spoken for

Yes, I’m finally getting around to this :) Today I want to tell you about Lake Taneycomo. The area we stayed at was pretty close to Table Rock Dam, so near Branson, MO.

Lake Taneycomo is a cold water lake, so it averages something like 48 degrees. Even in the summer, it’s pretty chilly. It didn’t always used to be that way, though, before the completion of Table Rock Dam, it was a warm water lake. But when they created that dam, it changed the source of Taneycomo to the colder underwaters. Taneycomo is an artificial lake created from the White River and it’s pretty much like a river at high water. It has a pretty strong current, for one. It was so neat, the day we were out was so clear that I could see current underneath the surface water if that makes any sense. It was nice and clean aside from some debris from a lot of rain the day before (but not trash and junk but sticks and leaves, etc). The current gets stronger yet when the dam gates are open, but they never opened them while we were there (they had to let some of the high water from the rains run off downstream before doing that, I’m sure).

So I learned a little bit about trout fishing. Apparently, Taneycomo is world famous for the trout fishing and that’s pretty much what people do there (though, again, I’ve not been when summer’s at its hottest), I don’t even know if there’s any other kind of fish there (ha). So we would boat upstream then float downstream with the current and drag our lines along the bottom of the lake with weights while the bait floated until getting either a bit or a snag or losing the bait, etc. Since trout (rainbow and brown) aren’t native to Missouri, there’s also the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery where the trout are grown with the blessing of our tax dollars and funds from fishing licenses and trout stamps. They’re then released when they’re big enough. And since the hatchery is part of the Missouri Conservation Department, you can go in and look around and even feed the trout, no entry fee. That was kinda cool.

One thing I really enjoyed about the lake was the wildlife and the waterfalls. Because of the heavy rains the day before, there was still water rushing out of the Missouri mountains and you could hear waterfalls coming over the bluffs and sometimes see a bit, but the foliage was too dense to get photos. But it’s a really nice sound to hear, I think. As far as wildlife, I saw where there were nests of hummingbirds — well, I couldn’t see their nests but at a large patch of flowers along the bank where we stayed there were lots of hummingbirds buzzing in and out and around, it was pretty neat. Too dark for decent photos though at that point. Then there were the ducks and the herons including two ducks that were either more brave or more tame than the others and they came right up to our boat twice.

So that was just our day on the boat in a nutshell. Oh, Steve caught 3 fish (a 4th got away at the last second) and I didn’t get anything. Every time I had a nibble it got away or the times I thought I really had a fish, I had a snag and usually ended up breaking my line. Oh, well, it was a nice relaxing day. :)