Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, July 20

[Phil Lilley]

I just got back from a fishing trip to Alaska to find trout fishing on our Lake Taneycomo has been pretty good for the most part. And big trout too being caught by both guests of Lilleys' Landing and clients of our fishing guides.

Generation has been fairly consistent with a few exceptions: Water off most mornings then generation starting mid day till late at night, building to 3 to 4 units by mid afternoon. I believe the temperature outside dictates how much they run simply because of power demand.



The morning bite has been a mixed bag. Calm, dead mornings especially when the fog is on the lake means tough fishing, especially fly fishing in the trophy area. Early, before the sun gets up, fly fishing below the dam is good using #18 zebras under an indicator 8 to 18 inches (depending on water depth) and 7x tippet. Also small #20 to #24 thread midges in red or black- same technique. I fished a #24 griffith's gnat this morning while rainbows were actively taking something real small off the surface and got 2 trout to take it, landing one (pic). I also caught a few on a #24 red thread midge. I was fishing just above the MDC boat ramp, wading in from the north side of the lake.

Our guides are reporting catching trout on small micro jigs, olive, orange head or ginger (half micros) under an indicator 4 to 5 feet deep using 6x tippet.  Rick Lisek told me he's done well fishing a zebra midge under a float 5 feet deep just below the Fall Creek line before they start running water in the mornings.

Steve Dicky called in this fishing report for me this afternoon.





I got yesterday and drifted from Lookout to the Narrows, throwing a hopper (fly) against the bluff bank in the pockets and runs I have caught trout, big trout, in past years. But only had one small rainbow take the fly. Jury is still out on the timing of the hopper hatch but if it's not now it has to be coming real soon. Last summer we did extremely well, catching some real nice rainbows and browns on hoppers and stimulators. Really looking forward to when it gets good on these big dry flies.

Night crawlers has been the ticket on most of the big lunkers caught on the lake the past few weeks I understand. And the hot area has been between Fall and Short Creek. Bill Babler reports the big trout "just showing up" our of the blue one day and they've been catching them consistently ever since. An unusable number of brown trout too, said Buster Loving yesterday as we talked on the dock after his trip. "I haven't caught this many browns since the high water in 2009." Most are sub legal but a lot of fun to catch.

Our water is super clear so 4-pound line is a must, 2-pound is even better. When drifting during generation, you can get away with 4-pound line on everything. They are still working on the intake lines at the Branson City Pump Station just up lake from us. They've had a big excavator digging gravel out from around the pipes on the bottom of the lake for a couple of months now with the end no where in sight. This is stirring up the water and sending murky water down our way. This isn't a bad thing really. If you give me a choice of fishing slightly dirty water and gin clear water I'd take the off colored water every time.

[RSBreth]

Glad your travel back was safe, and good report. I don't hit Taney as much in warm weather but thinking of heading down next week.

[flyman]

Welcome back. As always, thank you for the excellent report.