Overall Fishing Report

[Jeremy Hunt]

Taneycomo 27th 2008

You know, I have to be real honest with the readers because that’s what I do. I read all these websites that are about Taneycomo‘s fishing conditions. I mean don’t get me wrong, this is my home water and this is where it all started for me so I love it here, but when I read all these sites that say fishing is great and we’re catching lot’s of fish, I just shake my head. To be simply honest with you, it’s not fishing good at all. In the past years it was nothing for you to catch a hundred fish every time you went out and right now you can’t do that for a few reasons. I’m not out there everyday anymore since I moved to Arkansas, but I fish it once or twice a month and can say at this moment….fishing is fair. Let’s be real here, with water temps in the 60’s and the d.o. being bad for a long period of time, these fish have suffered. I spent from 12-6pm fishing with the water off and caught several fish, but most of everything I caught was skinny in the body and not big by any means. Big heads and small bodies and that is the first I‘ve seen it like that in all my years fishing it. And for the most part the browns have moved out too. I counted about six browns in the neighborhood between 3-6 pounds. Nothing like you should see this time of year. The high water pushed them up sooner this year, they did their business and are already back downstream. I hate to be the one giving you this information, but who else will. It seems like nobody is really being honest and saying the real truth, and maybe that has to do with generating trips.

Here’s another thing I notice that is really bad for Taneycomo since the floods of 2008. The upper section has filled in dramatically . Where trout used to hold, they don’t anymore. The river doesn’t really get good until your down at the rebar hole for holding plenty of fish. I know the outlets do, but I don’t talk about the outlets, I talk about the river in general. If I was a trout I wouldn’t live up top simply because there’s no holding grounds. And if you ask me, the fish aren’t stacked up in numbers like they used to be in past years. It’s sad to see this, but that’s what it is. In high water, it’s a different story because they have plenty of room to roam. All I know is it’s sad to see this river changed in a bad way.

Now on a good note, the fall is here and it’s as beautiful as it’s gets. The wind was blowing hard yesterday and the leaves are getting in the way of getting good drifts. All day I had to pick off leaves that my fly caught when I would pick up to recast. I’m looking out the window right now and see another windy day so be ready for that. I brought my drift boat and actually put it in about three o’ clock to find myself taking it out about fifteen minutes later because I was a sail boat out there. One reason why I use boats instead of wading is simply because you can see higher up and spot bigger fish. I think it’s a big advantage and to me, I’m always after bigger fish anymore. I played the numbers game when I was growing up, but anymore it’s to test my skills and go after big fish. I plan on fishing today sometime around noon. That seems to be the routine for Taney. They run in the morning and shut it off for six hours and then run it until 10pm and then it’s off until the following day at 6am. Table Rock is back down to pool for the most part so they shouldn’t generate a lot of water, but the reason for this is, Beaver is running and dumping into Table Rock because they’re up seven feet above pool. Beaver can only hold ten feet before they have to run flood gates so I’m sure that’s why they are running some water on Taney. Another reason is because of the d.o. and the ppm staying higher then 4. This was a big wake up call and tells the higher up that they need to figure out these d.o. problems for the future or we’ll see problems like this again. I apologize for such a negative report, but it’s important for the readers to know this.

What flies are working?

I didn’t try everything in my arsenal, but I did throw a number of patterns. If you’re fishing along the banks try midge patterns and fish them on the surface or right under the water column. On the surface olive loop wings, emergers, or RS2 were working the best. I also tied on the big ugly and a rusty midge dropper getting hit’s on both patterns. If you want to no the honest truth, the rusty midge was beating everything hands down. If you’re nymphing on the bottom, gray scuds, any color egg patterns and bead head hares ears were the ticket for me. They’re starting to chase stuff so small wooly buggers and crackleback’s on the strip are producing as well. Good luck out there!! I took pictures but didn’t bring my usb cord to upload them. When I get home I’ll upload the pictures and you’ll find them with this report. Take care out there and watch out for those armadillos.

[vanven]

Good report Jeremy.

I am headed down this week and am really excited so see the condition of the upper lake. I realize some of those changes may be negative but that is part of the cycle. There will be ups and downs occasionally. I still cant wait to get out and get my waders wet. It has been almost a year since I last waded Taneycomo.

