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Our generation schedule here on Lake Taneycomo has been almost exactly the same every day for the month of August with very few exceptions. The water is off every morning, while generation starts about 1 p.m. continuing until dark or after. The flow is dictated by how hot it is on that day, meaning how much generation is needed to produce electricity. So that being said, as fall temperatures arrive, we should see slower flows in the afternoon. But I don't think the pattern of no generation in the mornings will change. Our lake temperature is about 53 degrees while the dissolved oxygen content has plummeted to two parts per million (raw water coming through the turbines.) This is normal for this time of year. Liquid oxygen is injected into the turbines during generation, bringing the DO levels up to five ppm-plus. This will continue until Table Rock "turns over" later in December. While fishing Friday morning, I took water readings just above the Narrows in the trophy area and found the DO to be five ppm and the temperature 55 degrees. I also found the trout I caught very strong and active. There are reports that good-sized brown trout have arrived at the hatchery outlets below the dam. This brown trout run should continue through the month of October, and with low lake levels in the system, we should see a lot of down water for ideal fly fishing conditions through the run this year. Very good catches of browns and rainbows have been reported on stripping sculpin flies, wooly buggers, cracklebacks and soft hackles, as well as midges and scuds. Egg flies should start showing up on the top of our lists for good flies to use later in September. For night fly fishing, stripping a PMS, sculpins, leaches and other streamers should be hot for weeks to come. Also use a glow indicator and a black mega worm or a black 1/50th ounce jig under it. In and out of the trophy area, when the water is off, we're using a mop fly or mega worm in white, cream and peach under a float and good catching some nice browns as well as rainbows. Also, the 50th-ounce black jig is out-producing most other colors of jigs, even in still, clear conditions. The Zebra Midge is working most of the time under a float. Good colors are black with red rib, red flash with red rib and root beer with black rib, all with a black tungsten head. But there's a midge that's doing very well and that's the "snow cone" midge. It's a white head and fished with black/red rib or black with gold rib. Use size, but #18 to #20 in still condition and #14 to #16 if there's a chop. Use 7x fluorocarbon tippet in most conditions, but if the water is running you can go to 6x. Scuds are working fair when the water is off and good with it running. The Provo rig is our guides' choice to drift flies. Fish an egg and a scud combo with the scud on the bottom. We usually get a fair topwater bite in the fall, and after a very good cicada bite in June, I thought this year our trout would be looking up more than past years. I believe I’m right! We’re seeing a lot of activity on top lately, along the banks and out in the middle of the lake. And we’re also a good number of takes using hoppers, cicadas, beetles, ants and other terrestrial flies. This bite should continue through October. You can also drift a scud using a spin cast. I just tie the fly at the end of the line and add a split shot 18 inches above it. The size of the split shot depends on how much water is running. Use two- or four-pound line. And use a #14 to #18 size scud. Drifting below the trophy area has been pretty good lately, especially down at Monkey Island. I've found a good number of rainbows down there eager to eat. I've used both Power Eggs (pink) and night crawlers and have done exceptionally well when the water is running. I've also used minnows up in the area of the resort and caught some nice rainbows. Use four-pound line. Our guides have been catching big trout on jerk baits early and late in the day. They are starting before daylight most mornings and the good bite ends before 7 a.m. Starting about 5 p.m., the bite is good along any bluff bank and continues well into the night. Look at the colors in this brown Darren Sadler caught the other day. Amazing!

