Phil Lilley

What did it say when you tried to attach your pic? For those who aren't on facebook . . . here's the pic. Great fish!

The dam area: Moonshine beach and the bank up and down from it. One problem though it the water is up in the trees so it's limited. BUT you can start at the auxiliary dam and walk to the main dam and fish some great water, esp the rip-rap. I have a friend who's caught (and released) a bunch of bass throwing a spook the last 3 weeks off the rip-rap.

Hey- did you catch any of the small browns? The first 2 fish I caught above #1 against the bank were browns- about 12 inches. They must be just stocked. Was hoping for a few more whites to make a small mess but he went back in the lake. I tried across the lake at the cable for whites- that's where I usually catch them but nothing...

This lines up with MDC mortality rates for trout - 5% on artificial lures and flies - according to their studies. I didn't think that pertained to bass... may be all fish. I can get the study from Mike Kruse if interested... I think.

Super! Thanks for the pics.

Four-Full. That's what they're running at Table Rock Dam. With the rains we've gotten the last week and more in the forecast, they're having to run as much as they can through the turbines in order to move all the rain water through the system. Beaver Lake has shot up and so has Table Rock but they really aren't in too bad shape considering. We got more rain last night so we'll see what that does to Table Rock's level. If you're wondering how long they will run all four units, it depends on how much more rain we get but if it stopped today, I'd say it will run until Memorial Weekend, at least. Bank and dock fishing is very difficult. You may be able to fish from the bank and docks down at the Landing and downtown Branson but up here it's pretty fast and deep. Boating is about the only way to catch any trout at this point. One thing this flow has done is taken care of the moss problem we were having before the rains. The water is clear and 41 degrees coming from Table Rock with little to no moss. Starting at the dam, I've done fairly well throwing 1/8th oz sculpin, white, brown, olive or gray jigs along the banks where the water is eddied or slower. That's where the trout seem to be holding up is in the slower pockets. The trick is controlling the boat in such fast current and fishing at the same time. You do have to be careful and not get into any trees in swift current. One thing you have to do, and it's not the first time I've stated this, is you have to get the jig down. You can see the bottom really clear and you can see the grass and wood on the bottom so the natural reaction is NOT to let the jig sink close to the bottom cause you don't want to get snagged and lose your jig. But it's deceiving . . . it takes quite a bit of time for your jig to sink in this current and if it's not down deep, you won't get bit. Just count on losing some jigs--you'll catch more fish. Once again, fish the slow side of the lake, not the fast side. You can look and see which side is slow--and it does switch sides. At the cable below the dam, the slow side is on the north down to just above Rocking Chair but the other side (south side) is slow from the island down to Trophy Run (below the boat ramp). There's also slow water from the ramp to the top of the island on the north side. There are some good pockets below the rip-rap at Trophy Run down to Lookout Island, then I would fish either side of the lake from the Island down to Fall Creek. From there, it doesn't make any difference which side you fish, there's eddies and slow water on both sides. Vince had a trip yesterday, fly fishing the trophy area. His clients did well considering the conditions. He rigged them up with a large float and enough split shop to get the flies to the bottom and used about 15 feet of tippet from the float to the first fly. He used an egg fly on top and a #12 grey scud below it 18 inches and drifted the shallow side of the lake from Andy's House to Fall Creek. He said they really liked the scud and from other reports on the forum, that's pretty much the consensus. Below Fall Creek, we've been sending most of our clients downstream to slow current to catch rainbows. And they're doing very well using Gulp Eggs, drifting them on the bottom and staying in the middle of the lake. My son and a friend drifted from Fall Creek to our place, Lilleys' Landing, and caught his limit of rainbows fairly easy the other day doing just that. I believe it's easier to drift from here down but you can do either and do well. During rains like we've had, night crawlers are always good to use because there are a lot of worms being washed in the lake from rain. PS... I caught a big white bass on a sculpin jig this morning in outlet #1.

I know there's been all kinds of posts here on this subject and this isn't the first post of it's kind but this discussion isn't going to go anyplace with post like this one. You don't have to be condescending to state your opinion. Plus if you think the mortality rate is high when releasing fish, then present a study and stats proving it. This only adds to polarizing the two sides. Let's ALL try a little harder to be civil.

#2 scuds? Did you mean #12? They're running 4 full units... it would be tough to get down, for sure.

