Phil Lilley

If it did and it bounced, you'll be taken off the list... go ahead and subscribe again.

Did you know in the mid 80's MDC was stocking 1.7 million rainbows??!! (I'm going by memory here)

#1 - Andy William's house is just to my left, below Lookout. #2 - The ditch that dumps into the lake from Pointe Royale is just to my left. Some call it Dry Wash, some the Red House Hole. The dark gravel normally is covered with water.

We have to talk... When you say 4-20 feet, are you saying you threw the jig and you caught crappie (& whites) on the drop at all those depths or did you catch most of your fish at one particiular depth? Were you in the trees? Along bluffs? I don't ask exact locations cause I think that's rude. I did that once to a friend... reported on the net several years ago about a spot that was hot for walleye at night and my buddy had lots of company the next night. He didn't appreciate it at all so he only gives me bits and pieces now... really just kidding- I think he trusts me now... and besides, he reads the forum so he'll see this.

Your ferret was a mink.

This is a pic of a drift rig. You can tie a hook or lure to the end, loop where is shows and bell weight at the end. We use 4 lb line. A snap swivel is tied to your line and snapped onto the loop. Some use a 3-way swivel but in my experience it causes the line to twists up.

Remember this - one of my mottos in life is "never be offended" and I very, very, very seldom am.

I have helped people land 20-inch-plus trout in the past and if they intend to keep the trophy, I politely point out the advantages (and disadvantages) to getting a replica made and releasing the fish. If they want to keep it I try not to show any attitude although it's disappointing to see a fish like that die. But you know it's just a fish. I'd rather walk away friends with the guy and not enemies.

They use well water to help control water temps used in raising trout. I'd imagine well water is warmer than the lake water. Warmer water- trout grow faster. Colder water, they grow slower.

Easy for you to

Sorry gents... soemthing's happened in the network and we've lost the feed. We will try again tomorrow. But it's going to work!! We had it up earlier.

ok guys... you're now our little guinea piglets... We have achieved getting my underwater TroutCam live online for the first time but it's temporary! The way you view it is alittle complicated but it's the best we can do without a couple more pieces of equipment. It's going to be online for just a few hours today, then offline while we reinstall some cat5 line for our computers here at the resort (wireless just isn't doing the trick). So bare with us. Here's how you view the TroutCam- Find Windows Media Player. If you don't have it, you can go to http://microsoft.com and download it. To find it, go to Start/All Programs/Accessories/Entertainment/Windows Media Player. Go to File/Open url In the box type (copy paste) http://208.180.97.140:1200 It will take a bit to buffer and load. You should see the picture. Note- there is a small light in the camera itself so the image will darken the later in the day we go. At night, the camera will be turned off. Let us know what you see and think. I will be able to tell how many are viewing and the bandwidth used. That's what we're interested in seeing.

I caught a sculpin yesterday on an olive micro jig. I used to fish live sculpin for browns but stopped because the brown would swallow them every time. I really don't promote it for that reason.

Hummm.. hatches happen at odd times really. I've never documented exactly when, where and why they happen (we're talking about midge hatches). I've seen them at all stages of generation, all weather conditions- even at zero degrees they are still coming off the water. So to answer your question Chris I'm not sure if prolonged release or rainfall will affect hatches. May be someone else has an opinion.

"A Connecticut Yankee in Phil Lilley's Court"? Huh?! Did you mean "pond"?

I mentioned the level of Taney is really getting low... I'd say the water level at Fall Creek is 12 inches below normal and Lookout it's about the same. This means alot of gravel areas above Fall Creek are out of the water and they shouldn't be. At Powersite Dam, there are 2-3 or 4 drop-down gates that were installed 10-plus-years ago for the purpose of letting more water thru during high water situations- floods. These gates let water run through even when the lake level is at "power pool" or level with the normal top of the dam/spillway. This creates a bathtub effect where the top of the tub is shallowing out and more of the tub is exposed to air. Not good for gravel areas that hold bugs and with little water running, the bugs aren't getting ideal conditions already. They just need to run some water.

