Phil Lilley

Anyone else? If it's just you, Micheal, you probably have a virus. But if anyone else is having this problem, it's in our program and I need to fix it.

These were taken by Jacob, our English hand at camp. He's leaving Anchorage for London as I type. He and I took our OUPV Limited to Alaskan Rivers Captain License test yesterday and passed with flying colors. I'll have my license for both here and in Alaska by this winter.

Just search Phil Lilley. I think you'll recognize my photo with the bow. Flies- not sure of the streamers Jim was using the last couple of days- I'll ask. But beads and plain woolies were our staples in September. Jeremy- where is Brian Shaffer?

Just got back from camp and got their report from today"s fishing. Duane took Moose Watson and others to Idavain Creek- hiked up to the meadow and fish some dries and beads and did fair. Duane said the had 17 bear encounters and one scary moment when one bear cam running right at them thru tall grass. He got him stopped but only within a few feet. Duane thought the bear didn't see them. They caught rainbows and grayling. Guys went to Brooks and caught a few bows. They are hold up behind the trees again like last year. It was tough casting but they did drag some from the wood. Those that went on to Margot Creek didn't find the char like we did last week. Some at the mouth but not in the big numbers. Did find some up the creek where we did not. Thought is that the colored up ones went up to spawn and more fresh char from the lake is what they found at the mouth. Also some rainbows. We are going to try to go across the lake to Brooks and Margot tomorrow, depending on the wind forecast in the am. We have schedule a flight to Ugashik for Wednesday for BIG artic char.

Naknek gets a few thousand silvers but nothing like reds or pinks. Same with kings. Sockeye are spawning, turning nasty and dying. We do hook a few but they don't fight very well. They are a bother. Silvers are only in a couple of spots. We aren't messing with them because.... they're hard to catch for the clients we have. And they're aren't many. Kings are almost dead and gone. Besides, season is closed on fishing for them. We had an incredible day. Not on numbers but on size. Houston had 20 rainbows with three in the 28 inch range and I'd say at least 12 of the rest were over 24 inches. Tom had 16 rainbows with one at 28 inches and numerous over 24 inches. Troy had a 31 incher and again, lots over 24 inches. It really is incredible to see fish after fish look the same- big, fat, long, silver and fight like the dickens. Houston's trophy jumped 5 feet in the air when it got stuck.

A fabulous day on the river today. Very little wind (tons of bugs). Drifted a stretch about 1 mile in front of camp and used a 6 mm fl peach bead, shooting line on fly rod and Houston and Brian caught 35 each. Houston, the 15 year old in the group, caught two 27 inch rainbows and 4 others measuring between 23 and 24 inches. Brian caught one at 27, lost I don't know how many rainbows that size and bigger- the hook would just come out- no fault of his. Bill's group- Tom caught one 29 inch and one just under 30 inches, 12.5 pounds. Troy caught several in the 24 inch range. Bill and I didn't fish. No pics. Brian has left the country and I didn't get his pics. Troy took some but I don't have a card reader for his memory card.

Bill and I didn't fish today but Brian did. He drifted beads in front of camp. Caught a 29 and 28-inch rainbows and lots of smaller ones. Great fishing again. We have 3 new clients in camp this evening and we'll take them to the river tomorrow.

Without looking at troutbeads... we use a round toothpick and peg the bead on the line no more than 2 inches from the hook. If the bead slides down close to the hook, you won't get a bite. I actually feel the bead slide on the line when I get a bite sometimes. Our big rainbow mouths are so big the they eat the bead with the hook at the same time. Sometimes we hook the fish on the side of the head but not very often. Bottom line- it works GOOD!

