Travis Swift

There are quite a few people that wade up at the dam at night I believe. Especially if the water is off. My personal opinion on the float tube is I wouldn't do it. The water can come on at a moments notice and if you very far from the dam you wouldn't be able to hear the horn. Also down lake (past the landing) does hold some trout year round. Renting a boat would be a good idea and let you see more of the lake. Lilleys has some great options and gas is included in the rental I believe. Have a great trip.

So the other night looking for something to do for a couple of hours I grabbed my fly rod out of my rack.....had been awhile since I used it. I dug around and found my bass flies that I hadn't used in quite some time and off I went to a pond I have permission on. Soon as I opened up the box I found 3 or 4 beautiful poppers I had almost for got about. I remembered instantly Marty had made them. I tied one on and caught several bass including this nice chunky rascal. It was so much fun. I make all my own lures for the most part so I had to hit Marty up and see how he made these so I can try to make some of my own. Just a quick note about Marty.....When I asked him about these things YEARS ago he quickly sent me some without knowing me from anyone. I've since come to admire what an amazing person he is. Seemingly good at everything he does and as kind and generous as anyone can be. Even though I have never met him in person I consider him a "friend"......as I would guess a lot of folks on here do. The world needs many more Marty's!

I went ahead and grabbed the trout magnet rod. I enjoy a fly rod but it's not ideal with 3 guys in a 17 foot boat and dealing with a trolling motor as well. This will let me throw all the same baits I usually do without hookin' some ol' boy behind me

I'm looking for a 9 foot plus spinning rod. Currently looking at the Trout Magnet Trinity Rod. Will use this in place of my fly rod at times for throwing micro jigs or midges etc. I have a couple of 8 footers now that do fine but looking for something a tad longer. Anyone have a suggestion? The Trout Magent rod is $159, are their cheaper options like the wally marshall rod that's okay or better for the money?

He went by "Trav" and he talked a lot and wrote a lot but never saw a lot of evidence. If half of what he would write was true it must of been pretty awesome back in the day down there. Phil went down and met him a time or two if I recall. For sure was interesting to read some of his stuff back in the day!

I agree they probably don't live in 40 feet of water but what I sort of meant is there is ALOT of water down there. And there is very very very low pressure on brown trout that way. Almost no one specifically targeting them and certainly not at night when they are feeding more often. And there is a ton more bait down there, chubs, shad, sculpin, small rainbows, crappie, bluegill etc. And more cover as you know in the form of grass and trees. Is it loaded with giant brown trout? Doubtful but it has the ingredients to grow or harbor a giant in my opinion.

So I'll ask a stupid uneducated question. On the triploids, they obviously can't spawn but do they still make a "false" run in the fall? Or are they built to eat and get big and the only thing they care about is food? Reason is, I wondered if some of the giants stayed down lake last fall and didn't move up and therefore they may not have caught the fungus? But when you say none of the big ones have been triploids that theory kinda goes out the door. I still maintain there are monsters living from Bull Creek down but sure couldn't prove it and not many if any try for them down there. Some of those bluffs past rockaway are straight down and have close to 40 feet of water in the deep holes. Who knows what might be living down that way.

Good report Milo. Sucks to lose ol' big but I'm sure glad there are a few of the monsters left, I was afraid we had lost them all.

We got into a big white bass run a Beaver for several years in a row. The weird part is you couldn't catch a single dang one during the day but when we went back in this cove/creek at night we caught them all night long. Go back during the day and they were gone. Was fun as there would be a Striper mixed in occasion as well. We caught all of them on road runners but they flat wouldn't touch any plastic tailed road runner. Had to be marabou and had to be after dark. So weird but was a hoot.

That's really what I'm afraid of. It's put a damper on it for me as well unfortunately. I'm taking my spring trip to Texas bass fishing this year instead of taney for browns for that reason. It was going really well too with a bunch of good ones in there. Really sucks.

That is so good for the health of the fishery when that happens. Hopefully whatever big browns might be left in the lake really hammer those shad to help their growth!

Thank you for creating the app, I just downloaded it and it looks great!

I maybe late to the party on this one......My phone says the generation app got disabled? Is there a new one in it's place?

That will REALLY suck if true, we were getting alot of nice brownies back in the joint.

I know a guy that caught a 40 pound spoonbill on lower Taney a few years back and I saw one dead that big floating down at rockaway once.