Mike B

Okay guys, I am sorry to be so stupid, but what the heck is a Doctor? I don't fish TR all that much, much more used to fishing dirty water up at Truman where I grew up. Remember the first time I put in at the Rock and couldn't believe I could see the bottom 20 feet deep. Whole different ball game for me. Thanks

I know they guys are down there writing tickets, but I think there is just so much going on that they can't keep up with it. Prime example of the problem was I took the family camping to Roaring River last night. THis morning near our campsite I started fishing in the fly only area and there was a man fishing with a plastic twister tail bait. When I politely informed him of his wrong doing, he acted as if he could not hear or understand me, however, he knew I was talking to him from across the stream. When I then said to my son standing next to me that the guy was using illegal bait and that we should let someone know, he then grabbed his tackle and headed up the bank. I think its a good excuse for some of these people that they cannot understand what your saying when they actually do. I hope they keep enforcing it tightly, or our fishing will be gone very quickly. Maybe we could have one of the TV news stations do an piece on the number of tickets written down on Taneycomo. It might help. Thanks guys,

Hey guys, I think the using of bait is getting worse rather than getting better. When they first put in the trophy area I would see a few people using bait and I would advise them of the new rules and I think most people really did not know the new rules. Now I think most know them they just ignore them. The last two weeks I have made several trips to Taney and almost every time I catch a trout that has been gut hooked and has line hanging out of its mouth. THe last one I caught like this was a 16 inch rainbow on saturday morning and it still had the synthetic egg in its mouth attached to the hook. ALso, I see fewer fish in the trophy area than before. It seems to me the last two summers the numbers have diminished in the trophy area. In the winter it appears to be full of fish and it is not unusual for me to catch 50 to 60 fish in a few hours, but in the summer that drops to about 20 to 30 in the same time frame. I don't think the fishing has changed, just in the summer the fish are not there. Does not make sense to me, because with them not running much water lately you would think more fish would migrate to the cooler water up the lake. Last Saturday I fished for trout for a couple of hours in 55 degree water above fall creek and then boated down past Branson to fish for bass in 80 degree water. You can't tell me that the trout like the 80 degree water over the 55 degree. I guess they could go deep in the lower end of the lake, but I imagine they would migrate to the upper end eventually. I think better signage telling people the rules would help. You don't see a sign warning you of the trophy area unless you actually stop and read it on the one sign at the hatchery location. I would be glad to pitch in a few bucks to post some better signs, Then make the fines higher for violation. Anyway, something has to put a stop to it, or our problem will grow. People that get away with bait fishing and keeping fish in the slot and over their limit will tell their buddies, and their buddies show up and do the same thing and it just snowballs. Sorry, so long, but I don't write very often, but I do love to fish in Taney and it gets me when people disobey the rules. One last thing, is there a local phone number that we can call when we see a violation to report it?

Have seen the listing for the tournaments out of your place Phil. Was wondering if you could update me on how they go about managing the tournaments with the trophy area above fall creek. It has been several years since I fished a tournament at Taney and this was before the trophy area was created. How do you know if someone fishes in the upper area or not? Thanks Mike

Just thought I would add my two cents worth on this. I run a fairly big bass boat on Taneycomo and depending on the time of year I may fish it once a month or 8 times a month. I try to respect the distance I come within another boat when running on plane and off plane. I personally would rather have a boat go by me on plane than to shut half way down and throw a big wake at me. I used to have a smaller aluminum bass boat and when someone went by at about half plane it would really rock me. I always motioned them to come on past at full power rather than shut it down. I think the problem usually occurs at certain places on the lake especially where the channel narrows when the water is not running. We all know the places, just below the mouth of short creek, around fall creek dock, and at the top of the island across from fall creek. These places seem to have the most bottlenecks and wade/bank fishermen when the water is not running. If I have room, I will usually fly by at about 1/2 to 3/4 speed. I try to not come too close to any other boat especially on the side which they are fishing on. If I am right, I believe the law says that if a boat is anchored you cannot be on plane within 100 feet of that boat, so I watch for the boats that are anchored when running up the lake. As for shutting down to go by a boat, if we had to do this on a busy weekend, it would take us an hour to get from the boat ramp at Cooper to the trophy area. And if you think about it, when was the last time you went down the lake at 60 miles per hour and passed within 10 feet of another boat going 60 the other way? But we do that all the time on the highway. My input would be to 1. respect other boaters, ( I have shut down and apologized to a guy that shook his fist at me when I was going by. I wanted him to know that I certainly wanted to respect his space.) 2. For those of us that fish on the lake all the time, come up with some signal to motion to another boat approaching that you do not mind them going past you on plane. I usually wave my arm motioning them past if I think there is plenty of room.