Phil Lilley

We sell batteries from Battery Outfitters. http://www.batteryoutfitters.com/ Local people, owner Lane Shumaker grew up in Golden, MO and will personally back every battery he sells. Not trying to sell one out of our shop... but this is why I carry them. Lane is a first class guy!

Duane, Mona Cheri and I headed for the White River yesterday about 5 am. We arrived at Wildcat Shoal Access a little before 7 am ready to spend the day on the river chasing big browns and rainbows. We were excited to see and fish the big caddis hatch we'd been hearing about. The caddis didn't let us down! They were running 4 units at Bull Shoals dam at 60 cfs- later in the day it increased to 165 cfs. I pulled a jon boat over with a 25 hp motor. Wasn't sure if it would be a problem running over the shoals - I wanted to run up to the Narrows. I had no issues at all. We boated up to the top of the island at the Narrows, got out and waded around the island for a while. Mona Cheri caught a few rainbows drifting a mega worm (white) while Duane found a pod of small rainbows and caught a few on a streamer. About 8:15, the caddis started to hatch. We got back in the boat and started targeting rising fish against the bluff bank for the rest of the morning, into the afternoon. We'd drift the bank and look for feeding fish. They'd be in groups of two and threes, not everywhere but fairly consistent. We'd get lookers and refusers. We'd spook a few with a bad cast or they just flat wouldn't pay any attention to the dry. We used mainly Elk Hair Caddis, light cream colors. The caddis hatching were at least 3 different shades of brownish cream and they got thick quick, stayed thick all day pretty much. We caught several browns and rainbows, all were fatter than fat, probably with caddis seeing they'd been hatching everyday for the past 2 weeks. I'd see fish darting around under the surface too, I bet eating emergers. But we weren't prepared as well as I'd liked to have been, not having any good caddis nymphs. We did try some zebras and I did catch one brown on a black Zebra but that was after one took my dry... complicated story but I did have him on the dry in the beginning but was on the dropper when I got him to the boat, both in the mouth. We pulled out at 3 pm and headed to the dam. Stopped for a break and something to drink. Put in at the dam access and started throwing white 1/8th oz jigs and drifting egg and mega worm patterns. Duane tried a white chammy worm he ties and that ended up doing the best on the fly rod. But the white jigs were the best at catching trout. Caught some decent browns and nice rainbows, all fat and hard fighting. Toward dark, I switched to black and man they came alive. Both Duane and I caught some quality rainbows and one brown, big fat and very wide bodies. Most were over 18 inches but nothing much over 20. Last fish of the day... a 20 inch walleye caught on a black jig. Pictures to follow...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/margie-goldsmith/catching-trout-in-an-amer_b_1431101.html

I've been told last week of April first week in May. Most females being caught a couple of weeks ago had firm eggs. Not many caught since except deep.

http://www.ozarkangl...-april-16-2012/

I've noticed since the last forum software update that the social tags at the bottom of each topic are working. Before the update, I'd tried and tried to get them to work but couldn't for some reason. Now you can "like" a topic and send it to your wall. I find this pretty cool, if you do facebook. Now you can post on the forum first, then send it to your social media site without having to do both. I do see a down side to this though. There are those on the forum that don't want their posts to be spread all over the place on facebook or where ever... Not sure if you can block it. Might investigate it on the forum's backend or on individual accounts. Anyhow- just thought I'd point it out.

??? I don't remember back more than 2 years.

Use just enough weight to get to the bottom. Too much weight will hang up and be frustrating to the kids. They'll be able to feel the bite better too. Gulp Eggs- the best.

Look on the different lake sites on OA. For instance http://www.ozarkangl...om/table-rock/. Each lake site has the regulations listed. Some lakes are not on the main site yet. If you have any questions on any other lake, post the question on the forum that applies. You'll get a good accurate answer.

This is funny... forgot I did this a long time ago.

Steve- which gage are you referring to here?

Nephew was over there last evening and only saw small males. I don't think it's over, just stalled. You may find them out in the lake staging- may be surfacing. They were around point 14. But they don't seem to be at Blunk for sure.

