Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, March 1

[Phil Lilley]

4 minutes ago, dpitt 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?  

I have.  It works.  I think better than dragging a scud on the bottom with a weight, straight line. 

[Phil Lilley]

Crappie?  What crappie?

At the Landing in front of the fountains there's the old steel bridge underwater.  They're around that till they go to the creeks to spawn.

[fshndoug]

During the past 50 years I have done 85% of my fishing on Taney from Fall Creek to the cable at the dam. I prefer to wade fish as I make much lees noise than boat fishing. I bet I haven't kept 50 fish in all that time .The fishing is definitely slower than it has ever been due to the number of people and the decreased numbers of fish that are present in the river. I fish with both a flyrod and spinning rods. The jerk bait bite has been good on Taney for the last 25 years in the upper end. Most hits come with in 10-15 feet of the bank while boat fishing. Seldom ever throw them when I am wading and never at night because I don't relish a bait  in my hand and they are a pain in the you know what when they are netted. I sight fish quite a bit where I see fish and I don't like to fish the outlets as much as the fishing is too easy and it is combat fishing at its finest. I love sink tips and full sinking lines if depth permit them. To be successful one needs to be versatile with a wide variety of methods, these do not include bait fishing by the way. I can just about guarantee that the fishing will get tougher before it gets easier on Taney. Some better enforcement by the agents would be a welcome change to the benefit of the fishery. I bet there is quite a bit of poaching that goes on throughout  the system.

[Travis Swift]

5 hours ago, Seth said:

Do you think they are stocking further down lake that normal this year? It just seems Cooper Creek on down through the landing are 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.

I've been staying down lake the week of Thanksgiving for the last 8 years directly across from the dock that they keep the stocking boat on.  In previous years they would take the boat out multiple times that week AND stock right off the ramp. You could set your watch by it. I watch it the entire week, it's easy to tell if they have been there you can see the froth on the water or the tire tracks coming up the ramp or twigs broke on the ramp etc.  This year they stocked one load and that was it.  I watched them go down to rockaway and back and they stocked very few fish.  These fish are dumb and easy to spot the water boils, I've seen it many times.  They would drop maybe 10 in a group. It was lousy. Sad actually. I'm not interested in stockers so I didn't even cast and didn't care. They are nothing but snacks for what I'm chasing ahahah.  So I guess what I'm trying to say with almost a decade of experience on the lower lake (which is probably more than most on here as I've dedicated some serious time to learning it) in the fall and winter the last 2 years have been the absolute leanest and worst years for trout fishing I've seen there and I've heard from multiple guests that they won't be back. Not my words, it's there's.  I saw people down there that fished 5 days and caught 3 total trout using bait off the docks and in boats.  There were families that anchored at the fish house and bridges for days and only caught 10 or fewer fish for the week. And yes they are bait fisherman but they have been doing it for years and know exactly where to go for easy limits. I don't know what the right answer is as I've stated I like the bigger fish but if they are supposed to of stocked the most fish in Nov and Dec lord have mercy cause it was the dead sea down there the last two Novembers!   I fish that lake from Dam to Dam for multiple species, with Livescope, knowing what midging looks like, knowing where fish hold in current etc and I can unequivocally say it's not the same numbers wise and it's not even close.  But the size is worth it to me personally without a doubt but I think we are in the minority as opposed to people that just wanna catch a limit and have a good time, those folks are frustrated.   So after saying all this I have never in my life seen the lake as busy as it has been the last two years. Way more people fishing for way less fish (and keeping them) means a lot less fish left in the lake and the ones that are left are really pressured and getting smarter. But boy are they getting bigger :). In my mind these are the glory days for Taney if you are after quality fish.  

[fshndoug]

The glory days were in the 70's and 80's

[Phil Lilley]

MDC will point to the survey they took.  For 2 years (I think), they asked ppl in boats and on docks which would they prefer - more small fish but sacrifice size or more big fish and sacrifice number.  They chose the latter.  So MDC changed their stocking numbers and it worked.

60's and 70's were good but why?  I don't know the stocking numbers back then but we had big trout because of the food base.  Scuds were abundant.  When I bought the resort in 1983, ppl were already complaining about the lack of scuds.  Stocking rates were well over 1.2 million but I didn't hear anyone say it was because of over stocking.  They wanted to blame pollution.  But that really didn't add up.  BTW I didn't think the 80's were that good personally. 

We've had some good years when our trout grew, for whatever reason, and we had a good number of 2 pound rainbows to catch.  But then they'd get caught out and we were starting over.  Not until MDC dropped the stocking rates to below whatever that line is for the food base to stay good and our fish grew to what they are now.

