If you’re thinking about booking a trout fishing trip on Lake Taneycomo, do it—and ask for Captain Jeff!

From the moment we stepped onto his beautiful, comfortable boat, we knew we were in for a great experience. The boat was clean, spacious, and made for a relaxing day on the water. Captain Jeff had everything ready to go—rods, bait, tackle, life jackets, water—you literally just show up and fish.

What really impressed us was how well he knew the lake. We started in an area where he said we’d catch good numbers, and he was absolutely right. We caught trout after trout! Then he moved us to another spot and said, “We may catch fewer fish here, but they’ll be bigger.” Once again, he nailed it. The trout got noticeably larger.

The most exciting moment came when I hooked what looked like about a 5-pound rainbow trout. It made an incredible jump completely out of the water right next to the boat before breaking the line. Everyone on the boat was yelling, “Oh my gosh!” Even though we lost it, it was one of those unforgettable moments that somehow made the trip even better.

Then, right at the end of the trip, just when we were getting ready to head back, my father—who has Alzheimer’s—hooked into a beautiful 1½-pound trout. Seeing how excited he was made the entire trip extra special. That’s a memory our family will treasure forever.

We caught a lot of fish, took tons of pictures, felt completely safe the entire time, and had an absolute blast from start to finish. Captain Jeff is knowledgeable, friendly, professional, and clearly loves what he does.

Without a doubt, this was one of the best family memories we’ve ever made. We can’t recommend Captain Jeff highly enough, and we’ll definitely be back!

Couldn’t be more thrilled with the experience my three boys and I had with Captain Jeff. We had indicated that we were interested in catching trout and within the first 10 minutes, we were pulling in our first fish. Limited to 16 as the max, we brought in 13 over our three hours, but it was more than I thought we were going to catch because it was an unseasonably warm October day (83 degrees) during the hottest window of the day. My pre-teen boys were novices and often tangled lines or lost hooks and Captain Jeff was so incredibly patient and positive with them. It was exactly the experience I wanted for us. When shopping around on this site, I put a lot of stock into reviews when determining which charter I was going to book. I hope you read this and are convinced that Captain Jeff is affordable, knowledgable and so accommodating to all sizes of groups. Have fun with him!

When I booked the fishing trip for my sons and I, our first guide cancelled on us leaving less that 24 hours to find another guide.  I was able to book a trip with Jeff and I’m so glad I did.  Jeff is easy going yet super professional.  In two hours he managed to teach three people who had never fished for trout before everything from the use of an unfamiliar reel, casting, different techniques depending on fish location, tips to cool down when it’s hot on the water (100+) and everything until the fish were in the boat and eventually cleaned and ready to cook.  I can’t thank him enough for really teaching us a lifetime skill. 

He definitely knows where the fish are and the methods that work in different conditions.  Even beginners will experience the thrill of hauling in their limit of beautiful rainbow trout.  We will definitely call him next time we come back and either catch some more trout in the cold water on Taneycomo or maybe have him show us how to catch some Monster Bass or Walleye on Table Rock.  Either way I trust him to make it a memorable experience… HIGHLY RECOMMEND

We had an absolutely perfect experience with Jeff. He not only had the knowledge of knowing where the fish normally hung out but the equipment onboard to make sure we were able to cast right into them. He was AMAZING with our 13 year old son and was fully willing and flexible to take us to locations where we could catch multiples quickly, or have to work a bit harder to catch larger fish.

We all caught our bag limit + some (that we of course released) and I even caught a nice 4lber. On top of ALLLL of that, our experience time was all fishing time. We were on the boat and fishing for 4 full hours. He didn’t count our check in and fishing license time against our experience time, AND didn’t count the time he spent cleaning the fish for us against our experience time. Soooo many people would have had us out there fishing for only 3 hours so they could account for the check in and fish cleaning time and not spend more than 4 hours total with us.

I also really really appreciated how patient and kind he was with my kiddo staring over his shoulder and asking him a bunch of questions while he was cleaning the fish. He never got annoyed or bothered by it at all. And by doing so taught us a better way to clean and cook the fish.

HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend!!

Jeff, our guide, was awesome! We were forced to adjust on fly after another guide did not confirm.  Jeff was very prompt in communicating and was very personable at every point throughout the trip!  He made us feel welcomed and he put us on fish immediately and we were able to catch our limit and then some! He was also great with my 9 year old twin boys and he even let them “help” with cleaning.  I have previously used guides in the area
and Jeff would rank up there with the best!  Our family would definitely look to use him again in the future.