Phil Lilley

Tried posting in html... not sure what break lines are but it puts my paragraphs in boxes.

The holidays are past us... do the holidays mess up anyone else's daily biological clock like it does mine? You know... all the eating, snacking, trying to figure out if it's a weekend or weekend or "when do I go back to work?" As much as I love Christmas and New Years, I'm actually glad when it's all over and we go back to our regular routines. Even our generation schedule gets messed up. Weekend and weekday patterns are always different so when you have eves and holidays during the week, they too change and confuse me. But they all are behind us and even generation schedules are back to normal. What are they? Well, I started checking the Corp internet site with the daily generation schedule last week- I've never been a fan because the posted times and flows can and do change so it's not very reliable. But for a few days it seemed to be right on... which is really nice. But yesterday, they lied. Well, lied is a strong word but you get me point. The Corp posted they were going to shut the water down from 11 am till 6 pm so I'd planned to go to the dam and wade with a friend, Duane Doty. At 1 pm, they were still running water so we had to change our plans. We boated instead. So you can check out their site and see when they think they may run water but don't bank on it. Click here for Southwest Power Administration's Schedule Site Generation patterns have been fairly consistent lately. During warm spells, our water is running less. When it gets cold, they run more. The Corp has plenty of water now to run so they aren't afraid to use it for power. Table Rock is right at power pool, a great place to be at the beginning of the year. I bet they are looking for a wet winter and spring so if they need power they'll run it. On moderate days, they are running water in the mornings till about 10 am and starting it back up about dark till 9 or 10- pm. Weekends- they tend to run less but again, it depends on temperature. Fishing has been pretty good regardless of water movement. The resort was very busy over the holiday week. Lots of fisherpeople hit the lake and docks and most caught their limits everyday. Some of the dock anglers had trouble when the water was running though but those out in boats did well. With the water running, we have been drifting eggs flies and scuds from Lookout Island to Fall Creek and catching alot of rainbows. These trout are running from 8 to 15 inches with most under 12 inches. In the winter we get alot of rainbows from the Neosho Federal Hatchery and these trout tend to be smaller then the ones we get from our local hatchery, Shepherd of the Hills. We call them "silver bullets" because they're small and silver with not much color. They grow up to be beautiful trout, if they get that chance. Egg flies are tied with yarn in various colors- peach, orange, yellow and other shades of red/orange are good colors. We tie them on #8- 2487 hooks and are legal to use in the trophy area. For the scud pattern, we use a #10- 3769 hook and vary the colors- olive, tan, brown or gray. For best results tie a egg and scud in line about 18 inches apart. I use 4 pound line, tie on the egg first and then a scud 18 inches down from the egg. Then pinch on a split shot about 24 inches above the egg. Size of split depends on the depth and speed of the water I'm fishing. I want the flies to be right on the bottom. We drift right down the middle of the lake where there's not much to get snagged on- all gravel. I'd tell you to drift this rig up below the dam but honestly we have not done as well up there as we have in this stretch. Duane and I got out yesterday and casted some jigs and did real well. Again, we found the best area was from Lookout Island to Fall Creek, using 1/8th oz white jigs and working them on the bluff bank side. Our trout ran quite a bit bigger in size than our trout on egg flies. We caught some real nice brown trout too, up to 17 inches with beautiful colors. Caught one rainbow in spawning colors- real pretty. Had to work it close to the bottom which meant losing some jigs to the rocks and downed trees but that's all part of it. Again, I use 4 pound line with a medium-light action spin rod. Actually, Lilleys' Landing carries a great one-piece spin rod that's perfect for jig fishing. I have them built custom just for jig fishing for trout. Lots of rainbows to be caught below Fall Creek. The drift from Fall Creek past Short Creek isn't too bad. Stay in the middle of the lake to avoid trees and snags along the bluff bank. Drift Gulp Power Eggs, using one white and one of another color like pink, yellow or orange on the bottom using a drift rig or just a hook and split shot. Night crawlers are good too. And now we have started carrying minnows again for the winter season. Hook them through the eyes and drift them just like you would night crawlers or eggs. Like crawlers, you have to let the trout take the bait a bit before setting the hook. We've had some anglers casting crank baits and having some success. There's an interesting number of browns being caught lately and the best lure you can use for browns is crank baits like rapalas, pointers and rogues. Colors and size vary. I'd say use what you have- best are medium to large sizes. Don't be shy to try big baits. Big browns eat small rainbows but a small rainbow is 8 to 10 inches.

