Phil Lilley

I'm still working on uploading images... I have a "ticket" submitted to Invision. Troutn - email the pic to me and I'll upload it and send you the link. phil@lilleyslanding.com

You can forget the barbless thing... powers-that-be in MDC believe barbless is a cosmetic issue, not a health issue. There are no studies proving barbless rules help save trout to the point to make that a law- that's what they will say. 5% of fish caught and released using flies will die - that's the stats quoted by MDC. You will have dead fish regardless what the rules are. C&R on Taney, in my opinion, will not make a significant difference in the number of dead fish. Natural animal preditors kill more fish than anglers in the first mile (herons, kingfishers, otters). I'd say, with the water not running, >99% of the trout are caught and released by anglers presently. Overpopulation- people were worried about the regs back in 1995 when they were proposed because they thought trout would overpopulate the upper 3.5 miles and die of starvation (seriously- that's what they thought). I think that has been put to rest... trout will naturally go where they can survive and survive well. And lastly, rainbows spawn twice a year- fall/winter and spring. I don't see why you would make any special conditions during any spawn sinply because a trout spawn on Taney is 99% unsuccessful. New topics - go for it. I'm been in the education business using ozarkanglers.com since 1997... I welcome all the help I can get!!

I think clubs like FFF and TU could get behind it in the beginning and then a drive - we might see something in the near future. But first, we need to sit down with MDC and make sure it's even possible... I'm not for fighting a fight that's impossible to win.

Two kinds of midges (really many more but for what we're talking about - we'll say two) - zebra and thread. Zebra - tied with a bead head, preferably tunsten. You can fish this dead drift shallow under a float or deeper, closer to the bottom but not on the bottom. Thread- no bead. Tied with a turn or two of peacock hurl at the head usually. I use these under an indicator as a trailer, usually behind a scud. I fish it on the bottom, dead drift in current. It can also be used fished dead- in no current but still with a scud.

Generation - I don't look for much at all. During most holidays, power demand is low- and so is Table Rock- so I don't look for the Corp to run much if any water. Look for midge hatches anytime during the day and have pleny of zebra midges in the box. Red, black or even green (thanks Mike Scott) with bright heads (not black). Even using a spin cast rig and 2 lb tippet will work for those who don't fly fish. MDC has stocked alot of rainbows for the holiday so get your cleos and rooster tails ready. Power eggs in white, yellow and pink have been working well as well as air injected night crawlers (will always catch bigger trout on worms over power bait). Best areas are the Cooper Creek area, Monkey Island and Short Creek areas. Jig and float using brown, black, black/yellow, ginger or sculpin w/ orange head under a float 4-6 feet deep should work very well especially if there's a chop on the water. Use this anyplace on the lake. Fly fishing- #14 brown or tan scuds under an indicator 4-6 feet fished above Fall Creek to Lookout - excellent. Look for subtle strikes. Windy? Strip a #16 red or black soft hackle.

Gezzz... almost Thanksgiving! Time flies. Drove to the dam this morning at 6:30 am just to find 3-4 units running at 706 or 7 may be... lots of water anyhow. Randy, still in town from KC, wanted to take one more shot at outlet #2 but there were 4 guys already there so he wanted to go up to #1. Two guys there and nothing going on. I suggested another place - took him down to the Rocking Chair Hole on the north side but the water was up in the weeds and lots of leaves in the flow so this am was a big zero for us. Back at the report by 8 am. It looked like they ran alot of water last night from the water mark on the bank. Strange... not sure why. Randy fished till dark last night and even later. He fished #2 most of the evening and landed 19 and 21 inch rainbows drifting a black wooly bugger after dark. Still not sure how he did that (drift a wooly). I don't look for them to run the water long this morning... but I've been wrong before. PM report- Vince and I drove to the dam and fished from 3:30 till dark. Walked in to the Rocking Chair- water off. Midge were swarming us as we walked down the path and at the water- the same. Rainbows were coming up all over and Vince's first couple of casts with a zebra were successful. But that's where it ended. Our ability to fool these trout fell short for the rest of the evening. Not sure why- we both tried about everything in our boxes including #24 emergers and dries from the San Juan. We did manage a few but not like I would expect with that kind of activity. They blew the horn 4 times at 5 pm and the water rushed down to us. Vince hooked a nice rainbow as the water rose... thus the pic-

Randy was helping the guy out yesterday morning- he appeared to be a beginner fly fisher. He gave him a scud and showed him how to mend the line. Randy said he was surprised he kept the fish on as long as he did, not to mention land it. He landed it well below outlet #3 with the help of a couple of anglers. So... not to take up for the guy and the net- it's not the net you want to use for sure!!! But it's something most people wouldn't think about until it's pointed out to him. To be honest, I didn't notice the net even in the pic- I was looking at the bloodied, fat rainbow. And standing on soap boxes is a practice that is more than welcomed here.

