Phil Lilley

The leaves have all fallen and we've had our first hard freeze. Yep . . . winter is right around the corner! I believe some great trout fishing is around the corner too here on Taneycomo. Generation has slowed to a crawl. They are running almost 2 units early in the morning but it's been off by 10 a.m.. It has stayed off the rest of the day with a bump after dark for less than 2 hours. My guess this will be the weekday pattern for a while and probably less generation, if any at all, on weekends. Trout fishing has been pretty good for most people going out in boats but dock fishing has been only fair. Most take most of the day to get their limit of 4 trout off the dock and they're catching rainbows on a variety of Power Bait and night crawlers. Our water is not real clear so 4 pound line is ok but 2 pound is better. That goes for the whole lake, not just off the dock. We've had some wind which is good. Choppy conditions are always good for fish biting. Some have done well going down lake from the resort and fishing a pink Trout Magnet under a float 5 feet deep. Also putting a Gulp pink egg on a small jig head hook and fishing it 5 feet deep under a float. A lot of people are boating up to the mouth of Fall Creek and fishing either night crawlers or Power Bait and catching quite a few rainbows. The few times I've been out the last couple of weeks, I've notice a lot of boats cheating past the line and using bait in the restricted area. Now I really don't know how much of a stickler our agents are on the line at Fall Creek but a $150 ticket isn't worth 50 feet I wouldn't think. Those trout just above the line aren't any bigger than the ones just below the line. I've heard there's a lot of anglers mistaken where exactly Fall Creek comes in to the lake. I enters Taneycomo from the west or right side if you're looking upstream from Fall Creek's dock. There's a slew that looks like a creek on the left side and further up lake from Fall Creek which some boaters think is Fall Creek. That could be an expensive assumption. The mouth of Fall Creek is marked by a big sign put there my the Missouri Department of Conservation identifying the bottom boundary of the restricted area. Above Fall Creek, if you get up there when the water is running early in the morning, throw a 3/32nd ounce white jig from the dam down to the MDC boat ramp. There are still a few big browns up there. Also work a medium stick bait like a Rapala or Rouge. Also drifted an egg fly on the bottom. These trout are seeing quite a few eggs being laid by browns and now rainbows are starting to spawn. When the water stops, fish a jig and float, 2 pound line and fish it 4 to 6 feet deep, depending on how deep the water is you're fishing. I got out this afternoon for a couple of hours. Hardly anyone else on the lake today. Boated up past Fall Creek, past the Narrows and started there. I wanted to try a lot of things to see what they likes. I started with darker colors jigs under a float, 6x tippet. They didn't want any of it. So I put on a brown with an orange head jig and they liked it. Switched to a black/brown, black head and nothing. Then sculpin/ginger, brown head and they liked it. A pattern was emerging--they wanted something with a light or bright color. Ginger, sculpin/peach even pink was hot. There was a fairly good chop on the water most of the time but when the wind died so did the bite. I caught most of my fish below the Narrows in the deeper water down closer to where the condos start. Trout were midging on the east or shallow bank there so after catching my last jig rainbow, I tied on a #16 Ugly Midge (green body) and a palsa float only 12 inches from the fly and started working those feeding rainbows. I had great action for the next 30 minutes. I didn't want to change flies because as soon as I casted the zebra in close to a rise, the float would take off and I hooked another rainbow. These trout were quite a bit bigger than the ones I was getting on the jig out in the deeper water too. But nothing over 14 inches. This is the bank I caught them on zebra midges. It's always a great bank because there's deep water close to this shallow gravel bar. Rainbows come up on it and eat both scuds and midges. I took pictures of the rainbows I caught on a different colored jigs and then a few on the midge. it's always hard to stop and take time to take pictures when the fishing is as good as it was this evening. I have heard fishing below the dam, wading and fly fishing, has been very good. Like I said, there are still a few browns up there but the spawning rainbows are starting to show up in good numbers and very big in weight too. I was told they're keying in on egg flies real well. No weight, just let them sink slowly and let them drift in the slow current or if there's current, add just a tiny split shot. Around the outlets of course is the hottest but very hard to not snag fish because they're just so many stacked in on top of one another (I am talked about trout but anglers are stacked up in the outlets too).

