03-06-2008, 07:10 PM
Recent changes make this trophy trout fishery more productive than ever.
JEFFERSON CITY-For 50 years, Missourians have been thrilling to the electric sensation of a surging trout at the ends of their lines at Lake Taneycomo. Now moving into its second half-century, Taneycomo's trout fishery is more productive than ever, supplying not only fishing thrills for visitors to the White River lake, but brown trout for the entire Show-Me State.
At 2,080 acres, Lake Taneycomo is dwarfed by its neighbors - 43,100-acre Table Rock Lake immediately upstream and 45,000-acre Bull Shoals Lake immediately downstream. However, its location makes it unique among the White River reservoirs that stitch together southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas.
For one thing, Taneycomo is the only White-River lake that lies entirely within Missouri. It also is the only one that maintains a discernable current throughout its 22-mile length.
From the time it was filled in 1913 until 1958, it was a warm-water
lake and supported fish native to the White River, notably smallmouth bass, white bass, crappie and bluegill. The completion of Table Rock Dam, however, changed things dramatically.
From then on, Taneycomo's water came from the bottom of a 160-foot<br />
pool of water. The temperature of this water stays between the low 40s and the low 50s year-round. That is far too cold for smallmouth bass, but it is excellent for trout. The lower end of the lake and its arms fed by warmer tributaries continue to offer good fishing for smallmouth bass and other native species. But the farther you go toward Table Rock Dam, the less suitable the water becomes for native fish.
Anticipating the change from warm to cold water, conservation officials built Shepherd of the Hills Trout Hatchery beside Table Rock Dam as the 160-foot structure went up south of the sleepy little village of Branson. The hatchery was in operation in 1958, when Table Rock Dam began discharging cold water into Lake Taneycomo and through the hatchery's raceways.
No one with the Missouri Department of Conservation today is sure where the first stocking of 700 rainbow trout released into Lake Taneycomo came from. The Norfork or the Neosho national trout hatchery might have supplied the fish. Whatever their origins, the rainbow trout grew rapidly.
"Fish fed very heavily on the enormous numbers of fresh water shrimp in Lake Taneycomo," said Fisheries Programs Supervisor Mike Kruse.<br />
"that was probably more than anything responsible for the very rapid growth of stocked rainbow trout and the creation of a big-rainbow fishery there."
Within 10 years, anglers nationwide were flocking to Taneycomo to catch<br />
5- to 10-pound rainbow trout. To keep up with demand, the Conservation Department boosted the number of trout planted there each year. In 1980 the agency began stocking German brown trout, which grow to even larger sizes than rainbows. Stocking peaked at 1.6 million rainbow trout in 1984.
At about the same time, the Conservation Department detected a gradual decline in the number of big fish anglers were catching. Exploring possible causes for the decline of the trophy-trout fishery, Conservation Department researchers discovered that fish were getting less food than they needed to grow well.
Fisheries researchers also learned that the lake's freshwater shrimp population was drastically reduced. Furthermore, anglers were removing trout from the lake so quickly after stocking that the fish had little time to grow. A 1991 survey showed that only one percent of the lake's rainbow trout were 13 inches or larger.
"We were exceeding carrying capacity of the lake's food supply,"<br />
said Kruse, 'so in 1993 we backed off on stocking to 700,000 10- to 11-inch rainbow trout annually. That helped get the population back in line with what the lake could support. At the same time, we changed the stocking schedule from 80,000 per month to one that more closely matched fishing levels, stocking more heavily in the summer and fewer in the winter."
In 1997 the Conservation Department implemented a 12- to 20-inch slot length limit in the upper three miles of the lake. In this area, which lies upstream from the mouth of Fall Creek, anglers are allowed to keep only trout smaller than 12 inches or longer than 20 inches. Another regulation limited fishing above Fall Creek to artificial lures and flies. Trout tend to swallow natural or soft baits, resulting in more deeply hooked fish that die when released.
Kruse said these changes let more trout survive and grow during peak fishing months. They also reduced the number of fish that inhabited the lake during slow fishing periods, giving freshwater shrimp numbers a chance to rebound.
"We let them use the natural food in the lake and protected them so they could grow to larger size," he said. "It worked. Since 2002 more than half the trout in our samples were over 13 inches."
Trout numbers increased, too. In 1996, before the regulation changes, electrofishing sampling data showed a capture rate of 27 trout per hour above Fall Creek. In 2006, the capture rate in the same area was 226.<br />
That number has topped 300 in recent years.
The Conservation Department continues to monitor Taneycomo trout and angler success so it can react to future management challenges. The agency also is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwestern Power Administration to solve problems with low water flows and low oxygen levels in water released from Table Rock Lake each fall.<br />
The National Fish Habitat Initiative (see fishhabitat.org/) may provide help with this effort.