Could it be a flesh fly? Something imitating fish remains?

Fished a bit this morning with Randy Waggoner- he drove down yesterday from KC for a short fishing trip. I didn't get to the dam till 8 am and quit at 9:30. He was already to #2 outlet all by himself which surprised me. They were running one unit- just a little fish water- and the trout were packed up in the shoot- amazing. He told me a guy had been fishing there but was way downstream landing a big trout he had hooked. Randy thought it was a brown but it turned up to be a rainbow - over 13 pounds. Saw the trout an hour later when the angler brought it back up. He said he tried to revive it to no avail. Caught it on a scud Randy had given him. I didn't want to take a pic of the trout closeup... it was real bloody and I knew the pic here wouldn't have gone over too well. Our DO is very low and ask I told Randy, if you hook a big fish on 6x or even 5x and fight it to the net, chances are you're going to kill it. Well, I fished in the outlet - yes I did - for about 15 minutes. I hooked may be 10 trout using a #18 brown scud, 5x tippet under an indicator 18 inches. I didn't drag it at all, letting it drift and not setting the hook everytime it stopped. I only foul-hooked one trout- it help that they were feeding wildly. I moved out when it started to get crowded. Water started dropping and I tried a couple of things- drifting a scud well below the outlet and stripping a crackleback... caught one on the crackleback.

I do... I do!! What we were told eons ago was (when they were just talking about doing the project) that highway 65 bridge would be under 50-60 feet of water BEFORE the new flood gates would be opened. That means everything you see below the dam now would be gone- so no worries about taking anything out at that point, except the earthen dam itself, which the new gates are designed to save. Waste of money???? Definately.

Leonard- send me an email - phil@lilleyslanding.com

If I could find someone to report on the Meramec River/Park, I'd love to put a section on the forum just for the Meramec. Anyone? Anyone know anglers who frequent this river?

Did alittle fishing today. Met friend from my home town, Kelly Stammer, at the dam for a couple of hours of fishing - 7:30 am. he was spinning and me with a fly rod. Fishing was slow for both of us- not much going on. I caught 3 stocker rainbows on a #16 gray thin-skin scud under an indicator 4 feet. Kelly tried a jig and a rapala and go skunked. I told him to go back to the resort and take a boat out. He did but I didn't see him before he left. He usually does well. After cleaning the church and getting ready for our Thanksgiving dinner after the service tomorrow, I boated up to Short Creek and fished from 2-3 pm before I had to work the office. Again, not much activity. The lake was 6 inches higher than normal. I tried a zebra and missed a couple of short quick bites, then a #16 thin-skin scud and caught 2 small rainbows. Then stripped a #14 brown crackleback- nothing. Midges started coming off just before I left so I finished with a black zebra but didn't draw a strike. Bait anglers caught alot of trout between Short and Fall Creek today- best was night crawlers followed by white or yellow power eggs. Several said they had a very good day catching some really nice rainbows.

It was just a couple of days ago I shared about my friend's 50th birthday celebration. Don't they say the eyes start going at 40... I mean the doc informs us we might think about bifocals... What happens at 50??? I'm sure Chuck didn't see it coming... pardon the pun. Yesterday he started seeing double and this morning he had surgery for a detached retina. Doc told him he may lose some sight in the eye. Fifty is way too young for that- right?? But you know, the day we are born our bodies start to die slowly... some slower than others but you get my point. Life is a vapor that lasts a second in comparison to eternity. Chuck is on his belly with orders not to lift his head for 2 weeks. They glued the wall of the retina like wallpaper (the tear), gas is injected in the eye to put pressure on the wall till the glue dries. Keeping the eye ball pointed down also holds pressure on the "wallpaper". This is a fairly new procedure- before people who had this condition would just lose vision in the eye so I'm sure he's grateful. Marsha and I prayed this morning... these things happen for a reason- we either learn what God has for us to learn or we don't learn anything - suffer through for basically nothing. We prayed Chuck would learn and learn good! He said he would be spending alot of time praying... and I'm sure he will. He can't read- we're going to make sure he has books-on-tape. We also asked God to help the docs in their procedure. I know without any doubt God could just do a creative miracle and fix the eye without the help of the docs... and we did ask for that... but at the same time trust Him to do the best for Chuck and his wife Terry, whatever that may be. Tomorrow we have church... then Thanksgiving dinner afterwards. It won't be the same without him. We may have to go over to his house and harass him... on his belly.

