Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, July 1

[Phil Lilley]

Our skies have dried up now that it's summer in the Ozarks and our lakes have somewhat stabilized.  Beaver Lake is still a bit high but Table Rock Lake is below its seasonal power pool so our generation is slow and consistent.  They're running a little less than a full unit 24/7 which makes trout fishing pretty good.

At the present flow, you can boat to the cable at Table Rock Dam if you know the channel above Lookout Island.  If not, I wouldn't chance it.  It get pretty shallow in spots and there's some big boulders that have been places for structure that can cause some serious damage to lower units.

From the cable down, marabou jigs are probably one of the best lures to use.  Dark, earth colors are the best with sculpin, olive, brown or black the base colors highlighted with ginger or peach, all with either orange or brown heads.  You can use with 2- or 4-pound line -- the trout are not line shy at this point.  If you're using 2-pound line, throw 1/32nd- or 1/16th-ounce jigs and if you're using 4-pound line, use the heavier jigs like 3/32nd- and 1/8th-ounce.

They're still drifting flies from the cable all the way down to Short Creek, either straight line with split shots or under a slip float.  Scuds is still #1 but they're catching trout on a red San Juan Worm, peach egg flies and the white Mega Worm.  Use a small #16 grey scud with a little flash in the dubbing.

Night crawlers is king below Fall Creek.  The current is slow enough to either spot lock or use an anchor off the front of a boat but be careful and judge the current before anchoring.  Up toward Fall Creek, the current is faster so anchor to the side.  Anchoring in the Short Creek area and across the lake from Trout Hollow has been very productive.  Straight line a night crawler, salmon eggs or Powerbait using 4-pound line.

The current really slows down down past Trout Hollow so just use a little split shot to get down when drifting.

The Berkley Pink Worm under a float is working early before the sun gets up over the water.  Stay in the shade of the bluffs for as long as you can.  Fish it about 5 to 7 feet deep.

The Branson Landing area has had a lot of trout stocked recently.  They're hitting the Pink Worm as well as spoons and spinners.  They're also catching them on small crank baits -- they like to chase things.

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