Taney During the fall...

[Zach Bearden]

Mom and I are coming up for those dates and Ive been put on duty to tye and stock the boxes... Leonard I know that you fish night alot so could you help me out on the night selection?

I also would like to know a little bit more about the area ( I used to live up there but we never fished at the dam. We always fished powerbait and such in downtown and fished under the bridge) Im not completely sure on the names of the holes and where the old KOA and stuff are.

I think we will mainly be doing night fishing and would like to know Tippet, leader, Would a sink tip be good ("type 3" 10 ft) with a 4ft tapered leader or does the leader really matter?

Any help at all on any of these questions would be most appreciated, Thanks Guys! (and Gals!)

[Leonard]

Unless you are a really good tyer some flies may have to be bought,

Chuck (anglers and archery) would be the 1 stop for just about anything for that time year night fishing...

big flies: zonkers, sculpins, double bunnies, leeches. (sizes 4-8)

he is the only one I know that carries glo-in-the dark indictors: so you can fish eggs, scuds, and other nymphs. (sizes 8-12)

streamers: make them big: Sizes 2-4

there is a lot more flies that could be covered but these are the basics.. if have any questions... feel free to call me..

Leonard

[Micheal Kyle]

Zac,

Here is an article that I posted a couple of months ago I hope that you will find it usefull.

You do not have to purchase your flies most of what I know about you is what I have read with a little help you can tie everything that you will need down there.

6-12lb line no tappered leader becuase you are trying to make the fly roll over. Also if they are running water, and you are not familar with the spots then do not waid at night. I for the most part will fish a floating line untill I get down to the deeper water that is when I will cast an intermidate tip. A type three 10ft will work just as long as you are in the deeper water. If they have the water on then a type three will work just about every where.

Koa is just past the boat ramp great spot

I hope you enjoy the article if you have any further qustions give me a call at the shop.

Night fishing Taneycomo

I have been night fishing down at Taneycomo for well over 15 years maybe longer. And have seen people come and go, and people who go always will find there way back to the night time is the right time.

One thing that I have noticed over the years is that the fishing is always about the same it is ether on or off. On the night that it is on you will catch 40-60 fish depending on how long your down there. On the nights that it is off you will catch maybe half that amount and have to work at getting them. My dad and I have night fished back in the day when night fishing Taney wasn't cool where we would catch 120 -150 fish between the two of us. With the night fishing growing in popularity it is though to have those night because some of the prime spots are taken. That is why I have done the home work and know spots and fish spots that no one will even consider to fish at night. Now I'm not trying to be big headed but the night fishing takes a little time and a little work to master. I usually will avg about 150 nights a year on Taney, with everything that happen this year I will not make the avg. There was one year that my dad and I were down there over 250 nights and what a year.

I am pretty sure that I have cast everything including the kitchen sink at them to try and see if it would catch a fish. I used to try and keep mental notes and that got too hard for me to remember everything. So now I keep a journal and keep everything from the weather to moon phase wind direction, who was with me, to how many fish we caught and what we caught them on. I have been going over all of this and it seems that the conclusion that I have come up is just about everything that I have tryed has caught a least one fish on. OK maybe the kitchen sink didn't catch any fish but it was fun trying to cast that thing on my 3'2wt(LOL).

We all have our favorite spots and will seldom move but in my own experience I will start at one end and work down to the spot that I want to end at and by doing this I have found some awesome spots between point A & B. I have had people watch us get ready in the parking lot and actually have people ask me where are going with all that gear. I try to always keep a sinking line like a type 2 or 3 on hand just because they are not running water does not mean you can use one. I have been known to cast a floating line in the shallows then put a sinking line in the deeper water , and when I say deeper water any water thats is over 4 ft in depth. And then there are all my boxes way too many flies to go over right now.

When you see my fly box you might think that I'm crazy OK I'm sure that some of you already think that. Back to the main point I have top water flies all the way to the huge sculpins. Now the time of year will dictate what size flies that I will have on hand. For the general purpose of this summer time will yield the size to be 10-6 and the fall will yield the size of the fly to be 6-1/0. Two reasons for the dramatic size change, for the most part in the summer time there are a lot of fish in the area that are 15-18 inches there are a few over 18-24 about but they are few and far between. I will use the month of July as a feeler to see how I think the fall will be. In my years of fishing down there if you start catching a lot of Browns at night in July the fall we be good as in lat year I had 8 fish that were over 10lbs and one that pushed the 15lb mark. So to sum up summer time fishing and you want numbers fish small flies if you want to go after some bigger fish fish some bigger flies and you might need to move down stream. A lot of people do not know this but Taney is stocked the heaviest during the summer because of the all the added people down there.

Now to the fall and the big stick time, I will have big flies and a big stick to be able to cast the flies. I will generally have in hand a 9'8wt. For two reasons the ease of casting bigger flies not to say you cant cast them on a 6wt. And for the ease of getting big fish in. When you catch these big fish as in 24-28 inch fish you want to get them as quickly as you can so that you do not harm them. Remember the reason that the big fish are coming up is to spawn. Now the MDC says that the fish do not spawn in Taney, that can be a whole other topic. However the MDC does come down a get the big fish and milk them so that they can continue to produce the fish in the hatchery. I will use a lot of articulated pattern's with stinger hooks in them. Two reasons for the articulated patterns is I can get a larger fly and not have to have a huge hook in the fly.; I will tie a bunch of articulated leech's that will have a number 4 octopus hook in it and the fly is 4" long the hook is only about 1" long.

I only through streamers and only fish when the water is off. That is how I have done it for years I have had some people try and get me into nymphing at night no offense it's not me. I like the action of streamer fishing. I also believe that it is the most productive way to fish because you can cover more water at night whipping and stripping streamers. Starting to get busy must get to work now. See you all down ther tonight. I hope that this what not to long.

Michael

[Zach Bearden]

Thanks Leonard and Michael, when you talk of articulated patterns could you tell me some recepies and how to make them into an articulated flies... Thanks again!!

[Leonard]

Zach....

PM me you address.. Id be happy to let you borrow the Kelly Galloup on articulated streamers...

Leonard

[Micheal Kyle]

When we are talking about articulated flies they are flies that are tied on one hook with a trailing hook out the back. Now when you tie these flies what you will do is tie the two hooks together using a heavy 20lb steel leader. Then tie the material all the way back to the second hook. Very easy for long leech's out of rabbit. I always cut my first hook off.

Now there are some flies that have no material tied on the second like the Trailer Trash and Skaget Minnow. Gamakatsu make what they call an Octopus Hook these work great for that. Give me some time and I will finish looking up these flies for you and give you the web address so you can see them. One way to view a lot of these flies is go to theflyshop.com and click on flies then click on spey flies and most of these articulated patterns are on there site.

There is a forum dedicated to all fly ting and it the flyting forum. and then there is the Ohio flyfishers website. If you have any questions give a call at the shop.

Michael

[Murdoc]

Michael,

Do you weight your streamers or do you weight them anytime of the year?

[Micheal Kyle]

I use wieghted streamers all year long.

[WebFreeman]

Michael, why do you cut your first hook? Just easier are preventing tangles, etc?

[duckydoty]

Damage control would be the number one reason in this area to remove the first hook. In other areas of the country only a single hook is allowed, so if you cut them here you do not have to worry about it in other parts of the country. The third reason would be to reduce tangles.

duckydoty