Don't think we do at all. I firmly believe the walleye and bass that were caught this summer came over Table Rock Dam during the flooding. Most were caught out. Some are still below the dam but not many. Some I'm sure migrated downstream. There's been alot of discussion in previous topics about this subject. Stripers and other fish survive the fall at Beaver each time their flood gates are opened so why wouldn't smaller fish like walleye and bass? The gates were opened just at the right time to catch walleye at the dam face spawning. I would make any trips to Taney to target walleye. Bass- that's another thing. Good bass fishing on Taney but I'd fish the lower lake.

Duane and I planned on wading below the dam this pm and shoot another video BUT the corp lied on their schedule page and that water ran all day today. Oh well. We boated to the dam and jig fished instead. No video. It was cold! Slight wind coming upstream making jigging difficult but not impossible. Duane tied on a white and me, an olive. He caught the first 6 trout. Wasn't killing them at all but they obviously were liking white and not dark. We paused just below the ramp along the clay bank and tried to entice some midging rainbows but could not. Went back to drifting white jigs, 1/8th oz, and caught a few more against the chunk rock bank at KOA- Duane did. I think I finally caught one before we hit Lookout island. We continued down, casting against the bluff bank. I finally found my touch and started hooking fish. Caught a few nice browns and a few rainbows. No real patterns. We did tried the shallow side- nothing. Caught all our fish on the bluff bank.

July - January... details!! I guess my mind has to input ONE slip per video. That's the average so far. #16 black soft hackle Using 4x, 12 ft leader with about 4 feet of 6x tippet, 5 wt rod, floating line.

Question Brian- how did you get the high quality option on your upload? Great video- thanks for sharing it.

Here's another attempt to video myself fishing... trying to show how I fish soft hackles. I posted this on the main OA page and on my facebook- actually the main page posting is really good. I used flash, which I've used before but this time for some reason it's pretty clear. Now if I can just remember how I did it!!

Last big white house before Lookout Island. Can't miss it. I don't have a pic.

Minnows- sorry I missed that. We just started carrying minnows on the dock again. Most use them when drifting but some use them when the water is not running. Rainbows and browns both will hit them.

Babler uses drift rigs, I don't, so I'll let him answer that question. Colors on eggs- white and another color. Other colors vary daily and sometimes hourly. Color and sizes of jigs... size depends on conditions. It would take an article to cover conditions- and there are articles on OA that'll do that. Color- again changes but the basics are light and dark - white, ginger, pink, gray - sculpin, black, brown, olive and combinations of all.

I know you already bought the nuggets and nibblets but I'd wager none of us guides mess with any of that. Gulp eggs are all we use. I use a #8 or #6 hook. I don't worry about hiding the hook at all. Night crawlers- I hook the worm one time and leave most of the hook exposed. Not saying this is the only way to do it, just how I do it and it works for me. Might save the next guy from over buying on the bait stuff. I guess that might cost ME some $$$ in my shop but this is what I tell people in my shop and alot of the times they buy the dough anyhow. To each his own.

The trout really started midging after 10- after the water started dropping out. On the flat at the narrows, I could see rainbow flashing all over the place under the surface close to the bottom and close to the surface. Occasionally, they'd slash above the surface. They were all over a soft hackle.

