Phil Lilley

The water has really cleared up the last 10 days. It's taken all summer to clear - it's usually clear by May. Water temp is 55-56 and the last DO reading was 6.2 ppm at the dock. High temp and low DO for July. Sign of things to come I'm afraid. Might be a tough water quality fall season for Taney. I'm due to do a fishing report soon. It's all about the same. I helped clean 4 rainbows caught off our dock this morning. 3 of 4 were packed full of sow bugs - some still alive. Some scuds too. That's nuts. They were 13-15 inch rainbows too, nice ones.

Oh man that sounds like fun. Thanks for sharing.

OK... go that cleaned up. I guess I need to warn you guys... you keep dragging conversations to the gutter. I'm going to start closing memberships here. I've only done it a couple of times and it was with people who were only here to cause trouble from the beginning... not long time members. These are trying times... for everyone. I can't be on the forum right now - we have had 4 go down sick on staff with 2 others gone. Marsha and I are bearly keeping up. Not asking for sympathy... we are so, so blessed. But I can't keep up with this nonsense. It really shouldn't be happening.

Generation patterns for Lake Taneycomo have been consistent over the past 4 weeks. They've been running 2 units at about 6,500 cubic feet of water per second with the exception of a 7 hour period between 3 and 8 p.m. everyday. Table Rock's level has dropped to 724 feet, only 9 feet over power pool. It's dropping about .25 feet per day. We've had very little rain over the whole basin although there's been some isolated downpours delivering a lot of rain to small areas. There isn't much rain forcasted for our area for the next 2 weeks. Taney's lake water temperature is 52 degrees. It has only risen 1 degree in the last month which is a good thing although 52 is pretty warm for this time of year. It should still be down in the high 40's. But the trout don't mind. They've been very active, enjoying the warmer water along with forage fish and other fish food. Missouri Department of Conservation continues to stock rainbows via boat and truck. June, July and August are the highest months of the year for stocked trout in Taney at roughly 64,800 stocked each month. The average size of rainbows stocked in 11.5 inches annually. We are seeing a very good number of rainbows that have been in the lake for several months and have lost their "stocker spots and color", showing off their natural colors of red, pink, silver and green. Our trout are still very health looking -- fat and hard fighters, although I have caught a few rainbows that didn't fight hardly at all. This could be a sign of low oxygen in the water. I have not been able to test the water for dissolved oxygen yet. I am waiting on a part for my meter. Oxygen in our water we get from Table Rock typically starts to drop in July and continues on into December until Table Rock "turns over". This is a natural occurrence in most tailwaters because the lake above stratifies during the summer. The good, cold water from winter months gets sucked out of the lake through pipes at the dam down 130 feet in the lake. This video simulates how this happens and what it looks like throughout the year. Of course the blue is good, cold, oxygenated water and the red is warmer water void of dissolved oxygen. Liquid oxygen is injected into the turbines which mixes before being released into Lake Taneycomo. FULL ARTICLE ABOUT TANEYCOMO'S SEASONAL BOUT WITH LOW DISSOLVED OXYGEN Early in the morning is by far the best fishing. Most of our guides are on the water by 6 a.m.. The fog on the lake hasn't been too bad, although it is foggy and you have to take it slow anywhere you go. Depending on the day, it's burned or blown off the water by 8 a.m.. If you're spin fishing and fishing the trophy area, jig fishing has been very good. I've been throwing white 3/32nd-ounce jigs using 4-pound line and hooking some nice quality rainbows just about anywhere from the dam down to Short Creek. I'm not necessarily working the bluff banks but working out from the bank and keeping the jig close to the bottom. Steve landed this 7 pound 22 inch brown Saturday night from the dock at our unit #24 using powerbait nuggets. The fish was struggling, but he put in the extra effort to make sure it was revived before fully releasing it. Some mornings, there's a lot of midge action. Trout, mainly rainbows, are coming to the surface and take midge flies out of the film or on the top. Throw a small 1/32nd-ounce jig using 2-pound line and work it fast, close to the surface. See if these feeding rainbows will chase and take the jig. Good colors are black, olive, sculpin, black/yellow and brown. If they are midging, or even if they're not, you can try a midge under an indicator, either spin or fly rod. Red has been the best color but you can also try a black or brown. Best size is from a #14 down to a #18, and use 2-pound line or 6x tippet. Fish it shallow if they're midging (12-18 inches) and deeper if they're not (24-60 inches). Blake has been doing pretty good dragging a 762 or a 606 jerk bait in shad colors. Drifting night crawlers from Fall Creek down has been producing very nice rainbows. I believe these rainbows have moved down from the trophy area after growing up protected by the slot limit. Gulp PowerEggs in orange or white have been catching mainly rainbows, drifted from Short Creek down past the Branson Landing. Back to throwing the marabou jig... sculpin/peach has been hot, fishing it from Trout Hollow Resort down through our place, working it mid lake and close to the bottom. If they're running only 2 units, use a 1/16th or a 3/32nd-ounce jig and 4-pound line. View full article

I love it...

