Chartered
Waters Fishing Report -updated daily. A comprehensive fishing
report from Chartered Waters, fishing and guiding on Lake Taneycomo.
2008
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May 8th - Our
good buddy Dale was needing the fly fishing fix. Half day ventures are
his favorite most days and we hit it around 9:00am this
morning. Before heading out I had this customer waiting for me on the
steps of the shop looking for some flies.

Only 2 units running this morning and that was enough to do a little wading.
The problem was...by the time we put on waders and were ready to hit it...they
upped it to 3 units then 4. Our wading dreams were dashed in a instant. It
still didn't stop our fishing and catching though. We did a drift down deep.
The coral
backed shad Snack was the fly de jour' for the Deep Drifting. I tried a bunch
of goofy stuff today and most of it worked. I did a beaded double San Juan
worm in red and a twist to an old chew toy...a red Ultra Worm (my name) similar
to
a chamois leech. They both caught fish, in fact, the Ultra Worm was inhaled
more than once.

Weird. You shouldn't be able to catch a trout on
such
an atrocious piece of fabric. Just some of the stuff we caught fish on today
were a red (white gill) Crown Midge, a white/yellow G2-Bug and stripping
a brown REA Minnow and ginger/olive BaitFish Jigs.

That's the
short list.
White G-Bugs #16, white, shad and coral Baitfish Jigs... Stripping a #14
yellow Crackle Back plus #16 Bleeding Griffith's Gnats... I can't
even remember them
all
to be honest. If I were to pick a couple of best ones it might be that
white/yellow G2-Bug in a #16 with the red/white Crown Midge trailer
also a #16. The seams
were the best for us. Once the water got cranking the Deep Drifting slowed
a bit. We only made one pass down deep and when I saw so many fish working
the
seams we jumped in there for most of the rest of the time. We explored
some new seams with limited success at all of them. There are a couple
I've been
leaning
on just because they've been so successful. I promised Dale a freebie next
week just because he does so much business with us plus he's a fun guy
to fish with.
I plan to do some more exploring with him that day. There are a few I keep
meaning to hit but I'd hate to waste someones time there until
I get it wired so I'll
do it on a more casual day. One more trip on Friday then it's tree time.
I can't wait....
Mike Hall sent in an ID of that weird bottom dweller we boated
a while back. I thought it was an odd looking carp. He thought
(without actually seeing
the fish) that it was a golden
redhorse sucker though a big one. The faces were definitely the same
though yes this one was over what they
call the max length. Thanks Mike. And the winner of the "Name The
Fly" is...
Winner of the name the fly contest is.....Tom Arens. His name was the 710. Named
for using it when the tailwater is 710' or higher. He'll be receiving half a
dozen free in the mail in the near future. Thanks to everyone for playing. Stay
tuned....there will be more.
May 7th - Tom
and Christina from the great white north of Michigan joined me for what
was planned to be a full day trip. It got kind of nasty on
us out there in spite of a pretty good bite going on. 3 units starting
at 707' and rising to 4 as the day went ending around 710'. Starting
with Deep Drifting in the a.m. we picked up fish about how we have been
the last 2 - 3 days. Slower than I've come to expect with that method.
The coral backed shad Snack was the only fly catching fish for us going
deep. I'd say the water may be clearing a tad but barely noticeable.
When it clears more I'm thinking the white (shad) bite will dissipate.
When fishing the seams we're getting smaller on white all the time. The
Baitfish
Jigs are still doing well but I'm probably doing better the
last couple of days with white G-Bugs and purple/wine SG-Bugs in a #16.
M-Bugs!!...from the groove yard of forgotten classics in white and coral
have been really good too. W2-Eggs...red and white...it's generally still
a white bite but getting smaller from what I've found.
One drift down today going deep netted us a few fish and a couple of
nice ones but...a couple of seams were very active with fish as we
drifted by so I changed
the game plan and we started hitting those after drifting past Andy Williams
house the first time. By the way. I don't know about anyone else, but for me...from
Andy's house down to Fall Creek??...very dead! You'll pick a few up here and
there especially if you hug the banks but it has not been worth the time spent
vs. the return so we motor back up after passing the seam in front of Andy's.
With 2 or less units it has been worth the drift but with 3 or more going...no.
Someone who reads the report called me from Oklahoma today asking me about
where the "seams" were that we fish. What is a seam was the general question.
A seam is the point where faster and slower water meet. There are many seams
in any body of moving water and there are several here worth fishing. They are
created by islands or land masses in the main channel...any defined points or
bends in the river and cuts or recessed banks along an otherwise straight river
bank. The slack water that is created by those aforementioned locations are resting
and feeding areas for our trout and you can usually find some willing takers.
They'll typically stay in the slack water right on the edge of the faster water
waiting for food to be washed by. The seam is that "edge". We try
to anchor back in the slack water and drift our bugs right through those seams.
Not in the fastest water but not in the dead still water either. Some are better
than others and each of them fish differently depending on the tailwater level.
I check them all fairly often and I have favorites for 2, 3 and 4 units of
water
and this year...I have some favorites for floodgate water. You can strip things
in the seams, under an indicator is always productive and when it's clear you
can have some pretty good dry fly action too. Today both Christina and Tom
caught quite a few on the aforementioned white stuff and hammered some nice
ones too.
Here's a classic shot from Christina plus one of many from Tom too.