You would post pics like that at dinner time!!

I don't think it makes a great deal of difference. I catch trout on both pieces.

Got a new job for ya, SKMO ... I can give you admin privledges and you can go in and edit everyone's posts for grammer and punctuation.

Things change in a hurry. They have bumped up generation this afternoon and I have a feeling it is a sign of things to come. Water is real messy too, which is normal since they haven't ran this much current in several weeks. It will clear out today and be better tomorrow. But there's still moss coming from Table Rock. I just got back in from jigging the bluff bank from our place down way past Cooper Creek. Picked up some nice rainbows but they were hitting very light. 1/8th oz sculpin jigs. 1/8th oz white jigs were not as good but the bites were harder and easy to distinguish. I bet the James changed over night too. Everything does with this much rain.

After what I would call nice periods of differing flow patterns from no generation in the mornings, and one to two units in the afternoons, it looks like we're back to the 24/7 one-unit flow with the level about 705 feet, four feet high. Not a bad flow at all for drifting but pretty tough if you want to wade or fish from the bank below the dam. Table Rock was rising already from water from Beaver Lake. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers decided to drop Beaver's levels here in the last 10 days, and Table Rock came up about 24 inches. With the rain from the last few days, it looks like Table Rock will clear 919, four feet over power pool. We'll see what the Corps wants to do -- dump the upper lakes quickly or gradually. This will dictate our flows for the next 10 days. Trout fishing continues to be very good, despite the rain and increased flows. Yesterday, as heavy rain pushed muddy water into the lake from feeder streams, fishermen I talked to continued to do well using Powerbait Gulp Eggs in the dirty water and jigs and crank baits in the clear water. They said within a couple of hours the water had cleared up in the creek,s and they started catching trout on just about everything they threw at them. Moss and algae from Table Rock is an annual problem in May. Don't ask me the name of this moss, but there are a couple of different variations -- some stringy and some just blobs of green muck. It's always the worse right when the water starts after being off for a while; then it clears somewhat. The fish don't mind it, but it just makes fishing a little difficult. I was out for an hour this morning and fished a jig across from our dock and didn't have any moss issues. We continue to sell a ton of 1/8-ounce sculpin-colored jigs out of the shop. Most of the fishing guides are having their clients throw jigs now because the trout are eating them so well. Bait-wise, night crawlers are always the best thing to use during or after a good rain. I've heard of a couple of nice rainbows caught off our dock yesterday -- one topping three pounds and the other more than seven pounds, both on night crawlers. Still looking for pics. Drifting bait in this slow current can be tricky. The key is using the right amount of weight. A drift rig with a small bell weight is the best, but a simple hook and split shot still works almost as well. Of course, we use four-pound line most of the time here. Our water is pretty clear right now. Use only enough weight to throw it out or drop it straight down off the boat. Make sure the weight stays in contact with the bottom but not too much so that you can't feel the bite of the trout. I usually have several packages of split shot in differing sizes so that I get the right weight. When using night crawlers, use a half a worm, and break it off. Hook the worm once, leaving both halves hanging off each end of the hook. Don't worry about hiding the hook -- it does not matter. Inject air into the worm, making it float off the bottom. We sell a product called a "Blow Bottle" which works well. You can also use one floating Gulp Egg at the head of the hook to float the worm off the bottom.