Crane Creek... some of the other small spring fed creeks in MO.

Jayhawkers and red legs are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory, during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at the time in Kansas Territory as "Border Ruffians" or "Bushwhackers." After the Civil War, the word "Jayhawker" became synonymous with the people of Kansas, or anybody born in Kansas.[1] Today a modified version of the term, Jayhawk, is used as a nickname for a native-born Kansan,[2][3][4] but more typically for a student, fan, or alumnus of the University of Kansas. I think the Jayhawks of KU can rest easy... don't think they'll come after their name.

With the move to get rid of statues of men who held racists beliefs, Supreme Justice Roger Brooke Taney is one of the busts. And you guessed it, our county is named after him.... and our lake is named after our county.

What? Below the dam?

https://fishbaldwin.com/2020/06/18/june-18-2020/ Steve Fraley is a guide at NRC and owns a tackle shop just off the Pere Marquette River in central Michigan. Here is his last "fishing report" before arriving at camp a couple of weeks ago. If it wets your appetite, give them a call. The reports I'm getting is there's tons of sockeye, big rainbows and hardly any fishing traffic on the river this year.

Red San Juan worms have been hot the last few days, above and below Fall Creek. Egg fly and scud combo drifted on a spinning rig in the trophy area. And we throw a lot of marabou jigs. Soft plastics don't work too well on trout. It's not that they won't... but I haven't had any luck with them. They're running a lot of water now so you're limited as far as fly fishing. But scuds and zebra midges are the way to go.

I’ll check it out! Thanks

Lucky she didn't fire the pistol.

Nice report, Bill. We're over 70 registered catch and release 20-inch + trout this month. That's not counting the trophies kept or released NOT registered with us.

Keep or release I guess. You worried about them coming out of warmer water? Their meat might be a little mushy.

Sounds like a nice getaway...

Lodging here would be tough but we can use the pavilion for gathering and the firepits at night.

Didn't amount to much. Not worth discussing really.

The days of no generation may be over for now. We've seen the dam operators moving some water the last few days from lake to lake, even though the White River at Augusta, Arkansas is still at flood stage. With no rain in the foreseeable future, we may see more and more water running through Lake Taneycomo. We've been seeing about 6,000 cubic feet per second of flow for most of the day lately with a bump up to 12,000 late in the afternoon. That's 2 units to 4 units worth of water. There's really no way to know if this pattern will continue but for now it seems reasonable to think it will. Trout fishing has been just ok. There are days though it has been real stinky! Early and late, of course, is the best times to fish. Most of our guides are on the water by 5:30 am and the bite is good for a couple of hours. Then they have to work for fish. Most of the guides are either drifting a Berkley pink powerworm just on a hook on the bottom or on a small jig head under a float. The pink worm is actually catching some big trout. This little gal caught a trophy brown trout using her kid pink fishing rod. Anglers are catching mainly rainbows drifting night crawlers and power eggs. And we've heard all colors are good except red or pink, which makes no sense because the pink worm is working better than power eggs. It must not be the color. Best area to drift is Lilleys' Landing down through the bridges. Stay in the middle when drifting because there's a lot of old, sunken dead trees on the edges of the lake. Right now there's a ton of stocker rainbows in the Branson Landing area. They're being caught on the Berkley pink worm on a small jig head under a float 5-7 feet deep. I personally haven't tried drifting minnows lately and we haven't sold many but I would think drifting them on the bottom should catch trout, especially brown trout, seeing all the browns being caught right now. Trophy brown trout are still being caught at various areas of the lake on bait and lures. I've been asked why does it seem all of a sudden we're seeing so many big browns being caught. The short answer is I don't know. But it does coincide with an increase of trophy rainbows which I believe is a result of constant flow of water from Table Rock over the past 2+ years. The food base in Taneycomo (plankton, scuds, midges, sculpins, small forage fish) stays much healthier when the water is running verses when there's long periods of no generation. We've had reports of browns being caught on the pink worm, night crawlers, marabou jigs (white, sculpin/ginger and sculpin/peach), Doty's custom painted jerk baits, MegaBass 110+ jerk baits and other jerk baits, and smaller jerk baits drifted on the bottom, mainly in the trophy area. Trophy rainbows are also being caught, mainly in the trophy area though. They being caught on scuds drifted on the bottom, jerk baits and marabou jigs (same colors). Last count, we were up to 55 - 20-inch trout or bigger registered as catch and release trophies for the month of June but I know Blake caught a 24-inch brown last night close to Lookout Island. https://lilleyslanding.com/trophy-catch-release/ Drifting scuds on the bottom is just ok... there's a lot of algae on the bottom and cakes up the fly. You need to reel in and check it pretty often. View full article

No gen on Taney this am... and no wind. Bite was tough. Be glad you weren't on the lower pond.

Pete- wasn't on the forum much last week and missed you were here. Next time you'll have to come by. I want you to meet Blake.

Wow....

Did that work?