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.