FYI  – They plan to open up four spillways (aka  floodgates) tomorrow at noon.   Release is projected to be 5500 cfs in addition to what is flowing through the four generators.  Total release will be around 17000 cfs.  We have certainly seen and fished more.

After we get through today and tomorrow, it looks like we might see a weekend and several more days past the weekend without rain!  Plus the temperatures are going to be in the 80s and possibly low 90s.  We need lots of hot, sunny days to dry us out.

Unfortunately, all the lakes in the White River System are at or only slightly below flood pool.  They were supposed to open the spillways on Table Rock yesterday.  So far, they have only opened up the spillways on Beaver and Bull Shoals dams. I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before our spillways are opened.  In the meantime, they only have one unit going so fishing should sill be good and doable.

Jim on the water Monday with Jason and his son, Andrew.  Good day for them until the water trashed up after they turned on the generators.  That’s the only bad thing when the generators are completely off for several hours…..the water really trashes up when

Oliver – 5/25/20

they fire up a couple units.  Best patterns were the copperhead black midge with a blood worm dropper.  Meanwhile, Carolyn had Rick and his grandson, Oliver, on the water.  Started out pretty slow.  Oliver had three hits and misses on

Rick – 5/25/20

a black copperhead midge.  Rick hook one on the ruby 2.  Couple fishers upstream from us hook a fish each and that was about it, so we decided to move.  Moved downstream a little ways and put was able to put Oliver on the fish.  He is doing well at getting his line out, mending, hooking and

Rick & Oliver w/one of their doubles – 5/25/20

bringing in the fish!  Fun day with these two.  Couple doubles!

Every day they forecast rain and some days we get it, but others stay dry for the most part.  Friday we got a lot of rain pretty early in the day.  Yesterday stayed dry, and it has been dry so far today.  Monday shows a 60% chance for rain with scattered storms both during the day and evening.  40% is showing up for Tuesday.  Right now, Wednesday and Thursday show the best chances for rain with 80%.

Yes, the generators were off again today and are projected to be off during the morning hours both Monday and Tuesday.  Cross your fingers.  All the lakes are just three feet or less from flood pool.

Matt – 5/22/20

Dana on the water Friday.  That was one of those days when it rained earlier than projected.  However,

Jeff – 5/22/20

until it really started to blow and go, they roughed it out and had a very good day on the black copperhead midge and an orange egg pattern.

Saturday was a beautiful day and Darren and Dana had a group of three guys on the water.  Darren took Jim and they had a very good

John Jr. – 5/23/20

day on a brown zebra midge, a little thread midge and the ruby 2.  John and John were in the boat with Dana.  They too had a very good day on the black copperhead midge early, then it was the ruby 2 or an orange egg pattern.  No generation for this group until 11:00 a.m. and then it was only one unit for an hour.  Fishing was good during this one hour of low generation.

Sunday, Carolyn took John and his son, Joel out for half a day.

John – 5/24/20

Another no generation morning!  Slow start on the midges.  Think Joel “picked and rolled” three fish and John was getting no action on the midges.  So we moved and changed

Joel – 5/24/20

patterns.  Right spot and right pattern as they both started catching stripping the Tiger Tail trailing the JQ streamer on a 4 ips sinking leader.  Fun day.  Turned on one unit at 11:00 a.m. so up river we rowed and hooked some more up there on the ruby 2 and black copperhead midges.  Joel caught his first 20 inch rainbow!  Congratulations!

All the fish everyone is catching are absolutely fat and full of fight.  Lots of them are really colored up.

Had a few dry days this past week, but last night and today, we are getting tons (well maybe not quite) of rain!  And, the forecast is for more through the weekend and through most of next week.

Because of flooding down south, the white river system has been holding water during the morning until 10:00 a.m. or noon then turning on one, unit, for an hour then, two, three and finally four units for most of the afternoon, then low or off again.  Not certain how much longer this pattern will continue, but certain it will not be much longer as all the lakes are getting very close to their flood levels.

