Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, February 15

[Phil Lilley]

by Darin Schildknecht

Fishing in the trophy area has been really good this week! I got out a couple of days and did very well both days. Both days the water was completely off. The Southwestern Power Administration has not really kept to a predictable schedule so it was nice to get down there and do some wade fishing when I had the chance.

The first day was either Sunday or Monday I can’t remember but the water was extremely low. I was fishing at the top end of the island just above Lookout Bluff and both trees on the opposite side of the lake were just barely in the water. I stood on the hump in the middle of the lake and the water was only four or five inches deep! This made if riffle there at the top end of the island more prevalent and it moved a little faster. The fish were all around me to the left and right, upstream and downstream, it didn’t matter where I looked there was fish. I was using a yellow Miracle Fly under a Palsa about 4 inches deep with 6x Rio Fluoroflex tippet. The fish were so active I got a strike almost every cast and if I missed the first one I would just let it keep drifting and another one would pick it up. Most of the fish were around ten to twelve inches but they were still really fun to catch. I fished between 10am and 12pm and it was sunny and still.

The second day was yesterday and the water was not as low but there were no generators running. I fished the same area at the top end of the island just above Lookout and didn’t do as well to begin with but I still was catching a lot of fish. I was still using the Miracle Fly with 6x and under a Palsa but I had to go a little deeper because the water was deeper. The Miracle Fly needs to be within a couple inches of the bottom to be really effective. After I fished from the middle of the lake for a bit I moved over to the back by the two downed trees where my dad was catching them and I did a lot better just above the trees. Again most of the fish were small but I did catch a couple males that were fat and around sixteen or seventeen inches and dark colored. I fished from 12pm to about 2:30pm and it was windy, cloudy, and cold. Not a nice weather day but a great fishing day!

I did see a few redds in the area so be careful when walking around not, to walk right in them because they might be full of eggs!