Lake taneycomo Fishing Report 5/26/09 - Branson, MO

Finally... a real good fishing report. For Taneycomo, it's been long overdue.

It might be expected - for there to be a bunch of rainbows in the lake for a holiday weekend like Memorial Day weekend. It's a good thing. Shepherd of the Hills did their job well, stocking much loved and sought after rainbows the week before.

At least our guests here at the Landing (Lilleys', not Branson) were happy with their "catching", even though the weather wasn't the nicest.

Rumors of big rainbows abound from 2 to 4 pounders being caught off the dock plus a 10 pound rainbow caught above Fall Creek by a client fishing with one of our guides.

I guided with Bill Babler both Saturday and Sunday. Armed with fly rods and silver scuds, we pounded the water between Lookout and Fall Creek both mornings and came up with alot of nice rainbows on each drift. We set our #14 scuds anywhere from 8 to 12 feet below an indicator and tried to stay in the middle-to-shallow side of the lake. Sunday morning the bite was light - the rainbows weren't taking it and running but spitting it out rather quickly, causing quick releases.

Down lake, night crawlers drifted on the bottom was great from Fall Creek down past Short Creek. Anglers picked up some real nice, colorful rainbows on this drift. Minnows too. The larger rainbows that have been in the lake for a long period seemed to go after more natural baits, not the power baits. They seemed to catch more of the freshly stocked rainbows.

Even drifting below our place downstream was very good using Gulp white with pink eggs.

Back to the trophy area, drifting jigs under a float worked well for one of our guides- Vince Elfrink and his clients. He started out with ginger1/50th oz jigs under a float Sunday morning, then quickly switching to pink jigs when the generation was bumped up from one unit to two. One of his clients caught over 40 rainbows that morning.

Throwing 1/8th oz jigs straight was also good this weekend, using white, sculpin, scuplin/peach and brown jigs. Most worked the bluff banks but some just worked the bottom of the lake, staying in the middle.

 

Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report 5/19/09 - Branson MO

There's something funny brewing as far as generation here on the lake. Of course, we're the step child of all the lakes here on the White River. We are the pass-through channel where all the water from NW Arkansas and SW Missouri flows through. There's talk of flood gates which I don't understand. The Corp is supposed to meet with local officials to talk about what they (the Corp) needs to do to alieviate some of the high water levels above Taneycomo. Table Rock is in great shape. It's only 2 feet over power pool which for this time of year is perfect. Beaver Lake, on the other hand, is very high - 1129 feet which is only one foot below flood pool.

Now from past water levels, this level on Beaver isn't unusual. I remember a few years back, the Corp held Beaver Lake at 1129 feet for weeks. At the time, I didn't understand why. Keeping a lake right at the top of the flood pool where one good rain would put it over the top, taking away all control of flow doesn't seem smart to me. One foot of variance sin't much room for error. But today, they have the dam at Beaver shut down. Why?

Today, they shut Table Rock Dam back to 2 units most of the day and off during the night. I understand that move in light of TableRock's levels but at some point the Corp is going to have to move alot of water through Table Rock, through Taneycomo into Bull Shoals, which is another story altogether. The rumor of flood gates is strange. Flood gates are only used in extreme cases, although fishing wise, I love flood gates in May and June. Some of the best fishing EVER has been when flood gates are opened on Table Rock in the spring.

Our water is 46 degrees right now. That's cold, even for trout. They like 50 degree water. If they opened flood gates, the water would rise into the 50's for sure plus dump a bunch of shad into the lake. Our trout would respond immediately, moving to the dam and feeding on the shad. We've seen the browns move up and feed, making them fairly easy to catch during these runs.

But we'll have to see what happens. Bottom line, we're going to see generation for most of the month of June. How much remains to be seen.

Fishing... has really picked up this past week. Boy, it was really slow for several weeks. Our guides were really crying the blues and when they cry, everyone else is finding catching trout extremely hard.

Why the turn around? Not sure. More trout stocked- yes. But we're seeing some real nice rainbows below Fall Creek coming on night crawlers and minnows that must have some out of the trophy area. This isn't unusual at all. We see this every year about this time. Seventeen and 18-inch rainbows taking natural baits mostly. Jigs too. Some flies like scuds and san juans.

Had some great reports of rainbows coming on jigs worked along the bluff banks this weekend. Kelly Stammer and his church group did real well throwing brown and orange 1/8th oz jigs along the bluff banks. I've suggested throwing rooster tails and small crank baits too. It seems they are hugging the banks, staying out of the current.

It's hard writing a report right in the middle of a transition like this. Not knowing exactly what they are going to do with the water is tough but you can be assured there will be alot of rainbows stocked for the upcoming holiday weekend. Hopefully the weather will be nice to us.

Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report 5/15/09 - Branson MO

Boy, we're seeing alot of water flow past our place these days. Not like a year ago, thank goodness. But still, generation from Table Rock is non-stop full 4 units to drop the lake levels of Table Rock and especially Beaver Lake. Northwest Arkansas has gotten more rain than Southern Missouri and Beaver Lake has almost reached flood stages. With the rains in the forecast, we're going to see lots more generation here.

Good news -the stocking truck has been doing a pretty good job lately. Catching rainbows has picked up here the last week. Now, catching isn't the easiest because of the high water but we've seen some of our guests catch their limit of rainbows in a day's time.

I had reported doing pretty well last week, fishing the bluff bank from the old Sun Valley Resort down past Cooper Creek Access using jigs, either under a float or thrown straight, especially hitting the eddies and slower water. This is still ok but not as good with the higher water level. I had fair success using white, pink or brown jigs.

Drifting Gulp Eggs from Short Creek down through the Cooper Creek Access is some of the best fishing we've seen this week. Use one white egg with a pink, yellow or orange egg on a #8 hook. Be sure you do 2 things: keep the bait on the bottom and stay in the middle of the lake.

Drifting minnows in the same area and drifting down further to the Landing was good for some of our guides yesterday. They are seeing some nice sized rainbows caught right now- some up to and heavier than a pound.

I'd try a few other things if I were fishing - there's good, calm water on the inside bend from Taneycomo Acres down to Monkey Island. I'd throw rooster tails and spoons along this bank. While boating down to the Landing the other day with the family to eat at Shorty Smalls, I noticed a good number of rainbows jumping and midging in this slack water. Jig and float may work pretty good too.