Phil Lilley

Todd- do you have any pictures of the trip. Would be interested in seeing, posting a few. Thanks!

Brian- call your man in the dam.

PM sent

I can do whatever... before church and I'll be there after.

<img title="Akermann's 8" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/norfork-tailwater/files/2011/12/Akermanns-8.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="207" /> After a morning on the White River, we headed to Akermann's Access, also called the handicap access on the Norfork Tailwater. The parking lot was full, no surprise there. With the White running 6 units and the Norfork shut down, all the wade fishing was there on the Norfork. Still overcast but starting to warm up, we stepped into the river about 1:30 p.m. and headed upstream. There wasn't anyone on the first riffle or the second so I had Bill fish the lower and I walked in on the upper pool. These pools and riffles are pretty shallow but they hold more trout than you'd think. Plus there's pockets and holes in the bed rock that can hold some big trout. It's deceiving. The fish were sipping small midges so I thought a #18 brassie soft hackle would get some attention. All I caught was a little cutthroat and a couple short strikes. Bill had the same luck but he switched quicker than I and was catching rainbows on a #18 grey scud/ #16 olive scud tandem below me. I switched to a #16 black/gold bead zebra over a #18 barbless brown scud, the zebra about 20 inches below a palsa indicator. I fished the flumes of water running through the rocks at the top of the second riffle. The zebra got down quick in the fast water, carrying the scud with it. I started catch rainbow on almost every cast, working down the south side of the river, finding more and more pockets of fish. Nothing big, nothing over 14 inches and as small as 6 inches. None the less, it was fun. We worked these areas for several hours. I noticed, though, that something was changing... the water was quieter. Then I noticed that a rock in front of me was covered with more water than it was 30 minutes prior. Then it was gone. First thing I thought was, the water was coming on at Norfork and I better wade back across. But then - no! The water was coming up from below. The White River was backing up into the Norfork from generation we'd seen rising earlier in the day--it was just getting down to us on the Norfork. The mouth of the Norfork is only about a mile below where we were fishing at Akermann's so the flow of the Norfork is directly affected by the White's level. Something else to consider when you're looking at generation and water levels on the White River System. The fish slowed their feeding, at least on what we were offering so we decided to walk on up to the next shoal which is the bottom boundary of the catch and release area. All the other anglers had gone home and we had it all to ourselves. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-147" title="Akermann's 13" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/norfork-tailwater/files/2011/12/Akermanns-13.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="258" /> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-146" title="Akermann's 12" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/norfork-tailwater/files/2011/12/Akermanns-12.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="219" /> I took pictures of the new rip rap and bank stabilization Ark fish and game did earlier this fall. Pretty impressive. The high water has changed the look of the water up there, although I can't really speak as an expert since I hadn't been to the area for a couple of year. But from what I remember, the water on the north side of the island now is much shallower. The south side is the same. Bill tied on a #14 brown wooly and immediately started hooking rainbows. He was really on them! I stuck with my zebra/midge combo and landed a dozen rainbows before darkness forced us to head to the truck. It was a fine day!

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1732" title="White River on OzarkAnglers.com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/IMG_9999.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="255" /> Bill and I put in at Wildcat Shoal Access this morning at 7:15 a.m.. Generation was brisk and rising. Schedule stated they would run 300 mw by 8 a.m. which should reach us by 10 a.m.. Then they would back down to 125 by mid afternoon which we weren't sticking around for. It seemed like the water came early and stayed late. This is the area Tom and I fished last Wednesday at low tide. There was 9 feet of water over the shoal where there was 18 inches 7 days ago.<!--more--> We boated up to the narrows and started there. Drifted and fished the bluff bank down. I was throwing a white 1/8th oz jig and Bill was working a brown trout style jerk bait (I'll have to have him report exactly what lure he was using). We scored first and fairly often, catching browns between 14 and 18 inches. White struck out so I went to olive- nothing, the sculpin/peach and they liked that better. I caught a decent cutthroat (pic) plus a few browns (up to 17 inches) and rainbows. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1729" title="White River on OzarkAnglers.com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/IMG_9993.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="208" /> We drifted down to below the 62 bridge before heading back up. Bill also tried a chuck-n-duck rig and an egg fly and caught several rainbows and one brown. I did try throw some articulated streamers but I didn't have a sink tip so I couldn't get down to the fish, so I'm told. Makes sense though. Cloudy and cold- never warmed up like we thought it would. Wind switched a couple of times making it tough to jig fish. We pulled out at 11:30 a.m. and headed for the Norfork Tailwater but first had to have some BBQ for lunch. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1731" title="White River on OzarkAnglers.com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/IMG_9995.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="270" /> <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1730" title="White River on OzarkAnglers.com" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/IMG_9994.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="248" />

Thanks for joining. I've thought about starting something on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers but haven't had much interest expressed here on the forum. They are both I would say part of the Ozarks so - we'll see. Are there any forums or sites anglers follow that cover those rivers and fishing?

