Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, January 22

[Phil Lilley]

We've been on a wild roller coaster ride temperature wise and the wind is giving us fits but winter trout fishing remains pretty good the last couple of weeks.   Water temperature has dropped to 45 degrees.  Compared to Table Rock that's pretty balmy--it's in the mid 30's on some parts of that lake.

The US Corp of Engineers have been running water almost every day and night for months but there was a couple of days the last week where they shut it down during the afternoon.  No way to know when they might do that again.  With these cold days I believe they'll keep running it but if the temperatures get over 60 degrees, we may see some down time.  We have not seem any hard generation though.  Mostly 1-3 units.



I reported on that we've seen evidence of thread fin shad coming through the turbines at Table Rock Dam here in the last couple of weeks.  Not a lot but enough for our trout to be very interested in anything white.  This curiosity only extends about half mile below the dam though.  White marabou jigs, shad flies and small silver shad-type crank baits have worked well.  The trout we're catching have big bellies, full of shad.  We haven't caught any monsters but many rainbows between 15 and 19 inches.

With the wind giving us fits, we've been going to a jig and float.  It's easier to handle in the wind but using it does mean you have to keep the boat in line with the float and that takes some work.  Depending on generation, I've been using a 1/32nd ounce white jig when they're running 2 units or less and a 1/16th ounce jig when they're running more.   I'm setting the float about 6 to 7 feet deep.  If the wind isn't bad, throw a 1/8th ounce white jig and work it off the bottom.



Other color jigs have been working up below the dam.  Brown, sculpin, purple, gray and sculpin/ginger as well as a brown/orange headed jig when using a float.

Captain Steve Dickey called in a fishing today.  You need flash to open and listen to his message:



Our guests had good fishing off our dock last weekend despite the water running.  And drift fishing from Fall Creek to our place proved to be the hot spot for most.  The best was Gulp Power Bait Eggs, one white and one orange or pink.  Also night crawlers and minnows worked too.



Crappie continue to be caught down at the Landing.  It's rare, at least for me, to catch anything but trout on Taneycomo so it's been fun.  We're finding them anywhere from Scotty's Trout Dock down through the Branson Landing on the Branson side of the lake.  They're about 6 to 8 feet deep, mostly suspended in 14 to 20 feet of water.  There is some structure in the water and they are holding to it but for the most part they're scattered up and down the bank.

We're catching our crappies on a variety of lures and minnows.  Set your float at 7 feet deep and fish a minnow about 50 feet off the shoreline.  Also throwing white or gray 1/8th ounce jigs and trying to work them about 7 feet deep.  I've even trolled with them down the bank.  There are some really nice slabs being caught.

Note: All fish pics are from Steve Dickey's guide trips this past week or so.

[Quillback]

Some nice quality bows there, thanks for the report!

[MeatintheFreezer]

Great report(s).

I have noticed on some of your videos you have been posting that the fishermen are lifting the fish into the boat. Do you mind if I ask white size line you use?

[hknfsh]

Awesome colors on those trout. Pics turned out good. Thanks for a great report Phil. Can't wait to get back down there !

[Phil Lilley]

I'm using 4-pound, Trilene XL Green