[Editors Note: The most comprehensive fishing report available for Branson’s Lake Taneycomo submitted by people who fish the lake on just about a daily basis. 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 the primary wade fishing area, a trophy management area and has special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Lake Taneycomo Trophy Area – Fly Fishing – by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Darn near perfect describes last week here on Taneycomo.  Starting with Monday and Tuesday we got some much needed rainfall and after that we had blue skies with mornings in the 60’s and afternoons in the 80’s.  The lake level has come up about a foot after the rains, and that was not enough to trigger heavy generation round the clock.  Last Monday we had a couple of units going, and the rest of the week we had mornings off with two to three units coming on by mid afternoon.  For the holiday weekend we had no or low generation and wadeable water until Monday, Labor Day.

The catch rate on our guide trips has been steady with lots of nice sized fish in the 17” getting hooked up and landed.  One nice brown came in on a peach egg last Monday for a regular customer from the St. Louis area.  The list of size 18 zebra midges that worked at one time and place or another is a long one.  Consistently at the top is the black zebra; other good colors were rusty, purple, copper dun, burgundy, the ruby and an olive brown with green wire.  Jim fishes his zebras with the blood worm dropper.  Tiny gray scuds in sizes 18-20 and the miracle scud in size 16 were good in the low water over the weekend.   The black wooly bugger, sizes 12-14, was the best producer through the week, but this weekend the olive woolies, filoplumes, and floozies were great as well as the holographic green cracklebacks.  All these streamers were fished with an intermediate sinking leader.

This perfect end to the summer vacation looks to me like the perfect start for fall fishing.  The browns are showing up along the river.  Looks like “the good Lord willing and the crick don’t rise”  like it did the past two years, we just might see the brown spawning run and fishing live up to its reputation on Taneycomo.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Lake Taneycomo by Eric Prey, FocusedFishing.com

The increased generation from Table Rock and the small amount of rain in the Branson area last week improved the trout fishing last week, more current has made the fish active and susceptible to faster moving baits. Little Cleo spoons, panther martin and super duper spinners have all been producing this past week, olive, ginger and sculpin jigs have also been effective from Fall creek through Branson Landing. The live crawler and gulp or Power egg bite is still producing even when generation is limited.
[Illegal in Trophy Area.]

Submitted by Eric Prey, Focused Fishing

As part of its continuing commitment to serving the community, Branson Tourism Center (BTC), one of Branson’s largest and most respected sellers of vacation planning services, Branson show tickets, attraction tickets and lodging is proud to sponsor this fishing report, the Central Pro-Am Association and K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special Too). BTC can be reached by calling 800-785-1550 or by visiting their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com.

[Editors Note: The most comprehensive fishing report available for Branson’s Lake Taneycomo submitted by people who fish the lake on just about a daily basis. 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 the primary wade fishing area, a trophy management area and has special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Lake Taneycomo Trophy Area – Fly Fishing – by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Certainly was nice getting up in the morning last week and heading to work in 50 degree temperatures.  It warmed up a bit during the day into the low to mid 90s, but it was absolutely refreshing on the water early in the mornings!  We had some higher generation last Monday, all four units, but the rest of the week was a low flow with two or three units.   For the wade fishers on Saturday and Sunday, there was no generation until around 3:00 p.m.

The fishing is still mixed for us, with slow times usually earlier in the day and picking up later.  We are having a lot of fun, though, mixing up the style of fishing the kinds of flies we are trying.  For instance, one day was streamers and dries, and the best flies were the black wooly bugger and a black ant. Overall last week, the best zebra midges were black, primrose and pearl, and olive and the tungsten bead red midge and the little ruby. The best streamers were the olive filoplume, floozie, the holographic green crackleback, and the olive and black wooly buggers.  We also caught fish on black zebra soft hackles and peach eggs.

We have heard from the hatchery area that folks are still catch on tan scuds and some chamois worms.  A couple of guys have come by excited after working the banks with dry flies like ants, beetles,  cracklebacks, and tan or amber looking dries.  Sounds like fun!

Over the weekend, several of our guides volunteered to fish with veterans from the Healing Waters organization.   The guys were great and everybody caught fish and had a good time.   Our compliments go out to the organizers of Healing Waters, and our sincere gratitude to all the veterans who have served in the military of the USA.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Lake Taneycomo by Eric Prey, FocusedFishing.com

The trout fish has remained strong due to predictable generation over the past week. Jigs are still a mainstay with micro jigs fished below an indicator working well from the trophy area through Fall Creek and larger jigs working from Fall Creek to Branson. Olive, ginger, grey and sculpin colors have been the most effective colors. Live crawlers and Gulp or Power eggs on a drift rig or split shot rig will produce fish throughout the lake right now [Illegal in Trophy Area.]

