Lilleys' Lake Taneycomo fishing report 7/10

[Phil Lilley]

 

The Midwest has had it's share of rain and much more. It's been interesting here in the Ozarks the last couple of days because of this. The storms have been isolated small pods of heavy rain, not the big storms that sit on the whole White River Shed from a few weeks ago. This has caused some local flooding (you may have seen clips on national TV) but we are fine and so is the lake.

 

Table Rock Lake is rising from runoff and from Beaver releasing water from its dam. Bull Shoals Lake, the lake that can take the most water in the system, has risen to the point that the Corp is starting to let Table Rock rise on into the 920's. According to the Corp, Table Rock will crest from 926 to 926.5 feet by Sunday. That's a rise of more than 7 feet in the past 3 days.

 

The COE has indicated to us that we should see full generation, but no flood gates, in the coming days until the lake stabilize.

 

There is no rain forecasted for the next 10 days.

 

Night crawlers are king! With all the runoff, our trout are seeing a ton of food washed into the lake and worms are at the top of the menu. We are going through more than 150 dozen worms per week and half of that are going to our fishing guides. Steve Dickey told me yesterday that the fish are getting wise, biting off the worms and not taking the hook. I found out he was correct this afternoon, drifting a night crawler myself.

 

 

Note the mouth of Fall Creek. We experienced a flash flood on Tuesday. Local rain dumped several inches of rain in a very short time in the Fall Creek, Roark Creek watersheds. The chunk limestone rock place on the bank just inside of the mouth blew out and shot rock out into the lake more than 150 feet. The riffle it makes should be a clear indication of boats NOT to travel on the right side heading upstream.

 

 

Marabou jigs are still catching trout. Most of the time, we're throwing the 1/8th ounce jig straight with no float but there's really no dominate colors. I'm throwing a white or ginger and doing fair, then switching to a sculpin or black and doing a little better. And we're working the bluff and shallow, inside banks with 3 units running right now. Four units is tough working the bluff banks unless you're fishing down past Cooper Creek.

 

Chuck Gries, another one of our fishing guides, had his clients throwing a #7 floating Rapala yesterday below Fall Creek and they caught some nice browns as well as rainbows. He says to work them quick.

 

 

We are still seeing an increase number of brown trout caught this summer. A lot of anglers drifting night crawlers, as well as throwing lures and jigs, are reporting dozens of browns caught lake wide. There's been a few legal browns over 20 inches caught (and released), but most measure any where from 16 to 19 inches long. That's why throwing a Rapala early and late in the day can produce some great action.

 

The scud bite has slowed down considerably, especially below Fall Creek. We are seeing rainbows spitting up scuds every once in a while but nothing like in early June when we saw schools of scuds along the banks.

 

 

Guys are boating up above Fall Creek and fishing the eddies behind and along islands and cut in banks and catching rainbows on jigs and spoons. If you're drifting and throwing towards the bank, be sure to target slack water--that's where the fish will be, trying to get out of the fast current.

[Phil Lilley]

Pictures curtesy of Steve Dickey and Rick Lisek.

[dennisduckhunter]

Phil,

I really enjoy your videos. Do use a go pro for your videos? If so do you put it in the waterproof case? How do you get such good sound?I have one and put it in my waterproof case but have to shout into it to get any voice sounds. Any pointers would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Phil Lilley]

I use a Garmin Virb. It has a housing like a GoPro too but I don't use it. I use a wireless mic system- plugs into the back of the camera.

[dennisduckhunter]

Thanks a lot for the information.