Phil Lilley

Swan is clear and running pretty good. Lots of whites moving in and out. Historically, whites will move into Swan at night to spawn because of the clear water. During the day it's tough catching them because of the crowds and clear water. MDC agents were busy over the weekend nabbing people who were grabbing whites instead of hooking them fair. I'm sure after 2-3 years of no whites, and now the whites are biting, local just wanted some fresh meat for the dinner table. Do what us trout guys do when the fishing gets tough- go small and lite. And fish at night.

Good trout fishing. As you read from the tournament, at least 14 guys caught trout Saturday and a couple of them did real good. Several browns caught in the contest- not unusual I guess just don't hear about it I guess. Short Creek area produced 7-8 short browns and one 20-inch+ brown on night crawlers. One thing I noticed about some of the rainbows from the tournament- they were long and skinny. I don't like to see long skinny trout. These rainbows were as long as 18-19 inches but weighed less than 1.5 pounds. My guess they moved out of the trophy area and now reside in waters where they aren't finding food as readily. Low generation periods have shown the same results in the past. Will keep an eye on it. Speaking of bass... a bass was reported being seen under our dock on the TroutCam yesterday. Our water here is just like any other water on area lakes since they're not running water- it's warming up! I'm sure it's in the 60's at the dock and soon we'll see bass and blue gill moving in to spawn. We had 3 beds between our docks and the bank a few years ago during low water- kinda different. Huge midge hatch this morning- small midge #22's but the rainbows were all over the surface early. Fun to watch. Nobody taking advantage of it.

wow.... I thought bass fishing had picked up on TR. Where and how did you fish? You said 18th... what was your weight? Later today I'll go get and post the results. Thanks for getting back to us on the tournament.

"and looking forward to your presence" Brian... running out of lines??? You're so funny. 4fishys- This is a great place to retire... hopefully it won't be as crowded as Chicago when that magic time comes to retire. Pray for an early retirement buyout... prayer gives you a much better chance than the lotto. Welcome.

Sent some friends down to Gages this evening. They fished a cove up in Long not far from the ramp. Caught 3 keeper crappie. With the wind it was tough but I thought they'd do better. They were males and close to the bank- within 4 feet. It will happen real soon. I hope to fish there within the next couple of days.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site..._cd=00065,00060 Above is a link that's pinned at the head of this forum. It's the water level on the Osage below Truman Dam. It tells me they haven't ran water in a week so don't look for them to run water anytime soon. The fishing... I couldn't tell you. We need some more Truman Tailwater fishers on the forum.

How was the water? Cleared up?

83 today and it IS blowing!! Things are definately going to take off real quick now.

Our water temp is climbing here and wouldn't doubt if we see some bass spawn on our bank this spring. Never thought about seeing them on the cam though. May have to change the name of the cam!!

Sure- it's looking downstream from Sun Valley. The high lines are the ones just up from our place.

I'd call the chamber and see if they know of any retirees that'd want to at least usher for you... parking attendants. They usually have the handle on that crowd it seems. Talk to the ones in the visitors center.

Have to share a story I was told by my father-in-law, who is in the know around here. We just had a Home Depot open here. Normally, a new Home Depot likes over 125 applicants to apply for new jobs at the store. Only 25 applied at the Branson store- in January and February! If that doesn't say something for the worker shortage in this area! I don't know about the new Target (opened same day next to the HD).

