Merry Christmas from Lilleys' Landing Resort!
If you plan on taking in a Branson Christmas show this year, remember that most of the standbys such as Baldnobbers and the Presleys end by Dec. 12, as well as the new Peter Pan musical with Kathy Rigby. Others such as the new Miracle of Christmas at the Sight and Sound Theatre and the Branson Belle have limited shows through Dec. 19-21, while a good variety have limited times through New Year's. Those would include the Amazing Pets, Dixie Stampede, Grand Jubilee, Haygoods, Kirby Van Burch and the Legends, so please check individual listings. Silver Dollar City will also be open after Christmas, and the light displays in Branson Hills and at Shepherd of the Hills will be open until New Year's. The Uptown Cafe hosts a free lunch hour broadcast, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to spotlight area talent, which you can also hear on KBFL 1060 AM and KBFL 99.9 FM.
Remember we stay open year-round, so please call us if you can take a short getaway to Branson to enjoy the Christmas festivities here -- or just to escape on the lake! We have plenty of openings up until Christmas and some limited rooms open between Christmas and New Year's, so please call us at 1-888-LILLEYS (545-5397) even at the last minute.
Don't forget we can also expedite a gift certificate to you for a special someone for any amount of $20 or more. We can designate whether you want it to be applied toward a room, boat rental or just for their choice. You can shop ouronline tackle store or call us to purchase a gift item from the store.
As we close out the last year of the first decade of the 21st century, we still stand in awe that God provided us this beautiful place for people to make memories with family and friends amid the peaceful solitude of His creation. But then how can we doubt His goodness when He gave Himself through Christ to bring our hearts home to Him! "Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Revelations 5:13
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from all of us at Lilleys Landing!
Lake Taneycomo Fishing News
Winter officially starts December 21, a little less than three weeks away, but it feels like winter this morning here in the Ozarks. Early temperatures dropped into the teens for the first time, giving the air a bite. Several boats left the dock this morning with eager anglers looking to catch some Lake Taneycomo trout. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is running water this morning for a couple of reasons, and you'll find these reasons pretty consistent to how water is run water all winter. Beaver Lake is still high from the rains this fall. Table Rock is at power pool or normal levels. Water is being run at Beaver Dam to drop lake levels there, and this water basically has to be washed through the system, from Beaver Dam to Table Rock through Taneycomo and Bull Shoals into the White River. Another reason for running water here: it's cold! Power demand and water management work hand-in-hand.
We did fish some down water last week as well as this past weekend. I, as well as other anglers, enjoyed getting out and seeing our lake as a lake again -- still with no current. The trout seemed to like it, too. They adjusted quickly and feasted back on midges, scuds and sculpin, their three main foods.
Looking back on this past fall fishing season, there really hasn't been any periods when trout fishing has been slow. Typically in the fall, we see fishing slow down because of the low dissolved oxygen or higher water temperatures, but fishing, or catching, has stayed consistently good all fall. Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery has kept up on stocking good numbers of rainbows, and it seems that once they're stocked, they grow fairly fast. Their colors change from dull-hatchery gray to bright silver, reds and greens. The trout we're catching now are fat, strong and sassy, pulling hard when hooked and then showing off their aquatic acrobatics.
As far as generation patterns and how to guess what may happen on any given day or weekend . . . typically little water is run on the weekends. Power demand is lower on weekends, but if the temperature dips below freezing early, generation may occur only in the mornings and be turned off in the afternoon. Otherwise, it's hard to predict. For most of this week, dam officials are running water 24 hours a day. I'm sure that is to release water coming in from Beaver Lake. Once that water is through, we will start seeing less generation unless we get more rain.
Our scud population is very good right now, especially above Short Creek to the dam. As a rule, we fish larger scuds, up to size 8, when the water is running and smaller sizes when it's off, down to size 20. But we are using size 10s during generation and size 14 when it's not right now, at least in the restricted area above Fall Creek and below Lookout fishing from a boat. Below the dam while wading you may have to size down further to get bit. Honestly, I have not been up there since they've started shutting the water down -- I'm only going by reports I hear from other anglers.
I did catch a few rainbows the other day while drifting orange PowerBait Gulp eggs between Fall and Short creeks and found their stomachs full of midge larvae. The larvae themselves were way too small to be imitated by our flies, but I bet the trout would still take a larger fly, too. We've had some incredibly big midge hatches lately, and the trout have seemed to target them.
As I mentioned, I did get out and fished the other day. I tried some different lures -- tried a jig and float using a 1/32nd-ounce brown with a orange head jig under a float six- feet deep. Dam officials were running one unit that day, all day, and I tried to keep the boat where I was fishing the edge of the channel or in water that was about six- to eight-feet deep. I'd work or twitch the float just a little every four seconds to give the jig a little more action. The rainbows I caught were all bigger than the ones others were reporting. All my trout were 14 inches or more -- and boy did they fight!
