Leaderboard

Trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo has been pretty good the last few weeks. About six weeks ago, a big number of rainbow trout were stocked in short order. My understanding was that our hatcheries were over crowded, and officials had to reduce numbers. These rainbows were a little on the small side, and most were stocked well below Branson, but they've made their way up lake. Catching trout has been good lately! Newly stocked trout are generally easy to catch. They're not very smart. They've been hand fed all their lives, so they're going to eat or chase about anything they see for a while. So spinners and spoons, flies and baits under floats and bait on the bottom -- all are effective for these fish. Generation has been consistent with no water running at night and in the morning. Then early to mid-afternoon, operators are running as little as one unit and up to all four units, most of the time until dark or after. It's September, and our water flowing from Table Rock Lake is low in oxygen. This is seasonal and not surprising. When they run water, liquid oxygen is injected into the turbines, and that keeps lake water safe for our fish. I personally have not seen the trout lethargic, lacking fight. On the contrary, they have been fighting pretty hard. But you do need to keep this in mind when you catch and release. Land them as quickly as you can, keep them in the water while unhooking them and ideally release without taking them out of the water. If you want pictures, take them quickly! Article: Seasonal Oxygen Issues & Handling Trout, Lake Taneycomo As I reported, fish have been chasing spoons, especially when the water is running. Also jerk baits late in the evening and past dark with the water running have worked fairly well. Black jigs have been the best after dark for catching bigger trout. Throwing jigs (without a float) has also been good. I'm using two-pound line most of the time now except when four units are running and I'm throwing 1/8th ounce jigs -- then I'm using four-pound line. Best colors have been brown, sculpin, black, white and sculpin/ginger. Under a float, we're using jigs, mega worm, beaded scud, zebra midges and pink Powerworm. Best jig color for me has been the sculpin jig with an indy-orange head. I'm using two-pound line. Find the chop on the water for the best fishing. Wind helps! Baits - night crawlers are still the best bait, although Powerbaits are catching those stocker rainbows. Use two- or four-pound line. When the water is running, drift flies or bait on the bottom. Again, worms are the best, but drifting scuds is pretty good, too. Try a #12 gray scud or an egg fly, both in the trophy are and below it. Fly fishing - the trophy area still is the best place to fly fish, although you can do well below the line fishing flies under an indicator. In the mornings, fish a zebra midge under a float using 6 or 7x tippet, #16 or #18 black, red or olive midge. Fish a scud under an indicator close to the bottom. Try a #14 to #18 gray or olive scud using 6 or 7x tippet. If you're in choppy water, strip a wooly bugger, crackleback, sculpin or other medium-to-small streamer.

We've seen a great deal of water pass our dock this spring and summer!  And it continues to run but there's a light at the end of this tunnel.  Table Rock Lake is dropping one foot every 3 days and is almost down to it's power pool lever (917 feet).  Before it gets there, I predict we'll see some variation of flows and possibly some periods when the water is off.  We will see.  It's below 919 feet now and they're still running 3 units at about 10,000 cfs.  By the time we publish this report, flows may have changed. Fishing on Lake Taneycomo has been fair for most of the summer.  I say fair because it's been tough for most anglers.  But the past couple of weeks it has improved.  It's been tough I think because of the heavy flows which has not stopped in well over a month.  It's just simply hard to get a lure or bait to the bottom where most of the fish are holding.  Some have mastered it.  Our guides are consistently reporting catches of trophy trout most days - there are good numbers of 20+ inch rainbows and browns in the lake. I have personally caught 5 trophy rainbows this week, all on the 1/16th-ounce sculpin/ginger jig with a brown head.  All the rainbows have been in the trophy area except one.  Several guides have told me their clients have landed up to 3 trophies in an 4-hour trip.  Captain Blake Wilson says the bite actually isn't picking up till later in the morning, about 9 a.m. lately. In the trophy area, they're been drifting the following flies on drift rigs and using the Provo Rig:  #12 tan scuds, fl.orange egg fly, cream mega worm, cerise San Juan worm.  As the water slows down, instead of using a #12 scud, use a smaller size, down to a #16.  These flies do work below Fall Creek but you can switch to Powerbait and worms.  Both have been doing pretty good.  Gulp Eggs in white and orange have been the best.  We have had a few trophies caught and released below Fall Creek using night crawlers. I have talked to guests here at the resort drifting bait the last couple of weeks and one thing is for sure -- there's no one hot spot.  Usually I advise people to drift from Fall Creek to Short Creek or go down by Monkey Island or the Landing.  But right now, all those places are good, plus drifting down in front of our place.  Rainbows seems to be spread our throughout this area.    

Trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo is holding up fairly well this fall. We can't complain about the weather, that's for sure! If anything it's been on the warm side. Table Rock's water was in the 70's for most of October. It really needs to cool down for Table Rock Lake to turn over. Looking into the future, I see some cool weather coming, but not really any cold temperatures yet. Depending on what the second half of November does weather-wise, the lake won't turn over until well into December. Our water quality hasn't been terrible, in my opinion. Of course in the fall months, the water we get from Table Rock is low in oxygen because it comes from a depth of 130 feet. When the U.S. Corps of Army Enginers runs the turbines at Table Rock Dam, officials inject liquid oxygen into the water to bring the O2 levels up to at least four parts per million. I've been taking some readings and finding levels between four and six ppm during generation and about four ppm when the water isn't running. Our lake water temperatures are holding at 54 degrees right now. The trout I've been catching are fighting hard when hooked. I've been very happy with the condition of the trout, so I don't think the low DO has affected them very much. BUT we have been seeing a fungus on our larger trout called saprolegnia that has cause some problems. Our Missouri Department of Conservation has studied this fungus and published an article just the other day with information on the issue and what can be down to minimize damage to our trout. Here's the link to the article - Mold-based infection being seen on some Lake Taneycomo trout. As stated, this is a common problem our coldwater fisheries have to deal with and is treatable within the raceways. But MDC cannot treat the trout in the lake, so they have fight off the fungus themselves. I assume as soon as our lake water quality improves, this fungus won't be a problem. But we should continue good handling practices regardless if there's an issue with fungus or not. Generation patterns remain the same. Most mornings there's no generation until noon or after. Then the water is running anywhere from 25 to 90 megawatts of water until dark. Then it's off again until the next day. Cooler weather may change this a bit. We may see less generation with less power demand, but some running water does distribute good oxygenated water downstream where it's needed. The following report is written by Blake Wilson, a dock hand here at Lilleys' and a full-time fishing guide. In the mornings with the water off, many fish can be found from Cooper Creek all the way to the Branson Landing. They can be caught using the Berkley's Pink Power Worm trimmed to one inch on a 1/80th-ounce jig head. The head color doesn't matter much. Fish it anywhere from two-to nine-feet deep, moving it deeper as the sun gets higher in the sky. October has been fairly windy this year. Most afternoons you could find a good chop on the surface of the lake anywhere on the lake. In the trophy area, when the water isn't running, use a miracle/egg fly in orange or yellow, paired with a #14 to #18 zebra midge in black/copper, root beer or ruby as a dropper. Fish this under a float and keep that bottom fly within a foot or so of the bottom. The white or chartreuse mega worm under a float is also catching some nice rainbows and browns, along with a Lilley's 1/50th-ounce sculpin jig under a float. With generators on in the afternoons, the UV orange egg fly #14 paired with a #14 to #16 crystal gray or tan scud, using the slip bobber (Utah Rig) is great, drifting from the dam clear down to Trout Hollow. Also try an orange or red San Juan worm. Be mindful of the algae that is kicked up when generation starts at the dam. This mucks up the water for about 30 minutes before clearing out. ~~~ I (Phil) have been throwing a few jigs and catching fish, with the water running mainly. I've heard a few people using white jigs and catching some nice browns and rainbows up below the dam during generation, but I haven't had any such luck. Black and brown jigs, along with sculpin, have drawn the fish for me. The weight of jig depends on how much water. Fishing off our dock has been spotty. Night crawlers have been best, injected wth air when the water isn't running. Use two-pound line for best results.