Taneycomo, May 30 fishing report

[Phil Lilley]

Generation has been fairly consistent, even on weekends lately.  Operators at the dam have been leaving the water off until about noon to 1 p.m. and then kicking it on and running anywhere from two to four units at 6,800 to 12,000 cubic feet per second.  It's been pretty hot in the afternoons here, so I'm sure they're running a lot of water for a high power demand.  It's back off by 8 p.m. each evening and off all night.

We've noticed that they've been drawing the lake down overnight, so in the mornings the lake is unusually low.  This is not supposed to happen, but it does occasionally.  You will not see any variation in the official lake level at the base of the dam, but you will see it below Lookout and down lake.  Duane Doty told me today that the lake level at the narrows is so low that the channel is less than 10 feet wide and very shallow, barely enough water to boat up past it.  So be careful when boating under these conditions.

Water temperature is holding at about 48 degrees and clear.  When they run water, of course, it gets murky and blows out algae that's grown on the bottom of the upper lake.  It all clears out in about hour after it starts.

Two things we want to report about our rainbows -- there are a lot of them in the lake and they are bigger than normal.  They are both longer and thicker than newly stocked trout of the past.  Of course, this is great news for all anglers fishing the lake right now.  But, of course, it's still "fishing" and not "catching."  Some days are better than others as far as catching numbers and size, but overall it's been very good.

Our rainbows are still wanting to chase something, especially early in the mornings.  Spoons and spinners are working good, either throwing and reeling them in or trolling behind the boat.  Duane's been trolling his crank baits and doing well, landing seven trout longer than 20 inches and losing eight at the boat just in the last week.  He's also been throwing stick baits on quite a few guide trips -- after writing and posting his article, Committing to a Big Brown, about catching so many big brown trout using these methods.

The Berkely Pink PowerWorm is still a must for anyone struggling to catch fish.  I can't stress enough how well this works.  Fish it four- to five-feet deep early in the morning, and then move it deeper as the sun gets higher in the sky, seven-to eight-feet deep.  Use two-pound line as tippet for more bites, but four-pound is okay.

Small marabou jigs are catching big numbers of rainbows below and above Fall Creek in the mornings.  I boated up to the Lookout Island area early Saturday morning and threw sculpin/ginger and sculpin/peach 1/16th-ounce jigs using two-pound line and boated several dozen rainbows in the 11- to 15-inch range.  Later in the afternoon, after the water starts running, we're throwing 1/8-ounce white jigs below the dam and all the way down past Fall Creek and hooking good rainbows.

Guide Bill Babler reported fishing above the Narrows this week using the jig-and-float method with either a sculpin or ginger micro jig, two-pound tippet. He's caught good numbers of rainbows.

I haven't been up there yet to try it, but with the water so low above the Narrows, boating up and wading this area should be excellent.  If I get up there, I'll fish a #16 to #18 weighted gray scud or a San Juan Worm or a Mega Worm and probably will try a Zebra Midge and a soft hackle if they are rising on midges.  I've been told there are big numbers of rainbows in the Narrows, and the stretch is full of freshwater shrimp.

Wading below the dam, I'd use the same flies.  I saw on a forum post where a friend fished up these on Saturday morning and caught more than 50 rainbows on mainly small midge flies.

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[mikeak]

Great report,Thanks Phil

 

[Phil Lilley]

Just got off the lake.  Boated above the Narrows about 8 a.m. and yes it was shallow.  I dinged my prop a little having gotten over too far on the gravel bar.  It happens.  No generation, very little fog and no wind.  There was a lot of pollen and leaves on the surface due to the wind front that went through this morning at 3 a.m..  Yes I was up.... someone thought if was funny to fire a volley of fireworks in our parking lot.  No I didn't catch them.

Disappointedly, there was very little surface action but I started with a red/gold #16 Zebra Midge under an indicator 12 inches and targeted the rising fish I saw.  Caught a few rainbows.  Switched to a spinning rod and threw a 1/16th ounce sculpin/ginger jig and caught several on as many cast.  I was up there to fly fish though so I put the spinning rod down.  But they were crushing the jig.

Went to a #14 gray scud under an indicator, fishing 5 feet deep.  Caught several more rainbows, nothing very big.  By this time I was at the top of the Narrows.

Fished the scud for a bit there and didn't do very well.  It wasn't until I was down in the middle did I start getting any attention.  Fished both the channel and the shallow flat side and caught a few.  At the first downed tree there were a school of nice rainbows off the drop and caught a couple of them.

Moved around Chuck Gries who was guiding a couple of people.  They were catching fish on a beaded egg fly it looked like.  I switched to a 1/125th ounce brown jig with an orange head, 4 feet deep, and started catch more rainbows.  There was a good chop on the water which made a big difference.

Continued to catch rainbows down another 150 yards.  Sun was up and bright but it didn't matter.  The chop was perfect and the fish bit well.

Size of rainbows was pretty consistent - between 11 and 14 inches with most of them about 13 inches.  Good shape, colorful.  I used 2-pound line on the spinning and 6x tippet on the fly rod.

[Gatorjet]

Tried a couple of my known productive spots down lake from Lilleys Landing this morning. More properly formally productive spots. Not even a single bump on sculpin/peach jigs near Cooper Creek, Monkey Island. The bridges, a or landing. Even tried trolling a Flicker Shad down by the Landing. Nothing.

Went up to Fall Creek, and fished the Gulp Worm under a float. Caught one about 12-13 inches, and several 10" fish. All fat, and healthy. Caught one more about 12" in  1/16 oz scupin/peach jig. 

[Seth]

31 minutes ago, Gatorjet said:

Tried a couple of my known productive spots down lake from Lilleys Landing this morning. More properly formally productive spots. Not even a single bump on sculpin/peach jigs near Cooper Creek, Monkey Island. The bridges, a or landing. Even tried trolling a Flicker Shad down by the Landing. Nothing.

Went up to Fall Creek, and fished the Gulp Worm under a float. Caught one about 12-13 inches, and several 10" fish. All fat, and healthy. Caught one more about 12" in  1/16 oz scupin/peach jig. 

Dad said he will loan you a few night crawlers when we get down there tomorrow. 

[Gatorjet]

37 minutes ago, Seth said:

Dad said he will loan you a few night crawlers when we get down there tomorrow. 

Might result to that. Probably will have some in the boat. Nick and Mandy's niece is here with them, and loves to fish. Probably take her out bait dippin' tomorrow.