Phil Lilley

If you look back, gosh- Jan and Feb, we were catching slab crappie on the drop offs and flats way back then. Same with whites. I think may be we're all gun shy, alittle fearful that the weather is going to screw up a good fishing spring season. We have a right to be... the last 2 springs have been nothing short of CRAZY bad. This spring, so far, has been real close to normal. But we're sitting on the edge of our chairs, analyzing every bite, every weather change. Some of these whites will spawn in the lake. On other lakes they do. I think. Regardless it's out of our hands. One thing is for sure... there ARE good whites and crappie out there this year. That stirs up our excitement (and anxiety) even more.

How about 5 yards.

I think this bite will be good for quite a few days to come. These white bass aren't going anyplace till they spawn. Cold temps aren't going to move them... the water is going to stay the same temp esp as long as they run water. As far as I can tell, this is one of the few places where a guy can catch some nice sized whites, not the little males everyone's been catching in James, Long and Beaver. It will change though.

I could add another dozen guides. All depends on what you want to do- Spin Fly Fish Bait Fish Just catch fish... Then we can match you up with the best guide. You can call our office whenever you get your dates and we'll take care of it. 1-800-284-2196 If you want a drift boat experience/fly fishing, call River Run Outfitters. We do everything else.

With this rain and the coming warm weather, we should start seeing the little fugi. Tell us if you do and ... generally where. Pics are always nice! Detailed maps are better!!

Hum... I thought they liked eddies, not current (walleye). Any keepers? If they keep running water, I'm going to catch me some chubs and head over and fish the eddies for walleye, if I have time.

Need suggestions for Iowa and Nebraska. Any other waters I'm missing?

No- only responsibilities.

I'm building forums on the new site. http://midstatesanglers.com/forums Membership is open- go ahead and register. I'm adding the waters suggested by you guys. I will error on the side of less... I'm not going to load up the forum with every lake and stream there is. I want to see activity on each water, big and little. When finished, I will keep adding waters suggested in the future but all waters are on a trial basis. We'll see how it goes. Spread the word!! All rules on OA applies here.

Look on the OA proper site under Bull Shoals. Upper Beaver. http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...3&Itemid=94 Gotta understand the water is 40 feet lower now than when these pics were taken.

http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...9&Itemid=94 Fished again last night. Caught 4, lost another at the boat first 10 casts. White 1/8th oz jig. They were pretty close to the bank. Got there at 6 pm. Wind was alittle tough. Good current. Not as many boats. Bite shut off quick. Stayed after dark- still nothing which I was surprised. Thought I'd hook a walleye but didn't.

Beat me to it... if you have trouble, let me know and I'll change it for you.

http://lilleystacklestore.com The original swimming minnows... not the knock offs. I have the 3 inch, not the 2 inch.

When do we go!!!???

The work to shore up the bank at the Fall Creek Condo complex continues. Boy, they're spending a ton of money on this project! Looks like they've poured concrete on the actual bank and I assume they're going to continue with the shot rock up to the buildings. Pretty impressive project!

Vince and I fished yesterday pm. Put in at River Run. Vince fished most of the afternoon and I showed up at 5:30 and fished till dark. This was Vince's trip and he found the whites after fishing most of the afternoon so I'm not going to get in the details but there are a good number of whites and very good size above Swan Creek. Lots of trollers out and they were doing real well. Shad Raps is what we heard. We caught most of our on a suspending medium stick bait- and late I caught mine on a 1/8th oz white jig. Vince caught his limit and I ended up taking 12 home. No walleye. We didn't go down there but I'd say there should be whites down on the willow bank. I think it's marked on the BS maps here. I did see boats down there fishing which is usually a good sign. Sows weren't even close to spawning by the look of their eggs. Good size - up to 2.5 pounds and some big males too. I'd say the whites are in good shape of Bull Shoals again. Still not the same numbers as the 80's but good still.

Some people don't like to fish for bass, Bill Some people like to eat fish , Bill. And you, especially you, would be the last person to allow a fillet knife to enter the belly of a nice smalley... right? Oh yea... are we still on for our Table Rock CRAPPIE trip tomorrow?? Kidding aside... we had a COLD winter and the water under the surface is still freezing cold. Don't get in a big hurry on the crappie.

The only benefit I see is getting info out quick. Say, if there was a network of anglers who "followed" each other, you could "twitter" a fishing report as you were actually fishing from a cell phone. I think you can do this from a regular cell phone... I know you can from a Blackberry although I don't know how to yet. You can also receive them on your phone too- I think. Anyone know?

Anyone use this service? Just curious how it could help our fishing.

We do for sure. Bill guides 250 days per year. I don't guide much at all... only when I have to.