It's been an interesting spring season for fishing on Lake Taneycomo. If I had to script it, I'm not sure I could create a better scenario as far as the water conditions we've had so far. We've seen up to nine gates opened at the dam, bringing in a lot of shad and other food for our trout. Plus, the warm water has spurred some great, active trout feeding most days on white jigs, jerk baits and scud flies. And then the cicadas started to hatch, providing some awesome dry fly fishing -- which will continue well into June. We started the spring with very low lake conditions above and below our lake, but spring rains have caught us back up on rainfall, plus some. The U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has not let Table Rock Lake rise too much, dumping water and maintaining the level at around 917 feet, which is our summer pool level. With two turbines down for maintenance, anytime there was demand for more than 6,000 cubic feet per second flow, the Corps supplemented turbine flow with a flood-gate release, but that has ended with the turbines back online. With present levels and rain in the forecast, I would say we're looking at at least mid to heavy generation most afternoons with lower to no generation in the mornings for the next few weeks. While the flood gates were opened, the white jig and shad fly were definitely the best ways to catch trout up within three miles of the dam. Since the gates have been closed for almost two weeks, the fish aren't really keying in on white, but you can still catch fish on white -- it's always a good color to use. The same for jerk baits and big streamers. Black, though, has taken back the lead as the best color to throw, with sculpin/ginger a close second. Most of us have looked forward to this cicada hatch! And it has not let us down. The only slight disappointment has been the lack of multiple areas on the lake where our fish have targeted them. From the dam down through the Narrows is by far the best area, with the bluff side from Fall Creek to Trout Hollow Resort just okay. Our guides have been making their living drifting night crawlers from Cooper Creek down to the Branson Landing with three to four units running. We've seen some nice catches come in and heard of some brown trout caught and released, especially in the Monkey Island area. The lake's current is much slower there, and it's easy to drift and bump the bait along the bottom. I've also heard that the PowerBait Gulp Eggs are working in the pink/white combo. Drifting scuds on the bottom has been good from the dam clear down to Trout Hollow Resort. If the water is running pretty hard, you can get away with using a #12 gray or brown scud, but if it slows down to one or two units, drop the size down to a #14 or a #16. Make sure you're bumping the bottom or you won't get bit.

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.

Not long ago, I posted about walleye night-crawler harnesses that I had made during a "snow day" holiday from teaching. Several questions were asked. I decided to write this article as a show and tell to encourage anglers who are unfamiliar with the method of fishing to take it up and make their own harnesses. Because I am accustomed to posting about recipes and cooking, I will format this article as if we were making chili. Ingredients high quality monofilament or fluorocarbon line, 10 or 12# test 1/2 to 5/8 inch barrel swivels size 1 or 2 J bend offset worm hooks bobber stops size 1 or 2 super death hooks 1.5 inch Macks Smile blades small swivels float beads size 3 or 4 Indiana, Colorado, Royal, or Willow blades in various metallic or bright colors folded clevises or quick change clevises Methods Chuck's Standard Tablerock Harness Using a Palomar knot, tie the tag end of the spooled line to the J bend worm hook. Snug it down and cut off the tag end, leaving about 1/8th inch above the knot to serve as a worm holder. Hold the hook in one hand and the spool in the other and extend your arms to about 4 feet across. Cut the line at the spool. Thread the new tag end through the bobber stop loop about 4 inches and slide the stop off the loop onto your line. The bobber stop serves to keep the float and blade from pushing down and bunching the worm nose. Move the stop down to within 1 inch or so of the hook knot. Thread the line through the 1.25 inch torpedo float bead of your color choice. (Alternatively use 4 or 5 spherical float beads or 2 or 3 elliptical float beads.) Thread the line through one hard plastic bead. (Note: I use either fluorescent yellow or fluorescent red for all my harnesses.) Put your blade on a folded metal clevis and thread the line through both loops. Be sure the cup of the blade faces the hook. If using a quick change clevis, be sure the C shape is toward the hook and the opening toward the front. Thread the line through a second bead. The first bead on serves to keep the clevis from binding on the float. The last bead on helps prevent moss and leaves from fouling the easy spin of the blade. Holding the components snug against the bobber stop, measure three feet of line from the rigging. Using another Palomar knot, tie on a crane swivel at that point. I store the harnesses wrapped around pool noodles by inserting a nail through the swivel loop and wrapping the harness until I can use the hook point to secure the rig. The Smiling Slow Death Attach your super death or slow death hook to a small swivel. As with Chuck's rig, attach the swivel to the line with a Palomar knot and measure off four+ feet of line. No bobber stop will be necessary, so thread the line through your chosen float beads. Thread the line through one hard plastic bead. Thread the line through a 1.25 or1.9 inch smile blade, back to front. Do not put a bead in front of the smile blade. It restricts the spin of the blade. Snug the rigging to the hook and measure 3 feet of line. Attach the barrel swivel at that point with another Palomar knot. Good luck!