Submitted by Eric Prey, Focused Fishing

Lake Taneycomo by Phil Lilly, Ozark Anglers

Lake generation patterns have been fairly predictable for the last month. Most mornings there’s no water running; then mid afternoon one to four units have been running until dusk or just after dark. Of course, we have to throw in the days when the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers does its own thing. Just like today and what’s on the schedule tomorrow — one-half unit all morning, then more in the afternoon. The amount of water run in the afternoons and evenings seems to depend on the heat. If it’s in the mid- to upper 90’s, generation is increased. The last few days, just two units were turned on because of this great, cooler weather we’re having. But they’re running it into the night longer. Weekends, you can “kinda” count on even less generation. I say “kinda” because you really can’t count on anything when it comes to generation patterns.

Our water temperature is still a healthy 46 degrees with generation. Our trout are fighting just as hard as they fought in the spring when oxygen levels were at their highest. There are some reports of larger trout having to be worked a bit before being released after a hard fight. I’ve experienced that myself this week, but that’s pretty normal with larger fish.

The reports in the area newspapers regarding low dissolved oxygen (D.O.) in our tailwater, in my opinion, were overstated and misleading. It is true we have low D.O. issues every fall season below Table Rock Dam (and below all other dams in the White River system) but it’s not new news. Some years are worse than others. Water temperature plays a major part in whether a fall season of low D.O. is very hard on our trout or not. Low D.O. combined with high water temperatures causes extreme stress on trout; then add a lengthy fight and often times is causes death, especially if the angler does not make any effort to revive the fish. But fortuneately, this fall season looks to be favorable. Our water temperatures are low and should continue to be in good shape through December.

I’ve gotten out this past week and did some fly fishing, as well as jig fishing. We bought some great looking new fly patterns for the fly shop, and I had to get out and try a few of them. One was a Japanese beetle pattern. The beetles made a major invasion this year, up from Arkansas, and are thick around here during the summer and fall, It stands to reason that our trout should see a lot of these bugs fall in the water close to the banks. So I tried them up in the trophy area this week, casting along the bluff bank, under trees and close to the rocks. Most of the time I spotted the rainbow prior to catching it. They sit close to the surface of the water if they are actively feeding on the surface, and a good, accurate cast will draw aggressive attention. And these rainbows aren’t small. I believe rainbows grow to learn how to feed on natural foods in the lake, so most of the rainbows along the banks will be mature fish looking for bugs from the overhanging trees.

I did increase my chances of success yesterday while fishing by adding a dropper to my #14 japanese beetle. About 18 inches below my foam fly, I tied on a #18 pearl & primrose zebra midge. Later I tried a red, then an olive zebra midge and had some success, so the color might not be really important. I had one rainbow take the dropper but I missed the strike.

As noted in other reports throughout the summer, our freshwater shrimp population is incredible right now, so fishing scuds is very popular and effective. When the water is not running, fish a scud on the bottom. When the water is running, fish it on the bottom. Scuds live in the rocks and do swim up but never very close to the surface. They stay down close to the bottom so that’s where your fly should be. Yesterday they were running two units but not full, about 50-60 percent, I’d say, so that might be a little more than one unit. I was fishing from Lookout down, positioning the boat in very shallow water and casting and drifting by fly still in shallow water but towards the center of the lake. I picked up a couple of trout, moved to deeper water and started picking up more numbers. By deeper I mean darker areas where I couldn’t see the bottom as well. I was fishing about 11-feet deep, using a large float indicator and two small split shot, 6x tippet. The fly I was using was a #14 “peppy” scud which is gray dog (Shitzu) fur with gray antorn mixed in, non weighted.

Night fishing below the dam reportedly is heating up big time. One thing nice about the change in weather is less humidity and less fog on the water at night and in the mornings!! Makes night fishing nicer for sure. Guys have been fishing anywhere from outlet #1 down through to the old KOA Campground wading. The other night, I boated up to Big Hole in my boat and started drifting, fishing a jig, down to Fall Creek. They were running two units at about 70%. Great drift but the trout were NOT hungry. Full moon, great night to be out, very pleasant! But only one rainbow. That’s why they call it fishing and not catching!!

