Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, August 3

[Phil Lilley]

It's August already. When I was in school, in my younger days in Parsons, Kansas, I used to think summers flew by and the rest of the year dragged on at a snail's pace. Now time flies all the time, but summer still seems to go the fastest. August... already.

Generation patterns haven't changed all that much here on Lake Taneycomo. The water temperature coming out of Table Rock Dam is still about 50 degrees, clear and cold. If you wet wade (wade without waders) below the dam, you'll find out really fast how cold 50 degrees is. It makes the bones your feet hurt. The water quality and oxygen content is still good and our trout are in great shape. The rainbows in the upper lake look to be well fed--big and fat. Generations starts every afternoon about 2 p.m. and produces 25 to 145 megawatts of power (1/2 to three units running at lake levels 705 to 708 feet, 701.5 being power pool). See past levels by and you can see the Southwestern Power Administration's schedule by clicking this link.

In the mornings with the water off, it's been a little tough getting the trout to bite--but not impossible. This morning, for instance, there was a small thunderstorm in the area and the wind was blowing slightly. It was enough to get the fish biting early and a lot of anglers did well. Power Bait nuggets and Gulp eggs using yellow, orange or pink have been working fairly well, as well as air-injected night crawlers, which are working the best.

Only use half a worm, hook it one time in the middle, and then hang it off both sides of the hook. Shoot air in it with a worm blower (available at Wal Mart or a tackle store). The worm will then float off the bottom as an enticing bait.

Above Fall Creek, there seem to be a lot more trout up there than in past weeks. I've been up there a few times this week and have just seen more numbers while boating around. Conditions dictate how you fish up there:

• In the early morning when there is no wind, and it's very still and foggy, use a float and something under it; an olive micro jig, copper head or a ginger micro has been working well. A small #18 rusty zebra midge or a black zebra midge is also good, or throw and working a 1/16th- ounce sculpin jig with no float. With all of these use small line - - 7x leader or two-pound line, preferably fluorocarbon. The bite will be slight and you really have to watch. Sight fish if you can . . . lots of fun.



• Later when the wind picks up, fish the same way but you try hoppers, stimulators, black ants and beetles along the bluff bank and under the trees. The chop on the water breaks up the surface enough that the trout can't distinguish between a real bug and a fly, plus the wind blows insects into the water so they're looking for them.



• After the generation starts, try a pink full micro or marabou jig under a float six- to seven-feet deep and drift it from Lookout to Fall Creek. Stay close to the channel in deeper water. Also try throwing small to medium stick baits along the bluff banks. And don't forget that marabou jigs, 1/8th-ounce in black, brown/orange, sculpin/ ginger or white worked deep along the bluffs and in the channel from the dam down through Lilleys' Landing are working very well. Work them slow and deep.

If you missed it, I did catch a big rainbow on Monday morning. Here's the article.

Fly fishing below the dam: there are a bunch of trout up there right now. Early, they're a bit particular, especially if there's no wind, but once the wind starts and there's a chop on the water, strip a #18 crackleback, soft hackle or wooly on the flats between outlets #1 and #2, below #2, below Rebar and at the flats at Big Hole and at Rocking Chair down through the chute below the Missouri Department of Conservation boat ramp. Also, try black ants on the surface if there's a chop.

I fished for an hour this morning just above the boat ramp. At times the wind was blowing pretty well, and when it did the trout were eating off the top aggressively. I had a flesh-colored HiViz Rainy's hopper on the line from fishing it the other evening when I arrived at the water's edge. Since the wind was blowing I threw it out there and immediately got a blow up -- but it was a miss. On the next cast there was no miss as I hooked a pretty rainbow (video). The wind quieted down and I had no more takes, so I started changing flies to match the conditions. The wind had me hopping (pun intended), but i did find the trout would take a red #18 soft hackle, then a #24 red thread midge, but it was slow. I only brought two to hand, but still, it was a rewarding trip. By the way, we just got a huge hopper (grasshopper) fly supply into the fly shop. They look awesome!

