[Editors Note: As used in this report “Trophy Area” refers the portion of Branson’s Lake Taneycomo between the mouth of Fall Creek and the base of Table Rock Dam. It is treated separately because of its unique topography, it’s a trophy management area, and the special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Fly fishing in the special management [Trophy] area continues to be very good. Biggest challenge now is the weather. We did have some nice weather Thursday and Friday. Saturday cool, and Sunday was downright cold. For those fishers who took advantage of the good weather or got out and braved the colder weather it was worth it.

If they were generating water, the Red Tungsten Bead Head or Rusty Dun Midges, size 16 were the ticket. With the water off, it was the Rusty Dun Midge, size 18, Holographic Copper Midge, size 18, and further down the river toward the Lookout Point, the Holographic Green Crackleback, size 14. Other colors and patterns were catching fish, but these were the most consistent. Next day, you could only get a few hits on either of these colors, but the Gray Scuds, sizes 14 and smaller, and Copper Dun Midge, size 18 were pretty good patterns. Sunday, stripping a Rusty Dun Soft Hackle, size 20 was the ticket.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

[Editors Note: As used in this report "Upper" refers the portion of Branson’s Lake Taneycomo between Short Creek and Fall Creek. The difference between "Mid" and "Upper" is subjective and is based primarily on the average water depth throughout the defined area. "Trophy Area" refers to the area of Lake Taneycomo between the Table Rock Dam and the mouth of Fall Creek.]

It’s cold!! The bright side- only a week left of January. That’s a week closer to spring and warmer days of great fishing. Last year about this time we were all having the same dreams only when April rolled around it brought records rains that wash most of our dreams away. The way I see it, we got the worse spring behind us… this spring will be much better!!

Of course, cold weather doesn’t bother trout, it just hinders trout fishing (for some). It hurts the hands when they get wet, then cold, then add wind and they’re throbbing. The face stings and then goes numb on the boat ride up lake but the sinuses keep building in pain. Does it keep the die hard from their appointed fishing trips? Nope!

There’s been no generation this weekend, none Saturday or Sunday,but I bet they’ll crank it Monday morning as cold as it is. The generation charts says 4 units early but water should be shut down by noon for the rest of the day. I wouldn’t depend totally on the generation chart but it’s been pretty close most days.

The weekend of the 9th of January, we had a trout tournament in which some pretty nice rainbows and one real nice brown were weighed in. Comparing last year’s weights with this year weights we see that this year was a little off. Close but still there weren’t as many bigger rainbows caught.

Rainbows stocked in December and January usually come from the Neosho federal hatchery and these rainbows generally are small, much smaller than rainbows from our state hatchery, Shepherd of the Hills. Neosho rainbows average 9 inches and Shepherd’s 11 inches. I say all this to say something interesting has happened. This weekend our clients caught some large, freshly stocked rainbows. I saw numerous 12-13 inch, stocky bows at the dock.

Fishing has been very good the last 3 weekends for our guests. Most are fishing bait, namely Gulp Power Eggs and night crawlers but a few are fishing artificials like inline spinners and jigs. Saw quite a few trolling real slow between Short and Fall Creek with something small like a rooster tail. It’s good to use a swivel if you’re going to troll about anything to keep your line from twisting. If even trolled a simple marabou jig and caught fish. I’d use a dark colored 1/8th oz if I were to do it again and troll pretty slow.

I got out a couple of times and did well using the old tried and true technique, jig and float. I fished from my boat below Lookout to the Narrows which is located about a mile above Fall Creek. Both days the wind was stiff out of the north so it was tough throwing a jig without a float. The first day they were working the shallows, feeding very aggressively as the water was rolling in the wind. Tied on an olive 1/50th oz jig and set the float at 30 inches above the jig. Set my boat is 2 feet of water and fished 2-3 feet of water where most of the trout were holding and feeding. they weren’t spooky because of the waves action. But strangly, I could still see under that water well enough to see rainbows slashing and digging in the gravel for bugs. They reacted positively to my jig- best technique was to hop the jig close to on right off the bottom and they’d attack it. It was too cool. And the size, color and quality of the trout we caught Friday was incredible- best rainbows I’ve seen in many months. Very encouraging.

