Phil Lilley

Like I told Travis, I killed a nice rainbow last week on One Cast throwing a dry fly. Hooked it deep in the gills. It was bleeding real bad when netted. Cut the line and let it go. Didn't swim off well. Probably died. Caught another 2 days before that - same thing. But this one didn't bleed. Cut the line and it swam off. May have lived, may be not. It happens. The only way not to kill a fish is to not fish.

Yeah. Travis and I had a private conversation. It didn’t. Hook mortality. I told him it happens. I killed at least one rainbow last week using a dry fly, maybe 2. Hooked deep in the gills. Nothing I could have done about it. Both on one cast too.

Did the rainbow make it? We’ve had trouble with ppl bringing fish in to be put in our tank but the water in their live wells is too warm and kills them.

Branson Landing….. hummm

Dry fly bite is getting better.

Any details?

But it doesn't work... it doesn't take you to the schedule. Have to call...

Sandy I got your email. I need the correct email to add to the account. My email is lilley @ lilleyslanding.com

Are we seeing the new "minimum flow" here on Lake Taneycomo? Back in the mid 1990's, the Missouri Department of Conservation conducted tests to determine the ideal minimum flow for our lake. It was in conjunction with the same tests the Arkansas Game and Fish did below Bull Shoals Dam on the White River. Arkansas was able to get legislation passed in Congress to establish minimum flow there while our fisheries department took a "wait and see" position. I don't remember what the findings were for our lake, but they have to be pretty similar to the flow we're seeing right now. That's about 1,240 cubic feet per second or 17 megawatts of power generated. This isn't the flow all the time, though. We're seeing bumps in generation up to 2,900 c.f.s., and more. But it is an interesting flow, for boaters and anglers wading up below the dam. We fly fishermen like to strip and swing flies -- and both are especially working up below the dam. Working a sculpin along the bottom is catching good rainbows and browns while swinging and stripping soft hackles are fooling big rainbows. Number six and eight sculpins, most of which are weighted to sink and run close to the bottom, are working simply because we have a lot of sculpins in the lake and the trout are keying in on them. Trout aren't line shy with these big flies -- use six- to- eight-pound fluorocarbon tippet. Soft hackles are fished just on or just below the surface in what we call the "film." They imitate a midge that's coming out of its shell before drying its wings and flying off. Use 6x tippet and a #14 or #16 black soft hackle. Trout usually take it on the swing or when stripping it back. Micro jigs under a float are working really well. Some guides are adding a zebra midge dropped to it. Tan or black are the best colors, using 6x tippet and fishing them anywhere from four- to seven-feet deep. Early and late in the day, they won't be as deep, but when the sun gets high, fish them deeper, of course, in deeper water. The cerise San Juan Worm, along with a scud dropper, is working well up in the trophy area. You can sink them down with just a split shot or use a slip float and fish them under the float with the weight on the bottom. Add the flies using the drop shot method above the weight 12- to 18-inches apart. Again, 6x tippet is fine. Our water temperature coming out of the dam is about 54-55 degrees, and I've been recording dissolved oxygen readings between six and eight parts per million. That's not bad at all, but we will start to see oxygen readings drop here in the next couple of months. Boaters have been using Gulp Eggs in white or red down in the Branson Landing area and picking up limits of stocker rainbows. Try adding an egg to a small jig head and fish it under a float four- to five-feet deep. Spoons are also working lake side, catching mainly stocker rainbows, but a few lucky anglers are hooking big browns every once in a while. Of course, night crawlers are still the top bait for catching big browns more often. The generation outlook for the month is as follows: Very little flows generally with pulses in the afternoon into the evening when the temperatures are high. If we don't get much rain this fall,, look for this to continue through autumn and the brown trout spawn. Image Credit: Duane Doty, Ozark Trout Runners View full article

CAM, our local food pantry, is relocating to a new building. It's well needed warehouse space and offices. The units there are not working and new inventory is hard to find. So we're hoping to find a couple of used units. Now I can't answer the tech questions... even like how large. I know the old ones are on the ground and are 10 ton units. We need 2. I can get more info if needed - I think.

Lovely!

I applied a patch (upgrade) and it works now.

Anyone else having trouble uploading images? Jut checking before I send in a ticket.

The one clip when I pulled the sockeye away from Austin... he had missed twice so I led the salmon away from his net and put it in the net leaning on the bank - which already had a sockeye in it. It was pretty funny...