Took Mr. Miller out this morning for a half day trip. He wanted to learn the trophy water above Fall Creek from a boat fly fishing so we preceeded to Lookout to start. Water was off and very low. they haven't ran water in many days now (12-23) so the "leak" in Powersite Dam is allowing water to run out and the upper end of the lake is taking the brunt (another post). We started with soft hackles and cracklebacks with alittle success... they weren't midging much at all so I didn't expect much. There was a great chop on the water though. We quickly switched to scuds (#16 thin skin gray) and started getting alot more strikes and hookups. I stayed on the shallow flats and had him cast to 3-4 foot water off the channel and there he caught some nice rainbows. We stayed with scuds till be almost got to the Narrows where there was more surface activity so I had him switch to a zebra on one rod and a soft hackle on the other. Caught a couple but they still weren't excited about that fly selection. Scuds were #1 this morning. I took out another gentleman- a friend's dad who was in town from Iowa. I didn't want to work too hard so we just went above Short Creek, stayed on the shallow side and threw micro jigs, olive, under a float 5 feet deep and we caught a bunch of rainbows fom 2 -4 pm. They were hammering them- lots of fun. Lots of rainbows caught by all today from the way it sounds. Alot of small trout- 6-9 inches long but we caught lots of 12-14 inchers too. Nothing bigger.

You're inbox off the forum or in your email mail box? I sent it on 12/18. Phil

Sad end to a fish that made it to 20-inches-plus... a hook in the tail and a ride to the slaughter house in a WalMart sack. He fought alot of battles and went through alot of abuse to end up like that.

Google Earth Searched Yellville, Ar. Country rd 405 is the only road I see that would fit the description. The RR marking on GE are wacky so I'm not sure. But the road does travel along the river alittle bit. It appears to be about 10 miles from YVille.

Provied by Marty Thompson, guide Walleye are being taken off the face of the dam with Hopkins or Cast Master spoons, silver with a white bucktail is the best color. Slow troll the spoons tipped with a minnow in around 30 feet of water and you'll catch fish. Find the shad schools first and follow them throughout the day. Another good tactic around the dam and the main lake points in the dam area is trolling deep running crank baits such as Wally Divers or weighted stick baits such as Smithwick Rogues or Rebels. Shad imitators work the best. In the Turkey Creek arm, try the same techniques near the Cedar Ridge boat ramp (which by the way is closed, so you'll have to put in at State Park for a shorter run). Crappie fishing has been good in the Cedar Ridge area off the crappie beds with crappie jigs which seem to work best. Minnows are also contacting fish, but seem to be less appealing than just a crappie jig in white or chartreuse (experiment with colors). Mutton Creek area is another good spot for crappie; try the same technique around Chicken Rock and fish the timber in Birch Branch. The lake is 8 feet low, so be careful of the stumps in that area. Small mouth bass: 1/4 oz- 1/2 oz spinner baits in white or chartreuse are showing some good fish around Price Branch. Also tube jigs in white or brown work well. The bigger fish will be in about 25-30 feet of water. Small deep diving crank baits late in the afternoon on the downwind side of points at the mouth of Maze Creek is a good idea. Black bass: if you don't fish slow, don't go. That's the motto. My best luck on large mouth have been on a drop shot rig with white and light blue french fry 4 inch worms. Chunk rock bluffs is a good place to start and remember to fish the irregularities in the bluff as this is where the bass congregate. 25 feet of water seems to be the average depth no matter what structure you are fishing. Late in the afternoon, fish will move up in around 10-12 feet of water and can be taken on suspended jerk baits. Another technique for the deeper fish off main lake points is black and blue 1 oz jigs or Carolina rigged 6 inch plastic worms; dark colors seem to work best.