I didn't change my technique as I drifted past Fall Creek. I stayed closer to the shallow side of the lake, targeting the same depth of water and kept picking up rainbows all the way down to Short Creek. The size of rainbows didn't change either. I was amazed that these larger, older rainbows liked what I thought was a larger jig than I would normally use. I normally use a 1/100th-ounce jig or smaller when throwing a jig-and-float rig but left my small jig box at home.
Heading back up, I wanted to catch some rainbows for dinner so I started at Fall Creek and drifted PowerBait Gulp eggs on the bottom. I used a small, 7/0 spilt shot only, just enough to tick the bottom. I started with orange and caught two right off. They were smaller, whichis the size I like to eat. Switched to pink and . . . nothing. Back to orange and finished my limit before Short Creek. Now with one unit, the water is running pretty slowly, so I had lots of time to limit out in one drift. If I had been planning ahead, I would have known to pack night crawlers to drift live bait below Fall Creek. Night crawlers seem to catch bigger trout than Power Bait. But this worked out just fine.
Winter Forecast: What is a normal winter??? After the last three or four seasons, I'm not sure what is normal anymore. Global warming? Well to be honest, it was nice to have warm winters, if nothing else, to make it easy on the hands and face when fishing! But, alas, that mild pattern for a few years was tooo fleeting, and it seems we're back to cold winters. Wet? We've had more ice than snow, which is irritating for sure. I like snow -- a little. One snow and that's all. It's nice and pretty for an hour or so, but then we have to go out and deal with it. But no ice, please!! I guess I'm spelling out my wish list. No gifts this Christmas, please, just give me the weather that's good for trout fishing!
All kidding aside, weather plays a big part in fishing. Ideally, I would like to see a cold, wet winter for our fishery. We need the lakes to get cold to be healthy for the rest of the year. We also need some generation to keep the food base in good shape for the trout. That's it in a nut shell. I would also like to see a good shad kill (a natural shad kill on Table Rock), but this time I'd like to see the shad come through the turbines and into Taneycomo. Last year we saw lots of shad dying on Table Rock, but for whatever reason, they didn't get down to the inlet vents at the dam-face. Threadfin shad are our trout's dream Christmas dinner. It's gives them lots of protein and makes them mature to be lunker trout in little time.
If you like to wade below Table Rock Dam when the water is off, you might be interested in a project that the Missouri Department of Conservation is working on, in conjunction with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Bass Pro Shops, to add fish habitat on Table Rock Lake and some of its tributaries, as well as Lake Taneycomo. These entities have donated $5 million to the five-year project. Thousands of cedar trees, hardwood stumps and rock piles already have been placed on Table Rock Lake.
They are conferring with local anglers on how to add structures below Table Rock Dam to enhance the fishery. Over the years, gravel has washed in the lake from unprotected banks, filling in once-deep channels and holes where trout used to rest from the current and anglers. The topography has evolved now to a large, shallow flat area with no structure to hold fish, so anglers move to areas where there are fish, mainly at the hatchery outlets and a few other places where there's running water created by riffles and rocks. MDC wants to create new areas where fish will hold, spreading out anglers and giving them more choices on where to fish.
Work below the dam may start as soon as this spring.
And Now... The Rest of the Story
Many of you have read the story of the new state record brown trout landed by resort guest Scott Sandusky two weeks ago as he drifted rainbow PowerBait by Cooper Creek with his Arnold, MO, buddies. What we haven't disclosed until recently was our special Thanksgiving blessing of fishing for and finding the lunker a second time -- this time out of a trash truck . . .
At 37 inches long, 24.75 inches in girth and weighing 28.8 pounds, Scott obviously needed to mount his prize, which was roughly a pound heavier than the previous record. We needed to make a decision what to do with his brown while the Missouri Department of Conservation processed the paperwork needed to make his fish the official new state record brown trout. Clint Hale, Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery manager, told us that the fish could not be consumed or taken to a taxidermist until the paperwork was complete which would take a few weeks.
So we needed to find a freezer big enough for a 40-inch fish to lay flat, since its bulk had been wrapped in towels to secure its shape. The only one we could find was in the kitchen at the First Baptist Church here in Branson, so dad and I took the fish and placed in the freezer. Honestly, I did think about labeling it somehow to identify it as belonging to someone but . . . I trusted that no one would mess with it. That was our downfall.
Dad flashed the fish off in the freezer Sunday night to some fellow church-goers, at least showing off the bulk size of the fish. The towels were frozen to the skin of the trout so he couldn't back the layers, but it was still an impressive sight.
On Wednesday morning, dad drove to the church to retreive the record fish to transfer it to a freezer we had. Once the fish was frozen solid, it could be stood upright, fitting into another freezer. The trout was gone. No fish in the freezer anywhere. Jerry asked in the office, but no one know about it. Then he learned of the fish's fate. It had been thrown out into the dumpster on Monday -- only to have been picked up that very Wednesday morning by the trash truck.
"I've never been so down in my life as when I saw that fish was gone," Jerry said. He began asking us all to pray for a miracle, and Carolyn, my mother, even called friends to pray.
