Taneycomo Could Hold World Record Brown Trout

[SpoonDog]

Good luck guys but when has the MDC done anything positive in the last whatever to improve fishing.

Didn't they just stack a bunch of rock and fish structure in the upper end of Taneycomo a year or two ago?

I don't spend a lot of time on Taney, but my understanding is that MDC has had a fair amount of trouble providing optimal numbers of hatchery browns over the past five years...I'd want to know what role that plays before I go petitioning MDC for reg changes.

As for seeforellen or triploids, I'm not sure how feasible they are. Taney isn't the Great Lakes, and I'm not sure it has the prey base, the habitat, the temperature or dissolved oxygen regimes needed to support lots and lots of big fish. I guess I don't understand why we need to switch strains if we already know the current browns can and do reach 20, 30, 40 lbs. Are these fish anomalies, or can the system only support so many of these big guys? If it's the latter, then I'm not sure switching strains or strengthening regs will have a dramatic impact on the fishery.

[Phil Lilley]

With all due respect, the slot wouldn't work. They would never make it to 20 inches. They'd be taken along with the rainbows unless they grew up in the trophy area which I don't think most do. The average stay of a rainbow is said to be only 30 days below Fall Creek.

Here's something I think would surprise you... I don't know of one legal brown cleaned on my dock this year. I can't remember the last one. None of our guides will kill a brown.

I don't get up to the dam and wade fish much so I can't speak to how many are kept up there. Can anyone? I would think some of the regulars could. I'll ask a few next time I'm up there.

Point is, I don't think raising the limit will help a great deal, but I'm not a fishery biologist. Would I be for it? Sure. But you'd have to show me how it would help.

The best thing for our brown trout population is to keep the lake as clean and in as good shape as possible and hope rains and generation will cooperate in the fall months. No big rains, no floods gates, no hard generation, no high water temps. Those are our brown's biggest enemies. Well, that and poachers BUT you have to be GOOD to even CATCH a big brown BEFORE you can poach. Unless you snag or gig I guess.

[Phil Lilley]

And I think MDC has done a very good job here on Taney.

[Dylan Cluver]

How different were things before the flood? If the flooding had not had happened, and they would not have had to open the flood gates in September would we be having this conversation? And before the flooding how many big fish were taken home every year? I agree MDC does a lot, but would a stricter regulation on brown trout help the lake fill up with larger brown trout like it was before the flooding?

[Phil Lilley]

How different were things before the flood? There were just a lot more brown trout.

If the flooding had not had happened, and they would not have had to open the flood gates in September would we be having this conversation? May be not.

And before the flooding how many big fish were taken home every year? Someone correct me but I don't think many people kept browns over 20 inches- then or now.

I agree MDC does a lot, but would a stricter regulation on brown trout help the lake fill up with larger brown trout like it was before the flooding? I think that's what we are discussing. I'm not sure it would. I think patience is needed, allowing more time for these browns to grow. MDC has practically doubled the number stocked since 2010 - give those browns a chance to get big. I think we're already seeing results.

See comments in bold above.

I think I've posted this thought on the forum before. I've been talking to some of our guides about it. If browns return to their spawning place by smell, then almost all of them would seek out outlet #3, not #1 or #2. Years past #1 and #2 outlets were stacked with browns because they were spawned and reared in that part of the hatchery. Now you don't see those big browns in those outlets, where they were pretty easy to catch. Now that outlet #3 is the target, of course they aren't in the flow of the outlet when the water is off, they come up when it's running and no one is there to bother them.

My point is- it is much more difficult to catch these browns compared to before they change hatcheries- outlets. The brown run will never be the same as far as "catching fish in a barrel" like it used to be.

This is only a theory- I may be totally wet...

[Dave Cook]

Let’s not lose sight how this topic started. Taneycomo may have a world record brown trout. To me that is remarkable. With Taneycomo having about 2 miles of river and 20 miles of lake and we are comparing our brown trout fishing to any place in the world.

Anybody know of a public lake with world record largemouth bass in Missouri? Missouri has fantastic bass fishing in publicly managed lakes but we don't expect world record bass fishing in Missouri. My point is I’m not using a world record fish to judge the quality of a fishery. I think the fishing regulations and stocking programs have done a great job to get us to this point. Is there room for improvement? There is with everything.

But don't overlook where these fish live. The water quality of Table Rock Lake and the persistent low DO problems could take a bigger toll on these fish than a bunch of nightcrawlers dangled in the water. So we should never neglect what is upstream of where we fish.

Now for some anecdotal observations of my own. Brown trout fishing at Taneycomo this fall already is the best I've seen since 2011. I hope this is the start of a great comeback from those floods.