I can't begin to tell you how many pictures like that I've collected
over the
years. I keep talking about making a photo album of those things.
So you can see the rain gear and general nasty looking appearance to the day.
A couple hours in I gave them the option to finish this trip up Friday. I didn't
have any trips booked and what was planned can be rescheduled. They were free
Friday so that constituted a plan. We'll finish this up on Friday hopefully under
sunny skies. If it's not sunny then we'll just punch the man card at the dock
and get busy. These folks are northern Michiganians. Nasty weather is still going
on up there so this is a picnic. Nice as they can be too and even in the downpour
they were having a blast. Friday will be even more fun. Still lots of fish and
maybe even sunglasses.
May 6th - John
and Ward from Michigan were our guests today. A couple of great guys
and real characters. They've been fishing Taneycomo for
30 years, most of that with spinning gear and they wanted to learn how
we catch them with fly rods in heavy generation. More than anything else
though, they just wanted to have fun. We definitely had a good time today.
A forecast of rain last night and today never materialized for the most
part. We got light rain for a stretch but it went away after an hour
and it was actually a decent day in the end. We started Deep Drifting
with a various assortment of shad patterns plus a new XG-Scud. I tied
them in white, pink and chartreuse last night and we caught fish on all
of them today. 3 units running at 707' even is a manageable tailwater
and the white XG Scud was the best bug early. It then turned over to
the coral backed Snack as a trailer and that was all they wanted after
4 units came on. The deep bite was slower than average. We felt blasts
of warm and cold air early and I could only guess that the front coming
through put them down a bit. Late morning we switched to fishing the
seams and once we found where they were holding we hit them pretty well.
Several doubles happened for us and they hit a variety of things. The
pure white Baitfish
Jig was good but I trailed red or chartreuse #16
Zebra
Midges behind the jigs and that picked up a few. They turned off
on the Baitfish and started hitting white G-Bugs and
purple/coral SG-Bugs in
#16 better than anything. It seemed like they were looking for something
a little bit smaller as the day went on. Here's Ward with a couple of
solid fish, one from Deep Drifting and another from a seam.

After lunch we tried Deep Drifting for a couple of drifts and it was about
the same. Just a few fish a drift so we went back to the seams. We hit some
new ones
after lunch and they were not as hot as the early stops but still enough to
keep it interesting. We guessed about a 50 fish day in the end. Not a great
day by
Taneycomo standards but I've had worse and the company was great. These guys
are hard core fishermen. They invited me to have lunch with them in their cabin
at Trout Hollow and they brought two rod racks and they were both filled to
the gills with about 30 set ups. These guys stay for a couple of weeks here.
They
have a nice SmokerCraft boat. They hit Table Rock, Bull Shoals and Taneycomo
in no particular order and just fish, fish fish!. The way it ought to be eh
guys? They had enough fun that they took one of our open dates next week for
another go at it. I think they just like someone else dealing with John's tangles
to be honest. Actually these guys only had a couple all day long thrown in
with their fish, their fish stories and a joke or two that may not be ready
for our
PG 13 audience. Just really fun guys to hang out with and I look forward to
seeing them next week.
A couple of nice notes below from some very nice people . Thanks folks. We sincerely
appreciate the nice words and are honored and humbled that you think of us when
you want to fish Taneycomo.
Hi, Brett,
I just want to say thanks again for a very enjoyable experience.
I was quite impressed with the numbers of fish we saw and caught. I'm really
looking
forward to try to plan some time to get with you in the Nov. - Jan. time frame
to go after some really big ones.
If you still publish testimonials, feel free to use this. I'm a life member of
the North American Fishing Club and have had the pleasure of going after many
kinds of fish in many places with lots of different guides. I can say without
reservation that Lake Taneycomo has the fish and Brett really knows how to find
them. I'm by no means an expert with the fly rod but Brett can set you up in
so many different ways that anyone can catch fish. I'm looking forward to fishing
with him again as soon as I can arrange it.
Brian Jenkins
_______________________________________________________
Brett,
Thank you for being your typical stellar self in guiding for Marrien
and Steve last Friday. They had a wonderful time and learned a great
deal about fishing with fly rods. We have gone on several trips where
they have never caught any trout and were at the brink of giving
up on fly fishing altogether until I suggested they hire you for
a trip and your knowledge of Taneycomo and fishing once again were
exceptional – something that I personally have come to expect
from you!
I think we have a new couple for the second annual tournament you will
host this October in the rookie class!! Julieta and I rave about you
to everyone we come in contact with and love seeing their reactions
when they finally do take a trip with you. I would like to sometime
take a trip where we can do some sculpin patterns to expand my experience.
I am also anxious for the water to diminish as I am sure are many other
fishermen. Now I need to get really active and tie some flies!!!!!
Thank you again for your patience and skills with Marrien and Steve
and I know it will make our camping and fishing trips MUCH more enjoyable
where they will be catching fish now too. You ARE the man!
Please say hi to Shelley for us and we are both looking forward to
seeing you again soon.
Keith & Julieta
May 5th - Well,
the hits just keep on coming here. A couple of nights ago we had straight
line winds hitting 70 mph here. I believe it. We
had the biggest tree in the yard (and I'm talking about a 4 - 5' wide
trunk) blown over. It just missed our dogs and our dock. If anyone
wants a lifetime supply of oak firewood, you can cut it and remove
free of
charge. You can even leave the small limbs for us and just take the
good stuff. Otherwise I have a giant pain in the ass waiting for
me my next
day (or two or three or four) off. I had an off day today. The little
women scheduled this one off for me a while ago. I've been splitting
my fishing days in the seams and Deep Drifting. The seams are fun and
productive. Deep Drifting is still netting the bigger fish on average
and sometimes even getting the numbers advantage. I've always found
that the bigger fish go straight down when the water runs hard
and the smaller
fish (on average) go to cuts on the banks and in the seams and eddies.
There are always exceptions but that theory rings true for me 95% of
the time. Tomorrow we'll probably do both and I don't think I'll be
hitting the creeks again until this fall or winter. They just kind
of turned
off once the water temps reached low 60's.
May 4th - I'm
blessed with getting to know some great people in this line of work.
Teresa and Kevin are just the next two in a long line of
great folks who we are greatly appreciative that they choose to fish
with us. Teresa was the designated rookie and of course...she schooled
the old man today. Wanting an education as much as anything we started
in the seams and slack water with Crown
Zebras above BaitFish
Jigs and
as always ( at least lately) the BaitFish Jigs were IT!!! The mighty
whitey (pure white BaitFish Jig) was the hands down favorite. Yesterday
these guys came in the shop and wanted to know if there was any wading
to be had on Saturday. I set them up with flies and pointed them towards
Roaring River where Teresa caught her first fish on a fly rod. White
and ginger G-Bugs in
#18's were the flies of choice there using our typical (water off) wading
set up. Today Teresa caught her second trout with
us and countless more (actually she was counting...and she beat Kevin)
and she was having a blast doing it.

