Phil Lilley

A&M - 45 'bama - 34 Sorry uncle Mike....

Thanks Mitch... life is so short and precious. Take every opportunity to love and encourage the people in your life! I will lift up you and your mom in prayer this morning. The forum is a huge blessing for me. It's a community in itself and like Ronnie said, lots of relationships have been made through it. And relationships are important in life. Thanks.

If you're fishing jigs: If throwing them no float you can get away with 4 lb mono or fluorocarbon unless you're throwing 1/32nd oz or less. If you're using a float, use 2 lb fluorocarbon. Conditions dictate. No wind and clear water lately. You'll catch a few stockers on the bigger line but if you want to catch numbers and older, wiser trout you'll need light line.

by John Neporadny Noted for its fall festivals, the Missouri Ozarks also entertains anglers with excellent crappie fishing at the largest lake in this region. While festival visitors devour snacks at these special events, crappie gorge on baitfish in their version of a fall feast at Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri. This 58,000-acre lake runs 92 miles and offers anglers more than 1,000 miles of shoreline and deep-water structure to fish. Although younger reservoirs with flooded timber and undeveloped shorelines look more appealing to a crappie angler, Lake of the Ozarks entices with its hidden charms. Even though the lake lost most of its natural wood cover when standing timber was cleared before the reservoir formed in 1931, the Lake of the Ozarks has regained cover over the years as dock owners and anglers have sunk brush piles throughout the impoundment. Fed by the Osage, Niangua and Little Niangua rivers, the massive reservoir offers crappie plenty of attractive structure such as steep bluffs, chunk-rock banks, and river and creek channel drops. The lake's abundant habitat holds numerous crappie. "The population of crappie on the Lake of the Ozarks is fantastic," says Bruce Gier, a former guide at the lake. "It's very possible to catch a limit of decent-size crappie (10 inches) on this lake in the fall," says guide Terry Blankenship of Osage Beach, Mo. He notes crappie in the 12- to 14-inch range are also frequently caught. "You may not catch that size every time you go out but they are out there." Fall becomes a prime time to catch crappie on Lake of the Ozarks because the fish prepare for winter by gorging on the massive summer hatch of shad "They'll start feeding pretty aggressively especially in the early part of September," says Blankenship. "Every year I notice early September is better than late September and the when it gets into October it starts slowing down a little bit. October is one of the tougher months in the fall, then it starts picking up again in November, and December can be real good for good-size fish." During the summer, crappie seek refuge in the deep water along the numerous miles of river and creek channels, where it becomes difficult to catch them because of heavy recreational boat traffic. "So consequently when fall comes and the lake calms down, there are more fish available to catch on the lake of the Ozarks," says Guy Winters, a veteran crappie angler from Camdenton, Mo. The lake settles down after the Labor Day holiday when boat traffic diminishes. "The weekends can still be pretty rough on this lake up until the middle or end of October," Blankenship advises. Another fall phenomenon, the lake's winter drawdown, also improves the crappie fishing. The power company controlling the lake level, AmerenUE, begins the drawdown process during the fall, which tends to congregate fish. "If you take out 6 feet around more than 1,000 miles of shoreline, now all of a sudden you've concentrated those fish because there is less water for them to be in," says Winters. "So it eliminates a lot of places you have to look for them." Each angler has his favorite arm of the lake that he concentrates on during the fall. "You can catch crappie anywhere on the lake," says Gier, who prefers to fish the North Shore near the dam and the Gravois arm because those areas are close to home. "There's not one arm of the lake any better than the other for crappie fishing." Blankenship favors one of the lake's tributaries for his fall crappie fishing. "The (Grand) Glaize is one of the biggest feeder creeks in our area and fish tend to start migrating towards the cooler water in this creek," he says. Winters selects the Niangua and Linn Creek arms because the shallow waters of these two tributaries cool down faster in early autumn. When the water turns colder in late fall, he targets the Osage arm because it has more structure for crappie migrating to deeper water. In the shallow waters of the upper Glaize, Blankenship finds fall crappie in brush piles or stake beds along flats next