Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, November 17

[Phil Lilley]

The generation pattern on Lake Taneycomo has been consistent for several weeks now.  Operators at the dam are running between 1,800 to 3,700 cubic feet of water per second 24/7, which is about a half unit to a full.  Water temperature is still 58, but the clarity is much better than it has been.  Dissolved oxygen content is holding steady at about four parts per million.

We've had some incredible November weather with one exception -- a cold rain and high winds over the weekend.  But we've back in the 60's and even 70's afternoons this week.

Trout fishing below Fall Creek remains very good for most people.  Anglers are drifting night crawlers and Power Bait mostly and catching good-sized rainbows.  Early mornings, dam operators are not running quite as much water, so you have to use small weights to get down your bait -- a lot of times just a small split shot.  The drift rigs we sell only go down to 1/8th ounce bell weights, which is sometimes too heavy to use in slow current. 

Stay towards the middle of the lake to avoid snags.

Trolling big spinners or medium diving crank baits has caught fish, too.  I've seen several boats out coming in with limits.  This is a good way to catch a big brown trout, too.  I've found the best direction to troll is downstream if there is current.  Flicker Shad are good to troll as well as big Rooster Tails.

Most of our guides are deer hunting right now, so it's hard to get a good report from them.  But I would imagine they'd be fishing the Berkley pink worm under a float and drifting down lake from our place (Lilleys' Landing.) Early, set the float at about four feet, dropping it to as much as seven feet as the sun gets up over the water.

Dockhand Blake Wilson has been doing One Cast lately and doing pretty well on a couple of things.  He's fishing the San Juan Worm under a float in the Trophy Area, as well as a scud, and catching good rainbows -- but the catch has been spotty.  Pink on the San Juan and tan and gray on the scud (#12).

Guide Bill Babler dragged a jerk bait last week and caught some trophy rainbows.  He used a shad color 606 (suspending) from the cable below the dam down past Fall Creek.  Blake tried it and did really well drifting them in the Trophy Run stretch while 4.000 cubic feet per second of water was running the other day.

We drift these suspending jerk baits using a drift rig and a 1/8th ounce bell weight.  The jerk bait should be suspending and a medium diver.  We've tried different colors and the shad style seems to work the best right now.  We sell cheap jerk baits in our shop -- cheap because we do tend to lose a few.  We do take the front hook off the bait and leave the back hook to reduce snagging as much.

Warning!  We have had to talk to some boaters lately about anchoring in current.  Even though only one unit of water has been running, certain areas on the lake can still be swift, especially along the bluff side from Trout Hollow up lake.  I warned a gentleman a couple of weeks ago about anchoring off the back of a rental jon boat in fast current.  He had to cut the rope to free himself after trying to pull it up -- and in that effort, the boat came dangerously close to being swamped.

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[hillbillyflyshack]

Like Ron White says "You can't fix stupid".

[snagged in outlet 3]

On 11/17/2020 at 9:59 AM, Phil Lilley said:

The generation pattern on Lake Taneycomo has been consistent for several weeks now.  Operators at the dam are running between 1,800 to 3,700 cubic feet of water per second 24/7, which is about a half unit to a full.  Water temperature is still 58, but the clarity is much better than it has been.  Dissolved oxygen content is holding steady at about four parts per million.

We've had some incredible November weather with one exception -- a cold rain and high winds over the weekend.  But we've back in the 60's and even 70's afternoons this week.

Trout fishing below Fall Creek remains very good for most people.  Anglers are drifting night crawlers and Power Bait mostly and catching good-sized rainbows.  Early mornings, dam operators are not running quite as much water, so you have to use small weights to get down your bait -- a lot of times just a small split shot.  The drift rigs we sell only go down to 1/8th ounce bell weights, which is sometimes too heavy to use in slow current. 

Stay towards the middle of the lake to avoid snags.

Trolling big spinners or medium diving crank baits has caught fish, too.  I've seen several boats out coming in with limits.  This is a good way to catch a big brown trout, too.  I've found the best direction to troll is downstream if there is current.  Flicker Shad are good to troll as well as big Rooster Tails.

Most of our guides are deer hunting right now, so it's hard to get a good report from them.  But I would imagine they'd be fishing the Berkley pink worm under a float and drifting down lake from our place (Lilleys' Landing.) Early, set the float at about four feet, dropping it to as much as seven feet as the sun gets up over the water.

Dockhand Blake Wilson has been doing One Cast lately and doing pretty well on a couple of things.  He's fishing the San Juan Worm under a float in the Trophy Area, as well as a scud, and catching good rainbows -- but the catch has been spotty.  Pink on the San Juan and tan and gray on the scud (#12).

Guide Bill Babler dragged a jerk bait last week and caught some trophy rainbows.  He used a shad color 606 (suspending) from the cable below the dam down past Fall Creek.  Blake tried it and did really well drifting them in the Trophy Run stretch while 4.000 cubic feet per second of water was running the other day.

We drift these suspending jerk baits using a drift rig and a 1/8th ounce bell weight.  The jerk bait should be suspending and a medium diver.  We've tried different colors and the shad style seems to work the best right now.  We sell cheap jerk baits in our shop -- cheap because we do tend to lose a few.  We do take the front hook off the bait and leave the back hook to reduce snagging as much.

Warning!  We have had to talk to some boaters lately about anchoring in current.  Even though only one unit of water has been running, certain areas on the lake can still be swift, especially along the bluff side from Trout Hollow up lake.  I warned a gentleman a couple of weeks ago about anchoring off the back of a rental jon boat in fast current.  He had to cut the rope to free himself after trying to pull it up -- and in that effort, the boat came dangerously close to being swamped.

 

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I'll be down for the week Saturday.  If the internet I have down there can handle both my wife and I "working from home"...😁