This was one of the
nicest days of the year so far. Upper 60's and for change, very little
wind. Great stuff to be fishing in. We hit several little seams. Most
caught fish and some better than others. Here's Kevin with a nice rainbow
plus...yes, another sucker.

This one took a flamingo
backed Simple
Minnow #10. So many suckers caught this year tells
me one positive
thing...we're getting down on the bottom and that's where these fish
(including the trout) are right now. Since it was only a half day outing
today I
asked them if they wanted to try some Deep Drifting for a change of
pace and they were all over it. Great students of the sport! Both
in the traditional
sense when we were fishing small and in the unconventional Deep Drifting
under an indicator. Teresa landed the fish of the day.

It was the FIRST TIME she had ever touched a fish. You can
kind of tell
by her face can't you? A split second later a loud scream could be
heard all the way back at Trout Hollow as the fish (as advertised)
flipped out of her hands. She was a trooper and hey, that's why we
bring fish
towels. Kevin wrestled with a pig late in the day bringing it right
up to the boat. A 20" plus fish was holding the chartreuse shad
Snack and it simply pulled out when it neared the boat. He wasn't too
upset
about it and it was a great battle. Deep Drifting!...it's still shad
patterns. In fact we had a run of customers in the shop on Friday buying
a few of these shad I've been reporting on. Friday afternoon they all
came back for more and again on Saturday reporting great action on
everything. I set a few rods up for Deep Drifting showing folks how
to do it themselves
and the results were very positive.
And for you spin fishermen...I had a gentleman from Trout Hollow come
in to ask about getting a replica done of a 22" brown he caught
above Cooper Creek pounding the banks with a white marabou Jig. That
would be imitating a shad by
the way too. Everyone had a great time out there. Teresa and Kevin are planning
their next trip already. I'd certainly enjoy fishing with them again.
May 2nd - Steve
and Marien are friends of Keith and Julieta (friends and customers of
ours). New to fly fishing both of them we started from
scratch today with casting lessons in the yard then stops in the slack
water up top to work on traditional casting and catching fish. Steve
caught his first trout on a fly rod today along with quite a few others
after that and here's Marien working on one that gave her quite a battle.

