Phil Lilley

I saw the screen name and thought - haven't seen it in a long time! Good to see you're back and soon to be on the water.

Put in at 10. Just pulled out. Finally found some whites on the willow bank (eagles nest). Caught 2 whites 1 short walleye on olive swimming minnow close to West Bank. Bank anglers doing good throwing something white. Bet it will be real good towards evening. They're there!!

Will be in a white Skeeter bass boat, OK registration, no dog this time. Will fish till mid afternoon.

With the water running, I'd throw nothing but jigs, if I wasn't fly fishing. I'd start with white and then go to darker colors. If they didn't bite jigs, I'd drift an egg fly/scud combo or cast a rapala against the banks. Or drift one on a drift rig like Babler does. They're running 25 mw (half unit) today and tomorrow. A small boat could get to the cable carefully but I would take a bass to pontoon boat up there. I'd use the same thing but smaller jigs - 1/16th or 3/32nd or a jig and float using a 1/32nd oz jig or a full micro (pink is good).

Hey thanks for posting reports!!

What happened?

May be 5 to Barker. Wayne would know better than I.

Water was running fairly hard... were you in a boat or fishing from the bank. I thought just maybe we'd see some shad come through if they ran it half way hard... waiting for reports. I couldn't get out.

Water's off now... plus high sun and lots of wind. I wouldn't,,, just yet. Sorry! lol

They did run more water and for much longer today, this morning. It has slowed down now. Just a thought.

I'd think since they're running water now that there should be boo-coo's of whites and walleye at the Pothole. You guys need to head over the, fish, report back with lots of PICS! I'd love to see 'em.

I knew there were forum members up there but it's hard to know... I actually had some OAF stickers with me in case I ran into someone who wanted any. I need to get the resort's name on the Griz. I knew we probably missed some fish by leaving early but we were tired. Started too early. A boat with 3 guys said they had caught 19 whites but not in the creek. Another guy at the ramp was telling a boat launching to go uplake, around the bend and fish the flats, that they'd caught some up there. If you can find then in the main lake- that's the place to get them right now. There was current in the main lake yesterday cause they're running water out of Table Rock. Just a little but enough to move some water. I'd drift minnows on the flats if I was going back during the day.

Just pulled out of beaver creek. 3 gills. Started at 10 this am. Tough day. Fished from snapp to almost barker. Mostly up beaver.

I'm in the white Grizzley, black lab if anyone comes up.

Been up here most of the day. Nothing. Seen a few small fish caught on minnows. Not happening yet.

For the last three days, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has ran a couple of units for about 30 minutes in the morning and that's it -- no generation besides that. It's been pretty quiet on the generation scene. Table Rock Lake has risen a couple of feet this week from a two-inch rain we got over the weekend. It's now hovering at 910 feet which is still five feet below power pool. It's been cold and windy; we can't seem to get past this long, winter season. But it looks like there's some spring-like days ahead so we might be over the hump! Regardless, trout fishing has been pretty good for most anglers who brave the elements. Water color is good and temperature is about 45 degrees. The breezy weather makes for pretty good jerk bait fishing as well as casting spoons and spinners. Actually, bass fishing on the lower lake has been very good throwing jerk baits according to one bass club member. He caught quite a few black bass a couple of weekends ago over four pounds. And speaking of warm water fish, anglers are still catching crappie along the wall in front of the Branson Landing trolling or drifting with minnows or small jigs under a float. You'll catch rainbows, too. Fishing with live bait: Anglers caught good rainbows and a few browns on minnows, straight lining them just below the mouth of Fall Creek this week. Also fishing them close to Short Creek as well as down at Monkey Island. There's a lot of small forage fish along most of the banks hiding close to fallen trees and pond weed. Injecting air into night crawlers is another great way to catch a limit of rainbows and may be a brown or two. Fishing them about anywhere between Fall Creek and Monkey Island. One of our guides just came in and said his clients caught some real nice rainbows about 500 yards below Fall Creek on crawlers. He said the key was to stay put and be patient. He said most boats were moving around too much and not waiting on the fish. White and brown or white and orange Gulp Power Eggs are also working good if you're using bait below Fall Creek. When it's windy and there's a big chop on the water, they're taking a Trout Magnet under a float. Best colors are pink, salmon mix and sassy. Above Fall Creek, the jig-and-float technique is hard to beat. Rainbows are taking an olive/orange head, olive/tan head, tan or black half micro jig under a float anywhere from three- to seven-feet deep depending on the water you're fishing. Guide Steve Dickey found some nice rainbows in the deep water below Lookout, fishing his brown/orange head marabou jig seven-feet deep the other day. Today he called in this FISHING REPORT. I fished at the Narrows, about 3/4 mile above Fall Creek, yesterday and did catch quite a few rainbows, mostly small (less than 12 inches) but did catch a few in the 14-inch range. They took a #14 red zebra or a rusty zebra midge under a small indicator 36 inches deep. I used 6x fluorocarbon tippet. Fly fishing below the dam, wading in, fishermen have done really well stripping a black or olive woolly bugger, size #8, working the flat from Big Hole clear down to Trophy Run. Conditions have been best when the wind is blowing and there's a good chop on the water. Also try soft hackles and cracklebacks, size #14 and #16. Of course zebra midges are working well, too. Rusty, P&P and black zebras size #16 fished from 6 to 24 inches deep. In the Rebar chute, San Juan worms in brown and red, scuds size #12 to #18 in tan, brown or gray and egg flies drifted in the faster water above, in the chute and below the hole. There's still several trophies up there to catch (and release).

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/buffalo-river/levels/ Here's a link to OA's Buffalo River Levels.

Too cold... no way!! Try it - you'll love it!

Remember, the MO/AR state line is BEFORE you get to Cricket Creek Marina and you'll need a ARK license to go south of the line. If you're a MO resident, you can buy a border permit and fish either side. Of course your boys won't need anything. Ask Mark at the marina about crappies... tell him you heard he was a great bowler... it might get you a little more info

Cooper Creek Access has a dock for fishing too.

They talked about this on KWTO this morning. Good to get the word out. He said that they were already starting to build the farm... ?

I've gotten a very good response from my email campaign. Looks like we're going to see a lot of fellow anglers there.

I'm planning on fishing the Spring River on Thursday with a friend from Neosho. May be I'll see some fellow OAF'ers over there.

I have a lot of respect for everyone on this thread... I've only skimmed may be half what's been written but it's good debate and best of all there's no harsh words. Plus I know that fishing is going to explode pretty soon and all conversation will shift to that direction. As for hard and fast "rules", it's tough to draw that line. People here on passionate about fishing, yes, but they are passionate about other things that affect our lives, and affects our ability to go fish. I recognize that. it's all related. So why not discuss those things, as long as it stays civil and respectful. To your credit, I think everyone who has posted on this topic could all go on a 3 day float trip and have a wonderful time together, regardless of their political views. That's how it should be.

How far up the creek do you think they caught 'em?