Travis Swift

Quick little shot of shad over the top is awfully nice for the fishery.

Saturday night stunk for us also. Cause a few but not like the rest of the week. I knew Sunday was gonna be epic with all the nudging I saw while headed down to put the boat on the trailer. I threw my midges with a white indicator and interesting enough I had no less than 5 nice trout rise up and literally eat the indicator. Not just looking at it but actually eat the thing. I fought one half way back to the boat before he let go! Hopper deal sounds like a blast!

Always. No such thing as a bad trip to Taney. Wanted to give some detailed info to see if it would help anyone else out.

Just got back yesterday from a week at Taney. Thought I would share a quick report. Tons and tons of stockers between trout hollow and the bend. Midging in the mornings out in the middle of the lake on the leaf line. Super easy to catch. Caught 40 one morning in less than an hour. Just throw a jig out and start popping it the second it hits the water, all fish within a foot of the surface. Trophy area water off we did great on a size 18 ruby red midge and mega worms. 7x tippet is a must. Bite actually gets better when the sun gets high for some reason. Quality isn't quite as good as years past but we got spoiled for a few seasons there. Biggest fish we had was a 20 inch bow. Quite few 16 to 18 inch fish and a ton of dinks. Trophy area water running 2 units was better than 3 for us. Caught alot of fish from the cable to trophy run. All fish caught on 3/32 and 1/8th ounce jigs. The kicker was you HAD to have an orange headed jig. 98% of our fish were caught on orange headed sculpin/peach or sculpin/amber jigs. I threw black and other natural colored jigs a bunch and they flat wouldn't touch it. Jerkbaits with the water running was fruitless. Only caught a handful of fish doing that in our best spots and did it a ton. A couple small browns to show for our efforts was all. Brown trout......I think we lost a ton of them. Lowest brown trout numbers I've seen in years in my opinion. And I don't think the fungus thing is done taking a toll on them either, saw multiple ones in the water covered in the fungus. There are still some left no doubt but not near as many. Did see one fish I call a "submarine" and looked to be easily a 30 inch or bigger fish up top. I'm sure it will get caught at some point this fall. Was really nice to see at least one left in there though. Always a great time, can't wait to come back.

And you will be parked in your boat between the boat ramp and short creek first thing every morning......cya there again this year

I think they call it a boutique resort or something like that. I think it’s a mistake to not cater to fisherman. That pretty much is going to only leave 2 now. Good for you guys no doubt but just kinda sad after growing up and seeing them all on the lake all those years. Glad you guys are hanging in there and even expanding. Like Milo I like having the shop also. Got some stuff coming this week as a mater of fact that I can’t find anywhere else now !

I think it's great and I'm sure she was happy to see it go to you as you will take great care of the place. The next resort down sold recently as well and appears it's undergoing a big change also. That whole area will be updated and looking great soon I bet. Congrats again!

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.