Phil Lilley

That's why I throw white jigs in the winter. No shad, none coming through the dam. I'll let you know when.

Speaking of cig butts.... an old timer told me back in the 40's or 50's when marabou jigs first came out (or may be not), they were fishing Grand Lake and catching tons of crappie on jigs but ran out so they took their cig filters, took them apart and tied them on their hooks and continued to catch crappie. Hopefully my memory did the story justice... you know how fish stories go.

I actually thought it was a good conversation. Pretty civil compared to other discussions. Didn't see anyone getting nasty or anything. And glorydaze got all his questions answered... that's a good thing.

I know. Make a pact. Start a thread and have those who would sign or post promising that IF they ever caught a record fish, anywhere, they would release it, then never tell a soul about it. Now that'd be the ultimate purest. It's very possible we have someone here that's done it... but we'll never know

I asked a MDC fisheries biologist about spawning bass in Taney and this was his comments- Generally speaking, smallmouth will spawn around 57-64 degrees, and largemouth will spawn around 60-72 degrees. Taneycomo is a little different though. It seems that the bass spawn in Taneycomo is more affected by the length of daylight hours than water temperature. For example, we sampled Taneycomo on May 19, 2008 when the water temperature was about 59 degrees and we saw largemouth spawning everywhere. In 2009 we sampled about a week earlier, water temperature was around 58 degrees and only saw about a fourth of what we saw in 2008. The vegetation wasn’t growing yet and the fish just weren’t on the beds. In 2008, the vegetation was growing very well and they were on beds all around the shoreline. In our samples, the water temperature was much warmer in Bull Creek than the main lake, and I think that makes a difference on timing of the spawn to some degree. Can’t say for positive sure though because when we were there, the water clarity was a lot worse, making it more difficult to see fish. We did sample one largemouth that measured 22.5 inches in 2009, it weighed about 7 pounds. Caught it on the main lake south of Rockaway. We usually wait for the water temperature in Table Rock to reach 60 degrees before we start sampling. I think you could safely say that the bass will spawn in Taneycomo about 2-3 weeks after the bass in Table Rock. If the water temperature never gets warm enough, they will go by length of daylight. Smallmouth tend to spawn in more rocky, gravelly substrate, vs. largemouth that prefer woody cover and silty substrate. I think that’s why we get such good largemouth recruitment in Table Rock during high water years (i.e. 2008). Lots of woody cover (buttonbush) and more silt to spawn around when the water is high. It seems to be the trend that we’ll get good smallmouth recruitment during lower water years and better largemouth recruitment during high water years. We found largemouth spawning in coves by Powersite, in the main lake south of Rockaway Beach, and in Bull Creek. All of the suitable habitat is there in the entire lower lake for the largemouth to spawn. I can’t say for sure about where the smallmouth spawn because our electrofishing gear isn’t effective in capturing smallmouth (they’re usually too deep). I do know that there is an excellent population of smallmouth in Bull Creek, and some nice ones too. Just go wading where the lake turns to creek sometime in the summer and you’ll see them. I have to imagine that those fish use Taneycomo as well. I suspect they spawn more up the creek arms in the lower lake, and if that is the case, there’s plenty of suitable habitat for them there. They may also spawn deep in the main lake, but if they do, we’d never see them in our samples. We don’t even see many smallmouth in Table Rock when we sample, they just stay too deep.

I still think we need to blame the fish for our differences...

And I expressed my opinion.... It wasn't a "rule violation". Or, Eric, you could say it was the brown's fault. Come on... you know that's what the underlying feeling are about this ordeal. You're mad that that stupid brown took a piece of power bait instead of someone's fly, jig or crank bait. The man had nothing to do with the fish taking the bait. He was looking for rainbows to eat. A big stupid brown ate the power bait, he fought the brown and netted it and thus was thrown into the lime light of the angling world of forums and coffee shop talk where he's battered for catching the brown on power bait when he actually had no choice in the matter. As soon as he hooked the fish, he had a choice... land the sucker and be ridiculed for using power bait or break it off and be free of the upcoming hoard of critics. OK, I'm being overdramatic. But you get my jest. It was the fish's fault! We have NO respect for that 28.8 pound brown - right!?

Sorry it was so cold today on your birthday. Too cold to go fishing... for most of us.

That's a very cheap shot.

Weather straightens out and we'll do more. We've already talked about it.

What is the state record? That's got to be close.

This is the slow time of year for the forum... not many reports. But it'll heat up in January. So will the fishing. Come March, hold on!!

found this old video and put it on youtube. "> " type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="500" height="405"> June, 1994

Both. We raised our kids over guest's rooms. They still tip-toe when they come home. But our carpet is now 21 years old and so it the pad. The floor creaks so we need to fix both problems. We have too many college kids over at the house late at night and they don't know the "rules".

Anyone have any good experience soundproofing a floor? I need to screw down alot of the subfloor plywood. There are some vinyl products out there I've read about. Not going the light weight concrete way... too much.

What streams do you fish? Welcome.

I ordered one last night. Can't wait to see all the new videos... Lone Angler, Brian. Will have to tell Santa to get one for Kyle and Justin, then we'll have the trout on NFOW covered!!

Hey- how about the Crimson Tide!! Lookin' good. Thanks for the plug on your forum. I think the guys can be of help on the Current. Just hope you time you trip when the water is in good shape. Our rivers have been blown so many times the last couple of years. If you hit it right, it'll be some great fishing.

I agree. The smallies caught by Leonard and others below the dam was a freak deal. Only when the gates opened wide in 08 did we see walleye and smallies there in those numbers. Never before since I've been here (1983). The best smallmouth are on the lake is the Landing area and up in Bull Creek. That's what I've seen from others catching smallies on Taney.

What camera? How'd you get the underwater shots?

Pat- It was one of those things that you'd think about sharing... but not getting around to it. But it was on the local radio station earlier this week and the newspaper called dad twice so for all we knew it would go AP any day. So, what the heck!

It's a flip camera. Simple to use. It's got to be something to do with your browser... I added a link to the video at the bottom of the window. Here it is -

What does it show? There's an "Options" tab at the top left of the first topic post, click that and tell me what view you are using. Should be standard.

Coy Howry from Ada, OK... a good friend of mine who was in for the weekend.

Remember Trav talking about the lower lake after the 08 floods? He said it washed a ton of trees and debry in the lake and it was sitting on the bottom all over the place. Wonder if it's still there. Might have created great habitat for bass and we may see big numbers- or may be already seeing good number reflected by MDC's 08 report. I'm going to ask for reports from the last 10+ years and see what it tells us, like I have for Upper Taney.