Travis Swift

I think the phone app is the easiest way to go, just make sure you have the kiddo's SS# ready or no dice.

They are shutting them down at 4pm today. If your going up you better hurry.

They just posted that they are shutting them off at 4PM today. That didn't last long

I"m salivating thinking of a white jig bite.........I wanna run back down so bad. ugh.

oh okay, sorry about that. I've been up there a ton of times with the gates open but I won't lie it's intimating the first time I get up there every time when they are open. I always try to make sure the boat is organized, the net is handy but out of the way, minimal rods are on the deck of the boat, slow steady movements the first time or two and most importantly my Mustang inflatable life vest is on. I love that thing and it doesn't get in the way at all. After the first drift or two down it feels good and normal but yes Sir it can be intimating at first for sure.

Man I would go rent a boat if I were you. Flood gates, especially in the fall or winter are a special time!

Gatorjet, we always get excited when your there when we are, we can hear you coming from about a mile away and we get excited to see you fly by, it's awesome!

Millenium has a new pedestal seat out that smaller and red and grey both and it's awesome. I bought one for my Tracker and love it!

if you could find a way to ship them reasonable i would be in for them in a heartbeat

I like to stay on plane in my tracker and go by people, I know I'm being safe and doing them an actual favor but I get flipped the bird and yelled at by people on rental boats sometimes because they simply don't realize it's creating a ton less wake for them than the folks that plow by them. I've only got a 60 hp so it's not like i'm acting like a nut job. I actually try to wave people on quite a bit when they are coming by me, I just want them to stay on plane and come on by. Another thing no one mentions.......when boats come by and throw a wake, I get bites ALOT, especially with jig and float and even fishing off the docks. I always thought it stirred up the bottom or adds some movement to the bait and makes them bite.

We fished Saturday and with the three units going it was one of the tougher mornings I've had in quite awhile, we actually went down lake and bass fished a bit. When we came back up the water was off and we whacked them pretty good on jigs catching around 30 the last 45 mins of our day, they were just stockers but a nice end to a tough day.

I talked to Lionel a couple weeks ago, it's their attempt to slow people down... But it doesn't work too well. My boat gets the snot beat out of it on their dock. It's a pretty narrow stretch and people will go by there on plane or throwing a wake at literally less than 10 or 20 yards sometimes, it's nuts!

My experience throwing jerkbaits goes back to the 80's and 90's when very few of us were doing it and it was amazing back then! I never have fished them at night so see Jester for that info or Duane nor have I bank fished them. During the day I throw jerkbaits when we have moving water, in my experience.. Mine only... If the water is off I'm wasting time throwing it. One unit is okay, 2 units is by far my favorite to throw it in and 3 on up are fine also. In less than 3 units I throw a Megabass Vision 110+1 99% of the time. With more than 3 this past year I've gone to the Megabass Vision 110+2. Both are pricey and worth every penny as far as I'm concerned. I throw mine with a 7ft falcon medium action casting rods, a Daiwa Tatula reel and 8 pound Pline Cxx in moss green. I have 4 of these exact set ups so I can switch baits and colors all the time. Retrieves vary by the day and hour, sometimes non stop snapping, sometimes they wanna eat it on the pause. I've caught fish on jerkbaits in Taney from one cable to the next, sometimes below the landing ya never know what might eat it when it gets popped, I've caught rainbows, Browns, largemouth, Kentuckies and whitebass on Taney on jerkbaits. Good luck and have fun with it. Last thing I'll add is the jerkbait pressure on this lake has gotten crazy, so try to find colors or retrieves that others aren't.. Sometimes thinking outside the box will get ya bit by Ol' Big 😉

You know I think alot of this is Covid, fishing and outdoor related recreation has exploded this year.. Have ya tried to buy tackle? Finding some 1/8th ounce egg sinkers was like finding a diamond in the rough for awhile. Also not as many kids sports being played, people aren't flying to Mexico or going on cruises so why not come to Branson and fly fish outdoors. Somethibg else to consider is there hasn't been any low wadeable water in probably 3 years or more so people were chomping at the bit for that. Throw those factors into social media and you have a perfect storm. Fisherman on Trock will tell you it's been busier than they have ever seen it too, it's not just Taney boys. Me, I'm coming to Taney 6 times a year whether are 10 boats or 1000. And I'm not gonna stop posting pictures and reports because I like to read others, not because I feel like I need the tips, but more because for a brief minute I can get lost in a report from Jesters, Snagged, Phil etc and for a brief minute in a crappy day I am able to day dream that I'm actually there and it's my happy place. So I try to share the same for people. Same reason I watch one cast, I don't give a crap if Phil catches a thing or if they forget what day it is, I watch because I love Taney and for 30 Mins a day it makes me feel like I'm "home".... For the record I do like it when you catch them Phil . I'll be down this weekend, stuck on the rip rap bank at fall creek one day and a boat part of another but I betcha you get a report from me and a Pic or two

Beautiful fish and congrats! The pictures i'm seeing online of the trophy area when the water is off is mind blowing. Looks like a zoo up top!

Time to head to the lower lake Bill, tons of trout, very few boats. From Bee Creek to Rockaway always has a bunch of fish in it and some good ones and some times you can go several days without seeing another boat. I know by your old posts you used to fish it some, might be time to revisit it, I've grown quite fond of it the last few years as the boats up top are starting to ruin the experience more and more for me.

Rainbows survive in Trock and are caught on occasion and dang nice ones at that so it's at least possible some Browns could be in Bull Shoals and thriving.

So if we did lose a bunch of big brown trout over Powersite during the floods I would think it's conceivable to think that Bullshoals is deep enough to possibly sustain Brown Trout and if so there could be a bunch of big Triploid Brown trout swimming around in there getting stupid big on the abundant forage? Don't Browns thrive in a little warmer water than Rainbows? I maybe way off base, just curious but it is a thought that they have survived down there and could be growing huge?

That could be, good thinking! There are a bunch of small ones in there this year, pretty cool to see!

Interesting stuff there. A few take aways for me: 1) Did we really have high enough water in 2020 to "significantly deplete" the brown trout numbers? 2)It was pretty early in the fall yet for the browns to move up perhaps, they are sampling only 3.5 miles of a 22 mile lake 3)Triploid Brown trout don't always make that spawning run up like others so perhaps they are more highly populated in the other 16.5 miles of the lake since they don't run up and aren't really sampled very far down? We all know that Cooper to Monkey hot spot this year was, they may not leave that area plus who knows what is even further down that that? 4)MORE Triploid's on the way baby!!! That means hopefully plenty of monsters for years and years to come. Thank you Shane and MDC!

That is really interesting, i'm glad you caught it. Last week with the water off I thought the fish we caught were the hardest fighting fish I have ever caught in Taney and you know how much I come down. Some of them put the best acrobatic show on of any fish I have ever caught as well jumping way out of the water but it took forever to get fish in the boat, especially up top as they just wouldn't give up. I'm guessing the running water this week was oxygen starved though. Good info Phil

kinda nice and kinda torture at the same time cause I know when I see the posts I want to be there all day everyday ahahah. Hope you are well Marty!

My friend Adam that owns Lakeshore mailed me this booklet he found a few weeks ago. Not super old (1981) but another cool edition to the man cave