jim murphy

It was a perfect day for muskie fishing, cloudy, rain off and on, and windy. There were only a few boats out. Water is about 12ft low with a surface temperature of 63*. No follows on muskie or at least none were seen at the boat. Threw a number of different flies from 4" to 9" in an aray of colors and styles. Did have a couple large swirls about 20' or so from the boat, when we start to cast again, could have been muskie but do not know. Between the waves and glare on the water it was difficult to see into the water, even with quality polarized glasses on. Talked with a couple of other boats on the water, they said that they had some follows with no takers. Their retrieve rates were considerably faster than what I had been doing and lures were much larger. jim

Foam is a legal fly tying material. Evazote, Cross-link, Loco, McFly, open cell, closed cell, stryo, and others are legal fly tying materials. These were all legallized when then new Rules and Regulations came out a couple of years ago, when they had all the controversy and different standards in the Trout Parks. jim

The information I have been told, from MDC Officials, is that Sili-skin and Chewballs are fly tying materials that are illegal in the Trophy area of Taneycomo, and flies only and lure zones of the State Trout Parks, because they are considered SOFT PLASTIC. The agents in that area may consider these products legal in the Trophy area. Before the new rules on flies and materials used to construct them were revised to have a STATE WIDE STANDARD, somethings that were allowed at one place were illegal in others and vise versa. Laws and Regulations are written in black and white and everyones interpretaion is a different shade of gray. Sili-skin is an adhesive backed soft plastic material used to make the Gummy Minnow series, and the Chewballs are soft rubber egg imitations that can be tied to a hook. Castaic, Bulldog and other injection molded soft plastic baits of that type are? or should be illegal in the Trophy area of Taneycomo. No matter how indestructable they may be, and they all have a scent to them, fish atractant or otherwise. If the MDC considers these high-tec soft plastics to be legal in these ares, then they will need to rewrite the Definitions, Laws and Regulations, and may as well include, the currently illegal fly tying materials for those areas. I hope that not to much of my TAX money is wasted duing this, rather than being spent to improve our fisheries. At the Trout parks, there are people, who are always, trying to find a loop in the Definitions, Laws and Regulations to catch more fish or to at least think they have some advantage over the fish and other fishers, no matter how unethical they are. It is terrible to see that people are trying to do this at Taneycomo, but then again, Taneycomo is labeled as the State's largest Trout Park by some MDC Officials. jim

cpriest, I use Simms Wind Stopper Fleece fingerless glove/mitten, when I have to resort to using gloves. They are a fingerless glove and mitten all in one. They are very warm, comfortable, and fisherperson friendly. jim

Larry, Muskies, Inc has a chapter here in Missouri. Their web address is missourimuskies.org . They have a section on their site that gives all the GPS coordinates for the brushpiles they have planted, as well as the areas that have produced muskies and lures used. I have fished Pomme for a number of years and caught three there, while fishing for bass. I am trying to attempt to catch one on a fly rod now, and I still have a ways to go for that 10,000 cast. The flies that I am using range from 5 - 8", even have a couple close to 10". They are BIG and BULKY, a couple of them I can throw on an 8 weight with some wind, but the majority I toss on a 10 weight. This past Spring, I fished Fellows Lake, north of Springfield, and had two follows in five trips. The first was about 26 - 28" and the second about 48", which stayed beside my boat long enough to scratch two marks for measurements. jim

Larry, The best ramp for access to the upper end of Lake Taneycomo is Cooper Creek Access, off Fall Creek Road. It is maintained by the MDC and open to the public. For the lower end, I use the city park ramp at Rockaway Beach above Powersite Dam, this area may have a name but I do not know of it. Welcome aboard, and hope to see you on the water. jim

Brian, SMFF is having an Outing on this Sunday, Oct. 15, floating from Kelly Ford to Blair Bridge. Do you have any information on the current river and fishing conditions? I see that the river is low from the USGS river info, also how bad is the moss? Thanks, jim

We have had weed beds come and go, drought conditions and low generation in the past. And like Phil has stated, it runs in cycles. How long will this cycle last? The drought cycle out at the San Juan lasted about 4 years, and has rebounded well. About 5 years ago, the algae was worst than it is now. I remember that you could not walk through any slow or non flowing section without stirring up a sludge trail, but fish numbers and invertebrae numbers were not as low as we have now or at least did not appear to be. Maybe, we need another flood like we had back in '94, I think, and flush all the lakes and rivers. Only problem is that the Wonderful, much needed Branson Landing Development may not be able to handle that much water. jim

Rodney, Jason, and I fished from the Hatchery boat ramp to Fall Creek. We caught approx. 60 between the three of us. A majority of the fish were caught on a size 16 bomber. I used 5X tippet until about 1 then switched to 6X. Several of the fish that we took throat samples from, had been eating midges that were olive in color and about a size 16 to 18. Only one fish we sampled had eaten a scud, which seemed a little out of the ordinary, as well as several fish had eaten pieces of moss and midge shucks. Here are a few things to consider as to what is happening to our fishery, just from my observations? Of the few fish we sampled only one had eaten a scud, scuds are one of their main forage foods available. Has something happened to the invertebra in the upper end of Lake Taneycomo? What is the invertebra population from the Big Hole to Fall Creek, must be low do to low numbers of Trout we have seen in these areas? No food, no fish. A large number of White Suckers have moved into the upper end of Taneycomo. Why are these large numbers of fish up here? Better habitat, food, water quality, tired of dealing with all of the development in Branson. The weed beds in the Trophy area are abscent this year? This is something that is not to out of the ordinary but could have an impact as well. The one weed bed, at the Lookout Hole, that seems to grow all the time, is smaller this year than normal. The #3 Outlet and waterfall have been dry since this Spring. What impact has this lack of water run off had on our fishery? It may be only about 30 cfs, but every little bit helps as well as increases the disolved oxygen levels some. A majority Lake Taneycomo's supply of water comes from Table Rock Lake. Is there something wrong with Table Rock's water quality? I have not read any of the reports on this forum lately, but some of my friends who fish Table Rock with some regularity said that the fishing has not been that great since this Spring. We have had a long dry year, not much rain or any fresh water run off. How much of this is a factor? We cannot just blame the poor fishing at Taneycomo on the White suckers. There are too many other factors that need to be considered, all of which or any combination of could be impacting our prized Trout fishery. Question is is it going to get any better or is it going to get worse. jim

Hello, my name is jim, and I am addicted to fly fishing. A fair number of you already know me from BCO. I am going to be posting under my own name, so that if any postings I partake in offend anyone; it is not in direct correlation with BCO. This move is probably in my best interest, as well as and for the benefit of BCO. I hope that the information I share benefits those who are interested in what I know, though I do not know everything. As well as, get the opportunity to meet some of you and share our vast amout of knowledge. Thanks Phil, for this great informational website and forum. jim