Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, February 19

[Phil Lilley]

Milder weather has brought the anglers out to play. And there's lots of trout in the lake to play with! The lack of fishing pressure this winter has created a glut of fish it seems. Unfortunately, a good number of them are on the small side.

Generation has been slight, running 1 or less units in the mornings and off most afternoons. But there have been some days where they're running half to one unit all day long. No real pattern. Check the SPA chart the day before for generation.

We've been seeing these 8 to 10 inch rainbows for some time now. They seem to stay in schools and swarm anything that hits the water. Today I fished at the Narrows, about 3/4 mile above the mouth of Fall creek on the flat shallow area and caught all I wanted on a #16 Ugly Zebra Midge under a float 12 inches deep. One out of 10 were at the 12-inch mark. I did find larger trout close to the east bank, fishing the midge 30 inches deep. I did not catch any of the smaller rainbows there.

I can't stress how important it is to seek out a choppy surface when fishing here on Taneycomo. There are dead calm days where you can't find a ripple anywhere but most days when the wind is slight, you can find a chop on the surface around most corners. Even if you have to chase the chop, it's better than sitting in dead calm water and not catching anything. This goes for any type of fishing but especially for using a lure under a float (jig or fly).

Our last winter trout tournament is this Saturday and everyone's looking for that edge. . . where to catch the bigger trout. Well everyone wants to do that!

The usual places aren't really producing bigger fish it seems. Most times, anglers will concentrate on the area just below the mouth of Fall Creek down past Short Creek, thinking trout have moved down from the trophy area into the bait area and are easy to catch. But we've seen most of the good rainbows come from areas well below the Trophy Area.

I've been reporting catching crappie this winter down in front of the Branson Landing. I've also mentioned catching some very nice rainbows while fishing for crappie. Those rainbows are still being caught--there and even further down lake. This levels the playing field, I believe. Almost anyone can fish an obscure area and find a pocket of 16-18 inch rainbows and win this contest; or go home with a nice mess of trout and a good fish story to tell.

Need to try down the lake further. Duane Doty fished today and caught some nice rainbows along a bluff almost 2 miles down from Branson. White Trout Magnets under a float 6 feet deep.

These trout seem to be suspended for the most part. So fishing either a jig, Trout Magnet or Gulp eggs under a float is working better than fishing something on the bottom. White still seems to be the best color. The depth seems to be 6 to 7 feet deep. Four-pound line is perfectly fine fishing something under a float too. Our water is still pretty stained.

Just to clarify, if you're fishing our trout tournament, you can't use Gulp eggs or any other soft plastic baits, nor anything the smells. Flies and lures only.

This past weekend when they were running half to one unit, guys did real well drifting a #12 gray scud under an indicator 4 to 5 feet deep with an egg fly dropper 12 inches and drifting over the flats at the Narrows. That was their hot spot. I'm sure drifting the flats from Lookout down through this area would produce fish too but this flat seems to hold the most rainbows.

[Sac River Jim]

I hope i can find the crappie when i come down next week. i'm looking forward to to doing some trout fishing too, i think i'll run down the lake one of the days and see what i can scare up down around bull creek.