Cheese slinger

You have a tough life Phil

Personally I don't understand why people purposely break regulations - it seems funny to me to risk a fine and the ruin of your trip by doing something you know you could get in legal trouble for. As far as confronting people when you see them doing something illegal it's happened twice involving me at Montauk, once was a foreign guy who had no idea there were bait restrictions in the park using cheese in the fly area, he was grateful I saw him before a ranger did. I gave him a spiner to use and we chatted a bit, he was cool. Another time I was absolutely tearing up a hole on a rooster tail (on my ultralight spinning rod), and a fly fisherman came over and got down right nasty with me because he honestly thought I was breaking a rule by not "fly fishing" in the fly only area. So I guess I see both sides of when to intervene and when not to, I would say we're all adults and can use our own judgement in any situation. I'd like to think 9 of 10 regulation infractions are a result of honest mistakes, and who wouldn't want some friendly advice when making an honest mistake? lol Phil and where did you get chased with a paddle? People are hilarious.

If you're unfamilar with the lake I would suggest waiting till daylight to head out and restrict your 1st night of fishing to a dock - action on bait can be awesome this time of year, imo no sense risking a twisted ankle or smthg that cld ruin your trip the very 1st night. Good luck to you sir.

lol everyone can consider themselves warned then Good luck to you sir, I hope you do well and enjoy yourself while you're doing it.

Is a big bass a lunker, or a hawg?

I'm a big spoon guy - I just think they're fun to fish and the trout really kill em when they hit - and I just got back from a 5 day trip at Lilley's and absolutely slayed them on spoons. The little cleo 1/8 ounce in the rainbow trout pattern or blue and silver were working best for me, but we had guys doing well on just about anything that was silver and flashy To be honest, this time of year it's hard not to catch fish if your line is in the water imo. Good luck to you sir.

Had an awesome trip down there. Dock fishing is usually a big highlight, but seemed really slow unless you happened to hit it while the water was running, which it usually wasn't. The trout got everything thrown at them in my sizeable bag of cheese, mostly to no avail. The trophy area saved the trip. Went up to lookout and just GOT INTO some fish - our party of 7 probably threw back upwards of 300 fish in 4 hours of fishing on Tuesday the 30th. My hand hurt from gripping my fishing pole. Quite a few nice ones too, my best rainbow taped out at a smidge under 19", got her on a jointed floating rapala blue/silver. It didn't seem to matter what we threw at the trout, anything from little cleo's to blue fox spinners, mepps spin flies, rapalas, I even broke down and jig fished a few little runs there - as long as silver was somewhere in the color scheme they killed it. Gold did not produce at all. We did really well on the couple of gravel flats on the way back to Fall Creek too - shallow gravel w/ silver seemed to be the key. Anyway sorry for the delay in the fishing info, and thanks Phil for another fabulous year - the Taneycomo trout fishery has to be the finest I've ever fished, the shear amount of trout available to catch is staggering, and anytime you have to stop fishing to cool your hand off in the lake because it's cramping up from fighting fish you know that you have to be doing something right God bless, good luck, and good fishing to everyone. -Rick

I've stayed down lake a few times for impromptu summer trips, and always caught fish using just bait on drift rigs, power eggs, cheese (love the stuff, hence my name), nightcrawlers injected w/ air, minnows injected w/ air in the tail only, have all produced for me. I tend to lean more toward the power eggs only because they stay on the hook well and all the other stuff you have to constantly rebait. Never fished an artificial lower than the 2nd bridge, but I'd guess a small crankbait or little cleo spoon would eventually get something to grab it.

Awesome, thanks Phil.

Thanks for the advice. Just read Phil's article on jig fishing...I've never used a float w/ one, but will give it a shot and post a report (and hopefully a big fish pic?) when I get back!

/agree While Taneycomo does get quite alot of pressure, in my opinion there are just so many trout in the lake that you really can't go wrong. If you were more interested in the solitude angle, I'd say try to get down on a weekday, and try hanging out in the upper area - seems like the area between lookout and rebar is almost always deserted when I'm there.

I'm about to leave for 5 days at Taneycomo, staying at the fabulous LL resort by the way , and wanted some advice on fishing the fly area above fall creek. Traditionally we'll throw spoons in the managed area, and usually do O.K., but I'm a jig fisherman at Montauk and was wondering if I'm not missing out by not throwing a jig? My only reserve is that I'm used to fishing much smaller bodies of water with a jig, and am a little intimidated by such a large area to cover with such a small lure, so I thought I'd seek a little advice Are there any jig fisherman out there, or does anyone have any other lure advice for fishing the fall creek and above section of taneycomo only using an ultralight? Do you jiggers use a bobber, or just fish by feel? What kind of water do you do best in, slow pools or faster runs? Thanks for taking the time to read my post, I look forward to seeing both Phil and Taneycomo shortly!

Absolutely amazing.

Phil, the troutcam rox my sox!