Saturday, I had a guide trip and fished the same area. The wind wasn’t blowing as hard so I had to change it up. Still using jig and float, we fished deeper and moved more towards the channel. The trout were too spooky to stay in the shallows. We switched jigs and depths till we found out what they wanted- about 4 feet deep and a 1/50th olive jig with an orange head. Did not find the quality rainbows I did the day before. That’s not unusual though. I’ve found there are days the big ones bite and days they don’t. The small ones bite every day.

Now with generation starting in the morning, I’d head to the dam by boat and drift white 1/8th oz jigs, IF I was going to get out but I think it’s a little too cold.

Fly fishing later in the day after generation stops- that may be a different story. Depending on wind, I’d look for feeding rainbows again on or just off the flats below Lookout. This time I’d try a #16 green or red zebra midge under a palsa indicator 12 to 18 inches, depending on water depth. If not, I’d try a #16 tan scud again under an indicator and make sure I had it close to or on the bottom, hopping it off the bottom.

If the trout were as aggressive as they were Friday, Id tried stripping an olive #14 wooly bugger or an olive leech or sculpin. Make sure you change tippet size to 4x or even 3x if you’re throwing larger flies or you’ll break off on the hook set.

Submitted by Phil Lilley, Ozark Anglers

[Editors Note: As used in this report "Mid Lake" refers the portion of Lake Taneycomo between the mouth of Bee Creek in Branson to a point immediately downstream from Short Creek. The difference between "Mid" and "Upper" is subjective and is based primarily on the average water depth throughout the defined area. ]

We had another successful week of trout fishing. We have boats catching great numbers of trout, but not sure if we should brag on the quantity or the quality! We’ve seen some nice fish, lots of 16’s and 18’s the last week, and plenty of 12″ plus fish.
Those using non artificial baits are still doing great on Berkley’s Gulp in both Pink/White combination and Yellow/Orange. Night crawlers have produced well also.

Spoons have been the favorite of those using artificial this week. The Little Cleos in the “Gold n Red,” “Gold” and “Gold n Orange” all in the 1/8th ounce size are producing fish. Other popular lures also currently producing well are the Thomas Spoons in Copper or Gold in the 1/6th oz, Thomas Spinners in Red Gold, or Watermelon, and Lil Jakes in the 1/6th oz.

Water hasn’t run the last couple of days, which is great for a jig topped with a wax worm…. don’t wait to get to the lake…it’s very good right now !!

Submitted by Lamar Patton, Scotty’s Trout Dock

[Editors Note: As used in this report the Trophy Area covers from Table Rock Dam to Fall Creek.]

Fly fishing in the Trophy Area was very good this past weekend, if you could get near the water. Other than 4-5 hours Friday afternoon, water has been generating since early Thursday morning.

Up near the Hatchery area, gray scuds, the white grub, and peach colored egg patterns were some of the patterns people were catching fish on. If you could find a good seam or slower water, the sculpin and olive wooly bugger were working when stripped near the bottom. Out in the boats, the red tungsten bead head midge, size 16, with a flaming Orange San Juan in a size 16 dropped from it or from a gray flashback scud did well. Boats were also catching fish out of the boats fishing egg patterns and other colored San Juans fairly deep while drifting.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, http://www.riverrunoutfitters.com/

[Editors Note: As used in this report "Upper" refers the portion of Lake Taneycomo between Short Creek and Fall Creek. The difference between "Mid" and "Upper" is subjective and is based primarily on the average water depth throughout the defined area. "Trophy Area" refers to the area of Lake Taneycomo between the Table Rock Dam and the mouth of Fall Creek.]

On Lake Taneycomo, generation has been fairly consistent. About 2 units on at daylight till about 10 am, then off till dark when they kick on 2 units for about 3-4 hours. Weekends- they tend to leave the water off for longer periods of time, if they run it at all. BUT that’s not always the case. Today, Saturday, they ran water all day to the dismay of I bet lots of anglers who made the trip to Taneycomo to wade below the dam. Sometimes I think they just want to tick us off.