We had a fairly decent bite going up top with lots of hits on
the pure white BaitFish
Jig followed by a coral version of the same.
White still rules though and it seems the whiter the better. I'm even
coating them with my normal replica paint (white) then with pearl white
which gives it a touch more flash. It's a simply beautiful little jig
that
is representing
the threadfin shad. We spent the better part of our half day in the seams
and slack water then I made the call to motor downstream to the creeks
to beat the wind and find another good bite. Bad call on may part I must
admit. We had hits and fish on but never landed a trout in our brief
time there. We did have our first official double on bluegills with both
of them but that's a small consolation. The creeks may be on their last
gasp for trout. Water temps are rising in there. There are still fish
in there but the masses seem to have split. I may give it a shot on my
next full day trip but if it's not happening then it will probably be
my last time for a while.
These two really had a passion for the sport and they really improved all day
long. The biggest challenge was detecting strikes but I know veterans who have
just as much trouble with it. That's a learned reaction acquired through time
on the water but they did pretty well as newbies. Never tangled or broke off
all
day. Their casting strokes were very solid and improved all day long. That plus
they were really nice folks so my day was a breeze. I felt bad for making the
creek call later in the day when we could have stayed up top catching fish. I
apologized but they were having such a good time it wasn't even an issue. Hopefully
we can do it again soon as I certainly see a true love of the sport with these
two.
May 1st -
Tony and Dan took advantage of our Special with Trout Hollow and
did a little
half day adventure with us today. These guys have fished
these waters for a while now and really wanted to learn our Deep Water
Fly Fishing techniques. Easy enough as we certainly have our quota
of deep water these days. The floodgates remain off with Table Rock
hovering
around the 930' mark. Beaver continues to generate fairly regularly
(although not as much as Taneycomo) but that constant flow in to
Table Rock keeps
the big lake fairly steady and barely dropping much at all. Today we
had a decent bite. A fairly high tailwater of around 708' plus most
of the day but we maintained pretty good action in all the spots
that continue
to shine in this highest water. Both these fine young men broke personal
records today in the size of their biggest trout ever. Tony with this
18" plus brown and Dan with this rainbow around the 17" mark.

These were some great guys to hang out with. Some good self
effacing humor amongst us all on a pretty nice day to be on the
river. If it's possible, I think the generation water is muddier than
the floodgate water. This is a shot of the head of Lookout Island with
the biggest trees having been washed out and over.

A lot of different bugs will catch some fish but without question, the best bite
we're getting is still on a shad pattern and The Snack, Simple
Minnow and (yet
to be named) shad in sizes #8 to #10 is reigning supreme. Water clarity is poor.
Visibility is about 2' deep and that's looking at a white and chartreuse shad
fly the size of Europe. Well, compared to what we normally fish...it's at least
Uzbekistan. (That's Borat's country right?).
So people are asking me..."are these shad flies pretty good all the time?"...."nope".
I can recall 3 times in my Taneycomo fly fishing career (which has been about
15 years plus) where a shad pattern has had any shelf life whatsoever. Usually
after the run through the turbines or over the floodgates the bite will dry
up after a few weeks. I think the water clarity has kept this going as you
need
to swing your bug pretty close to a fish before they see it. And if you're
using big ass bugs they're going to see it sooner and easier. That plus they
had such
a run of shad earlier in this same cloudy water that they must assume that
more are coming and they take it when they can.
I'm making the "backs" of these shad patterns in varying colors.
Cloudy days they love chartreuse but coral, flamingo and olive are a tad better
in the
afternoon. Even the long forgotten shad gray color will inspire the best bite
at times. Toxic Scuds, Natty Balls, big #6 Soft
Shelled Scuds are all catching
but ...more often than not, at the end of the day and on the end of every rod
and every back up rod I'm carrying...there will be two shad patterns dangling
on the end.
I really enjoyed my day with these guys. Lots of fun...no tangles of breakoffs
that I recall and lots of nice fish. Good stuff.
April 30th -
Brian and Larry joined me again today. We started with, would you belive...only
2 units of water and a tailwater level of about 706'.
Great bite going, especially early! Check out these bad boys!

Ok, Brian's brown wasn't a "thumper" but
he wanted one picture of a brown before he left us. We're catching
half a dozen
browns
most every trip these day. Every one of them have come on a shad pattern.
They're up looking for a meal and we're trying to oblige. I tried something
a little different today with that lower tailwater level. With Baitfish
jigs being so hot everywhere we've tried them I had to put one on as
a dropper up top. UNBELIEVABLE!! It was the hottest "fly" for
most of the day. I've tried them as a dropper during the heaviest generation
with minimal success. The level has to be just right. Today we fished
them up to 707.5' and they were very good. In fact..a new "pure
white" one was the best of all.

This thing is as
white as white can be. Whiter than an NHL awards show at a Bingo hall...Whiter
than Bryant Gumble at a klan rally...whiter than line dancing in the
stands at a monster truck rally. I had some better ones but Shelley
wouldn't
let me post them.
This is the head of Lookout Island with numerous trees washed out and over
from the current.

Lookout is nice and clean swept now. Some very
interesting
little new seams and wash outs should make that a whole new place to fish.
Here are a few fish the boys really liked the color of so we took some shots.

