Editors General Comments: Jan 8 0600 4 Generator on, Taneycomo is at 711.1 and Table Rock is 918.3 With Table Rock about three feet over power pool the percentage bet is that they will continue to run the water heavy. Jan 2 0500– 1 Generator on, Taneycomo is at 703.6 (normal 701.5) and Table Rock is at 913.4. (Power Pool 915.0).Very little affects the fishing on LakeTaneycomo like the generation of power at the Table Rock Dam. Call 417-336-5083 for up to the moment information on generation and lake levels or click here.
Trophy Trout Area: Special Regulations apply to the Trophy Trout Area running from Table Rock Dam to the mouth of Fall Creek. Click here for an overview of these regulations.
Gary’s Comments – Jan 2 Fished Mac and Bill Walden for about an hour before the rain started. Just kind of drift down from the 21 mile marker on the channel side with indicators set at about 4-5 feet. Had the best luck on the the River Run Peach Furbug and we ended up with about 15-20 fish total. The water was going down and the rain was starting up again when we stopped. January 1, 2005– What a great way to start the New Year, fishing in about 70 degree weather and catching about 15 fish in a little under an hour. No big one but lots of fun. Fished between 1200-1300, with one generator going and a lake level of about 704. Same technique as on December 31 but also used the Red Tungsten Bead Head Midge, size 16 hook from Gary’s Big Four, changed the depth of the indicator to about five feet, and fished from the non channel side toward the middle. December 31– Horns were blowing as I started fishing at Lookout Hole. Didn’t use anything but the River Run Peach Furbug from Gary’s Big Four, fished under a size 1 ESB slip float (indicator), at a depth of 4 1/2 feet with 6x Orvis tippet. The float was shot with 1.6 grams of shot, 1.2 grams about 4 1/2 feet up from the lure on the main line, and the jig at about .4 grams . Fished from a boat about a cast out from the channel side from Lookout Hole toward Fall Creek. Caught about 13 fish in less than 40 minutes. I was too lazy to adjust to the changing current conditions and hoped that the lower water I was drifting into would take care of it. Should have adjusted depth and shot placement because, except for one fish, the last 20 minutes (hour total) were wasted. A guy and his son were drifting right behind me and he had been catching them on a red scud and his son on a “brown jig.”
Fly Fishing Only by River Run Outfitters Jan 5 Hate to say it, but you should have been here last week. Water was off last Tuesday morning until Friday. Friday they ran one generator, Saturday ran one generator, then two, same thing on Sunday. Had it off for a couple hours Monday morning, then cranked it up. Other than a few hours early yesterday (midnight to 6:00 a.m.) morning, they have been running 3-4 generators. With all the rain we are getting, expect this will be the trend for a while…..again. We had trips out last week and this past weekend. Fishing was wonderful. Fish were as excited as us about the water being off. They hit almost anything you threw. Folks catching fish on dries…crackle backs and elk hair caddis, tan or gray scuds, and with the water off, dark olive soft hackles. Saturday and Sunday, when they had one or even two generators going, we fished the red tungsten midge or Worm Brown San Juan worms and did well. If we could find some slack water we could get to in our boats, the sulphur or holographic green crackle backs and dark olive soft hackles were the ticket. Weather really cooperated. It was in the upper 60s and low 70s. We saw the Old Year out with a great day on the water fishing with friends as well as the New Year in on the water fishing with friends.Dec 28– Of course, since the water was off yesterday and we are now so close to the good fishing area, Stan headed for the water to see what they were hitting on. His findings, olive zebra midge, size 18 and the size 18 dark olive soft hackle. The fish were so happy the water was off, they were popping up everywhere taking midge emergers. He is on the water today with clients and at 10:00 a.m. or so, they had already boated 20 plus fish on the dark olive soft hackle. They are fishing it with a #6 shot about 12 inches or more up from the fly and presenting it with the accelerated downstream presentation. Cast cross current, let a loop form in your line. Strip occasionally, but the fish are picking it up on the drift. You’ll generally see your fly line, where it touches the water, move before you feel the strike. One of our customers came in yesterday morning and he had caught and released two Browns around 22 inches that he had caught on scuds across from the Rocking Chair area.