Jig bite is still pretty good. Remember, when throwing a jig straight with no float, the trout will take the jig on the drop, when it’s sinking. Watch the line, feel for the slight tap and really set the hook hard and fast. Colors are the same but white is making a comeback. I’ve heard of some browns and larger rainbows taking white jigs this past week, so add white to sculpin, black, sculpin/ginger, olive and brown with an orange head.

Submitted to multiple sources by Phil Lilley, Ozark Anglers

As part of its continuing commitment to serving the community, Branson Tourism Center (BTC), one of Branson’s largest and most respected sellers of vacation planning services, Branson show tickets, attraction tickets and lodging is proud to sponsor this fishing report, the Central Pro-Am Association and K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special Too). BTC can be reached by calling 800-785-1550 or by visiting their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com.

[Editors Note: The most comprehensive fishing report available for Branson’s Lake Taneycomo submitted by people who fish the lake on just about a daily basis. 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 the primary wade fishing area, a trophy management area and has special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Lake Taneycomo Trophy Area – Fly Fishing – by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

With a little luck, we are going to have a break in the weather.  Eighty degree temperatures would be a welcomed change!

Fly fishing in the upper part of Taneycomo has been a mixed bag again this week.  Except of last Monday and Tuesday, we have had wadeable water every morning during the week and over the weekend.  Some fishers catching a good number of fish while others working hard to catch a few.  You really have to look for where the fish are and find that particular fly they want right now to do well.

Thursday, our best fly was a primrose and pearl midge.  Friday, was good on several different methods and patterns.  Size 18 black soft hackle or black size 16 ant in the early morning when the fish were dimpling the water were good choices, as well as a black wooly bugger.  All of these in the skinny water.  As the sun broke through, the primrose and pearl midge, holographic green crackleback and an olive wooly bugger caught fish.

Both Saturday and Sunday, black seemed to be the magic color even after the sun came out high in the sky.  Black, size 18-20 zebra midges and even a size 14 black wooly bugger in the shallow water worked very well.  The surprise of the day on Saturday was the black ant.  Not drifting as a dry, but popping or stripping through the areas where fish were feeding.  Along the old KOA area, deep side, black midges, rusty midge, and flashback tan scuds did well.  According to some of the fisher who are fishing at night, white streamers have been working.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Lake Taneycomo by Eric Prey, FocusedFishing.com

The dissolved oxygen dilemma has effective the trout fishing some over the past week, while the fishing remains good the trout do seem a little lethargic and less active. Live crawlers have quickly become the best bait for consistent action; use half a crawler and inject a small amount of air into the body to keep it off the bottom. Use either a drift rig or split shot rig and work the edges of flats. The same rig will work with power bait or gulp eggs, try mixing colors to draw more strikes. The jig bite is still there but is much better one or two units are running, sculpin, ginger and olive are still the best colors.

Submitted by Eric Prey, Focused Fishing

As part of its continuing commitment to serving the community, Branson Tourism Center (BTC), one of Branson’s largest and most respected sellers of vacation planning services, Branson show tickets, attraction tickets and lodging is proud to sponsor this fishing report, the Central Pro-Am Association and K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special Too). BTC can be reached by calling 800-785-1550 or by visiting their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com.

[Editors Note: The most comprehensive fishing report available for Branson’s Lake Taneycomo submitted by people who fish the lake on just about a daily basis. 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 the primary wade fishing area, a trophy management area and has special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Lake Taneycomo Trophy Area – Fly Fishing – by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Fishing was certainly better over the weekend than the week days before.  Jim had some customers from the Jefferson City area out all day Saturday.  They had a fun day and worked all kinds of patterns, wet and dry, and caught some fish and missed a whole bunch!  However, they did manage to boat a nice 20 inch rainbow on a black wooly bugger.  Carolyn had a two-day school with a cowboy and his son from Oklahoma. Unbelievable, but one of the guys was roll casting the entire belly section of his fly line within no time.  He said it was just like something they do when they are roping cattle.  They worked on nymphing/midging, streamers and even dries and caught fish on every technique.

