Jeremy Hunt

When I was there the most disturbing thing I saw was how much it filled in where most the trout would old in. Maybe that's also why we are seeing less fish up top. I know trout can hold in shallow water, but with more pressure from wade fisherman and the fact that it's real shallow probably keeps them out of harms way and more downstream. I'm sure at night they'll start working their way up, but if the water was deeper I think it would hold alot more fish. I'm happy to hear the midge activity is back and the fish are fighting hard. Right below chute two going down to rebar hole use to have a deep channel. That’s is completely gone and that lane store a lot of fish, not so much. Even the rebar hole that is a nice deep channel that cut through to the gauntlet hole and then to big hole has changed. It spreads out a lot sooner then it did before. I haven’t fished it because it’s always packed with tons of people. I wonder if that’s storing a lot of big fish still. On a good note, the water that used to be shallow on the opposite side of the bank as your walking up to the cable line is so deep you can’t wade it, but in a pontoon boat I bet at night that’s where some big fish are now. Slow current which allows you to swing some streamers and work a lot of water. I've always done good on mickey finn's and black nose dace's. Duckydoty, Downstream, how's lookout and the water behind the island? Is it holding tons of fish?

I haven't had time yet, but I'll get you some in the mail in the next week or so.

It's a all year thing. Throw rusty midges for best results. Black is a great color, but the rusty will hook more browns year round. Winter is the best time!!!!

How many fish are you seeing up top verses previous years? Let's take a poll... I would really like to know people's opinion on this.

I told you Taney is in bad shape. Did anyone who fished during the cold weather we've had the last few days release warm trout ( to the touch)? I think the water is warmer on all three tailwaters for this time of year. The last few trips I had on the Norfork over the weekend the guy's couldn't believe how fast these fish would give up the fight. These fish are swimming to the boat. It's seems like they want a change, that's for sure. One thing that would help Taney would be to have more shoals. Even though we are facing some low d.o. levels at the Fork the fish are still feeding, but you can tell it's because of all the shoals we have downstream. There's a big difference fishing the upper section verses the lower section. It's really noticeable if your fishing it. Up at the dam all the way to long hole is a tough bite, but once you get to the first set of shoals when you enter the catch-n-release zones the bite picks up alot. Catching alot of fish, but all small and mostly bows. Once these lakes turn over, things will get back to shape. I'm like you...I wonder how many fish will suffer before that time. From what I can notice from the picture, the fish are in a dead spot ( no current ). When the water comes on the trout will pile up right there. I've seen it every year (if that picture is taken at big hole). Also along the bank on the hatchery side where you can walk out and take the trail from the big hole will also have alot of dead fish when they turn the water on. When I was there I saw two big browns bead in the 5-7 pound range. Keep in mind, when playing these fish try to get them in quick and release them fast. Right now because the water is dingy we are fishing Rio 4x (which should be 7 pound fluorocarbon tippet) and getting them in quick. If you don’t know how to get a fish in fast turn your rod the opposite direction the fish is trying to run. They will come in alot faster that way.

Glad to hear it. Thank you for keeping us posted.

Haters is a word that your blowing out of text. I didn't say anyone was a liar either. I did say haters when a few gave me grief for giving my honest opinion. It's seems to me that people first appreciated the honesty on giving a report that was more in depth. That's what I mean when I read reports. You know you can read every topic on my forum and it never gets like this. You know why because we understand what the word CLASS means. That's why I created my own forum. I've been away from this forum because of this right here. I would do more and post more patterns, but why it's not appreciated. So I’ll go back to my own. I respect Phil alot and use to work for him. That's why I want to be a part of this forum, but the bashing is something I can't understand. Even other people get it to and some might deserve it, but I don't come on here to be a jerk. My whole intention is to be helpful, PERIOD. I mean I built a site and do how-to-steps so I can give back what I've learn. That's pretty classy in itself. Don't you think? I don't have to do that so that should tell some of you that I do it out of the goodness of my heart. So why would I come on here a bring people down. Maybe I should’ve thought my words better before writing, but this is getting blown way out of context.

