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Nice report. Glad you had a good trip and some nice ones for the dinner table

Great report. Thanks Phillip

There is a lot of great information on what to use in that area on the upper Taneycomo section. Read it and then go catch some fish. Good luck. I would say your most likely target in that area is trout. Air injected worms, power bait (two colors on the hook, one of them being white), cleo (1/8oz spoon), 3/32 oz maribou jigs. These are a few of the more popular choices and are relatively inexpensive.

I have night fished under the lights around snap, but it has been several years. We caught a few walleye and a couple of crappie, but had a hard time keeping the gar off our shad. It was still fun. Sorry, but that is all I know about the subject...which isnt much.

I have to echo all that has been recommended, including the Steak Inn..it is very good. The College of the Ozarks, Keeter Center is also fantastic. I am not much of a show guy, but SIX is outstanding for all ages. I would take my grandma or my 16 year old daughter and they would both love it. Joseph at Sight and Sound is Broadway quality, no doubt and a wonderful message. As a note, Top of the Rock is not currently open as Bass Pro owner, Johnny Morris, is STILL remodeling it after a fire a few years back. The best mexican food in my opinion can be found at the Branson Landing at Cantina Laredo right on the banks of Lake Taneycomo. Might as well bring the boat down and catch some fish before you head up for dinner..... Tourist trap? I suppose it is how you look at it. I say an affordable vacation compared to most other options out there. High quality entertainment, of all kinds, nature, singing, magic, mini golf, real golf, shopping, go karts, laser tag, and of course, world class fishing and much much more. Oh yeah and some of the nicest people you will ever meet. If that is a tourist trap...then sign me up. By the way, I have lived here for close to 25 years and I am NOT in the Tourist industry. Have fun and tell your friends to come see us too. PS - Dont forget to stop by Andy's frozen custard for dessert

Now that's funny

Went out today in the Dam area and had a pretty good day. Most fish were caught in 6 FOW or less and our best string probably went about 18lbs. We caught them on several different setups. Crank, topwater and the little green worm, just depended on what the scenario called for. We caught around 12 from 7:30 to 10:30. Mostly LM, but we did have one real nice K and one small SM.

What green fish??? SSHHH remember its a secret. You can start legitimately catching them at Scotty's and down. Any of the creek arms or main lake can produce that time of year. Same stuff as other lakes for 55 degree water

Went Saturday and Sunday...and Saturday morning was brutal weather when we just got used to nice weather. We caught a few here and there, but found them in a big way by Saturday afternoon/evening. It seems like we would pick up one every now and then and then when we would find a group, we would catch 20 in 25 casts. Probably found five groups like that over the two days. All of the groups were between the docks and the shore and that had to be in 4 to 7 feet of water. It was fun, we probably caught 175 over the two days and that was after almost nothing on Saturday morning. Good luck and good fishing

Thanks Firefly for reminding those of us that are blessed to live here how good we have it.

We were also out there yesterday evening (not until 6pm and only until dark). We had a great evening catching 6 keepers and probably 15+ shorts and lost 4 more on the fluke that were close to measuring: our best 5 went at least 15lbs (3 of the keepers were LGM, 1 big kentucky and a stud smj) We caught them on the fluke, shakey head, grub, and spook late in the day in a cove out of the wind. We fished windy, main lake pockets near the dam and oddly enough I couldn't buy a bite on the blade: found them on the points and in the back, but nothing in between. Be safe this weekend and watch out for the storms.

Thanks Skeeter....I didnt even realize I put West instead of East... talking and typing at the same time is not a good idea. Sorry about that guys

You really have two good choices: Option 1: 65 to Little Rock (pretty hilly and mostly two lane, especially the first hour and a half from Branson)and then 40 to Memphis (they are always working on that road and it seems to be rough, but it is flat. It is shorter than option 2 Option 2: Go back north on 65 to Springfield and then go west on 60 Hwy to I-55 and then south to Memphis (this will be longer by probably 60 miles, but it is almost all 4 lane and it is much flatter (except for the first 20 miles toward Springfield) Good luck and be safe. Shawn

Tito, I actually got a lab puppy back in late summer for the specific reason of finding sheds (I even named him Boone) I am just getting ready to take him out on his first hunting trip. I would gladly take any suggestions to help train him. I have several sheds that I have found over the years and I have given him those to play with since he was 8 weeks old. I guess my first question is how do I get him to understand we are going out to hunt sheds. I think he will look for them if that is why he knows we are going. Unfortunately, we dont have anywhere too close to go, but we do have acces to 1000's of acres (private land) Thanks for any input.

