Seth

We usually do best up below Walnut Springs just throwing towards the rock banks and jerking back. Most guys troll but we seem to have better luck casting to the banks. I guess it is how the fish swim along the banks, becuase we have hit alot of them on our first or second jerk many times. We have nailed a few at the mouth of flat creek snagging around the point and up into flat creek a couple hundred yards also.

Well everytime I fish there I seen a ton of stocker size trout in there and sometimes there are so many that you can't get to the nicer fish before they take the fly. I think people should start keeping a stringer of under 12 more often. There are lots of nice fish in there to make up for the stockers you take out. Most of the time it's hard to catch four fish that are under 12". It's legal so there isn't any reason to feel bad about taking what is legally yours.

I love Andy's fish batter. That is all I ever use. Don't really know any good ways to bake fish, I always just eat them deep fried in Andy's

That pic of those gobblers has me thinking about spring turkey season . Man I cannot wait that is such a fun time in the woods.

I think a gallery is a good idea.

If the guy tried and put his hearts effort into reviving that fish then there is nothing to hate him about. My big trout died on me becuase I never could get her revived after I caught her. It sucks to know you caught it and that was its last fight, but there are more in there thanks to the awesome trout fishery taney has

Its open up March 15 and I am not sure exactly when it closes. I like to use a 10 foot surf rod with 80lbs Rip Cord spooled on the reel. Alot of guys use the 6 foot broomstick rods and big levelwind baitcaster reels, but they wear a person a lot faster in my opinion. A surf rod will handle a big paddlefish just fine as long as you have the drag set to slip a little bit. As for rigging, I usually use a 4 or 6 oz bell sinker on the end of the line and then about 12-18" above it I put a big treble hook , not sure what size but its about as big as my hand, and then another 24" I put another one on the line. Make sure the hooks are inline with your fishing line when you put them on. To do this I loop the line through they hook eye and then around the hook. Then I make a couple loops and put around 2 of the 3 barbs to keep it lined up. Do the loops around the 2 barbs three times atleast so that each barb has a loop on it. When you pull on the line the hook should be inline with the fishin line. We have had the best luck up around where Flat Creek comes into the James River arm and up around Walnut Springs. A lot of guys troll for paddlefish, and we have done good trolling at times, but last year we did the best throwing towards the banks and then jerking them all the way back to the boat. Usually snagging is good when it first opens at midnight all during the night. I think you get alot of the resident fish that stay there all year long. After that they are pretty spotty to get. One thing about snagging though is that you can snag all day and never touch a fish. But once you find a pocket of them, you can catch your limit of two in 15 minutes. It just takes persistence and you will catch one. Usually though its one guy who catches all the fish becuase he will be doing something just a little different that the other and he will be the one hitting them. Hope this helps, Seth

How many strands of ostrich do you use for different hook sizes? I tied a few in a size 20 up like that ray charles, but I used only 1 strand. Should I use 2 or even 3 to make it "buggier"?

Thanks a bunch guys... I will give these patterns a whirl whenever the next time I make it back down there to Taney. That might not be until January though after all the hunting seasons are over with.

I seen a guy one time catch a 22" bow and then he let it flop on the gravel and then he kinda just booted it into the water. Another guy who was fishing besides me went over and waded out into the freezing water and spent 15 minutes bring that fish to life. My hats off to that guy for doing that definetly. You would think if you land a big fish like that, to atleast being careful handling it so it gets released as harmless as possible. People might just not know any better I guess . It sure is hard to see a big fish get treated like that though.

Do you guys have any scud patterns that use ostrich herl that you would like to share with me? I have always just used dubbing to tie them and picked out the legs. I have tried to tie some up by just wrapping the ostrich over the hook and trimming the top and the sides, but they come out really thin. How do you guys make the bodies bigger? Just build it up with thread or what? Thanks guys for any info.

I try to atleast keep my feet in ankle deep water so the fish dont swarm my feet while I am fishing for them.

A long time ago, I believe in 1991, we went down and stayed at Lazy Valley Resort and my dad caught a 20 pound common off the dock on either corn or a night crawler. They have his picture in the shop and said it was a 20 pound sucker .. lol

I tie all my scuds in size #20 for the most part. Too bad I don't live closer to Taneycomo. I want to go fly fishing down there so bad right now again. With rifle and muzzleloading season coming up for the next month, there won't be any time to get down there Deer hunt or trout fish....what a good problem to have hehe

Bret Rader has a fly he calls a "UV Wire Midge" that he does pretty well with in size 20-24 I believe. One of his clients caught a 28" rainbow on a wine colored one not too long ago.

Yep, I always use 7x flurocarbon. I usually fish with a #6/8 split shot and a small football indicator. Should I not use any weight and possibly just use one of those pinch on palsa indicators? I normally dont put lead on my flies, I think I might try that one my scuds and try that next time so I can get the fly down with no split shot.

I was just wondering what techniques you guys like to use for catching the trout that are eating scuds in the slack water. There are always lots of fish there, but I can't get my scuds or gbugs to look natural without any current. The trout always come up towards my flies but then turn away at the last second. I can only think of maybe three fish I've actually caught dead water up there. Brett Rader sight fishes for them in that dead water and catches a bunch the way it sounds. Sight fishing is my favorite way to fish and thats why I was wondering how you guys catch these "dead water" fish. I would like to get down there again soon and try and catch some of the browns with some new techniques

Hasn't that been lifted about them being unfit to eat? We go down every year and get a bunch and eat the heck out of it and never gotten sick or anything. That's another great thing about snagging season down there is the crappie are usually biting good too. If we get tired of snagging, we just grab the ultra lights and go catch a mess of crappie for dinner. Not much beats a mess of papermouths fried up in some Andy's fish batter after a day of fishing.

Anybody here snag for paddlefish on the James River arm of "the rock"?

Sadly, she did not live. I hooked and landed her on 2lbs test and I had to battle her for quite a while becuase she kept going underneath them docks. I worked for almost an hour trying to get her revived after I landed her, but she never would come back. She would act like she wanted to swim off but then when I let her loose she just went belly up again. I would rather of let her swim off, but atleast I can say it aint becuase I didn't try to let her go. We hooked three other fish the same size as her that trip also that we did not land, so theres plenty more in there still thankfully. ...oh and Phil I am just curious, what is the biggest you've pulled from below your docks even though you don't count them. My biggest rainbow other than the big one I got by the cleaning station from Taney is around 18" or 19" that I caught up in the trophy area fly fishing.

A trout magnet is a little piece of rubber about 1" long with split legs. I used a white one to "match the hatch" since that fish was eating guts. It worked

Yep that ten pound bow' I caught off Lazy Valley was eating cuts when I caught it. We hooked two others about the size of the one I landed that same trip all right by the cleaning station.

Just curious what everybody's biggest rainbow and brown trout that you've caught on Taneycomo. Also, post a pic of it on here if you can. My biggest brown I've landed was 19.5 inches. I caught him this fall while down there fishing. My biggest rainbow was 27" with an 18" girth and weighed right at 10 pounds. I caught her on June 12, 2005 off of the Lazy Valley Resort fishing dock.

Looks like that big ol female was about to bust with eggs.

I went down there a few weekends ago and I personally thought that I seen more big browns than when I went last year. Maybe I just had better timing this year, although I still didn't hook any of the monsters that trip .