Phil Lilley

Not my best report... but there are lots of bug shots!! "> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="580" height="360">

Empire needs to work on Powersite so they will draw down Taneycomo starting Saturday night till the lake is down 4 feet at the lower end, then run alittle water to keep the gravel bars watered. Work will be done Monday and generation will be back to normal Tuesday, it's estimated. Sunday am will be almost a FOR SURE thing for the water to be OFF at Taney I'd guess for most of the day. All morning at least. It will end up being low though, having the bottom sucked out. Boating above Fall Creek will be very tough until they start running water - on Sunday, not Saturday.

It's crazy. Hasn't been cold enough to turn but it's turning all the same. Hasn't all the way and it's hard to tell when that might happened. I don't think anyone will tell ya... this is really a different fall season for sure.

Right now I have a hunting trip planned for the weekend. It's the only time several of the young working guys can go this season so... I probably will miss the event. I can, though, have extra tables, chairs, tarp and other things available for Leonard to pick up if needed.

Wow- them are some powerful words there. Has nothing to do with my best buddy Forrest does it?

I think I started a thread not long ago about suggestions for habitat changes. I can resurrect it. Nothing official yet.

Welcome. Kyle, as we floated by your place a few weeks ago, paid you all a high compliment. You have a nice place. Thanks for joining the forum.

Like Brian said - they don't stock much above Cooper. Hardly any above Fall Creek. Barbless - I doubt it ever happens although it would help the fish's face/jaws. I think it should be promoted more but not made a rule. I wouldn't mind catch and release above Lookout Island. Slot below to Fall Creek. Make the slot 13-22 inches on rainbows. 24 inches on browns. That'd be cool. Add an agent just for Taneycomo and you've got my Christmas wish list. Oh - and add the habitat improvement plan we'll be working on; do that and everything will be peachy keen.

C&R - After 12 years of this regulation, I think it might be good to look at again, seeing what the White and others have done with slots and c&r. It might be good to make it c&r. Barbless - there's a school of thought that making a fishery barbless doesn't help keep fish from being killed. Mortality rates are basically the same. Disfigured - that's another thing. MDC has that position, or at least they did 15 years ago when I discussed it with them.

It's a management issue, Wayne, not economy. MDC felt c&r would over populate the upper lake, deplete the food base and stunt growth. They made the slot so that rainbows would be taken so that over population wouldn't happen.

"Before browns and PB, Taney had massive rainbows..." Browns were first stocked in the late 70's, then regularly starting in early 80's. They bumped up the numbers of rainbows dramatically starting in the early to mid 80's. They basically overstocked the lake with rainbows (1.5 million). PB came along in '90? Not sure. I'm trying to follow your reasoning on the importance of a small and large trout and the wild trout comment and am having trouble with it. We don't have wild trout. All are stocked. Only a few places in the state where there are wild trout, wild in the fact they are hatched and raised in that stream. Deer vs Trout - I'm sure there are numbers out there. But there are 2 numbers: $ towards MDC and $ towards the economy. I have fished some of those streams in the West... it's tough to catch those buggers and I'm pretty decent with a fly rod. For the general public, they're impossible unless the regs allow bait fishing which most don't, esp the wild trout streams. Taney is a "put, grow & take" lake. Use to be a "put and take" lake before the regs. Average stay of a stocked rainbow used to be 30 days. Now with the trophy area, they are given a chance to grow- and they do= that's very evident. Novice anglers can come here and dunk a worm below Fall Creek and have a decent chance to catch an eighteen-inch rainbow - they do all the time. That's pretty darn good compared to most places, with the exception of a trout farm. What we have works for everyone. Tweak it and protect it, I think that's all we're asking for.

I said a "bit" over the top.

Oh... My.... Gosh!!! That's WAY too close to home. Wonder if we're going to see alot of that this winter???

Why not change the restricted area back? Simply because the restricted area has worked... for everyone. Anyone can go up to the trophy area and catch nice rainbows using the same techniques they would below the line - just change your soft plastic bait to a fly. No additional gear or talent in needed. As far as the 5 rainbow limit, that is debatable. They changed the number and the average size of trout which could be argued from now till eternity if that was right or now. That's a personal preference thing.

Your comments are a bit over the top. Since when is the efforts of anglers trying to protect our fisheries in accordance to the game laws seen as extreme? No one is talking about watching people from the bushes... Brian talked about high-liting the rules on the posters.

You and I know that but it's the angler who fish's once a year, first timer who doesn't have a clue what the terms really mean. It would be like if we were architects and were frustrated others wouldn't recognize technical terms we work with every day... ... example alittle on the extreme side.

I know. They read what they want to read, then they go fish.

Forsythian... What's up with the avatar!!!??? Lake levels down there on Bull Shoals got you down?? :)

That was Sept 08, right? This is what they've been doing successfully here at Table Rock since September. It's been great actually... fishing was been very good, water temps have been reasonable, even from the beginning of the floods back in September. The highest temp was 63 I believe and it mixed with the 50 degree water fairly quickly. Our trout did fine - actually fought harder than most normal fall seasons. They will do fine. As soon as it really gets cold and surface temps drop, they won't have to worry about a thing.

I doubt if they ever will respond publicly and for sure not on a forum. They may read this - some do. And there are those on the forum that do talk to MDC people about these concerns all the time. This is nothing new... it's an ongoing debate.

You are right. PLus the creel checkers are on the lake and on the banks all the time... until February. They will also put the fear in those who are breaking the rules, believe me. Although they cannot write tickets. They also call the agent if someone doesn't move along.

Artificial - the word itself is a big hang up for most on the lake that I've talked to - even in the shop. "Powerbait IS artificial!" That's what alot of people think and I see why. Natural baits - night crawlers, minnows, wax worms... things that are "natural" and alive. Everything else MUST be artificial. So... it's not that cut and dry, unfortunately.

Would be hard to make a vendor do this. At times, we have anglers waiting in line 8 deep to buy a license and I'm sure at WalMart it's worse. We do try to tell all our clients about the regs but there are those who fall through the cracks, don't listen, don't understand and don't care. Nothing is fool proof. I honestly believe overall, vendors in this area do a above average in education, even WalMart. There's always going to be poachers... just have to catch them.

This post sums it up. The regs are confusing. MDC did the best they could in the wording without using brand names, which they cannot use, but without a good map and details, it's hard for a newbee to understand, even if he's trying to. A bright, well worded sign at the mouth of Fall Creek and a new sign on the point of the island on the left just above the line would work. The sign at the point COULD use the words PowerBait and Gulp since it's on private ground.

Sounds reasonable. Thanks. The Casino comparison is right. That's why IF I do this, I'll only use a small amount of investment, someone I can lose (same in going to a casino). If nothing else, this is an interesting thread. I'm learning. Thanks.