So here is the list of flies that brought fish up for us.  If you are looking for that rare dry fly action on Taneycomo, try small black ants or a size 14 yellow hopper pattern in the skinny water where you see the fish working, probably close to the banks.  The best zebra midges were black, rusty, and the rusty dun in size 18, and when the water is higher, the red midge is still holding its own in sizes from 12-18.  In higher generation and flows, the big pink San Juan, the peach egg or fur bug, and olive marabou jig worked well on the way down to Fall Creek.  Fish seem to be holding better in the old river channel along the high bank above the Fall Creek area. Several times last week the fish stacked in shallow current were readily taking tan b-bugs or tan and gray scuds size 16-18.   Finally, the streamers fished on the intermediate sinking leaders wound up catching more fish with the fog on (and sometimes other times of the day!).  Try a size 10 olive wooly bugger or bug eye bugger in olive or black or an olive floozie.

Last week it really depended on where you are and how and what you are fishing if the fishing was good.  Based on the folks coming into the shop, fishing was tough in the upper area near the Hatchery.  Our guides also reported fishing was slow in the mornings and then picked up as the water level stabilized after that crazy bump in generation for about an hour at 6 am.  Last Tuesday through Thursday after being off in the mornings, all units would come on between one and two in the afternoon.  This weekend the generation was off until 4 Sunday afternoon.  This morning two units are running instead of the low one predicted with more units to come up this afternoon at one.  Hope to and expect to see similar patterns to last week again for you wading fly fishers.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Lake Taneycomo by Eric Prey, FocusedFishing.com
The generation has been fairly consistent over the past week; a small amount of current in the morning followed by an increase in the afternoon. When the water is running jigs continue to be a great option; ginger, olive and sculpin have been top colors, the more current the heavier jig. During slack water night crawlers with a small amount of air injected into them rigged on a split shot or drift rig will produce. As always Gulp or Power Bait eggs are a good choice regardless of current.

Submitted by Eric Prey, Focused Fishing

Lake Taneycomo By Steve Dickey, AnglersAdvantage.net

Fishing continues to be good on Taneycomo.  On the days when the water is off, the bite is very good from 6-11 a.m.  Use night crawlers from Fall Creek to the Branson Landing; chartreuse or yellow power bait and 1/80th oz. sculpin jigs have also been bringing the fish in.  In the Trophy Area, zebra midges size 16-18, micro jigs 1/100th oz. and size #20 scuds below an indicator are all working well.  Better fish are caught in the early morning or in the evening.

Submitted by Steve Dickey, AnglersAdvantage.net

Lake Taneycomo by Phil Lilly, Ozark Anglers

Just checked weather.com’s 10-day forecast for the Branson area, and it says we’re in for some lower temperatures this next week. May be we’ve seen the end of triple digits this summer. Good for the angler even though the trout have not seemed to care. What this will affect is generation patterns. We may see less flows. Instead of four units later in the afternoon, we may see two units or fewer. But you never know with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Today one unit has been running all day with a planned bump up to three units later.

Trout fishing continues to be good. August usually is one of the slowest months of the year here on Taney. MDC still stocks a year-high 90,000 rainbow this month, but for whatever reason, they usually don’t bite as well in the dog days of summer. But they have been biting very well. Large rainbows are still being caught above and below Fall Creek. Here’s at Lilleys’ Landing, we had two rainbows weighing more than seven pounds caught this past week, one off the dock and one out in a boat. A 12-pound rainbow was caught off the dock and released.

We are selling about 120 dozen night crawlers a week right now and, yes, night crawlers are the best bait for sure. Like this morning, with one unit running, the best thing to do is to start drifting at the mouth of Fall Creek, with four-pound line, a small #8 short-shanked bronze hook and a #7 split shot pinched on the line 18 inches above the hook. Hook the worm one time in the collar and break off the tail leaving the same length of worm hanging off each side of the hook. Inject some air in the night crawler so it floats off the bottom. Set your boat sideways in the current and throw out upstream. If you’re not hitting the bottom, increase the amount of line you have out. If that doesn’t work, increase the size of the split shot until you get a good roll on the bottom.

You can use Gulp Power Eggs the same way, but night crawlers will catch more and bigger trout. Use one white along with one other color–orange, pink or yellow.

Some of the guides did find some nice-sized rainbows just up from, through and down from Scotty’s Dock this past week, but there are a lot of smaller rainbows down there, too. The smaller ones will take a spoon or spinner cast and retrieved slowly.

