State Record Brown Trout Broken on Taneycomo in Branson, MO

Written by Phil & Marsha Lilley    Nov 20, 2009 at 11:15 PM Today was a good fishing day. It was a good catching day. Any day is good to be out on the water and not in the office, right? I think Scott Sandusky believes that. He caught a big fish today! It just wasn't a big fish. It was one of those big fish every angler dreams of. It was the biggest fish of its species caught ever in Missouri. We call that a state record catch. He and his buddies from Anold, MO, arrived here at Lilleys' Landing for a weekend of fellowship and fishing for trout. They started early, well early afternoon. The idea was to catch some small rainbows for dinner, then hit the restricted, trophy area tomorrow for lunkers. It didn't work out that way. They drifted downstream, using rainbow-colored, paste PowerBait, bumping it on the bottom like you're supposed to. Just below Cooper Creek, Scott set his rod in the rod holder to help with another rig. Thinking he saw a bite, Scott picked up his rod back up, set the hook and knew -- he had something big. But he didn't know what it was... a catfish? A big carp? If it was a trout, it was a really, really big trout. Then they saw it. It was a brown trout. He had his spin reel set to wind backwards -- he didn't trust the drag. Smart guy. This fish didn't want to play. He took off for the far bank, spinning off so much line, so fast, that it was all Scott could do release the handle and watch his line fly off his reel. Then he stopped. Working it closer to the boat, his team of anglers started to plan their attack. One retrieved the net and the other pulled up the trolling motor, just in time. Four-pound line doesn't last long against a prop. When most people buy a fish net, they don't expect to land a 37-inch fish, right? Scott's net could hold half this fish. It flopped in, it flopped out. Then Scott's net man, Craig, muscled up and got it in the boat. At 37 inches long and 24.75 inches in girth, and the lunker weighed 28.8 pounds, roughly a pound heavier than the previous brown trout record. All was made official by Missouri Department of Conservation officials at the Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery. Shane Bush, MDC fisheries biologist and Quenten Fronterhouse, MDC enforcement agent, both helped in this process. Clint Hale, hatchery manager, was also present.

Lake Taneycomo Fishing Report 11/9/09 - Branson, MO

Back to almost normal. It's been dry for a week now! And it's sunny and warm! I think we've forgotten what this nice weather looks like here in the Ozarks. A friend said the KC area only had 7 days of sun and no rain in the month of October. This is a nice reprieve for all of us.

Generation here on Taneycomo is back to pre-monsoon patterns and soon will change again if the rain holds off. Change again? Table Rock's levels are dropping everyday and soon will drop to the point the Corp will slow down the flow and probably will shut turbines down. I know a lot of anglers who will welcome that!

Right now they are running 4 units but each one is running about half so you could say they're only running 2 units. They're running them all day and all night. Water is stained and 55 degrees. Stained is unusual for this time a year. It's due to the hard rains we've had. My sources say that Table Rock is showing signs of turning over. If that's the case, it's very, very early. One sign is the warming of the water. Last week it was 53 degrees.

Now for the fishing. It's been real good. Seems like there's lots of rainbows in the lake right now and they're biting most of the time. Had guests come in yesterday and today and say it didn't make much difference what they used, they'd catch trout. Gulp eggs in all four colors, night crawlers and other lures like medium to small crank baits and spoons. Silver CD5 Rapalas were the hot bait this weekend. Also white, sculpin and brown jigs.

Slower current has made it easier to get the bait to the bottom, especially down in our area of the lake. The speed of the water is slow and when there's no wind, like today, drift fishing is pleasant. I got this evening and drifted the trophy area... laid the rod down for a while and just enjoyed the sunset and peacefulness of the lake.

Last week, I got out before and after the flood gates were shut down and did pretty good on drifting #10 gray scuds from Lookout Island down past Short Creek (yes Short Creek). HAS to be on the bottom to get bit. It was my experience that most of the rainbows were small, less than 12 inches. It seems like we go through periods when we don't see many nice rainbows. The dinks have taken over. It's not that they aren't there, they just don't bite all the time. The small, freshly stocked rainbows -- they seem to bite most of the time.

As I mentioned, I caught quite a few below Fall Creek drifting scuds on the bottom. Surprised? Shouldn't be. There's scuds all through the lake, not just below the dam.

This evening, I got out and fished the bluff bank from Lookout down using 1/8th oz jigs. Snags tied with trout. I lost 4 jigs and caught 4 rainbows. But this time, 3 of 4 were big rainbows -- over 17 inches each. They weren't biting very well, I have to admit, but it was incredible being on the lake.