Jim on the water Thursday afternoon for a half day drift with Bill from Kansas.  Bill is pretty new to fly fishing and like most people when they get a nice fish on, they get a death grip on the line to keep it from getting away and guess what happens.  Other than the big ones that got away, he brought several to the boat on the red midge with a pink San Juan worm.  When they were not catching, they were working on casting, line work and, of course, hook sets!  Lots to learn and he had a good time and hopes to come back soon.

 Friday, the two guys from Michigan, John and Jim, finished up their stay with one more float with Jim.  They had a good day on the water.  Tthe red midge and pink San Juan dropper were working well.  They also caught lots of the fish on the olive Bug-Eyed bugger.  Jim from Michigan, had another streamer pattern that he pulled out of his box which did really well.  Our Jim has a couple samples and is tying up some to see if they are a consistent player in our water.  We will keep you posted.  Meanwhile, Stan was out with one of his regulars, Jim from the Kansas City area.  Unfortunately, Jim has been having some health problems and just did not feel like fishing for a while.  Glad to say, he is healthy again and had a wonderful 1/2 day throwing the size 18 ruby midge under the a larger ruby and catching lots of fish. 

Saturday, Jim had Jeff and Justin, from Oklahoma out for a 1/2 day float.  Good day for them.  They caught fish on the red midge with a pink San Juan worm dropper and gots lots of help with casting, line work, and variations of presentation for different fly types. 

Sunday Stan and Carolyn took the "Louisiana Connection" out for a long 1/2 day.  Of course, Dawn (aka "The Stripper") was in the boat with Carolyn and Stan had Albert and James Albert in his boat.  Great day on the water!  Lots of sunshine, lots of fish and lots of fun.  Best pattern was the size 18 ruby midge. Still catching some "dinks", but not like we were earlier.  Also, still catching lots of males in spawn.  We did try and did catch fish on the sinking leader with the filoplume, and caught fish; the olive wooly bugger, and caught fish; and the bug-eyed bugger, and caught fish.  But, nothing like the ruby!  This was her day. 

                                            Dawn - 3/7/10

Even the two guys from Michigan, John and Jim, that Jim had out Monday and Tuesday said yesterday was bone-chilling.  They thought they were back in Michigan.  Jim works in the store at Schmidt Outfitters in Wellston, Michigan, and John guides on the area rivers.  They have come to Taneycomo and fish with Jim this time of the year to get away from the cold weather and for a change in fishing scenery before their season opens up.  So far, they have had a couple good, cold, but good days on the water.  Yesterday, they had a great time working size 20 black midge emergers.  They don’t get a lot of this type action on their waters, so it was a fun change.  Today they are sightseeing and plan to be back on the water with Jim Thursday and Friday.

Stan was out for 1/2 day with Dennis from Kansas.  Dennis fishes Taneycomo several times a year and said he kept telling himself, "I need to try a guide trip some day".  Well, yesterday was the day and he is glad he did.  Said he learned a lot within the first few minutes he was on the water.  They had a great day stripping the sand colored size 12 filoplume under an intermediate sinking line on the Pointe Royale flats area.  Also caught several on the good old red midge.  Dennis is a good fisher and caster.  Never had fished from a drift boat and really loved it!

Weather forecast for the balance of the week looks very good.  We might even see the 60s by this weekend.  Their is a chance of some moisture over the weekend, but they said nothing to get too excited about yet.  Let’s hope it is a warm weekend with low or no flow!  I can dream can’t I !!

Despite the non-stop water generation, approximately 30 members of the Prairie Fly Fishers, 89ers Trout Unlimited, and Tulsa Trout Unlimited clubs converged on the Taneycomo area this past weekend.  Several started arriving Thursday afternoon and they continued arriving as late as early Saturday.  Needless to say, with the running water, some of them fished up around the Hatchery Area while others hit the area streams.  We suggested the various areas of Turkey Creek which runs through Hollister.  We used to fish there many years ago, and it can hold some nice fish.  Also suggested Roark Creek and Bull Creek.  Even sent some folks up to Crane Creek. 

