Mr. Ed

For the "non purist" fly fishing from a boat at Taneycomo it's hard to beat a brown 100oz marabous jig about 6' under a foam strike indicator. Other colors work well too. The shops and resorts down there will have what you need. Cheap and effective. That's assuming the water isn't ripping. Have fun.

Fly rod would have been a blast with those.

Wading, floating or boating... I think I'd do the first runs during the day.

I never saw the point in hailing butt on Tany. It's not that big that it's really required. Slow down and enjoy the ride.

I'm up here in KS. Every spring I bank fish the walleye run that happens at our manmade corp lakes in the spring when the walleye try to spawn on the dams. I was having a particularly good few nights throwing a Shad X Rap when they first came out. Lost the lure in the rocks which happens all too often. Next night I went back out armed with a couple identical new X raps. First few cast I get hung up again. Work it lose and reel in to find the back treble hook of my new lure somehow went exactly threw the front eyelet of the lure I lost the night prior. Impossible to happen... but it did.

For a positive thought... you could be in Boston.

Make sure you are equipped with a good GPS and paper map as back up. Pretty easy lake to get turned around on for a first timer... Been there and did it

<<<< Caught with the help of a guide but it sure was fun.

Nice fish guys!!!

Yep. Not to mention how much easier it is to cast with water behind you vs ground/grass/trees. I fished and absolute awesome lake in CO. No waders that day. Shore fished with about 4' tall grass behind me. That was a fly loosing proposition... but we caught some nice trout.

Nice thing about Tany is it's pretty easy to fish. Motor up to fall creek and just drift with the current back down. Keep drifting until you stop catching fish and repeat. Worms... Power Bait... jigs... they all catch fish. If you're lucky someone in your group will hook a big one.

It may go against your desire to buy more gear but you could always take your "cheapy" flyrod and put a small spinning reel on it... It'll work better then you may think.

Just bite the bullet and get yourself a fly rod and reel. You don' have to spend a ton to get into it (but you can spend as much as you want after). I learned how to fly fish with an old hand me down rig on Tany doing the jig and float method. It's a blast and while I don't consider myself a hard core fly fisherman I alway have some fly gear with me just about any time I'm near water. 5w 8' two piece rod and you can catch about anything you might run into around the midwest.

Nice job on the walleye Chris!!! Some of the best walleye fishing I have had is when it's windy a nasty out. They love the wind.

Sounds like a lot of fun F&F. I do some duck hunting up here in KS but really prefer fishing. Fishing and having a shot at some waterfowl sounds about like a perfect day!