- they don't just move through to the northeast as they used to. The heavy flows have given a lot of anglers trouble. Fishing off the docks or the shore has been very tough, if not impossible. The flows are just too fast and the water too deep. There's a little fly fishing at outlets #1 and #2 but room for only a few anglers. Getting out in a boat is about the only way to be successful. Yesterday I videoed some techniques I found to catch trout. Here's the video: I tried to show several possibilities for a variety of angling tastes and talents from drifting flies below the dam to Gulp Eggs below Cooper Creek. I will expound. Starting down lake, I followed up on a rumor. I'd heard that some guides were fishing down at the Missouri Department of Conservation Branson dock (where the fish stocking boat is kept) and catching rainbows on every cast. When I pulled up to the dock I saw trout jumping -- that's a good sign. There's a boat ramp just below the dock and that's where MDC sometimes stocks the trout. I think that's the case because there's thousands of rainbows there right now. They will spread out and head up lake at some point. I threw a jig and caught three or four before heading back up. I stopped and told a few people about the opportunity, so I hope they found them. I didn't fish this area but did see people doing very well drifting from Scotty's down to the bridges. One pontoon boat with five people fishing off of it had a triple on when I passed. They were having fun! I'm sure they were using Berkeley's Powerbait of some kind. I caught rainbows from the power lines above Monkey Island down to the Highway 65 bridge on white/chartreuse Gulp Eggs. The current isn't fast at all in this area, but you just need to make sure to sink your bait to the bottom. I've also seen people catching rainbows drifting in front of the resort on Gulp Eggs. Jig fishing is slow in this area. The Ungashik family from the KC area drifted night crawlers on the bottom from Fall Creek to Trout Hollow yesterday and caught some very impressive rainbows. Duane and I caught a few 15-inch rainbows on white 1/8th ounce jigs working the inside bend back yesterday, all very fat and spitting up scuds (freshwater shrimp). This is a very good sign of the good health of our lake right now. Drifting from Lookout down to Fall Creek, staying in the middle, and using a #12 gray or orange scud and a red San Juan worm is probably the most productive way to catch trout on the lake right now. Using a simple drift rig (four-pound line), 1/4 ounce bell weight, replace the plain hook with the first fly, then tie on the other fly 12 inches below it. You don't have to use two flies--one is just fine. Make sure you keep in contact with the bottom, though. If you don't feel the weight bumping the bottom, you won't get bite. This works below the dam, too. I'd drift from the cable down to Trophy Run, staying in the middle of the lake. Add a white shad fly to the list of flies that are working. Egg flies are not working as well as they did a couple weeks ago. White marabou jigs are still catching some really nice rainbows. With the heavy current, keep the jig down by not reeling as much when working the jig. I tend to not reel at all most of the time, lifting the jig to make sure the turbulent currents aren't bending my line and losing track of the jig altogether. I personally haven't caught any browns below the dam since the gates have opened back up, which is surprising. But Guide Chuck Gries said his client caught a 19-inch brown drifting a fly in the area of outlet #3 this morning, so they are up there.

I love it too. Would love to do it on trout here on Taney at some time. Just not sure how it would work. Just put it on Youtube - have fun with it.

They kicked on the other 2 gates couple of days ago. It brought the level up may be a foot. MDC boat ramp plateau is now under water. TR is holding at 918-something. Beaver isn't dropping very fast either.

I think the LOL meant something. I say things sometime kiddingly and add a I haven't graduated to LOL. But I might be wrong.

Dude, Neddiing is for Ned Heads...

https://www.youtube.com/user/phillilley Search "jig" on my channel. There's quite a bit about jig fishing in current.

What is this going to do for the striper fishing this summer? When the river drops to manageable levels, shouldn't it be pretty good fly fishing the river there in Tulsa?

Wow, fishing season sure was short this year. By the looks of this thread, it's the dead of winter and you guys are stuck inside.

I should have just quoted you - good post. Less drama.

Roark Creek - put in at the Charcoal Plant and run either to Stockstill Park or to Roark Resort. But it has to be after a rain -- better to kayak. I have friends who shoot it at night after a big rain. I guess it's REALLY wild.

27 May 2015 Update: Table Rock is currently releasing our authorized flood control release of 15k cfs. Table Rock Lake's surface pool elevation is approximately 918.07 and rising. Crest prediction is 918.5 on 28 May. As long as Table Rock Lake's elevation is between 917 and 920 this operation will continue. At Table Rock, we are using spillway gates to evacuate flood storage because 2 generators are out of service because of storm related damages." Table Lake Dam's current spillway/generator release is (8 gates @ 1" for a spillway release of 8.1k cfs and two generators max power releasing 6.5k cfs). Combined with hydropower, the total release will be approximately 14.6 cfs. FYI - Beaver Dam is lowering their gate openings to 1/2 foot each at 10:00 am this morning. Beaver Dam's total release with this change will be approximately 11,860 cfs. Jim Sandberg Operations Project Manager Table Rock Lake