Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, January 28, 2026

[Phil Lilley]

The winter season is what I've always said to be the best time of year to fish Lake Taneycomo.  Why?  Because of low fishing pressure coupled with the abundance of fish in the lake, especially larger rainbows below Fall Creek (out of the trophy area).  I believe typically bigger, mature trout move out of the trophy area late in the year and are available to those who don't frequent fishing above Fall Creek.  Another reason is the excellent water quality, although water temperatures can drop into the upper 30's causing even the coldwater species to be a bit sluggish.  And lastly is the possibility of a shad kill on Table Rock Lake and the run of threadfin shad through the turbines into Lake Taneycomo.  And that's exactly what we're seeing today!

Threadfin shad are highly sensitive to cold water, faltering when water temperatures drop below 45-40F degrees.  That's why you won't find them in lakes north of the highway 44 corridor.  Lakes like Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals have a good population of threadfin shad.  But when their water temperatures drop to 45 degrees and below, these small fish start to die.  Schools close to Table Rock Dam get sucked through the turbines and flow into Lake Taneycomo where our trout gorge themselves on the easy-to-get meal.

Threadfin shad average 2-5 inches, are in the herring family and are forage fish for all types of game fish including trout.  They are bright silver/white with yellow-tinted fins and a black spot behind the gill cover.

Couple of things to think about during this season of shad:  White is king, but depending when you catch the "run", the fish may or may not be keen on eating your offering.  Why?  Possibly because you're fishing just after a big push of shad and they are full.  If that's the case, change colors.  I've done well changing my jig color to black or sculpin.  So slower and smaller.  Tie on a white 1/32nd ounce jig and pin a float above it and let it drift along in the current.  Below Fall Creek, drift a minnow on the bottom.

Fly fishing - strip a white streamer.  Varied the size and action.  Find out what they like.  Again, white jig under a float works.  Slow the boat down and let the fly swing behind the boat.  Most of the time you don't have to fish the fly very deep.  They're taking shad off the surface most of the time.

Spin fishing - I throw a marabou jig most of the time but you can throw a spoon or a small white or silver jerk bait.  Drift a shad fly on the bottom or a small jig like a 1/25- or 1/32-ounce white, white/grey or even a chartreuse.

I use 4-pound line most of the time but when throwing smaller jigs like 1/16- to 1/32-ounce, I'll go to 2-pound line.  I like Trilene XL green or Sensation line.

On these cold days, they've been running up to 3 units of water most of the time but when it's warmer, say in the 40's during the day, they're running 2-3 units early in the morning and then less than 1 units the rest of the day.  This could change at any time.  With a cold front coming in for this weekend, they might go back to heavy generation 24 hours a day until next week.  My guess is that they might mix in some periods of no generation next week.

If you're not throwing white, drift night crawlers or Powerbait below Fall Creek on the bottom.  There is an abundance of smaller rainbows in the lake right now.  When generation is slower, fish a pink worm under a float from Short Creek down lake.  Throw a jerk bait long the bluff and around docks.  And I mentioned fishing a minnow on the bottom, especially if we start seeing shad make in down as far as our dock (Lilleys' Landing).

I'll write another report and talk about what to do if they start leaving the water off during periods of the day, again, probably not until next week.

View full article