Larry settled on fly fishing all day while Brian preferred the 9' spinning
set up. With the lower flows the bite was very manageable and we stayed up
top all day
long. Another fun day with these guys. They're already scheming about how they
can make a trip back in October/November for some even BIGGER browns.
April 29th -
Muddy water still pours over the dam and through the floodgates. The
tailwater level has stayed a consistent 715.4 through this latest
stint. Michael and Linda Rock from Wisconsin joined us again today.
It has been a couple years since we've seen Michael and it was good
to see
them
both. Great folks, very friendly and I always enjoy fishing with them.
I've often said I never want to be associated with the blue blood,
fly fishing sect. The uppity, holier than thou type who are so insanely
purist
that you could hear their sphincter squeak every time you say bobber
instead of "strike indicator". Why do I mention this? Michael
is a fine fly fisherman. Good tier and just your basic fanatic about
it all in a good way. Linda loves to fish but prefers spin fishing. We
get a lot of folks like that, whether it's mom, the kids or grandma and
grandpa who wants to join the fly fishermen of the family on a fishing
trip but are happy just doing that spin fishing thing. We not only accommodate
that but I like to think we have some spin fishing tactics that are unequalled
anywhere. They're good because we are delivering flies (the best way
to catch a trout) from our spinning outfits instead of hardware and rubber
bait. So I wanted to give Michael and Linda a taste of everything again
today so we started up top with Michael Sink Tipping with the long stick
and Linda dredging the depths both sporting shad flies mostly. "The Snack"
is quickly becoming the go to fly out there. The "yet to be named" shad
fly is very good, Simple Minnows...it's all good but The Snack is awesome!.
On our way up to the dam we see something thrashing on the surface. Something
BIG. I motor over and it's another huge paddlefish belly up and still
kicking. Another floodgate victim. I tried netting it a couple of times
but it literally wouldn't fit in my very big net. I was thinking I'd
stick a #20 ginger G-Bug in the corner of his mouth and post it on the
report next April 1st. Next time maybe. Some nice fish were landed up
top but it was slower than normal. Numb nuts here blew a net job on a
nice brown for Linda. Probably an 18" plus fish. She caught it...I
just didn't net it. Caught on the chartreuse backed Snack. Since it
was slow we fished the seams below Lookout and had great action there.
Windy
as all get out but both Michael and Linda caught nice fish there mostly
on Baitfish Jigs.

We spent a good amount of
time there and I started noticing the knot at the tree that I tied
on to was getting
higher and higher. A look at the water line told me the floodgates
were shutting down. The bite stayed hot but they also wanted to hit
the creeks
so we went down and had lunch at their resort then went all the way
down to Turkey and Roark. Turkey was slow...we caught a few...Roark
was HOT
once we located the fish. Michael was stripping REA Minnows and Baitfish
Jigs on the Loomis GL3 while Linda hammered them with the 9' spinning
rods and white G-Bugs and coral, white or pink BaitFish Jigs. really
good action and lots of doubles all day long. Fun stuff. We called
it a day and said our good byes. Great folks to hang out with. We're
going
to try and squeeze in a half day for Michael later in the week if possible.
April 28th -
Brian Jenkins and father-in-law Larry are in town from Ohio, my old
stomping grounds. They're here to fish with us a couple of days
and today was the first. Some more "cross over" guys if you
will. They've spin fished all their lives just dabbling in fly fishing
now and then but wanted to learn how to catch some trout doing it.
Another day of doing more techniques that you can squeeze in on a day
but we
gave it shot. We hit them all today and then they could pick their
favorite for day two. Floodgates still rolling. Rumors of shutting
them down doesn't
have me holding my breath. Honestly...while fishing may be a bit easier
and better without floodgates...I'd just assume they run it till we
get that Table Rock level down to 920' or so. If they keep shutting
off just
below flood stage then every big storm we get will have them opening
back up again. I'm sure the people downstream from us are sick of moving
back in and out of their homes too.
There are lots of misinformed local reports about this tailwater that
is reaching out across the country. Our local news even ended one report
saying..."until
the trout come back....". PEOPLE!!..the trout haven't left!! They've never
left and they are being caught, sometimes by the hundreds on our trips. Fishing
is great with or without floodgates. Our customers know it as we are staying
very busy on guided trips. Our first available date for a guided trip is May
11th. Fly fishing, spin fishing..whatever you like to do...Taneycomo is giving
up some fantastic fish and fantastic numbers so don't believe the assumptions
and absolute statements being made by people who don't live on this tailwater
like we do or non-fishermen in general. Most of our regular customers are really
getting a kick out of seeing Taneycomo like it is now and experiencing these
different techniques and locations. Ok, that's my rant. Back to Brian and Larry.
Brian wanted to catch a brown and a 20" fish on our trips. He managed
both today though the biggest rainbow slipped away during the photo shoot.
Here are
a couple of nice fish from first Brian then Larry caught either bumping the
bottom with spinning gear or Sink Tipping with the fly rods.


We started
our day doing that then we tried fishing a seam below Lookout with fly rods.
THAT was a lot of fun for everyone. The "seams" that exist with the
floodgate water are there...but they're narrow. You have to position the boat
just right so your drift hits the fish in those narrow little bands. Once you
find it!...fun stuff. These guys hammered them with several different things
including Mr.Nasty...the Toxic Scud.

