MOBass

I went down to the dam area and the water was slowly dropping out when I got there in the AM. Fished a glo ball below outlet 1 for a couple of missed bites. Moved down towards outlet 2 as the water continued to drop and found no love on the glo ball. Stopped a little below outlet 2 and caught a couple of fish with no size to thm on a gnat and missed several others. Switched back to a glo ball and worked down towards re bar and back for a few small browns and bows. Ended up at outlet 2 and fished a white wolly bugger for a couple of fish. Called it and worked my way back to the truck. Overall a decent day for numbers but not what I was hoping for. Side notes - Saw a lot of browns milling around below outlet 2 and got a couple to go on a glo ball. Any thoughts on how to coax these fish to bite? Had two guys step right in next to me. One even went so far as to walk directly in front of me to where my cast were landing. I am not into combat fishing and it isn't worth raising my blood pressure so I just move it along. I'll be glad to see the weather continue to cool and thin the crowds further. There's nothing like being on the water with snow on the bank, no one in sight, and the fish biting.

Post a report when you can. I'll probably be down Sunday to see if I can luck into some fish.

I had a few hours open so I made a quick run down. In the water about 3:45P. It wasn't combat fishing but plenty crowded. Gave a glo ball a shot and hooked a decent brown on the third or fourth cast. That lasted about 5 seconds then the tippet and leader parted ways. Re tied my tippet and went a couple of hours walking and casting where I could find room for nothing but a few browns turning on the glo ball as it went by. Finally ended up at outlet one and caught a couple of smallish rainbows on a scud. I saw plenty of fish but would have to say the fishing pressure may had slowed them down. I know I would be a little touchy after being cast at all day. The crowd started thinning at sunset so night fishing looks like a viable option. May have to give it a go next weekend. Good luck out there.

Is there anyplace to buy minnnows on the lake or close buy? Putting in at light house. Thanks.

If you are trolling cranks or spoons consider removing the trebel hooks and replacing them with a single hook (barbless is even better). You may have to play around with hook sizes to get the baits to run correctly but it helps a lot with making a release. I leave the fish in the water and grip the hook with hemostats and turn it out for a pretty painless release for all parties. If I have to grip the fish I try to use wet hands and turn the fish on its back.

Better late than never I guess. Put in at Cooper Creek and ran to a set of boat docks just past Rockaway to start the day. Fished a buzzbait first thing and had a few small fish come up on it. Pitched a worm into a few docks and missed some bites. Finally caught a decent fish the crushed the buzzbait. Not a bad start. That would be about it though. Fished all the way to Ozark Beach and missed some senko fish along the way. Came back to Cedar Point Resort and caught one more bass on a buzzbait. Lots of stuff on the water. It looks like a dock came apart becuase there were large chunks of foam from Branson to Rockaway. There were also some good size logs out there so be careful running. Hung up the bass gear after finding Turkey creek, cold and muddy. I did see a couple of guys fishing bass and made a few notes for future reference. Fished the island above Branson for some 'bows on crawlers. Pretty good fishing on the garden hackle. Made a few more stops for nothing. Hopefully there will be a stretch of stable weather and I can make another go of it soon.

I haven't seen much posted on it but I would grab a tub of night crawlers and take with. When things get real tough I'll put a crawler on the drop shot rig near the bridge piers. I'll catch a few keepers over the course of the day and usually have decent numbers fising. You may also find some nice cats.

The length of the yatch shouldn't be too much of a problem. The limiting factor would be how much water it draws. I am not sure how big the Branson Belle is but I recall someone saying it only draws 8-10' of water (could be wrong as I am working off of memory).

I usually fish from Branson to below Rockaway. Not sure if the qualifies as lower lake or not. I have only fished Taney in the summer time and wasn't sure if there would be a drastic change for the fall. Do the fish reposition during generation? I have yet to be down there with water running while fishing bass.

I am taking a mental health day Sunday and will probably put in at Rockaway. I haven't seen many reports on the green fish lately. I know it is top secret, double secret probation stuff to talk about bass in Taney. :ph34r: If anyone would care to share some info it would be appreciated.

I overlooked the fact you will be fishing after the chaos of the holiday. I like fishing deep during the day and would get a good lake map and find humps, saddles, and deep points to fish a foot ball jig or drop shot on. I also like fishing the bridges if there are high skys. There are some post about whites around moonshine beach. I am not sure if that bite will be on or not but it would be worth a look. If it is on there will probably be a few boats on it. Just be respectful of whoever is there first and you can probably get on them in the same area.

I would keep clear off of the main lake and dam area. Boat traffic will be heavy at best and dangerous at worse. If I were going down this weekend I would start early and fish up one of the river arms. I prefer the James and fish from Cape Fair to the bridge. Unless I am fishing a tournament I fish for bites as opposed to big fish. In the morning I try to find some topwater fish then move on to fishing a rig or football jig deeper. Around noonish I'll fish the bridge pilling with a grub or drop shot if I can't get a bite elsewhere. There are plenty of docks to fish up the James also. Good luck and be safe.

