Lake Taneycomo

Lake Taneycomo, Missouri

(02/11/00 - 02/13/00)
As told by my friend Rob Rasch...Bass Fisherman

Well, I finally did it. I went fly fishing. Scott finally convinced me to give it a shot, so we drove 4 hours down to Branson, MO area to chase some rainbow and brown trout around Lake Taneycomo. Drove down on a Friday afternoon and stayed at a nice little place called the Branson Lodge. If you are ever going down to that area to fish it is ideal accomodations because it is within 1/4 mile of the prime fishing area for trout on the lake, it is clean and the rates were reasonable (@ $40 night).

The part of Lake Taneycomo we fished was not really a lake, but the river/stream that feeds the lake. It stems from the Table Rock dam which is at the south part of Table Rock lake (supposed to be some good bass fishing there... hmmm, might have to check that out when it warms up). Anyway, we got up early Saturday morning with the temperature around 30 degrees (windchill of 19) and basically froze to death for a few hours as Scott showed me some of the fly fishing basics (i.e. standing waste deep in the water without falling over, roll casting with a fly rod, putting itty-bitty fishing line, excuse me... tippet, through an itty-bitty hook when you have no feeling in your fingers, etc...). After flailing around in the stream for awhile, I finally got the hang of it (sorta) and was at least able to get my fly in the water to float downstream. Alas, no fish in the morning would take my fly. (They were probably freezing to death like I was.) I know they were in there though, because at any given time there were up to a dozen good sized Rainbow trout hanging around my feet in the water. I guess they figured I was no threat, and at the time I wasn't! Scott caught a few during this time, but we both needed thawing out.

We took a lunch break and thawed out back at the lodge (of course, a few cold beers really helped raise the anti-freeze level). We hit the local fly shop for some information on what they were hitting and bought a few of the flies recommended. I ended up having success with a grey woolybugger (sp?) and a worm (looked like a piece of orange yarn tied to a hook???). We went back out at about 1:00pm and spent about 4 hours out that time. Temperature had warmed up to about 40 degrees, and I was feeling confident. Finally, caught my first trout with a fly rod at about 2:30 and then caught another about 30 minutes later. Both were Rainbows about 12-14 inches and were caught with the grey woolybugger. Nothing to write home about size wise, but it was quite a thrill to catch 'em with a fly rod. I think they may have felt sorry for me because they knew how long I'd been out there! We called it a day around 5:00 and headed back for dinner.

We got up Sunday morning, packed and prepared for one more morning of fishing. After dreaming about casting and hooking huge Rainbows, I was ready for them this time. We fished for about 2 1/2 hours and I caught 3 more. Of course, the gentleman about 20 yards away caught about 15 during the same time, but hey, who is counting? :-) The first was caught with the grey woolybugger again, and the last two, including the big one was caught drifting the worm through some faster water. When I caught the big one I thought I'd hung on a rock... until the rock started pulling line! It was a beauty, and I fought it for about 5 minutes. It had to be about 18-19 inches and probably weighed a good 2 1/2 or 3 lbs easy. Of course, I don't have a picture of it (Scott had gone upstream with the camera), but you'll just have to take my word for it. Needless to say, I felt pretty good as I fought it as all the other anglers nearby watched in awe (yeah that's right, I'm a pro!).

Overall, it was a great time! Not sure how many Scott caught (probaly about twice as many as me), but I caught five, and the big one was really a lot of fun. I will definitely do it again, but I'm not quite ready to trade in my bass boat and baitcasters yet! Plus, I may not come from the right bloodline to be a fly fisherman. As I looked around at some of the other anglers, one smoking a fancy pipe, several looking really proper in their fancy wide-brim hats and fly vests, I got the feeling that some of these guys are elitists. Geez, what would they have done if they knew it was my first time? Ha! Who am I kidding? I am sure they could very quickly tell it was my first time by the way I whooped and hollered when I cought a little 8 inch Rainbow (just kidding, of course). Anyway, I would give fly fishing a big thumbs up. It was very enjoyable and quite a challenge!