Vacation fishing report.

[D.T.]

Fishing was slow through most of the week with just 3 to 5 fish a day for our group. Had a boat out Monday and fished all the hot spots we normally do with not much success which is not typical.  Then fished off the dock through Thursday at Lilleys. Fished mainly jigs and Trout Magnets. Jigs in white, pink or pink and white. The Magnets in light pink and pink. These were the only colors that produced those days. We are typically catch and release but at the end of the week the boys usually want to take a days limit home.  Luckily for them today our last day here produced. Took a boat again today and was on the water at 7:30. Started below fall creek marnIna with a variety of marabou colors.  The first fish came on a purple with purple head. Tried this color because I do well with some purple flies in the trophy area wading when it's early, overcast or foggy. I thought I was on to something since it came on the second cast. Fished it for another 10 to 15 min or so with no more hits. Switched to a peach and sculpin with an orange head and one of the boys tied on a burnt orange and brown with a brown head and one with an orange head. Started catching on these immediately. Drifted down to a slow shallow area aross from Trout Hollow. This is a long stretch of water that is still, slow or even has an up stream flow to it. Lots of downed timber through this area but there were a lot of fish in there. We had many strikes, follows and catches in this area. Spent several hours drifting this multiple times. Some of the strikes were short so we pinched off some of the marabou which helped increase the hook up. When this area slowed we headed down to the mouth of Turkey creek. If you haven't fished this area there is a nice seam where the current from the creek and the lake meet. There is often a color difference between the two waters. We had fish on constantly when casting into the creek and jigging out into the lake. There were a couple on the bank fishing what appeared to be some type of gold spoons doing good as well. We hit this area several times drifting down to the bridge and were hooked up constantly. Moved down to below White River Fish House and we're constantly hooked up there as well. We fish this from the restaurant almost down to the fountains. The thing we learned today is to let the jig sink to the bottom and when we thought we were on the bottom let it sink another 1 or 2 seconds. When I said something to my son in-law about it he said oh yea, I read about that in a article Phil had written. I have read all of those articles before and didn't remember that piece. When your only fishing down here once a year it probably would be smart to read his stuff again as a refresher! Typically the fish came in that last little drop. In fact cought several with the jig hanging straight down beside the boat and barely jiged it a few inches and the fish would bump it and then bam fish on. The keys for us today were 2lb to 4lb line with 4 to 6 foot of 2lb fluorocarbon leader/tippet (this is our typical set up). Short lifts when jigging so to keep it toward the bottom. Let the jig hit the bottom or as close to the bottom as possible. I always keep the jig close to the bottom but overexaggerated it today and it really payed off. All jigs were darker colors of ginger olive, peach sculpin, brown orange and sculpin ginger each with ether brown, orange or green heads. Not much difference between colors all were catching fish. Most of the fish came before 5:00  pm  with a big slow down after 5:00. Lost count of fish caught, not the best single day we have had but would put it in the top 3. Lost several jigs but caught lots of fish. 

Dave

[D.T.]

Sorry about the triple post. I was a little impatient on the submit button I guess. Not sure how to delete the duplicates.

[Phil Lilley]

8 hours ago, Haris122 said:

Went to Branson for a quick 2 1/2 day trip and managed to do poorly at Lake Taneycomo. We got there kind of late Wednesday so we fished from about 6-9pm about halfway between outlets 1 and 2 near the hatchery. Water seemed to be flowing fast, but not much prior experience to reference it to.We tried a few different things including crankbaits, inline spinners, and kastmaster-like spoons to no avail. In the end I got a bite on a black and white 1/16oz inline spinner close to 9pm, near the top of the water maybe 7-8 feet from me. Unfortunately it biting so close, and the drag being set pretty sturdy, allowed it to basically rip the hook out of itself within seconds of getting hooked. That was it for Wednesday.

