Lake Taneycomo

Country music isn’t all that’s happening at Branson, Missouri. Water from Table Rock dam forms Lake Taneycomo which gets its name from Taney County, MO and provides miles and miles of some of the best trout fishing in the state.

If you enjoy fishing from a boat you’ll hope for lots of power generation from the dam, which raises the water level in Taneycomo several feet and provides a swift current.

If you’re like me and prefer to wade you’ll hope for zero generation. There will still be a gentle current and you’ll swear you’re fishing a beautiful Ozark river. Ned Spence and I hit Taneycomo in one of her more gentle moods Sept. 24th and 25th.  Staying at Lilley’s Landing and fishing only a couple of hours each morning we made up in size what we lacked in numbers. Calm, sunny days are not ideal for trout fishing, yet Spence landed a beautiful 18” rainbow Tuesday morning. I followed up next day with another nice rainbow. It’s hard to measure a flopping fish while you’re trying to take its picture and keep from dropping your iPhone in the water but this beauty went at least 23 or 24 inches. Both fish were released.

Whether you want to fish, take in some shows, or just relax Lilley’s Landing is your kind of place. Check it out at www.lilleyslanding.com .


Published by BruceCochran

Bruce Cochran graduated from Oklahoma University in 1960 with a B.A. in design. He worked as a humor writer/illustrator for Hallmark Cards from 1960 – 1962 and has freelanced as a writer, cartoonist and illustrator since then. Cochran drew daily sports cartoon for USA Today from 1983 – 1991. He has 10 humor/cartoon books published by Willow Creek Press and his work appears regularly in Wyoming Wildlife, Outdoor News, On Wisconsin Outdoors, Pheasants Forever Journal, Wildfowl, Gundog, Ducks Unlimited magazine, Delta Waterfowl and other publications. He also writes and illustrates a regular humor column for Wyoming Wildlife News. Bruce won first place in the magazine humor category of OWAA’s EIC contest in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2009, and 2010. Life Sponsor: Ducks Unlimited. Life member: NRA. Member: Pheasants Forever, Trout Unlimited, OWAA and Outdoor Writers of Kansas.