Phil Lilley

I tagged along with friend and guide, John McClosky, with a couple of guys from Denver.

Here's the first of several videos from my trip. I have hours of footage to go through. Nothing fancy... just scenery and fishing. Big Creek is a tributary of the Naknek. It's a king salmon spawning river and thus the kings are somewhat protected. It's all catch-and-release. Kings can't be taken out of the water. I believe you can keep jacks though... a king under 20 inches.

I wouldn't want to discuss $$$ on the open forum but would in a private message.

My friend Jim Johnson is in need of a marine mechanic for a few months this summer/fall. He runs Evinrude E-Tec jets on the river. They're ran hard, lots of hours and the river is hard on them. He needs someone "yesterday" and his season ends the last of September, although he may not keep this person past mid September. Of course, there are some nice "perks" involved in this job, namely some incredible fishing opportunities and... just being in Alaska. If you're interested, send me a private message and I'll get you in contact with Jim.

Looking forward to reports from @curtisce and @ozarkflyfisher It wasn't their first time to Naknek. Jeff Wenzlick showed up at NRC this last week. I didn't get to fish with him but I think he had a good fishing trip. Like I said, the weather was nasty for them unfortunately.

Lots of video to go through. Going to take a while to get on youtube.

In Seattle on the way back. Have a few hours to kill so I thought I'd report on my trip. Alaska has had little summer so far. We had a few 70+ days in June but July had been cold and rainy. Some days it's barely getting out of the 40's. And lots of rain. The river rose 2 feet while I was there and it was already high on my arrival. Rainbow Rock was underwater when I left, for those who have been there. It's hard to wade the river when it gets that high. Sockeye took their time moving up through the river this season. To the exact day as last year, the reds started their move on July 2 after holding in the mouth for days. We had good days with dry runs days mixed in. They let the netters loose after Ak Fish and Game counted 1.3m fish moving through but even with drift boats fishing in the river and set netters in full fishing mode, we saw big runs the last few days of the trip this week. And big ones... we always see the small reds move in first and the big ones last. Hard to land the 9-13 pounders in high current. Rainbows were good at first but slowed down for us. My jigs did ok but not as good as last year for sure. We made a few trips up Big Creek for kings and did well. No one in my group the last 2 weeks fly fished so they through stick baits and plugs and caught them. Pics speak for themselves. Only had one close bear encounter. Had a female adult come up the steep bank on us while sockeye fishing. We had a few fish in the cooler and she caught the scent while passing behind us in the brush. She paused and took a couple of steps toward us off her path but I was able to "talk" her into moving on. We were on the lookout the rest of the time at that spot. Never saw her again. Big Creek Sam landed 3 of these... 36-40 inch king adults Fresh chum Sockeye

Duane might have beat me to itk but I don't have time to look see

Very quick report. First week, rainbows were very good but no 30's. 28's and 27's in abundance on jigs. Sockeye very slow. Kings moving in Big Creek and not bad. Weather was decent with one day in the 70's. Second week, rainbows slower but good. Still no 30's. Sockeye picked up but still spotty. Kings getting better and better. Big ones in Big Creek. Third week so far has been cold and rainy. Sockeye making their move big time but netters are taking a bunch. Rainbows slow. We did well on kings today in Big Creek with a 42, 41, 38, 38, 36, 33-inch and a few smaller ones. I got a 22 inch last week and a 26 inch today on a fly. The rest were on a fire tiger thunderstick (clients were throwing them on spin cast). Enjoy pics.

Made it. This cool weather is going to take some getting used to. 43 last night and my heater was hooked up yet. River is up from last year a bit. Sockeyes are trickling in... late again this year. Kings are in in decent numbers. Rainbows are good. Running to town picking up and dropping off clients at the airport today. Will fish later this evening.

I'm leaving out of KCI early Friday morning, flying through Seattle, Anchorage and then King Salmon by mid afternoon. Pick up my "stash" that's been in stockage and head to the cabin at Naknek River Camp. Brian Ellis @ozarkflyfisher and Curt Evenson @curtisce will join in on Saturday afternoon at camp. The weather is pretty nice... around 60 daytime and 45 nighttime. I'm leaving just when our weather is changing to cooler temps... but that's ok. Salmon forecast: Kings arrived in force yesterday, as reported by @watermen2 who owns a commercial boat and fishes Bristol Bay for salmon each year. Sockeyes - they're late in almost all regions, but we should see some come into the river next week, even in small numbers. They won't let the netters fish until the run begins so any reds moving into the river should be undisturbed. We should get a good shot at them. Rainbows - they're catching a tons of them but they are on the small side (23-28 inches). But as the smolt action increases, we should see some 30+ inchers move into the target areas. I will be up there till July 14th. Will try to post reports and pics but the internet is real bad up there. We will see!

Super!! What are the bank guys doing? Throwing crank and stick baits?

