Phil Lilley

27 - my old house - just opened up. It has 6 beds. It will be the gathering place.

Rental boats - I have the 18' jons with 25 hp Yamahas. $30 should cover gas and such... they fish 3 comfortably. Rooms, I have plenty of room. May have a few cancel on account of the weather but we almost full yesterday so we can afford to lose a few. Understand about cancelling due to weather... I think you'll find fishing pretty good. Hopefully you'll see a little running water in the mornings.

I know the young man who shot the elk... they are lifetime friends of ours that farm around Altamont, KS. I haven't heard the story yet but I'm sure I will very soon... I'm surprised his dad, Jerry, hasn't called to brag on his son. Note: It's Jerry's wife, Cathy, that usually kills the giant buck every year. Season isn't closed yet!

Posted on Kansas Wildlife, Parks & Tourism - Game Wardens

It's been a wild start to winter here in the Ozarks! The Lake Taneycomo area was rocked Friday night by tornado-like winds and thunderstorms but brought rain that we actually needed. If there were any leaves and acorns in the trees before last night, there are none now! This is supposed to be followed by colder temperatures with snow in the forecast later next week. I know parts of north Missouri have already seen eight-inch-plus snowstorms twice in November. What will this winter bring -- when it officially gets here? But actually, the fish don't care! Cold temperatures and wind help Table Rock Lake turn over, so Taneycomo gets higher oxygenated water. A cold winter cools Table Rock's water so that Taneycomo gets good cold water all summer long. So whether it rains or snows, trout could care less. Wind -- heavy winds, like today -- stir up the water and push bugs out of the gravel in shallow water, triggering feeding frenzies in the upper end of our lake. Now what we as anglers have to do is figure out how to fight the elements and present our lures to the fish in way that fools them. That is not always easy. These windy days are good for throwing heavier lures, lures that fly through wind and are reeled back pretty fast so that the wind doesn't affect the action. Spoons, spinners, hard baits like crank and stick baits are examples. Plus the trout tend to be more active and more aggressive when it's very windy. Generation helps. The patterns have been unpredictable lately. If the dam does run water, it's usually a half to one unit, but only for a few hours. But with colder days and nights ahead, that might be bumped up. Plus the restriction has been lifted for running water because Table Rock Lake has turned over, but it seems that one turbine at the plant is down for maintenance. We'll see what happens with generation in the days to come. Minnows and night crawlers are the hot live baits right now. Live minnows are always good in winter months. We've had a good crop of pond weed along our bank with schools of small forage fish moving in and out of this cover. But before long, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers will open the turbines with heavy current, washing all of it out. You see, most of it is dead already, and it will easily be taken out and down lake. This removes all the cover for these small fish, pushing them out where trout and other fish will feed on them. Marabou jigs, spoons and small stock baits will be the ticket for much of the winter months, too. Trolling, casting -- whatever you want to do -- should be a way to catch a bunch of good trout. For the rest of my report, I can point to my last fishing report on November 20th. Scuds are still the best fly to catch fish almost anywhere on the lake but especially from Short Creek up. Tan, gray and brown are the best colors. View full article

I have the same pet peeve about people with headlights... they should be on all the time from the factory. Same thing yesterday morning coming back from the gym about 7:30 am... I wore my bright switch out flashing 'em.

It may have been someone's pet... but I agree it doesn't look healthy. Tailbone is sticking out and ribs appear to be showing.

https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2018/11/28/springfield-table-rock-lake-angler-strange-deer-encounter/2137005002/?fbclid=IwAR3te3GLwtMvPONNXRFRqqlF-3fBHGuSWyaBuvRRVFAKSYyPKp5high8PCY

From the Corps this morning- DO is quickly improving as the lakes fully mix. Things should be back to normal in a couple weeks. In the meantime I will be making multiple changes across the system. Below are the required actions for today: Beaver - Close vacuum breaker vents. Table Rock - (without LOX injection) RMGR increase to 95% nameplate or 143 MW spread equally across three available units. Bull Shoals - None Norfork - RMGR increase to 85% nameplate or 68 MW spread equally between both units. Greers Ferry - Close vacuum breaker vents. Thank you, Gabriel Knight PE, CFM White River System Engineer USACE-Little Rock District

We have so many possible points of potential problems it’s kinda overwhelming. Am going to shop for one of those devices that detect heat. The fire guys had one. Should spot potential hot spots in our wiring. That concerns me more than power strips.

