Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report May 4

This is Phil Lilley with the Lake Taneycomo fishing report in Branson, MO.  This week, you could almost set your clock by the generation schedule.  The water has been off from about 10 p.m. until 1 p.m., building to three units at just over 708 feet which is a lot of water.

Every spring, we have trouble with green moss in our lake.  It grows on the bottom up close to  the dam  during the morning while the water is off, then breaks off when generation starts and flows down stream.  We also get moss from Table Rock Lake through the turbines later in May and on into June before the green stuff stops growing and flowing.  It’s a pain when the current first starts.  The moss sticks to your flies, your jigs and hooks with bait — whatever you’re throwing.  You might as well take about an hour break when the water starts up.  After a while, it clears up and the fish start biting hungrily again.

In the mornings, fishing has been rewarding most of the time.  I’ve been fly fishing with friends a few mornings this week, using P&P (Primrose and Pearl) Zebra Midge #16 or #18 under an indicator 36- to 40-inches deep and fishing the bluff side of the lake above the Narrows.  If there’s a chop on the water, the fishing is excellent. If the water is slick, with no wave action, it’s slow but not terrible.  They’ll still bite a zebra when you use  6x fluorocarbon tippet.

Half micro jigs have also done well in the same areas, setting the jig 30- to 36-inches deep.  Black, sculpin with orange head and gray are the best colors, but when the water starts moving, switch to a full pink micro and drift down the middle of the lake.

Night fly fishing is heating up below the dam this week.  I say “heating up” with tongue in cheek because when I went wet wading last night (no waders, only neoprene booties, wading sandals and shorts),  my sweatshirt wasn’t enough to keep me warm.  The water temperature is 44 degrees right now.  A bright, three-quarter moon  and light fog danced on the water.  I caught six rainbows and one small crappie on a black hibernator. fishing from outlet #1 almost down to outlet #2.  The crappie was a surprise.  Guide Duane Doty was up there, too, with a friend who had never been night fly fishing before, and they stayed longer (dressed warmer) and caught more trout.  Duane said he did better on white hibernators and also used a minnow pattern he ties.  Here’s a link to a report he posted a couple of days ago.

Capt. Steve Dicky has been putting his clients on lots of rainbows this week.  He’s had several trips with beginner fly fishers.  He said that when the water has been off in the mornings, it’s been easy for novices to catch trout because they don’t have to cast very far from the boat to get bit.  He’s been using full micro jigs and zebra midges under indicators and he’s doing the best from Lookout Island down to Fall Creek.  Steve called in a report and you can hear his report  by clicking this LINK.

Launching out today about 11:30 a.m., I  drove to the dam and walked in at the Missouri Department of Conservation boat ramp.  The water was off and low with mostly a slick surface.  There were a lot of rainbows up close to the near bank in shallow water.  They spooked and swam to the middle when I approached.  I started with a black beetle #16 on the surface  – a few lookers but no takers.  I had guessed that with a little wind and chop on the water the trout would be more receptive to eating a beetle.  Just as I switched to a soft hackle, the wind started to kick up and trout started eating off the surface.  Midges were hatching and skimming across the surface.  Rainbows were jumping out of the water, chasing them.  I tied on a #16 red soft hackle and stripped it fast and short with pauses.  I brought four rainbows to hand and missed twice as many fish.  One rainbow pushed 15 inches.  All fought hard!

Switched to a #18 P&P Zebra under an indicator 10 inches and caught three more rainbows.  The wind was on and off, so there were dead times.  When the wind blew, the fish bit.  No wind — no action with one take-and-catch as the exception.  After the horn blew at 1:15 p.m.,   I picked up one more rainbow and that was all.

Below Fall Creek in the mornings, fishermen are catching their limits of rainbows using air-injected night crawlers.  Use two- to four-pound line, a #6 or #8 short shanked bronze hook and a small #7 split shot, pinched on the line 24 inches from the hook.  Break the night crawler in two and hook the worm in the middle of that section, letting the worm hang off each side of the hook.  You do NOT have to hide the hook — the trout won’t mind.  When you get a bite, let the fish run with it just a little to make sure he gets it in his mouth effectively before setting the hook.

**If you want to release a trout, do NOT touch the fish, especially with a dry rag or glove.  This will remove its protective slime and endanger its future health and survival.  Do NOT try to remove the hook if it’s deep in its mouth.  Cut the line and let the trout go immediately.  It has a much better chance to live with the hook than it would if you try to dig it out.  The hook will eventually dissolve.

Once the water starts running, drift with Gulp Powerbait Eggs using one white and one other color such as orange or pink.  Use a drift rig and only use the amount of weight needed to get the rig to the bottom.  The best area to drift is down the middle of the lake from Trout Hollow to Cooper Creek.

Another good thing to try is casting nickel-colored Cleos.  They’ve done well thrown out and reeled back fairly slow or  just trolled.

Lake Taneycomo fishing report April 26

This is Phil Lilley with the Lake Taneycomo trout fishing report.  Generation pattern changed this week from water running all the time to only during the mid to late afternoon until late at night. There’s been no generation every morning this week. Our trout have responded in a positive manner! When the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers has run water, it’s been two to three units — a pretty good flow. And there hasn’t been much time to reach the highest point, bringing the water on pretty fast. So if you’re wade fishing below the dam, you had better get off the water as soon as you hear the horn.

