Phil Lilley

Seems to me we have an incredible bass fishery the way it is. Yes- you will be hounded if you say you keep or even catch bass on the nest on this board. People are passionate about this subject and forever that will not change. But history tells us bass are harassed on the nests and kept before spawning on Table Rock every year and despite this fact we have one of the best bass fisheries in the country. I believe more and more anglers are changing to catch and release on spawning bass every year, not the other way around. So... carry on with the ongoing discussion of keep or not to keep.

For once I'm asking... my people say it's been fair. I know we let out all our boats this past Saturday and lots of rainbows were caught. Some nice ones off the dock I hear. But what about the rest of the lake... anyone been out?

Sorry Leonard... no smallies or walleye unless they run flood gates. This is a normal spring really. It would be unusual if they DIDN'T run alot of water in the spring. That's just the way it is on man made reservoirs and tailwaters. But compared to last year, we're in good shape.

No mission- only play. Barry is a bio teacher in Venice, FL and this is part of his World Ecology Class. Funny thing... http://www.savegre.co.cr/ this is where we´re staying at the moment. <leaving tomorrow am. The owner told us we did not need a fishing lisc when we arrived to fish the river here. He owns almost all the valley here. He failed to tell us it was illegal to fish- period- till today when some of the kids were going to fish mid afternoon. He stopped them and said not to go right now cause the rangers would take their poles (my rod and reels). I guess it´s ok when they´re not around..... The kids did get to all catch a rainbow- yes they are stocked. They also have rearing ponds up and down the river where they raise trout to eat. Will address the no fishing rule later when I have more time. Leaving for the Pacific coast tomorrow- staying on the beach I hear. Have a chance to go out for some big fish- will take pics.

I posted the other day way down on the forum and didn´t get any attention so I´ll post here. We´re having a great time. I´ll have to post links to the places we´re staying when I get back. But the first place was tropical virgin rain forrest and now we´ve more south in a huge, remote valley where I´ve caught my first rainbow trout this evening. Am teaching the kids how to fly fish tomorrow morning. We´ve seen some great birds, lizards and monkeys already. Incredible scenery and people. Lots of pics and info later. Be back next Monday.

First time to get on... Its been fun. dont ask me where weve been or where I am now. Too many names I cant pronounce. Ill have details whe I get home. Have seen a ton of birds including a couple of Tucans today while white river rafting. It's 85 and humid during the day and not that cool at night. Were in a real nice place but no ac in rooms just fans. Were heading up higher in elevation in 2 days so it will be cooler. Monkeys and more tucans are on the schedule tomorrow. Hope everything is well at home... will report back when we can.

I called Bill from Charolette and told him to tie on a plain-jane smithwick rogue and see if those bass would take it just as good as his new baits. He was quick to reply -- NO! What is he afraid of???? I laughed my head off!

If you need a good Chiro-Doc while you're in town, see Dr. Scott Gamm. He's a very good friend and he works for fishing time instead of money

I explained it further in my initial post.

Guess the date when the counter turns over to 10,000,000. Deadline to guess is April 8th at midnight. One guess per person. Two people can't pick the same date so check each post before guessing. If there is a duplicate, the first one to post gets the date. If there's a tie we'll split the prize evenly. Tie - If two people are equally close to the date it turns, it's a tie. For example, Jones picks June 1 and Smith picks June 3 and it turns on the 2nd. The prize- $100 cash. Have fun.

It was fun- great idea. Could be more terms though...

Here's something that'll help- http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15060

I told Bill to post the report cause he's much better at it than I. He knows the bass lingo. We put in at Shell Knob and headed up the White River Arm. Hit some of his banks- most were secondary points- gravel and ledge rock banks. Started with stick baits and quickly changed to a Fish Dr carolina rig and caught fish on every stop. Water temp was 52 when we started and 54 when we stopped (9 am-3 pm). Wind was TOUGH! Fish were anywhere from 6 to 19 feet deep and they drug the bottom with the rigs. But Bill did catch some on a spinner bait, a grub and the stick bait. 40 bass total with 3 mean mouths- 10 keepers. Mostly spoted and a few LM's and a couple SMJ's. Darrel and Rolland had a great time and I had fun being the first mate. I learned alot.

One other thing... if you think he looks alittle gaunt, Bill's lost 35 pounds in the last 2 months. Good for you, buddy!

I love this boy... but sometimes I think he's alittle nuts. Took this with my cell phone today. He got these in the mail. Can't even tell you what they are but he's was giddy... going on about the purple on their tails. He can tell you what they are. I guess they can catch bass. He said he got a "deal" but I'd buy a nice fishing rod for what he paid for one of them. Funny guy.

Leaving town Thursday for 10 days... bad time to go but going to a nice place with my sweetie!! Costa Rica. Save me some!