The agency also has made improvements to increase the productivity of Shepherd of the Hills Trout Hatchery. A new fish ladder at the upper end of Lake Taneycomo allows hatchery personnel to effortlessly catch brown trout that swim upstream in the fall trying to spawn. These fish serve as brood stock for all the brown trout raised in Missouri hatcheries.
At Taneycomo alone, the Conservation Department stocks 10,000 to 15,000 brown trout annually. A lake-wide 20-inch minimum length limit protects Taneycomo browns, which can grow to more than 30 pounds.
Anglers 16 and older need a valid fishing permit to fish at Lake Taneycomo. That is the only permit required to fish below the U.S.<br />
Highway 65 bridge. However, you also need a Missouri Trout Permit to fish above Highway 65 or to keep trout you catch anywhere on the lake.
"Lake Taneycomo above Branson is almost exclusively a trout fishery," said Kruse. 'the only fish you are likely to catch there are trout, much like a trout park, and in a trout park everyone who fishes, regardless of age needs a trout tag. Rather than institute a daily tag system it made more sense to require people fishing the upper part of the lake to have a Trout Permit."
Taneycomo's constant water temperature means fishing is good throughout the year. Fall is especially popular because brown trout move up the lake in October trying to return to Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery, where they were born.
The lake never freezes, so you can fish Taneycomo year round. Summer air temperatures are moderated by the large mass of cool water.
"It's a great place to be in the heat of summer, because that mass of cold water being released from Table Rock Lake acts like a giant air conditioner. It can be 100 degrees in Branson and you can go down on the lake and be comfortable."
Power generation activity at Table Rock Dam makes a big difference in the fishing environment. During periods of low water flow - when Table Rock's power plant is not operating - anglers can fish from gravel bars. During peak generation periods, water covers gravel bars and turns the entire lake into a large river. Then you can use a boat to drift and dangle bait below the mouth of Fall Creek or drift-fish with artificial flies and lures in the upper 3 miles.
For information about water flows at Lake Taneycomo, visit waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv"07053500, or www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/plots/Web/tab.htm, or call 866/494-1993.
"A lot of fly fishermen prefer to fish that upper end of the lake when water is not being released," said Kruse, "and they can get out and wade and see fish more easily. A lot of fly fishermen are turned off by power generation, but if you can get in a boat that is when some of the best fishing is available."
Fishing access is available at Cooper Creek (with a disabled-accessible, covered fishing dock), Rockaway Beach and Empire Park in Forsyth on the lower lake. Numerous private resorts with fishing docks also serve the lake. For more information, visit branson.com/lake-taneycomo.html.
-Jim Low-
JEFFERSON CITY-For 50 years, Missourians have been thrilling to the electric sensation of a surging trout at the ends of their lines at Lake Taneycomo. Now moving into its second half-century, Taneycomo's trout fishery is more productive than ever, supplying not only fishing thrills for visitors to the White River lake, but brown trout for the entire Show-Me State.
At 2,080 acres, Lake Taneycomo is dwarfed by its neighbors - 43,100-acre Table Rock Lake immediately upstream and 45,000-acre Bull Shoals Lake immediately downstream. However, its location makes it unique among the White River reservoirs that stitch together southwestern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas.
For one thing, Taneycomo is the only White-River lake that lies entirely within Missouri. It also is the only one that maintains a discernable current throughout its 22-mile length.
From the time it was filled in 1913 until 1958, it was a warm-water
lake and supported fish native to the White River, notably smallmouth bass, white bass, crappie and bluegill. The completion of Table Rock Dam, however, changed things dramatically.
From then on, Taneycomo's water came from the bottom of a 160-foot<br />
pool of water. The temperature of this water stays between the low 40s and the low 50s year-round. That is far too cold for smallmouth bass, but it is excellent for trout. The lower end of the lake and its arms fed by warmer tributaries continue to offer good fishing for smallmouth bass and other native species. But the farther you go toward Table Rock Dam, the less suitable the water becomes for native fish.
Anticipating the change from warm to cold water, conservation officials built Shepherd of the Hills Trout Hatchery beside Table Rock Dam as the 160-foot structure went up south of the sleepy little village of Branson. The hatchery was in operation in 1958, when Table Rock Dam began discharging cold water into Lake Taneycomo and through the hatchery's raceways.
No one with the Missouri Department of Conservation today is sure where the first stocking of 700 rainbow trout released into Lake Taneycomo came from. The Norfork or the Neosho national trout hatchery might have supplied the fish. Whatever their origins, the rainbow trout grew rapidly.
"Fish fed very heavily on the enormous numbers of fresh water shrimp in Lake Taneycomo," said Fisheries Programs Supervisor Mike Kruse.<br />
"that was probably more than anything responsible for the very rapid growth of stocked rainbow trout and the creation of a big-rainbow fishery there."
Within 10 years, anglers nationwide were flocking to Taneycomo to catch<br />
5- to 10-pound rainbow trout. To keep up with demand, the Conservation Department boosted the number of trout planted there each year. In 1980 the agency began stocking German brown trout, which grow to even larger sizes than rainbows. Stocking peaked at 1.6 million rainbow trout in 1984.