Yea- the lake is noticeablly higher and current slower compared to this summer. No problems with one unit + to get up there.

IF you have cash and IF you don't mind a little mold, there are good buys. Some houses haven't been occupied since the flood, nor have some been even fixed. Not sure of their situations. I know Dino said he's selling. I love that house!! But even in its condition he'd be asking a lot. It's across from Fall Creek.

I got out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon. Equivalent of 2 units running. Drifted the bluff bank from Lookout down. Nothing but a smallie on a olive/sculpin 1/8th oz jig so switched to white. They started hammering them. Wasn't planning on going to the dam but decided to after seeing they were on white. Not as good below the dam as I thought it would be. Not until I put on a float and a dirty old 1/16th oz white jig did they start hitting but it was short. Missed alot of bites. Fished it 5 feet under the indicator. Caught 8 nice rainbows on the one drift. Wind got tough so I called it and headed in. Don't think they've seen any shad but seeing some shad below the Norfork Dam last week got me thinking...

Yea- Forsyth Bait. Not sure you can find the owner though. Wish I could remember his name...

They won't yell anymore... the bar is gone.

We you just drifting on some flats or down the channel? How was the current? Good sign for the coming spring season.

Gosh I didn't see this. Sorry. Taney Electric, Fall Creek Rd 417-334-0400 I'll have Ryan (works for us) type something out tomorrow. He rebuilds our starters and the ones that he can't we take to Taney Electric.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1978" title="Taneycomo Rainbow Caught on Dec 9" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/12/Taneycomo-Rainbow-Caught-on-Dec-9.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="260" /> Generation has been a little sporadic this week. For the most part, they've left the water off for most of the day until today when they ran it all day. Tomorrow, more generation all day. Not sure what will happen over the weekend but with temperatures staying mild I wouldn't think they would run much. Hard to say though. Wading below the dam has been very good. Stripping soft hackles, #14 and #16 red, black or green, on the flats from #1 outlet to rebar and big hole down past the boat ramp to Trophy Run has produced some nice rainbows and a few browns, very few browns though. Drifting san juan worms, natural, red and purple, in the outlets and in the fast water at rebar and below has been good along with using scuds size #12 and #14's in varying shades of gray, olive and brown. Down in the flat water below Big Hole, a #16 rusty zebra midge under an indicator 6 to 12 inches is working early and late in the day when the midges are hatching the best. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1977" title="Taneycomo Dec 9a" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/12/Taneycomo-Dec-9a.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="268" /> If the water is running, drifting #10 or #12 scuds or peach eggs flies using a drift rig or just split shot is working from the cable through Short Creek. Also working the bluff bank using 1/8th oz olive, olive/sculpin, sculpin/orange and purple jigs. Keep it close to the bottom and work it slow. Jigs under a float is working if you set the depth of the float right. It needs to be close if not on the bottom. Use a big carrot float and float a 1/16th oz jig. Seems like the bigger jigs are working better than the smaller ones- fish can see them better and they aren't scared to take the big jig floating by. Rainbows are really eating night crawlers well below Fall Creek. With the water running or not, inject them with some air and float them off the bottom. Gulp eggs in white, orange and pink have been good too. Best areas have been from Cooper Creek down to Monkey Island. Note: Lately our trout are biting short. They aren't being very aggressive and are just pecking at the lures and baits we're using. When fishing a night crawler for instance, you really have to let the fish take the worm in its mouth by giving him the rod tip or even releasing some line after the initial hit, before setting the hook.