The Springfield and Branson Chapters of the Missouri Trout Fishermen's Association will hold their second annual Fly Fishing Exposition this year on July 27 and 28. It till be a celebration of everything fly fishing and it will be held in one of the premier trout fishing areas of the Ozarks, Branson, Missouri. We have a fine venue at the Branson-Hollister Lions Club Community Center at 1015 E State Highway 76 approximately one mile east after you cross the bridge over Lake Taneycomo from the Landing Boulevard. We expect to have approximately 60 fly tiers demonstrating their skills, talking about flies, and sharing tying tips. We will have nearly 25 vendors and factory reps on hand to show you their products and make you a deal. We will raffle and auction off some fine tackle, nets, boots and waders, tackle bags, fly tying stations, artwork, signature flies and more. One of our members, Larry Wegmann, will give a program about aquatic midges, of prime importance to our local tailwater fishery. In addition to that, a very famous guide on the White River in Arkansas, Davy Wotton, will be on hand to present his program on fishing the White River. Also, another world famous fly tier, who specializes in "sculpting" deer hair, Mike George, will be there to demonstrate his amazing deer hair flies. Adults can learn from fly casting expects demonstrating their skills on our casting pool. We're looking forward to a great Branson Fly Fishing Expo, and we hope we'll see you there! On Saturday, July 28th, we will hold a Kid's Fishing Event for kids 15 and under at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery below Table Rock Dam from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.. "Barney Fife" will be there to help the kids and entertain them. Terry Sanders, a five-time comedian of the year, will play the Barney character. Terry plays numerous comedic characters at both Silver Dollar City and the C.J. Newsome Classic Country and Comedy Show. A limited number of rods will be available but feel free to bring your own. Mentors will be on hand to assist the kids. Note: If you plan to attend this great event, please make hotel reservations early. Follow us on Facebook and our website http://www.mtfa-springfield.org/news-events/branson-fly-fishing-expo-july-27-28-2018/ Davy Wotton. Mike George Deer Hair Flies. Terry Sanders as Barney Fife.

Thanks. There's a lot more I can say will catch fish but that would take a book. Fly fishing below the dam has been very good. I wish I could get up there and fish - do a report - but just don't have time. If someone gets up there, give a quick report please.

SS# for fishing licenses... If the subject has run it's course, then I'll close the thread.

Generation has been almost exactly the same every day since my last report two weeks ago. There has been no generation in the morning, up to about 2 p.m., then the current builds to almost four full units for three to five hours. It has gradually been slowed to zero generation which then lasts through the night. Sundays is the only variation, when two units are run instead of four. Water temperature is holding at 48 degrees and becoming very clear. Duane Doty spotted a sculpin on the bottom of the lake in 10 feet of water from our dock this morning. There has been high, (hot) sun, no wind, and now clear water. Those are tough fishing conditions on any body of water. So it goes without saying that early in the morning is the best time to fish. It's getting light at 5 a.m. now and the water in front of our dock starts to see sunlight by 7:30 a.m. It's not that you can't catch fish once the sun gets up, but it does get tougher. For instance, friend Coy Howry and hit the lake Friday morning at 8:30 a.m. We started at the dredge spot up lake from the resort and worked our way up. We were throwing 1/16th-ounce jigs with two-pound line, sculpin/ginger, white and brown colors. I caught one pretty quickly, then nothing for a long time. An hour later we were up past the old Riverlake dock when the breeze picked up and a chop on the surface of the water appeared. We immediately started catching rainbows and netted our joint eight-trout limit in less than 10 minutes. Yes, a chop on the surface makes a huge difference. Look for broken lake surface area!! See it, go fish it!! As I mentioned, the sculpin/ginger continues to be one of the best jig colors we're using, whether it's 1/32nd ounce or 1/8th ounce. White is still okay but seems to be dropping in the popularity poll. Under a float, the brown, sculpin or sculpin/ginger or peach with an orange head is best, 1/100th ounce. But use two-pound line for sure. If the water is off, I'd use two-pound line regardless of whether you just throw a jig or use the jig-and-float . Our water is too clear for four-pound now. I use Trilene XL clear. No generation: Floating a night crawler has been much better than any Powerbait. Use a #8 short shanked bronze hook. Hook the night crawler through the ring, pinch off the tail half and inject air in the head section. Make sure it floats. Your weight should be about 18 inches from the hook. If the water is running, no air needed in the worm. But if you're going to use Powerbait, orange and yellow are working the best. Again, use two-pound line or add a short section of two-pound line to the end of you line. Jeffrey Steven and his buddy Jeff Trares were throwing jerk baits above the dock up by the dredge yesterday evening and almost at the same time they caught two nice browns. Steven's measured 23.5 x 15.5, 8 pounds and Trare's was 19.5 inches, 4.5 pounds. Duane took some guys fishing Sunday up by the dam and caught these nice walleye on stick baits. Yes walleye. There are a good number of walleye and white bass up there. Caught them early in the morning, that's key. Another tip -- work the stick bait very slowly. Turner Micro Jigs have made somewhat of a comeback. Well, if you ask our guide Bill Babler, they've always been good under these conditions. The half micro, which weighs in at 1/100th of an ounce, in sculpin olive or ginger, have been great during the early morning stillness, again using two-pound line or 6x tippet. Fish it anywhere from three- to six-feet deep, depending on the depth of the water. Our hot spots aren't really hot spots any longer. The fish seemed to have spread out, scattered from the Landing to Lookout. There is still a lot of trout from Lookout to the Narrows. The dam area is hold a lot of fish too including warm water species. Not that any of our readers need to heed this, but our conservation agents have been working a lot of nights lately, nabbing poachers filling their stringers at night below the dam. Dozens and dozens of people have been cited for too many trout, keeping illegal sizes, using bait, no license, no permit -- you name it. If you see someone taking fish illegally, call the hotline at 800-392-1111. Speaking of fishing below the dam, fly fishing mornings has been pretty good. Jeremy Hunt says he's catching them on midges, sculpins and of course the white Megaworm. Lisa Bellue caught this beautiful brown last week on a Megaworm and released it. Back down below Fall Creek, the pink Berkley's Powerworm is still catching rainbows, but our guides have had to travel around a bit to find schools of fish. When they discover them, they'll catch 5 or 10 and have to move to the next place. They do work together, calling around to see if anyone is on fish. That's why you'll see a group of them sometimes in the same area. Early, fish the worm four- to five-feet deep and as the sun gets up, you have to go deeper - up to eight-feet deep, depending on water depth. And again, two-pound line is best. View full article

