Lake Taneycomo- Chapter 2

This was a spot that Busch had told me so much about, but I had never seen.  The trophy area was located just downstream from Table Rock Dam.  The water was shallow enough to wade across in most spots, but included some deeper holes that held larger numbers of fish. There were also some flats that sustained fish as well, but they were hard to see and I had no idea how to fish for them.  In a few places, the water bottle necked, got shallow and picked up speed.  Below the riffles, were more holes that fish congregated around as different nutrients naturally filtered through the rocks.  A unique feature of this area was there were drainage pipes that fed into the lake at three different points.

Near the trophy area was a parking lot that fly fishermen used as a staging area.  The parking lot also lead to the Sheppard of the Hills Trout Hatchery.  The water from the lake was used to nourish these hatchlings, and then returned to the lake.  This water carried specks of food and became highly oxygenated as it poured out of the pipes.  Fish flocked to these outlets for both reasons, and fishermen huddled around it at all hours of the day.  This seemed a little like cheating and didn’t offer the appropriate challenge we were looking for.

To be honest, we didn’t know where to start.  Everything looked foreign for so many reasons.  First of all, people were so spread out.  We were used to ducking under back casts from amateurs and having people horde in on our spots at Bennett Spring State Park.  This place was wide open.  Holes with stockpiles of fish begged us to drift them.  The water was at a level that made wading possible and no water was passing through the dam.  Areas below riffles seemed to have endless potential.  On top of all this, the entire area was known as the “Trophy Area” for Pete’s sake.

The Trophy Area earned its name for good reason.  Many large rainbows and browns have been caught in this area over the years.  Guides can make a living here and many fishermen from across the Midwest know exactly where you are talking about when the name comes up in a conversation, even if the name of the lake is left out.  The notoriety and overall success of the area is due in large part to the Missouri Department of Conservation.  Due to the stocking program, lake management, and slot limit restrictions in this area, the department should receive praise and recognition for its efforts.  In this area, the slot is 12-20 inches.  This makes catching fish in the 18-19 inch range possible and common on some occasions.  All of these factors fueled our excitement and anticipation.

As we entered the water, I think we both wanted early success but were cautiously optimistic.  We knew it wouldn’t be easy, but would feel more comfortable with a fish or two on the board.  As many anglers know, a new body of water offers new challenges and can be intimidating.  At times, a body of water that has never been fished by an angler can resemble a puzzle that has no picture as a guide.  Anglers must be on high alert at all times and constantly be on the lookout for clues in order to create a better mental image of the overall makeup and secrets to the lake.  We knew that we were in for a challenge and knew that we would have to soak up any and all advice offered by fly shops and fellow anglers to boost our collective knowledge base and confidence levels.  A little early success on the first day of a new lake would go a long way and really boost our confidence.  It wouldn’t take much for pessimism and doubt to creep in if struggles ensued. 

We both began fishing the hole that outlet number two fed into.  It had spots that were 5-7 feed deep.  There were spots that you could get a long drift past a large number of fish.  The fish stacked up here by the hundreds.  All this potential was just that until we started putting up some numbers.