vanven

I think i will head down and fish on Monday. Is the shop going to be open Tim? -Jerod

Amazing how quickly this post grew and also how quickly it deteriorated. Like DuckyDoty I blame the weather. This isnt the first post like this over the past couple years and in a sport where most anglers compare their success based upon their peers it wont be the last. From my perspective, I have formed various perceptions of posters bassed on their fishing reports, bad grammar, poor spelling, and writing style. Most of the time those went out the door, and in most cases were clearly disproven, the first opportunity I had to shake their hand and chit chat over something we all enjoy. This forum is a place to share information, stories, laughs, and hard earned knowledge. Most of us are just selfish enough to hope to improve our fishing skills, not necessarily grow our e-peen. -jerod

Leonard, for as many nights as Dwayne has told me "Leonard is up at outlet one" I am suprised we havent met yet. I will be wading in the areas between outlet 2 and down past rebar generally during the day and between outlet 1 and rebar at night. -Jerod

I hope I didnt discourage you at all. My wife never realized what she was letting me get into until it was too late I am in the KC area as well. I know of a nice bluegill trophy area that is very fun when the weather gets warmer. Maybe we can hook up and I have plenty of starter equipment as a loaner for a day. I am not sure if you can call it fishing but as a kid down in Oklahoma we used to drop bacon on a string down into the crawdad holes in the yard. -Jerod

I am heading down to Taney for the weekend and hope to be on the water a good portion of Saturday and Sunday. Depending on generation Monday I may hit Roaring River as a backup plan on the way back to KC for a few hours. I am generally fishing alone so feel free to stop by the truck (black F-150 with some bumper damage) if you catch me there. I always seem to enjoy the pavilion chatter almost as much as the fishing. Depending on generation I may stick around for some night fishing as well. As much as I love fishing at night in the summer it gets awfully cold at night down there. -Jerod

Geez D how am i supposed to compete with that? Are you going to be fishing this weekend? -Jerod

I appologize if I am hijacking this thread but I find the overall topic very interesting. I am also not trying to be arguementative, I just write that way. Just for fun lets look at the contents of my vest because this is where it adds up fast for me. The worst part is almost all of this stuff is disposable. SA Streamer Fly box $42 SA Nymph Fly box $30 Nips $16 Surgical hemostats $16 Zingers 4 @ $5 each Net $24 Net magnetic leash $24 Spools of tippet in 7x,6x,5x @ $10 each Flies 200 @ $1.50 each Leaders 6x,5x,4x (one extra each) $5 each That is $550+ and I havent touched a piece of clothing (outer, inner, undergarmets, socks), waders, wader liners, wading boots, hats, vest, sunglasses, or rod/reel. Sadly most of these things I have multiple of and very few have practical uses in real life. At least I can wear the undergarmets to a Chiefs game when its cold. I am pretty sure my wife would hurt me if she saw just that list. I clearly need to be better friends with Michael. -Jerod

I was not trying to discourage anyone from picking up fly fishing as a hobby, but as hobbies go it is definitely one of the more expensive hobbies you can get into. When i step into the water I am dressed in moderate gear but if you were to total it up you are talking $1000 easily. Most of my gear is Cabela's middle of the road stuff. Nothing fancy. I dont own a single piece of Sage or Simms gear apart from a pair of fleece gloves. I have friends that have expressed interest in fly fishing and are starting to pick the sport up. They generally get the golf comparison from me: "You wouldnt go out to play golf with only a 3 wood, wedge, one ball, and putter in your bag would you?" I just that if someone is going to get into something as addictive and consuming as fly fishing they should know exactly what they are signing up for ahead of time. -Jerod

There are some spots from the rebar hole and down river where you can fish most of the same spots from the shore as wading anglers. most of these spots are very productive. The pavilion side shore from the second outlet down can also be very prodictive as well. It will be a little difficult due to trees in your backcast, but with an effective roll cast you can still reach some productive areas. Fly fishing and golf have a lot in common. In both sports you can be a very good fisherman with some low cost equipment, unfortunately equipment does make a difference as well. Some will debate the difference between a $150 rod and a $650 rod, but most will agree that a $150 rod is significantly better than the cheapest rod. This applies to almost every piece of equipment that you will use as a fly fisherman. A good wading jacket and liner will let you fish through some horrible weather, while a good fly line will let you cast another 20 feet, and a good pair of breathable waders will be much more comfortable most of the year than much cheaper neoprenes. Sometimes those small benefits have a much larger impact on your enjoyment of the sport when you add them all up. Just my simple thoughts and stuff to keep in mind when you are starting out. -Jerod