The key word here is REALLY. Which means not giving the whole story about the overall fishing conditions at Taney. You heard people say that they are reading the same thing on sites. Good days and bad days, but more good days then bad days. That's not right because Taney overall is fishing poorly. It just is. Lets be real here. I'm just being real and I think some people respect that. Read the last line....... Nobody is being honest??????? I take offense to that because I know these folks and they are not dishonest men. I didn’t imply people on the forum as you can read from my report. I said WEBSITES. THIS IS A FORUM. Let’s not turn this around Thom. Sounds like to me you’re the real hater. Especially for taking this personal and you don’t even have a report site directed to Taney. Right?

You need to lighten up. The report wasn't directed to you at all. Do you have a website that focus your guide trips on Taneycomo? I didn't know you were a guide. Call what you will, look at what you just did. Go over to my forum cut and paste my topic for everyone to see. Looks like your hating.

You know I got to thinking about it. I'm not going to sweat these guys. I'll say what I want.

What? I just took offense to someone saying that I don't know nutting about nuttin about Taney and I have been coming there for 30 + years Who said that? Go ahead with the chlorophyll.....

Not the case. I still caught fifty or so in a six hour day. I enjoy it every time I go fishing. Any day you're on the water is a good day. I'm thankful for my health which allows me to do this.

Didn't even think of Bill and Vince when I wrote the report. "But if you type out an opinion that calls out people for lying to drum up biz" WHAT? I didn't single anyone out and that wasn't my intention when I wrote the report. It was a overall report (in general) on the conditions at Taney. Fishing can be up and down and yes it's just fishing, but Taney is a fishery that can produce alot of fish on a regular basis. So the moral to the report is to let people know it's not like it used to be. When I fished Taney the other day I caught fish pretty much the whole day, but you had to work a little harder to get them and to me, that shouldn't be the case with this fishery. It's a bath tub full of fish and anybody beginner can have a good day their first time out. Right now, not so much. That's being real.

It's not to much for me. I'm back.

I agree with Flitrap4. I’m just concerned and want people to know what's really going on with this fishery. Now don’t take this the wrong way, but I'm in Arkansas now and I look forward to every time I'm on the water down here. I like Taney, but I love the White and Norfork. Right now the fishing is better and the fish are on the move… and big browns for that matter. The high water didn’t throw off our fall run. The Norfork is fishing great right now with lot’s of big fish being caught. I had a film crew for five days last week and we stuck a lot of browns over twenty inches. If you want to come down this way pm me and we can do some fishing. I’m slowing down on the trips. So if you would like the buddy rate let me know and we’ll go out and hook some of these fish. You know what’s funny, we are only a little over an hour away and the fishing is a lot better. I don’t know why more people don’t make the commute. I’m sure some of you are asking, then why did you come here. The answer is because my readers are important to me and I know this site is dedicated to Taney and I’ll never forget where it all started for me. I also wanted to branch out and learn all I can about this water. My goal is to be a guide on all tailwaters. Flexibility is key when your clients put it in your hands to have the best time. I work hard for my clients and will always do what I can to make it the most educational trip it can be. I’m first a teacher then the rest is history. I want people to learn as much as they can. I think that’s what you pay for. Don’t know where I’m going with this, just thought some of you would like to know if you don’t know me.

I'll share mine to.

me either.

