Catfish Lake Taneycomo

[Louisiana Man]

I ve been going to Taneycomo lake the past 6 r 7 years now and enjoy trout fishing but was wonder ing about the catfish.... would it be possibe to catch some wihile im out trout fishing by just using a rod and real and what would be the best bait to use up there .............. i ususlly use jug lines down here

[Trav]

To be honost, it has been a few years since I personally caught any Cats. I hear about them though , so am positive there are a few. But they arent very plentiful. Back in the 80s I used to catch bullhead off my dock like they were bluegills. Not the story any more.

[Greg]

Does anyone know why there are not more warm water species (that can tolerate cooler temps) like catfish and smallmouth bass in lower Taney? I would think smallmouth in particular would do well in the lower part of Taneycomo.

Greg

[Trav]

Greg,

Its because of two factors. Not enough suitable spawning ground, and those pesky stocker rainbows eat up all the eggs.

Smallies need gravel to breed, wich most the suitable gravel beds in the lake is above Roark. Up there those stockers swarm like a plague of rats on anything edible. Most of thier spawning takes place on gravel up all the creeks. They all have gravel someplace.

Cats Basically have two places to spawn, Bull and Roark. All the other inlets dont get warm enough. Cats need super warmed water,80 degrees or so to have a successful spawn.

Its hard to believe that there is so many huge cats in the Red River up north. But obviously they find enough tributaries to make it happen.

Finding species that will be self sustaining in Taney has been a dilehma since the construction of Table Rock Dam. A Dilehma that will never be satisfied. Especially now that they have trout to fill the void.

It would be nice to have some "Put and Grow" Cats and smallies to go along with the trout.

Wouldnt it?

[Greg]

Thanks. That is really interesting. You are right in that I'll bet stocked smallies would be a great addition. They would probably coexist with the trout pretty well. They would probably get big too. I would bet they would stick more to the lower lake where the water temp is somewhat higher. I've found that true on the Current and Niangua - the trout tend to hang in the colder water and while the smallies can tolerate cold water they seem to hang in the slightly warmer areas - although there is some overlap.

I take it that Largemouth bass are self sustaining in Taney though? They are not stocked are they?

Greg

[Trav]

The majority of the Smallies in Taney now tend to stay in the creeks but they are caught lakewide.

The Largemouth are self sustained. I believe that as long as there are bluegills to feed on they will live anywhere. But here again, do to the limited space to spawn the population is rather small compared to the size of the lake. Also, the cold water shortens thier growth rate. It could take a Bass six years to reach three pounds. Thats why Largemouths over 5 pounds, although they do exist, they are rare. They tend to die of old age before reaching Trophy size. Thats why catch and release is sooo important on Taney.