I am trying to plan my next three day trip down to Taney. The boards seem awfully full of those dirty bait fishermen. Kidding. Do we have any comments from the wade fisherman? Discussion and predictions about the weather and water output for the rest of the month? Chances of some good wade fly fishing around the end of January? -Jerod

Very interesting read. This was well before I ever stepped foot in Taneycomo. I really like the look of the 540 cfs pictures. It looks like it would add some diversity to the water with the increase in the number of riffles. It looks like there would be a few more quality spots to spread out the fisherman. -Jerod

That is an interesting article by Zach. I could acually see it being applicable to Taney when the water is up and flowing. If you havent checked out his website I highly reccomend it. It is beautifully done and there is a lot of interesting information. The forums tend to be a bit less regional than this site and can provide for some interesting reads. -Jerod

I can give you some fairly easy advice. I typically start just below outlet 2 and work down to the point fishing darker midge patterns, beadheads and WD40s, in sizes 18-20. The stretch between outlet 2 and rebar seems to get ignored a lot. You can pick up decent numbers of fish and occasionally a bruiser if you turn and fish back towards the pavilion. I think a lot of fisherman rush from the outlet and jump ahead to rebar without giving this area enough attention. The riffles above rebar are also a great area for picking up fish. Both outlet 2 and the rebar hole are very easy spots on Taney to recognize for people new to the tailwater. If you simply cant see the rebar sticking up, you can recognize rebar by a couple other landmarks. rebar is almost directly out from the new outlet 3 fish ladder. The river channel also makes a distinct S shape as it flows through rebar. Hopefully that is enough info to get you started and familiar with the area. -Jerod

I will bite; not because I feel the need to defend fly fishing, but because I appreciate a lot of the information and stories already shared. I am 35 and only took up fly fishing a few years ago when a friend talked me into a guys fishing trip weekend. Despite fishing my entire life and not feeling comfortable with the fly rod I struggled through the trip and decided to invest a little more time in a second guys trip. At the last minute my friends bailed on me and I snapped up my wife and decided to head to Taneycomo for the weekend. The second afternoon of the trip it was getting late and the fall sun was getting low. My wife had headed off to the strip malls and the temperature had dropped. I was the only person fishing within eyesight. I heard a wooshing sound above me and saw a bald eagle land accross the river in a dieing tree. He sat there and watched me fish for what seemed like forever, yet was probably no more than 10 minutes. The flyrod felt more like an instrument in my hands instead of the clumbsy flailing stick it had been all day. The cold chill in the air went away. I could hear the water flowing past me and could feel the force of the cold current against me. There was a rythm and purpose to the rod in my hands. That is when I realized that fly fishing was something I would be doing for a long time. I went home and piled all of my spin rods in the corner of the basement. I went to the fly shop and spent $3,000 on equipment and knew that I was hooked. I can only describe that afternoon as zen. I had a moment in the middle of that river that afternoon that I will likely never have again. -Jerod

Thanks for the informative report. Sounds like a couple good days. -Jerod

That is an awsome report. Thanks for providing the details. Now I have to sit in my cube and think about fishing for the rest of the afternoon....... -Jerod

For my birthday I managed to talk my wife out of the ordinary work shirts birthday gift and into some new fly line. I picked up a spool of the new Rio Gold and had the great folks over at K&K Flyfishers spool it up for me. From a layman's perspective.... My Battenkill Mid Arbor 3 had been spooled with Orvis Wonderline from the first day I bought it 2 years ago. It was free afterall and I didn’t know the difference. It was a considerable step up from the Cabela’s rod/reel/line combo I had been fishing previously. I never disliked the Orvis line but had issues keeping it buoyant and never really felt great about my casting. I constantly had issues shooting line. The Orvis line always had a sticky feeling even after I treated it with lubricants. The new Rio Gold has proved to be a night and day difference. The line is very slick and shoots like a dream. I really had to work to shoot line with the old setup, but even on shorter casts this new line wants to jump out of the rod. I have added significant distance to my casts with less effort. I actually find myself trying to prevent it from shooting at times. The biggest difference is at night. I can make much longer casts with less initial line out because of the Rio Gold's willingness to shoot. The line was also much easier to roll cast into the wind. The line is two tone. The head of the line is a dull green color and as you get into the taper it transitions to a bright orange color. I realize this probably has a small impact on its ability to catch fish but I like the color scheme for a few simple reasons. It never made much sense to me to toss a neon yellow fly line at one of the spookiest game fish around. The fish have to be able to see the line and a drab green has to be better than glowing yellow. The color scheme also helped me fish at night. I could look at the reel or the line and know exactly how much line I had out. I realize you can also do this by feeling the thickness of the line in your hands, but the visual reassurance was helpful for me. Overall the line isn’t exactly cheap at around $65 retail. I can’t comment on the lines durability or willingness to shed dirt and float after extended use. I can say that so far it has made a significant impact on my fishing and the enjoyment I get out of the sport. So far I would gladly recommend this line to anyone. -Jerod