December 16 – Have not had any boats on the water this past week. Do know that some folks are catching fish from boats with high water. Main thing is to use enough weight to get your fly down to the fish. Not many people fishing the chute area by the hatchery. Think it’s too cold?! Stan has run up there a few days and caught some. Small egg patterns, micro San Juan worm in hot pink, tan scud-size 16 are a few of the patterns he has caught fish with. Lake still has not turned over and think the oxygen level is down. This colder weather should help. (Editor’s note: Was in the shop on Decemeber 18 and Stan said he had discovered that the Big Ugly, a big dry fly was working in the chutes for him.). Also please note that River Run outfitters has moved from its downtown location to a location closer to the dam on State Highway 65. The best “dam fly shop” in Branson will be located at 2626 State Highway 165 conveniently located just north of the Dam and hatchery).Coming from the north on 165 it is just south of the Welk Theatre on the right hand side of the road.
Fly Fishing and Spin Fishing By Chartered Waters Guide Service and Fly Shop – December 31 – The fishing was pretty good early and just got better as the day progressed with a few fly changes along the way. Early a #16 coral Soft Shelled Scud and a #14 pink of the same was solid. I had various midge patterns above these flies early on with very little success so I went to using two scud patterns mid day till the end and our hookups increased. After that 12:00 noon time frame where the pink/coral seems to slow, the #14 black UV Soft Shelled Scud, #14 wine/ginger SG-Bug and #16 and #14 ginger Soft Shelled Scud picked things up nicely. Even better though was #14 UV XGrey Soft Shelled Scud. A little twist on some existing patterns and it was really good to finish the day. We had many triples today and countless doubles and these boys kept me pretty busy. As always we broke off some big fish and our biggest to net was this 19 ” rainbow Russ nabbed on the #14 UV XGrey Soft Shelled Scud. I’m sure these guys broke the 100 fish mark today and man…what a day to be outside, 72 degrees with mild wind on New Years Eve day. December 30th – …A pretty tough bite for us today. (Editors Note: Yeh sure, only caught 25-30 fish!)… day started slower than it ended. Super quick and subtle bites were the order of the day and everyone had a tough time connecting. #18 XGrey Bit Scuds were the best producers with some decent action on black Crown Zebras, regular black Zebras and black UV Smidges in a #22. It was really calm early … around mid day the wind just got brutal. The best action was the shallow side of channels with the most active fish again in water no deeper than 2 feet. I could see a lot of fish swirling around our top (midge) fly with real quick takes then drops. … We probably only brought 25 – 30 fish to the net. You just had to be really quick with the hookset and even really quick wasn’t quick enough at times.December 21 – All 3 anglers caught a lot of fish today. Nothing really big, though we snapped off 3 -4 really big fish we never got a good look at. We always get a few of those a trip and with a little luck we get a few of them in. This group was pretty fun and had a good time together hooking up all day long. The day started pretty nice but a cold front was moving in and the end of the afternoon got colder and windy. A slight change in flies kept the bite pretty hot as the fish moved off black UV Scuds and really liked a #14 wine and ginger SG-Bug as well as a gray #12 UV BitShell Scud. The purple Nitros stayed pretty good all day long.” Editors Note: Brett was fishing from a boat with four generators going using a fly rod and his flat lineing technique for using heavy weight and “pegged indicators with leaders up to 16 feet.
Guide Bob Klein: January 6- Bob Klein, of “Bob’s Guide Service” reported fishing excellent from the dam to Fall Creek with generation heavy – drifting egg flies or #5 silver flatfish or #5 floating Rapelas. From Fall Creek to Branson – nightcrawlers or bubblegum power eggs on a 1/4 oz. drift rig. From Branson to Rockaway Beach – drifting bubblegum power eggs. Fishing is excellent but a lot of small fish being caught. (Editors note: Bob does all of his fishing from a boat.)
Water Off Conditions (not generating power from Table Rock Dam) – Air injected night crawlers or Orange and Chartreuse Power Eggs, with the Chartreuse on shank of hook and the Orange on tip. Fish them off the bottom with no heavier than 4 pound leader, size 8 or smaller hooks, and just enough split shot to cast. Place the shot so that the bait floats 12-18 inches off the bottom. Spin-A-Lures and Little Cleos have been working well.
Water On Conditions – Orange and Chartreuse Power eggs with the Chartreuse on shank of hook and the Orange on tip, white Power Eggs, or inflated night crawlers bounced off the bottom using the standard “Lake Taneycomo Drift Rig.” which is readily available at all Marinas and most resorts on the Lake.
Get Your Lake Taneycomo Questions Answered:Bob, Gary, Brett, and Stan will be monitoring the Outdoor Activities Forum on the Branson.Com Message Board . If you have any fishing questions on LakeTaneycomo just ask.Use the word “Taneycomo” in the Search Function and enter it in all your posts so they’ll show up.
