Fishing Buddy Report

[Phil Lilley]

Planning for our 2nd annual father/son midwinter fishing trip involved keeping a close eye on the 10 day forecast. When a few days of 65 degree weather appeared, we made reservations at Lilley's. The 3rd generation, my son, was unable to join us due to work conflicts.

We arrived in Branson on Tuesday about 1:30 pm. A call to the office at Lilley's requesting our assigned slip number allowed us to launch the boat at Cooper Creek Access prior to arrival at the resort. We were met by friendly dock staff who were waiting to guide us to the proper slip.

We got on the water about 2 pm. No power was being generated. The decision to go downstream was made and we fished below the landing then moved up across from the Fish House. Fishing was tough. Nothing seemed to work at least as far as jigs go. Black, black/orange, sculpin, olive, white, the trout just weren't biting for us. Headed up to Monkey Island and then under the power line just below cooper creek. Still nothing. Packed it in and got off the water about 5:30 pm.

Wednesday morning we made it out about 9:15 am. Looking at the power generation charts, that was shortly after generation stopped. I know, we should have gotten up earlier but I hate alarm clocks on days off from work. We headed upstream this time starting at Fall Creek outside of the trophy area. I had read an earlier report about some anglers using cooked shrimp and had invested in some from the salad bar during the grocery run the previous evening. There was still a small amount of current so we tied on drift rigs and baited with the shrimp. This produced more than a few good "hits". I brought in 1 - 12 inch rainbow on the shrimp. It was hard to keep the bait on the hook however due to the softness of the shrimp. Maybe it was over or under cooked. I had 1 line rigged with white and pink power eggs. We did not anchor tried drifting with the small amount of current there was, but the wind blowing in the opposite direction (upstream) either held us in place or pushed us upstream. Over the course of the next 3 1/2 hours, we caught a half dozen rainbows in the 10-15 inch range. Took a break and headed back to the resort for lunch.

After lunch we headed upstream again, anchoring in the Short Creek area. Pink and white Power Eggs again produced a few fish. I continued to try jig fishing without a good result. At some point I changed over to a white and chartreuse Power Eggs combo and it was "ON". Over the next 2 hours we landed just under 30 fish. Most of them small, but a couple 14-15 inch rainbows and 1-15 inch brown. We kept 1 limit of rainbows for dinner. Maybe our drastic change in luck was that the atmospheric pressure was now rising as the weather would be changing overnight. At any rate, That last 2 hours was a blast.

I can't say enough about the hospitality at Lilley's. We plan to return in April during Spring Break for a 4 generation father/son getaway.

Lorn M. Dennis

Lawrence Dennis