Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Not a whole lot of change from my last report. Fishing has gotten better up in our area of the lake for sure, I think mainly because from Branson downstream the lake has warmed to the point that MDC can't stock down there so they're coming uplake further in their boat. I also heard they stocked at the River Points ramp last week a couple of times so that puts alot of rainbows between Short and Fall Creek. And it's showed. Alot of the rainbows being stocked are larger too- 11-13 inches. I cleaned 32 pretty good rainbows yesterday for 8 people that went out in one of our pontoons.

Bait fishing is good using a white power bait or gulp egg and one other colored egg- pink, yellow or orange. Light line is a must. I still argue with people about the importance of 4 lb or smaller tippet. Our water is clear- just look at the trout cam. You can see almost to the other side of the cleaning dock which is 24 feet. Night crawlers or ok but a second to the king- power bait. OK Eddie Ketchum- I said it- happy! Bait fish from Fall Creek all the way down to Monkey Island. Best still is around Cooper Creek.

Jig and float using either a micro jig in olive or a 1/125th oz sculpin jig with an orange head (yes we have 300 new ones in stock). Fish them 4-5 feet deep under an indicator and look for choppy water- best. Use these from Lookout (Trophy Area) to Monkey Island.

Fly fishing below the dam was been good... kinda fair. When the sun gets up it gets alittle tough but not impossible. Drop to 7x flourocarbon and a #20 thread midge and you can catch fish in the runs above #2 and below the Rebar Hole. Cracklebacks early and late. Trout Crack in the run at outlet #2- lots of rainbows. And in the run in Rebar.

Bass fishing- I sent Berkly Rep, Eddie Ketchum and friends, down to the Branson area last evening and again this morning bass fishing. Eddie threw a new bait Berkley has called the Beast, 3 inch in 'brean' color and said they had nonstop action. They fished several steep banks from Branson to Rockaway and caught alot of 10-13 inch bass and a few larger- the largest 3.5 lbs. Sounds like alot of fun- beats fishing 35-50 ft in Table Rock. So I may wonder down there this weekend. I'll report back. I do know the water temp is in the 70's from Branson down- so said Babler last week.