Winter Fishing Taneycomo

Monday, January 19, 2015 , , 19 Comments



Tailwater's simultaneously offer some of the greatest fishing opportunities and some of the most frustrating. They can be exciting due to the sheer number of fish, the potential to hook into some monster trout, and the multitude of water scenarios with which you can fish. Yet water conditions often fluctuate throughout the day and regardless of planned generation schedules the powers that be often seem to have their own maddening sense of humor as to what they will dish out to anglers. As such, when fishing tailwater's it is always best to have a back up plan. Originally Jeff and I had hoped that unseasonably warm conditions this weekend would equate to low power generation and wadable conditions,  and thus we would be able throw large streamers for big Browns. However, water was up and we were confined to sticking pretty close to the banks.


Making the best of the situation we still were able to get a productive day of fishing in, as you can see from the above photo with Jeff hooking into a nice Taney Rainbow. 


Instead of throwing 10" streamers to Browns we targeted the gorgeous Rainbows, rich with their winter coloring. Originally the fishing was a touch slow, but as they increased generation from one unit to two the fishing improved. This was unsurprising as it seems no matter the species, fish seem more willing to eat on rising water. The only problem of course is the rising water limited wading opportunities even more. Productive patterns for me were the usual: Red Zebra Midge, Scuds, and G-Bug. It was a good day minus the fact that that I slipped and fell into the water above my waders. Even on a warmish day in January, falling in 40* water is cold, very cold. Glad my belt was cinched on my waders and that I had extra clothes. Regardless it was a good day, and the trout put on a good show with their colors. 















19 Comments:

RM Lytle said...

Nice Bows! Isn't it usually better to have a few more generators kicking out water to fish streamers? At least that's what I've heard from the White River.

Atlas said...

Indeed you are 100% right. BUT, Jeff and I didn't bring our boats this trip as we did some small stream fishing as well. We were hoping for wadable conditions to throw streamers at NIGHT for the browns. Still would have nymphed during the day I am sure. Sorry I should have made that much clearer.

Hibernation said...

Wow - those are amazing cubbow's there! Nice. Great to see how you accepted the conditions, audibled and had a super time even though your A plan didn't happen.

Awesome views as well. Gorgeous!

Atlas said...

Thank you, this was only part of the trip. We hit another place as well and though we didn't catch as many trout there it was even more memorable as it was a wild trout stream. So stay tuned!

TexWisGirl said...

beautiful fish! i recognized joe right away in the first photo and thought, 'wait, what blog am i at?' :)

Atlas said...

Haha, yep it's always nice to have Joe on the river, between him and Jeff you would be hard pressed to find better company to fish with.

cofisher said...

Beautiful country and gorgeous fish my friend. Speaking of friends...nice to see Jeff and Joe. Many years ago there was a web site where you could watch underwater at Taneycomo. Any idea if it's still active?

Atlas said...

Thank you sir, I am not aware of any trout cam underwater at the moment but I will look into it and let you know what I find out.

Mel said...

I will agree with you on two things from your post. One, those are some beautiful colored up Rainbows and full of vigor I would guess. Secondly, It is cold in 40 degree weather while wading without taking a dip and getting soaked to find out. Glad to hear you were prepared and made the best of a bad situation there.

~doubletaper said...

Those are some nice looking rainbows. Nice find in the winter months!!

Atlas said...

Thanks guys, wasn't a bad situation, just was an less than desirable one. All in all some good times.

Those are some chunky 'bows! Jealous is not the word my friend...

Atlas said...

They are healthy for sure, it was a great opportunity. Thanks for the comment Michael.

Awesome post showing some fatties, nice looking colors on the those browns and bows--looks like you had a friend there with you. thanks for sharing

looknfishy said...

Beautiful colored Bows. The weather was perfect! Pleasant surprise for January.

Mark Kautz said...

All that time my friend Dave lived in Taneyville, he never told me there were trout that big down there. Probably would have enticed me to go down there and visit.

CARF said...

I fished that exact area 2 years ago.

Looks like a great fish! You have those trout figured out. I, too, recognized Joe right away just like Theresa. I've been wanting to make a trip back down to Taneycomo...with my waders this time. Haha that water was unexpectingly FREEZING!

Juan said...

oh man, the coloring on those rainbows is fantastic! Great job, man!

Atlas said...

Justin you are completely right, the water is COLD and it doesn't fluctuate much no matter the time of the year. Waders really are a must here.