The good news about the off water in the mornings is that fishing has been wonderful during these off water periods!  Carolyn on the

Chase – 5/20/20

water Wednesday morning with Michael and his son Chase.  Think this was Chase’s first experience with a fly rod and he was roll casting and hooking fish in no time.  Took a while to get a good hook set,

Michael – 5/20/20

but once he got the hang of that, it was “fish on”.  They had a good day on the black copperhead midge.

Thursday, Dana was on the water with Micah and Al for half a day.  It was

Al – 5/21/20

another wonder morning of no generation and they were catching on the black copperhead midge.

Micah – 5/21/20

Once the water came on around 11:00 a.m, Dana switched them over to an orange egg pattern and the catching continued!  Carolyn had John and his

Brian – 5/21/20

father Brian out for the morning.  What a fun day for these two!  When the water was off, it was the black copperhead midge.  After they fired up the first unit, the red d-rib midge or the black copperhead midge were the patterns.

John – 5/21/20

Then the second unit came on so we pulled in close to a shallow bank, put on the sinking leaders and stripped a tiger tail or crackleback trailing the JQ streamer.  More fish on these.  Dad caught the biggest fish and John caught the most.

Many of the fish everyone has been catching during these no water days have been awesome!  Fat, healthy and full of fight!  It has been a delight!

After several days of rain, we have sunshine!  And, it looks like that will be the trend through this week and into the weekend, where chances of rain pop up again!  50/50 chances so let’s hope for the better….50% chance of no rain!  Temperatures will be in the 70s early in the week and 80s near the end of the week.

Right now there is no generation!  They shut down the generators yesterday around 10:00 a.m. even though the projection was for four units all day.  Today they were planning on three units all day, but so far zero!  Bull Shoals has also shut down their generators.  Understand there is lots of flooding downstream from the White River.  Not certain how long they will keep the generators off but certain they will have to turn them on at some levels soon as Table Rock is at 923 feet and Bull Shoals is almost 691 feet.

While the generators have been off, several fishers have hit the water.  Something many have not seen for months!  Fishing is great!  If you are near the area, better grab your fly rod and get into the river!  Almost anything is catching.

Rain, rain, go away.  Still raining right now and in the 60s.  50% chance for rain tomorrow and Sunday.  Monday looks dry as does Tuesday.  Slight chances show up Wednesday into the weekend.  Let’s hope those slight chances disappear.  We don’t need any more rain.

Yesterday and again today, they have the generators off on Taneycomo.  One unit came on yesterday at noon, then up to two units by 1:00 p.m. and finally all four at 2:00.  Looks like two units may come on at noon today then four at 1:00.  Will be surprised with all the rain we have had if they continue with this schedule but it has certainly been nice while is lasts.

Dana – 5/13/20

Carolyn spend a wet day on the water Tuesday and Dana and Gary.  They are just getting started fly fishing

Gary – 5/13/20

and we were going fishing come rain or shine.  Don’t think the temperatures ever got out of the 40s.  Nippy, wet day, but success!  Each caught their first trouts on a fly rod and loved it.  And it was back to the water again on Wednesday.  Fortunately, Wednesday was sunny and dry!  Despite high water both days, fishing was very good for them and they were nice fish.  Ruby 2 midge under the big ruby or stripping the holographic green crackleback following the JQ streamer were the patterns for success.  Think we have a couple more fly fishers in our ranks!!

Thursday, Arlan and Rick spent the day with Carolyn.  No generation when we hit the river.  Fish were dimpling all over the shallows so we tied on a couple dries and had two hits right from the get go.  However, that was it!  So, tie on the ruby 2 and the game was on.  Not only did they catch lots of fish, have several doubles, but most of the fish were really nice, 15-18 inch range…and fat!  When the first generator came on, it trashed up the water so bad we decided to take a lunch break.  Moved on down river and picked a couple more fish, but not like the morning fishing.  Finally moved into a good seam and found several more fish pulling the JQ streamer with a red holographic crackleback.  Thunder

Rick – 5/14/20

Arlan – 5/14/20

chased us off the river or we would stayed with that a little longer.  Fun day!

