The heat is on here at Taneycomo.  Don’t think there could be a better place to spend a hot afternoon than standing in the cold waters and  fishing for trout. Lots of vacationers/fly fishers kept the guides in a sweat last week.  Fishing was good, and customers landed lots of nice fish last week in the 16-17 inch range.  You might hit  some slow periods when the fish are on siesta mid day, persistence will pay off. 

It was another week for a hodge podge of files that worked.  With all the green moss on the bottom the olive filoplume was a winner.  We saw trout with bellies full of moss, and they were sometimes very interested in mouthing a fly that looked like that green gook in search of scuds or sowbugs.  You needed to make sure that filoplume was on or near the bottom for success.  Olive wooly buggers and the bug eye bugger sometimes produced the same result.  The midges at the top of the list were the ruby, red, rusty, purple, and black.  Peach eggs, pink San Juan worms, holographic cracklebacks, and the miracle and grey scuds had some good days too.  The fish seem to be hanging close to the bottom no matter what the generation level is. 

Speaking of generation, it was all over the place last week.   We started the week with units off in the mornings and generation of 2-3 units coming on about 2 p.m.  Thursday morning two units were running and the other two generators come up and kept water rising all day.  Then for the most part, we had one or two units on steady for the weekend.  Yesterday we started out with a low one and tail waters around 703.6 and about 2 p.m. two more came on.  This morning the generators are quiet, but expect we will hear some warning horns later, and more units will crank on to product power for our air conditioners. 

Well, they pretty much followed the generation projection for the weekend.  Water off Friday until 2:00 p.m; Saturday until noon, and then it came on low; and Sunday until 3:00 p.m.  It came on each afternoon for no longer than 7 hours, then back off the the rest of the night.  Weather even cooperated.  Looked like rain for a while today, but we managed to get through it.  Friday morning we had a gulley washer for about an hour, but once it stopped, it turned out to be a nice day.

Jim on the water Friday, in the gulley washer, with Marc and his son John.  These fishers from Ohio tried to get on the water with Jim Monday, but we had some bad weather that day too.  Persistence paid off as they had very good day Friday on the rusty midge, blood worm dropper and the bug-eyed bugger.  Water was off for all of their trip and they picked fish all the way down to Fall Creek.  Once Kristi picked up her husband, Rick at the airport, they headed to the fly shop and took a half day float with Stan.  These two fish a lot.  They had a wonderful day on the rusty and purple midges.  Even saw them on the water this morning (Sunday) and they said they had a great morning on the Primrose & Pearl Midge.  Rick has his own drift boat, but discovered it is hard to run a drift boat and fish at the same time.  He did take Kristi out this morning, and they both caught fish.

Stan took Kim and Steve out for a full day on Saturday.  Think Kim caught her first trout on a fly rod with us about seven years ago.  She has come a long way since then and really likes it.  They both had a very good day on the Primrose & Peal midge while the water was off.  One they started generating, Stan changed to the Big Ruby.  That was all they needed to continue hooking fish.  Dana had Ron and his son, Nick out all day.  These fisher had a great day on an olive wooly bugger, red midge and a little brown midge.  Ron and his other son, Jeremy, had fished with us several years ago.  This time Nick got to spend the day on the water with his father. 

Jim was out today with Dave and his father Jeff.  Good day on the rusty midge and blood worm dropper.  Dawn, aka "the Stripper" from Louisiana, joined me for a fun day on the water.  True to form, we both stripped various patterns for the short period of time we were out.  Caught some on the holographic and blondie cracklebacks, a few hits on an olive bugger, but once we put on the rock worm caddis soft hackle, it was total chaos until we quit.  Several doubles, lots of "pick and rolls", and lots of fish to the boat.  What fun!  But alas, all good things must come to an end, so we started rowing out about 2:30 p.m.  Dawn’s husband Albert, who was upstream, was yelling at us to see if we had a camera.  One of our customers, Kevin, had a big, beautiful rainbow hooked and wanted a picture.  We rowed very quietly up to where he was still playing the fish, used our big net to net him and took a picture of this beautiful catch.  Think Kevin was still floating when he came into the shop later to get copies of his picture and leave his e-mail address so we could send him copies of the pics.  Good job Kevin!  What a great way to end the day.  Oh yes, this beauty was carefully revived and will put a smile on someone’s face again.  Who knows, it could even be Kevin.

