Phil Lilley

I usually start my fishing reports, talking about generation and fishing conditions. This dictates how we are fishing, which is most important. But I need to report on how catching has been this past month. And to be honest, there have been a lot of anglers who have been pretty frustrated with catching trout. Now we've seen some great quality rainbows and browns caught, but that's really not the problem. It's numbers . . . we're not seeing big numbers of fish caught. And I think there's a couple of reasons why this is the case. First, there's fewer rainbows stocked in our lake. The Missouri Department of Conservation changed their stocking numbers a couple of years ago to hopefully increase the size of our trout. Less little fish, more food, more big trout. And it's worked tremendously! We've seen more 16-inch-plus rainbows caught this year than any other year I've been on the lake -- nearing 39 years. But it comes with a price. Fewer smaller rainbows. I think the other factor is that the mature trout are smart . . . and growing smarter. They know what real, natural food is, and they seem to know what the fake stuff is, generally speaking. That's why we're seeing more big trout being caught on jerk baits and scud flies. They eat a lot of scuds and sow bugs, midges and forage fish -- minnows and sculpins. And the bigger trout, especially browns, eat small rainbows when they graduate to big-boy status. The number of rainbows that will be stocked in February will increase from January, which is great news. And our trout that are here will get even bigger . . . more good news. But you might have to work at catching them a little harder than in years past. Little things make a difference. The generation pattern this month has held up fairly consistently for Lake Taneycomo. We're seeing pretty hard flows starting at daylight and running until about 11 a.m., then no generation until about 4 to 6 p.m.. Then we have had more hard flows for a few hours. There have been deviations in the amount of water releases and the duration, but the one thing that's been steady is no generation every afternoon. The different flows give anglers various fishing opportunities, whether you're fishing from a boat, wading below the dam or fishing off of a dock. In the mornings, when operators are running anywhere from two to four units, a jerk bait worked along the bluff banks as well as the middle of the lake, has been good for catching good-sized trout, including browns lately. The best setup is a 5'6" to 6' medium-action rod with eight-pound line. Use jerk baits that suspend and dive about five-to nine-feet deep. Drag jerk baits on the bottom, especially when the water is running more than three units. Use an Ozark Drift Rig and the appropriate bell weight to tick the bottom. We carry some cheap, small jerk baits that float, shallow divers. ( I say cheap because you'll lose a fair share of them to snags.) Remove the front set of treble hooks to help keep them from getting snagged. Marabou jigs have been working fairly well. White has been good in the trophy area, as well as black and olive. Brown and sculpin are working better below Fall Creek, working the middle of the lake more than the sides. We're using four-pound line when throwing the heavier jigs (1/8, 3/32nd) and two-pound line when working the smaller jigs (1/16, 1/32nd). If two units or less are running, either fly or spin fishing, fishing a scud under an indicator has been pretty successful, both above and below Fall Creek. Use a double scud rig or a scud/egg or scud/zebra midge combo, but adjust the float to where the bottom fly is very close to the bottom. You may have to use a weighted, beaded scud or a split shot to keep the flies close to the bottom. We fish this from the middle of the lake to over to the shallow side. Dragging bait below Fall Creek has been fairly effective lately, especially using night crawlers or minnows. Gulp PowerEggs in white or chartreuse have been working down closer to the Branson Landing early in the mornings. If not too much water is running, anchoring on the inside bends close to the bank and tight lining with minnows or worms is productive. When the water is off in the afternoons, the mentioned bait is working below Fall Creek, especially night crawlers. If there's a chop on the water, jig-and-float using a brown or olive jig three- to six-feet deep is working. Best areas are above our resort, Short Creek area and up close to Fall Creek. Also try pink or black/yellow 1/50th-ounce and smaller jigs. use two-pound line or 6x tippet for best results. Fly fishing has been a lot of fun with the water off in the afternoons. And I've been doing the best using zebra midges under an indicator in all conditions. Red, black or rusty #14 midges under a float anywhere from 12 inches to four-feet deep and using 6x or 7x tippet. There's really no bad place to use these flies, especially if you see trout working the surface. But I've been fishing just below Fall Creek as well as in the Narrows area, fishing out of my boat. View full article

Thanks

How about instead you engage by providing proof that the said information is wrong and dangerous. Insulting and ridiculing is over the top. It's not something anyone should do to anyone. Note: I didn't watch the video nor will I. I'm not interested nor do I have time.

I haven't used dry ice much. When I have used it, it does freeze what it's touching. Is there a rule of thumb when using dry ice? Tricks?

Glen - you need to delete some messages - your mail box is full (100). I found a new tool in Google Adsense. I blocked about 600 ads by going through and picking types that I could block. We'll see if it changes things. I don't want these particular ads on this site just as much as you don't. But this has nothing to do with you personally, I can assure you of that.

Here's the thread with images...

At the end of regulation, I was ok with either team winning. They both deserved it.

They used to back in the 80's and some in the 90's. Not sure what changed. They will shut it down in someone is in trouble. Someone on an island that's dry - I'm not sure if that's a good enough reason. Someone in the water, yes.

All Brian wanted to do is get some guys together and fish a day. No tournament. Me and Brian will go fishing and we’ll have a great day.

Sounds fun. I'll go.

Either 25 mw or none at all. Overcast and alittle breeze. Or 4 units and shad coming through. And no fog. I hate fog.

Well Brian... you use to call and talk to one of the guys in the powerhouse about generation. I thought it was cool. Pete (snagged in outlet 3) is a long time forum guy who fishes here a lot. May be he heard of your special relationship. Whatever happen to that guy? Did they change their number?

Alot of those trophies listed were caught below the dam. Today, I don't think many of those trophies caught below the dam are submitted to our office and not counted in our numbers like they were back then. I think we gave a pin and certificate out in 2000. The pins weren't as nice though.

I know you don’t know… but we’ve seen this every year. They hold the lakes at power pool in the winter instead of making room for spring rains, then we have a good chance of flooding, if the big rains come. As much as I love this down water, we need to see some big generation, soon.

When will they start dumping Beaver?? They certainly aren’t in a hurry. Should be doing it now. Winter. Not spring.

That would be awesome!

Nice pics. Did you fish while you were down there? Go by Jeremy's shop?

I'm not seeing big midge hatches like I used to on the lake but midges are what I'm doing the best on lately. The really cool thing about fly fishing, really anywhere on the upper lake, is you have a chance at a good quality trout. There are so many "trophies" in the lake it's crazy.

Perfect day to be on the water.

Great images. I like the ones with the stars in the sky. Thanks Brian.

When I hooked this thing this afternoon, I didn't think I was going to land it. Head shake was awesome. Then I saw the mass. Yep... 7x isn't going to hold this one. We just started carrying some new tippet lines - Courtland and Segars. The Courtland Premium seemed to be much stronger then Rio, at least in the small sizes, so I tied on the 7x just for grins. It was slow out there. Only caught one decent rainbow in about 90 minutes of fishing. Then this one hit. My phone died. I couldn't call anyone to come take a pic. I didn't want to take it in but I knew the water was good and I had a big live well. It did good. Weighed it - 10.4 pounds. 26 inches. Back in the lake- it was still very strong. And I was very happy to see it swim off.

Actually several have gotten to our lower units but this one was the highest on record by a few inches.

January 29, 2015.

I remember when you got that rod. Yeah, you’re probably partying by yourself. 🤣