You're advice was right one. i love that shoal and can't wait to get back.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-132" title="White Bass below Norfork" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/norfork-tailwater/files/2011/12/White-Bass-below-Norfork.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="271" /> Tom and I arrived at the boat ramp at 7:15 am this morning to find water running, fast and hard. It took 1 hour and 45 minutes to make our trip from Branson, about 15 minutes quicker than I thought. The SWA chart said they'd be running water for 2 hours and the chart was right. We hurried and slid the boat in the water and start throwing jigs. I've only fished this water from a boat once, that was with Gabe Cross many years ago. It was the dead of winter, lots of generation and lots of shad in the water. I didn't have to worry about shallow water of where to go and not to... we had Gabe. This time I was in my jon boat with a brand new 25 hp motor and a slick new shiny prop. It didn't stay shiny very long. We made a drift down to the top of the first shoal and boated two small rainbows on 3/32 oz sculpin/olive jigs. Not very impressive. On the second drift, I was thinking... need to throw a white jig. Then I saw it... a threadfin shad floating right next to the boat! "Oh my gosh!! Put on a white jig NOW!!" We did--didn't get a bite! Well, my guess it was a fluke we saw a shad in the water, not very many coming through or they just started. Bottom line, the trout weren't interested--in anything much. We made 3 drifts and on the third float the water started dropping, fast. We made our way up--and promptly got high centered on a rock. Man I thought I was going to have to go in and get my boots wet (no waders in the boat) but we kicked off. And yes I garbled up the edges of the new prop--but I expected that. The water is dark from Norfork turning over and you can't see the bottom. Fished the eddy across from the ramp for a little while before heading out. I hooked what I thought was going to be a pic-fish. Fought hard--but strange. It fought like a white bass... it was a white bass! Just like Taneycomo... warm water fish up below the dam. We pulled out and headed down to the mouth of the North Fork. The wind had really picked up but we put in to tool around. The water on the White and North Fork were both rolling. We boated up past the rail road bridge on the North Fork and start working our jigs. Tom caught 2 small rainbows before the wind got the best of us. We picked up and headed to Blue Ribbon Fly Shop and the Anglers Cafe for lunch.

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1716" title="White River - Narrows in December" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/White-River-Narrows-in-December.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="239" /> I had a mission today - to cover as much territory as I could. Wanted to first take pictures of a few places on the Norfork Tailwater and the White River, meet with John Berry for lunch and take more pics on the White - plus catch some fish. We didn't cover as many accesses as I wanted but there's only so many hours in a day. Arrived at the boat ramp below Norfork at 7 am... but that's another report on another forum. After a nice lunch at the Anglers Cafe in Mountain Home, Tom and I headed to the Wildcat Shoal access. We took John's advice and parked at the Narrows Parking area and walked in. The Narrows is the far channel shoal on the west side of the upper island at Wildcat. There are 2 shoals at the island- one at the top and one of the bottom. For time's sake, we only fished the bottom shoal and the water between the two. With less than one unit running, we had no problem wading over to the island. John said you have to watch it- if they are running one full unit, it's tough making the trip across. I think he's had some experience tippy toeing in fast water. Most of us know how that dance goes. <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1717" title="White River - Walking to the Narrows" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/White-River-Walking-to-the-Narrows.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="230" /> The shoal runs all the way across the river at that point. There's a shoot on the near side but not deep. I saw one redd at the shoal break and one a little further down. I assume it was a brown redd. While we were fishing above the shoal, I saw about a 6 pound brown come out of the water in the area. Past the shoot, the water runs over the shoal I say slow for a shoal and only about 12 to 24 inches deep- perfect for woolies buggers and soft hackles. That's what John suggested and he was right. Above the shoal, the water was deeper and slower- and slick unless the wind picked up. Tom stripped #14 green or yellow soft hackles up there most of the afternoon and caught 12 trout- 10 browns and 2 rainbows. Most of the browns were about 12 - 15 inches but he had one that measured over 20 inches. Unfortunately we were fishing far enough apart when he caught the big one no pics were taken. I fished mainly in the shoal and did the best on a #16 red/nickel zebra midge under an indicator 6 inches but only caught small rainbows - a bunch of them. Wish we had more time to fish the whole area. Actually I would have loved to put the boat in and fished a jig down the whole Wildcat area but the wind was blowing upstream so it would have been tough. Next time! <img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1715" title="Small Brown on the White River" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/white-river/files/2011/12/Small-Brown-on-the-White-River.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="182" />

Call our office in the am 1-800-284-2196. Hopefully they'll read my email to them instructing them of the sale. If not, they won't have any idea what you're talking about CC# name and address. I'll start shipping Thursday. I'm heading to the White tomorrow for a day of fishing and picture taking. And meeting a few people like John Berry for lunch!!

I have a bunch of these cracklebacks I need to dump. They were tied in Kenya years ago. They are not the best crackleback made for sure but they will catch a few fish. $2.00 for 24 flies. That's less than 10 cents each. Assorted sizes and colors. I have orange and yellow. #16's and #18's. Shipping- whatever I pay the post office to send them. I've priced them to sell.