While standing still you start
seeing all kinds of different fish floating/swimming by. I'll admit...this looks
like a carp but I can't say I've ever seen a carp that looks quite like this.

You can see the damage behind his head where the tumble over
the dam knocked him senseless. It was just an odd looking carp. There's a fisheries
guy who will email us now and then giving us a fish ID on something I'm not
familiar
with. Maybe we'll hear from him on this one?
We took a late lunch then hit the creeks for yet another fly fishing option.
In fact we anchored out of the wind way, way up one creek where it was T-shirt
weather and just as beautiful as it could be. The creeks were pretty good but
the fish were scattered. We probably only caught 20 - 30 in there and there
were only a couple of areas where we had some doubles and lots of fast action.
We went
everywhere and caught fish at all the places (Except Coon Creek) but it was
a fish or two here and there ..just nothing wild and crazy like usual. Still
a
nice place to be out of heavy current and catching fish.

We spied
this little family of mallards. The first young ones I've seen this year. We
also saw one baby goose. I've seen many submerged goose eggs this year. I'm
guessing there will be a lot of second nesters as normal nesting locations
got washed
out by the floodgates.
These guys were a lot of fun and Wednesday we'll see if they have a favorite
tactic out of all these things we tried today.
April 27th -
Bill and Michelle from the Lenexa, Kansas area were my guests for a day
of fishing. Great folks who I met for the first time. We did
a bunch of different stuff today and had success with all of them. These
guys were spin fishermen first but wanted to learn some fly fishing today.
With that in mind I took them up top to dredge the rocks with spin and
baitcasting rigs dragging 3/4 to 1oz weights in front of some big water
flies. While I've yet to see a threadfin shad in weeks, these fish are
still keying on them heavily. I'll try every kind of scud, egg fly, etc.
but as long as one type of shad pattern is attached they almost always
take that one. One new egg fly I'm trying is hooking a few. It's a cross
between our Natural
Egg and the Milt
Balls. I call them Natty Balls.
I think I had case of that in high school now that I think about about
it. Here's a Natty Ball attached to a fish.

Kind of cold and
blustery early. It warmed a tad but the dredging did bring up some
nice fish. Here's our dynamic duo with a couple of nice ones with Michelle's
pushing the 20" mark.

Bill caught another one better
than that which escaped the photo shoot. So how high do those flood
gates make it?? Does this sign look familiar to anybody?

It's
a tad closer to the water these days. The tailwater has stayed steady
at 715.5 give or take a click. Fishing has been pretty solid and there
are still many ways to catch them. Here's a collection of fish caught
either bumping the bottom with the spinning rods or Sink Tipping with
fly rods. These fish took a coral backed Simple
Minnow #10, a chartreuse
Backed Simple Minnow #10 and a chartreuse Shad Snack in a #10.

While drifting up top I noticed this condo (I believe part
of the Fall Creek complex) hanging over the edge of a washed out
bank.

This banking is washing away, the BIG trees are sliding down
then back in to the condos. They had a crew out there dismantling all
the big trees at the waters edge in anticipation of the next slide.
That condo will have to be saved soon or she'll start falling apart.
The banks
of Taneycomo will be wider after all this. I'm anxious to see how it
all shakes out.
After lunch we decided to learn a little fly fishing and the kids did great.
We found a decent bite in the creeks. Farther up where it's clear that ginger/olive
Baitfish
Jig is hard to beat. Still...where it's muddy the coral, shad, pink
or pure white still reigns supreme. Here's Bill hooked up with the long stick.