Phil Lilley, ozarkanglers.com exclusive Vince Elfrink of Branson has a new personal best. And it just so happens it's a Missouri best, too! Elfrink, fieldhouse supervisor at College of the Ozarks, loves to fish -- and hunt-- for that matter. A native of southeast Missouri, he came to the tri-lakes area in the late 1970s to attend College of the Ozarks and there he has stayed and made the lakes area home with his wife, JoBeth, and their three children, Joel, Micah and Luke. Despite his faithfulness to his job and his family, Elfrink takes advantage of every opportunity to either be in the field or on the water. Three years ago he furthered his love for fishing and bought a bass boat and acquired his OUVP Coast Guard License and now moonlights as a part-time fishing guide. This past Sunday, he left church and headed straight to the bank on upper Bull Shoals. He was in search of the white bass and walleye that have been running the last few weeks. Armed with spinning rod, swimming minnows and his hand-tied buck tail jigs, he sprawled down the mud bank to the water to start his "restful" afternoon of fishing. It turned into a bit of a circus though. Hooking and landing a few decent white bass on his quarter-ounce white buck tail jig, he hooked another one – or so he thought. This fish fought about the same, but when it broke the water's surface, it had a different shape and color. It was a yellow perch. Yellow perch are not native to this part of the country. They normally are found farther north and are found primarily in the Great Lakes. But somehow they've found their way into Bull Shoals, much to the chagrin of the Missouri Department of Conservation. In another words, they were not stocked by MDC officials but rather by a third party -- without permission. But they've flourished and are now listed as an official game fish, at least on the record books. This yellow perch was a nice one. Elfrink knew he had something special. He made a call and found out the current state record was one pound, seven ounces. He thought his perch was bigger -- and he was right. He contacted the local MDC agent, Buck Nofsinger who asked him to bring the fish up to the local Country Mart in Forsyth to be officially weighed and verified. He weighed in at a whopping 1 pound, 11 ounces, several ounces bigger than the record. Vince Elfrink is now the Missouri state record holder for a yellow perch. The fish was picked up by officials from Bass Pro Shops. They will hold the perch in quarantine for 30 days and if it lives, it will be placed in their tank at Bass Pro on the Branson Landing. View full article

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Oh yea- takes lots of pics and report back. Love to see some nice big blue gills!

Gravel points... 10-15 feet of water... drop a cricket or night crawler straight down to the bottom and crank it up one turn. Move around some on the point. If one point doesn't work, move to another. Point 5 is a great point. I use my trout rig- 4 lb line, small split shot and #8 hook.

I've been watching Ford. Since the first of the year, they're up 20% and have been up as much as 40%. They are a solid company, especially compared to the other car companies.

I have investments in stocks through Edward Jones- not a whole lot. To be honest, our investment is this business. We invest by pouring money in improvements- that and treating people right keep guests coming back. So I'm not too worried about my "retirement", something I don't really believe in anyways. If I'm not working and productive, I'm dead. I digress. This is money I can afford to lose... I understand that. I've watched a couple of investment youtube videos- there are some good ones out there. I like the concept of making alittle bit at a time- not going for the highs and lows. If I can make 2% per week on my money, that's not bad. I see being disciplined is important - settling for 1-2% gain when it may look like it may go 4-5% higher. I have alot to learn though. I may look for an online course just to learn the basics.

I know very little about stock trading - I watch my stocks every day along with a few others just because I like to watch them. I'd like to start trading, I think. But know nothing about it. I've opened an account at Scott Trade but haven't deposited any money in it yet. Anyone willing to do a little trading 101 education? Just the basics. I have some real basic questions. 1. Can you buy and sell stocks at any time or do you have to buy when someone wants to sell and sell when someone wants to buy? That's good to start.

I hear them every morning -early-, especially if I crack the bedroom window above my bed at night.

I think they taste like blue gill. I don't think they're targeted by many fishermen so IMO they aren't in trouble from over harvest. Kinda like blue gill. And I've been catch a bunch of them on Table Rock this spring too. They eat crawfish mainly. That might be why they taste different than crappie and whites.

Just a quick update: Trout fishing is still excellent for the most part. They've been leaving the water off for most of the day, running it mid afternoon till after dark. I got out Tuesday evening with an old friend who's visiting this week from Denver. The water was off and no wind. We boated to Andy's house and worked the area down to the narrows throwing 3/32 oz sculpin jigs and they were eating them up. I don't remember seeing that many trout that active for so long before- they were all over the surface midging as well as leaping out of the water after the adult midges. Big rainbows, small rainbows... there was a lot of floating algea and tree spores on the surface which made it hard to keep stuff off the jig but the trout didn't seem to mind. Caught quality rainbows till dark. Yesterday we tried to get out later in the afternoon after they started running water. The moss from Table Rock was very bad making it impossible to fish, even at the dam. We made a couple of drifts, caught one nice rainbow on a jig and gave up. Brett Rader was drifting with 2 clients and catching fish though so it wasn't impossible. I had a couple of rookies and wasn't set up to fish like Brett so we didn't stay long. This moss usually clears up by June. It's an annual thing. At least they're not running it too much. When the water is off, there's no moss, just algea on the surface and it's not that bad.

Now I wish I would have come up and joined you last night. Thought I was going to take Caleb and Maggie (my son and girlfriend) fly fishing this morning but we're waiting on this rain to pass.