Taneycomo Trout to Remember

[Bill Babler]

Great weekend starting Friday morning on upper taney, fishing from Fall Creek to below Trout Hollow.  This stretch has produced some very quality fish since  December and this weekend continued that pattern.

Numbers of hourly fish that the guides are used to catching are not really there, but the quality of the fish our clients are catching is way above average.  Captain Rick Lisek had pointed out several different bottom contours to me he had noticed last week and suggested since the December flood that some of these new current breaks were holding some very quality fish.  Trick is to get your baits into the correct location at the right time to entice these rascules.

Friday morning with Jeff, we had about a dozen and a half rainbows with lots of quality fish in the 14 to 19 inch class.  Not the 30 plus we usually see on our guide trips, but exceptional fish.  White micro jig under a float, a Y2K bug and crawlers produced Jeff's fish.

Saturday morning I had long time client Cory Baker and his daughter Cassidy.  We pretty much set up shop with crawlers on the bends and seams below Fall Creek and Trout Hollow.  Had an outstanding morning catching 20 plus all rainbows and most all were very colorful solid and 14 to 17 inches.

This morning caught me out with a group of Texicans headed by Clint Walker.  It was on from the Git-Go but spotty.  We would catch 3 or 4 then go completely quite for a spell.  Then it would repeat.  The deal was most all these fish were just thick 14 inch fish.  Very, very nice anywhere at anytime.

Inflated crawlers were again the deal for us, with the off color water and wind pushing up hill, we anchored 3 boat corners and kept vigil.  About mid-morning in the 9:30 time range, Clint brought up the Falcon Spinning rod to full attention.  I had the Falcon Moxie spinning reel spooled with 4 pound maxi and the drift rigs were tied the same way.  On the hook set the line immediately started heading down stream from our anchored position.  He played the fish perfectly taking close to 10 minutes to land the 27 inch 7.8 pound brown on the light outfit.

After netting the fish, I immediately put him in the oxygen bar and blew 2 streams of water on him while he relaxed in the spa.  Several pictures later and a official weight at Lilley's and another picture or two and he happily swam under the dock.

We were fortunate the last 3 days getting out prior to generation.  Trick for me is catching fish on the flat water.  When the generation starts it has been running extremely heavy with moss and silt.  Fact for me is it is extremely hard to fish until the water stabilizes, sometimes taking up to two hours once generation starts for the day.

Good Luck

[JestersHK]

Another nice brown, and those bows looked solid too.  Nice job, and thanks for sharing!

[Johnsfolly]

Great post and photos. Love seeing thick healthy trout and big browns. Sounds like you had the pattern for these fish.