It still amazes me how many large rainbows are down in our area of the lake (by Lilleys’ Landing). My fishing buddy Vince was done with a trip on Sunday and was fishing out in front of our place about 1 p.m. I called him to pick me up and we fished down to Cooper Creek — on the bluff side. He was throwing a Sluggo (plastic jerk bait) for browns and I was casting a 1/8th-ounce black jig. With one unit running the water was barely moving. He had several follows but no takers. I caught a couple of rainbows, then hooked a heavy fish. First I thought it might be a smallmouth bass but getting a look at it, I saw the fluorescent rainbow flash. With two-pound line it took a while to land, but it was a solid 19-inch rainbow weighing more than four pounds. It had avoided a lot of Power Bait over the past eight to 12 months to grow to that size!

There should be less fog on the water both in the mornings and in the evenings with cooler temps and less humidity, so getting out early won’t be so difficult. Shouldn’t be foggy at night either if you want to get out and do some night fishing, either wading below the dam or out in a boat.

Above Fall Creek in the trophy area, fishing has been twice as good as normal. Some of our guides are starting as early as 6:15 a.m. when the trout seem to bite best. Fishing a micro jig in black, olive or tan under a float four- to five-feet deep using two-pound line (a must) has been great, but the trout have been alittle picky about how it’s presented. At times they like it dead in the water with no movement, but some times they like it twitched every 5-10 seconds to project a little life. The strikes can be slight or hard, so you have to watch the float closely. One problem many anglers have is keeping the line slack to a minimum and keeping the rod tip pointed at the float. If these two things aren’t watched, setting the hook is futile.

Fly fishing is still very good, out of a boat or wading below the dam. Of course, the water needs to be down, not running, for the best wading, but out of a boat it doesn’t matter. They’re still eating a scud pattern the best, but you have to get it to the bottom and keep it moving to have the best success. Number 12 in gray, olive and brown if the water is running and #14 to #18 is it’s not. You can get away with using 5 or 6x tippet if the water is running but if it’s not, use 7x. Zebra midges in red, black or olive are working well, too, especially when the water is off with no generation. Fish close to the surface if trout are midging or taking midges off the surface and fish them 12 to 36 inches below an indicator if they’re not.

Submitted to multiple sources by Phil Lilley, Ozark Anglers

As part of its continuing commitment to serving the community, Branson Tourism Center (BTC), one of Branson’s largest and most respected sellers of vacation planning services, Branson show tickets, attraction tickets and lodging is proud to sponsor this fishing report, the Central Pro-Am Association and K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special Too). BTC can be reached by calling 800-785-1550 or by visiting their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com.

[Editors Note: The most comprehensive fishing report available for Branson’s Lake Taneycomo submitted by people who fish the lake on just about a daily basis. 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 the primary wade fishing area, a trophy management area and has special regulations and limits in effect within the area.]

Lake Taneycomo Trophy Area – Fly Fishing – by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

HOT! Hot says in a word what the weather has been like for fishing.  We did catch a little break from the sauna like conditions on Thursday when it rained and cooled temperatures into the lower 90’s!  So far this morning, the generation schedule is right on and the generation is actually running about 25-30 mwh (as projected), and we will see if it stays in that range.  If it does, it is certainly wadeable below the fish ladder, once known as outlet 3.

Besides being at the mercy of the heat, it was impossible to predict tailwater conditions.  Last week on Monday and Tuesday the conditions were good for waders early mornings till noon when heavy generation started. Wednesday through Friday the mornings started out at two units and ramped up a step at a time all afternoon making it difficult to find the fish settled into feeding areas. The power generation followed the projection Saturday with the low one generator spike in the morning and again in the afternoon.  Otherwise, the water was off all day Saturday.  Sunday, the projection was for a low one generator until early afternoon, but that did not happen.  They ran the equivalent of one full generator, using two units.

Near the outlets, tan or brown glo balls, or gray and tan scuds are consistently working.  Downstream from Rocking Chair and through to Lookout Island where our guides do most of their fishing, we caught fish in the higher water on the drift with a #12 pink midge, Big Ruby, a #14 tungsten red midge, and a red or hot pink San Juan worm.  When the water was off or running at a lower 2 units, we used Primrose and pearl, the purple, black and rusty zebra midges.  Guide Jim is still dropping size 22 bloodworms from a black thorax midge.  The tan b-bug, dark gray sowbug, and light and dark gray scuds also worked.  Most days early in the morning with the fog on the water, we did okay with the 12 olive or black wooly buggers and the olive floozieplume.  With the sun out, Stan did well having his clients strip the holographic green crackle back.

Fishing can still be rated fair to good– again, that depends on where you are fishing and what you are throwing.  In the early mornings, if the water is off, try a black zebra or the rusty zebra.   If there is any surface activity, especially if the fog is still on the water, the small, 18-20 black thorax midge has been working.  Otherwise, strip olive or black buggers.