Bill and Brian fished the Naknek River yesterday with some of the clients from camp and did real well. Drifting a 6 mm fl peach bead using their fly gear and shooting line. Some used big floats and 10 feet below the indicator- just like Taney! You could use spin gear and a drift rig and tear them up too. Lots of small rainbows, some char and red sockeye. But had numerous 28-inch rainbows in the group with one 31-inch in one of the other boats. Brian had a 26-inch and Bill had one close to that with several more just under that mark. Not my favorite way to fish... that's why I stayed home and ran to town for clients coming and going to the airport. I like to get out and wade the shoals but the rainbows haven't congregated in these spots yet. Too many salmon spawning in the main river yet. Give it a week and we'll see more big bruisers on the shoals.

Since when does changing your mid on something, or "flip flop" a negative? If you find out something you believe is wrong, admit it and change you stance, I would think it would be a noble thing? Admit your wrong... we all grow up and change our views on things. True, some people will say anything to get votes... I know that. But this flip flop thing is carried too far in most cases.

No firearms- just bear spray. These bears are used to people, not to say we take chances, esp with clients. They do give warning signs if they are nervous- yawning, popping of the jaw and we did have a bore walk by and yawn a couple of times which I was concerned about. But there were 8 of us and that in itself is intimidating to a bear, esp if we were to huddle up in a tight grouping. I can see where someone can get lured into loving these animals. Esp the cubs- they are so cute and cuddly. But the adults are huge and powerful and they are animals and don't think like us.

No, DD's MC, I won't hug and kiss him for ya. Man we had one of those days today. Boated to Margot Creek with Bill, Brian and 5 clients from Jim's camp. Got there by 10 am and left at 6 pm. 8 of us caught, no exaggeration boys, over 250 char that average 21 inches and as big as 28 inches. But these things are fat, thick and fought like crazy fish. Throw in 35 rainbows up to 24 inches, BEAUTIFUL weather, bears all around eating salmon and you have a day most only dream of. I got 90 minutes of video, mostly of bears but alots of bent rods too. All on beads, specifically one color- fl peach 6 mm. Enough talk- here's some pics. On the way over- spectacular view. Brian clicked this one. Was filming a mom and 3 cubs about 50 feet away, hooked a char and fought it right in front of her. They don't care about jumping fish right now cause they have plenty of fish that's not flopping around to eat. But she did jump over to investigate a flopping char later in the day- the angler had to break it off. But she was real nice to us, letting us fish her honey hole. She had the cutest cubs- 2 real dark chocolate and one brown. They ate and played all day just down from us. 10 casts, 7 char landed. I started taking pics of #2 after landing a very nice male char. One spot, 6 more char landed (pics) from 19-25 inches, 3 more hookups with the hook pulling out. Couple of rainbows caught by the guys yesterday that didn't get posted.

Kevin- do you even know what Pebble is? You should research it before you rattle off. Pebble Mine is right in the heart of THE largest sockeye fishery in the world. If the mine goes bad, it will poison the river forever. They say they can do this deal safely but even if they pay huge fines for any spill, the mine is worth Billions. It will happen I've heard, unfortuneately. It's on private ground. The feds can slow it down but I doubt if they can stop it. And Sara is against it.

Have to post some of Duane's pics... he had a great day. Drifted beads from my boat with 4 clients out in front of camp on the Naknek. They had one over 30 inches, one 29 and numerous 28's, 27's 26's... you get the picture. All rainbows. A few sockeye mixed in. Bill and Brian did the same. They had 3- 26 inchers. Duane guided a bunch of guys over at Ugashik last week. Here are some picture.

