Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Trip Report, September 4

[Phil Lilley]

We've had very little rain now in several weeks.  Lake levels have dropped and the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has seen fit not to run as much water from Table Rock Lake the last week.  There usually has been no generation all day until about 3 p.m., then one unit or less until about dark.  This lends to good fishing -- or tough fishing -- depending on when you're out.

The best fishing has been early and late in the day, and at night.  Later in the morning throughout the day, we've had high sun, blue skies and very little wind, producing the toughest fishing conditions you can have.  People are still catching trout during the day, but most are fishing deep for them.

Early, before the sun shines over the water, trout are feeding closer to the surface.  Later when the sun gets up, they go deeper and are less active.  If there's wind and it chops the surface of the lake, trout become more active and do move closer to the surface to feed on hatching midges and bugs that are blown into the lake from trees close to the water.  That's a simplified cycle, I understand, but if you follow this and fish with flies, lures and live bait, targeting fish where they are during the day, you'll have a better chance of catching trout.

Fishing with live bait in the deeper holes has been pretty good anytime during the day or night.  Fishing off our dock over the holiday weekend was good for most anglers.  They were fishing with PowerBait Gulp eggs and night crawlers --  even getting away with four-pound line despite the clarity of the water.  Colors:  white and pink are the best colors.



Early, fishing above Fall Creek up to Lookout, we are fishing mostly the channel or deeper water and using either a jig or fly under a float.  We've been using micro or marabou jigs; best colors have been black or ginger.  Zebra midges: #16 or #18, with best colors of black, red, rusty or ugly (green).  Light tippet is a must.  Most are using 7x fluorocarbon.

Later in the morning, we're going to deeper waters and dropping our flies and jigs deeper.  Drop below Fall Creek and fishing the channel, fishing 5 to 7 feet deep.  Still using light tippet.

Getting into the middle of the day, our guides are heading down and fishing from Lilleys' to the Landing.  Bill Babler said his clients have used a Gulp egg placed on a small jig hook and fished under a float five- to seven-feet deep.  This would work any time during the day in this area.

In the evening, we've  seen a lot of trout midging on the surface of the lake almost everywhere on the upper lake, feeding on hatching midges.  We took a pontoon ride Sunday evening down to the Landing and all the way down, we saw trout surfacing.  We stopped close to Monkey Island and tossed a #16 black Zebra Midge under a small float 12 inches deep and quickly caught a couple of rainbows and a small brown trout.  Then at the Landing, in front of the fountains, we caught several more rainbows.  It shows that even after a big weekend, there are still lots of trout in the lake to be caught.

Here's some nice trout caught by clients of Captain Rick Lisek, two veterans here from the Project Healing Waters weekend here at Lilleys' Landing.







Here's a report called in by Captain Steve Dicky: