Fishing Report

[Phil Lilley]

Fished alittle before a meeting at 1 pm... fished below the dam between 11 am and 12:30 pm. No waders- just jeans and tennis shoes. Started along the bank below #2 and worked down to #3 outlet. Still tons of trout schooling up and down, in and out and not looking to feed much. Did hook a couple of small rainbows on a #20 ostrich tan scud fished below a half palsa indicator 18 inches- 7x tippet. I've broke off more fish the last 3 days and I'm not sure why- bad tippet? bad knots? no touch?! I'm getting a complex.

Down at #3 I caught another couple of rainbows at the tail end of the shoot. No one fishing it so I thought, what the heck. A nice gentleman walked down out of the outlet and slowly nudged his way down till he was literally standing where I had been fishing and started casting up the shoot. Oh well. I caught a nice rainbow out in the dead water well outside the outlet stream and called it a trip. I told him the hole was all his and he smiled and waved... he didn't have a clue he had done what he did.

Talked to Jake Schneider this evening- came into the shop. He said he's had a great time fishing below the dam the last couple of days. He's here with his wife for some of the veteran activities is town. Said he caught 10 rainbows over 4 pounds yesterday and one today that measured over 24 inches. He said he's catching them on Brad's jigs - I assume the 1/32 oz he tied with a hackled body wrap. Should have asked the color. Maybe his daughter Gretchen will reply and tells us (hint). She's at home and green with envy.

Lots of guys (and gals) are arriving for the weekend from the Tulsa FFF club. Tomorrow there's storms in the forecast but fishing should be great. Crowds are way down at the dam and on the lake.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Phil, what do think the winter will bring, as far as water level? You think they'll try to avoid running water when ever possible because of the TR lake level?

[Phil Lilley]

Two or three years ago we had a very dry winter. They didn't run much water at all and it took a toll on, I believe, the food base for the lake. Trout got pretty skinny and alot of the big trout moved out of the trophy area.

A good healthy year on Taney starts with a good cold, wet winter and lots of generation. Right now, I'm hoping for a miracle and it seems it will take one to get a major change in our weather patterns.

To answer your question, I don't think they will run much water if we don't see any rain.