Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, March 1

[Travis Swift]

I'm thinking your right DJ on the 100 fish days.  Any of you "regulars" that have fished taney the last couple decades realize that 50 to 100 fish days were the norm for the most part but those days appear to be over.  I'm sure there will still be some magical days but it's not going to be the norm anymore by any means.  I'll take size over qty any day though.  

[Johnsfolly]

51 minutes ago, Travis Swift said:

And the crazy thing is Milo, like it's not even the length but the freaking girth and thickness of these fish is insane.  I caught not only some of the longest rainbows I've ever caught last year but the sheer size structure of how they are built is like a totally different fish then what we had in there even 5 or 6 years ago. 

Do you think that the growth and girth of the fish is due to fewer fish being stocked and allowing more food for those fish that effectively stay away from the worms and powerbait crowd for a year?

[Johnsfolly]

54 minutes ago, Travis Swift said:

From say 1989 to up to about 5 years ago I would say I caught about 95% browns when throwing them, you almost never caught a rainbow on them and when you did it was a dink. 

When I fished the Current a lot in the 2000's, I fished F9 anf F11 floating rapalas and caught probably 98+% browns. Not a problem since that's what I wanted to catch. However the rainbows that I did catch were typically over 15 inches. When they changed to the blue ribbon regs, I caught more 18+" browns for the first two/three years. After that it dropped way down in both numbers and size. I did catch more rainbows on XRaps and smaller hardbaits but never the numbers of browns that I used to catch. Around that time it was noticeable that the stocking numbers were going down year after year. Around 2013/2014 I went on my quest for trout fishing all of the MO trout waters and once that was done started heavily microfishing. That meant that I hadn't fished the Current as much. So didn't experience if there was a further decline in numbers.

[Phil Lilley]

Increased food base because of fewer trout stocked, yes.  That and the increased popularity of catch and release for trophies.

Older fish are wiser fish to some degree.

[Ryan Miloshewski]

@Travis Swift see I have always caught rainbows on jerkbaits, and sometimes more than browns during a week long trip or so. It could be the way I work it, type of bait, color, area--the list goes on and on. And funny enough, I have not caught a 20"+ rainbow working a jerkbait in the last two years. Last one was April 2020. All of mine have been on a fly or dragging a jerkbait. 

[Travis Swift]

37 minutes ago, Ryan Miloshewski said:

@Travis Swift see I have always caught rainbows on jerkbaits, and sometimes more than browns during a week long trip or so. It could be the way I work it, type of bait, color, area--the list goes on and on. And funny enough, I have not caught a 20"+ rainbow working a jerkbait in the last two years. Last one was April 2020. All of mine have been on a fly or dragging a jerkbait. 

That's why I wondered if you had a different take on it. Really interesting, could be bait, presentation where they were presented who knows.  I had a 22 inch bow my last trout trip down and absolutely murdered my jerkbait and it was a tank of a fish. Interesting observations both ways no doubt.  

[Phil Lilley]

So here's the deal.

Stocking was down 60,000 in 2021.  550,000 was the allotment.  So roughly 12%.  But most of that was supposed to be stocked in the winter - November and December.  Reason - water quality issues.  These issues might have happened months ago, even years.  It takes about 18 months to grow a rainbow to 11.5 inches.  No word on how this year will look like.

Most if not all rainbows and browns stocked in the winter are stocked in the lower lake - always been that way.  They swim up... that's the reason they're stocked down.  The ppl who own resorts down there need trout too.  They wouldn't have many if all the rainbows were stocked up here.  And they can't stock down there in warm months.

This is the rainbow stocking numbers per month.

[Seth]

Do you think they are stocking further down lake that normal this year? It just seems Cooper Creek on down through the landing is almost void of fish this winter. The few we have caught down there in those areas have been pretty solid fish that have likely been in the lake for a while instead of the traditional silver bullets that have always been so prevalent in those same areas.

[Bgctrading]

Tell me more about these crappie being caught in taney....

[dpitt]

On 2/28/2022 at 11:21 AM, Phil Lilley said:

 

 

@Phil Lilley Thanks for the report and posting Mr. Dickey's deep water slip bobber technique. Reminds me of center pin fishing with a float, never done it myself, but know lots of folks up north use it for steelhead and such. You ever give it a try?    Thinking it could be successful with big generation at Taney or the White for that matter?