Kevin - 6/13/10 - 26-1/2 inch Rainbow

Had the generators off at midnight and did not turn them back on until 3:00 p.m. yesterday, as projected.  However, they ran them last night until midnight.  The projection was for them to go off at 8:00 p.m. and stay off.  they are off again this morning, as projected, and should come on around 3:00 p.m. again today.  Stayed dry yesterday, but our boat out this morning is probably a little water logged!

Stan out with Ben and Sarah from Kansas.  Ben has been out with us several times, but Sarah had her first exposure to fly fishing last April (on their honeymoon) when they went out with Carolyn.  She is quite the outdoors lady and fell in love with fly fishing.  They had a wonderful half day on the water using the rusty midge and purple midge.  They mainly fished the area from the boat ramp down through the old KOA (now Trophy Run) areas.   Lots of nice quality, fat and fiesty, fish.  Some of our customers from Oklahoma, Lionell and Susan came into the shop just a little before the water came on and they were worn out from catching fish.  Ha!  Ha! 

Sarah - 17-1/2 inch rainbow	Ben - 17 inch rainbow

Last time the water was off for a while was Saturday about 10:00 p.m., and stayed off until 4:00 a.m. Sunday.  This morning, lo and behold, the water was off.  They turned it off at midnight and it is scheduled to stay off until 2:00 p.m. then ramp up to four and back off at 8:00 p.m.  Not a clue what will happen tomorrow, but would not be surprised to see it off again.

Reports from the river this morning were "if you can get a fly in the water, you will catch a fish".  Catching on almost everything, soft hackles, midges, wooly worms, wooly buggers, cracklebacks, scuds, and the list goes on.

Sunday, Carolyn had Lynn and David from here in Missouri out for half a day.  Lynn was indoctrinated into the "Stripper Club".  Fairly slow in the early part of the day on midges, so we changed over to the sinking leaders and started throwing the olive filoplume.  Lynn is pretty new to fly fishing, but with a little time spent on her casting she was getting that filoplume right into the seams and stripping.   She definitely got the hooking and bringing in fish figured out.  David has been fly fishing for some time, so he took off with his sinking leader, some filoplumes, natural and golden variant sculpins and had a good time catching and missing…..a few, fish on these patterns.  Stan had John and his son, Reed, also from Missouri, out for half a day.  Reed is a nice young man and a pretty good fly fisher.  He and his father had a very good day catching fish on the Big ruby with the size 18 ruby dropper and the size 18 purple (yep! purple), midge. 

Monday Darrell took Vince and his grandson, Alec, from Illinois out for a short half day trip.  Before the rain and thunder started threatening, they were catching fish on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  Darrell was sorry to have to get off early, but did not want to take any chances being the high spot in the water holding lightening rods!

Tuesday, was a busy day.  Stan and Jim had a group of guys from Florida out for half a day.  Jim, with Art and Joe caught fish on the red midge, a black thorax midge and a size 12 bug eyed-bugger.  One of the guys was new to fly fishing, so Jim did some casting and line work with him.  Stan had Dan in his boat and they hooked fish, missed a few here and there, on the big ruby with the size 18 ruby dropper.  Carolyn had a couple young gentlemen (both are in their 80s) out for the day.  Bob is from Arkansas and his long-time friend, Jack, is from Illinois.  Bob is just getting started in fly fishing.  Love it!  They, and especially Bob, had a very good day with the holographic green crackleback and the fl. orange bodied, light hackle crackleback. 

Jim took Bill and his son, Doug from Ohio, out Wednesday.  Water was going up and down with erratic regularity (how about that for description?!).  Between ups and downs, they caught fish on the red and black midges and the bug-eyed bugger.  Wednesday had lots of people complaining about the water levels and off and on catching…..life in a tailwater.

Water generation Friday and Saturday were pretty much as projected and the weather has been dry, for a change.  Now we can start complaining the other way.  Really a bit hot!  Got into the 90s both days  Today is supposed to be in the upper 80s with a chance of showers tomorrow.  Generation scheule has the equivalent of one generator running today from 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. when it will be off the balance of the day.  That could be nice….some of that sunset fishing when the fish are coming up, and for those night fishers, definitely.

