Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, May 14

You still seeing any shad coming through or down lake? 

On 5/14/2022 at 12:24 PM, Phil Lilley said:

It's amazing how much rain the area got last week and the effects of it on our lakes.  Rain amounts were over 4 inches over the whole basin with big areas that received much more, up to 10 inches.  Beaver Lake was already full so Table Rock got the brunt of all the rain.  It rose most than 12 feet in a few days.

Over this past week, releases amounting to more than 43,000 cfs at Beaver and 21,000 at Table Rock have moved a lot of that flood water through the system to Bull Shoals.  Beaver dropped 3 feet to 1128.5 feet and Table Rock has only dropped 2 feet to 925.8 feet.  But Table Rock is dropping more than 6 inches presently.  It needs to get down close to 920 before we see a reduction of flow on Taneycomo.

Water temp is about 55 degrees on Taney and clear.

The scud bite is still unreal.  And the number of trophy trout is too.  Unofficially we're over 70 registered so far this month.  Most have been rainbows.  https://lilleyslanding.com/trophy-release-2022-2t/

Anglers are coming in saying the trout they're catching mainly in the trophy area are coughing to scuds to the tune of hundreds.  Some fish their mouths are full of undigested bugs while their bellies are bulging.  They're taking scuds but not able to get them in their stomachs.  Crazy.

So what's the best bait?  You guessed it, scuds.  #12 or #14 gray or tan with uv in the dubbing.  The scuds I'm seeing in the cleaning sinks are an olive brown or sculpin color.

Most guides are still using a scud/egg combination, 4 pound line and either a 1/4 oz or 5/16 oz bell weight.

Best area is from the cable to the MDC boat ramp but they're catching them all the way down past our resort on this duo.

Orange Gulp Powerbait is also working out in front of our place down past Cooper.

I'm still catching rainbows on a 1/8th oz white jig at the cable down to Trophy Run.  But the best area is from outlet #1 to past the Big Hole.  Not much below than.  The bites at the cable to quick and I'm missing 4 of 5 of them.  Shad flies should be good too.  I haven't tried them but Brett Rader said he's really doing good using them.

There are some trout in the creeks but mostly close to the mouth where the water is mixed with the 70+ temps in the creek and the 55 in the main lake.  Turkey is the best.

 

 

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Is Cooper creek boat ramp usable?    What about the downtown ramp?    Is that usable?

4 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Is Cooper creek boat ramp usable?    What about the downtown ramp?    Is that usable?

Yeah - all of them are fine.

On 5/15/2022 at 12:48 AM, JestersHK said:

You still seeing any shad coming through or down lake? 

Not seeing very many in the water but some trout are spitting them up.

5 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

Yeah - all of them are fine.

They were closed for a while right?    Headed down Saturday for the week.  

1 hour ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

They were closed for a while right?    Headed down Saturday for the week.  

You should fish CAM on Saturday.  I'm still trying to figure out my schedule to make it down

32 minutes ago, JestersHK said:

You should fish CAM on Saturday.  I'm still trying to figure out my schedule to make it down

I’ll be driving down.  I don’t think tournament fishing is for me.  Stupid work golf deal Thursday and Friday or I would’ve been down this week too.  

23 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I’ll be driving down.  I don’t think tournament fishing is for me.  Stupid work golf deal Thursday and Friday or I would’ve been down this week too.  

CAM is a chill tournament. The three different levels of competition keep it fun for everybody. I was hoping to come down and fish it but I no have an eye exam appointment for Saturday. Only day for the next month and a half that they could get me in (somebody else cancelled) so I figured I better take it. I'm down to my last few pairs of contacts. It's my own fault for procrastinating.

18 minutes ago, Seth said:

CAM is a chill tournament. The three different levels of competition keep it fun for everybody. I was hoping to come down and fish it but I no have an eye exam appointment for Saturday. Only day for the next month and a half that they could get me in (somebody else cancelled) so I figured I better take it. I'm down to my last few pairs of contacts. It's my own fault for procrastinating.

My live wells have never had water in them. 😂  They don’t have pumps or anything like that either.  Maybe one day I’ll try a tournament.  For now I’ll leave them to the experts.  

Not trying to talk you into it... but you don't keep any fish.  Measure them all, write it down.

It's going to be a light attended contest this year.  The high water I think is keeping people at bay.