Thursday we first did some stuff around town, since it was my gf's birthday, but around 3 or so we made it back out onto the water. Since a storm was forecast, we pretty much went to the same spot between outlets 1 and 2, since there's only a short hike back to the car. Situation appeared to be the same. We couldn't buy us a bite with the lures we used. Finally we figured the storm was about to hit us, so at around 5 we decided to find Lilley's Landing and check out the bait/fly shop for a moment. I got me an ozarkanglers shirt, and found out that we can fish off their docks for free until 6 (provided the dock isn't packed with actual landing guests, which it wasn't at that time). So while waiting on the big storm that never materialized, we fished from the dock there for half an hour. Once again utilizing the same types of lures as before. Once again with the same results. Finally we decided to hit up the trophy section just downstream of the boat ramp, where I had fished the only other time I had gone to Taneycomo before, and by 7pm we were there wading. I expanded my arsenal a bit with a marabou jig under a slip bobber, and various other hard lures, but once again the going was slow. Around 8-8:30 stuff started "heating up". My gf got a bite on an in-line spinner of same color as I got the bite on the day before, but it got off. Shortly after I hooked a nice fighter on a rainbow trout colored minnow crankbait. I knew it wasn't small by the fight it gave, but wasn't sure just how big. When I got it to net, it wound up being a fiesty 14" Brown Trout. We got another couple bites after that but couldn't connect any more for that day.

Friday we got decided to try the same spot but got a late start. Anyways we started up around 10:30 and pretty soon afterwards I got a nice 14" Rainbow Trout on the same little minnow crankbait as I got the Brown trout before. I was a little disappointed in the fight it gave considering it was a chunkier 14", but hadn't fought as good as the Brown one the night before, but it was still a fun experience. Anyways, we got another few bites, and then the bite died down again. Eventually after cycling through some more lures I got back to the same rainbow trout colored crankbait, and waded a little upstream. I started casting into the channel again, when something good hit it maybe 25-30 feet from me. After a few hiccups with the reel's anti-reverse, I managed to net an 18" walleye. After releasing it I eagerly awaited the proverbial opening of the flood gates, but in the end there wasn't any of that. I got a few more bites and chases but nothing that ever got itself hooked. My gf however hooked into a nice Brown Trout, yet again with that same crankbait, and after a good fight managed to bring it in. It squirmed out of her hands before we could measure it but it had to have been between 15-16".

 

Anyways, aside from those 4 fish, the action was pretty scarce. Unfortunately we hardly managed to catch anything, much less numbers and huge sizes of them. I'm not sure why, but it definitely didn't work out for us overall. From what little I heard from others, it seemed like in general it was a slow day. Question is, was it as slow as it was for us? And if not, why was it so slow for us.

Thanks for both fishing reports!

Both reports have the same issues with fishing - hot and cold.  Last week, Jeff Weable's fishing experience was close to the same, finding fish later in the week after trying numerous spots and techniques.  Seems like these fish are staying in schools and moving around a lot - and that's what Steve Dicky, one of our fishing guides, has been telling me all summer.

There are some really great fish in the lake and there are good numbers too.... but it's just not as easy to catch them this summer for most people, especially first-timers.

[Phil Lilley]

And the trophy area in general just isn't fishing as well as normal.  Dicky said he hasn't fished up there in over 6 weeks now.

[Haris122]

As we started hiking out of there friday afternoon i started noticing 2 good size groups of trout just relaxing lazily near the banks. Like 10-20 individuals each. Figures. One of these days my multiday fishing-vacation style trips will actually live up to my expectations, just a matter of time. 

[Phil Lilley]

You have to figure them out each trip down... it changes every year.

[D.T.]

5 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

You have to figure them out each trip down... it changes every year.

I agree the changes. We had a boat out 3 days last year and killed them every day in lot more areas than what we found this year. I also agree that it seems like they are in schools which I hadnt thought of until reading this post. Although our single day total wasn't the best we have had (close) it was probably the best we have had at each individual spot. It was fish after fish in those areas that were hot.