Lilley's Lake Taneycomo fishing report, November 24

[Phil Lilley]

There's a big contrast between a Lake Taneycomo fishing report from last week and this week.  We've gone from the edge of disaster to "a bit on every cast".  Several things have changed to cause this:  We're getting water from the top of Table Rock Lake through the spill gates and we're getting better water through the turbines because Table Rock is starting to "turn over".  This sends good, oxygenated water from the top of Table Rock to the bottom regions.  It's a natural occurrence that happens each year at this time.

There's a big contrast between a Lake Taneycomo fishing report from last week and this week.  We've gone from the edge of disaster to "a bit on every cast".  Several things have changed to cause this:  We're getting water from the top of Table Rock Lake through the spill gates and we're getting better water through the turbines because Table Rock is starting to "turn over".  This sends good, oxygenated water from the top of Table Rock to the bottom regions.  It's a natural occurrence that happens each year at this time.

The other major thing that's happen is that Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery has had to dump thousands of rainbows into the lake early because of the situation at the hatchery last week.  These fish were stocked below Branson and have made their way up lake this week.

Fishing reports from the last couple of days are very very good and will probably continue to be good for quite some time.  But there's a potential problem I need to address here in my report and will express it to our guests at Lilleys' Landing in the coming weeks.  That potential problems is over harvesting and mishandling of trout that are released.

Many of us have had bad fishing trips.  Fishing is slow and we don't catch and keep our limits, thus we don't go home with the meat we expected to take home.  We might have several trips in which we were short of our possession limit.  But then comes that trip where we catch a lot of fish, many more than our limit and we're tempted to "make up for" those bad trips and take more fish home than we should.  

Over harvesting any kind of game is stealing from the fishermen and hunters that come after you.  Every fishery is limited to the number of fish, no matter if that number is mind boggling high or not.  If one angler catches twice his limit each day he's here, he's taken those fish away from the next person who comes along and fishes the same area.

Some thing that's worse is an angler catch-and-killing dozens of trout when the catching is really, really good.  It is true, no matter how careful you are when catching, handling and releasing fish, you are going to mortally wound a few fish.  But you can great increase your release success rate by knowing how to best handle and release a trout.

Don't touch a trout, at all costs.  Don't touch them with a dry hand or dry cloth--that's the worse thing you can do to about any fish.  It removes the protective slime from the trout's body and it will evidentially die from bacteria in the water.  If the hook is close to the outside of the mouth, take a pair of forceps and remove the hook before releasing.  If the hook is down inside the fish's mouth, cut the line and release the fish.  It has a better chance of survival this way verses trying to remove the hook.

Now for my fishing report.

The spill gates have been closed.  The dissolved O2 coming through the dam has improved to the point that no gates are needed. Once Table Rock's level drops below 917 feet, we should see less generation and probably no flood gates.

Stocker rainbows have made their way up lake from being stocked but there's still a lot of trout in the Branson Landing area.  Drifting about anything, Gulp Eggs, egg flies, scuds, San Juan Worms, on the bottom is catching lots of rainbows right now.  The hot spots have been the Branson Landing area, Monkey Island, out in front of our place and from Fall Creek to Short Creek.  

One thing Bill Babler pointed out to me is switching from natural baits to artificial baits when the fishing is very good.  He did that yesterday while guiding clients.  He started fishing the trophy area which was slow for them so they went down to the Monkey Island area and started drifting Gulp Eggs.  They caught their limits fairly quick but still had an hour left in the trip so Bill switched to egg flies instead of using the natural, soft scented baits.  Couple of reasons why:  #1 - cost.  You can catch multiple fish on one egg fly.  #2 - time and ease.  It's much easier taking the fly out of a trout's mouth verses messing with an egg and a bare hook.  Plus you can just throw the egg fly back out, not having to put another Gulp Egg on the hook.

Fishing in the trophy area is still slow but will improve as the water quality improves in the coming weeks.

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[marcus]

nice report told myself id go down there after i fill my deer tag...but the bucks said otherwise now back to work instead took off work all of rifle season just waiting for a big one.i shoulda just went fishing 

[rainbow]

No reason for anyone to take more than their limit at anytime.  There are limits for a reason.  Everyone needs to do their part to insure than the fishery will be there for the next generation and depleting it in our lifetime is not the way to do that. We even have limits on the fish coming out of our farm pond and always have plenty of fish for the kids to catch.

[Seth]

 

On 11/25/2015, 8:17:40, rainbow said:

No reason for anyone to take more than their limit at anytime.  There are limits for a reason.  Everyone needs to do their part to insure than the fishery will be there for the next generation and depleting it in our lifetime is not the way to do that. We even have limits on the fish coming out of our farm pond and always have plenty of fish for the kids to catch.

You would think it would be easy to understand, but it amazes me everyday just how greedy humans are. Give somebody and inch and they take a mile.....