Saturday, Jim and Carolyn had boats on the water with some guys from Oklahoma City.  Jim had Bob and Ken, while Carolyn drew Jeff and Main.  What a day!  Bob is brand new to fishing so Jim spent a lot of time working with him on casting, line work, hook setting and playing fish.  Meanwhile, Ken, who was in the front of the boat and a seasoned fly fisher, was catching fish on the red midge with a hot pink San Juan dropper.  Carolyn had a couple fly line flingers, Jeff and Main, in her boat.  After picking up several fish on the red holographic midge with a pink San Juan dropper while going through the slough that runs just down from the MDC boat ramp along the Point Royale area, they settled in on the lower flats with  sinking leaders and olive filoplumes and caught a lot more.  Stan had Mark and his brother Guy, from the St. Louis area in his boat for most of the day.  They had a great day and did best on the pink San Juan dropper, the pink lady egg pattern and the olive filoplume. 

Jim started the nippy morning with Peter, from Kansas.  Peter said the 19 degrees here was definitely better than the 5 degrees he left up home.  Their full day boated quite a few fish on the red midge, and an orange or pink San Juan dropper.  Peter said it was a great day, he just wished he had landed more of ths hits he had had during the day.

While the water was off yesterday, Darrell had to check it out!  He reported back that the fish were midging like crazy.  He caught fish on the primrose & pearl, rusty midge and the copper dun.  He also caught a nice rainbow the day before with the water up on a size 16 ginger scud. 

Jim on the water yesterday for a half day float starting at noon.  He had a couple fishers from the Kansas City area, Ryan and E.J.  They worked on nymphing techniques and caught fish on the red midge, orange San Juan and for streamer work, olive buggers.  Stan went out for a late -start half day also.  He and Ken, from Kansas, hit the water around 11:00 a.m.  They had a very good day on the red holographic midge and a cerise San Juan worm.  Also caught several on the holographic green crackleback.  Had a little trouble hooking the fish on the crackleback, but that’s another story.  Seems Ken’s blind guide had put a crackleback on without a point on the hook.  Once this was remedied, Ken started hooking them!  Oh well, we have our days too.

Stan on the water for a half a day Wednesday with Doug from Arizona.  Think it was in the 40s that day and know they ran water all day at a level around 707 feet.  They had a good day on the holographic green crackleback, the high water (large tungsten beadhead) holographic red midge and a pink San Juan. 

Thursday, Stan had Tony from the St. Louis area out for most of the day.  They caught lots of fish, but nothing of any size.  We have been seeing lots of the smaller fish the past couple of weeks mixed in with the little larger rainbows that are in spawn colors. 

Both Jim and Stan are on the water today.  We’ll just see how it goes today. 

Boats on the water Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Jim had his regulars, Bud and Welby from Lee’s Summit, out for half a day.  This was Welby’s third trip out in about two months so they worked some more on skills.  In between working on skills, they caught fish on the red midge, pink San Juan worm and black bugger.  Had a good time and stayed fairly warm until just about time to come off when reality set in and they started getting cold.

Friday Stan had Eric from Louisiana on the water for half a day.  They had a good day on the pink San Juan dropped from the red holographic midge. 

Kristi and Rick figured it was a gift to get a 1/2 day on the water in February.  They hit the water around 11:00 a.m. with Carolyn and had a wonderful day on the red holographic midge with a cerise San Juan dropper.  Once they found some good seams and drop offs, put on the sinking leaders and started throwing the natural colored pine squirrel sculpin. 

As nippy as it was Valentine’s Day, Pat and Karen, from St. Louis, when out with Jim for half day.  Despite the cold, they stayed tough and caught fish on the red midge, pink San Juan and olive bug-eyed bugger. 

All in all, fishing is good.  Still catching lots of male rainbows in spawn colors and caught several females full of eggs….fat!