A great day today on the river and across the lake. Boat problems... one of the boats going over to Brooks wouldn't start this am so half the guys at camp stayed and fished rainbows on Naknek and the rest of us headed over. Brian and I went on to Margot after leaving the crew at Brooks, included our dearly beloved Duane. They had a good day (no details available). The guys here on the river drfited beads from the access to Shawbach's and slayed big bows. Numerous over 25 inches up to 29 I was told. They really turned on compared to the last few days. Good thing. Brian and I arrived at Margot Creek- no one in sight. It was almost noon so we ate our lunch so the bears would climb in my boat and eat it for us. I wanted to go up in the creek instead of starting at the mouth- I knew there were fish there but wanted to see the creek. Nope- mom and 3 cubs at the third bend. Fished down- nothing. The water level was low and clear... opposite from last year at this time. Got to the straight-away before the lake and started picking up a few char. All nice ones. But they just weren't eating our beads. Then we had one spit up some eggs. I matched the hatch right away and bam!! They started taking our beads on almost every drift. Had some guys fly in from Sportsman's- went up above us and caught nothing. As they walked back by us, I INSISTED they fish down from us- the guide wasn't going to- edicate... Phooey!! I said they had to and Brian and I and 3 clients from Sportsman's had 5 on at a time several times. Oh yea- gave them the magic bead so they had the right bead too. I bet between the 5 of us we caught 70 char in 2 hours. Largest was about 27 inches. Smallest was 22. They were really colored up nice- in spawning colors. Never saw it last year in Margot. Look at the pics!! I got video too but it'll be alittle bit before I have it edited. And yes bear- mom and 3 cubs came to eat below us... another bore and 4 more out in the lake eating dead sockeye. Pretty cool. More tomorrow. Smelled real nice!!! On the ride over. Fall Colors are already showing Alaska- land of rainbows Brian with a nice male We tried to catch a male and female at the same time to take this underwater pic side by side- we'll try again next trip over. Look at the colors... Just another char. Had to add some more pics... these are from Brian's camera. This was the big bore that came up behind us. Jeff, the guide from Sportsman's, although he was of short stature, did quick work of getting him to head upstream, then across the creek and in front of us. He didn't look happy.

Fishing has really slowed here. Best catching is drfiting in the current and dragging a bead- yes just like Taney!! If you drift a wooly any place you'll catch pinks and sockeye. Beads- sockeye, rainbows and char. Numbers aren't too bad but to be honest that's not what Bill and I came up here for. We're still trying to figure out the pattern. Last year and even 2 years ago the pinks were GONE along time ago and most of the sockeye were almost done spawning. Kings - also dead and gone. There's still LOTS of pinks and kings spawning and tons of sockeye all over the place. So we think that everything is 1-2 week behind, just like at the beginning of the season and for each salmon species that entered the river- behind. So right now the river is over ran with eggs of all kinds and our beads are just blending in. The spots where we slayed the rainbow last fall were concentrated spots on gravel bars and holes where the rainbows and char had gome at the end of the spawning period- they aren't there yet. So we'll wait- and go to Margot Creek tomorrow. Brian did fly to Ugashik today and had a great day catching up to 32 inch beautiful char.

If there wasn't a patch kit that came with your waders, you should buy a patch kit just made for breathable waders. If you botch a patch on waders, it's not good. Best to fix it right the first time. I speak from much experience, unfortunately.

23... almost 50. Would be nice to know the rules on the first try. Can't read chicken scratches.

MDC's stance on barbless has been, in the past, they don't help hooking mortality so why enforce it? I've yet to find a study that shows barbless helps keep fish alive after being caught. The one reason why I don't like the barbless rule is that #1- anglers get ticketed because they left a little tiny point sticking up and it catches the agent's sleeve. or #2- an angler forgets to bend a barb down or thought he did or thought he was using a barbless hook and gets checked and gets a ticket. It's bad PR. It's a social thing in the eyes of most fisheries biologists, at least the ones I know. I would fight it, personally. As for enforcement, MDC knows statewide they are thin. It would cost the state so much money to increase enforcement where needed, not just Taneycomo. One argument is to increase the trout stamp on just Tany to cover an additional agent just for Taney. As for limiting # of any trout, large or small, it has to work into MDC's management scheme. It's not as simple as just making a rule to appease the lunker hunters. But make no mistake, MDC likes big fish and they'll do what they can to achieve the best results for Taney and any other fishery in the state.

