Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, September 6

[Phil Lilley]

I am conflicted. I usually start out my fishing report talking about generation patterns and how they've been affecting our trout fishing here on Lake Taneycomo but tomorrow we're in for a big weather change. Cooler temperatures are in the foreseeable future and that's going to change how the Corp is running water on our lake. So, only thing I can do today is guess!

See they've been leaving the water off all night, all morning for weeks, I think it's a safe bet to say that pattern will continue. There may be days when the Corp will run 25 megawatts or a half unit all day but there's usually no rhyme or reason when and why they do that. If they run water in the afternoons, it won't be 3 or 4 units like they've been running. An old fall patterns is no water all day, a little "fish water" in the evening -- may be a half units for an hour. We will see!

Trout fishing has been pretty normal for late summer. Our water is clear and the trout are picky! There does seem to be more rainbows in our area of the lake and up towards Fall Creek than there's been in a month. Anglers are catching trout off our dock early in the morning on Gulp eggs and worms. But light line is a must -- 2-pound best, 4-pound is ok.

One party of four rented a pontoon from us yesterday. I told them to try both down at the bridges and up close to Short Creek. They said they had their limits pretty quick and caught and released the rest of the morning. They did the best at Short Creek but caught fish at Monkey Island too. Another pontoon boat came in with another 4 trout anglers just after this groups and said they caught -- zero.

We hear and see that a lot. Someone coming in with glowing reports and others with nothing. Honestly, I can't figure that out.

The party that was catching -- they were using our drift rigs (4-pound line) and Gulp Eggs, mainly white, pink and orange.

I got out a couple of times this week, once to video and another time to just see what was going on. Both times were in mid morning trips, when the sun was up and bright and the fog had lifted. Water was off and very little wind to start. I was determined to catch something on a dry fly up in the trophy area. I love to fish a dry and love to see the take even more.

There was a little bit of surface activity under the trees, close to the bluff bank so I was hopeful. Tied on a #10 Stimulator, 3x tippet and a #18 Green Ugly Zebra Midge dropper 16 inches below the dry, 7x tippet. I had 2 "looks" on the dry and 2 takes which I missed. Caught 2 rainbows on the Zebra.



I also tried throwing a 3/32nd ounce jig, straight line no float.  Only tried one color -- black/olive.  I missed several fish but did land one nice rainbow (video).  These fish don't see many small jigs using this presentation so I think you can catch quite a few trout up in the trophy area and even below Fall Creek using small jigs.  Use 2-pound line when throwing these small jigs.

The wind kept picking up and dying off. It was frustrating because I wanted to switch to a small jig or fly I could fish under a float but the chop on the water kept going away so I decided to head down lake and see if I could find more consistent wind. I did.

The stretch from Fall Creek around the corner to Short Creek has had good wind and chop on the surface the last couple of days from about 10 am through the rest of the day. As I came down yesterday, I passed a boat with 2 couples who were fishing. They asked me if I had caught anything up lake and I said it was slow - no wind. They said it had been great fishing for them. I told them it was on account of the wind and chop they were in.

I fished a pink/white Trout Magnet under a float 7-8 feet deep using 6x tippet (2-pound) down closer to Short Creek, staying in the middle of the lake and caught several real nice rainbows. Missed a bunch though on short strikes. Again, good chop on the surface.

With cooler temperatures and less humidity, we should see less fog at night and in the morning on the lake. If you're up for an adventure, go night fishing. Water should be off at night and trout do bite after dark.

Typically, brown trout feed at night. If you were to target browns at night, I'd throw a medium size stick bait and I'd try to throw it in fairly shallow water to start. Close to the bank or on flats are good places. Try cranking the bait in slowly, not letting it go very deep in the water.

If you're fly fishing, cast streamers such as Pine Squirrel, sculpins, Matukas, Wooly Buggers, PMS and Mohair Leeches. If you're fishing below the dam (wading) try something that stays close or even on top of the water. Colors- try both light and dark colors and see what they want -- and change often!

Here's a fishing report called in by one of our fishing guides, Steve Dickey.  You need FLASH to play this.

[crazy4fishin]

Phil is right - yesterday when he wrote this I couldn't catch anything and was glad that we picked up 83 cent hot dogs at the Walmart!

Today was different - a pink and white trout magnet 6' below the float was the key...fishing from Fall Creek to just above Lilley's just as Phil says - right in the middle. As I came around the bend after Trout Hollow I hung close to the docks throwing toward the middle. Not big ones mind you but the numbers were there and it was fun.

I did catch one brown today

C4F