It's a thought... How far would trout water extend? The minimum flow would have to increase for sure if PS would be taken out. If not, in summer months, during low flows, water would warm up quickly even in our area. Preditor fish - walleye would have a field day on trout but there's no difference than this scenario and Beaver Tailwater where they have striper and walleye. The real question is what would it do to resorts and marinas... private docks and such. It would change the whole make-up of the river. Branson Landing would be screaming bloody murder- all the money they are sinking in the fountain and boardwalk... it wouldn't be a board walk- it would be 100 feet off the water instead. In reality- it will never happen. Branson Landing would have too much to lose and they are the power brokers on the lake now.

Is the park only open on weekends? I wouldn't mind going over but weekends aren't good for me.

It's so amazing the difference in climate between north and south.... Missouri. I don't see how people stand the wind and cold up there, let alone further north in Iowa and Nebraska. Tuesday- blowing snow 30-40 mph and totally horizontal. Wednesday - 15 degrees and winds 30-50. Thursday am - 5 degrees but thankfully no wind. Sitting in a stand was incredibly tough and the lack of deer was worse. Too much cover- too much woods where we hunted (east of Trenton about 30 miles). But it was a great trip with my fishing/hunting buddy Vince.

You should have a great time. Crowds should be thin- we are less than half full.. first time we've been this way since December last year. We only have a couple of weekends a year when we don't fill up and the weekend before Christmas and Thanksgiving are two of them. Lots of trout! If you fish Arkansas, you should do well here.

Heard more stories about the whites at Bridgeport - still excellent. Also crappie are being caught along the rip rap at the ramp and on the bluff across the lake from the ramp... cooler weather should school them up better. If you hear anything or have any report at all, please let us know.

Just talked to a guy who fished last weekend in Long Creek- put in at Cricket and fished the trees in 20 feet of water. Two of them caught their limit both days using ?? probally jigs, vertical fishing. Caught them in 8 to the bottom, scattered. Didn't throw back many- biggest was 13.5 inches. Water temp was 63 but should be cooler due to the cold front. Colder water temps should group the crappies but better.

Back from the cold country on north Missouri... Tuesday - blowing snow, winds 25-40 mph and 30 temp. No deer moving. Wednesday - no snow on the ground, wind 30-50 mph and 20 temp. No deer moving. Thurday - no wind (yea!) 5 temp in the morning (cold!!) a few deer moving but not my way. Vince - 0 Phil - 0 But we both already have deer in the freezer so that's ok.

It is much stronger than any 2 lb line I've tried... stronger than most 4 lb lines. I guess you need to try it for your self to see what we're talking about.

They have been running water every morning and afternon this week... surprising to me really but not unusual. Table Rock jumped up a tiny bit after the rain Tuesday but the rain didn't fall on enough of the water shed to make a dent in the lake level. But tomorrow and Sunday my giess is that they won't run as much if any at all. Temps are up alittle, there may be some generation in the mornings for a while but don't let it ruin a good day of fishing. Sunday looks to be the best day - cloudy and a chance of rain.

http://ozarkanglers.com/useful.php Hope this finds you in a timing fashion. I don't think they will run much water at all this weekend. And if they do, it won't be enough to run waders off the water.

Nice to see everyone's getting along while I'm gone... good conversation. I think the C&R idea for the first mile has merit. May be limit it to the fall. I don't think that would ruffle too many feathers. I'll run it by a couple of people. As for the outlets... you need a black line between right and wrong for a good case in court. Placing a cable across a creek and saying, "no fishing above this point" is a black line. Not much wriggle room to that rule. "No fishing in the hatchery outlets" and "No fishing above the present lake level" is a black line but isn't as clear as the cable, I guess. Motivation - what's the movtivation for the cable at outlet #3? My guess is to keep anglers from taking advantage of hearded browns. Or fishing up in the outlet when the water is high from full generation. So if the motivation is to keep anglers from taking advantage of trout in the outlet, then the "No fishing above the present lake level" is another cable with the same purpose. Then why aren't both rules enforced? As for enforcement, I think the present agents do an exceptional job in all fields of game enforcement... they just can't be in all places at all times. The question about police writing game tickets - they can't in Missouri. They can hold a person for an agent but they can't write the ticket, not sure why. You can call them and have them radio an agent. But I've found you have to have good information, just like reporting any crime, for the agent such as descriptions of the person(s) and/or vehicles involved. As for keeping trout, the rules in our trophy area were designed for keeping rainbows under 12 and over 20 inches. The problem is very few rainbows are kept, unless the water is running and boaters are drifting the area in which alot of those anglers will keep a limit uner 12 inches (esp guides).