Dave Cook

I hope they keep it up. The numbers look good on https://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/trdo.htm

Yes, outlet 1 is a bit of a sandpit. We check-out Friday morning and returned to the access on the south side of the dam. We fished a couple of hours and caught about 20. We fished black and yellow jigs. You can see one in the fish's mouth.

Fishing Buddy report Feb 17 & 18. Darrell and I arrived at Lilley's Landing around 1:30, checked-in and spent some time in the fly shop. Fished Wednesday afternoon and all day Thursday. Weather was fair and 68 on Wed and 73 on Thurs. Drove up to the dam to do some wade fishing. Two generators running and lake level was about 705. We rigged our fly rods with 5x tippets and 1/80 marabou jigs. Started with John Deere green along the gravel flats downstream of outlet 3. First fish I snapped off. Next fish the same, so I replaced my tippet and tied on a brown and yellow 1/80 jig. I caught 14 on it before I broke it off on a 15" rainbow. Replaced it and went back to fishing. Darrell fished with mega worms, john deere and a black and yellow 1/80 jigs and caught two on each fly. Around 4pm the water dropped below 704 and we had excellent fishing fishing conditions so we stayed on the water until dark. We checked the conditions of the outlet 1 area to see what the latest flood had done. The flooding had washed out more trees, more of the bank above the outlet but the stream bed seem to be about the same. We caught a couple more and then called it quits. For the day we probably caught 40 between the two of us although many of them were small. The best fish was 15". Thursday morning we returned to the gravel flats below out 3 and only caught 2 using the same methods as the day before by lunch time. One of the fish caught had the jig I broke off the day before. After lunch we tried the south bank below the dam and parked above the rebar hole. We fished black and yellow and brown and yellow 1/80 jigs and combined for about 25 fish. The fish size averaged better than the day before with fewer of the small ones. A couple of 15"-ers and a 17" rainbow topped off the day. Again we fished till dark. It was still around 68 deg. by then. An incredibly nice day for fishing. Thanks to Phil Lilley for providing an early spring break. With all the remodeling that has gone on this year the resort looks great. I hope to be back in a couple of weeks. David & Darrell

Everyone should take a picture of a clock at check-in or check-out to sync up their camera's date-time stamp. That way if the camera's settings are off, you know by how much. Cell phone cameras sync automatically to the phone's time but still everyone. Wade fishermen shouldn't be in the same division as boaters. It's not fair to the boaters.

I will put together some boxes for you. I have many jigs to add to the boxes along with other flies. I know the plastic boxes at Westlakes that Rolan referred to.

This picture was taken during the drawdown. I was along the shoreline downstream of the Lookout hole. All the whitish-gray specks are scuds and sowbugs.

Very little generation between 6 and 7 last night. Thought it might give the fish a boost. If it did, I missed it. Stared at outlet 1 around 7pm and worked down to outlet 2 until 11pm. It was pretty windy then, so I called it a night. A couple of people were still out. I Tried several things. Caught a few on a small white bunny streamer but my best fly was a purple PMS. No browns caught ( you can still hear them jumping) and between 9 & 11, I landed about 15 on the purple PMS. The bows were small 12-14 inches but they did hit hard. They all looked healthy. In this case, my best fishing was after the water had dropped out. In the past I've done well during the falling period. I'll try it again Monday night if it isn't storming.

Let’s not lose sight how this topic started. Taneycomo may have a world record brown trout. To me that is remarkable. With Taneycomo having about 2 miles of river and 20 miles of lake and we are comparing our brown trout fishing to any place in the world. Anybody know of a public lake with world record largemouth bass in Missouri? Missouri has fantastic bass fishing in publicly managed lakes but we don't expect world record bass fishing in Missouri. My point is I’m not using a world record fish to judge the quality of a fishery. I think the fishing regulations and stocking programs have done a great job to get us to this point. Is there room for improvement? There is with everything. But don't overlook where these fish live. The water quality of Table Rock Lake and the persistent low DO problems could take a bigger toll on these fish than a bunch of nightcrawlers dangled in the water. So we should never neglect what is upstream of where we fish. Now for some anecdotal observations of my own. Brown trout fishing at Taneycomo this fall already is the best I've seen since 2011. I hope this is the start of a great comeback from those floods.

Yes. If they are running water you won't be able to wade much but it is good fishing from shore there.

Looking forward to your Naknek report.

