Fishing Buddy Report

[Phil Lilley]

The weather forecast predicted 60-70 degree temperatures for midweek following President's Day.  Perfect for our annual Father/Son fishing trip to Lake Taneycomo.  My 81 year old father and I have been blessed that this particular week in February has been unseasonably warm the last three years.

 

We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and as usual the staff at Lilley's was exceptionally helpful. We were able to call and obtain our slip number, allowing us to launch the boat at the Cooper Creek access before checking in.  The resort has been changing since we first started coming.  The remodeling of the cabins, even complete reconstruction of some has it looking better than ever.  We had wondered how the December floods had affected the resort as well as the fishery.  There is no indication that Lilley's was even affected although I know that isn't true.

 

We attempted to fish on Tuesday afternoon, however after a couple hours on the lake the blustery conditions of that day sent us to the cabin to rewarm.  We did observe some of the devastation upstream to the docks, boats and even decks of the homes below Fall Creek.  Beware if you haven't been there in awhile, the channel may have changed since the flood.  Big trees are hidden under the surface in places and rock bars have moved or enlarged.  During our trip, generation was at approximately 1/2 unit leaving the water level low.

 

Wednesday morning we proceeded up to Fall creek and drifted power eggs (1 white, 1 orange) on spin cast rods with 4 lb.  test.  We caught several fish 12-16 inches on this setup.  We repeated the drift from Fall Creek to Cooper Creek with the same results.  Several fish with amazing color but then some with hardly any.  All were rainbows.  The wind hampered our drift on a number of occasions when it countered the current and left us virtually still.  That evening, at the dock, the guy in the next slip was showing off his catch from the trophy area.  I wouldn't have believed it if i had not seen it myself.  A nice Walleye about 17 or 18 inches.  He released it after a few pictures.  He was told that it is not that uncommon as quite a few were washed over the dam during the flood.  Tomorrow we will try up there and maybe cancel our trip to Canada from later in the year. Just Kidding.

 

Thursday we made the trip up the lake.  Very hazardous navigation at the top of Trophy Run.  We started our drift at the lower end of the Hatchery, again using spincast rods with 4 lb. test and 3/32 oz. olive and orange jigs.  We caught a half dozen rainbows on our first drift back thru Trophy Run.  We did this several times with the same results.  All the fish were in the slot, but great fun fighting them.  Dad had his rod set up with a spincast float for extra weight to help cast the light jig.  This float would let the line slip through and had no effect after it hit the water.  We did notice that he caught less fish with this setup however.  He took off the float and immediately improved his hookups.  I literally wore 2 of these Jigs out.  All of the paint was beat off the heads and very little maribou left on them.  When we lost a couple more, we were out of the olive and orange so we switched to 3/32 oz. white jigs and had the same success.  All rainbows though, no browns, walleye or the elusive pike.  We finally drifted out of the trophy area and continued to catch on the white jigs.  We kept a couple fish for dinner that evening and went to bed tired but happy.  All in all a very good trip.  Thanks, Lilley's.

 

 

Lorn and Lawrence Dennis

[Bill Babler]

Very nice report.  Thank you guys.