As always, it was a lot of fun. It's fun to fish, but we can do that anytime. What is special about these tourneys are the friendships made and lies...ooops stories shared. Thanks Phil for hosting them, it would not be possible without you and all the fine folks at Lilley's Landing.

Left out of K dock Monday evening and went downstream a couple of miles looking for crappie or bass or whites or whatever would bite. Hoping to avoid thunder and lightning, but didn't mind the rain if the fish would bite. Caught a little bit of everything. We had 4 walleye (no keepers, one just short), 3 big crappie (13+"), 20+ white bass (all males), several good sized green eared sunfish (or whatever they are called, the ones with the big mouth) 1 smallmouth, and several LM and kentuckys. (various sizes from 9" to 3+ lbs, probably had 7 that would keep) Caught the majority on small plastics (swimming minnows, sliders, etc) Before the rain came had to work them real slow, after the rain started - they wanted them as fast as we could possibly reel and the funnest part was after the rain and the lake was slick - caught several keeper sized bass on small topwater lures. Real fun evening on the water. Total fish probably 35-40. Total hours fishing 3 1/2 hours. Water temperature range - 58 degrees to 61 degrees Had the boat in 20' to 35' fishing mostly 6' or less Ping

Little note on whodat, it is best just to ignore him. I had nothing to do with the lying comment...that was all whodat...again it is best to ignore him. My statement had to do with keeping the bass. Yes, it is their decision, but a little peer pressure never hurts to hopefully convince someone to let those bass live to fight another day the next time they go out. Again, that is why God made crappie and white bass. Very glad to hear your friends escaped the night unharmed.

That is why God made white bass and crappie

Bill, Once again, thanks for the great reports! That sounds like a great tournament, first time to hear about it...maybe that is why more people dont fish it. Got to know about it in time to work it into the schedule and get permission from the honey. Good marketing + great event = high turnout.

I fished out of Orange Beach probably 15 times and have had mostly good trips. I have a few names that I will need to look up, but it kind of depends on your preferences. I dont know if they are still there, but The Fishin' Fool was my favorite boat. We have been with them 5 or 6 times and always caught fish and more importantly had fun. I strongly suggest you look at an 8 to 10 hour trip instead and only try to go on a 6 man boat if possible. This is obviously more expensive....but you generally get what you pay for. Of course, remember that it is fishing and there are better days than others. The reason I need to know what your interests are is because I usually only took 8+ hour trips and most of the boats/captains I went with only do 8+ hour trips because the fishing is usually better/less pressured areas farther out. Wish I was going with ya....

You know a long and intelligent response is what I would like to type here, but quite frankly....that would be wasting my time. I can see that Trav is always right, so I will just say this.... Phil, thank you for taking the time and effort to put on those tournaments, I have met many new friends at those events and even been able to release a trout or two at the end of the day. I enjoy the day on the lake and it adds a different perspective for the day that tweaks my competitive side....not to mention the food is always great. Shawn

We didnt see many shad, but I'm sure they were there. We were targeting the windy banks and couldn't even see most fish until they were on, which is not your typical cleo fishing....I usually see them following first.

Phil, Most of the bass were small, we did have a few in the pound and a half range, but most were well under 12 inches. They were just mixed in with the trout we were catching. The boat was in about 8 feet of water and we were casting to about 3 to 5 feet of water over weed beds, the wind was also blowing against that bank (Which is why we targeted it). We also caught the bass on the cleos just like the trout. Have a great day! Shawn BTW, we did have OUR kill switch and PFD's on!!

I don't necessarily disagree with you guys, but the 12-14 3/4" fish will be much harder to catch after a few years of a 12" limit....because there will be less of them to catch. Now, I am not saying that's a bad thing, but the argument to go drop a spoon and catch a couple of spots that size will be easy will not be the case after a few year...you will begin to catch fish that are 11 7/8" jmho

If I was a betting man...I would go with Condos in place of the campground...that seems to be the trend. Sorry