I did! It was an awesome fire, as fires go. I'll post some pics and video later today. I was at the RecPlex playing ball -- someone had to come get me. It was a building just off the main building where our office/shop is. The building houses the laundry/storage and #22 or the "Lilley Pad" unit. The fire was contained to just the laundry although #22 sustained a little smoke damage and holes in the walls and ceiling where the firefighters poked looking for more fire. Cosmetic stuff and easy to fix. Lincoln Hunt, long time guests and good friend, was walking his dog before leaving for Dallas about 6. I had left at 5:30 and didn't notice the smoke coming out of the gable vent in #22 as I drove by or I would have caught it 30 minutes earlier. He called 911 and went and woke up Marsha. BFD was there in less than 10 minutes. It started, I believe, from either a power strip or the electric radiator heater plugged into that strip next to a stack of towels on a shelf. The fire marshall couldn't find any definitive evidence so he filed it as unknown. Now my insurance ppl will look at it and see what they think next week. Regardless, we have good coverage. It was a total loss... completely gutted. There are so many positives to this event there's no way not to be very grateful of the outcome. Now we have a project we can work on this winter, although ti will take us away from some fishing and hunting no doubt. The media has spun it to look like it was caused by drier lent... pretty funny.

It's been a "kind" fall season this year. Our water quality hasn't tanked like in past years, which caused the fish in Lake Taneycomo to become lethargic. The water in Table Rock Lake typically stratifies during the spring and summer, forcing low-oxygenated water to the depths where Taney gets its water through the dam. Because of high water and flash flood events in the past, tons of bio material (wood and leaves) were washed into the lake, causing even more "damage" to the water close to the bottom. That also adversely affected our water quality. Fortunately, with have had no floods this year!! Praise the Lord!!! The end of these seasons are marked by what we call "Table Rock turning over." This is when surface water on Table Rock cools and becomes colder than the water below it. Eventually a majority of this surface water cools down enough that it causes a flip --- the water on top sinks down, forcing water towards the bottom up to the surface. In time, sometimes it takes a week or more, all the water mixes and becomes uniform. The water at 130 feet deep at the dam where Taney gets its water improves to the point the U.S. Corps of Engineers doesn't have to add liquid oxygen to water passing through the turbines, and restrictions are lifted as to how much water can be run at one time. We are at the end of that season. Table Rock's water has mixed to the point as of last Friday that the water coming into Taneycomo measures 3.45 parts per million, up from <1.p.p.m.. When this process starts, it continues until the water is fully mixed. As I type this report, I suspect that 3.45 reading has gone even further up and will continue for the next week or so. The bottom line is that it's an exciting time for our Taneycomo trout because their water has improved. It's like they've been living on the top of a high mountain for three months and now have been brought down to sea level where the oxygen is much better. They should be much more active. It's an exciting time for us fisher people, too. It means "catching" should improve, too, not that it's been that bad this fall. Compared to other times of the year, fishing pressure has been very low this past few weeks, except for the wading area below the dam. This means stocker rainbows have been left to live and grow in the lake with less chance of being bothered by someone with a hook and line. Our trout seemed to be spread out through the upper lake, too. There's good concentrations of rainbows almost everywhere between the Landing and Table Rock Dam. So I'd say there's no "hot spots" to report, only that catching is good in most places right now. The generation pattern has changed. Since last Friday, dam operators have been running water around the clock, anywhere from 35 to 75 megawatts, which is really not a bad flow. It's not too fast to make fishing off our dock tough. You can get a good drift if you're fishing from a boat, but it does make wading below the dam pretty tough, although not impossible. Not sure how long this will continue, and I don't know if there's a reason for it either. It just is . . . We've haven't been going very far from the dock and catching some really nice rainbows this week. I've caught two rainbows throwing a jig within sight of the dock weighing more than two pounds, and measuring 18-19 inches long. Plus I've caught other rainbows all colored up and looking healthy in the 13-to 15-inch range, along with a couple of browns in the 14-to 15-inch range. We've been throwing the color sculpin with or without another combo color (ginger, burnt orange, olive, red) straight, no float, using either two- or four-pound line. If we're throwing an 1/8th- or 3/32nd-ounce jigs, we're using four-pound line and throwing smaller jigs using two-pound line. White/gray jigs are working pretty well up lake in the trophy area, according to Duane, who's had a few guide trips the past couple of weeks. Most of the fish I've been catching have come off the bottom rather than when working the jig higher in the water column. If you're out in a boat and drifting bait on the bottom, with such slow current, you should pay close attention to the amount of weight you're using to get the bait to the bottom. It's much better to have less than more. Only use enough weight to get the bait to the bottom, even if it takes a while to sink. Too much weight will do two things - - you will get snagged up much quicker and the heavier weight will make feeling a bite much harder. If you're using drift rigs, use the smallest weight, and if that weight is too heavy, break it off, tie a simple knot on the end of that line and pinch on a small split shot. The knot keeps the shot from sliding off the end of the line. Night crawlers will catch bigger fish. But Powerbait catches fish, too. Use PowerEggs and use a white egg with another color, pink, orange or chartreuse. Cleos and other spoons are doing pretty well, too. I watched a group in one of our pontoons the other day throwing Cleos just up from our dock, on a bright, sunny, calm day, and they caught quite a few rainbows. The bites should be much better if there's some wind, chop on the water. And Cleos are easy to use, especially in wind. The pink Berkley's Powerworm is still catching rainbows. Under a float anywhere from four- to eight- feet deep depending on how bright the day is. Under a bright sun, fish them deeper. With choppy/cloudy conditions, fish them closer to the surface. If you go up in the trophy area. You'll see gobs of bugs come out and float around. Most of them are sow bugs. Trout do eat them but they're not high in protein like freshwater shrimp, or scuds. Both are in abundance right now, so that's the fly of choice to use. Fly rod - the best color lately has been brown, but you can see from these images that they can be several shades of olive, beige, brown and gray. Sow bugs are almost always gray. Fish them under an indicator and make sure they're on the bottom because that's where they live. For spin cast rig, fish them under a float. You may have to use a tiny split shot to make sure they get down, although the scuds we sell in our shop are weighted. Best tippet size right now is 6x. Midges are working fairly well but not half as good as a scud. But if there's a chop on the surface and trout are rising to midges, strip a crackleback or a soft hackle. View full article