Jim on the water 1/2 a day with Mike from here in Branson.  They had a very good day on a size 18 black midge and a blood worm.  Mike is still pretty new at this sport, so they worked some on techniques again this trip. 

Saturday, Jim had Kurt from Kansas City out again.  Best flies were the rusty midge and a blood worm.  Kurt too, is fairly new to fly fishing so they also worked some one techniques.  Carolyn out with Virginia and Mary Ann from Springfield.  These gals just got started about two years ago, but have been out of it since then due to health issues.  Health issues under control so they are rearing to get back into the fling of fly fishing again.  They even came by the shop for some casting refresher before the trip.  We had a very good day on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  Worked with Virginia a little to get her started on new techniques, so we worked on stripping patterns.  She caught a few on the filoplume using the sinking leader, and a holographic green crackleback stripping it just under the surface.  Mary Ann stayed with her Primrose & Pearl and was definitely the "top dog" when it came to numbers, but Virginia’s "just one more fish before we go in" was the best of the day.  A beautiful, 19 inch, fat rainbow to the boat.,,,,,on the Primrose & Pearl. 

Fish are still fat and fisty.  Lots of fight even in a small one when you hook them.  Other patterns working for fishers in the Rocking Chair/Boat ramp area yesterday were an olive wooly bugger, size 18; purple midge; rusty midge; and the holographic green crackleback.  

Mary Ann - 6/5/10	Virginia’s 19 inch Rainbow

Water was off yesterday as projected and is off again this morning.  Today’s projection is for it to be off until 3:00 p.m. then on for four hours and back off for the balance of the night.  Looks like it will be party cloudy today and pretty warm…low 90s. 

Everyone I talked with yesterday was catching fish.  One of our customers came in and got his Trophy Trout pin for a 21 inch rainbow he caught on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  He and his friend were worn out from catching fish.  Now that is hard to imagine.  Jerry, one of our customers, came in to get some more size 14 olive wooly buggers.  He had a wonderful morning and was running out of ammunition.   He fishes further down near the Lookout Area.  Darrell reported from the Hatchery area that they were also catching lots of fish.  Various colored midges, dark gray scuds and cracklebacks were some of the patterns he knew folks were throwing.  Jim had Lenny and Paul, from Texas out for half a day.  These brand new fly fishers were also worn out from catching fish.  Sure Jim wore them out a little working on their casting, line work and other skills.  They were catching on a size 18 black midge and a size 20 bloodworm. 

Better go fishing!

Well, the generation projection for yesterday was followed.  No generation until 2:00 p.m. and then they really cranked it up.  All four generators took the level up to 710 feet.  Generators were turned off at 8:00 p.m. and Taneycomo was back to 701 by 11:00 p.m.  So far this morning, it is off and the projection is for it to again be off until 2:00 p.m.  Had some rain last night.  Local weather said we had 2/10ths of an inch at the Branson Airport.  Sounded like more than that to me!  Table Rock did bump up a little in level from 916.0 to a 917.1 feet.  They expect what showers we may have left to be through here this a.m.

Wednesday’s are my normal day working the shop, so I’m working away.  Stan comes in around 11:00 a.m. and we discuss the fact that the generation is off!  Finally!!  His next words were, "if you want to go fish for a couple hours, I’ll watch the shop".  Yeeha!  After a little reorganization of my boat bag to my wading vest, I was in my car and heading south.  Walked down to the water at the Rocking Chair area and there were dimples all over the water.  Off with the sinking leader, on with the floating, and digging through my fly box for the right color soft hackle.  Rock Worm green in a size 16 and I had my first fish on.  Stood in the water for quite a while, oblivious to anything else around me except stripping my soft hackle and hooking (and missing) fish.  Eventually I came back to earth and spotted a few folks fishing downstream.   Couple of them looked familiar, so I worked my way down, fishing and catching on the way.  Sure enough, it was Jan and Mike, the couple I had had out on Monday.  Mike was sitting in the shade on the bank.  Jan was still casting away.  Said "Hi!" to Bud and Jerry as I walked by them.  Bud was catching fish on the size 18 ruby midge and Jerry had on his sinking leader stripping a natural colored filoplume.  Jan said she had caught some earlier in the day on the red San Juan worm, but was having little luck now.  With all the fish still dimpling the water, I suggested she try stripping something sub-surface.  She had a holographic green crackleback, of course, so she put that on as I put on a bright orange bodied, light hackled crackleback.  Immediately, we both started getting hits and fish.  Maybe an hour of sheer bliss, when Jan realized they were running late, had to leave and my phone was ringing….Stan, wanting to know where I was.  My time was over.  Oh, well.  Big deep breath while I reflected the magic and perfection of the time my Honey gave me on the water.  He can do no wrong…at least for a few days!

