Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, December 1

[Phil Lilley]

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It's been a while since my last report.  The holidays combined with hunting "duties" take time away from my fish outings and time to write.  Plus there hasn't been much change in generation patterns or fishing conditions in well over a month.  My last report is still valid for today.

Little generation during the week with some during the day, each day, but for very little time.  SPA's site called for generation today but none till tonight.  Here's the chart for the past 6 days.

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The green line shows Taneycomo's lake level.  At 704 feet they're running 25 megawatts or a half unit.

Daytime temperatures have been warmer than normal.  Wind has been slight with minimal chop of the surface.  Water temperature has held steady at 47 degrees.

Here's Darin's report submitted today:

I got out for just a couple of hours yesterday and did great.  I fished the area from just above the island at Pointe Royale down to just below the island.  My dad used a #16 Rusty or Harvester Midge about 12-18 inches below a Palsa on 7x fluorocarbon tippet.  Most of the fish he caught came in about 2 ½ feet of water.  I used the same for about an hour then decided to throw a #4 Big Ugly with no takers.  Finally I put on an egg fly and did just as well as my dad.  I set my egg right on the bottom and let it drift with the current.

Most of the fish we caught were around the 14 to 15 inch mark with a few longer and shorter.  I did see a couple of 20 inch rainbows but they would just look at my fly and not eat.  

Guiding a couple of young men this Saturday morning, we found our rainbows hungry and eager to take a ginger half micro jig under a float 4 feet deep.  We fished from the bottom of the Narrows down to the mouth of Fall Creek.  Most of the time the surface of the water was slick, no wind but there's was some about 11 before we quit at 11:30 am.

They used spin rods.  I tied 18 inches of 6x fluorocarbon to the end of the 4-pound line spooled on my reels.  The bites ranged from a vibrating float to pull-it-down and run with it.  They had a couple of rainbows over 15 inches but most were 11 to 13 inches long.  We caught one brown.

Small rainbows is what we've been seeing for most of the fall season with a nice trout thrown in occasionally.  Wish I could report differently but that's the reality of it, at least in the mid to lower trophy area.

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I did fish the flats at the Narrows a couple of times this week.  Took an old friend I grew up with and his son Thursday and I got out on Friday evening.  Both times we hammered rainbows on the flats using scuds.  I tied only one scud on and set the indicator between 24 and 30 inches, although the water we fished was 12 inches or less.  I wanted the scud on the bottom, skating over the gravel when it moved.  Size, color... it didn't matter -- they lived them all.  Most of the strikes were take-it-and-run.  And on this flat, we found more nice rainbows over 15 inches.

Below Fall Creek, that jig and float using a half micro works just not quite as well as above Fall Creek.  I think it's because there's just more fish above Fall Creek verses below.  I fished them mid lake in this area but mostly from Short Creek to Trout Hollow Resort.  I kept the jig about 4 feet below the indicator and used either the ginger or olive half micro.

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Bill Babler has been using  a small 1/100th ounce jig head with a pinch of Gulp Powerbait egg on it under a float in this same area and doing very well.  He didn't share what color egg he's been using.

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Here's an unusual fish eye.  Caught this small brown trout this morning on a micro jig.  Noticed the eye was discolored and looking at it closer it appeared to look more like a frog's eye.  Pretty strange.  Conferring with a fisheries biologist to see what he thinks.