7 teams weighed in. Everyone weighed in their limit. A good time was had by all... especially a couple of green-horns from College of the Ozarks! Jimmy Cummings and John Cartwright thought they were having a pretty good day of fishing. Little did they know how good it was! Although both guys, did I mention they are room mates?) hadn't had allot of time on Taneycomo, they'd both grown up fishing. And Jimmy had been introduced to trout fishing by my daughter, Megan, who he's dating. Now you know most of the story. My father-in-law, Dave Woolery, paid their entry, I gave them a jon boat, a map, some worms, a blow bottle, showed them how to enject air into the worms, told them to anchor on Short Creek and stay there all day. They missed Short Creek by about 100 yards- they anchored above the gravel bar. But it turned out- John landed a 22 inch, 4.46 lb brown and together they weighed in 8 trout weighing 12.14 pounds. Yes- they would have won the contest without the brown! They didn't have a clue they'd weighed in one of the largest weights in years, at least for of our tournaments. The rainbows they caught were all over 16-17 inches up to 19 inches but didn't have alot of weight on them. If they had, add 3-5 pounds to the total. Everyone else had respectable weights. 1st - Cummings/Cartwright 12.14 (big brown 4.46 lb) 2nd - Shawn & Garry Pingleton 5.70 3rd - Tom Johnson & Chuck Puckett 5.46 4th - GT & Randy Bracy 5.12 5th - Brower/Branneky 5.10 (big rainbow 2.50 lb) 6th - Hanson/Huston 4.50 7th Woolery/Waldo 4.14 All Cummings/Cartwright's trout were released including the brown. John Cartwright

Why isn't Bill smiling?

Great crappie fishing reported. Crappie are still staging mostly but there are some on the banks. Don't have details but lots of limits caught the last couple of days and it should get better each day that goes by. I hope to get down there tomorrow or Monday for sure. Everything's poppin' all at once. Look for crappie on the bluff bank downstream of the marina from real close to the bluff/cut banks to out in the timber but shallow. Look for whites up in Blair Branch for use. Other reports?!?

Tom Vince and I just got back from the Pot Hole- well Vince is still up there. We got there about 6 pm at Silver Creek Gravel Bar- water was dropping out- little bit of current. Whites were circling on the surface. We caught 3- 2 sows and one male. I caught one on a rebel and the others on a motor oil swimming minnow. Water started running again about 7:30 pm- we drove up to the wing wall at the dam. I caught a short walleye- purple swimming minnow. Then a keeper 19 inch. Tom caught a short walleye and I caught another 2 short walleye. Water came on again at 8:30- Tom and I left. Report is alot of walleye still in the upper lake. A few whites circling but not many. Lots of boats down below the bridge in the flats. Other reports?

Heard whites were being caught big time before the last rain. Must have been a local rain because the creek was "choc milk" last evening and this am... but I've been told after the water clears- hold on!! Whites at the 160 bridge and up. Great fly rodding. The run is on this week! Other reports???!?

No fools- I heard Swan is full of whites. Great fly fishing. Not sure if it's true- anyone hear? Crappiefisherman!!???

Only 6 teams braved the 70 degree and sunny weather today for a day of trout fishing on Taneycomo... 8 gruling hours of tough fishing ahead. Someone has to do it," said one contestant. But we are thankful for those. They'll have a great day on the water. Greg Lilley and Grandpa Dave (Woolery)

Check the topic/link that's pinned at the top of the Niangua forum. It looks at if they level hasn't changed much.

Steven Fuller, student at College of the Ozarks, caught this nice largemouth off Stormy Point this evening. Fishing from the bank for crappie, he notice a large fish herding shad in his direction so he threw his white roadrunner at him and he took it. After quite a battle he landed it. It weighed 6.94 lb dry here at the shop. I told him he may have lost as much as a quarter-pound of weigh so we'll say 7-1/4 lb bass. He's going to have it mounted. Fuller is from Pea Ridge, Ar.

I'm with Wayne... with these warm days, the smallmouth can't help but bite. Sorry I can't make a personal report!

I live for this.... Really- this forum software makes changes and fixing problems real easy- no problems!!

Talked to Vince- he's caught his limit of crappie 2 days in a row plus 2 limits 2 others caught with him today. He put in a Bridgeport and fished the flats finding the crappie close to the bottom in 6-10 ft of water. He uses jigs, buck tail jigs and swimming minnows, 1/8th oz and the usual colors, white, red, smoke and purple. Vince t/t some guys on the James Arm that said they've been tearing the whites up on the Kings arm but didn't say where exactly. With this rain and warm/windy days, both will be poppin' this weekend big time. Vince also caught a 15 lb flathead trolling a shad rap on the James. He was looking for white bass which he didn't find any.

I like a clean and tidy forum...