We have been having beautiful weather.  Sunny and warm.  One recent day was hot!  It was actually in the low 90s.  Most of the time, however, we have been having upper 60s and low 70s.  Today was only in the mid 60s but it was nice.  Looking at the coming week, it looks like low 50s Monday and Tuesday then back into the 70s by Wednesday and even 80s for Friday and over the weekend.  Bad news is that the chances for rain are there almost every day, but it looks more intense by the weekend.  Cross your fingers…..we don’t need more rain.

Can you believe it?  Saturday, they had the generators off until 7:00 a.m.  Then they started ramping up the generators and had four units going by 9:00 a.m.   At noon, they started shutting them down and by 2:00 it was zero generators and the level was down to 702.9.  We haven’t seen that in ages!!  Hope we see it again.  Today they ran one unit until 8:00 a.m. and will run two units the balance of the day.

Dana on the water Saturday with Stuart and Brian.  They hit the water during the rise and high water that day.  They had a pretty good day on the black copperhead midge, prince nymph, and the cerise San Juan Worm.  After the water shut down, Gina took herself fishing.   She took this video of tons of gray scuds swimming on the bottom scuds.

Mother’s Day I took me fishing.  Wonderful day in the low 60s with a little wind blowing.  Had two generators going when I put the boat in.  Been a while since I rowed my boat and I just wanted to get a feel for it again as well as look at the river.  Caught some nice  rainbows stripping the holographic green crackleback behind a JQ streamer.  Fish hit both patterns.  Also caught one on a cerise San Juan under the big ruby and a gray scud under the big ruby.  Nice to be on the water again!  Cannot believe how fat and healthy the fish are.

Nice Rainbow – 5/10/20

Spring has sprung and we’re heading into summer pretty fast.  Red bud trees are gone as are the dogwoods!  They were gorgeous this year.  All you see now when you look over the hills are lots and lots of green!  Great weather the past few days.  Hit the mid 80s here today and expect mid 70s tomorrow and 80s again on Monday.  Tuesday will possibly have some rain with temps in the mid 70s.  Then a slight cool off into the upper 60s and low 70s.  Who’s complaining!

In addition to the beautiful weather, we are going to see a change in the generation over the weekend and into Monday.  Saturday will see a combination of two units early, then three for a few hours, and then up to all four for about eight hours before it drops back to three for the rest of the evening.  Sunday will start out with two units in the morning and into early afternoon.  by 4:00 or 5:00 p.m. it will be back up to four units.  The good news is that Monday, if they follow the schedule, we will have one unit on until noon or 1:00 p.m. and then two units for three hours, up to three for four hours then ramp back down to one.  Could we be so lucky?  With one unit and even two units, they are definitely places where one can do some wading.

Things are looking pretty promising that we will be opening up next week. There may be some restrictions, but I’m certain it will be much better than it has been over the past several weeks.  Looking forward to seeing everyone again!!

Weather has again been wet and cool so we’re not missing too much.  We actually had almost 1-1/2 inches of rain over the past three days.  Looks like the best chances for more are not until Friday and we really don’t need that!

Monday, and again today, the generators shut down at 8:00 a.m. and were not turned back on until 5:00 p.m.  However, the spillways were not shut down, and, in fact, all 10 were opened up enough to equal the flow with five partial spillways and 3 generators.  Sooo, don’t let the projection fool you, there is still a lot of water moving.

Hope everyone it staying healthy and tying lots of flies!  We will get back onto and into the river again and fishing should be awesome!

Don’t feel too bad being stuck at home today.  It’s dreary, cold, and wet.  Rained overnight and it won’t get out of the 40s today! A little warmer tomorrow but early next week is going to be gorgeous!  Monday will be mid 70s, with Tuesday and Wednesday in the low 80s.  Good time to get in your car and go for a drive to see that trees that are blooming everywhere.  On my way home from the shop a couple days ago, I noticed that all the red bud trees are in full bloom.  Seems like they are everywhere!  AND, today I noticed that the dogwoods are just starting to bloom.  They will be beautiful in just a ouple more days.  So, like I said, stay safe, get into your car and go see all theses beautiful trees.

Still running 10 spillways and 3 units.  Probably no change for at least a couple more weeks.

Give us a call if you need anything to keep tying.  We should all have a good supply of flies once we are able to get out and about again!!!