Jump to content
Featured
Phil Lilley
Phil Lilley

By Phil Lilley •

Lilley's Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report, May 14

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.

 

Go to articles

User Feedback

Recommended Comments



snagged in outlet 3
17 minutes ago, Phil Lilley said:

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.

 

Maybe some time I will.   I’ll be driving down Saturday.   I have a work golf outing tomorrow and Friday.  I’m playing our president tomorrow.  It’s a match play.  Question:   Do you beat him or let him win?😆

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Quillback
1 minute ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Maybe some time I will.   I’ll be driving down Saturday.   I have a work golf outing tomorrow and Friday.  I’m playing our president tomorrow.  It’s a match play.  Question:   Do you beat him or let him win?😆

Go for the win, aren't you retiring soon?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Travis Swift
12 hours ago, Phil Lilley said:

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.

 

It will be interesting to see the numbers and strategy this year.  The fish are biting great and they are big but if you went to the cable and caught fish by the time you measure and write them down your liable to be 100 or 200 yards away in that moving water.  So it will be interesting to see if guys go down lake for stockers in slower water.  Slow water means probably smaller fish, faster water means bigger fish but more of a pain to enter.  Gonna be really interesting to see the strategy there this year.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Seth
14 hours ago, Travis Swift said:

It will be interesting to see the numbers and strategy this year.  The fish are biting great and they are big but if you went to the cable and caught fish by the time you measure and write them down your liable to be 100 or 200 yards away in that moving water.  So it will be interesting to see if guys go down lake for stockers in slower water.  Slow water means probably smaller fish, faster water means bigger fish but more of a pain to enter.  Gonna be really interesting to see the strategy there this year.  

I've never worked so hard to catch so many stockers than I did during the last CAM that I fished. We started out up in the trophy area and caught some decent fish but it didn't take me long to realize I'd be far better off just beating the slower pockets down lake for stockers since I could crank land several in the time it takes to wear down one good sized fish. I ended up camping out across from Trout Hollow and wore the stockers out during the last few hours and ended up with 61 fish for 720 something inches. Spot lock was essential that day. That's the ONLY reason I'd ever fish like that though. The total weight tourneys are a lot more enjoyable for me personally. Next CAM I get a chance to do will probably have me bringing newbies and playing more of a guide role.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
JestersHK

You wore me out that day lol... my legs got sore watching you run all over front of the boat.   I was content to sit back and relax.  3rd place counts too hahah.  

Last CAM losing to gunny by 1 inch about sums up my tournament luck hahaha.

All in good fun and for a good cause though.   Looks like Phil's moved it for us so hopefully we can go back to our tag team event. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.

  I accept