MickinMO

Going back through some photos. Thought this one was pretty cool.

Disregard, figured it out. The white is in flood stage throughout Arkansas so they can't run all this out of Bull Shoals. Bull Shoals is about full and Table Rock is the only one left that has capacity.

Is there a reason the water is off this afternoon? Doesn't make any since with the rain and dumping Beaver unless power demand is that low

My uncle is looking to get his cobalt redone in the next year or so. For some reason he doesn't trust me to give it a whirl. Thanks for any ideas you all have.

Memories of my college days strippin' woolies into the wee hours of the morning. There was a fellow SMS student who worked at the fly fishing section at Bass Pro who was from the state of Washington. He got me and another buddy turned onto fishing the dam area at night. We would go into Bass Pro and talk fishing and see him some at Backcountry Outfitters. We were just getting into fly fishing, but had talked about how we were fishing Roaring River, Crane Creek, Jolly Mill, North Fork, and Taneycomo. He was like you don't fish Taney at night after they shut the water off? Ummm, no dude that sounds crazy. Meet me down there tomorrow night and I will show you what I am talking about. Can't remember his name, but whoever you are thank you.

I was able to get on the water Friday late afternoon and all day Saturday. I guess it was wishful thinking believing ahead of time that the lack of recent pressure would produce "easy" fishing. Overall, Saturday was one of the slowest days I can remember going back 25 years. The boat still had 5 fish collectively, which speaks to how consistent and fun Taneycomo is for anglers of all skill levels. I had the kids and other family with me so we drifted from Fall Creek to The Landing mainly bait fishing. Drift rigs with nightcrawlers, about every kind of powerbait color in eggs, mice tails, pb worms, you name it. I did get several casts in with jigs between "guiding" duties with the kids. Spots that produced bites were limited. Cooper Creek area to River Drive docks and then Scottys to the Landing. Fish were all hooked in the lip, so they certainly weren't inhaling those drift rigs like they often do. I am sure the kids missed a few, but I would take over for my daughter often and never felt more than the bottom. Hard to say there was a hot color, but nightcrawlers did not produce any fish. Power eggs in pink, white, or fluorescent yellow or some combo of those with two eggs per hook caught fish. Olive/Peach jig did catch one fish, but I couldn't fish much or position the boat well for jig fishing. All of the fish had thicker bellies, so even if they haven't been in the lake long they have been eating. Lot of boats out Saturday and I didn't see many people catching fish either. So, I don't think we were the only ones having to work for it. All in all, was great to be outside and my kids each got their first Taneycomo trout. This is the year they are old enough to be patient enough to actually fish.

Good news that most of the rain stayed north of Springfield. Beaver sitting at 1128 still worries me.

Seems they have been down one generator for a long time now. Does anyone know if they are close to having their maintenance complete? Seems like it has been two years

They used to draw down the lakes in winter for a reason. They don't do that anymore and no wonder we have flooding issues in spring & summer.

If they would get Beaver below 1120 and Table Rock around 913 before March I might take back some things I have said about the Corps recent water control policy. Maybe.

Nice fish

That was one of the first things that crossed my mind, but the Lilleys guy was apparently indeed staying there and I felt better about it after seeing Phil down there and getting him parked in the right spot.

I've been coming down to Taneycomo for 25 years and witnessed something for the first time not once, but twice this past week. Boaters who had no idea where they were going putting in well after dark and trying to find their slip. We were staying at OTR this trip and I was down on the dock getting my boat ready to go for the morning and a guy comes rolling by the end of their dock with only feet to spare with a spotlight saying he was trying to find Lilleys. Told him next marina up. This is after people on the Lazy Valley dock had already told him where to go. So he goes and cruises by Lilleys and makes several passes and then comes back down to OTR and is still looking around then back up to Lilleys again. By this time Phil had come down to the dock and looked like he got him squared away finally. Almost identical thing Saturday night with a boat trying to find Lazy Valley around 10pm. Both of these boats going within feet of these docks in the dark, no desire to respect the lines of dock fisherman, and quite clearly had zero idea where they were going and then didn't follow directions once pointed in the right direction. Not sure what reaction is appropriate, but laughing doesn't seem to do it justice. Btw, fishing was great on Thursday and Friday. Tougher Saturday after the rain. Nightcrawlers on drift rigs were hot. As for artificial, did best with sculpin/peach jig with brown head or rooster tail in anything bright. Lots of boats all three days and you could have fooled me that there wasn't a bass tourney. So many 21 foot bass boats either hauling or plowing their way through everyone.

I will be down Thursday. Not sure if I remember how to run the boat in zero current! Hope they keep it off some in the mornings. Seems like the last few years I have been able to make the trip it's been 710-713 round the clock due to high water on TR. Not going to miss 713

At 709, you can stay in the middle and run all the way up without issue, correct? Even though I know this to be true, still get a little nervous. Crazy how swift it gets above Fall Creek.

How far down do you drift before going back up to start again?

If drifting with a just a split shot for weight, how far above the hook should it be?

I know the answer is nobody knows except the Corps, but I just don't understand why they will shut off Beaver for spurts yet keep Table Rock going non-stop.

It seems a catch and release tournament is a good compromise between sport and conservation. However, I really don't have an issue with doing a weigh in tournament or two per year. As for the big brown, I wonder if they tried to stop along the way back to give it time in the water? With such a large fish, the tourney would have been the last thing on my mind. I would have pulled into Scottys and made some calls to figure out what to do.

Do not know the buyer or boat, but saw this up my way https://columbiamo.craigslist.org/boa/d/ashland-boat-supreme/6957176001.html

My initial thought was indeed the type of races at Lake of the Ozarks with the big offshore boats going 200mph. This sounds much for manageable.

Unfortunately, you have to do a lot more than that on a regular basis to actually get put into prison. I mean, you have to try really hard on numerous occasions to go to jail these days.

Completely unscientific, but when drift fishing with bottom bouncing rigs, it seems that night crawlers tend to produce more distinct strikes allowing for actual hooksets in lip for even novices vs powerbait eggs/nuggets where they just swallow it. If they do swallow it, NBD to just just cut the line and put a new rig on your swivel. You'll be fishing quicker anyways.

You can't fix stupid

I asked a related question a year ago or so related to night fishing by boat. You rarely see anyone trying it. Duane pretty much said the fog is too unpredictable. Makes it too tough and dangerous.