Phil Lilley

Yocum is a trib of Long Creek south of the state line. http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...7&Itemid=47 Find water running in and you'll find cats I'd think.

Good for you guys.... but the problem is the people who read this aren't the ones doing stupid stuff- probably. But if you are one of those... well... I'd ban you from this site if I could. Sorry- no smiley face on this one.

Where did you get that from? Give me song and verse please. Just saying catching anything in this current above Roark with 6 guys in a pontoon is difficult- may not be as difficult down there with slower water and more places to get out of the current. That's why Roark is where we chose to go- both the client and guide. We differ in our philosophy in guiding. So be it.

The ramp is under about 10 feet of water right now. With a larger boat you'll have to put in at Beaver Creek Park at the mouth of the river. Follow highway O off 160 to the park. The run up to the bridge may be alittle tricky staying in the channel since the area is flooded so bad but you should be able to. No problems getting up past the bridge- it's very deep for about a mile. You'll be able to tell when it starts forming back to the original creek and that's where it gets shallow.

Babler said no one he knows have found where the bass are yet.

Well.... Beaver and Swan have been hot till today. Heard it's pretty dead because of the cold front and cold rain. Sounds like James is the same. You have to watch the weather forecast and catch it on the 2nd or 3rd day of a warm up. Then these and other wb places will be good again. Places to rent... very few. There are places on the James River. Don't know if they rent anything at Beaver Creek Boat Dock. Getting a guide is a possibility or fishing with someone on the forum.

Putting it together...slowly. You were the one who wanted motor oil minnows. I'm way too busy to keep up with everything. I have 10,000 in my office. I'll get my act together some day.

Same creek. It a float we take alot in the summer.

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/video/Howrealmencatchcafish.wmv

Couldn't see the fish- perfect for us though. A friend said the road along the highway is getting alittle tough to put a boat in off of now- not much grade. A small, light boat I'd say but not a bass boat. The rain should do much to the whites but the cold may knock them back a day or two. Tomorrow is supposed to be 70 and rain and if that happens it may jump start the spawn for a day or two- then who knows.

I thought we did....

Great!! We found them down by the camp along the road in mid June last summer... kinda by accident. But they were tasty regardless. I won't be up there till late June but will tell the Johnsons.

Really... that sounds fun. How and where did you find your walleye? Me and Bill may have to run down there with the camera.

I don't understand. The client is paying you to take them fishing. If a client wants to fish a particular place, you would tell them "no, we're going to fish where I want to fish." Granted, if the guide puts the client on more and/or bigger fish, so be it. But in this case you can't right now, esp with a pontoon with 4 to 6 clients on it... unless you have a place and technique that could work better than catching 60-80 rainbows per half day ranging from 12 to 16 inches. Not true. You need to come up here and fish this fast water. Yes there are other creeks you can get out of the current and they do have fish but Roark is the largest area and easiest to get a pontoon in. You shouldn't be as judgmental, Trav. It doesn't bod well for your image

Cause it's easy fishing for clients I guess. Wind was alittle tough on the lake and not bad in Roark. Not my cup of tea. I've been doing very well drifting in the trophy area. I know Vince fished up there yesterday with clients and did real good but his clients, and Bills, wanted to go to Roark. Client is always right- right?

Went out with Vince and helped him with his guide trip this afternoon. We had 4 clients on the pontoon. Headed to Roark Creek- where all the other guides were fishing including Chuck Gries, Bret Rader, Bill Beck, Tim Paige, Eric Prey, Mr Babler and others I didn't know. I counted 20 boats at one time in the creek. Water is still off colored and the rainbows are a chalky color... but nice by average. Most of the ones we kept were 14 inches. Fished with a jig and float and either a gulp power egg, minnow or a piece of night crawler. NC did the best for us, minnow this morning Vince said. No problem getting 16 for their limits. Saw several boats coming back in to do a little double dipping. Heck they may have made 3 or 4 trips today. Knowing our agents, they could get a room in the Hilton and watch the crowd from comfortable rooms with room service. Not to be mistaken... they like to watch fishers from a distance, hidden with long ranged glasses. Chuck Gries looking for white bass- caught quite a few trout and blue gill. Our best bait. Two nice limits. New construction at the Landing... shops on the water and a cruise ship.

Jim Turner said he's ready to go out with us with 2 cameras and mics us and everything... I told him if we did that it would raise the bar way too much! Right now I want to keep it simple. I do like the idea getting the video up in good time after it's done, esp if it shows where the fish are biting and how. If I can get this editing and rendering down it'll be up the same day!!

Just wanted to let all you forum people know we posted our lastest video on the front page of ozarkanglers. Had to edit it down quite a bit to fit on google.

Water continues to move... We were at the Branson Belle yesterday morning where I noticed the water there was really stained and of course high. I thought why weren't we getting this stained water over the top of the dam? Well my wishes were granted... so to speak. When I returned home our water was stained just like the lake. Good thing? Bad thing? I think it's good cause slightly stained water is better than clear water in most cases when fishing for anything. We have a big company group in this week and they are using Bill, Vince, Buster and Tim. Most of them have been going down to Roark and limiting on rainbows using jig/gulp and float. That's a gulp egg on a jig head under a float 4-5 feet deep. Vince took his group up to Lookout and drifted the shallow flat using egg fly/san juan fly on a drift rig and doing well too. They're catching quite a few 16 inch rainbows vince said were colored up beautiful and fat. No one is going all the way to the dam. I would think by now they'd be keying in on white jigs but I don't have a boat to head up to try it. Mine is rented out and so are all our other boats. I'm landlocked! Drifting power eggs in the Monkey Island area down thru the bridges is pretty good too and the rainbows are good sized. But you have to get whatever you're using to the bottom cause that's where the fish are.

Babler failed to mention on the forum about the full story on the catfish in Yocum. He talked to a couple of guys who were camped out and did nothing but fish for cats. They were fishing with liver/limb lines and doing very well. Interestingly, the cats were chuck full of worms, lizards, mice and other field animals from the flood. One cat had a ball of worms in his belly as big as a man's fist.

This is a difficult question even for the guides because THEY don't know where the fish are on Table Rock right now- that's why they're all fishing Taneycomo or Beaver and Swan Creeks for white bass. Under normal circumstances they'd and others would be all over your question but these are not normal circumstances. Good thing as far as your tournament is concerned is that everyone is in the same boat, so to speak.

Don't see anything unusual in your profile. The person you are Pming- their inbox may be full.

Honestly, I think most if not all the rivers and creeks in southern MO will have settled back to almost normal by then, except for the tailwaters and lakes which hold most of the water from those rivers and creeks and are having to dump gradually. I wouldn't change your plans too quick. Give it a few days and see what anglers find this weekend.

Last evening from 5-dark they were catching whites up further than we were in the am- in the Tea Tables area. The friend who went up there caught their limit and then caught and released alot of big sows on white sliders. The bite stopped at dark. Only 5 boats on the creek. Last night I understand Charlie Farmer was on KY3 and announced whites were being caught in Beaver Creek on white swimming minnows. Today the creek is bank to bank according to Bill Beck. It's a madhouse he said. If you caught a white you were swarmed by boats. Take my advice- be there at daylight and try to enjoy the quiet and fishing until the crowds arrive. Best thing- white bass are starting to show up in other places like Swan, James, Sac, Long Creek and the Kings... and many others probably. It'll spread out the folks.

I heard they're catching whites at the Blunk Hole. No other details.