Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Four-Full. That's what they're running at Table Rock Dam. With the rains we've gotten the last week and more in the forecast, they're having to run as much as they can through the turbines in order to move all the rain water through the system. Beaver Lake has shot up and so has Table Rock but they really aren't in too bad shape considering. We got more rain last night so we'll see what that does to Table Rock's level.

If you're wondering how long they will run all four units, it depends on how much more rain we get but if it stopped today, I'd say it will run until Memorial Weekend, at least.

Bank and dock fishing is very difficult. You may be able to fish from the bank and docks down at the Landing and downtown Branson but up here it's pretty fast and deep. Boating is about the only way to catch any trout at this point.

One thing this flow has done is taken care of the moss problem we were having before the rains. The water is clear and 41 degrees coming from Table Rock with little to no moss.

Starting at the dam, I've done fairly well throwing 1/8th oz sculpin, white, brown, olive or gray jigs along the banks where the water is eddied or slower. That's where the trout seem to be holding up is in the slower pockets. The trick is controlling the boat in such fast current and fishing at the same time. You do have to be careful and not get into any trees in swift current.

One thing you have to do, and it's not the first time I've stated this, is you have to get the jig down. You can see the bottom really clear and you can see the grass and wood on the bottom so the natural reaction is NOT to let the jig sink close to the bottom cause you don't want to get snagged and lose your jig. But it's deceiving . . . it takes quite a bit of time for your jig to sink in this current and if it's not down deep, you won't get bit. Just count on losing some jigs--you'll catch more fish.

Once again, fish the slow side of the lake, not the fast side. You can look and see which side is slow--and it does switch sides. At the cable below the dam, the slow side is on the north down to just above Rocking Chair but the other side (south side) is slow from the island down to Trophy Run (below the boat ramp). There's also slow water from the ramp to the top of the island on the north side. There are some good pockets below the rip-rap at Trophy Run down to Lookout Island, then I would fish either side of the lake from the Island down to Fall Creek. From there, it doesn't make any difference which side you fish, there's eddies and slow water on both sides.

Vince had a trip yesterday, fly fishing the trophy area. His clients did well considering the conditions. He rigged them up with a large float and enough split shop to get the flies to the bottom and used about 15 feet of tippet from the float to the first fly. He used an egg fly on top and a #12 grey scud below it 18 inches and drifted the shallow side of the lake from Andy's House to Fall Creek. He said they really liked the scud and from other reports on the forum, that's pretty much the consensus.

Below Fall Creek, we've been sending most of our clients downstream to slow current to catch rainbows. And they're doing very well using Gulp Eggs, drifting them on the bottom and staying in the middle of the lake. My son and a friend drifted from Fall Creek to our place, Lilleys' Landing, and caught his limit of rainbows fairly easy the other day doing just that. I believe it's easier to drift from here down but you can do either and do well.

During rains like we've had, night crawlers are always good to use because there are a lot of worms being washed in the lake from rain.

PS... I caught a big white bass on a sculpin jig this morning in outlet #1.

[Bman]

Phil, your report pretty well sums up my take on the conditions. We did find the catching very good. Outstanding Rainbows, strong fat and full of fight.Toss in some Browns,...and... I caught several whites out of outlet #1 myself, 2 yesterday, one this afternoon.

We saw a few big rainbows in outlet #1.

[Phil Lilley]

Hey- did you catch any of the small browns? The first 2 fish I caught above #1 against the bank were browns- about 12 inches. They must be just stocked.

Was hoping for a few more whites to make a small mess but he went back in the lake. I tried across the lake at the cable for whites- that's where I usually catch them but nothing...

[Bman]

Yes those sound like the Browns we caught, did release one girl about 15".

Maybe we we catching the same stupid white all the time, he sure likes your jigs!

We really enjoyed another great week at Lilley's Landing.