I was headed to a meeting, and resigned myself to the fact that the fish was gone for sure, but dad's tenacity paid off. He called the Alllied Waste company and found out where the truck was headed, drove to Reeds Spring and met the truck there prepared for dumpster diving. The attendants there were experienced in finding the treasures people have thrown out. (Once retrieving some tossed diamond earrings.) They dumped the contents of the truck on a concrete pad and started picking through it with a small bobcat. Mom had accompanied dad for "support" and both were holding their noses and hoping they'd find the fish in decent shape, but with every move, the bobcat did not turn up any light teal-green towels or fish remains.
My mom is a woman of faith. Her relationship with the Lord is astounding, and she told dad she was hearing the Lord say it was in a pile "over there." Dad had all but given up on the search, but mom pushed for one more swipe of trash in the area God was directing her to. Then she saw the towel. She waded in and dug it out. The fish was still wrapped in the towel. A small tear in its back was the only visible damage to the fish they could see. They headed back home with the trout, praising God for His constant faithfulness and mercy -- this time exhibited in finding the fish.
Scott's brown trout is once again in a freezer, but this time it's in a safer place. Trout that large are actually replicated by taxidermists and not mounted in the traditional way of using the actual fish and its skin. But when the mold is made of the actual fish and a replica cast, Scott will have the mount of a lifetime, representing his "knee-shaking" treasure of a memory:
Scott and his friends, Scott Hawkins, Greg Lawson and Craig Thomas, had planned to catch some keeper rainbows to fry for dinner Friday night, then hit the trophy area for lunkers on Saturday. They drifted downstream, using rainbow-colored, paste Power Bait, bumping it on the bottom as you're supposed to. Just below Cooper Creek, Scott set his rod in the rod holder to help with another rig. Thinking he saw a bite, Scott picked his rod back up, set the hook and knew -- he had something big.
But he didn't know what it was . . . a catfish? A big carp? If it was a trout, it was a really, really big trout. Then they saw it. It was a brown trout.
He had his spin reel set to wind backwards, not trusting the drag. Smart guy because this fish didn't want to play. The brown surged for the far bank, spinning off so much line, so fast, that it was all Scott could do release the handle and watch his line fly off his reel. Then he stopped.
Working it closer to the boat, his team of anglers started to plan their attack. One retrieved the net and the other pulled up the trolling motor -- just in time. Four-pound line doesn't last long against a prop.
When most people buy a fish net, they don't expect to land a 37-inch fish, right? Scott's net could hold half this fish. It flopped in, it flopped out. Then Scott's net man, Craig, muscled up and got it in the boat. All was made official by Missouri Department of Conservation officials at the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery. Shane Bush, MDC fisheries biologist and Quenten Fronterhouse, MDC enforcement agent, both helped in this process. Clint Hale, hatchery manager, was also present.
Charities We Support: Free Medical Clinic of the Ozarks
We can't let the year pass without letting you know how much we appreciate your business -- not only for the personal support for our families, but for the community outreaches we are able to undertake as well. In November, the Free Medical Clinic of the Ozarks -- where Jerry Lilley serves for free as the acting director -- completed its first year of operation, logging more than 950 patient visits for those who work in Stone and Taney counties but cannot afford health insurance. Because of community support, such as from Lilleys' Landing, the clinic has operated with a total budget of $26,000.
“It’s really a testimony to the faithful commitment of the volunteers who have such a heart for this,” said Dr. John H. Moore, a founding board member. “It’s phenomenal for a community of this size.”
With the vision that the clinic would evolve only as the support evolved, board members began Veterans Day last year with general medical clinic hours from 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays in the downstairs annex building of Covenant Life Church (Marsha & Phil Lilley's church) at Third and Atlantic in downtown Branson. But with the enthusiasm of medical staff — now numbering 16 physicians, four licensed physician assistants, 31 licensed nurses, two pharmacists and one respiratory therapist — the clinic soon expanded to rotating specialty clinics on Monday nights for orthopedics, gynecology, pediatrics and respiratory therapy.
For efficiency, patients must bring proof of identity, residency and income (200 percent below federal poverty guidelines) on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. to apply for scheduled evening appointments. They also must verify by telephone later that they intend to keep their appointments. About 30 lay volunteers man the phones, keep up with the paperwork, greet patients and maintain the premises.
In addition to evaluations by the medical staff, the clinic provides patients with their first medications and helps them acquire long-term medications through various drug assistance programs. Skaggs Hospital provides laboratory and x-ray services and has also set up the clinic with computers and technical staff to allow physicians to access all their patients’ medical records while seeing them in the clinic exam rooms.
Eleven trained chaplains rotate to counsel each patient, offering to pray for them and their specific needs. Dr. Moore, who volunteers as one of the chaplains, said prayer is vital to the mission of the clinic.
“No one has ever refused prayer,” he said,” and six people have actually prayed to receive Christ, professing them as Lord for the first time.”
That kind of ministry, he said, is a fulfillment of a long-held dream for him. “I’ve wanted to be part of a clinic like this since I began in medicine,” he said. “In 30 years of practice, I had wanted to work at a clinic that provided free care and spiritual nurture as well.”