No cuttbows. The strain has some colored up rainbows with markings similar to cutts but they are not. Thanks what I've been told.

Good for you, John!

Spring is just around the corner and the biggest annual event for fly tyers in the twin lakes area is to be held this week. The Sowbug Roundup is an international fly tying show organized by the North Arkansas Fly Fishers, our local fly fishing club. It is scheduled for March 19, 20, and 21 at the Christ the Redeemer Lutheran Church Family Life Center from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM each day. In these tough financial times, it is great to find an economical and family friendly event like this. Admission for all three days is only five dollars per person and children under twelve years of age are free when accompanied by an adult. When I first moved here nine years ago, I joined the North Arkansas Fly Fishers and immediately got involved as a seminar presenter and fly tier at Sowbug. When I married my wife, Lori, a couple of years later, she also got involved as a seminar presenter and casting instructor. I have been preparing for the event. Since I will be a fly tier, I gathered the tools and materials that I will need. For the past few years, I have been tying my signature fly, the green butt. It is a highly effective soft hackle for imitating the rhyancophilia caddis, our major spring caddis hatch. This year, I have decided to do something completely different, I plan on tying Dan’s turkey tail emerger. This is my brother, Dan’s, signature pattern and an effective pattern for the many midge hatches we have on both the White and Norfork Rivers. This is a fly that I fish a lot and I have had some great success with it. I mention it often in my writing and I get a lot of questions about it. I thought that the Sowbug Roundup would be a great place for me to show others how to tie it. First, I had to learn how to tie it myself. This is a fly that Dan always tied for me. Though I fished it often, I had never tied it myself. I gathered the materials and sat down with the recipe and an original that Dan had tied. I tied a few and then had Dan critique them. He gave me some constructive criticism. Then, I sat down, tweaked it a bit and cranked out a few dozen. I am definitely getting the feel of it and am now comfortable with tying them. It is my habit of tying a fly for any one interested in the pattern at Sowbug. Therefore, I go through quite a few flies during the event. I have to make sure that I have plenty of hooks. While I prefer to use a Tiemco barbless hook, my brother, Dan, thinks a barbed Dai Riki is actually a better hook for the fly. I checked all of my other materials and I noticed that the eyed peacock feathers that I use for the fly were a little long in the tooth and were starting to get brittle. I went to the fly shop and replaced them. I am also presenting a couple of seminars. My first one is When, Where and How to fish the White and Norfork Rivers. I have done this seminar several times for several fly fishing groups. I am very comfortable with it and don’t need to do much, if any, work on it. My other seminar is Fishing Dry Flies on the White and Norfork Rivers. I have only done this seminar a couple of times and I felt like it did need a little work. So I sat down at the computer and updated my outline. I called my yellow lab, Ellie, into the room and practiced it a few times with her. She thought it was great. Of course, that may have been the dog biscuits talking. Lori is getting ready also. She is presenting a seminar titled getting started. Over the years she has presented this seminar several times and is well acquainted with it. In addition to guiding, Lori does corporate training so she is very comfortable speaking to any size group. Her great love is casting. This year, like the last two, she will be conducting a ladies only class. To prepare herself, she has been honing her casting skills. Last year, we bought the lot next door and now she has a nice big wide open space to practice. In addition, she has been teaching casting every time she has had the opportunity. Now that we are ready, we have begun to anticipate sowbug. I look forward to seeing all of my friends from years past and the opportunity to meet new ones. When fly fishers and fly tiers gather, it is always an occasion. I also look forward to eating some of the great food at sowbug. This event is different from any other, because they have the church ladies catering all of the meals. All of the food is hearty, delicious and inexpensive. Nobody goes off site for lunch. My favorites are the sloppy Joes, the home made chili and the home made cookies. They have added a few new items to their repertoire this year and I am anxious to try them. Sowbug is just around the corner. I hope you are as ready for it as I am! John Berry (870) 435-2169 berrybrothers@infodash.com www.berrybrothersguides.com

Vince is on a fishing-spree. He's been captive to the NAIA for the last week and is enjoying several days of fishing... probably won't look at a computer for a few days if I know him.

Didn't find the whites this am. Put in at 6:30 am and headed to the area where we found them yesterday, Sara, my daughter and I. They didn't appear to be there. Shad were. Headed up and ended up at the state line where we caught a fair numbers of male whites on black/pearl swimming minnows. Fished a few places to the ramp- pulled out at 11:30 am. Eat lunch at the station west of Long Creek bridge. Drove and put in at Cricket. Hit all my crappie banks. Mark said guys have found 58-59 water so we tried close and off the banks- nothing. Wind blown banks- nothing. Up in Yocum and Long- nothing. Stickups- a few small crappie. Very slow for all. Better later in the evening but we were TIRED!