Can't post this on the main page for some reason so I'll post it here- Boy, it's been tough figuring out our generation patterns lately. It looks like we're entering our first spring rain period where about every 3 or 4 days a front and shower move through the area. Man I feel for the people up in North Dakota... we were there just about a year ago. This year though our lakes are at power pool levels -- a good place to start out a possible rainy spring. Our water has been running alot more than it has not been running the last week. Fronts and showers (and painful memories of April, 2008) are keeping the managers at the Corp second guessing whether they should run alittle today -- or alot! Just like today: their on-line schedule said 3 units in the morning dropping to one unit in the afternoon. In reality they ran 3 units all day... they must have thought, "We better run more water cause we may get more rain than what's forecasted for tonight!" Total speculation on my part. It is frustrating for us guides who have to try to make a plan for the day's trip but we make do. With the water and wind, fishing- or catching- has been alittle tough. I've seen some anglers in boats anchored in the mouth's of some of our creeks doing rather well. Fall Creek has been a popular place the last few days. I'd say they're tight-lining night crawlers behind the boat. You can tie to or anchor in some of the eddies on the side of the lake or in the mouth of a creek but be extremely careful to think out any possibility that you could come undone and swing into the current. That or your anchor could drag and you could find yourself in heavy current, still with an anchor our. Fast current and anchors lead to serious possibilities. Drifting into downed trees in heavy current is equally as bad. Be very careful! I have drifted flies on the bottom in the trophy area my last 3 guide trips including 2 full day trips Sunday and Monday and did fairly well. We drifted them two ways... one is straight-line using either a #4 or a 3/0 removable split shot 4-5 feet above the first fly and a second fly tied on in tandem 18 inches from the first. We're using a #12 scud, gray, brown or olive and a #14 red or black zebra. They hit the scud more than the zebra so sometimes we're using two scuds. The other method is under a float. We're fishing the flies 10-12 feet deep. We're also using a pink micro jig, chrome head. There's only one good area we're finding fish that will bite. This is pretty weird considering I know there are rainbows all over the place in the trophy area. The best drift is over the flat at the Narrows. The Narrows is where the channel swings from the east to the west side of the lake, about a half mile above Fall Creek. There is major bank improvement work being done at this spot- can't miss it. Some of the construction guys cheer us every time we drift by and catch a trout. We drift on down to Fall Creek, picking up one or two on the east side of the lake, off the gravel bar. We're catching alot of rainbows under 12 inches -- so if you're having trout catching 4 to take home and eat, buy you a few scuds and head up to this area and drift a fly instead of power bait and you'll do ok. We did land several over 15 inches too but not many. Over the weekend, our guests did catch trout below Fall Creek mainly on minnows, night crawlers and gulp power eggs- chartreuse best color. Roark Creek proved to be a great spot to go and get out of the current and catch rainbows too. Jig and float- use a jig head (1/32) and put an orange gulp egg on it and fish it 4 feet deep. You'll do well!

Super duper... you guys have fun!!

Example I gave- it blew up in my face today. 3 units all day today. No change in level. Wind blew from all directions, mostly downstream. Again, the hottest drift was over the flats at the Narrows (where they're working on the bank). Dual scuds, #12's in several grays, brown and olive. Had to stand on the trolling motor pointed upstream to keep the bugs on the bottom. Did ok on numbers but the size was small till the last couple of drifts. Table Rock tomorrow.

Got another trip today. We're staying on Taney. Next time.

I look at them more now than I ever used to. Yea- they're off sometimes but sometimes they are not. Today they ran 2 units most of the day- ran alittle more this am and less in the pm. I see tomorrow they say 3 units first thing, then down to 2 and then 1 unit. I bet that's close- fits the pattern. Wish it wasn't... I'd like to see 1-2 units all day instead of 3 early. That's just me...

I might have been right on... but I didn't believe myself. I took a couple of guys (clients) this pm. Trolled above Swan for a while, boated down to Barker and looked for some deep crappie, drifted with minnows again above Swan for walleye and then ended the evening in Swan. Caught one male at Barker, 3 male whites below the bridge in Swan plus 2 smallies. Saw one guy on the bank leave with maybe 8-9 whites on a stringer (bet it took him most of the afternoon to get those). Few boats out today considering... they knew something I didn't. But I had to try. Trout on Taney was slow and I had an itch. I think NO WIND was the biggest draw. Tomorrow's another day! Good luck Sam.

"> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344">I videoed Sara telling Megan the news... we knew we'd get a good reaction from Megan.

Our oldest daughter Sara informed us Wednesday that she is expecting our first grandchild in September. All our family and close friend know now so I have permission to post it here. It was so much fun the first time around... we're really looking forward to the second time. Kids are a blessing!!

Honestly... if there's any fish to be caught it would be out in the main lake after this very cold rain. I wouldn't think any whites would be in Swan or Beaver. I could be wrong though.