This is going to be a short report, there wasnt much to report. Days All three days were rather similiar, lots of time on the water and very little to show for it. All three days I saw a lot more fisherman than I did fish caught. Saturday and Sunday I did well fishing the gauntlet early with a size 18 WD40 olive midge. I saw several very large fishing holding just above the big whole. On saturday, just as it was getting dark a very big fish jumped within 15 feet of me. He was big enough to cause a 6 inch wake similiar to a boat passing near me. That was a big suprise and probably the highlight of the day. There were several really big fish cruising the bank closest to the pavilion between outlet 2 and rebar. I did see a nice 12+ pound fish caught Sunday afternoon by a local, sorry didnt catch his name. I only saw the top one inch of the fish and it looked more like a log, but I am willing to bet it was a brown. He released the fish after barely handling it, in fact it never left the water. It is great to see someone treat such a prized fish with that much courtesy and respect. Nights Nights were a bit more active that the day hours. Fishing was best early although i didnt stay much past 2am either night. I had a ton of heavy takes but rarely managed to get fish hooked and into my hands. The most productive fly was a size 12 pine squirel sculpin pattern. I was the only person on the water from 8pm to 2am on Sunday night. When I was finished I walked up past outlet 2 just for fun. I pointed my headlamp into the outlet water and was really suprised at the number of really big fish in the outflow. I saw at least 10 fish over 20 inches. I decided to give them a night of peace and quiet and left them alone. I am starting to think we need a few weeks of really cold weather to let these fish rest and start to let their guard down a bit. They have been fished very hard for the past couple months. On a side note I fished with a new line this week, Rio Gold. I will put together a small review in the gear section with my thoughts. One last note: As I was walking up to the truck in the dark on Saturday night I forgot that my Oakleys were sitting on top on my hat. I pulled the hat off between outlet 3 stairs and the pavilion and never heard my sunglasses hit the leaves. If you stumbled accross a pair of sunglasses over the weekend, I am short a pair. -jerod

I will be down fishing Saturday through Tuesday. I typically fish afternoons and well into the night. I will be fishing solo, so if you need a night time fishing buddy holler. I will be driving a black F-150 with a rear tag that says Troutbum, Catch and Release. If you are definitely going to be on the water PM me and I will forward my cell number. -Jerod

The Southwest Power Administration website schedule shows limited production for the weekend. Hopefully that holds true. Tuesday of next week they may start running 24 hours again. It looks like they shut down last night around 4am and are still off. Hopefully that means a good weekend of fishing. -Jerod

I agree with you 100% Lilley. I live in Kansas City and we are talking about a sizeable investment in my personal time, time away from my pregnant wife, time off work, cash, wasted vacation, and effort for me to come down to Taneycomo and fish for a 3 day weekend. So if someone has a buddy at the TR dam that knows Beaver is going to be offline for the next week and the lost power is going to have to come from TR...that is very beneficial information for me If they are easing up on generation this morning that is a good sign though. -Jerod

Any word on this and how it will impact the wade fishing from Saturday through Tuesday? I am getting close to having to let my boss know whether to expect me in or out of the office next week. -Jerod

I am very interested as well. I will be down Saturday through Tuesday...Hopefully -Jerod

I just want to clarify one thing. Our local shops are a wonderful resource and I would never intentionally try to take money out of their pockets. Those folks work too hard for too little in most cases. I always find my way to Anglers and Archery to give Chuck some business simply because he is always warm and friendly when I bump into him fishing. So maybe a simplier question: If I buy flies online are they going to be quality flies or am i better off not doing it? -Jerod

I placed an order with www.flyshack.com a few weeks ago. They were great for the price but will never match the workmanship and attention to detail that you will find at a local shop. I know making my own is always an option, just not one i am interested in right now. -Jerod