(photo by Steve Weisman) Hunter with a nice rainbow trout taken on Lake Taneycomo over Thanksgiving.
By Steve Weisman
Thanksgiving was a special time for my wife and me this year. We took our daughter and her three children to Branson, MO, which I deemed as a homecoming. You see, my wife and I have been traveling to Branson for nearly 20 years. It’s kind of become a home away from home for us. The scenery is incredible, there are wonderful shows, the shopping is impeccable (so says my wife) and, yes, there is some darned good trout fishing on Lake Taneycomo. I was in hopes that my grandson, Hunter would catch his first Taneycomo rainbow trout. Two summers ago, he caught his first Lake Michigan salmon and steelhead. So, this would be another thing to check off his bucket list.
However, it was a total family vacation, so we tried to get everybody involved. We stayed at Timber Lodge at Welk Resort, which gave our 15-year old granddaughter, Maddysen and our 8-year old granddaughter, Sadee the chance to use the indoor pool, waterslide and outdoor hot tub whenever they had spare time. While they swam, Hunter and I played games of pool and foosball.
For my wife and daughter, Stephanie it was not having to work the evening before and all morning for the Thanksgiving feast. Instead, we all went to a traditional Thanksgiving buffet at the Welk Resort’s Stage Door Restaurant.
During the stay, we enjoyed the Hughes Brothers Christmas show and Pierce Arrow, along with a trip to Mel’s Hard Luck Diner, a 1950s themed diner where the servers (in addition to their serving) take turns serenading their customers with popular songs and at this time of year Christmas carols. The entire crew even serenaded Sadee with a special song for her birthday!
Let’s go fishing
Each year when I go to Branson, I always fish Lake Taneycomo, the first time with a guide. However, early on I met Mark Devore, a former classmate of Tim Milner, who taught with me in Estherville and who now works part-time at Fisherman’s Factory Outlet. Mark has been fishing Taneycomo for nearly 35 years and teaches fly fishing at the trophy trout streams of Dogwood Canyon owned by Bass Pro’s founder Johnny Morris. It’s kind of nice to have your own built-in guide!
I’ve also had the pleasure to strike up a good relationship with Phil Lilley, owner of Lilleys’ Landing (www.lilleyslanding.com), which is a popular resort and marina on upper lake Taneycomo.
For over three decades, Lilleys’ Landing Resort and Marina, which is nestled below the bluffs on the shores of Lake Taneycomo, has offered anglers with some of the best trout fishing in the world, boats and pontoon rentals, fly and tackle shop, along with professional guide services. They also offer the comfort of modern, updated cottages, both lakeside and off-lake.
On the water
The only day that would work out for us was Friday. Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday were sunny and in the mid 50s to 60. Friday, wouldn’t you know it, was 45 degrees with a threat of rain. Sure enough our 5-hour fishing trip was filled with nearly 4 hours of intermittent rain showers and occasional downpours. We always rent a pontoon because of its great fishing platform to allow for casting and roll casting with a flyrod. Boy was I glad it had a bimini top up and ready! Even though we had rain gear on, it was nice to have that protection. At 48 degrees, it was still comfortable to fish.
Our plan is to head upstream a few miles from Lilleys’ and work the cuts and channels of Taneycomo, usually in 6-10 foot of water. Of course, trout rise to the surface, making dimples on the water. So, you often look for these telltale signs.
Normally, the technique is using either fly rod with a tiny pink marabou jig tied to an eight-foot or longer leader and a strike indicator (small float) at the end of the leader. Often no bait is used, but sometimes a pink or other colored Berkley Trout Powerbait is used (unless you are in the trophy area-then no bait). The other option is using a spinning combination and a bobber to cast the same baits.
The bite was slow, but we probably caught around 15 rainbows between 11-14 inches in length. Not big, but there are definitely larger ones out there. Mark’s biggest has been an eight pounder.
As a grandpa, it was fun to watch Hunter figure out the technique and begin catching rainbow trout. Soon he was saying, “Grandpa, when are you going to start catching them!”
To me, that made the fishing trip priceless. Oh, and as we got ready to leave, Mark handed me a 7 weight fly rod that he had custom built. It was specially built for me! Awesome! He later texted me saying, “Casts like a dream…enough power to catch any North American species – provided they are under 20 pounds-lol!”
What is really cool is that all of this occurs just two miles away from The Strip on the famous Highway 76, better known as the Country 76 or the Branson Strip!
