Top End

Panoramic Picture of the top end of Lake Taneycomo

Water Conditions:  No Generation

Layout:   Starting at the cable, which is the upper boundary for fishing and boating on Lake Taneycomo, there's all three substraits of bottom-- gravel, bed rock and chunk rock with a few big boulders thrown in.  The upper bank on the south side is ledge rock with trees overhanging.  About 400 yards down from the cable, the south bank swing towards the middle and gravel appears.  On the north bank is gravel- ledge rock mix till you get down to outlet #2 where chunk rock has been placed for bank stablization.

Depth of water varies from the cable to just above #2 outlet  --  3 to 6 feet in most places.  There is no real channel, just high and low spots throughout.  If front of outlet #2 if sort of a channel but it's not deep- just over 3 feet.  Past #2, the depth is uniformed across with gravel bottom.  At the bottom, the lake takes a turn to the south into a narrow, fast chute, dumping into the Rebar Hole.  Outlet #3 dumps in just at the top of the chute but enters in a wide, shallow riffle so there's no real hole where fish will hang.
 

What to look for:   In the big water from the cable down past #1 outlet:  Both browns are rainbows will be here.  There are a lot of sculpin living in the big rocks on the bottom.  Browns love sculpin, a small fish that looks like a prehistoric catfish but only 4 inches at the most.  The browns root around in the moss and rocks for them.  Rainbows feed in the moss and gravel for aquatic bugs like freshwater shrimp, small river worm and midge larva.  They also work the south bank for terresterials in the summer and other bugs from the gravel.  In the evenings, the surface can be littered with dimples of midging rainbows.

At the first outlet:  Trout will congregate right where the hatchery water hits the lake.  This outlet enters the lake wide and shallow and there's a small dropoff, but it's not deep.  The trout that hold here tend to be real spooky.

From the first to the second outlet:  Fairly shallow with quite a bit more current.  There are a few cuts and pockets that will hold trout, usually actively feeding on small insects drifting by. If you on foot, move slow and quietly- these trout are very spooky.

At the second outlet:  The flow of water has been channeled by anglers placing rocks in a line to carry the hatchery water out into the lake further than the bank line.  This attracts a lot of trout and creates a stream of current which trout hold in.  The point where the hatchery water hits the lake is about 2 to 3 feet and drops another foot at the most below that.  Fish will crowd the stream as well as the area below feeding on bugs that flow by.

Big area between outlet #2 and the head of the chute:  Trout cruise this area, feeding on freshwater shrimp and midge emergers.  There are also a fair amount of sculpin and forage fish which browns feed on.  Look for midging rainbows surfacing.

Head of the chute:  Rainbows will hold at the head where the current really starts to pick up and V's into the chute.  In the winter months, rainbows will bed in this area, working the gravel into "reds".

How to:  Fly Fishing......

In the big water from the cable down past #1 outlet: The area just below the cable is big, open water.  It's impossible to fish all of it unless you are in an individual pontoon or belly boat.   Use medium tippet, 3x to 4x (7 to 6- pound), and long leader- 12 to 14 feet if using floating line or short tippet if using sink tip line.  Use sculpin patterns in all areas of open water, especially the south bank.  Work with long strips, pausing every once in a while.  Also try #2 to #2/0 olive or black wooly-buggers... same pattern.  Using a little lighter rigging, throw grey or white zonkers or beaded grey or white wooly-buggers and work them closer to the surface.  Strip fast and sharp, pausing briefly.  Use #12 to #16 size emergers, red or black.  Cast at rising trout- or anywhere- and strip fast and very short, stopping every 5 strips.  Let the fly swing in the current.  You will see the strike most of the time, depending how high the fly stays in the current.  Lift the rod sharply but gently if using light tippet.  Use beaded nymphs under a strike indicator... squirrel tail, hares ear, pheasant tail, sow bugs, from #10 to #16.  Ideally, fish in choppy water- where the surface is broken- just a riffle or white caps, anything is better than a glass surface.  Set the fly 2 to 4 feet deep.  After the cast, let the fly settle, but look for a strike as it does. Wait a few seconds then twitch the float, moving the fly a bit.  A strike may be hard, taking the float all the way under or it may be suttle, just barely moving the float.  Set the hook hard and fast.  Stand on Mulnik Point and use egg patterns or "puff balls" with a lead head under a float 4 feet. This is fairly deep water - 3 to 6 feet - with big rocks as structure.  Big trout hang around these rocks and look for easy meals.  The patron of the point, Don Mulnik, has caught numerous trophies off this point using this technique.

