Arrived & Trout Ready

After 900 miles of driving from Pennsylvania, Lilleys' Landing Resort & Marina was welcoming, and I can't claim that I minded the 60-degree air that helped with the greeting. A beautiful resort on the banks of Lake Taneycomo, Lilleys is the host site of a writers event that I'll be part of this week. After a bit of settling, the crew took a short ride to Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery, at the base of Table Rock Dam, where we toured the hatchery and enjoyed barbecue.

It was cool seeing the starting place for the 700,000 or so trout that get stocked into Lake Taneycomo every year. The hatchery takes the trout from eggs all the way to 12-inch stockers, a process that takes about a year and a half, so we got to see the specialized inside tanks where they carefully control conditions and feed teeny weeny trout.

Tomorrow we fish, and I'm very ready. I have baits tied on three rods, ideally to spare tying in the morning when the air is cold, but we'll see how much water is flowing, what type of water our guide takes us to and what he thinks about my "starting line-up."

Now I should rest. Reports to follow!