Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

My son and I had a great time fishing the mild 50 degree weather on Monday and Tuesday. We waited for the water to drop on Monday so we could wade below the dam. We got on the water around 11 AM. We avoided the small crowds in the outlets and I headed to Rebar. I spoke with a guy who said the fishing was outstanding on Sunday, but things had slowed considerably on Monday. It seemed we all had to work hard for the fish we caught. I landed eight rainbows all on a #18 gray scud under a #16 olive scud. Color didn't seem to matter as much as size, but I was too lazy to retie! A guy near me landed a beautiful 27 inch male rainbow. The fish were there as always, but it wasn't my day to land one. Adam tried something different and he went BIG. He threw a floating Rapala on his ultra light. He fished from the cable to Big Hole and landed 15 rainbows. The largest was 19 inches. It just goes to show you don't have to fly fish to be successful.

On Tuesday we decided to use one of your boats instead of waiting for the water to drop and it was the right decision. They ran water all day and fishing from the boat was good as usual. We started with 1/16th oz maribou jigs from Rebar to the old KOA. They worked well if you could get them down to the bottom which was tough in the deeper water. We switched to small egg sinkers with white streamers and woolly worms and the was the answer. We landed forty fish by lunch time. After lunch we went downstream to Monkey Island and threw the jigs as they had slowed the water to one generator. We randomly caught fish, but they were mostly small stockers so we headed up to Lookout Island. The fishing was better with more fish and better size. We threw jigs on the shallow side all the way down to Fall Creek. White/gray and the white/tinsel jigs we bought in your shop, on 2lb line was all we used. We were consistently catching fish and had no reson to change. We ended the day with over 70 fish landed and released. Of all the fish five were in the 18-19 inch range. Suprisingly we didn't catch any browns.

It wasn't our best trip in terms of numbers/size of fish caught, but it is hard to beat a day on Taneycomo in December with the temperatures in the 50's. Especially when we watched a Bald Eagle fly down 100 yards away and pick a fish off the water! We are looking for the next break in the weather so we can make a return trip in January! Thanks, Bill