I don't think I'm real picky about what's "worthy" to be an article and what's not. As for as a fishing report, the simple basics is helpful to anyone looking for current information so it might have water temperature/clarity, weather conditions/wind, strategy, baits/lures/type of gig , depth of water.... you know fishy stuff. Spots - not so much. Lots of details - or not. Basics - yes. Comments will follow an article, just like a topic so if it's a lame report, you'll hear about it The one thing that is REQUIRED is a header image. It can be of the fishing trip or an old image of the lake/river. The way articles are displayed, images set it off. yes, it's a like and feel thing... I admit. But when an article doesn't have an image, it looks out of place. There's already a small group of posters that posts trip reports, fishing and not fishing, that I repost frequently, Quillback is one. Jeff does a great job and I know there's a ton of anglers who appreciate his reports. M&M, RPS, dtrs5kprs, netboy, lance34, cheesemaster, mixermarkb, and of course Al Agnew and Bill Babler.

You're right... I'll have to give it some thought. Tomorrow. Thanks guys.

What?!

You've seen me repost a fishing report or a topic of interest as an article many times. It might seem confusing, but there is a purpose. There's 2 main parts of OA - the FORUM and CONTENT. Content houses sections on each individual "water" on the forum, although some of the waters are not completely yet. Most are. And under each water, there's a fishing report section. So someone who wants to see fishing reports on the water they are interested in can click there and not have to wade through the forum for a report topic. A few members have the ability to post an article. I have to give you "permission" to do so. The format is almost exactly the same except for the article header image that appears on the top of the post. When you post an article, it appears both on the forum and in the content side. When I repost a topic, I have to delete the duplicate topic- that's why you might see one I forgot to delete. I am going to be in Alaska for 3 weeks so I won't be able to repost any topics to articles. And I thought some of you might want to go ahead and post articles instead of posts. I'll be checking the forum every once in a while when I get to town and can help if someone has trouble. I have a Youtube video on how to post an article... it's pretty easy. Thoughts?

So, this is a little late as this is from Saturday (6/9), but it has to be the best day on Stockton I've ever had. My 7 yo son and I launched at 5:30 and were off the water by noon. We got 5 walleye 18"-23" and 34 keeper crappie. I have no idea how many white bass, catfish, drum or small crappie and walleye we caught. It was literally non-stop action. At times, all 4 rods had fish on. I don't know how many times I yelled 'doubles!' They were still biting when we left, but the heat (and overcrowded livewell) drove us off. View full article

Morning was slow. Got much better when the sun got up, even better with boat traffic. Fishies like big wakes banging the bank. Not a surprise. Caught fish consistently from 830-3pm. Quit reluctantly. Number of keepers...many. Main lake stuff, not necessarily points or run outs, close to the main river channel. Mostly 18'-25', with some out to 28' or so. Temps pretty much 84-85. Color our new normal cloudy mess. Tubes, football jig, Ned. Fish seem to want an aggressive presentation, so deadly Nedly got a little less love. Hopping, darting, etc. Lost a bunch of fish on tubes. Need to look at hook options. Best tube bite I've had in years. We've gone through two and a half 20ct bags in a week. First thing we saw a lot of singles, but they weren't playing. Wake bait, spoon, nothing. The dragging fish are very much as Mr. Babler described. Quite a few are "catching" it. Too many were also pitching, lol. Jig fish were ridiculously touchy about trailer size. Plus one very optimistic gog... View full article

Welcome! I'm sure someone can help you with that.