to channel breaks. "It's not exceptionally deep up there so the crappie want to stay near the deepest water," says Blankenship. The easiest way to locate crappie beds on the Lake of the Ozarks is to fish around the reservoir's numerous boat docks. However, the Glaize arm lacks docks since a majority of the land lies in the Lake of the Ozarks State Park, so anglers have to search elsewhere for brush. "Points are always real good places to start looking for brush piles," suggest Blankenship. Other good spots to check during the fall are brush in the backs of coves or bluffs, which offers both wood and rock cover. "It's always better if you can find a bluff that has some type of brush on it," advises Blankenship. "Bluff fishing can be real good and a lot of times you'll catch big black crappie off of them." The depth Blankenship catches his fish during fall varies with the conditions. After a fall rain, he can catch crappie on a jig and bobber as shallow as 1 foot in runoff areas. In clearer water, he finds crappie anywhere from 8 to 25 feet depending on the weather and boat traffic, which tends to drive crappie deeper. The guide's favorite lure for this area is a plastic tube body hooked on a 1/16-ounce horsehead jig with a spinner. He prefers this type of jighead because the spinner gives his lure more flash and better imitates the actions of threadfin shad, the resident baitfish crappie feed on heavily during the fall. Blankenship selects natural colors for his tube bodies such as smoke or shad when fishing clear water, but he switches to orange, chartreuse or red-and-chartreuse for dingier water. During the toughest conditions, Blankenship tips his jig with a minnow or Berkley Crappie Nibbles. On the Niangua and Linn Creek arms, Winters finds crappie in deep brush during September and then the fish start moving into the creek channels throughout October. Winters notices he catches fall crappie in the same locations he finds pre-spawn fish in the spring (brush piles 4 to 6 feet deep in the coves). Another favorite target for Winters is a boat dock with sunken brush piles placed down the side of the dock from the deep to the shallow end. "Those kinds of docks are very productive in the fall," says Winters, who notes crappie use these brush piles to move from deep water to feed in the shallows. For most of the fall crappie remain in the 6- to 8- foot depths, but when the water temperature drops into the 50-degree range, they will move as shallow as 2 to 3 feet deep for feeding forays. "As the temperature starts to come down, if it doesn't change real fast crappie will continue on that pattern until the water reaches about 45 degrees," says Winters. The the crappie start a gradual migration back to deeper water. Winters estimates the fish move 2 to 3 feet deeper with each two-degree drop in water temperature during this time. By November, the fish relate to structure more and suspend over break lines. Throughout the fall, Winters selects subtle-action, slow-falling lures such as 1 1/2- to 2-inch tube jigs. A 1/32-ounce jighead works best for Winters when the crappie are in the shallows or suspended in deeper water. He switches to a 1/16-ounce head when the fish hold in the 8- to 10-foot range. The water is usually stained in the early fall, so he relies on colors such as chartreuse-glitter or red-and-chartreuse. If the water is clear, he selects red-and-pearl, blue-and-pearl or pink-and-pearl color combinations. Gier's home part of the lake contains hundreds of docks and brush piles where crappie congregate and ambush shad during autumn. "In the fall, crappie can be suspended about 2 feet deep under boat hoists in the shady parts of the dock," says Gier. The fish also move into the shallow brush piles near the dock where they can be taken with a bobber and jig. Since this section of the lake has the clearest water, Gier recommends staying away from the brush or docks and make long casts with 4- to 6-pound line to prevent spooking those shallow fish. A 1/16-ounce tube jig is Gier's favorite lure for fall crappie on the Gravois and North Shore. "I very seldom use a minnow just because I don't have to," he says. Since he mainly fishes clear water, Gier favors tube jigs with white tails or transparent colors. If the water turns murky, he opts for a yellow or chartreuse tube jig. When Ozark fall festivals begin, visit the Lake of the Ozarks for the annual crappie harvest. The lake has a multitude of motels and family resorts open-year round and numerous private campground sites spread throughout the area. For information on lodging and other facilities at the Lake of the Ozarks or to receive a free vacation guide, call the Lake of the Ozarks Convention & Visitors Bureau at 1-800-FUN-LAKE or visit the Lake of the Ozarks Convention and Visitors Bureau web site at funlake.com.