Helpful Hint:  Keep an eye on the slack in the line.  When setting the hook you need all the slack out or you won't get a good hook set.   Also.... use a very small indicator and try not to "slap" the surface.  Best would be to use a dry fly as an indicator and a dropper under the dry.  If not, use rool-on or pinch-on indicators or no indicator at all.

At the first outlet:  There's not much water going in to attract much but occasionally someone hangs into a nice one here at outlet #1.  Try a small scud, sow bug, beaded nymph or beaded midge under a dry....  the water isn't deep - the dry hitting the water won't spook trout as bad as an indicator.

Riffles:  This water is some of the best on the lake-- bar none.  It may look like shallow water with no fish but if you take your time and look close, you'll see movement in that there water!!  Lots of movement.  This is where trout hold and feed on midge larva, pupa and emergers as well as sow bugs and scuds.  If you were to hold a net in this current, you'd be amaized what you'd find.   Dead-drifting #14 - #18 nymphs, #18 - #24 thread midge, #20 - #26 RS2 or WD40, #20 krysco or kystral pupa, #16 - #18 egg patterns. Using a dry-and-dropper technique really works with elk hair caddis or humpies the float.  Strip soft hackles, cracklebacks or woolies, swinging the fly in the current at the end of a drift.  But because the waters are shallow and the trout are usually already spooked by careless anglers wading around and through these areas, long leaders are a must. Some of the fishable waters in this area is less than 12 inches deep.

At the second outlet:  Join the crowds.....  this spot is fish harder that any, small place on the lake.  Why?  Water from the hatchery attracts trout here.  There's a good volume of water entering the lake here and trout nose right up to it and sit.  Anglers stand shoulder to shoulder and cast their nymphs and floats up and let it drift down- about a 12 foot drift if you're lucky.... not my idea of fishing-- but it works.  BIG trout are taken there every year.  The common sow bug or scud in different shades of gray, olive, peach, white, brown and black should be handy- change colors until you find what they are taking.... sometimes on an hourly basis.

Big area between outlet #2 and the head of the chute: This stretch is an excellent place to throw emergers.  Use #12 to #16 size emergers, red or black.  Work from top to bottom, casting the fly down at a 45 degree angle.  Let the current swing the fly- the strike will generally happen at the end of the swing.  Cast at rising trout- or anywhere- and strip fast and very short, stopping every 5 strips.  You will see the strike most of the time, depending how high the fly stays in the current.  Lift the rod sharply but gently if using light tippet.  Strip woolies through this area in windy weather or rain.  Use 4x to 6x tippet and a long leader.  Good colors are gray, olive, brown and black in sizes #8's to #14.  Cast across to downstream- 45 degrees best and try all kinds of strips- fast, slow, long and short.

Head of the chute:  This water moves pretty fast and isn't very deep.  Best way to get fly in the face of a trout is to use a couple of split shots above either a scud, sow bug, beaded nymph, beaded midge or egg fly and bump it along the gravel bottom through where the trout is sitting.  An indicator has to be small- very small- if used or it will spook the fish out.  Another way it to use a medium-size weighed wooly and swing it in front of them from upstream.

Another technique that will work no matter where you're at from the cable down to...... wherever is fishing a scud or sow bug dead.  This is a new technique, shown to me by fishing buddy, David Freeman of Springfield, MO.  Use a 2-fly rig (tie one nymph on your tippet, then tie the tippet to the bend of the first fly.  Then tie your second fly on. Use one size smaller tippet between your first and second fly so if you get hooked on your second fly, the lighter tippet will break first thus not losing your whole rig (ideally).  Use 12-18 inches between flies), setting you float, a very small pinch on float, one and a half times the depth of the water you're fishing.  Your water you're targeting is 12 to 30 inches deep and dead still- no current- or little current.  In this water, you can normally see trout working the bottom gravel substraight for bugs.  You'll see their tails emerging from the surface.  Cast in front of these foraging trout- watch the line or the float for a twitch.  If not taken on the drop, your flies actually sit on the bottom motionless like dead bugs.  They are either taken off the bottom or sometimes when several fish are working an area, one trout swishes his tail and sends the "dead" bugs swirling, tiggering a strike.  Extremely effective!!

Best Conditions:  Low light and a slight to medium wind.

Fair Conditions:  Bright sun and no wind.
 
 

Copyright:  2003  Lilleys' Landing Resort, Branson, Missouri
Phil Lilley, Jim Turner