Fishing near the Hatchery is usually pretty good. It's open to fishing 24/7. Check the generation schedule for wadable water. http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx Tommorrows forecast is usually available between 4:30 and 5 pm each dam. And for real time actual generation information and lake levels call the dam at 417-336-5083

DD - KOA was on my list of places to try, but with such easy access to good fishing by the hatchery, it's hard to move. Phil-Sorry to hear you were laid up. Thanks for the hospitality for the fishing buddy special. Tuesday's fishing was again below Outlet 3 working down the bar towards outlet 4. Another sunny day where the highs made it to the mid 60's. Water was running again all day but by 11 am it was pretty gentle. Low enough to wade out pretty far. Again woolies worked well over the bar but I missed more strikes than I did when fishing small jigs. Average fish was still on the small side but the number of bites (many) kept it fun. When the generation from one generator is low (under 25mw), 1/50 oz jig fishes well and can still be fished from a fly rod, with or without a strike indicator. A couple of john boats from Lilley's motored upstream of me until they were up by the boulder creek. There they turned their boats and started drift fishing. They were fishing something under an indicator with a fly rod and as soon as they got their lines in the water, they had fish on. I watched for a while as they kept catching and drifting but then I turned my focus back to the hole in front of me. Looked like they could easily limit on under 12" trout if they wanted to. Tuesday evening, I took my spinning rod down on Lilley's dock and fished from about 5:30 to 6:30pm with a 1/8th oz jig. I caught and released two small ones and broke off a third trying to lift it out of the water on my 2 lb line. Nice to know that you don't have to go far to catch a meal.

Well I was one of those that waited for the sun to come out Monday. We had a good reason. This was the start of my wife's retirement vacation. Yes, we started retirement with a vacation. Nothing like celebrating down at Lilley's for birthday's, anniversaries and now retirement. The rain had moved out and blue skies, light west wind and 55 Degrees weather greeted us for a great late winter fishing trip. We fished below the dam from about 1 to 5 pm and the fish were biting all afternoon. We fly fished with 4wt rods. Mine had 5x and my wife's had 6x tippet. Yes, she is better at keeping her fly on the line. Size 10 sculpin-olive beadhead wooly buggers were getting smacked with regularity. Swing it, strip it, they wanted it. Fortunately the size fish was running a little better today with many 13-14 inch fish. My wife caught the biggest for the day, a 15" rainbow. Finally I decided to try other flies to see how they worked. I caught a few on a griffith's gnat and also on crackleback. But the action wasn't as hot as fishing the wooly. We kept talking about going on down to the rebar and beyond but it was jammed up down there like the weekend. After 4 pm we just fished from the hatchery side just in case TableRock dam started generating but they never did. We called it a day after the sun went behind the dam and headed for Dana's to finish the day's celebration. Later that night, back at the cabin, we had a "nightcap" bowl of ice cream and brownies. The forecast for tomorrow is suppose to be even better. Can't wait!

Sunday morning started out a lot warmer than the forecast. It was about 40 degrees at sunrise. One generator was running at about 20mw. The water was only up 2 feet. Perfect for fishing near the hatchery below outlet 3. I fished an olive jig for a couple of hours. Many bites were had but all the fish were small. Nothing over 13 inches, But it was steady catching all morning. Other flies like woolies are good there. Some people were doing well with soft hackles. I just left the same jig on didn't bother to see what else they were hitting. End up with about 20 rainbows and one small brown.

I made it out Friday and Saturday night. Saturday night, the horn down by the boat ramp went off about 11:30pm but apparently it was just a test. I went on to catch 10 on a purple PMS in the next 35 minutes. By then I was convienced the water never came up so I started to wade everywhere I wanted to fish and spent the next three hours fishing just to catch another 10. Many more bites than that, but that was all I landed. During the daylight hours over the weekend, the crackleback was my best fly.

It was nice to meet you the other night Aaron. It was a pretty bright night last time and I think it's a lot tougher then. I'll be down again this Friday, the 13th. Let's just hope they turn the water off because the heat is on it's way back.

Generation pretty much followed the schedule. I met Kent at the parking lot around 10:30 and there was only one other fisherman. The water was shut off at 11 pm except for about 10mw. By midnight it was all off and pretty calm. There was enough heat in the air to keep any fog from forming but the air out in the lake was still cool and comfortable and the water is still cold enough you need some clothes to insulate you. Fishing was kind of slow. I started with a PMS and a 14 inch brown but with the little current still going on, I don't think I was reaching the fish. Switched to an olive jig and caught a fat 19" rainbow. It was awhile without another bite, so I switched to the white bunny strip. I caught several on that but they were running small. A couple were 14-15" but the rest were smaller. Had to quit at 3am. The moon was gone behind the dam by then and I bet the fishing only got better but I had to go.

