Hoppers On Taneycomo

[Phil Lilley]

Tomorrow morning Linc and I head out for the White River to cast some hoppers at big browns. I thought I'd practice here on Taneycomo this evening. Glad I did!

After talking to Tim Homesley this morning and hearing his story about fishing from Cooper Creek to the Landing the other day AND throwing hoppers and big ants against the bluff bank and catching a bunch of blue gill and small bass, I got to thinking about trying them on the upper end where I've tried smaller stimulators with little success.

Boated to to Lookout and changed my tippet to 1x, tied on a Dorman's Insect brn/orng Hot Rod Hopper (Rainy's) #8. One unit running but was dropping out. Still good current when I started. First cast had a rainbow come up a slurp it up in fast current against a tree. I thought about first cast jinx... oh no!! But it wasn't to be this evening.

Drifted the whole bank down to the Narrows... took about 90 minutes. Thirteen takes and 10 rainbows to the boat. One pushing 20 inches and another about 18. Others were decent and in great shape. Most strikes were hard and violent but some were soft takes. All came within 10 feet of the bank.

I think I'm ready for those White River browns!!

[Brian K. Shaffer]

For me on Taney, its the soft takes from the big fish you want to target.

Watch some fish in a good drainage spot for terrestrials... then leave it up to them to cooperate...

but Rim has some great hopper action.. I've caught them down there on big bass sized hoppers!