Branson can carry a tune at fishing lakes

Fishing and country music have always been in perfect harmony in Branson.

Before big-time entertainment and glitzy shows even came to this Ozarks town, fishing was the big tourist draw. Now it gladly shares the marquee. But that doesn’t mean the region’s fishing and hunting is less popular than it ever was.

“A lot of our customers like our location because they can fish during the day and go to the shows at night,” said Phil Lilley, who owns Lilleys’ Landing Resort on Lake Taneycomo. “They can have the best of both worlds.”

Gary Presley, one of the stars of the Presleys’ Country Jubilee Show, can attest to that. His family has a history of combining country music and fishing to appeal to tourists.

“Before a lot of the music shows got started, it was fishing that attracted tourists to the area,” Presley said. “We got started playing for fishermen after they would come in from their fishing trips.

“We finally decided to build a theater, and we weren’t sure how it would go over. That’s why we built our theater with a flat floor and big double doors. We figured if it didn’t work out,we could always store boats in there.”

The Presleys were the first to build a theater on the 76 strip. That was in the late 1960s, a time when fishing and country music went hand-in-hand in the Presley family.

Lloyd Presley, who passed away in 2010, had a musical family and he wanted the Ozarks to hear their sounds. He also was a guide, and would take customers out on Table Rock by day and play music at night.

His family also loved to fish in the Branson area.

“I remember how we would go fishing right up until one of our shows, then rush over to the theater,” Gary Presley said. “We would even go fishing after some our night shows. The night fishing down here is good with our clear water.

“Sometimes, we would stay out all night.”

Over the years, other entertainers such as Mel Tillis and Shoji Tabuchi have taken advantage of their setting to make great music and catch big fish.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Branson can carry a tune at fishing lakes."