It's legal in zone 1 & 2. I've gotten that answer from the MDC agents but I'm like you, it sure would be nice to find in writing on an official site. It's legal as long as each hook (in zone 1) is a single hook and meets the definition of a fly. I think it falls under the section of the code where it says you can fish with as many as 3 hooks.

Sorry to hear the saved all the generation for you. We have too much spring rain to go to shut the water off every night but dang it would be nice to get a weekend of night fishing (and wading).

Congratulations Leonard. By adding your flies to my fly box, it makes it easier to pick out the winners.

These look great. I'm looking forward to seeing what the long term changes are to the stream bottom.

I too think this is a good question. I've thought about this myself especially on an excellent fishing day when I have C&R many fish. I believe educating fish is a good thing. I try to educate as many as I can. In a put and take environment like Bennett Spring or the Niangua River educated fish is about all you will find three days after the hatchery truck has been there. In the case of the trout park, having these educated fish carryover to the next day just increases the odds for any fisherman to catch more fish on the following day. And in the case of the Winter C&R season at Bennett, the fish are so well educated by all the fishermen, that by the end of the season they are so well educated that they begin to teach me a thing or two about fishing. As far as my catch and release limit. I've limited my catch at Crane Creek by not going there for years. If C&R has a 10% (this is a number to illustrate a point, not a scientific finding) mortality, then I am uneasy catching and releasing ten fish there in a day. And if someone that lives near Crane Creek fishes there once a week or more, then they are lucky. On the other hand, using these numbers, I could catch and release 40 fish at Bennett Spring every day and "harvest" just as many fish as a bait fisherman taking home his limit. Since the source of my limit came daily from a hatchery, I have no regrets about my harvest. In another example, after the flood of 2008 at Taneycomo, the fish were under such thermal stress and low oxygen in Sept/October, that I quit fishing until water conditions returned to heathly levels. There were enough fish already dying without me helping them along. I had to wait for turnover at Table Rock. This past winter (2010-11) the fishing at Taneycomo was exceptional and there was no limit on my C&R. One released 16" trout at Taneycomo that dies is unaceptable to me. One 16" fish from Bennett Spring makes a tastey grilled trout. I have no problem with anyone taking a limit of legally harvested fish and I hope all fishermen has some set of ethics that go beyond what is spelled out in the "code". I am satisfied with the "management" of our fisheries in Missouri. I wish I felt satisfied with the management of our water quality. I believe educating fishermen and teaching them a set of ethics (and sometimes manners) is important for the future of fishing. Ethics and values are discussed and debated quite a bit on this forum and my education continues. So if the question is, should I be limited to landing four trout a day even if I let them go unharmed, regardless of what body of water they came from, then your set of ethics and mine are vastly different.

I've fished it during the winter and really liked it. You can add the area below the re-reg dam as a good place to fish then. Also, after Labor Day (I think) they pull the boards used to dam up a swiming hole at the bridge by the fly shop and that opens up a couple of good riffles upstream along the R/V campground.

Here's another 2 cents worth. This is a generalization but the size of the fly can dictate the size of the tippet. In Leonard's example, 7 wt rod, 2x or 3x leader, think streamer fishing. In Rick's (laker67) example, 6x or 7x tippet, think - not streamer fishing. I'm not a good enough fisherman to consistently hookup and land big trout on a 6x,7x leader, unless I use something less than a 5 wt rod and I really don't like throwing (not casting) streamers on a 3 or 4wt rod. I've caught many big fish on my 5wt with 6x (I have nowhere near the number these guys have caught), but I have fewer break-offs when using a 3wt or 4wt rod vs. the 5wt when using a light tippet. If you practice your techniques on the fish in the 14-20 range (plenty of those available at T-como), you'll be ready when you get a chance at a trophy. You can also get your practice in on non trout species. Fishing for white bass or carp on 6x can be a great learning experience.

I haven't fished Pointe Royale at night this year, but it has always been worthwhile in the past. You should have the place to yourself. On the PMS, go to Lilley's Landing fly shop. It's in the office. Everything you need to tie PMS and more can be found there. If a fly is mentioned on this forum, I'll bet you can find the materials there. The PMS's in the shop have a tungsten bead, but for night fishing I prefer to tie mine without any weight. While you are Lilley's, if you don't find them on your own, ask them where the flies are that Leonard ties. Same goes for the other flies tied locally, there at Lilley's and the other fly shops around Branson/Springfield. You'll get into the patterns that work well on Taneycomo.