Late Wed-Mid Fri (7/13-7/15) Report

[Haris122]

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.