A couple bought is about 1985 from KC. He passed a few years ago and the widow sold it to a couple from Tulsa last year.

I forgot to mention covid made its way through camp. I got a mild case last weekend. It only kept me from fishing one day. Other cases were mild as well.

Just got back from 2 weeks of very chilly, rainy weather, a stark contrast to what home has been. We saw the sun 2 days and the temp on those days rose into the 60's. Otherwise it was 45-55, breezy and rain. But the fishing was pretty good and the bugs weren't very bad. The 2022 sockeye run was early and light. We're still waiting on the official numbers as well as what the commercial fishermen's report. Sean Guffy is just finishing up his drift boat stint so I'll talk to him in a couple of weeks. But the fish count on the Naknek was lagging according to the F&G people. Jim said they had a pretty big early run but while I was there I'd put the run at below average at best. But even if a few are coming up, we can catch them and fill our fish boxes - and we did. The rainbows however were off on my trip. Again, the smolt came out of the lake early and I guess the rainbow hammered them in June. But when I was there, I didn't see many smaller rainbows like last year. They were in the usual places - in the boulder fields waiting to ambush the small bait fish as they schooled down the river - but the smolt were few and far between. You usually anchor in the area and wait for the boils, casting while you wait. I drift and cast around the areas and usually pick some up but not this time. I figured it out late in the game, at least with my "4-pound circuit" as the guides call it. I've taken my trout rods up there and throw jigs like I do here. I anchored over the boulder fields, casted an 1/8 ounce jig up and let it sink to the bottom, working it threw the big rocks. I caught and landed this 28 inch rainbow. I have my usual expression... I don't like holding a big fish out of the water so I'm concentrating on the fish and not the camera. We boated to Brooks one day and saw the bears. They put on a good show. Fished Margot Creek the same day. Disappointing but it usually isn't a good early fishing spot. Did find some lakers in the mouth but only caught one small one. We limited 5 days on sockeye (5 per day) and filled our boxes. It's always fun fighting these fish. Big Creek, one of the better places to fish for kings, was blown out most of the 2 weeks I was there but did fish the last day (Friday) and found 5 jacks ready to play. Not big kings, but we only fished for them a couple of hours.

This report is from a sample that was taken on Lake Taneycomo in August of 2021. 2021 Lake Taneycomo Annual Report.pdf View full article

Our skies have dried up now that it's summer in the Ozarks and our lakes have somewhat stabilized. Beaver Lake is still a bit high but Table Rock Lake is below its seasonal power pool so our generation is slow and consistent. They're running a little less than a full unit 24/7 which makes trout fishing pretty good. At the present flow, you can boat to the cable at Table Rock Dam if you know the channel above Lookout Island. If not, I wouldn't chance it. It get pretty shallow in spots and there's some big boulders that have been places for structure that can cause some serious damage to lower units. From the cable down, marabou jigs are probably one of the best lures to use. Dark, earth colors are the best with sculpin, olive, brown or black the base colors highlighted with ginger or peach, all with either orange or brown heads. You can use with 2- or 4-pound line -- the trout are not line shy at this point. If you're using 2-pound line, throw 1/32nd- or 1/16th-ounce jigs and if you're using 4-pound line, use the heavier jigs like 3/32nd- and 1/8th-ounce. They're still drifting flies from the cable all the way down to Short Creek, either straight line with split shots or under a slip float. Scuds is still #1 but they're catching trout on a red San Juan Worm, peach egg flies and the white Mega Worm. Use a small #16 grey scud with a little flash in the dubbing. Night crawlers is king below Fall Creek. The current is slow enough to either spot lock or use an anchor off the front of a boat but be careful and judge the current before anchoring. Up toward Fall Creek, the current is faster so anchor to the side. Anchoring in the Short Creek area and across the lake from Trout Hollow has been very productive. Straight line a night crawler, salmon eggs or Powerbait using 4-pound line. The current really slows down down past Trout Hollow so just use a little split shot to get down when drifting. The Berkley Pink Worm under a float is working early before the sun gets up over the water. Stay in the shade of the bluffs for as long as you can. Fish it about 5 to 7 feet deep. The Branson Landing area has had a lot of trout stocked recently. They're hitting the Pink Worm as well as spoons and spinners. They're also catching them on small crank baits -- they like to chase things. View full article