I agree, and I believe MDC now agrees, stocking numbers need to be tweaked.  But they can't do it overnight.  I think summer will get better because all the fish should come from Shepherd so there won't be a lack of numbers.  Most of the shortage has come from winter stockings.

I agree about poaching.  When the water was down for as long as it was this year, there were alot of fish taken below the dam, mainly at night.  Poachers load up.  They're breaking one rule by using bait -- why not keep all you can and break all the rules???  Yes poaching has always been there and will always be but at some point you gotta put your finger in the dam and slow down the leak.  I'm not faulting agents themselves.  They can't be at 10 places at the same time.  The easiest thing they can do is up the fines and make it hurt.

[Travis Swift]

One thing we can all agree on for sure is that the size and quality of the fish in the lake right now is amazing.  And you are 100% right, I got stopped many times during that two years.  MDC listens and they care and they try and that's all we can ask for.  Without a doubt this is the best time for big fish I've seen in my 35 years plus of fishing the lake and I really hope that continues into the future.  

[fshndoug]

I am not a biologist but I would bet that the growth of the Branson area has been hard on almost everything concerning the fishing and other wildlife. You can't make believe that all the nice lawns with all their weed killers and fertilizers are good for the fish and such. After all it always ends up in a watershed. No one on here has said anything about the mismanagement by the Corp as to the flooding that occurred to the upper portion of Taneycomo over a few short years that caused massive erosion along the banks and deposited who knows how many thousands of tons of gravel through the upper 3 miles of the lake. Many areas filled in with gravel from the cable to at least Lookout Island. The scud population suffered with each flooding event.  I used to be a big fan of our Consevation dept but after what I have seen at Bennett Springs and the way it has gone down hill the last decade I don't have much faith that they can do any better on such a large area as the Taneycomo. Yes there are large fish in Taney right now but doesn't seem much different that what was in Taney in the 70's. Just ask Laker67 if that isn't so. There were huge rainbows in the upper end in the 70's. We can't talk about the size of the Browns because those are genetically altered fish. As the continued pressure mounts on the fishery combined with the stocking rates that are in place now you can expect less and less success if you measure that in numbers of fish caught. Just maybe that will result in far fewer fisherman coming from all over to fish this body of water. This will not be good for the resort owners and the proliferation of guides that seem to be plying the waters of Taneycomo. I just hope I live long enough to see it. Phil don't take this personally but you might not have known much about trout fishing when you first got down ther ,just saying. Always enjoy your daily one cast shows.

[Ryan Miloshewski]

Like Seth and Travis said, the lower lake resorts are dang near worthless now for fishing off the docks. My cousin's family goes down to Blue Haven a few times a year and they are averaging 3-5 fish each in 5 days. That is abysmal.

I agree with Doug, too. The flooding changed the entire lake, as most of you know. The first 3 miles almost changes with each flood gate event. A dredging would do it wonders, but that'll never happen.

And the growth of Branson..the amount of out of town folks in the summer is pretty substantial. During Covid two years ago I wade fished a lot and the amount of people poaching and using worms/corn/Powerbait/etc. was crazy. Best action is to inform them and let them make their decision. If they continue, call an agent. Every time I talked to folks they were happy I let them know and quit. I don't understand the concept of not looking up the regs before fishing a body of water, but that's just me.

The poachers are a bad deal, though. They don't care about a fine. Like Phil said, time to start making it hurt. 

[Phil Lilley]

You're right - I didn't know anything about trout fishing in 1983... but I got eyes.  And ears.  I was at the meetings with MDC.  We formed Friends of Lake Taneycomo to draw attention to the problems with the lake.  At the time, they (we) blamed pollution, septic tanks and run off.  But the problem was overstocking.  They upped the numbers and the food base plummeted.  Plain and simple.  Since then it's been trial and error, along with a lot of things that have changed the lake.

I disagree with you on the floods.  USACE didn't mismanage the water.  We got flooded.  They actually held off water that would have put a bunch of ppl and property underwater.... me included.  The gravel got washed in from the banks that are not shored up - not the Corps responsibility.  It's more MDC's responsibility since they own the land below the dam.  But I don't think they think it's a big enough issue to tackle.

High water doesn't affect the scuds population in a negative way, at least in the long term.  I've observed, between floods, the gravel flats below Lookout become somewhat packed down and settled.  The high water and hard current "rolls" the gravel, loosening it up.  When you walk on it your feet move around a lot.  I'm not a fishery biologist either but I'd think this would create a better habitat for bugs, at least that's what I've seen as far as in their population swings.