Gore Ok vs. Branson MO

If you had a choice to make where would you trout fish Gore OK area or Good Ole Taneycomo? Kind of beating around a 3 day fishing trip before the end of summer. Which of the above would you go to?
BillMc

If it is an either/or situation, I would say Tannecomo hands down. I have fished both and fish the Lower Illinois quite often, but for trout size & count it is Tanny. The Lower Ill is a beautiful river IMHO but Tanny is much better trout water. Shoot Nightangler a line and see if he can't hook you into some of that monster brown night angling he does. :lol: Good luck whichever way you go.

Larry;
Wife and I had this conversation last night. we own at Tl Resort in Branson already have oor trout stamps and fishing lincesse for MO. Would make more sense to fish Taney. We fish that water probally 20 times a year, but that is really not enough. I would rather be fishing it this weekend, but I have to start building her wrap around porch.
BillMc

Bill, I can get to Gore in an hour, it takes me over 3 hours to get to Branson, so I fish the Lower Illinois more than Taneycomo. As Okie said, you will catch more and bigger trout at Taney. The Lower Ilinois is kind of like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get. I fished down there on July 4th and caught rainbows, a couple of browns, bluegills, crappie, and a couple of small stripers. In the past I have caught channel catfish, walleye, drum, and white bass. I plan to go down there tomorrow morning and I'll let you know how I do.
Steve

Bill..


I cant tell you either place to fish...
Ive never fished in Gore Ok...

but night fishing on Taney is slow... past 2 night has been almost a bust!!

I was saved by 2 fish last night at the end, both about 13in bows..
Night before was a little better with 1 fish... but what would you rather catch... 2-13 little bow or a

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v732/ ... 8brown.jpg


as for as day fishing... I dont know

take a look in my profile for my website...
I have a few names on my friends list and there are some up-to-date fishing report....

Taney fishing is subject to erratic power generation during the Summer. When they generate, water temps drop into the 40's. Turns the fish off. In a typical Summer, generation doesn't drop the water temp this low, but mild temps and heavy rainfall have kept the bottom thermocline of the lakes COLD. The other day, I fished down at Pointe Royale on 1 generator and the water temp was 48 degrees down there. Fishing was much slower than usual. I had to literally tap them on the noses during a dead drift to get fish to take. Even enticing streamers within inches of the fish didn't budge them. I caught 3 fish and missed 2 quick strikes in about 5 hours of fishing. What I caught took a size 18 blood midge on 6x fluorocarbon.

The best I've done on low generation this Summer is about 2 fish/hour.

Generally speaking, they won't generate in the mornings until noon. And the ideal time to fish would be from sunrise until they blow the horn in the early afternoon. On no generation in the daylight, you can catch 10 fish/hour or so. DO has been good. So what you need is water temps up in the 50s.

Since you already have everything in place for Taneycomo, that's where I would go. And if you hit a lot of power generation, rent a boat or canoe from Lilley's Landing and head DOWNSTEAM until you find water temps in the 60s. You almost never see fly anglers that far downstream, but I've caught some great trout, bass, and crappie on the lower lake on the fly rod. But you need a boat. Phill Lilley rents White River Jonboats with motors and all the fixings for a VERY reasonable rate.

On the lower lake, fish the feeder creeks, coves, and islands with size 8-12 streamers in natural colors like browns and olives with a touch of flash. Also might try shad patterns (gray/white or silver/white) for bass and crappie below Bull Creek and down to the Powersite Dam. An intermediate sinking line or quick sink tip is usually the way to go for trout and bass. Trout and crappie can be taken on the dead drift with a strike indicator and nymphs. But that's the tougher way to fish lower Taney except back in the shallow parts of coves, etc. Best to rig 2 rods per anglers in the boat (or at least 2 reel spools per). Rig one for streamer fishing and one for nymph/surface fishing...so a sinking line/sink tip and a 3X leader on a 6wt is ideal for the first, while a 4-5wt with a floating line and a 10-13' 5X leader (and down to 7X tippet if necessary) on the second.

This is the way to be versatile on a Taneycomo vacation in the Summer. You can fish in almost any conditions if you're prepared to wade or boat fish as I've described above. A lot of fly anglers just give up when the horn goes off. I have no idea why. Whe the horn goes off, it's time to head for Lilley's, rent a boat, and head DOWNSTREAM! BTW, almost none of the guides will fish below Cooper Creek for some weird reason. So don't pay much attention when they tell you you're wasting your time. Some of the best fishing experiences I've had on Taneycomo over the past decade have come with a fly rod in hand, sitting in a boat somewhere between Roark Creek and Empire Park.

Heck, if someone were to invite me along to show them how/where, I might even take them up on it. LOL