[hfdhoosier]

Nice post, cant wait to get down there the first week of September

[Bimmer]

Thanks for the wonderful report. The wife and I have been dying to get to bring our boat to Taney to fish this weekend. Unfortunately I've had to tear the motor apart to replace the impeller and seals and well, long story short, I broke the prop coupler and had to order another one. Needless to say we won't be boating but we still want to fish. Are there any recommended spot where we might be able to fish EARLY tomorrow morning from the shore? Guess we'll be using eggs, powerbait and worms. Keep in mind even though we live in Springfield, we've NEVER been to Taney so this will be our maiden trip.

Thanks folks for any advice you might care to divulge and have a most Blessed evening tonight and heavy stringers tomorrow!

[Phil Lilley]

You can come and fish off our dock. We have 24 of 26 units turning tomorrow so there will be a lot of people packing up to leave.

[Phil Lilley]

I did get out today about 4 till 6ish this evening. Dead... no wind. Boated to Lookout and worked the upper half, bluff bank. All dries- hoppers and stimulators. One time and only one time the wind picked up and caused a chop on the water. I was in the middle of changing to a stimulator and as soon as the fly hit the water a rainbow nailed it. Only fish I caught.

When the sun is up high and no wind, it's the kiss of death up there. Didn't help that Empire drew the lake down an extra foot. Second day in a row they did that. Makes the water up there pretty skinny and the trout spooky. I've called them on it several times in years past and they deny they're the culprit... then who else would it be???

Conditions, conditions, conditions... it makes a difference.

[Bimmer]

You can come and fish off our dock. We have 24 of 26 units turning tomorrow so there will be a lot of people packing up to leave.

Thank you "Lilley"! We appreciate the offer and will gladly take you up on it. I just happened to have emailed you through your business email, for the first time, just the evening before, under the surname of "Petty". We will come and introduce ourselves in the "am". Have a Blessed evening!

[LittleRedFisherman]

Great report Phil! My wife and I are here in Branson for the weekend, got our boat docked at your place, and hitting the Lake in the morning. I'm wanting to flyfish for sure, but also I've watched some your youtube stuff on the jigging the bluff bank. I'm definetly gonna try that tommorrow. Curious what line and setup you use to jig with. I've spooled on some low vis green 4lb line on a 6 foot light action spinning rod, that works great in the White and Little Red rivers in Ar where I fish alot. But noticed while docking the boat, that the water here is unbelievably clear, beautiful but I bet hard to fish, I can understand why the chop on the water is so important. Thanks and hope to see you on the water tommorrow! Bret.

[laker67]

. Didn't help that Empire drew the lake down an extra foot. .

This may explain things, last night around 12:30, they ran what they called one unit and were reporting the lake level at 701.6. Water looked to be about normal height for one unit, Dave Cook, Darryl, and I were all guessing about 704 on the upper end. How does this work Phil, when they drop the level at the other end?

[Phil Lilley]

It's just like you would imagine... suck it from the lower in while no water being released means lower water level throughout the lake but especially noticeable in the extreme upper end.

If you fish down at Powersite, and I don't very often except in the spring, they'll run water for short periods of time when lake levels are low. When Taney has been shut down there's still water running into the lake and Powersite, instead of letting it do over the top, they'll run it through the turbines, not to lose the opportunity to make a buck (rightfully so). But if they keep running even when Taney's level is at or below the magic power pool mark, then that's when we see low levels up here.

I've talked to the manager at Powersite in the past and every time he saw they're not doing that... but the evidence tells a different story. UNLESS there's a leak at Powersite, then they're running it through the turbines.

[Phil Lilley]

Great report Phil! My wife and I are here in Branson for the weekend, got our boat docked at your place, and hitting the Lake in the morning. I'm wanting to flyfish for sure, but also I've watched some your youtube stuff on the jigging the bluff bank. I'm definetly gonna try that tommorrow. Curious what line and setup you use to jig with. I've spooled on some low vis green 4lb line on a 6 foot light action spinning rod, that works great in the White and Little Red rivers in Ar where I fish alot. But noticed while docking the boat, that the water here is unbelievably clear, beautiful but I bet hard to fish, I can understand why the chop on the water is so important. Thanks and hope to see you on the water tommorrow! Bret.

Well, you're on the water now and unless you have a smart phone and can read this, it won't help you. Yea our water is super clear and 2 lb line will help esp when the water is off in the mornings. BUT they're running one unit this morning and it shouldn't make a big difference- you should catch fish. A little cloud cover this am plus running water, should be a good day to fish- and catch some!