Phil Lilley

Rolan and I met Leonard at #2 outlet at 9:30 pm last night for some fishin'. Leonard first showed me how to dead drift using a night glow stick indicator in the outlet floom. He used a 2-egg rig, the first egg weighted quit a bit and the second egg not. The second egg was dark red and caught all the fish- mostly rainbows- medimum size. He kept shining his light on the area to see where any browns were lying - there was one about 25 inches. I could see him in the bright moon light with no help... but he didn't bite. We headed up to the #1 area to start stripping woolies and leaches cause there were alot of people down from #2. Rolan caught 2-3 small browns on a white wooly. I had a couple of strikes and Leonard had the same. Water seemed to be lower than usual by a few inches which up there is alot. After an hour covering the area down to #2 outlet, we walked down to rebar. We had the place pretty much to ourselves by then. Met Rick Osborne from Camdenton- the present Missouri record holder for brown trout. He was fishing the outlet at #2. At rebar, Leonard used his white bunny sculpin and drifted thru the browns holding at the top of the run. He caught a couple small ones. I headed down a pit doing the same thing, wading the middle of the stream and throwing to each side. I hooked a big fish on the left side going down and knew immediately it was foul hooked. He ran downstream and I let him for a minute till I was convinced it was not in the mouth. Then I held the rod straight and tried to break it off. I was using 3x- the tippet held and he swung to the shallow water. Leonard went down and grabbed the fly and pulled it out of his back. He said it was 10-pounds plus. I never saw it. We went on down to the big hole where we stripped woolies and sculpin. Rolan caught 4 in a row and then things died down. He let the line swing downstream, not stripping at all- they would hit it on the swing. I tried the same thing and had a half dozen strikes but couldn't hook them. Leonard went on down and caught a couple- nothing big at all and mostly browns. I caught one rainbow on a white bunny leach while walking back upstream to leave- my only fair hooked fish of the night. Finished at 1:30 am.

The vote was closer than I thought it would be. And I didn't think it would follow the senate's race so closely. I didn't think they campaigned that strong on the issue.

Question about rabbit strips - when do you want a cross cut and when do you want a regular cut? And why? I'm looking for an explaination on application.

Yea- have jigs and floats in the shop. Open at 7 am and close at 6 pm.

I know... I've marked pretty much the whole area between !3 and Big Hole but for someone who's never been to Taney before or someone who isn't as sure of himself when it comes to the brown run, it may help. Rolan Duffield and I drove to the dam this morning at 7 am. Water running! One unit and it dropped steadily all morning. We went down to Rocking Chair and fished the north side below the Falls along the bank. It wasn't too much water that we couldn't wade the whole area. I was expecting trout to be midging since they were dropping the water- they usually do- but they weren't except for the cut area below the falls shown on the map. There, rainbows were rising on tiny cream midges. I tried and tried to match them- finally caught a couple on a #26 cream biot emerger. I greased my tippet within 3 inches of the fly so it would drop below the surface just a bit. I had several takes but only a couple of hookups. One rainbow I brought to hand had a small midge emerger in it's mouth. It matched a black #22 thread midge to the tee so I tied one on and had 4 more takes- no hookups. Rolan caught 4 nice rainbows on a zebra midge #18 under a float it looked like 24 inches deep. He was fishing out away from the bank about 30 feet. We drove up to the outlets about 9:30 and started fishing just above #2 outlet. There were a few browns and rainbows cruising all along the bank but they were spooky. #2 outlet was packed- they were catching a few and foul hooking most... nothing big. As the water dropped, we worked our way out and ended up fishing the middle of the channel out in front of the outlet- away from the outletters. There were BIG browns sipping tiny midges off the surface and emergers from the film out there so we tried for them. Soft hackles, emergers- even a wooly didn't attract and attention. I did have one BIG follow on a white #18 soft hackle... BIG wake but no take! Water was off at 11:30 am and we left. Going again tomorrow morning... hopefully we can get Rolan into some big fish!

How long will you serve? I may talk Marsha into a nice drive Friday morning but I know it won't be a 7 am arrival.

This is a map that I've marked where our brown trout are holding. There are beds in these area so be careful when wading these areas. There may other areas downstream but since I haven't been down there this fall, I can't say for sure.

Vince is right. Around monkey island has been hot. Jig under a float 3-5 feet deep using an olive, brown, black, pink or ginger 1/100th oz jig. 2-4 lb line but 2 is better. Casting rooster tails (brown, white, pink) and cleos in silver or gold. Power eggs using a white egg and either an orange or pink with the white and again using 2 pound line better than 4 pound.

I knew where it was... I posted it.

http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=561 I tied it with white thread instead of red or black.

LMW- the images are alittle too big for the forum. If you would, downsize them (500x500 px x 72 dpi is perfect) or send them to me and Iid be happy to fix it for you. phil at lilleyslanding.com

You can buy the elastic wrap Dano mentioned in most shops. We carry 2 sizes- one for the common spools like Rio and Umpqua and one for larger spools like Maxima. They're cheaper than buying new tippet!