At about the same time, the Conservation Department detected a gradual decline in the number of big fish anglers were catching. Exploring possible causes for the decline of the trophy-trout fishery, Conservation Department researchers discovered that fish were getting less food than they needed to grow well.
Fisheries researchers also learned that the lake's freshwater shrimp population was drastically reduced. Furthermore, anglers were removing trout from the lake so quickly after stocking that the fish had little time to grow. A 1991 survey showed that only one percent of the lake's rainbow trout were 13 inches or larger.
"We were exceeding carrying capacity of the lake's food supply,"<br />
said Kruse, 'so in 1993 we backed off on stocking to 700,000 10- to 11-inch rainbow trout annually. That helped get the population back in line with what the lake could support. At the same time, we changed the stocking schedule from 80,000 per month to one that more closely matched fishing levels, stocking more heavily in the summer and fewer in the winter."
In 1997 the Conservation Department implemented a 12- to 20-inch slot length limit in the upper three miles of the lake. In this area, which lies upstream from the mouth of Fall Creek, anglers are allowed to keep only trout smaller than 12 inches or longer than 20 inches. Another regulation limited fishing above Fall Creek to artificial lures and flies. Trout tend to swallow natural or soft baits, resulting in more deeply hooked fish that die when released.
Kruse said these changes let more trout survive and grow during peak fishing months. They also reduced the number of fish that inhabited the lake during slow fishing periods, giving freshwater shrimp numbers a chance to rebound.
"We let them use the natural food in the lake and protected them so they could grow to larger size," he said. "It worked. Since 2002 more than half the trout in our samples were over 13 inches."
Trout numbers increased, too. In 1996, before the regulation changes, electrofishing sampling data showed a capture rate of 27 trout per hour above Fall Creek. In 2006, the capture rate in the same area was 226.<br />
That number has topped 300 in recent years.
The Conservation Department continues to monitor Taneycomo trout and angler success so it can react to future management challenges. The agency also is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Southwestern Power Administration to solve problems with low water flows and low oxygen levels in water released from Table Rock Lake each fall.<br />
The National Fish Habitat Initiative (see fishhabitat.org/) may provide help with this effort.
The agency also has made improvements to increase the productivity of Shepherd of the Hills Trout Hatchery. A new fish ladder at the upper end of Lake Taneycomo allows hatchery personnel to effortlessly catch brown trout that swim upstream in the fall trying to spawn. These fish serve as brood stock for all the brown trout raised in Missouri hatcheries.
At Taneycomo alone, the Conservation Department stocks 10,000 to 15,000 brown trout annually. A lake-wide 20-inch minimum length limit protects Taneycomo browns, which can grow to more than 30 pounds.
Anglers 16 and older need a valid fishing permit to fish at Lake Taneycomo. That is the only permit required to fish below the U.S.<br />
Highway 65 bridge. However, you also need a Missouri Trout Permit to fish above Highway 65 or to keep trout you catch anywhere on the lake.
"Lake Taneycomo above Branson is almost exclusively a trout fishery," said Kruse. 'the only fish you are likely to catch there are trout, much like a trout park, and in a trout park everyone who fishes, regardless of age needs a trout tag. Rather than institute a daily tag system it made more sense to require people fishing the upper part of the lake to have a Trout Permit."
Taneycomo's constant water temperature means fishing is good throughout the year. Fall is especially popular because brown trout move up the lake in October trying to return to Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery, where they were born.
The lake never freezes, so you can fish Taneycomo year round. Summer air temperatures are moderated by the large mass of cool water.
"It's a great place to be in the heat of summer, because that mass of cold water being released from Table Rock Lake acts like a giant air conditioner. It can be 100 degrees in Branson and you can go down on the lake and be comfortable."
Power generation activity at Table Rock Dam makes a big difference in the fishing environment. During periods of low water flow - when Table Rock's power plant is not operating - anglers can fish from gravel bars. During peak generation periods, water covers gravel bars and turns the entire lake into a large river. Then you can use a boat to drift and dangle bait below the mouth of Fall Creek or drift-fish with artificial flies and lures in the upper 3 miles.
For information about water flows at Lake Taneycomo, visit waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv"07053500, or www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/plots/Web/tab.htm, or call 866/494-1993.
"A lot of fly fishermen prefer to fish that upper end of the lake when water is not being released," said Kruse, "and they can get out and wade and see fish more easily. A lot of fly fishermen are turned off by power generation, but if you can get in a boat that is when some of the best fishing is available."
Fishing access is available at Cooper Creek (with a disabled-accessible, covered fishing dock), Rockaway Beach and Empire Park in Forsyth on the lower lake. Numerous private resorts with fishing docks also serve the lake. For more information, visit branson.com/lake-taneycomo.html.
-Jim Low-