Most days it's fairly quiet out here. Just all these fish to ourselves.
Today there was a group of several guides (Bill, Tony, Tracy and Vince) guiding
the same group of guys I believe. Bill asked what we were catching them on
and I gave him a chartreuse shad Snack. Tough to beat that little sucker these
days.
Don't be intimidated by this water. It's very fishable even for fly fishermen
and you can hook up with some very solid fish. It's about 5' higher (in the
upper end) than it is when 4 units are running. Don't sweat it. Stop by the
shop and
we'll tell you where and how to catch them either with spinning gear or the
long stick. It's actually pretty fun. I'm not crazy about having to put my
boat in
the water every day (just until our dock's walkway gets fixed) but I am improving
by trailering skills. Glass half full right??
April 25-26th - Here's
Jeff House with a weekend report from the 25th-26th. Jeff's been dying
to fish somewhere in his pontoon
boat
and
with all
the crazy water
happening virtually everywhere in the Ozarks he was losing a little
hope. I suggested he come down and fish some of the creeks feeding
Taneycomo that we've been fishing. Here's his report.
Brett - Wanted to send
you a report on my weekend fishing down on Taney. First of all I want
to thank you for putting me on the fish. Like most everyone else I'm
having a difficult time finding fishable waters with all of the high
water conditions around the Ozarks this spring. When you told me that
you thought I could put my pontoon on the creeks down there and catch
fish I couldn't resist giving it a try. After stopping by the shop
on Friday morning and picking up the directions you left me and some
of those Baitfish
jigs that have been the go to fly here recently I
headed off to Turkey Creek. After launching my boat I began fishing
my way down
to the mouth of Taneycomo just to check the whole creek out. On the
guides advice I started off with a Coral Baitfish
jig and a white G-Bug trailer.
Before I had even gone 10 yards I already had my first hook-up on the
baitfish jig, a healthy little 15 inch rainbow. After picking up several
fish from around the bridge (one of the spots you clued me in on) I
headed downstream. The water from the bridge down to the mouth of Taney
seemed
to get dirtier as I went and I only picked up a couple of fish along
the way. Once down at the mouth of the creek I picked up several fish
on each shoreline as it emptied into the main river. After fishing
all of the likely holding spots I headed back upstream to the area
around
the bridge where I had seen you at earlier. Once back upstream in the
cleaner water I began picking up fish pretty regularly on the Coral
baitfish jig. No matter what kind of dropper I tried nothing was outfishing
that
coral Baitfish jig, this is why it pays to stop by the shop and pick
up some advice and a few flies, I never would have been fishing brightly
colored specialty jigs if you hadn't given me the tip. After lunch
and a trip to the dam to check out the water (watched the outlet crowd
doing their thing for a little entertainment) I headed back to Turkey
and finished off the afternoon catching fish pretty regularly up above
the bridge. I quit about 4:30 as I wanted to try and catch you at the
shop and visit for a while (ie. Pick your brain for some more fishing
information!!). A good days fishing with probably 30 trout caught and
many more missed. As always I really enjoyed visiting with you and
Tim at the shop. Good conversation and I always seem to learn a thing
or
two every time I'm in.
The next morning I met Tim at the shop and
we headed off to Roark Creek to throw the boats on the water and see
if we couldn't catch a few fish down there.
Just a beautiful day to be on the water and the fish seemed to be cooperating
nicely as well. The first thing that we noticed was the water clarity was much
better than in Turkey the day before. The coral Baitfish Jig was king on Friday
but was a little too bright for that clearer water. Tim and I switched up to
more natural colored Baitfish jigs such as the wine or the grey and this was
the ticket. I had tried numerous droppers the day before with little success
but I just can't get away from fishing 2 flies even when the fish only
want one thing. I hadn't tried a midge the day before so I tied on a #16
Super Midge dropper (this fly was created by Davy Wotton on the White River).
Tim and I started fishing the bridge area and got into fish right away. Today
they were keying on the midge dropper more than the Baitfish Jig for me, although
Tim was still hitting them pretty good on natural color Baitfish Jigs. As usual
the spots you recommended produced the best. A couple of the better spots were
a fish every drift at times and we pretty much had the whole area to ourselves
except for a couple of older gentlemen fishing from the bank. I fished all the
way up to the 65 Bridge but didn't have much success once within sight
of the bridge. The water looked good still but just didn't see any trout
up that far. Took a picture of one area of the creek, I had my boat anchored
up and was wading around sight fishing to a few stragglers, the water was crystal
clear and no one in sight either direction, just like spring creek fishing in
Montana (without the cost of driving up there!!). I don't know how many
fish we caught on Saturday but I know it was too many to count. A great couple
days of fishing that can be attributed to you pointing me in the right direction.
I really enjoyed fishing with Tim as well, I'm sure it won't be too
long and we'll be hooking up to do it again. I threw in a couple of pics
from our trip on Saturday, they may not be worthy of posting as my photography
skills are even worse than my fishing skills!! Thanks again for all the great
info and I look forward to heading down that way again soon, talk to you later
Jeff



April 25th - Our good friend
and part time neighbor Kevin Dulin took a half day venture with us to
show his buddy all about this fly fishing
thing. Learning the sport right now is done best fishing smaller in the
creeks. It's easier than throwing around the heavy stuff up top
or drifting bugs by your boat in a seam scraping the decals off your
boat with your indicator. So... we headed down there to find a few fish
swimming around. After yesterday's bust in the creeks I was a little
nervous about what we'd find BUT...like I tell our customers...it only
takes
about a day to have them clear out enough to where they're fishing pretty
well. You start with brighter colors fresh off a muddy rise. Stuff like
white, coral, pink and chartreuse Bait
Fish Jigs specifically and as
it clears you move to naturals like olives, browns and my personal favorite..the
ginger/olive. It was still muddy today and the coral was king. It wasn't
the best day I've ever had but I've also had worse. I'd guess the boys
caught 25-30 fish in their half day venture. It was actually a tad under
a half day as they promised the bosses to be home for a shopping trip.
So all in all...not too bad for a rookie plus Kevin's only done it a
couple of times before that. Fly fishing small and teaching the basics
while reeling a few in on top of that. Not a bad half day in 4 units
and 10 flood gates.
April 24th -
They're back!!!