Lake Taneycomo is looking fresh and green these days, a lovely time of year to be on the water. Flows from Table Rock Dam have slowed this week as Table Rock's level approaches 915 feet above sea level, which is normal for this time of year. The dam has been generating water most of the day, though, but much slower than the last couple of weeks. Some nights and mornings have been still, and I think the trend will be toward more time with no generation in the coming days, especially for the weekend ahead. Trout fishing has improved with slower flows from the dam. It's easier to get and keep your fly, jig or bait on or close to the bottom of the lake where most of our trout stay. Bill Babler was out this morning with a couple of clients and did very well, catching nice rainbows from Fall Creek down, drifting PowerBait Gulp eggs on the bottom. Listen to Bill's fishing report that he called in today by clicking HERE. Darin filed this fishing report today as well. He's been catching good trout as well as white bass this past week. He and his dad have been catching white bass in Roark Creek early and late in the day. The fishing here has been getting better the past few days. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers and the Southwestern Power Administration have cut back a little on the power generation. They are still running generators but only one in the morning and then two or three in the afternoon. I had some time to do some different types of fishing this past week. The first day when there was only one generator running I fished with Miracle flies, San Juan Worms, and Bead Head Scuds catching fish on all three flies. The fly that produced the most fish was the tan Bead Head Scud. Fishing this is pretty easy. Using a large indicator with a AAA size split on 4x or 5x tippit about four to five foot deep, dead drifting it down the lake. I also fished a few jigs. The best one for me was the 3/32-ounce, sculpin and ginger. This is a great way to catch some bigger trout if you don't like drifting. This is more like fishing for Largemouths, letting the jig sink to the bottom and bouncing it off the bottom as you retrieve it back. Many of the fish eat it on the fall, so you have to pay close attention to your line. I had some fun fishing with something new for me, a Rapala X-Rap. This was great fun! I was using a size eight and a size six both gold. They are very easy to fish. All you do is cast them out as far as you can and the reel them back in as fast as you can, stopping every few feet. I had many fish case with a couple of very big browns taking a couple shots at it. During that time I caught six browns all in the 14- to 18-inch range along with a bunch of rainbows. I (Phil) got out this morning and boated to the dam about 9 a.m. If you look at the schedule with here- see sharp dip and then a sharp rise almost immediately after the drop this morning. I boated past rebar just as it was dropping and got up to the cable before they dropped it, almost shutting it down. Bill said he called the dam at 10 a.m. and the recording said "zero units." Not so. I kept an eye on the face on the dam where the turbines are because I knew they'd slowed it WAY down. If they were going to shut it down completely, I would have had to get out of the area so as to not get stuck. (I was in a G-3, and it gets too shallow to go through the rebar area with a boat that size with no generation.) But one unit was never shut down, and there was always just a little flow. It was great fish fly fishing both for the level and flow I had for a short time. I tied on a #16 black/nickel zebra, 6x fluorocarbon tippet and a palsa 36 inches above the fly and worked the south or bluff bank from the cable down to the island. I caught may be 15 rainbows, most small, but had some real nice ones including this one about 17 inches. They blew the horn and water started to flow. I switched to a white 1/8th-ounce jig and started at the cable and north side of center. Had a nice rainbow on the first cast. I snapped a pic and headed back up. Another cast, another beefy rainbow. These trout were fat, unlike the ones I'd seen a few weeks ago before the hard, high water we had after our 5-inch rain. I snapped another pic and headed back to the cable. Another cast, another bigger rainbow. This one had some shoulders. I swooped it up in the net and swung it around into the boat for a pic, but as I took it out of the net, out came the jig and off darted the fish -- without its photo shoot. Dang! This was a perfect rainbow, big and bright. Wish you could have seen it. By this time it was time to head back and save the satisfaction of a big catch for another day.

Al, did your area get the heavy snow accumulations other parts of the Rocky's got? When do you start seeing big run off water in your area?

You will learn a lot here on the forum. If you don't read it on past threads, ask away. But there is lots of good reading here and on the main site. Welcome.

What DD said. They are great cameras. Brian Wise is using them now too.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/elk-river/2012/04/09/russs-river-report-april-9/ Here she is!

You're mean...

Cool... not that he lost it but that he had one on. That would have been a great catch!

Sculpin is a color that's done very well for me on smallmouth and trout alike. It's a drab olive color, army green. We mix sculpin with other colors too - orange, olive, ginger and peach. The sculpin/orange is a great crawdad color. The size depends on the water you're fishing. Faster current and/or deeper pockets and holes use 1/8th oz. Slower current and shallow water use 3/32 or 1/16th. Under a float--experiment with what they'll hit. I know Brian Sloss loves to use a jig under a float in faster water. We do sell marabou jigs. You can find them here - http://lilleystacklestore.com

call me if you do...

Got it thanks.

I cleaned 21 this morning (2 people fishing). All but 3 were females. Out of those, eggs were bloddy in 4 and one looked to be spawned out. Other eggs sacks were firm.

Put in at 3 Hills about 4:30. Fished a couple of promising places before finding a bank that had fish on it. Actually I think there's fish all over Stockton - I'm really impressed with that fishery! We fished the same side of the lake as the ramp, up the arm about a mile. The bank was ledge rock that dropped off into 20 feet of water with pole timber. We found the crappie somewhat scattered on the bottom 20-30 feet from the bank. Not really around timber but it seemed it was everywhere (wood) so... who knows. We lost ALOT of baits- which were swimming minnows purple, motor oil or black. Water temp was 65. Five us us I think kept 55 keepers with one 17 inch walleye. The crappie went from just 10 inches to 12 with more in the 11 inch range than the last trip which we had more in the 12-13 inch range. Bite was very light, most time when it was dropping. We had quite a few small ones- 5-6 inches.

This is what I've been told. Pole timber in 20 feet of water close to transition banks. They're about half way down close to timber. You'll catch a few off each tree. Also we troll for them. Troll down the middle of a cove, slowest speed you can go. Use 1/8th oz jigs or swimming minnows.