The ramps should be prefect seeing the lake is close to power pool.

I like Al's point of view on this. I wonder what Angel fans are saying? I bet some of them are miffed at the deal too. That's a lot of money for a good player, as Al said. Cardinals got the best production out of Albert. As for the personal stuff... I'd be slow to judge. No one knows his heart and exactly what he does in his personal affairs.

During the past month the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AG&FC) has been doing some habitat work on the Norfork River in the Catch and Release section upstream from the Ackerman Access. This is one of a few projects funded in part by the legal settlement with Trout Unlimited over the Norfork Overlook Estates law suit. The idea here was to stabilize Charley’s island and improve the trout habitat in the area surrounding it. I had heard first hand reports about the work being done from the anglers that fished there during the construction phase. The AG&FC hauled large boulders upstream in the river bed over a half a mile in huge dump trucks. Once on site they moved them around with heavy equipment. During this whole process, anglers were fishing around the heavy equipment. They were undeterred by the traffic and off color water. Many reported success with high numbers of fish caught. During all of this action I chose not to fish there. It just isn’t in my DNA to want to fish under such crowded and noisy conditions. I prefer a bit more solitude. I tended to do most of my fishing on the White River, during this process. On the occasions where I did fish the Norfork, I was located far downstream. I did note that the water was off color but it did not affect the fishing or quality of fish caught. Now that the work was complete, I wanted to see the outcome and see how it would fish. I worked nonstop right up to the Thanksgiving holidays. I then went out of town for several days. When I returned, I was ready to check out the project. I checked the predicted generation and found that the water on the Norfork would be turned off around seven o’clock the next morning. I decided to go. I asked my wife, Lori, to join me. She had a cold and declined. I thought about taking my yellow lab, Ellie, but decided against it because I did not know what kind of conditions to expect. The next day I arrived at the Ackerman Access around 8:00 AM and noted that the water was a bit too high to wade. There was a truck in the parking lot but I did not see any anglers. It was beastly cold (37 degrees) and the wind was howling (there were lake wind advisories). Luckily the sun was shining and it did not seem as cold as it could have been. I decided to go to the Dam and see if the water had dropped out there. When I arrived at the dam, there was only one car there. It was an angler unloading his kayak for a float down the Norfork. I had the place to myself. I fished one of my favorite spots for an hour. I managed to land four rainbows and a nice seventeen inch brown. I decided to return to Ackerman to see if the water had dropped out. I was surprised to see no one else in the parking lot. I grabbed my rod and headed upstream. As I walked up, I could see big changes. The island had been reinforced with large heavy boulders on the upstream side. The channel on the near side of the island had been dredged and the gravel that had filled it during the last two floods had been pushed into a pile near the bank. I took a minute to rig my rod. I put on a hot pink San Juan worm with a black zebra midge dropper, a bit of lead and a strike indicator. I began fishing the near channel and had immediate success on the worm. I kept changing the dropper fly and ended up with a size eighteen red zebra midge. I was now catching fish after fish with about sixty percent on the worm and forty percent on the dropper. The near channel was fishing better than it had in years. I fished far up stream and found plenty of trout wherever I went. It was not just numbers. I was landing some nice trout in the sixteen to eighteen inch range. All of them fought well. I decided to fish the far channel. To access it, I had to scramble over some large boulders. The large rocks formed a barrier to the channel. I walked along the barrier until I found an easy spot to climb over. The channel appeared to be unchanged. I began fishing and caught a few trout. I did not stay long because the bright sun caused a serious glare on the water. I could not follow my strike indicator into the glare. In my haste to start fishing that morning, I had not changed from my regular glasses to my polarized fishing glasses. On the near channel, I had the sun on my back and the glare did not bother me there. I scrambled back over the rock barrier. I resumed my fishing and kept landing trout after trout. I glanced downstream and saw another angler approaching. I looked at my watch. It was one o’clock. I had been fishing the area by myself for four hours. I had truly enjoyed the solitude. It turned out to be Mark, a fishing buddy of mine. We chatted about fishing and the changes brought on by the project for a few minutes and I reluctantly left. I wanted to check on Lori. I had been interested in the stabilization and habitat project. I checked it out and fished the area and was impressed with the results. The area was fishing better than it has for quite a while.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2011/12/07/another-white-bass-update/ Ned just sent this to me.

http://www.in-fisherman.com/2011/12/07/another-white-bass-update/ Ned just sent this to me.