Submitted by Carolyn Parker, River Run Outfitters

Lake Taneycomo by Eric Prey, FocusedFishing.com

The Corps has been running a small amount of water in the morning and picking up generation in the after noon to meet power needs. The jig bite has been very good before generation picks up, olive, sculpin and ginger jigs worked erratically will produce numbers and quality around cover. Micro sculpin or white jigs fished below an indicator have been the top bait in the trophy area through Fall Creek.  Once the generation picks up drift rigs with Gulp or Power bait eggs and inflated crawlers have been the best option.

Submitted by Eric Prey, Focused Fishing

Lake Taneycomo by Phil Lilly, Ozark Anglers

After a searing week, the heat streak has broken, and we’re seeing temperatures in the lower 90’s with a nice breeze, too. Yes, that’s actually cool, cooler than the triple digits we and most of the Midwest were enduring. But you know . . . trout fishing hasn’t been all that bad, even through the hot weather. The water has been running almost every day, most of the time in the afternoons but lately in the mornings, too, which has kept the lake water nice and cool for our trout. Water temps have risen from the low 40’s to 46 degrees right now — still too cold for those tempted to jump in. Generation has been high in the afternoons, running up to four units. Lilley’s Landing guests have still been out catching trout, but the best time has been early in the morning before the fog burns off.

This fishing report could be a copy-and-paste of my last report. It’s amazing how many nice rainbows keep coming out of the area between Fall Creek and Short Creek. Most of the fishing guides have gravitated to the same pattern: Head up to the trophy area and fish a jig-and-float for two hours to catch nice trophy rainbows, then head down out of the trophy area and fish night crawlers for rainbows the clients want to keep.

I had a trip Thursday and again this morning, but we stayed below Fall Creek the entire time and fished night crawlers. On Thursday, we drifted crawlers on four-pound line with small bell weights (1/4-ounce) since two units were running. We used a small #8 bronze hook and shot a little air in the worm to make it float. We tried to stay in the middle of the lake and caught a couple of dozen rainbows. This morning they ran one unit for just a little bit. We started at 6 a.m., anchoring below Fall Creek about 800 yards in the middle of the lake. The trout bit well until the water started moving about 7:30 a.m.. We pulled the anchors and started floating. I thought the fishing would improve, but it actually slowed unusually. We made one slow drift down to Short Creek, then headed back up. As we started another drift, the water slowed. We dropped anchor, and after the current slowed to a crawl, we started catching fish again. The two boys ended up catching 25 rainbows, the biggest was 17 inches.

Night crawlers are by far the best bait right now. Inject them with air and float them off the bottom about 12 to 18 inches.

Above Fall Creek, a straight jig or jig and float is best. If you’re using a jig and float, use two-pound line. If you’re throwing a jig–1/8th-ounce to 1/16-ounce–you can get away with four-pound, but two-pound is still better. Since our water is clear, our trout are growing particular.

For fly fishermen, the trout are starting to look up! Dry flies like beetles, hoppers, ants and midges are hot flies right now. When the water is down and when it’s running just a bit, the spots along the bank’s edge and under overhanging trees are best. Scuds are still the go-to fly on Taneycomo. When the water is off, you may have to drop to 7x tippet and #18 or #20 scuds, but when the water is running you can get away with 6x or even 5x tippet and #10- to #14-size scuds. Use them in gray, olive, tan or brown.

Night fishing is great. Wade below the dam or get out in a boat. Both have been very good lately. The boat thing is tricky due to the lake fog every night, but when the moon gets brighter, you can make your way around fairly well. Dark 1/8th or 3/32nd-ounce jigs work best. Throw them straight and work them off the bottom, fishing from the dam to Fall Creek and even further down. When we fly fish, it’s mainly in the shallow water below the dam so sink tips are not necessary. Weighted or unweighted dark wooly buggers, leeches, muddlers, streamers, PMS, pine squirrels, and hibernators are working great.

Submitted to multiple sources by Phil Lilley, Ozark Anglers

As part of its continuing commitment to serving the community, Branson Tourism Center (BTC), one of Branson’s largest and most respected sellers of vacation planning services, Branson show tickets, attraction tickets and lodging is proud to sponsor this fishing report, the Central Pro-Am Association and K.A.S.T. (Kids Are Special Too). BTC can be reached by calling 800-785-1550 or by visiting their website www.BransonTourismCenter.com.