Thankfully summer will wind down soon and the lace lice will slowly go away. As the area continues to grow in population and popularity the number of confrontations with inconsiderate people of all types will also grow. All we can do as responsible anglers, boaters, and hunters is to make sure we play by the rules and be considerate even if that consideration is not returned. I fully advocate carrying a digital camera and photographing those that commit stupid acts on the water especially if you can capture their registration numbers. It's always nice to share those pictures with the proper authorities.

Senkos - Watermelon, Watermelon Red, Watermelon Candy, Smoke Red. Crappie - I haven't fished for crappie in Taney but I would say the standards would work. Crappie jigs, road runners, minnows fished around brush piles and boat docks would be a good place to start.

Any insight as to what the heavy generation will do to the bass fishing? I might come down Sunday and give it a shot.

You may want to try a Senko texas rigged with no weight for the bass. Cast the bait to the back of the dock and let it sink. If it reaches the bottom with out getting a bite reel it back slowly. Most of the bites will come as the bait is sinking. For browns you can try minnows, night crawlers, spoons, and small rapalas. Fish above Fall Creek and I would say your odds will go up on catching a brown. Keep watching the reports before you trip so you can stay up to date on what is happening. Good luck!

I have taken to crimping or grinding down the barb on my flies. It makes the release easy and if I do put one in my finger it comes out without much fuss. I saw the post about getting a hook in the eyebrow. That drives home the point to always wear eye protection. Before I had prescription glasses I would wear my sunglasses during the day and clear safety glasses at night. People that saw me wearing them for the first time would laugh and ask what it was about. I just asked if they had ever got a hook in their eye. They would stop laughing and say no. I would say neither have I. At that point they would ask me if I had a spare pair.

I had no idea that it would warm up that much. I need to get a temp sensor that can be dropped down to see where the cooler water starts and what temp it is at. That may help explain why trout fishing was a little off at the lower end of the lake.

One of the guys at the office got on the big gills a couple weeks ago. He was fishing around Rockaway but I didn't get any other details. He also caught some white bass. I was down Monday and soft plastics worked for me. You may want to try a jig and see what happens though. Hindsight being 20 / 20 I should have also tried a spinner bait in the AM. I need to go down again over the holiday weekend and try to catch a few.

I may have to come down over the long weekend. The water in front of your place is beautiful. I could not get over how clear it was when I was there Monday. I didn't do much to the fish but saw a bald eagle sitting in a tree. Are the fish locked on beds or still moving around alot? I didn't check the temp when I was down there. Any idea what it might be? It is amazing that it is July and there are fish spawning.

If we are overwhelmed with hordes of anglers we know where to go now.

I have to say that this is a mixed blessing. I don't know the lake that well and I'll probably pick up some new spots to try and it will help people that are down on vacation stay safe. The other side of the coin is that it will probably draw a little more interest to the lake and the bass fishery. Hopefully most folks will pursue the trout and leave the green fish to the locals.

Odds are that was us. I had one good fish jump off and one took me into a tree. We fished some banks up towards Branson also for a few bites. I am leaving the trout gear at home next time and getting a couple more packs of worms, stick o's, and maybe some beaver baits. I forgot to check the water temp but I did have some fish come up on a buzzbait. I know the guys get on a deep bite at Table Rock but for an average Joe I would say Taney has better fishing at least for numbers. I finally caught a smallie on Taney yesterday also. I am trying to figure a way to get down there over the holiday. I might just have to go down for a few hours on the fourth.

I decided that I would pull a combo trip and start off with some trout fishing and switch up to bass. Put in at Rockaway and ran up to the island past Branson and fished it for awhile. MDC boat came by and must have been stocking. In there wake there fish breaking the water for a good half hour. Tried power bait, spoons, and crappie jigs for a few short bites on the crappie jigs. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have grabbed some crawlers. No love from the trout today. Ran back towards Rockaway and saw a good looking bank so I slammed on the breaks and went back to fish it. The bight was on and I had a good numbers pattern going in about 10 mins. My daughter fished a 4" stick - o and I pitched a 10" power worm. Bluff bank and laydowns were the key. Every laydown produced a bight with several giving up a couple. The 10" worm produced a couple of quality bites while the stick - o did the numbers. Both baits were taken on the fall. I might have to take another pass at it this weekend. Hopefully more to follow...

I'll be out with my daughters tomorrow to see if we can find a few willing fish. The plan is to run up past Branson and fish trout then switch over to bass after we catch a few. Hopefully that will work out. I'll post a report tomorrow night on what worked and what didn't.