May 19 through May 21 Report

[Seth]

Day 1
My buddy and I got down early in the afternoon on Friday. The first thing we did was run to the cable and noticed three flood gates were open. We caught several smallmouth, a couple nice whites and a 17" walleye between the cable and the island on the gate side while throwing shad raps, flicker shads and white jigs. Once we got below the island, my buddy was schooling me on trout with a blade bait. I managed a few on a white jig. Later that evening after the storms blew through, we went down and fished on the downstream side of Lookout. He schooled me with the blade bait, but I caught several on a white jig and the flicker shad. The biggest trout boated was a 15-16" brown that my buddy caught. Nothing big really.

Day 2
We got on the water and up to the cable right as they sounded the alarm for the flood gates. The first drift on the gate side produced a couple smallmouth and a hook up with a 20-22" walleye, but sadly the hooked came unbuttoned on the walleye during the fight. Once the gates got to cranking, we stopped getting bit between the cable and the island, but did start picking up a few smallmouth, spots and whites on the downstream side of the island. About an hour and a half after they opened all of the gates, I was reeling my jig in and the rod loaded up with something heavy. A few moments later, I realized I had snagged a paddlefish in the rostrum! I'm guessing it had just come over the dam because it was pretty weak and had a freshly broken rostrum. It only took about a minute to get it up to the surface for my buddy to get a hold of it. It was about a 40 pounder. On a side note, we also noticed several paddlefish carcasses stuck in brush throughout the river that had come through the gates in the previous weeks.

We picked up a few more trout on our drift down and decided to go fish Short Creek down to Lilley's. There were a few pockets that were holding concentrations of trout and we picked up several, but nothing real big UNTIL my buddy hooked into something heavy up by Short Creek.....

After that, we pulled the boat out and went to eat dinner. We got done eating early enough that we put the boat back in and fished from Cooper Creek down to Monkey Island. Our "goal" was to throw big baits and try for another big fish. After doing this for a while, all we had to show was one swipe from a brown in the 18" range so we switched back to the blade bait and white jig and ended up catching several just before dark on the creek side of Monkey Island.

Day 3
We got out for a few hours before heading home to try the crankbait deal that Doty was having so much luck with. Right off the bat, we doubled with a chunky 3# spot and a little smallmouth just below the first island. After that, we stayed out in the main current and drifted the cranks like Doty explained to us. We weren't doing something right because we watched them catch quite a few and I think we managed three little squirts on them. After doing that for a bit, we worked our way downstream. We picked up a few trout here and there, usually where there was a lot of brush piled up near the bank. I did finally manage to hook a 15" brown just above Lilley's on a countdown. The eddy just down and across from Cooper produced a few fish, but we really didn't get into a lot of fish until we got down closer to the creek across from Monkey Island. The 300-400 yard stretch above that creek was full of fish and they were all over the white jig. They were hitting it with authority as most of the bites felt almost "crappie like" with a good thump as the bait was falling. We kept two limits of 12-14" fish and called it a day before loading up and heading back home.

[JestersHK]

Looks like some awesome days there Seth, and thats a beautiful Brownie!  

[Seth]

31 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

Looks like some awesome days there Seth, and thats a beautiful Brownie!  

It was a good time. I enjoy catching trout, but being able to catch a variety of fish up near the cable made it even more exciting. You never knew for sure what you were going to hook next.

[JestersHK]

Yep, Love the variety after these types of events, although I'd never wish the downsides on anyone that the flooding causes...  

Hoping I can duplicate your success next week!  

Wonder what will happen with that spoonbill?  Never seen one with a broken nose like that, although I have seen dead ones before on Taney.

[Seth]

If he doesn't die from internal injuries caused by the fall from the top of TRD's gates, I'd imagine he will live out his days somewhere down the lake in Taneycomo or Bull Shoals. We have caught several "dorkfish" over the years that had lost their rostrum do boat props or whatever.

[JestersHK]

Good to know.  I caught a walleye a few years back that had what looked like a broken back that healed with a weird bend in him.  Caught another eye who had a few of his fins ripped off.  Heck of a ride for those fish coming over!