There's a guy west of WalMart super center in Ozark. That's the closest I know of. I'd leave it hang before I'd put it in a cooler. Skin on.

ok

So you've made reservations? Do we have enough bedrooms, beds? I think we have enough food and boats. What is the room rate?

Our guides supply all gear if that's of interest. We also rent fly rods and can help with basic flies and gear.

I was just going to bring a few smoked chickens. Can bring more if necessary. Bringing a jon. Can fish me and 2 more. Fly or spin- don't care. I'll probably get there first thing Friday morning and fish all day. Saturday, I'll have to pull out about 10 am and head home. Have friends in from OK that I need to spend time with Saturday.

Flat not fishing. Too many projects. Had 2 guys come in the shop yesterday and said they are "slaying them" on egg pattern below the dam. Numerous 20+ rainbows. I do need to get up there... someday. And I'm 5 miles away.

So it's the 13-14th. Who's in charge? What's the plan? Where are we staying? Like I said, I'll bring a jon boat if needed. Will bring the meat for Friday night's meal.

Great report- thanks.

I HAD to post this on OA... first food related post ever I think except for may be mushrooms. http://www.ozarkanglers.com/blog/2013/11/09/grilled-teal/ This adds a whole new dimension to this site. Excellent post!! I love it! Thanks!!!

I could make it Friday the 13th and probably hang around for Saturday morning fishing. Sounds like the weekend of the 13-14 is better for most.

Haven't heard anything. They won't start running water hard till the lake turns over. After it turns, the Corp won't have to spend big bucks to inject o2 in the tailwater water when releasing. They'll be able to run at their hearts content.

A couple of winters ago, i organized a few fishing seminars/talks in Springfield- at the MDC Nature's Center. We covered Table Rock, Roaring River, Al Agnew talked on smallmouth fishing, North Fork of the White, the Elevenpoint... I'm wanting to host more this winter. Going to cover Table Rock with several talks because I think that's the main draw in this area. Probably cover Taneycomo. I'd like to hear from you all what you think I should do. I'm thinking Stockton, Montauk (upper Current), may be the Buffalo. Floating the James River, Elk River. A talk about floating and camping Missouri's rivers. My knowledge of people to speak on these subjects is limited so I need help in that area. I am not limiting these talks to just Springfield although it is centrally located in SW Missouri.

Personally I can do Friday the 13th, not the 14th. I can do the weekend of the 6-7th. I can bring a jon boat with a 25 hp motor to use.

Life if good . . . we are blessed!

Holding a big fish upright makes the guts push down in the body cavity- something the fish never experiences in the water. Hold the fish horizontal is better. I don't think it's THAT big of a deal. It's just better.

MDC ppl have said yes- holding a big fish like the vertical can put a lot of strain on their insides but how much... ? I didn't know this when I help John display his fish and release it.

They're Brett's patterns.

If you look on Brett's site, you'll see he's gotten into several big rainbows. I think we may see one of the best winter rainbow season ever next month. http://www.charteredwaters.com/fishingreport.html

Here's another rainbow that may have been over 20 pounds, thinking a 31 inch rainbow is over 20 pounds. I honestly don't think so but a released fish always weighs more

Still down. I guess the Corp didn't get their work done today. Supposed to take 5 hours.

Taken from the boat ramp, the lake level is down there about 12 inches. It's down about 5 feet at our place. Can't get a boat from Trout Hollow to Short Creek unless you use a trolling motor. Supposed to bring the lake back up this afternoon. Lots of people around the outlets fishing.

I asked Shane Bush about what he thought about the dead browns. He said it's mainly attributed to low DO and hook mortality too. Browns are more apt to succumb to excessive handling, being fought too hard or both, compared to rainbows. He said is a larger numbers of browns in the lake this year which means more browns hooked, released and die. He doesn't seemed to be surprised or alarmed by it (my observation).

On the lake up here: Cooper Creek Lazy Valley Ozark Trout Trout Hollow

Darrell Bentley posted these on facebook. Wanted to repost them.