Phil Lilley

Depends on how many come through. Right now not many are coming through. I have seen shad as far down as Rockaway Beach before. A few times there'd be so many they'd be stacked up in eddies all along the lake and the birds would have a feast for days.

Welcome to the forum. Take most things said in this fashion as mostly tongue-n-cheek. They certainly aren't THE forum rules. Just use common sense, and by all means post your underwater pics!

You never, ever know. Could but a one time thing, could last for weeks. So unpredictable!

We sell them. Scotty's might.

I guess what I mean is we've had multiple years where we didn't see any shad. Even cold winters with high water- no shad. Then there's the warm winters with no generation - no shad. There's been quite a few winters when we didn't have shad and I read where the White did. We haven't had a good shad run in over 12-15 years.

Both. Bigger and more.

Classic

Glad you caught fish... Thanks

I'm hoping cold weather stays around for a month... may be we'll get a big, prolong shad kill here. It will boost the growth of our trout and help some of you guys get down here and enjoy this kind of fishing. I know the White River gets a huge shad kill every winter... we don't. I think it has to do with the height of our dam compared to Bull Shoals and the depth of our penstocks (where the water runs through the dam). BS is shallower than ours. But we still CAN get big shad kills. We have in the past- all the way up to May.

OK thanks.

Excellent report!

Al- which "select" prints?

I've been hearing that the deer population in north MO is way down- that a lot of people are mad at MDC for not putting a limit on doe tags this year. I guess CWD is having an adverse affect on deer? I'm not in the loop at all on this. On a side note- I've been showing off these 2 deer pics to friends. First is the "wife", Kathy Carnahan and the second is her 18 year old son Nate. They're from SE Kansas.

Shot yesterday. The one thing you'll notice is how many time I mend the line. It's important that the float isn't dragging. If it does, your jig isn't down, it's riding up and moving faster than the current. Fish don't like that. Boat control is the other important thing, especially if it's windy. Keep the rod tip low- on the water. Don't let the wind take the line- you lose control.

Ham- I'd love to come down. Might have some time in February. We'll see.

1/8th ounce with this much water. 4 pound line is fine.

Another video I shot this morning. I found out why they are liking white jigs below the dam... threadfin shad are coming through the turbines from Table Rock Lake. While I did not see any in the water, some of the rainbows I caught had fairly large bellies and they would not leave my white float alone. Another verification- Babler guided this afternoon and told me he had rainbows spitting up shad. Dickey also cleaned rainbows with shad in their bellies. I don't think many are coming through. The trout below outlet #2 don't seem to be very interested in white lures so what's coming through are getting eaten before they get to the outlet. Hopefully this is the beginning of a long, continuous shad run this winter.

I'm uploading another video shot this morning. it's taking forever... it's a huge file.

Looking forward to fishing with you someday, Hamilton!

Line- it all depends on water clarity. After the lake turns over, our water is dirty. it will clear up by late spring. When it's dirty. like now, I use 4 pound line regardless if the water is on or off. Unless I start using Turner's micro jigs or a small fly (water off). I know Babler uses 2 pound Vanish but it's diameter is comparable to 4 pound Trilene except it's fluorocarbon. Even when the water is clear in the summer/fall, if the water is running hard, I use 4 pound. It's debatable if I'm missing fish.

I actually don't like bass fishing much except in streams. But thanks for the mention. I'd just love to fish with the aforementioned... minus the real pros.

Trilene 4 pound XL

Shot this yesterday. Trying out a new camera.

What I could have done: The local vet told me on my 3rd visit to call the specialist in KC. I didn't. Not until it was too late. She said almost right off the bat it could be a fungal infection given the area I lived. Throw in the holidays- falling on Wednesday- it was tough staying in contact with the vet and the attention spent on visiting family. Jackson is doing well. Hopefully this will be a learning experience for me and may be someone else on the forum if it happens to them.

The Branson Airport - runway runs North and South. The C of O runway is East and West. Lots of lights surrounding the college a/p. No lights around the commercial a/p. They just made a big mistake. Thankfully it didn't cost them their lives and lots of others.