Taneycomo Fishing Conditions

[Phil Lilley]

After the rains the other night, Table Rock and Beaver have risen to the point the Corp as saw fit to release A LOT of water. They're releasing 4 units at 200 mw which is close to full capacity.

With this release, the water temperature in the lake has dropped to 46 degrees putting our trout into shock. I say shock... they're not eating very well. We see this every time we go from little generation to a lot. We haven't seen water like this for may be 18 months. I think it sends the trout to the bottom and it takes them several days to get reoriented. Once they do, they start eating again.

It's been 3 days now and we're seeing some trout caught today although conditions are hard. With this much current, getting to the bottom is a trick and if you're not on the bottom you aren't going to get bit. Period!

Guys this morning caught fish drifting from the cable at the dam down to the boat ramp using an egg/scud combination. Use a bigger scud- #10's and #12's. Bill also was dragging a small floating crank bait using a drift rig and catching fish- he said catching bigger trout than the scud was.

I've sent some people down to Roark Creek to see if trout are moving in there with the cold, high water. They usually do, may be not this quick. But when they do, they'll be in there thick and be easy to catch. Should see some crappie and whites in there too.

More later.

[ALLSTAR1]

Slow, slow, slow! We fished from above monkey island to the second bridge saturday for 5 hrs and caught 2 fish! We saw no other fish caught and there were a dozen+ boats in that stretch. We went to the dam this morning and a guideboat was catching some on peach egg flys. We tried that and caught 4. Went back in the afternoon and caught 5 including a beautiful 22 in by my wife all the way down at Fall Creek. Less flow this morning took a short float from Fall Creek to the boat ramp. Threw 1/8 oz brown and sculping jigs and drug nightcrawlers with -0- luck!

Very very tough weekend of fishing!

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[Gatorjet]

I experienced similar slow fishing during the few hours I was on the lake Saturday morning, and evening. None of my usual spots produced fish. Cooper Creek, Monkey Island, the bridges, and Turkey Creek were all a disappointment. Jigs of sculpin/olive, orange/olive, sculpin/black, ginger, Zig Jig tri-olive, and brown/olivr/gold head were all ignored. Bottom bouncing, swimming, or drop & pop presentations didn't make a difference either.

Finally I made a run to the dam to try the trophy area. A couple quick bumps between outlet #3 and the boat ramp, but no hookups. The only place I caught a few 12-15 inch, but very fat bows was when I tucked the Gator into the eddy behind Lookout Island, and worked the drop off bottom with a 1/8 oz PJ's sculpin/ olive jig. Still lots of casts for the few strikes, and fewer hookups.

Oh well, they do call it fishing, not catching, don't they?

[Phil Lilley]

I got out this afternoon. Fished from 4 till about 7. First tried bait in the Short Creek area - night crawlers and Gulp. Nothing. Wind blowing upstream made it very hard to get a good drift. Between that and few bites, no hookups. 2 units - good flow. I finally pull out a jig and caught some rainbows across from Trout Hollow on the eddie bank - ginger 1/16th oz. Felt like if I worked that whole bank I'd done well but wanted to move.

Headed to the dam. Drifted south bank using a 1/8th oz white jig. Had to pinch the tail cause they would only take the end - short bites. Wind again was blowing me upstream so I worked behind the boat along the bank, But it did die down a few times.

Next drift I tried a sculpin color jig - few bites. Put on a ginger/sculpin and they liked it. Caught quite a few rainbows, no size. Kept 4 10-inchers for dinner.

Dickey was guiding 3 gals and they were catching pretty good drifting an egg/scud combo on the bottom. Some other guys from the resort said they did good working the south back between the cable and first island using Krocodile white spoons behind the boat.

When the wind is blowing like it did today, getting the bait or lure in the ideal place and keeping it there is very hard. You got to use a little imagination and try different things to get them to bite. The water is running slow enough you can tie up close to a bank the try tight lining against the bank is slower water using minnows or night crawlers. Might try that tomorrow if I get out.

I think they're going to lessen the flow in the next few days, even leave it off unless this next rain system dumps a lot of rain on us. Doesn't look like it's going to though.

[littlemiamijeff]

Hey guys coming down Memorial Day week, starting that Monday.

I'll have a fishing kayak, and a Bayliner runabout to fish from.

I'm pretty much a crankbait, jig-n-tail, bucktail and spoon guy, but I do catch hybrid stripers with an 8wt w/9-10 Lamson reel. (Fluke Jr. on #6 baitholder hook)

That being said, what do you recommend, I'm staying at Lilly's, but can car top the yak close to the dam if that is better water.

I'll post under Power Site also, I want to fish the tail water there, any info on that would be appreciated. Especially cfs, number of turbines that are best for drawing fish into the tailwaters, etc.

Thanks and God Bless! See you in May.
LMJ