Seth

They were definitely in some sort of a funk. I have never had as much trouble hooking and landing fish as we did today. I even broke out some powerbait for the first time in years for the last few hours. It wouldn’t take long to get bit, but I bet we missed ten fish for every one we hooked up with. I’m not sure how that is even possible with a treble hook. It was definitely a new one for me. I’ll be ready for redemption next weekend at the Masters!

We have always just caught them while fishing crawlers or corn for trout. Most of the time that is off of Lazy valleys dock or up near short Creek I’ve never never went down stream and targetted them anywhere special. I don’t think the numbers are like they used to be because we don’t seem to catch mearly as many as we used too.

They are pretty good, but I actually prefer the traditional nacho appetizer that Flat Creek Resort in Cape Fair sells as an appetizer. Those things are ridiculous! Danas is still one of my favorite places to eat here in Branson.

I don’t know about that. Video game fishing is a blast to me.

Trying to put yourself in to a diabetic coma also works when you don’t catch anything at all.

Not much offends me in this world, but seeing somebody hold a spinning reel upside down and reeling it backwards is one of them.

When you catch a lunker trout, be sure to handle with care and release it for the next angler. Afterwards, go up to the strip and eat a Cakes and Creams Supreme to celebrate.

If you are a spin fisherman, the best thing you can do is learn to fish a jig on Taneycomo. A 6-6.5' rod with a decent backbone is required for straight line fishing a jig. Use 2# line for 1/32-1/16oz and 4# for a 1/8oz jig. Taneycomo trout love the color pink! A pink Trout Magnet or Berkley power worm fished beneath and indicator is a great way to catch a lot of trout. When the water is generating, focus on current seams formed by structure, creek mouths, etc. Trout will school up here during heavy generation and scatter out in the area when the water is off. Fishing is typically the toughest when there is no generation, zero wind and bright, blue skies. Overcast with generation or enough wind to impart a decent ripple on the waters surface are usually best. Fishing jigs, Trout Magnets, Power Worms, midges, etc beneath a float works best with a ripple on the waters surface. This will impart action to your lure. When trout are midging, a great way to catch them is to fish a zebra midge, micro jig or any other small lure a foot or two beneath an indicator. Ease up to the midging fish and throw near them. Many times the trout will bite right away, but sometimes you will have to twitch the lure a few times to try and get them to strike. Brown trout are a cover oriented fish. An effective way to target them is to throw jerk baits and crank baits around the plentiful wood cover that gathers on outside and inside bends. Live bait such as night crawlers, minnows and sculpins tend to produce better quality trout on average than power bait or salmon eggs When fishing night crawlers, don't forget to inject air in to the worm to make it float up off the bottom when targeting trout. Taneycomo also has a good population of white suckers. If you also want the opportunity to catch them, leave the air out of the worm and let it wiggle on the bottom. For up to date generation patterns as well as the predicted patterns for the upcoming days, you can use the USACE Little Rock app. You can also go to https://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx . Watch the daily One Cast episode on the Lilley's Landing Facebook page or YouTube channel for up to date fishing reports.

@snagged in outlet 3 just come fish the Boswell on Taneycomo. I'll be your invite.

Way to go, Bob! The one year I actually had nothing going on and could have made it!

I've used a MH/F, M/F and a M/M for jerkbaiting and I couldn't tell that I missed or lost any more or less fish than the other. I'd just go to pop the lure and there would be a fish on the other end. I was using 10-14# mono though and not fluorocarbon.

I hate to hear that Bob. I've ran in to issues with them not being in stock as well in the past. I'm not sure if they are just in that high of demand or what, but I ended up getting store credit for a broken one and then got lucky and stumbled across them on sale at the Columbia BPS store and got two for $20 more than the price of one at full price.

@Toby from MO just got it on his new rig, but I'm not sure how much time he has spent using it so far.

My fiance landed a 45# blue out of a local park lake on a medium fast bass rig spooled up with 12 or 14# mono. This was also from the bank so no chasing the fish down either. It almost spooled her on the initial run. She eventually wore it down and I waded in waist deep, grabbed hold of the head and wrestled it up the bank. That is still one of the coolest moments we have had together. I’m not sure if I was even 20 in this picture....

and fish parts. Phi'ls pet brown they call Frank rarely ventures too far away from the cleaning station from what I've seen. That thing would crush the current state record. He pays zero attention to night crawlers and anything else that you can legally throw in front of him. My father in law caught an 18" rainbow that was just shy of 3# off of Phil's dock last year and he just had to clean it and eat it. That trout had multiple sculpins and a fresh trout tail in it's gut when I cleaned him and he was caught on a night crawler. Trout are as bad as an old channel cat for being scavengers.

I agree with you on that when it comes to bass. After watching Oliver Ngy throw that 10" Megabass swimbait for two days straight on LoZ and only catching two bass and still winning 100G's, the proof is in the puddin! When it comes to trout, I think the best tactics is to just sore lip all the little stupid ones and then hope the bigger ones eventually get dibs. Stocker trout will eat anything, even when it's almost as big as they are. Besides, it keeps you occupied in between quality bites.

I did catch an 18” and a 21” rainbow on back to back casts with a hair jig I tied up for bass last year. I’ve caught a pile of stockers rainbows on 4-5” jerkbaits and still don’t have a 20” plus brown to show for it. Trout are one of those goofy fish that have no problem trying to eat lures nearly as big as themselves. My best brown is 19.5” and came on a size 20 ginger gbug by the Rebar hole, which is a far cry from that big jerkbait. I think it is more about just getting lucky and putting the lure in front of the right fish. There are probably more big trout caught on little scud flies than anything else each year on Taneycomo. I think you can definitely increase your odds of hooking up with a big brown with big baits around wood cover, but I don’t think rainbows are as easy to focus on aside from sight fishing. They aren’t as cover oriented as the browns.

I might learn my lesson one of these days, but I’m gonna have to stop catching my biggest fish year after year on my spinning rod and 8# line first. 😁 The difference in 4# and 8# is pretty drastic though.

What a heart breaker Al!

Most if not all of the tourney guys will be fishing below Fall Creek anyways so you would be fine.

Just avoid Fall Creek down to Short Creek and the water treatment boat ramp and you should be OK. Those areas get absolutely pounded! There's way too much area with plenty of fish to be fighting all that mess!

Tell him to hang around there for ten more days. I could use him for the Boswell.

I think several of us here need to make a road trip to Taneycomo and pair up for a 2# vs 4# contest and see who catches the most fish! We all fish with the same color/weight lure for a certain length of time and then tally up the total fish count at the end. The losers buy the winners a Cakes and Creams supreme.

I wish it worked on the big trout as well as it does on the big bass. It’s definitely a numbers bait for trout.

Upper Taneycomo is flies and hard baits, no soft plastic or scented lures. I couldn’t imagine how many trout I would catch up there if I could drift a pink power worm through there!