At least fish chow would be good for the fish and not kill them like corn! Fifty pounds!!!! Wow! That's why our fish are getting so big. If everyone brought 50 pounds of fish food, we'd have some monsters!!

Call in report recorded by Google Voicebox. You need flash to see and listen to the report Buster's cell phone # is 417-335-0357. Call him for a guide trip.

I did something yesterday I'd never done before. Not really up my alley (I'm not a big bow hunter and hadn't shot in years), but I traveled with about 18 guys from Branson Friday evening to Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp north of Rolla, on the Gasconade River, and participated in a 3-D Archery Tournament on Saturday. It turned out of be a really nice event, great people, wonderful ranch on the river. Thirty targets over about a half mile with shots at all angles, with obstructions, through trees, branches and awkward stances. About 70 people participated. It was their 3rd year of hosting the tournament. They had some nice prizes and drawings. There were "Fun Shots" too. $1 per shot. The shots included shooting an apple off a foam head, a ping pong ball, a steel turkey shoot (about a 3-inch hole in a metal turkey shaped plate) and others. Distance was 20 yards. Food was great too. Only $20 for the tournament, breakfast and lunch. Most of the archers went through the round twice, some did it 3 times. It took about 90 minutes to complete. They're planning it again next September. I'll be sure to post it here on OA.

About this time every year, when the leaves start to drop on the lake's surface here on Lake Taneycomo, our trout will start to hold close to or under these leaves, I think, for a couple of reasons. Here's what I think and see! Read More

We've had very little rain now in several weeks. Lake levels have dropped and the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has seen fit not to run as much water from Table Rock Lake the last week. There usually has been no generation all day until about 3 p.m., then one unit or less until about dark. This lends to good fishing -- or tough fishing -- depending on when you're out. The best fishing has been early and late in the day, and at night. Later in the morning throughout the day, we've had high sun, blue skies and very little wind, producing the toughest fishing conditions you can have. People are still catching trout during the day, but most are fishing deep for them. Early, before the sun shines over the water, trout are feeding closer to the surface. Later when the sun gets up, they go deeper and are less active. If there's wind and it chops the surface of the lake, trout become more active and do move closer to the surface to feed on hatching midges and bugs that are blown into the lake from trees close to the water. That's a simplified cycle, I understand, but if you follow this and fish with flies, lures and live bait, targeting fish where they are during the day, you'll have a better chance of catching trout. Fishing with live bait in the deeper holes has been pretty good anytime during the day or night. Fishing off our dock over the holiday weekend was good for most anglers. They were fishing with PowerBait Gulp eggs and night crawlers -- even getting away with four-pound line despite the clarity of the water. Colors: white and pink are the best colors. Early, fishing above Fall Creek up to Lookout, we are fishing mostly the channel or deeper water and using either a jig or fly under a float. We've been using micro or marabou jigs; best colors have been black or ginger. Zebra midges: #16 or #18, with best colors of black, red, rusty or ugly (green). Light tippet is a must. Most are using 7x fluorocarbon. Later in the morning, we're going to deeper waters and dropping our flies and jigs deeper. Drop below Fall Creek and fishing the channel, fishing 5 to 7 feet deep. Still using light tippet. Getting into the middle of the day, our guides are heading down and fishing from Lilleys' to the Landing. Bill Babler said his clients have used a Gulp egg placed on a small jig hook and fished under a float five- to seven-feet deep. This would work any time during the day in this area. In the evening, we've seen a lot of trout midging on the surface of the lake almost everywhere on the upper lake, feeding on hatching midges. We took a pontoon ride Sunday evening down to the Landing and all the way down, we saw trout surfacing. We stopped close to Monkey Island and tossed a #16 black Zebra Midge under a small float 12 inches deep and quickly caught a couple of rainbows and a small brown trout. Then at the Landing, in front of the fountains, we caught several more rainbows. It shows that even after a big weekend, there are still lots of trout in the lake to be caught. Here's some nice trout caught by clients of Captain Rick Lisek, two veterans here from the Project Healing Waters weekend here at Lilleys' Landing. Here's a report called in by Captain Steve Dicky:

Nice! Thanks for sharing your experience.

I've been helping with a new "church" or "ministry" here in the Branson area. Wanted to invite anyone in the area who might like this kind of gathering. We're meeting every other Tuesday at Brandon William's archery/feed store at the 65/Hollister exit south of Branson. It's across from Walgreens close to Lowes. We are meeting tonight. The indoor archery range is now ready. I'll be there about 5:30 to shoot. Dinner is at 6:15 and meeting is at 7:00 p.m.. Last meeting some guys shot after the meeting was over. The meeting is geared towards men who don't necessarily like "church". It's non invasive, usually starts with fishing reports, we have guys come and share a song, usually country, people like Clay Self from Big Cedar. Then either Brett Potter or Travis Loewen share a life lesson. Two weeks ago Travis brought one of his pot bellied pigs as an object lesson. We meet Tuesday nights because most outdoorsmen are... outdoors on Sunday morning.

Why not fish both. Looks like you're going to be here a while.

and the fishing... ? Should have been very good.

by Patti Hummert Reeling and Healing will be having a retreat September 27-29 at Rockbridge. This is open for any women over the age of 18 who is a survivor of any type of cancer. I have a couple spots still open. If you know of any someone who would be interested, please have them get in touch with me or go to Fishon.org and register. It is an incredible 2 1/2 day retreat and they learn to fly fish! (No experience or equipment needed, all will be provided) http://www.ozarkanglers.com/blog/2013/08/31/reeling-healing-midwest-programs-that-heal/ http://fishon.org

They said the pics of the boat were in front of Gastons but it looks like they have the fish at Wildcat Shoals takeout.

https://www.facebook.com/paul.bobby.12/posts/560194657373290 Found it. Posted on John Wilson's forum.

Got this email this morning. No real verification on who, what, when... anyone know anything about it? Caught and released on the White River. That's about all the email said.

Beaver.

Looking for a Canon (or made for Canon) wide angle lens. Mine dropped and went pop. It was a 18-55mm but would consider something comparable. If you have one laying around drawing dust, drop me a PM.

On Taneycomo, I'd go back in the coves and fish under the overhanging trees and close to downed trees. Docks if you can find them. Very lower lake, bluff banks. Poppers are the best I've heard.

May be because MDC thinks that if they put anything out, the current would move them to deep water or something? I don't know. There is structure - down trees and lodge bluffs.

I'd try them. Along the bluff bank under trees. They might even like them under a float. Never try them... but worth the try for sure.

They've stocked a ton of rainbows late last week. A lot of them are down at Monkey Island and can be caught with spoons, trout magnets and power bait.

Keep all the sub 12 inch rainbows up below the dam you want, within the code of course. The rules are designed for people to keep those 11.9 inch rainbows so that the upper end isn't over populated, which at times I think it is. As far as keeping them over 20-inches, we all have our opinions. I know some like to smoke a big trout once in a while. Again, the rules are there for a reason... I hate to see big trout killed but I'm not going to stare or glare or yell at anyone who takes one out. I do advise ppl here that if they want to mount one, it's much better to have a replica made and release your trophy. Replicas look so much better and last forever, if they're done right of course.