Scott: Tailrace fishing set to bust loose

There’s an inch of snow on the ground outside my office window, and a howling north wind has kept wind chill readings in single digits on both sides of the zero mark all day.

As far as I’m concerned — and I’m sure most of you would agree — Jan. 12 was not a day fit to be spent either sitting in an open boat or standing on the bank.

A man whose opinion I trust in such matters insists that January weather cold enough to cover the backwaters associated with the tailraces of some of Missouri’s major dams with ice is a prerequisite to good fishing. As soon as this first ice melts, he told me, fish will start moving upriver into the tailrace and its backwaters.

Once this process begins, subsequent freezes and thaws will draw ever increasing numbers of fish. The first half-mile or so of water below Truman Dam provides a textbook example of my source’s theories in action.

In this case, the original course of the Osage River (now a nonflowing channel located north of the active tailrace) serves as the freeze-thaw barometer for the system.

Given that this cold spell lasts long enough to put even a minimal ice sheet over this channel, it will shift the January-February migration of fish up out of the Lake of the Ozarks into gear.

And what a migration it is! Buffalo and gar, many of which are big enough to be scary, lead the parade, followed by impressive schools of white bass. In the westernmost (upper) quarter of the channel, crappie await anglers who fish from docks as well as from boats.

All three species of large catfish and the occasional walleye also show up on stringers and in live wells.

Meanwhile over on the powerhouse/sluice gate side of the dam, the best water — the closest to the dam — is closed to angling and almost all of the really good water is within a no-boat zone. The latter is a good thing to the many tailrace regulars who enjoy taking full advantage of the precise presentation made possible by fishing from the bank.

As in any tailrace, current is a key factor at Truman, but at combination hydro power and flood control dams like this one, current can mean anything from a barely perceptible 250 cfs flowing through a single sluice gate to 50,000 cfs flowing through every generator and every gate simultaneously. There isn’t much chance winter anglers will have to face anything close to 50,000 cfs, but flow rates from 8,000 to 24,000 cfs are common.

Even relatively minor variations in flow rates can create major differences in current patterns.

Being able to read these patterns and understand how various species of fish relate to them is by far the most important key to success.

Crappie, for example, often move into tailraces despite the fact that the species is ill equipped to handle swift, powerful currents. They compensate by seeking out eddies or by tucking in behind large chunks of riprap.

Walleye and white bass can feed in all but the most turbulent water. Both species prefer to take positions along the seams between conflicting currents. Inactive white bass often seek out relatively slack water well away from the bank. Walleye usually hug the riprap, searching for spawning sites they’ll be using in February and early March. Given that the body of water downstream from the tailrace supports either or both of these species, blue catfish and hybrids rule the boiling currents in the middle of the channel.

Their ability to swim through whirlpools that would swamp a small boat is impressive, but there’s a secret to their seemingly boundless energy — friction drastically slows the current near the bottom and provides a convenient resting place.

There’s plenty of room for differences of opinion, but I like to stick to the basics when choosing tackle for tailrace fishing.

Whether I’m fishing slack water or current and whether my primary target is buffalo, crappie, white bass or walleye, I reach for a medium-action spinning outfit and a handful of one-sixteenth- and one-eighth-ounce jigs. Make that a double handful of jigs, because riprap has an insatiable appetite for lures. If I’d like to tangle with a big blue catfish or hybrid, I opt for a 12-foot surf rod with a high-capacity spinning reel and a selection of one- and two-ounce spoons.

The long rod will cast a heavy spoon to the middle of the channel, which is where the big ones roam. It also has enough beef to wrestle a trophy-sized fish back across the current to the bank.

Just thinking about winter tailrace fishing is almost enough to make me glad it’s cold this weekend.