Ongoing TR for the week

[JestersHK]

Thanks for the replies guys,  I'll try to keep it going.  

Took my kiddo and my niece down to the outlets this morning, and caught a few rainbows.  Caught them on a Sculpin jig, and a beige san juan worm under a float.  Was pretty crowded down there for a week day so we didn't stay too long.

We are going to hit it hard again tonight, and try to stick it to the walleye!

[dan hufferd]

2 hours ago, JestersHK said:

Thanks for the replies guys,  I'll try to keep it going.  

Took my kiddo and my niece down to the outlets this morning, and caught a few rainbows.  Caught them on a Sculpin jig, and a beige san juan worm under a float.  Was pretty crowded down there for a week day so we didn't stay too long.

We are going to hit it hard again tonight, and try to stick it to the walleye!

See if you can get that kid'o to hook a big'o walleye, that would be cool, I want to get in the truck and head down there right now ! 

Let us know how you do !

[JestersHK]

Another good night in the books.  We set out with a goal for some walleye.  Instead we ended up with another solid night of rainbows, and my brother in law stuck a nice brown.  

Bite was on last night, and we caught pretty consistently.  Fish were again just thick and tall, all very healthy.  Only caught 2 little stockers, and everything else were just fat stuffed bows!

We cranked stick baits for most of the time as we were trying to target the walleye.  Shallow divers out in the current.

Finally finished up at 2am. Was hard to leave...  It's silver dollar city day todaywith the fam, but we'll be back at it again when it gets dark.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

Thanks!

[dan hufferd]

I guaranty they will remember those fishing trips for ever, mine do.  

[JestersHK]

Was a hot but awesome day yesterday at SDC.  We hit all the big coasters with almost no wait times, and it wasn't crowded at all.  Kiddos got flat worn out, so that meant an early bedtime and my brother in law and I got back at it around 10pm tonight.  Water was off and we fished between outlet 1 and the cable.

We went back to throwing sticks as we really wanted to catch some walleye for dinner.  We ended up with 4 total, the biggest 2 going 22 inches.  Their bellys were full of shad and the bigger ones looked like they had some small trout fry in them, but not sure.

Biggest surprise of the night, I caught my first ever small mouth out of Taney.  A little guy maybe 13 inches.

The rainbows continued to disrupt our walleye hunt.  We both caught over 20 rainbows apiece.  Most were in the 15 to 18 inch range, we had a few right at 20in or just below, and all of them were fat little footballs.  My brother in law had a bow hooked up with the biggest head I've ever seen, but lost him about an arms reach away...

Hope you guys enjoy the pics.  All but the walleye were released.  

[JestersHK]

Last entry here as we are back home.  Was a great trip once again down to Taney.  The night bite was on for us luckily as this was our big family vacation trip instead of a fishing one.  

Burned allot of midnight oil this time around, but there were nights where we almost fished till sun up.  

My brother in law had never night fished, but I think he's hooked now after this week.  He caught the last fish of our trip and she was a dandy.  A nice 21in bow from down around outlet 2.  I also landed some more rainbows, and 1 more walleye who got released.  

Overall just an awesome time on a truly special stretch of water.  

[Haris122]

Off topic, but if those walleyes came from Table Rock when the gates opened, how do they survive the drop from Table Rock down to Taneycomo? That water seems to go pretty steeply down the dam from the drone footage of the gates open. Hard for me to understand how they make such a big drop.

[JestersHK]

I honestly don't know... Seems like a big drop to me as well.  Not sure how deep it is at the base of the dam, but I know a few of the fish were pretty beat up. One had a messed up bent possibly broken tail, which we kept as he seemed to have some sort of injury.  Another one was missing a pectoral fin which looked like it was ripped off.  Hopefully someone in the know can chime in.

[Phil Lilley]

Bottom line they did- and many other species of fish.  Gizzard shad didn't do well though.

Question is why are there still so many warm water fish up below the dam... assuming most if not all came into the lake over the top of the dam - in January.  Lots have been caught out, some should have swam down lake...  his story tells us these fish aren't up there 6-8 weeks after the gates are closed.  Not this time.

I don't think it's right to think these fish "can't survive" in Taney because of cold water.  It's not that cold.  They probably don't need to eat as much and aren't as active but they can live in cold water just fine.