Our spring weather is starting to migrate to summer temperatures, and we’re starting to see some wind, which we’ve lacked this month. Wind, although it’s tougher to fish in, is good for the bite. Most fish like windy conditions because it chops up the surface of the water, making it darker down where they are. Plus, wind stirs up the water, moving bugs and nymphs around so that they’re easier to see and eat. You’ll see this more in shallow water than in deep water on Taneycomo. The worse fishing conditions are when there’s no wind at all and the surface becomes beautifully glassy. You can see the fish — but they can also see you!

Wade fishing below Table Rock Dam has been very good for most anglers. Most are fly fishing, using a variety of flies and methods. Red #18 zebra midge fished under an indicator has reportedly been catching 14- to 17-inch rainbows pretty consistently the last few days, while some have been casting and working olive or black #16 wooly buggers in choppy surface conditions. I’ve gotten one report of some topwater action, fishing small hoppers and ants from the Big Hole down to the boat ramp.

When the water is running, Jeremy Hunt has been banging the banks throwing big articulated streamers (fly fishing) for brown trout and doing well. He’s using a fly called Peanut Envy in a light- to medium-brown color. He offers guide service from a drift boat.

I’ve gotten out several times this week fly fishing up above Fall Creek in the trophy area. I’ve tried fishing the shallow side of the lake from Lookout down, targeting rainbows I can see and doing fair using zebra midges and scuds. I didn’t find one good color or size but had to change flies quite a bit. I did use 6x fluorocarbon tippet.

Guides are reporting catching good numbers but not necessarily good-sized rainbows throwing silver cleos and black rooster tails. They have also been fishing white thread jigs and black micro jigs under a float four- to five-feet deep.

I got out this morning with a friend. We started at 7 a.m. and boated to Lookout. No water running, no wind. We started throwing black 1/16th to 3/32nd-ounce jigs straight, with no float, toward the bluff bank. It was slow to start, but about 8 a.m. they started feeding on the surface and hitting our jigs. We moved and fished all the way to Fall Creek, taking three hours to do so. All the way down we caught trout, all rainbows except one small brown. It didn’t seem to make any difference how we worked our jigs — they were attacking them.

Down below Fall Creek, people are anchoring and fishing bait — and catching their limits. Most are still fishing PowerBait Gulp eggs, using two colors on one hook, a white and one other color. Four-pound line is fine but two-pound is better. Throwing or trolling cleos or in-line spinners are working, too, especially when the wind is blowing.

April 19th Lake Taneycomo fishing report

This is Phil Lilley with the Lake Taneycomo fishing report.  Water generation has been pretty consistent the past week with the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers running water most of the time.  One unit has been running  in the mornings, building to two units in the afternoon.  This makes a nice drift regardless of how you’re fishing.  Our weather  has been nothing short of awesome.  Warm, sunny days, little rain and not much wind.  It’s like mild summer with temperatures in the low to mid 70s everyday.  The lake water temperature is 44 degrees.

Fishing is fishing —  not catching, I know  – but it’s been more catching this past week than fishing.  Follow me?  Catching has been very good, as reported by our guests and our fishing guides.  The best bait has been drifting PowerBait Gulp Eggs from Fall Creek down past Cooper Creek.

The trick to drifting bait on the bottom is not to use too much weight.  You want just enough to get to and stay on the bottom but not too much.  If you’re using too much, you’re constantly bumping hard and getting stuck on the gravel, and it’s hard to tell if you’re getting a bite or if it’s the bottom pulling.  You also get hung up more often and lose rigs.

Start small and add weight.  We sell rigs with 1/8th-ounce bell weights,  the smallest weight on our rigs.  Start with something like this, then pinch on a split shot on the line above the bell if you need more weight.  This way you don’t have to retie or change rigs.  At times, the 1/8th-ounce weight is even too big.  Break off the bell, tie a small pool knot at the end of that line and pinch on a split shot.  Try different weights until you get the right one.

Night crawlers are working well, too, but  minnows, only fairly so.  You will catch larger, older trout on natural baits such as  worms and minnows, but maybe not as many.

Above Fall Creek in the trophy area, nice rainbows and browns are taking white 1/8th-ounce jigs fished right at the cable at the dam.  But once you’ve drifted past outlet #2, they don’t seem to want white — they want black.

Drift brown or red San Juan worms on a drift rig or under an indicator using a fly rod.   You also can use #14 grey, olive or brown scuds and egg flies.  If the afternoon, trout are hugging the bluff bank down from Lookout Island and taking dries off the surface.  I fished this morning and caught one nice rainbow and had several refusals along the bank using a #14 grey stimulator.

I also worked the same bank using a #14 black or red zebra midge  – under a palsa indicator 24 inches deep  – and caught a few rainbows.  I worked the slack water as well as pockets under overhanging trees.

I also tried a miracle fly under an indicator about six-feet deep and caught a few rainbows.  I fished it about 20 feet from the bank in the channel.

The trout  really liked a black 1/8th-ounce jig this morning.  I worked the main channel and caught numerous rainbows and quite a few browns. The largest rainbow was about 15 inches and largest brown was 13 inches.  All appeared to be in good health and fatter than they’ve been in months.

Hear Bill Babler’s fishing report by clicking HERE!

Click here to read Darin’s fishing report.