nothing

nothing

Taneycomo 27th 2008 You know, I have to be real honest with the readers because that’s what I do. I read all these websites that are about Taneycomo‘s fishing conditions. I mean don’t get me wrong, this is my home water and this is where it all started for me so I love it here, but when I read all these sites that say fishing is great and we’re catching lot’s of fish, I just shake my head. To be simply honest with you, it’s not fishing good at all. In the past years it was nothing for you to catch a hundred fish every time you went out and right now you can’t do that for a few reasons. I’m not out there everyday anymore since I moved to Arkansas, but I fish it once or twice a month and can say at this moment….fishing is fair. Let’s be real here, with water temps in the 60’s and the d.o. being bad for a long period of time, these fish have suffered. I spent from 12-6pm fishing with the water off and caught several fish, but most of everything I caught was skinny in the body and not big by any means. Big heads and small bodies and that is the first I‘ve seen it like that in all my years fishing it. And for the most part the browns have moved out too. I counted about six browns in the neighborhood between 3-6 pounds. Nothing like you should see this time of year. The high water pushed them up sooner this year, they did their business and are already back downstream. I hate to be the one giving you this information, but who else will. It seems like nobody is really being honest and saying the real truth, and maybe that has to do with generating trips. Here’s another thing I notice that is really bad for Taneycomo since the floods of 2008. The upper section has filled in dramatically . Where trout used to hold, they don’t anymore. The river doesn’t really get good until your down at the rebar hole for holding plenty of fish. I know the outlets do, but I don’t talk about the outlets, I talk about the river in general. If I was a trout I wouldn’t live up top simply because there’s no holding grounds. And if you ask me, the fish aren’t stacked up in numbers like they used to be in past years. It’s sad to see this, but that’s what it is. In high water, it’s a different story because they have plenty of room to roam. All I know is it’s sad to see this river changed in a bad way. Now on a good note, the fall is here and it’s as beautiful as it’s gets. The wind was blowing hard yesterday and the leaves are getting in the way of getting good drifts. All day I had to pick off leaves that my fly caught when I would pick up to recast. I’m looking out the window right now and see another windy day so be ready for that. I brought my drift boat and actually put it in about three o’ clock to find myself taking it out about fifteen minutes later because I was a sail boat out there. One reason why I use boats instead of wading is simply because you can see higher up and spot bigger fish. I think it’s a big advantage and to me, I’m always after bigger fish anymore. I played the numbers game when I was growing up, but anymore it’s to test my skills and go after big fish. I plan on fishing today sometime around noon. That seems to be the routine for Taney. They run in the morning and shut it off for six hours and then run it until 10pm and then it’s off until the following day at 6am. Table Rock is back down to pool for the most part so they shouldn’t generate a lot of water, but the reason for this is, Beaver is running and dumping into Table Rock because they’re up seven feet above pool. Beaver can only hold ten feet before they have to run flood gates so I’m sure that’s why they are running some water on Taney. Another reason is because of the d.o. and the ppm staying higher then 4. This was a big wake up call and tells the higher up that they need to figure out these d.o. problems for the future or we’ll see problems like this again. I apologize for such a negative report, but it’s important for the readers to know this. What flies are working? I didn’t try everything in my arsenal, but I did throw a number of patterns. If you’re fishing along the banks try midge patterns and fish them on the surface or right under the water column. On the surface olive loop wings, emergers, or RS2 were working the best. I also tied on the big ugly and a rusty midge dropper getting hit’s on both patterns. If you want to no the honest truth, the rusty midge was beating everything hands down. If you’re nymphing on the bottom, gray scuds, any color egg patterns and bead head hares ears were the ticket for me. They’re starting to chase stuff so small wooly buggers and crackleback’s on the strip are producing as well. Good luck out there!! I took pictures but didn’t bring my usb cord to upload them. When I get home I’ll upload the pictures and you’ll find them with this report. Take care out there and watch out for those armadillos.

Phillip, I would also love to be a part of it. I've invented several patterns for this area that are real trout producers. I have a few that Bob, Ed Story and I sat down and came up with that actually made it to the Feather-Craft catalog in 03 and 04. What are you needing exactly? You can pm me and we can discuss it further. I really want to give you what you want instead of random patterns because I wouldn't know where to start. Glad to be a part of it and thank you for putting this together.

Actually the smell is very distinct on Norfork right now.

We've tried to use them in the deeper sections of the White with no luck. I need you to come down and show me how to do the technique my friend.

Here's a few photo's of yesterday trip we (potamoi media group.com) had. We actually went to Dry Run Creek to get some footage of a few big fish swimming around in the pool and stumbled on a few kids with their father. Come to find out we started helping out and this is what we came up with. Also fished Norfork and hooked up on a few browns as well. Great day on the water with many nore to come. To read more about what's going on with this media group you can go read on my site.

I was up last week and saw a ton of dead fish on the bottom. Here's a picture of a dead brown I saw while drifting down past outlet three. Decided to get the camera out and take a picture of this one. This brown was probably six pounds from the looks of it.