Lilley's Lake Taneycomo fishing report, January 2025

My fishing forecast for Lake Taneycomo is fairly positive for this new year, thus far. The lake seems to be full of trout, the water is pretty cold and the color is good.  Generation patterns -- those are hard to predict!  Table Rock Lake is at power pool so there is plenty of water to run on cold days now, and that's exactly what has been happening.  On cold days, operators are running medium water (about 6,300 cubic feet per second or two units) in the morning, dropping back down to one unit in the afternoon.  On warmer days, they're running a little in the mornings and none in the afternoons -- or nothing at all like this last weekend.

The things that are standing out in my mind are white jigs, #10 gray scuds and jerk baits.  When the water is running, Guide Steve Dickey shared with that he was drifting #10 gray scuds on the bottom as his best producer.  It's unusual because #10's are a big fly, much bigger than the #16's and #18's that have been hot.  We've been throwing white or white/gray jigs from the dam down through Fall Creek and catching some nice rainbows and a few browns.  The smaller rainbows don't seem to want white jigs, although the small browns that were stocked this last fall do!  And jerk baits are working well early and late in the day.  And if you're a hardy soul and can fish at night in the freezing cold, some are catching some nice trophies anywhere from our place to the dam.

With our rainbows starting to drop eggs, an egg fly, combined with a scud, has been working well, drifted on the bottom --or if the water is off or running just a little bit -- under a float  has been working as well.  You can also use a zebra midge under the egg fly if using a float.  The miracle fly, which is an egg fly tied on a small jig hook, works for this application.  I'd recommend a two-pound line if using a float and four-pound if drifting on the bottom.

On warm, sunny days, we're seeing big midge hatches all over the lake.  A 1/50th-ounce jig or zebra midge under a float 18 to 36 inches under a float will work when the trout are rising to midges.  Again, two-pound line is best.

Our trout do seem to be pretty aggressive so far this winter.  They like to chase.  Working a jig fast, close to the surface has shown some good success.  Also I've noticed that some of our guests have been throwing spoons off the dock and catching quite a few rainbows lately.