The floodgates that is. 10 of them cranked
back up early this a.m. after another round of heavy rain
last night. Today our old buddy Mark Hannah brought brother Joe along
on what was an adventure. The tailwater sat at 715.6 most of the day.
We started up at the cable with Mark Deep Drifting below an indicator
and Joe dredging the bottom with our sink tip sections. We quickly realized
the indicator wasn't sniffing the bottom at all as Joe started cranking
them in fairly quickly. I switched Mark over to the same as the bite
was OK on that sink tip...about 4 - 6 fish every short drift. The fly
of choice...BY FAR was the new chartreuse backed shad Snack!... in a
#10.

We caught them on chartreuse backed Simple
Minnows and the new (yet to be named) shad fly in standard shad gray but that
chartreuse color was a good ingredient. We did 2 - 3 drifts with similar
success each time and I offered up the creeks as another option. Bad
move on my part. I wasn't convinced the creeks would be blown out by
the rains last night. They weren't blown out but they were high and muddy
and we never caught a fish. A couple of takes but in between rain storms
it was pretty much just a casting practice session. I gave the boys the
option of going back up top but with the shaky weather and occasional
downpours we opted to make it a half day trip.
The bite up top was about the same as it has been with the floodgates. You may
get a dozen fish a drift or you may only get 2 or 3. The drifts are cut short
due to the best bite being higher up and with this flow they are pretty quick
to be over with so in retrospect the action is fairly close to 4 unit fishing.
It's catching fish fly fishing and it's definitely nothing you've probably ever
experienced before. Pretty good action too.
The creeks calm down in a days time and I'll probably hit them again tomorrow
and barring more rain... I expect them to be better. Mark is a great customer
of ours. We fish with him and his sons every year at least once. Joe was a great
guy to meet. He knows and inspired another friend and customer of ours in to
fly fishing (Mike Fritz) both in the dental profession. All proud Jayhawk fans
as you can tell by Mark's hat. I won't tell you what his T-shirt said.
I hope we can hook up again. I know I'll see them at least one more time this
fall. Looking for a wading fix I sent them down to Roaring River for tomorrow
and they promised us a report. By the way guys...you left your bag of goodies
in the boat and McKenna sniffed them out. Her new favorite "food" now
is a PayDay bar. Nice work guys. I'll be sending your grandkids a drum set
some day.
April 23rd -
I've been promising photos of some of my newest shad patterns so I thought
I'd have a little contest for everyone
to take part in as
well. Name the Fly! This one right here.

This shad has been
one of my best ones since the high water. It has been great dead drifted
but we've also had superb action with it stripping in the creeks and
slower seams up top. It's weighted with tight wraps of (lead free)
lead up the shank of the streamer hook. A #10 has been a good one for
me but
I've fished them in #6's and down to #14's. It has a very elegant profile...soft
and very flowing utilizing rabbit and marabou for the movement. Custom
CWTS "shad" colored blend of dubbing for the subtle flash
only seen when wet. So that's what it's all about. Name the fly and
the winner
gets a half dozen of them free of charge plus a Chartered Waters visor.
Deadline to submit your name for that fly will be the end of the business
day on May 2nd. Send as many names as you like and the judge will be
yours truly. Good luck.
Now for one of my other shad patterns.

I call this The Snack. Why
snack?? Well, the grizzly rooster saddle wings give the impression of bones...a
lean and anorexic minnow... very weak and malnourished. A nice, easy meal to
be had by any fish who sees it. So it's not an entire meal like a healthy minnow
would be...it's a Snack! Now you look at that fly and say...that doesn't look
like a shad or any other kind of minnow or fish. If you follow this fishing
report at all you've heard me say that I judge all flies by how they
look (and perform)
when they're wet. A dry fly in the vise doesn't really mean jack to me with
a few exceptions like dry flies or eggs...something whose shape doesn't
change
when they're wet. Even those "static" flies at the very least change
colors when they become wet. A red thread (dry) becomes a very dark red thread
when wet. I always tie with the end game in mind and the end game is that fly,
saturated and under water under some kind of movement. So you've seen "The
Snack" dry...here it is a little wet then saturated wet.

Looking a little more "fishy" now
don't you think? Threadfin shad have a wider upper body tapering
down to being thin at the tail. That fluffy
collar
on the The Snack helps create that deeper chest the Threadfin shad carry.
The yet to be named shad has the same effect going on under the marabou that
you
see on the outside. When creating your own new patterns remember the end
game...how is that fly going to look under water and ultimately, wet. Now
here's that
Snack fly using a chartreuse back instead of the shad gray color.

You
know how those tournament bass pros are always using chartreuse backed Shad
Raps and Rouges??...no there are no chartreuse shad swimming around but fish
seem
to key on different colors in the same profile on different days. I'll probably
end up tying these with coral, purple, olive and brown backs too just to
name a few. Maybe even some other funky color schemes I haven't even thought
of
yet. A lot of my best color schemes have come from just playing around with
different
stuff and trying them out. Don't be afraid to experiment. I've had friends
and guests show me some pretty funky stuff that they absolutely swear by.
It doesn't
hurt to try something different. The worst that can happen is that it doesn't
catch fish. And that's not a bad thing...you've eliminated one more choice
in your box the next time you're trying to figure something out. Glass half
full right?