Fishing all over the Ozarks is good, very good as a matter of fact... even with all this rain. You may have to pick and chose where you fish because of all the rain we've had but the lakes are good as well as some of the creeks and rivers.

Lake Taneycomo by Phil Lilley

Generation on Taneycomo hasn't changed much over the last couple of weeks until yesterday when we saw a break. Because of high lake levels at Beaver and Table Rock, the Corp has been running four units at Table Rock Dam for pretty much 24/7 for the past couple of weeks, plus the fact that we keep getting these rain events in the water shed. These haven't been wide spread rains but small cells but lots of rain. This week we've seen a 2-inch and a 4-inch rain in our immediate area but it didn't affect Table Rock's lake level much. But they have to keep running water so eventually drop the lake to manageable levels. Table Rock is almost down to 926, 11 feet above power pool.

Trout fishing has been fairly consistent the last week or so. Not real good but not real bad. Because of the fast water, you just about have to get out in a boat and drift to do well. Bank fishing in the downtown area is pretty good, as well off the dock at Rockaway.

Here at the marina, we've been sending people downstream for the better part of a month to catch trout. Drifting from Cooper Creek down, staying in the middle of the lake and using Gulp Power Bait in white, yellow or pink. Our guides are still fishing down close to the bridges in downtown Branson for the most part. Bill Babler reports doing good on nice rainbows this morning drifting below Scotty's Trout Dock down to the Branson Landing. Also doing good are spoons- Spin-a-Lure in gold or silver casted and retrieved or let go to the bottom and jigged off the bottom. Cleos- same thing.

We'd asked some friends over to eat last night. I got the bright idea to go out and catch dinner for us. This idea has bombed for me so many times you'd think I'd learn but I'm a so learner. It was an excuse to get out and fish, is what it was, but we were going to be in trouble if we didn't come back with the bacon.

Vince and I boated up to Fall Creek at 6:45 pm. We started casting white 1/8th oz jigs (Vince) and a F-11 black/silver rapala (me), first in the mouth of Fall Creek. Vince hooked a fish immediately next to a downed tree- a small brown trout. At the same time, I had a huge brown swipe at my lure right at the boat. Might have gone 6-7 pounds. We worked on down and I had no more action on my stick bait so I switched to a white jig. Vince had caught 4 more browns and missed several more bites so the white jig was the ticket.

We'd try to hit every slow pocket of water against the bank and almost each time we'd get a strike. We missed 6 takes to one hookup. They do that sometimes- bite short. We trimmed the feathers back on our jigs and began to hook a few more fish. More browns. Vince landed 3 trophy browns over 19 inches (pics). But thankfully we started hooking and landing some rainbows!! We ended our drift just past Short Creek with 2 limits of rainbows measuring from 13 to 16 inches, just right for my hot grill waiting back at home. Not bad for an hour and 30 minutes, one drift.

One thing I will mention about our retrieve... we would cast our jig as close to the bank- in eddies or slack water- and let the jig drop a foot and then jig it up. Let it settle back down and jig it again. Most bites were on the first two jigs. We'd work it out another 15-20 feet and then drop the rod tip and reel real fast. As soon as we could see our jigs, we'd stop to see if we had a fish following the jig. I'd say half the time we did and the fish would take the jig as it started to drop. One of my fish was a white bass- about 1.5 pounds. Pretty cool. But this technique works- try it.

White jigs are also working up below the dam, working them the same way- off the bank in slack water. We're seeing some awefully nice rainbows being caught. All our rainbows are fat and thick and fight harder that I've seen them fight in years. It's because of the hgih water running all the time- they're just stronger.

I did get down and fish the lower lake a couple of times last week. Boy, if you love catching blue gill on a fly rod, you need to try the lower lake. Down below Rockaway Beach, get off the main lake and fish the back waters where the water is warmer and not moving. I casted red humpies and stimulators at pods of blue gill along the tree line and caught them at will. Nice palm sized too.

Bass fishing on the lower end is fair. We threw small topwater lures in 1-2 feet of water on flats and caught a few largemouth bass. Also caught them in deeper water using sinkos.


Roaring River State Park by Tim Homesley

The river just keeps getting better every week, the last rains missed us again, and the river is in fine shape, with the water getting clearer, the use of 7X (2lb line) becomes more important, I think it will catch you more fish right now than 3 or 4 lb line (6X or5X) and stay away from the blue or clear blue lines or any other line that looks blue or white on your reel, these spook fish in the clear water that we have right now.

Dry fly fishing has been really good, beetles, caddis, blue wing olives and tricos have all been good. Ants, hoppers, stimulators, and humpys have all been good in the afternoons. Nymph fishing is still just as good as it has been, copper johns, pheasant tails, burlaps, micro eggs, and small zebra midges have all been working great, brassies, and woolybuggers have also been very effective, but the woolybugger is still the best fly to use all day long if you only have one fly to fish.

Plastic worms are still tearing the trout up, the pink/white, orange, and the cheese yellow are still very good. Plastic eggs have been working great as usual, the white, orange, and brown have been working best.