Should be back up and running. All the skins aren't running yet but I have defaulted a new skin just to give it a new look.

Last word... I think amendments are way too easy to be brought to the ballet. In this case, it seems that one person is behind the amendment and his money is backing it. Should anyone be allowed to buy an amendment to the state constitution esp if he has a financial interest in it? Gambling is another case in point. One guy funded the Rockaway Beach effort in an attempt to make money for himself. I don't think it's right regardless of the issue. But I know- it's the system. Anyhow- I respect all views on this matter and thank everyone for the discussion. I hope it's been enlightening for everyone.

Just don't want Table Rock Asphalt to be the bad guys in this. They indicated they were concerned about the lake/fisheries too but the data MDC provided showing dredging would be bad for the lake was inconclusive as well as from an old study (20 years). TRA said they would withdraw the application if MDC showed it would hurt the lake but they didn't feel like they presented a strong case. They withdrew because the community is split on the issue and they didn't want to damage their image, which is very good, in this community. They give back alot to the Branson area- I know cause I've asked for and received funds from them for a variety of nonprofits. I see and respect their point... but I think the permit process worked in this case. And yes I think the emails from OAF members influenced the outcome.

Table Rock Asphalt has withdrawn it's application for dredging above the 65 bridge. I talked to one of the principles of the company today. He indicated that with Scotty's dock and other construction at the Landing, it is going to be difficult for their barges to travel downstream from the gravel pit located near the railroad bridge on the lake. Table Rock Asphalt has been in this community for over 50 years and cares deeply about it's image in the area. That's mostly why they withdrew the request.

You know that's when the trout will really be biting!!!

These people put these topics up only to get hits. They get paid each time someone clicks on any of the links on the page. So by clicking the links, you are funding the trillion dollar, world wide industry. I delete these topics as soon as I see them. Unfortunately, most of the time they are posted at night and I don't see them till I log on in the am.

I had 90 minutes before having to take the office so I drove to the dam and met Vince below rebar. As I walked up, he was fighting a big brown but his fight was short-lived- it made a hard run and broke him off. Lots of trout holding in that stretch of water- several browns over 10 pounds and many smaller ones. They just weren't biting very well. Vince continued to drift a variety of scuds, different shades of gray and olive and small- #16 to #20's. I drifted my scuds- nothing- so I tied on a #18 white soft hackle and hooked 3 trout and missed 2. They were hitting them on the swing. One brown and 2 rainbows all under 17 inches. Vince stayed till dark. He said he caught 10 trout- most rainbows and browns up to 18 inches. I saw Chuck Gries fishing the pool below rebar. He was drifting scuds in the slow pool. He caught a few small trout. Brett Rader was guiding a guy fishing in the rebar shoot. He hooked a big brown as soon as I got there. It was foul hooked so Brett broke it off. It wasn't 10 minutes later, he hooked another brown, this time in the mouth and much bigger. His net wasn't big enough so Chuck lent him his. After netting it, they measured, took pics and released it. I'd say it was 26-28 inches- male I think. I've tied up some scuds using mink and alittle brown ancron using TMC103bl #15 and #17 hooks with 6 turns of .010 lead. Going to try them tomorrow hopefully. 103bl is a dry fly hook but I like the shape. John Berry tied some soft hackles at the conclave using them. I'm also going to tie some soft hackles with them.

What a small world... I could tell you were more embarrased than upset. I had just walked up when they got the call she was found and that she wanted to keep fishing. You said, "she said what?!" Classic. One trip you'll talk about for a long time I'm sure. Hope we can help witht your next trip. But it will be hard to follow Stan and Carolyn's instruction... they are the best. Welcome.

Thanks for posting pics... I was wondering how the event went. Is there any details about fish caught... flies??

Ian is working on it tonight... this has been an ongoing problem since I started hunters. It's frustrating. pl

Water is running- 2 units at 4 feet high at the dam. I drove up to see what was going on about 9 am. Tried to fish at rocking chair on south side but too many leaves in the water. Drove up to #2 and talked to George Garth who was fishing in the #2 slot. Saw lots of fish and they were hooking a few. Lots of people milling around waiting for the water to drop.

Jared- you may want to downsize the pics before you attach them. I make mine 500-600 pixels wide at 72 dpi- they load faster and are just as clear. If you don't know how, email them to me and I'll help. phil at lilleyslanding.com Beautiful brown- and good photo.

I went back down but didn't take a rod. I went with the guys staying here hoping for take a pic of another big trout. They fished rebar and below with little success. When the horn blew, I high-tailed it to the north bank cause I only had tennis shoes on. I sat at the TU stairs till the others wondered back- it was almost dark. Randy parked above #3 so I went out that way- not to the parking lot or I might have seen you Don.