From Shane Bush, forwarded from the Corps office. Table Rock D.O. is showing improvement, before injection at a load of 130 MW Friday the D.O. was at 3.94 ppm. Based on this observation, the RMGR is increased to 42 MW per unit or a total with the 3 available units of 126 MW. If this proves to be too much, an adjustment back to a lower RMGR will be provided. The new RMGR is 84% nameplate (42 Mw per unit) without injection of LOX.

Don't know. Some facilities go down for maintenance but wouldn't think it would be now.

Since I got the text notifications on my phone as to when the Corps changes generation flows, and they're on the 35 megawatts 24 hours a day pattern now, they change the flow slightly every hour at about the 20 minute mark. It's like they can't let it run the same without changing something for more than an hour. Interesting.

Since they're running water the next 2 days, if you want to take a jon boat out and try it, let me know. PM me.

OK... I'm trying to figure out why @Flysmallie reported this topic. I don't care for Alabama either.... kinda like the New England Pats.

Alright! But they're @Rolan Duffield 's mink scuds.

Using 6x. On the bottom. They're more apt to hit it on the bottom but probably would if close to the bottom. Move it some too.

Mink Scuds - I bought some cheap mink pelts on Ebay and cut the fur off them, mixed it with brown antron in the blender. That's the dubbing.

This is my favorite time of year to fish Taneycomo... hardly anyone fishing, the bigger trout just seem to come out from hiding, spawning browns and rainbows... but it's COLD! Just have to push through and bear it. Got out yesterday afternoon with a couple of friends from OK. No water running, we boated up past the Narrows about 500 yards and started there. The wind was blowing pretty good out of the north so good chop and fish were very active. Midges were coming off and they were hammering them on the surface. But I wanted to throw scuds. I tied up a half dozen #12 mink scuds, 3769 hook with 8 wraps of .015 lead. That's what has been working and they liked them still. The takes were not light, they'd take off with it. By the time we worked down to the top of the Narrows, the wind had died some - the sun was dropping behind the trees on the west bank. But the rainbows were being even more aggressive. Me and John were using our fly rods but Steve still had his spin cast rigged with a big carrot float and a sculpin jig/orange head about 3 feet deep. But under that, he tied a mink scud about 2 feet from the jig and winged it out to the far side of the channel. I'd been lecturing John about not casting too far out so that he could see the light bite... too far and you couldn't see it. But Steve's was way out there - but it didn't matter. Those fish were yanking the float under and he was catching some big trout!! We had 2 nice ones in a row - a 18- then a 19-inch rainbow, both in dark spawning colors. Most of the rainbows we caught were far from stockers... chunky and good colors. And fought very hard. So we are looking forward to this winter, off season on Taneycomo. Hopefully we'll move out of the deep freeze so it'll be alittle more bearable to get out and fish.

My friends in SE Kansas did very well Saturday and Sunday, mallards mainly.

When exactly are you moving? It looks like you asked the same question back in May.