Marabou jigs are great now, with the clearing water we are able to sight fish again, and the micro jigs in white, tan, black/yellow and olive have been working better than ever, if you like regular jigs, then black/yellow, white, brown and tan are the ones to use, 1/32, 1/64, and the 1/100 mini jigs have bee working best. Roostertails are great early morning flies, the brown, black, and the white have been really good. Spoons continue to work well, small gold, or silver work very well all day long, some of the more colorful spoons work better when the sun is up, the brown trout spoon was the best producer last week.

Glo-balls, grubs, thread jigs, and small micro jigs were very good in the fly area for the spin fisherman, set these up with a cork and fish them about 3' deep right now, fish them on the far bank, and if the cork even bobbles a bit, set the hook. Good fish are caught this way every day. Zone 3, powerbait paste in yellow or rainbow. Nightcrawlers and corn are also good producers.

Good luck this week on the river.

Tim's Fly Shop, Cassville, MO

Table Rock Lake by Eric Prey

Kimberling City Area: Fish have definitely moved out from the shallows over the past week. Several fish are being taken on Carolina rigs and Drop Shot rigs through out the mid lake area. Look to long points with deep water close by to be holding most of the fish. On the drop shot rig a number of baits have been effective; Chompers drop shot worms in purple / brown laminate or plum, Robo Worm 6” worms in Ox Blood and Red Crawler and Kinami Cut Tail worms in purple / brown are all working well. On a Carolina rig green pumpkin or watermelon red lizards, baby brush hogs and Salty Sinkers have all been producing. The C-Rig has been effective from 18’ – 25’ deep while the Drop Shot is working from 25’ – 35’ deep.

James River: There are several patterns producing in the James River; Jewel Football Jigs, Carolina Rigs, Flipping and deep crankbaits have all been effective. Jewel Football Jigs and Carolina rigs have been working on main lake pea gravel points and saddles from 18’ – 25’ deep. Best colors have been PB&J, green pumpkin and watermelon red. Several quality fish have been coming out of bushes and the flooded cover on and around points and channel banks; Eakins jigs with Paca Chunk trailers, Baby Brush Hogs and Salty Sinkers have all been effective flipping baits in green pumpkin or PB&J. Numbers of better fish have begun to show up on ledges and roll offs through out the upper James, target these fish with DD-22’s and DT-16 crankbaits making parallel casts banking the bait into isolated brush and rock cover.

White River: The White River arm is really good right now; drop shot rigs, Jewel Football Jigs and Carolina rigs are all producing from Baxter to Shell Knob, flipping tactics and shallow crankbaits are working in the Kings River and Jewel Spider and Football Jigs are producing from Shell Knob to Eagle Rock. From Baxter to Shell Knob look for pea gravel and mixed gravel / rock points to be holding most of the fish, dragging Jewel Football Jigs in PB&J or green pumpkin green flash or Carolina rigged brush hogs and lizards has been one of the most effective patterns from 18’ – 30’ deep. Most of these fish are holding on the deeper side of the point. Spots have started to suspend in deeper water off channel swing points, target these fish with drop shot rigs with Chompers or Robo Worm drop shot worms. In the Kings there is a bunch of fish holding on flooded bushes and wood cover; flip Eakins Jigs, Brush Hogs and Ultra Tubes in and around this cover. Toward the backs of feeder creeks look for schools of shad and throw square bill crankbaits in and around the shad to be effective. Further up the White most of the fish are coming on points from 15’ – 25’ deep with Jewel Spider or Football jigs worked slowly along the bottom, PB&J and brown / purple flash have been the best colors.

Dam / Branson Area: Fish seem further into a summer pattern on the lower end of the lake. There is still a topwater bite very early in the morning, look for surface activity and throw spooks, sammys and redfins to schools of active fish. Once the sun comes up the best bite has been on drop shot rigs; Chompers drop shot worms in purple / brown laminate or plum, Robo Worms in Ox Blood or MM III and Kinami cut tails in shad or brown / purple have all been effective. Target main lake points with deep water close by concentrating on the 35’ – 45’ depth. Several fish have been suspending on bluff end points and in submerged trees, look for schools of shad in the 25’ – 50’ range holding close to trees and bluff ends and the fish will be close by. These fish can be caught on the same drop shot rigs mentioned above as well as spoons and grubs.

Eric Prey
Focused Fishing Guide Service
http://focusedfishing.com

Editor's Note!!!

I am leaving for Alaska tomorrow morning. I have a cabin on the Nakenk River near Katmai National Park in the Bristol Bay area and will be working part of the time helping a friend who lost his lodge to fire last week and doing some exploring and fishing in the area. I'll be back on July 29th. I will try to post reports while I'm there but they may be spaced more than a week apart. It all depends on when I can get to town to the public library in Naknek where there's WIFI available. And yes, I'll have some pics from Alaska too.

For area reports and information, please see my fishing site at http://ozarkanglers.com.