Phil Lilley

They shut the water off at Table Rock Dam! After months and months, we're now seeing quite a bit of low water here on Lake Taneycomo. Has that helped trout fishing? Not really. It's still pretty slow. The reason? I can blame it on several things, not one of which I can say it's it, for sure. Low dissolved oxygen is a seasonal thing here on Taney and that's probably one of the main reasons but 61 degree water could be the other. I have to tell you, the rainbows I'm catching are fighting very hard, not coming in with no fight like that normally do this time of year. And they're swimming off after the fight, again not normal for fish living in low O2 water. These trout are also fat--they're eating something. Late breaking news! I just saw these bugs swimming around our dock - I'm going to have to do more extensive research but this might be why we're not catching many trout right now! If this migration is happening lake wide, our trout may be targeting these scuds and not really interested in anything else. I've heard about scud migrations back in the 60's and 70's where the bugs were so thick along the banks and docks that they would turn the water black. That was back in the "hay-day" when catching a 4-5 pound rainbow was common because of the food source they had - scuds. Scuds are extremely high in protein. They're raised and sold dried to people who have fish tanks. Scuds farms are big business in some areas of the world, namely Germany. Scuds also are an indicator of a lake's health. Even though we're experiencing seasonal low dissolved oxygen, these bugs seems to be doing very well. I have to be honest, I fished yesterday (Friday) for the first time since they shut the water down earlier in the week so I'm going by reports from guests and our guides. Mornings have been still, no wind and no current. Trout aren't moving around much, waiting for something--not sure what. When the wind kicks up mid-morning, the bite picks up. Look for that crop of the water and chase it if you have to. I got out yesterday morning about 8 a.m. and boated up midway between Lookout and the Narrows. There were only 2 boats up there--me and Chuck Gries (and clients). There was a good chop on the water--I found myself conflicted, trying to decide to fish the shallows, the middle or the bluff side. I wanted to use scuds. But I didn't see any movement--nothing surfacing, nothing working the shallows. I started throwing a 3/32nd ounce jig using 2-pound Vanish. I picked up a nice rainbow on my second cast. I thought it may be a good morning. No other bites for 20 casts or so, then hooked another rainbow. Caught one more then switched to the fly rod. Thinking scuds would be the ticket, I started in the middle of the lake with a #14 gray scud under an indicator 6 feet deep. No bites, until I left the fly alone for what I thought was an eternity (2-3 minutes). Got a bite. A very quick one which I set the hook on. A nice 14 inch rainbow which I didn't land. Switched to a zebra midge. Began to see some fish midging in a line of leaves closer to the bluff bank. Targeted rising fish--no bites. Then I left it, again, for 2-3 minutes. Got a bite and landed a 12 inch rainbow. Got another bite but this time it was a slight nudge--I shouldn't even call it a bite. I ended up boating down below Fall Creek hoping to find more active fish. Found the chop and started with the Zebra, this time a little deeper (24 inches). No bites. Worked it hard with no success. Zebras were #16 black with a copper head and a rusty midge. Went back out about 5:00 and boated up to the same area I started that morning. More surfacing trout but less chop on the water. What chop was there quickly disappeared. No boats above Fall Creek. There were quite a few fish working the shallow side--in less than 12 inches of water. In some cases, the trout's dorsal was sticking out of the water. They were nosing around in the gravel trying to kick something up to eat--a scud, sow bug or a midge pupa. Or may be a worm. I tied on a #18 light gray scud and set a 1/2 palsa 12 inches from the fly. Tossed in the middle of a pod of working fish but several times--nothing. I would spook them at times but I was making good casts, good presentations. Just had the wrong fly on. I changed a couple of time--color, size but didn't find anything they were interested in. I worked the bank for a couple hundred yards, over an hour and hooked one rainbow. Got down to the Narrows and changed to the bluff bank. Tied a #12 200R tan scud on, indicator 24 inches from the fly. There were a few fish working the bank and they were interested in what I was offering. Hooked 4 rainbows, all beautifully colored, strong fish. I got a pic of one of them in the photarium. As I ran the bank down to the shallow point/flat across from the boat ramp, I thought I'd start getting more action. That's always been a great stretch, but not tonight. I hooked one rainbow off the point. Darkness called the evening. Duane said he stopped below the dam on the way to work on Thursday morning (about 8:30 a.m.) and casted his spey rod off the bank between outlets #1 and #2. He stripped a #12 olive pine squirrel and caught 4 rainbows in quick order. He said he got a lot of attention real quick because it was slow for everybody else. If you're not familiar with a spey rod, you need a lot of room on both sides of you to cast because you're not throwing the line behind you. As people moved in on him, they quickly got a spey rod casting lesson. . . you'll get lined if you get too close. I don't have a good feel for bait fishing right now. People are catching a few trout on a variety of baits -- from night crawlers to Powerbait. Worms are doing the best but they're catching them on some Gulp too, just not in big numbers. With the rain moving in, we may see worms washed in the lake so night crawlers may become the hot bait very soon. Today (Saturday), I got out and fished this afternoon for a couple of hours. I had planned on exclusively fishing a scud since they hadn't been running any water but when I got up lake to Fall Creek, I noticed some current. I tried to call the dam auto-number for the lake level but it's not working. So I just boated up past Fall Creek and pulled in onto the east bank across from the Fall Creek boat ramp (the one that's blocked off and can't be used). Beached the boat and got out. Didn't have waders so stayed on dry gravel. The lake wasn't up much but the current through that area was moving pretty good. Checking the Corp site it looks like they ran 30mw of power which is about a 1/2 unit and only ran it for a little more than an hour. I had on a scud from yesterday--#14 gray Perfect scud, tied by Jeremy Hunt. It's tied with 8 turns of x-sm wire so it's pretty heavy. Had it under an indicator 24 inches. I walked the bank down lake to the point. Hooked 12 trout and landed 8 rainbows. Boated up to what I call Dry Wash - a wash that comes in on the west or right bank from Pointe Royale Golf Course--there's a gravel bar there. The water was still running over the bar. I eased up on it with the trolling motor and fished out on the bar and off the bottom side. Caught 2 rainbows (Perfect Scud). Continued down lake fishing both sides of the lake with no bites. Got down to the Narrows gravel bar. The current was down to hardly nothing but enough to keep drifting and working a scud. I dropped to a #16 light gray scud, weighted, with a small, red San Juan Worm as a dropped 18 inches below the scud. It took me 45 minutes to work the whole bar, catching a dozen rainbows. All in all, it was a good afternoon for me. I stayed with what I knew the trout were feeding on and worked good areas very slowly and methodically.