Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, October 21

[Phil Lilley]

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Generation - no much with the exception of one day this week when they ran quite a bit all day.  It did clean the lake out, at least the upper end.  They've been running "fish water" in the evenings, about 2 hours of a half unit.  Check the SPA schedule, but don't rely on it 100%.  They do change it without notice.

Lots of leaves on the surface of the lake right now.  Remember a couple of things:  Trout till hold close and under these leaves, using them as cover and also will eat bugs that come off the leaves.  They're also had to fish through if there's a bunch in one spot.  When boating, try to avoid the groups of leaves.  Leaves will lodge themselves against the back of your motor and cause it to cavitate or suck air down to the prop.  It sounds like your motor has come out of gear.  Stop, shift into reverse and then you'll be fine.

Trout fishing has been great this week minus the time when the wind was blowing 30 mph.  Actually the trout bit good during those times, it was just hard to fish!  The only complaint we have is the size of the rainbows we're seeing, not the numbers.  We're having to catch 5 or 6 trout to get one rainbow over 12 inches.

Bill Babler called in a fishing report yesterday and told me how he has been catching trout this week.  He says they've been doing well, fishing from Monkey Island up through Trout Hollow using Turner micro jigs (full) under a float.  Jig colors - black, olive or ginger six feet under the float when water is not running and pink when it's running.  Above Fall Creek in the trophy area, he's using the same rig but using half micros--colors are ginger with copper head and white with white or copper head or olive with a copper head, fishing it not as deep as below Fall Creek - 5 feet deep.  Bright sun conditions use the lighter white and ginger colors and when it's cloudy use the black or olive.  Rainbows have been quite a bit bigger in this area.  Catching some brown trout too, caught on #14 to #16 thread jigs (white).

Generation - egg pattern on a drift rig or a  small 2.5 inch rapala drifting on the bottom using a drift rig.

Rick Lizek reports he's catching trout from Fall Creek to Lilleys' Landing on pink/white or white/chartreuse Gulp Powerbait when the water is running and when it's not on the micro jigs - ginger being the best color.  Trout Magnets are also working under a float in Cotton Candy and Pink.  In the trophy area, Rick's catching fish using a drift rig and pink or peach egg fly trailed with a #14 UV gray scud or fishing an olive, orange head micro jig under a float.  Best when the wind is blowing.

Below the dam, fly fishing has been fair.  They're seeing a few big browns but not many.  Reports are fishing is slow except around the outlets.  This usually is a seasonal issue caused by low oxygen in the water but I suspect it's not as much about the low DO as it is just slow fishing.  Some days the fish just don't feed.  More people walking around might be an issue too. This time of year we'll see a lot more anglers wading around below the dam.  Try to be as stealthy as possible.

Think small the thin.  Small scuds and midges, san juan worms and soft hackles.  Tippet - 6x and 7x fluorocarbon.  Sculpin patterns may catch a bigger rainbow or brown but you won't catch big numbers.  Night fishing is fair.  No big bruisers being caught or at least reported.