Phil Lilley

Blue Gill!! They are great for kids. There's tons of them and easy to catch... and they are even big enough to clean and eat. There's a topic already started on fishing for blue gill- check it out- keep an eye on it cause it's still going. Have a great time!

Less beaten paths... there's not many on Taney at least the upper lake. But there's plenty of places to fish around here that aren't too beated down. Welcome.

Real estate prices are up- not sure how long it will last though. Depends on the success of the landing. We looked at a lake front property yesterday just up from the rr bridge on the south side. It was a run down 4 plex with a very run down dock, fairly deep lot about 90 feet side for $299,000. The rep said it would go fast... sale ploy. We weren't interested. She said that she just sold a lot across from Fall creek for $150,000- just the lot. I'm alittle skeptical of that one. But old used houses are on the market may be a day. If it's not people local who are buying it's west coast people. It's been like this for about a year now.

One thing the Landing is doing is driving up the pay scale- almost over night. I was told employers from the Landing sought after workers in the old downtown area and offered more money to change jobs and they did. We are even reviewing at our pay scale to make sure we are in line and not falling behind. But good workers are getting hard to find. Even though a person is working and getting a better wage doesn't mean they are qualified to do the work. Qualified.... worthy might be a better term.

I'm still against the location- and the future will tell on that. I'm also worried about the other things I've heard- poor construction, cracking sidewalks, foundations sinking (Belks sinking 4 inches in some places), leased light poles because of budget overruns. Is this the tip of the iceberg? And I've talked to venders on the strip- bus is way down so far this year. Granted SDC is up considerably but the small ma and pops on the strip and outlying areas are hurting.

It must have some hefty springs feeding it because we haven't had much rain.

I still like the diving bluffs across the lake from Big Cedar cove. Some good advice given to me... tie a rope or put one anchor up shallow to the bluff and one out in the lake deep- then you can move from shallow to deep, changing your depth if needed. I like at least 40 feet of water under the boat.

Where do you fish at Rim? With the hoppers I mean. I've fished there several times and am familiar with the stretch below the access- the series of runs.

How was the water level? Good for floating?

Question- what fly(s) was he using? How small? Type? I have trouble with some flies for instance a 200R pulls out easy. 200R is what I use for thread midges which I use alot. When nymphing, I try to set the hook with the tip of the rod parallel to the water and pointing downstream, not setting the hook up in the air with the rod. It's a habit I acquired fishing for salmon- trying to set the hook in the corner of the mouth.

??????? If I go into ANY ma & pop tackle shop whether it's in Missouri or New Mexico and ask the golden question, "What are they biting on??" even if they say "purple scuds" and I have a box full of purple scuds, I buy a few purple scuds and then a few pink ones... whatever. It's like paying for the advice I asked for. I'm also NOT one of these yahoos who stop at a convienent store or McDonalds and use the facilities and not buy a water or soft drink. But some of my friends do say I'm alittle "touched".

No question the Landing and BP will bring more business into town and others will benefit by it. Personally I feel no threat at all from BP's presence- I think we will compliment each other. Funny story- I was in Wal Mart yesterday picking up some bass baits with Coy Howry when one of the sport department clerks, whom I know well, came up with a customer and asked if I had flip down magnifying glasses for caps which I said yes we do carry them in our shop. The customer had already picked up power bait and some other items from the shelves- I had already noticed them since they were some of our resort guests. They said yes we are staying at Lilleys- thanks. We can't compete with Wal Mart on power bait and a few other items but we can on most plus carry more speciality items... flies, jigs, accessories. BP's prices will be higher than most of us and still won't carry everything. And yes- both BP and WalMart advertise alot more than I so more power to them!!

Southern Living... ooohhhh, aaahhhhh!!

Coy and I made it 3 evenings in a row- headed back downstream and tried the bank across from Blue Haven again using the senkos- not much luck. We thought it may have been the change in weather and wind- it was out of the north and pretty breezy. But I did land a couple 2.5 lb'ers out of a trees and both of us missed some bites. Then we went over and checked out the place where we saw the fawns- they were gone. We boated upstream a bit and tried the bluff bank on the east side again slow. We got almost to the transision and I said why not try a top water. So I tied on some kind of popper I think Coy called it a mule back. It was jointed with a hair tail. I caught a bass on the first cast... first cast curse? Not really but didn't catch one for a ways. Got to where it started flattening out- there was a tree in the water and a dock- wham! Another hookup. Then Coy hooked one- then we both hook one at the same time. Mine was a nice one but Coy's was strange looking. TWO BASS AT ONCE! My my- never seen that in person. In a rush to get mine in and get the camera, I broke mine off- probably the best fish of the day. Was caught a couple more because it got dark. Lots of fun! Will get the poppers out much earlier tonight!!! May be take the fly rod. Drove to the dam this morning with my mom's cousin from Denison, TX Frankie Lawrence. He's used to fishing for stripers on Texhoma and does fly fish for blue gill but never trout. We walked in above #2 and started drifting thread midges #22 red and brown plus a #18 sow bug Leonard ties. Very slow action but some. Frankie caught his first 5 rainbows on a fly rod which thrilled him. I caught a few before heading up to #1 to see what was up there. Very little water running in #1 now- probably cause of the construction. But there was a few nice ranbows at the tail end of the stream so we tried for a few minutes. I hooked and landed 2 of the nicer rainbows- one in the pic. Not many people fishing but very little action. Hardly saw another fish caught even in #2 outlet. Lots of fish though- as usual.

Kanakuk - I've spent the last 3 evenings down below Branson fishing. Saturday and Sunday there were Kanakuk boats buzzing up and down the lake pulling skiers and tubers. They practically have the lake to themselves really. BL and BP will have to put alot of boats on the lake downstream to make it crowded- and the boats upstream have been few too- at least the last 3 days. Tonight we saw 6 boats below BLanding and 8 boats above. We headed down at 6:30 pm and came back at 9.

Stripers LOVE brookies...

Now you know kinda what Lewis and Clark felt like... smaller stream. Thanks for the painful report.

I agree - blue is the best tasting... for the work of cleaning the little things.

There is talk... I heard Phil Surratt, present chairman, has been talking about it. I have said I'l help or lead it. Just have to get the guys together and see what happens. The regional TU people have talked about combining all the MO chapters into one or something like that. Not sure how that would work seeing there is only one active chapter and that's in Columbia. I'll make a call or two.

Brian- email me the pics and I'll repost them to your report. phil at lilleyslanding.com

I have a relative coming to town today for a couple of days and I'm sure he's going to want to go to the dam at some point and fly fish.

How did you guys do- fishing-wise? Fish for trout, bass? Details man! And happy belated birthday.

They were out... I saw Quinten on the water. I'm sure they made their rounds- just be everywhere at the same time. Alot of people really believe because it's "free fishing" this means- "no rules". Seriously!

Are we studdering? Went again today- actually Coy went this am and fished the same banks and caught a bunch- same size same bait. Coy and I took off at 2 pm and just got back. We fished down further- mouth of Bee on east bank, gold mine and across from Rockaway Beach east bank. Concentrated on trees and had bites in most. Broke off some possible large bass- took us in the brush and wouldn't let go. Largest this pm was about 2.5 pounds with about 10 smaller. Not as good this pm but fun. Saw this pair in a cut across from Bee Creek. The one laying down had a crippled back leg. It's twin ran off- no sign of mom. I called and asked... got the answer I expected- leave it alone. So we did. The cripple will die where it lay I'm sure.