Brian Ellis made it in, al beit 2 hours late, last night. He's pretty pumped from the fishing reports here. The winds yesterday were something else. No exaggeration- gusts hit 50 and regularly all day into the night. A Carolina Skiff beached at the access- 22 ft fiberglass with a 60 jet- was flipped by the waves and wind- just up from Jim's place. They took all their boats to the other side of the river (east side) because the east wind wrecked their dock and they were afraid their boats (and mine) would end up flipping too. We fixed everything this morning and off we went. The winds also churned up the lake and the ash on the bottom so that the river was a murky, milky color. We hit the best spots first and did very little. Hit another spot, checked with a couple of other groups from Jim's and saw they weren't doing well either. We chalked it up to the discolored water and headed for camp. Drove into town and King Salmon Creek. Waded about a 2 mile stretch and found very little. Seems most of the salmon have moved up creek and the rainbows and char with them. Did catch a few rainbow and char but not a very productive day. Brian is heading to Ugashik Narrows tomorrow. Bill and I are scouting again.

When I first started posting articles on OA I wanted to answer as many questions as possible. I think I did. At least I covered most if not all of your questions, Kevin. Not to knock your questions but I know this has all been covered in past articles and topics. It's impossible to answer your depth question as asked. At power pool the water at the cable is 4-6 feet maybe and 60 feet at Powersite (??) Trav? Not sure. At full generation add 8-10 feet at the top and ???? feet at the bottom- may be 4 feet? Not sure. Rebar- you just have to see it and experience it to know and even then, we hold our breath at times. HP- our 25 hp props do fine with 4 units. But if you're using a jet- it would have to be at least a 40 hp I'd say. Bottom- gravel, mud and bed rock. Mainly gravel.

Well, we've been bums the last couple of days. Yesterday weather was perfect but we had things to do in town- look at property and talk to locals... get the skinny on current gossup and such. Small town politics is interesting, even in Alaska. We didn't fish. Wish we did but things came up at the end of the day when we thought we might that kept us from going. So today- the weather is bad. Temps are decent but the wind is gusting to 50-60 mph and rain. I feel for those who are flying today. So Duane and I did laundry in town and now we're chilling out. Finally found a way to post pics so here they are. Took some video too but it's pretty dark - will wait on it. Last pic is the view from our cabin here on Pike Lake. Fish are all silvers.

I have covered fall low O2 conditions and lake turn over in articles and previous posts. I bet you'll find lots of info under the Best of Taney section. Lamar- I'm alittle confused which info you've posted is the most current. It would be helpful if you added a new post or add a new topic altogether with new news. You ARE doing us all a great service by reporting on what you're hearing from the Corp----- Thanks a bunch!!!! Phil

Had to sleep on this- this is what I came up with. At first thought, "the trout would migrate out of the 80 degree plus water from the flood gates and stay in the colder generation water" BUT the problem with that is IF they ran 4 units full, I'm not sure they (corp) could inject enough O2 into the water to keep the DO up above 4 ppm. The Corp has a restriction on how much they can run in the fall because of the O2 situation. Even running 4 units now could potientially kill alot of fish in Taney. If they ran flood gates, it would kill more I'm afraid. So I wouldn't get all excited about flood gates, Leonard. I might be the demise of your walleye and smallies as well as your big browns. I'm sure the Corp is talking to MDC about the situation but at this point (AGAIN) mother nature is in control, so to speak. Told Bill this am- we've had alot of "first" this year in our lakes and rivers. This is again a first. We've never had this much rain in the fall where opening gates is a possibility.

Jim- is that statement written by Obama? Strange statement. He switches from first person to second person and back to first all in the same paragraph. I'm sorry but I have a real problem with his relationship with his pastor. Actions speak louder than words. For him to stay in a chuch for as long as he did with this kind of leadership speaks volumes. I don't pretend to try to sway you or anyone else from changing your vote. Ultimately, most of us vote on the party and their issues and stances, not the person him (or her) self. I will vote republican most of the time because of their conservative stance. At times, I have to bite my lip (Dole in 1996).