Phil Lilley

Was there in '97. Beautiful place! There are fish there called Musht or Peter's fish they fish for and eat in the markets around the lake. We ate some in Tiberius- boney but not bad.

If it's anything like the feeder creeks on Taney, should be in great shape. A little color will make those crappie sing!

My boat only had 6 rainbows this afternoon. My guys couldn't get the bite and the bite was short to boot. Minnows from Scotty's down past Bus 65. Babler did better with his crew but it all died after 2 drifts. We headed to anchor in some eddies at Short Creek and several places above. They did better buy still missed more than they hooked. Mini fronts all afternoon didn't help at all. Wind and short bites... nothing worse.

Being poor.... bringing up a good point. When we bought the resort, my dad made a statement- if the economy goes totally south, we can always eat fish. I'm sure there are people right now supplementing their meals with fish. Can't fault anyone for that!

Earlier in Jan when we were catching those slabs at Snapp, we were throwing back 10-11 incher because we were catching 12-14 inchers. Don't you think the 12-14 inchers are in their last year or do you think they'd live another year? I'd rather catch and keep 8-10 12-14 inch crappie than 15 10-11 inchers. I would think water conditions during and just after spawn affect numbers more than harvest does. Course you could say the same thing about bass.

Following that thought... if you're recording the catches and releasing all fish at the boat, you could allow LIVE bait. How about that for a twist!

Found this in the archives... thought I'd bring it to the top.

What size are your pics? They may be too big. Size them down and see if that helps.

Catch and release and now tournaments... man this topic is going places! The perfect bass tournament: Put a judge in each boat and have him weigh in 6 bass of the angler's choice. Once he has 6, he's done. OR weigh in each keeper and take the 6 largest- or is it 5. Whatever number. Point is- release the bass where you catch them. Non of this parade to the weigh in table and released who knows where or how. Want more coverage- put a camera in each boat too. Want crowds... have a jumbo screen at the arena and project the event live as they fish. These things are doable... just takes money.

t/t Jeremy Rasnick- he fishes the am side. He said 16 lb won it on the am side, if I heard him right. Tough day. He said his partner threw a grub all day and caught 2 short fish. Neither of them threw a stick- sounds like they should have.

Have a hard time remembering the names of where we went but may be these images will help. http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/images/2009/costa_...ica_online.html Enjoy.

The sows I cleaned last night seemed to be spawning- their eggs were running out of the sack. Caught them main lake- exactly where we caught them 3-4 weeks ago. I think you're right- after this rain they should head up the creeks and spawn- quickly.

No dead horses yet... it's just now getting good.

My conversation with Bill last night on the phone kinda set it all in perspective... he was rolling laughing so hard about being called a jack ass and I didn't help matters by agreeing. On my recent trip to Costa Rica, we had 9 high school students from Barry's class with us. They were taking acception to some of the rules Barry was setting down and taking some of his general comments personally. I told them- be a duck! Let it roll off your back. Same thing here.... just let it roll off. Bill knows who he is and what he contributes on the forum and he shouldn't let someone, anyone on the forum get to him. I don't think he has in this case. Got to have thick skin for this job.

Not sure how to please everybody... too much info... not enough info... not the right kind of info... "catch and release" or not<sorry- had to throw that in> What would you suggest for admin? What message would you post to curtail too much detail or not enough detail? I'm not knocking your comment... just pointing out that I don't think you can control free speach on a free forum. I for one have always been as detailed and clear as I can possibly be here. And I'm not going to change.

It's good to see a positive fishing report... Catching always takes a dive on Taney in the spring and I don't know why. Trout are still there- it just gets tougher to fool them may be. Thanks for the report!

I found out why it's been quiet on upper BS... it's kinda slow fishing. Pulled into Swan about 6:30 and it was dead. One boat and a few on the bank. No fish being caught. Water is clear. There were alot of boats on the Willow Bank and above Swan on the edge of the flat. We boated down, then up. My trolling motor batteries were down because of a loose connection so all we could do in anchor. Went up above the flat to the Wheeler Hole and anchored a cast's throw from the bank. White jig or a white swimming minnow. Marsha caught a sow white, a 17.5 inch walleye and a small LM bass. Dave caught 2 whites. Sara and Jean and I blanked. Jean and Dave are Marsha's parents. Sara is my oldest daughter. Oh yes- and there's Dolly who loves to bite fish. It was a nice evening on the lake!

NOW Bill - go to bed. You have a big day tomorrow.

No... it's you're a jack ass. Gotta get your facts straight, like the man said. This is an interesting conversation. But I have to back Mr. Babler on this one. although his passion got the best of him AGAIN. He just called me and told me he was called a curse word... as both of us busted out laughing, I told him jack ass wasn't a curse word and he may have been right. One thing is for sure- you can't come on here and throw around weight when you don't have any... Lord knows you guys have called ME on the carpet several times and I've had to eat crow. Making statements like you have SJ and not backing them up.... it doesn't fly here, not even for me. That's what all this is about... not that bass are harvested on Table Rock. Simple fact about this forum- the "guides" that provide FREE fishing info- AND I might add THE best fishing info for Table Rock ANYWHERE are passionate about bass especially during spawning season. So expect it - if you're going to debate catch and release vs catch and harvest here, it's going to get rough. And don't bring your "B" game.

Eric- send it to me. I'll take any article you have!!! Thanks for helping.

Heading back with Marsha, her parents and my daughter Sara... a boat full. But they wanted to get in on the fun. Pics for sure.

Some of the guides found some rainbows drifting from Scotty's to Bass Pro using gulp orange and chart. Said they were nicer sized fish.

Very interesting statement... that hits some guides right where it hurts. But those guides aren't on this board, I don't think.

Bill said it was tough today... hope you did better!

Drove and walked in to Taylor Shoals above Blunk late this afternoon after Duane's report. Good amount of water running thru and good color. Took the fly rod in and was glad I did. Chartruse clouser, they liked! But all but 1 was a small male white. I did see other sows and larger males caught but not many. I was fishing the top end of the slack water and others were below me. Everyone was catching from the bank but the guys in the boats were struggling in the fast water. Duane said guys in the boats were catching on down from the shoal though. Water temp 53. Met a couple of guys at the shoal. One said he thought the whites would make their run Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I agree. It's not far off. I left with an empty stringer... it was a long walk out in the dark and I didn't want to take a mess of small males home. Duane and Mona stayed and camped on the gravel bar. Great night to be out!