Springfield NewsLeader Streams trickle in drought's grip Dry conditions make fish easy prey. Little relief is in sight. Wes Johnson News-Leader Southwest Missouri's ongoing drought has been tough on paddlers this year, but it provided easy pickings for wild otters and mink. Rainfall totals in Springfield were below normal for eight months of 2005, leaving the area with a 9.17-inch shortfall for the year, according to National Weather Service records. That's caused groundwater levels to drop and portions of some smaller streams to go completely dry. Several streams have hit record lows for this time of year, although none has yet hit an all-time historic low. Michael Owens is well aware of the diminishing streams, creeks and rivers. "It's significantly lower than normal, even for this time of year, which is typically drier," said Owens, president of Ozark Mountain Paddlers, a club for canoe and kayak enthusiasts. "It's rare we ever see it this low, even in dry years." Although some spring-fed streams are floatable, Owens said many paddlers will find they'll have to drag their canoes over shallow spots more frequently. "There are some Springfield-area streams like the Niangua that have a constant flow, and some of our members are troopers and will run it this time of year," he said. "But it will probably require you to drag your boats." Chris Vitello, fisheries supervisor for the Missouri Department of Conservation, said the low water levels have a Jekyll-and-Hyde impact on wildlife. A stretch of Crane Creek in Stone County, for example, has supported a population of about 600 wild trout per mile. But with the onset of drought conditions, portions of the creek have dried up. "Some fish will get trapped in shallow pools and die," he said. "You'll see mink and otters take advantage of that — it's easy pickings for them." Some of the wild trout move downstream to deeper water and return to recolonize the dry stretches when enough water flows again. "We've seen some indications of upper Crane Creek coming back," Vitello said. "It's a natural cycle." Area streams and rivers are recharged by rainfall, as well as groundwater that seeps into stream beds. The James River, for example, is fed primarily by groundwater. "You need rain to recharge the groundwater, and right now we need a lot of rain," Vitello said. About three years ago, low groundwater flows forced state trout hatcheries at Bennett Springs and Shepherd of the Hills to cut back the number of fish they raised by 10 percent. "There just wasn't enough water to support our regular production level," he said. Record rains in January 2005 helped the fish hatcheries resume normal production. But rainfall dropped well below normal from March through July, and again in September, November and thus far in December. Vitello said fish hatchery production could be impacted again if drought conditions persist. So just how bad is it out there? Gary Wilson, hydrologist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Missouri Water Science Center in Rolla, said many streams in southwest Missouri are flowing at a 10 percentile rate or lower. That means only 10 percent of the time have water flows been lower. "It appears to be very localized to southwest Missouri," he said. "The northern part of the state is fine." Farther south is a different story. The Sac River near Dadeville is flowing at 13 cubic feet per second — a record low flow for this time of year but not quite near the all-time low of 3.8 cfs in 1996. Turnback Creek above Greenfield is at 15 cfs flow; the all time low is 9.4 cfs in 1980. James River near Springfield is at 8.4 cfs; the all time low is .10 cfs in 1956. Unfortunately there's not much relief in sight, according to Doug Le Comte, senior meteorologist and drought specialist with the federal Climate Prediction Center in Maryland. Le Comte said researchers are monitoring a large area of cool water in the eastern Pacific Ocean that may be the start of a "La Nina" event. The cool water disrupts storm patterns that normally would bring moisture across Mexico and California into the midwest. "We're seeing a weakening storm system track already," Le Comte said. "We're particularly pessimistic that drought conditions may persist in Texas and Oklahoma. Southwest Missouri is kind of the borderline for that projection." The Climate Prediction Center will have updated long-range forecasts in January.

Just learned something... You know that fishcam I keep talking about. It's not on the internet yet but I have it up in my office now thanks to a wireless transfer from the dock and a new flat screen TV I just installed. I'm watching anywhere from a dozen to dozens of fish- 80% rainbows and 20% creek chubs- swimming around under our dock. The camera is 12 inches off the bottom which consist of slit and fish remains (it's located under the cleaning shack). The water is about 8-9 feet deep at that point. I've noticed when a boat goes by- out in the middle of the lake more than 100 feet away, sediment is dislodged from the bottom and the trout go into a feeding frenzy. When fishing, I've always noticed when a boat goes by we get bit. Now I know why- for sure! I've seen it first hand.

Hits for the index page on the forum in December - over 62,000. Not bad for the first full month.

I'm sure there are- call Kathy or Lisa at the office at 1-800-284-2196. We should have a jon or bass boat available.