Fishing Report 3/22

[Phil Lilley]

Fished some yesterday and today- both in the afternoon. Two different drifts- first from the dam down to past the ramp. Drift the north side to outlet #3, move to the middle and to the south side at the path to rocking chair. Reason- more fish, less depth of water and more gravel.

Drifted a tandom- egg and scud. I used #10 scuds in olive or gray. Egg- pink or orange. Just like in the video. We used a 3/8 oz bell to get down. Caught 2-4 rainbows on each drift.

A young man here at the resort caught a 23 or 24 inch brown on a white jig today- I assume at the dam. I tried a white jig and caught a couple of one drift but the guys fishing with me didn't catch anything so we went to the drift rig.

Then we fished the Branson side on the lake from Andy's down past the narrows (steps coming down the mud bank). Again it's the shallow side. Same rig except a subed out the egg for a red san juan. Caught more rainbows and just as nice, mainly on the san juan. The wind was tougher on this stretch though and it got colder late in the day. Blowing upstream.

Our guest have had a hard time catching this week and understandably so. Lots of water and lots of current. HAVE TO GET THE BAIT ON THE BOTTOM AND KEEP IT THERE. If you can manage that you will catch fish.

You can use a fly rod and fish 20 feet under a float but again... HAVE TO GET THE BAIT ON THE BOTTOM AND KEEP IT THERE. Figure it out and you'll do almost as well as using a spin rod. The only problem is controling the boat so that you stay far enough and close enough to your float long enough for the fly to get to the bottom for any amount of time. If that doesn't make sense... try it and you'll see. With the wind, current and turbulants, it's tough keeping your boat straight let alone moving the same speed as a float. I see Bret Rader guiding 3 fly fishers out of a boat and catching a few fish and think... what a guy! Lots more patience than I. You gotta REALLY want to fly fish to take that kind of abuse. I mean it's work- both the boat handler and the fisher. Try to do both and you'll end up throwing something in the lake- I promise.

Saying all that- fly fishing isn't impossible but almost.

I have seen a drift boat parked behind Lookout Island for long length of time and I heard they're catching some fish.

I saw a guy parked behind the first island and he was catching some fish on I think a jig.

Some guys staying at the resort are drifting down at the bridges with power eggs and doing well.

We tried fishing the mouth of Short Creek yesterday and didn't do well BUT we saw trout midging like crazy up in the creek towards the bridge. That's a great possibility.

Roark has a ton of fish in it again- trout. Jig and float using a pink jig will work. But they are alittle picky. We caught them good yesterday but reports today were not so good. There are some white bass running up by the resort in the early am and late pm- just studs so far. If you come in from the 65 bridge by foot and wade the very upper part I guarantee you you'll catch whites on fly rod in the late evening. Great water for fly fishing. And yes it's cleared up- no trash no mud, clear water.

And I bet there's the same in some of the other creeks around. I heard Turkey Creek had a bunch of whites in it before the rains.

No whites at the dam. They might not go there. In years past when they've gone up there it was later in the spring and the water coming over the dam was warmer. Water over is 50 and under is 42. May not be warm enough to draw them up. BUT I'm extremely surprised we haven't seen more shad either from over or thru the dam. It still may happen.

[Leonard]

we saw a few shad floating today...

Heres my report..

went to the dam.. started drifting down... 2nd cast fish on and to hand.... 2 cast after that another fish on....And landed

both catch on a 1/16 jig... (better sit down for this one)... I tied a PMS on a jig.. and yep.. there you have it Dano!!!

evening have proof... Zander netted both of the fish...LOL...

2 cast later I hung to bottom... and lost the jig.. these were my only 2 fish of the day.

Leonard

[ridered39]

Fished turkey creek yesterday, did real well on orange power bait. Nice size but no lunkers.

Ridered

[Phil Lilley]

Leonard- you must have been using some other weight to get a 1/16th down to the bottom.

The creeks are always hot when they run this much water. They get crowded with fish and boats.

[zander]

I think it was closer to a 1/8th ounce jighead. I didn't get that good of a look at it since it was either in a fish's mouth or in the water most of the time. My father and I had on 1/8th ounce bell sinkers and were hitting bottom some of the time but not all. Pink and brown San Juan Worms and Y2K's were not the hot combo yesterday. I did miss a couple good takes on a red and white roe egg fly and a sage colored furbug, but the bottom bit that too well and lost it.