hoover25

Perfect conditions for Taney although the guides on my fishing rod tend to freeze up when weather is like this. Last night I think that my reel actually began to freeze. How are the roads down there?

Another wonderful night near the dam. Cold, wind, and eventually snow.....and not one other person on the water. According to the answering machine, they (the dam) were running zero units but the water was up a bit and falling when I arrived. There was not the usual flurry of surface action that I was hoping for, but at least some trout were cooperative. I fished from #2 to the big hole and landed 1 nice brown and 9 rainbows in 2.5 hours. The fishing seemed to improve once the water had dropped. I would have fished longer but the horn went off (about midnight) and I was on the other side of the lake and did not want to end up at Lilley's. Most of the fish were smaller than 16 inches....couldn't find the big guys tonight. But they were quite fun and I had many jumpers. I was using #7 b/w and a #13 b/t rapala. I missed more fish than I care to discuss....a bunch of short strikes. All in all, it was another great night (although short).

Well, after I put the kids to bed I drove down from Springfield to the dam area. I was greeted by my two favorite things: An empty parking lot and high water. Unfortunately there was a boat sitting at my first "high water" spot (#1 outlet). So I made my way down to the rebar hole since the water was dropping....and people began to show up. I fished from the rebar to big hole and landed about 12 nice browns and 1 rainbow in 3 hours (I quit at 12:30 am.) I thought that "brown season" was over....I guess not for me. With the exception of 2 very small stocker size browns, all the fish were in the 16-18 inch range. With the current still running pretty fast, these fish put up a great fight and a couple actually took some drag off my light spinning reel. All fish were caught using a #13 B/T rapala. I used a slow and steady retrieve and even got some surface action from one or two. On a funny note, I almost lost my rod. I was attempting to light a cigar and my rapala was swimming approximately 25 yards downstream from me. A nice football shaped brown nailed it and just about tore the rod out of my distracted hands. All in all, it was a great night, but I thought that the action had been better in past weeks (for me at least.)

If its not a problem, I'd like to have his number. I have been down there a night during the summer and have witnessed many a powerbait fisherman. If they look harmless enough I usually "inform" them of the regs in the trophy area. Most of the time, they are just too ignorant to read the sign....but other times its obvious that they know exactly what they are doing a don't give a darn.

Well I had a hunch that I would have the dam area to myself last night with this crazy cold and windy weather. So I bundled up and headed down to Taney. I was in the water at about 9:15 p.m. and out by 12:15 a.m. As I expected there was almost nobody there except for one nice guy from the STL area down here on vacation. I caught six rainbows to 18 inches and about 18 browns to 19.99 inches.....seems I just can't get a keeper to save my life. I walked from #3 to the island below the rebar. No spot seemed better than the other...the fish were very cooperative in all areas and I missed more fish than I care to discuss. I was using spinning gear with a b/w #7 rapala and a b/t #13 rapala. I caught more fish on the larger crankbait, but I think that was because I could cast it further in the wind. I have to say that it was so nice having some space down there......not having knuckleheads wading right out in front of you while you are casting. I think that I am going to have to plan all of my fishing around the worst weather possible.

I only fish at night to avoid the crowds. My tips would be: Leave the fly rod at home and bring some spinning gear. Use floating rapalas and experiement with different sizes and retrieval speeds. Heck, sometimes, I just fish it like a dry fly and let the current send it down a riffle.....surface strikes can be awesome. Another benefit is that you can cover a lot of water. Rapalas are the only lures that I ever use (except for the occasional jig from "Anglers and Archers") and I have always had good luck. Plus, if the they are running a lot of water through the dam, you can fish a bunch of spots that would be overly difficult with the fly rod. This is just my two cents. -Tight Lines!