Quick Taneycomo Report

[Phil Lilley]

<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-1122" title="Taneycomo" src="http://www.ozarkanglers.com.php5-24.dfw1-2.websitetestlink.com/lake-taneycomo/files/2011/10/Taneycomo.jpg" alt="" width="500" height="227" />

Got out this afternoon from 2-4:30 pm. Boated up to just below Andy's house and put the boat on the shallow side (right looking upstream) and started. The wind was blowing from the west or trying to push me away from the bank into deeper water. Good chop on the surface.

Right off the bat, I could see lots of rainbows in the shallow water. At this point I had my boat in about 18 inches of water and as I moved down the lake (very slowly) my presence would move trout out of the shallow water and out off the bank about 30 feet. They were still in 3 feet of water or less and still feeding.

I tied on a "mink" scud, tied on a 3769 hook, weighted #12. Mink is a combination of mink fur and brown antron - 3 parts mink and 1 part antron. This is another Rolan Duffield pattern. I also tie them using fl. orange thread. The bright orange shows through the dubbing. Scuds turn orange when they die and I've always done well using any scud with orange thread. I set the palsa float about 48 inches from the fly, 6x fluorocarbon tippet.

I started hooking rainbows- fairly rapidly. Because there was no current, I would move the float/scud often. They were pretty aggressive, swallowing 6 of my scuds over the next hour of fishing. Had to just break them off and tie on a new fly. A majority of the rainbows were over 14 inches, fat and fought only fair. But they were sure pretty- good color and healthy.

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that many rainbows up there. I've been saying, and so have the other guides, that there's been an obvious lack of fish in the trophy area. Not so anymore. And the gravel is full of scuds again.

As I moved down, I'd find more schools of stocker rainbows, small and eager to bite. But the larger rainbows were up shallow- sometimes in less than a foot of water. They were cruising for bugs on the bottom and on the surface. I did throw a midge but didn't have much luck. They liked the scud.

They kicked the water on about 3 pm and the current started but came up slow and didn't get too high or fast. I stayed on the shallow bank. There was a definite mark or drop in the gravel where the water's edge was when the water was off and that's where the rainbows were holding. Most times, it was where the current was too. I found it easy to drift my scud along this drop and caught fish.

I also targeted rainbows up in the very shallow water. These were larger trout. Five times, when I made my presentation and got the bug close to the fish, I saw the fish take it, open its mouth and sucked it in. Set the hook before the indicator moved. Made my afternoon!

Did see 2 rainbows that I would say pushed 18 inches and one over 20 in the shallow water. No one bothers these trout, that's one big reason they're over there.

Got down to the flat at the Narrows and again saw lots of rainbows.

[brother dave]

You make it difficult to want to go turkey hunting up here at home and not just drive to taney tuesday night!

[Phil Lilley]

Sorry

[DaddyO]

Phil, do you hand blend the antron and mink or do you put it in a coffee grinder?

[Phil Lilley]

Blender. Coffee grinder will work too- probably better.

[DaddyO]

Can you be more specific on the Orange thread for the Mink scuds?

[Phil Lilley]

I use floral orange thread when tying the scud. The orange shows through the dubbing, especially when it gets wet and worn.

I cut the fur off a mink pelt, then cut small pieces out of the antron dubbing, trying to cut it all in half-inch strens. Put in a blender and mix it up. 3 parts mink and 1 part antron.

Scuds turn orange when they die. Orange is a good attractant.

[DaddyO]

Thanks for the feedback on that, Phil. I tied up a few using Burnt Orange thread. I have a Fire Orange thread that I use for hot spots on some of my nymphs, but I thought that it might be too bright.