I was down in August and although the extent was not apparent, it was very clear that there was going to be significant and long lasting damage to the fishery. I think we will see reprocusions of this summer for the next 10+ years whether it be in decreased quality of fish, habitat repair and restoration, etc..

-Jerod

[D.T.]

Jeremy,

One thing I have noticed is all the different reports. They are usually one extreme or the other it seems (all bad or all good). I look on the guides web sites and they are all reporting great fishing most of the time then one day out of the week they will have a real off day. So whats up with that? Even Phill has reported great days then a weird day with some weird fish. I have notticed that the water off elevation is 700.76 and I thought it used to be 700.3 or close to that. It seems that some fill in has occured just looking at those numbers. I would also have thought that with all the water that was ran it would have deepened the main channel and pushed all the gravel to the edges.

Dave

[Leonard]

I have not been able to do many reports here lately..

2-3 weeks ago... I came down with something.. and have been sick ever since...

shoot... Ive been so sick I couldnt even tye flies..

feeling better.... should be back out soon..

Leonard.

Hey Jeremy.

thanks for the report.. now I know what we are up against!!

[Dave Cook]

Jeremy, you are more positive then the report I gave to my brother back east. I said it's the worst it's ever been. However, I have caught good numbers of fish at night and found healthy ones. Most the fish I see during the day fit the discription of the sickly ones you describe. I think things will pick up when Table Rock cools down enough that we get turnover and oxygen coming thru the dam. It looks like the surface water on TR is around 68 -69 and the water coming thru the dam is 61 - 62. So we may get an early turnover but still relatively warm water. I'm also curious how much the surface temperature of Taneycomo cools on a cool night. I see the possibility that the lower lake will cool down before the upper end. I fished most of last Friday night and after midnight the water was warm to the touch and so were fish.

My theory on the big browns is they came up earlier in the year on a feeding binge. The low DO drove them back down the lake and there is no reason for them to come back until the water temperatures drop to a level that would trigger a spawning migration.

[loo10]

I guess since Jeremy is the only one being honest,

the rest of us can just go hang ourselves.

(Give me a break.)

Once or twice a month hardly makes a person the definative report-giver.

I enjoy most of your reports but this one was a little bit "pompous".

I report on this forum regularly and I am nothing but honest in my reports.

To the best of my knowledge, others are as well.

Lately, fishing for me and those I've been with has been good.

Some days, it has been fantastic with some beautiful fish brought to boat.

In the last month, two people in my boat have caught their all-time biggest fish.

An exception was this past Sunday afternoon.

Water was off but the wind was gusting...

Poor conditions for what I like to do.

We still managed to catch quite a few fish in the slot area above Fall Creek.

And had a wonderful time doing it.

So based on this past weekend, fishing wasn't what I'd hoped.

But based on the past couple of months, it's been great for me & mine.

Fishing, regardless of what you hope, is sometimes not so good...

sometimes it's real good...

and sometimes.....it's even better than that!

If you can't catch a huge fish every time you go....then, might I suggest golf?

[DoveTail]

Well, I think Jeremy's report needs to be taken in context. Keep in mind what he is used to as being "GOOD" - catching 100 fish in a day. When you know what the standards were and they are not that way any more, sediment washing in and things changed from how the were, that is what Jeremy is reporting. Now you still see a lot of fish in the water, people are catching some big fish as usual. What he is saying there are not as many as he as seen in prior years.

So if someone can catch a dozen fish or 20 per day, they may think that is excellent. Maybe they can catch more or less than those estimates.

Someone that has never been before or only been to other streams may really be impressed with what they see. It just isn't like it was. Keep in mind his grading scale.

Not taking a defensive position for anyone on either side, but the reports have been up and down all year and it has been a hard year with the weird changes in water levels and temps.

[Jeremy Hunt]

nothing

[Jeremy Hunt]

nothing

[loo10]

Jeremy,

I don't have a personal problem with you.

You insinuated that no one else was being honest in their reports but you.

I don't happen to agree.

I told you I usually liked your reports,

and for your information, I utilize your web site often as I feel it's worth the look.

For most people, they can still fish Taneycomo and have a fun day.