Took Tom and David, father and son, this morning on a trip. Buster took Tom's wife and two daughters. We started at 8:30- boated to Andy's house to start our drift. They were running 2 units just like the schedule said. We drifted egg flies down the middle, twice to Fall Creek. They caught so many rainbows we lost count. Nothing big but lots of action. On the third time up, we boated to the dam cause they'd never seen it. It was 10:05 when we stopped and the water looked to be almost off so we turned around and headed out. Drifted again but this time stopped at the narrows and pulled out their brand new fly rods. Tied a soft hackle on and they caught several rainbows before having to head in. Fish were really becoming active as the last of the water dropped out. Very breezy blowing downstream making stripping soft hackles lots of fun. Had a great time- caught lots of fish. #8 egg fly- peach with a red spot. #16 red or black soft hackle

I've heard of them but not sure I know what they are.

I got a guide trip in the morning so wanted to get out and see what was going on. Boated up to the dam about 2:30 and drifted from the cable to the ramp using an egg fly- light peach color. Caught a couple at the Big Hole and a couple more closer to the ramp. Next trip I tried a red san juan- nothing. Did take my scuds to didn't try those. Switched back to the egg and drifted all the way past Fall Creek. Did real good from Andy's past FC drifting right down the middle. Caught 12 rainbows on the one drift. Missed a bunch more. Forgotten how much fun it was it just drift an egg... awfully easy!

A much better quality video can be seen on my facebook page.

Pics-

Not the best quality, esp on the images. But we had a grand time together. "> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"> A much better quality video can be seen on my facebook page.

Generation began this am on Taney and it's still running. It may be because Table Rock shot up almost 3 feet. Regardless, it's cleaned out alot of the dirty water on the upper lake. Not sure how fishing was today. Was running around in town and down to Bill's today.

I've never heard about the taxi- it is a great idea!!! I might even have to explore the idea. John, you should have Gary email me- I'd love to promote his place here on OA. I've been in his shop but never introduced myself.

Got out and fished yesterday from about 1-5 pm with Tom Burckhardt from St Charles. He's one of our tournament buddies. First we fished from Fall Creek to Short Creek, working both jigs on the bottom straight and jigs under a float. Didn't have much luck with the float but did catch a few on straight-lining... but it was slow. Tom and the other 2 guys, Bob and Gerry Dwiggins, also from St Charles, did well in the am in the same areas but the pm was slow. Quite a bit of boat traffic- not horrible but enough it may have kept the trout moving around. Tom and I boated up to Andy's (lookout) and started there on the second drift. No water mind you, just working the trolling motor. We did much better and as the sun dropped below the trees, it got good. Didn't find a special color- I caught rainbows on white, olive, sculpin and purple. Tom stuck with sculpin/little bit of ginger and did better than I. The best was working a jig under a float there at the last 30 minutes of the day- they wouldn't leave it alone. Tom ties a scud of sorts on a 1/80th oz jig. Dubbed body with a pine squirrel tail, brown head. He isn't a fly fisherman at all but is a very good jig fisherman. I've seen this pattern but Tom proved to me it's something to seriously experiment with in the near future. He used it under a float. Water yesterday- lower section was colored. I could see a jig 18 inches down. At Lookout - 30 inches. But it will change today- they are running water as I type. Not much but it will push clear water down the lake. How far is yet to be seen. I did see people catching fish on both gulp eggs and night crawlers below Fall Creek. It wasn't hot but at least they were catching some for the dinner table.

Saw them up there yesterday.

From the forum or OA in general? OA's format makes it difficult to place ads on it. The forum, there's one at the top of every page. It's not dominate- it could stand out more I guess. I do appreciate suggestions- thanks.

and... it depends on color and grade.

We probably use this technique with a spin rig more than a fly rod. The rods are usually at least 6 ft and ideally longer. 2-4 lb line. Jig size depends on water conditions. Water running, heavier jigs. 1/32nd with water running. 1/50 down to micros for not. I use carrot floats for most applications. I do have an article on jig fishing someplace on this site. Babler has a jig and float rig someplace too. May be he will find it and post it.