From Lookout to Fall Creek, out of boats, we’ve been drifting egg flies, scuds and San Juan worms using a spit shot or drift rig to get them down, drifting them on the bottom all the way down to Fall Creek. San Juans- red or tan; Scuds- gray, olive, brown or tan; and egg flies combinations of peach and yellow.

If the water isn’t running too hard, using a fly rod set a float 6-9 feet above a fly and a split shot to get the fly to the bottom works well drifting the shallow side of the lake. With a spinning rig work a 1/8th oz jig off the bottom while drifting. White has been the best color by far, but have an olive, sculpin, purple, black or brown/orange ready just in case. Wading with the water running- you’re confined to the outlets below the dam. Use scuds, midges and egg flies and watch others to learn how to catch fish. It’s really pretty easy if you can find a spot.

Water off- by boat, the trophy area has been fishing great. Jigs again, either fished with or without a float in the colors mentioned earlier.

Straight line- use 3/32 to 1/16th oz and work them off the bottom like fishing for crappie. Under a float use 1/50th to 1/256 micro jigs and think about dropping to 2 lb line. Four pound is fine for everything else. Fish the jigs 4-5 feet deep. In the micros, olive with an orange head or pink with a chrome head. Marabou- brown or sculpin with an orange head.

Look for the chop… a surface with a croppy surface catches more fish. Find that chop on the water and strip a soft hackle (#16 red, black, white, yellow or green) or a wooly (#12 olive, black, brown, purple, white) or a crackleback (#14 white, gray, brown) or a sculpin or leech in earth colors. My favorite is the San Juan in red and I fish them anywhere there’s moving water pushed by wind. Scuds (weighted, #14-#18 gray, olive, tan, brown or white) also in moving water or fished in the shallow flats where trout are nosing around in the gravel with their tails sticking out of the water.

You’ll find lots of these fish on the shallow side of the lake. If you like wading, take a boat up to this area, beach the boat and get out and wade. Also fish a weighted scud under a palsa indicator, adding enough tippet beneath the indicator to get and keep the scud very close or better yet on the bottom. Move or hop the scud about 12 inches to make the fly hop off of and back down to the bottom like a scud swimming. The bite will be suttle so you really have to pay attention to the indicator.

From a boat, use a weighted scud (#14 - #18 in gray, olive, tan or brown) under an indicator so that the scud is very close to if not on the bottom. I use this technique mostly from Lookout down to Fall Creek and I usually stay in the middle of a little on the channel side of the lake, trying to put my bug close to if not on the drop off from the flat to the channel. I’ll work the fly, moving it 6 to 12 inches, making it jump off the bottom and letting it settle back down like a scud might.

Above or below Fall Creek, we use fly rods when fishing a jig and float all the time. Either micros or marabou jigs fished 4 to 6 feet deep. Again, I like to fish the channel drop down to Short Creek which is about in the middle of the lake. Don’t be stick on one depth- if they aren’t biting very well, change colors and change depths of the jig.

Has this been an unusual winter here in the Ozarks… Not really. It’s pretty normal for us to have cold spells, even down in the single digits. The nice thing about this part of the country is that these spells generally don’t last long. In a day or two, it’s back up in the 40’s and 50’s, long enough to get out and fish before the next cold front moves through.

Submitted by Phil Lilley, Ozark Anglers

[Editors Note: As used in this report "Mid" refers the portion of Lake Taneycomo between RoarklCreek andjust down stream from Short Creek. The difference between "Mid" and "Upper" is subjective and is based primarily on the average water depth throughout the defined area. ]

Fishing continues to be very good. From the Business Highway 76 Bridge to Monkey Island continues to produce quality keeper limits with most boats Saturday reporting 30-40 fish per boat.

Lures seemed to be the most popular weapon of choice with anything in the Thomas Lure line and Cleos and Lil Jakes in gold working well. Drifting deep with 3/16 drift rigs and Berkley Gulp Floating Salmon Eggs, Orange/Yellow and Pink/White combinations got good results especially during some of the windy periods of the day and in the current.

We’re in the height of the Winter fishing now, so make your plans to join us.
Submitted by Lamar Patton, Scotty’s Trout Dock