With the water off again today, wish I could have a quick redo! 

Well, so much for generators running for a while.  I check the projection and it says the water will be off until 2:00-3:00 p.m. today.  This, of course, is dependent on how much power may be needed by SWPA.  Anyway, the water went off at midnight and is still off as I write.  Rain moved out to tomorrow and it is going to be hot today.  Near or in the 90s. 

Generation continues to be running 24/7.  However, the level has dropped from the 710 plus feet to fluctuating between 703.1 for a low to 708.9 for a high.  We have seen this trend since early the morning of May 26.   Table Rock is still two feet high and Beaver is still almost six feet high.  Will probably seen continuous generation for a while.  Some rain possibilities in the forecast for tonight into Thursday.  Think the weekend was projected to be nice. 

Good news!  Fishing has been good to very good.  We were really busy over the holiday weekend and had lots of boats out.  All day Friday and Saturday, Jim and Dana had a group of guys from Minnesota and Kansas on the water.  Bill and Buck were brave enough to get into the boat with Jim (Bill has been out with Jim many times) and Warren and his son-in-law to be, JJ, were out with Dana.  Know they all had a good time and caught fish.  Jim’s guys were catching on the good old red midge with the orange San Juan dropper and his Bug-eyed sculpin.  Dana’s were also catching on the red midge, plus a peach egg pattern and a size 12 olive bug-eye bugger.   Good way to break in a new son-in-law….take him fishing!  Our Louisiana Connection, which has grown, was out with Darrell and Carolyn on Friday.  Darrell took Albert and James Albert out all day, and Carolyn had Caroline (the new member and Dawn’s mother-in-law) and Dawn out.

Caroline - 5/28/10

  Caroline could only spend half a day on the water, but she had a fish-filled morning.  She was also intiated into the "stripper" club.  First time she stripped cracklebacks and caught a fish on her first three strips.  She thinks she really like this!  Darrell was using holographic green cracklebacks and the red midge.  They were also experimenting with lots of other patterns on which they caught fish, but those two were the most consistent.  Carolyn’s gals were using the big ruby midge, holographic green crackle back and a size 18 copper dun midge dropper off the big ruby midge.  Everyone was using the intermediate or 5.6 ips sinking leaders when stripping the cracklebacks.   

Dawn’s 19 inch Rainbow

Check out the smile on Dawn’s face after she hooked this 19 inch rainbow on the big ruby midge.  This was really a nice fat fish.  Most of the fish we have been catching are fat! 

Saturday, Darrell had Jeff and Nate, from Arkansas, out again.  Nate is a nice young man who is becoming a good fly fisher and out fishes his father on occasion.  They did very well on the holographic green crackleback and the red midge. 

 Stan had Brian from Oklahoma out for a half-day float Saturday.  Brian had been with us before and had a good day on the big ruby with a Primrose & Pearl dropper and the crackleback. 

Sunday we were all on the water again.  Stan had Justin and Houston from St. Joseph out for a half day.  Once Houston got back in tune with fly fishing, he caught into fish with the big ruby and size 18 ruby dropper.  Justin was stripping the holographic green crackleback, which he really enjoyed.   Jerry, his two daughters, Keri and Sarah, and his son, Nick spent Sunday with Jim and Gina.  Sarah is brand new to fly fishing.  She and Jerry took the boat with Gina, and Nick and Keri went with Jim.  Jim fished the red midge with an orange San Juan dropper while Gina waas using a size 18 burgundy midge, orange San Juan worm, peach egg and an olive wooly bugger.  Sarah persevered with this new sport until she stuck and landed several fish.  She even caught a couple stripping a wooly bugger.  We have a work in progress here! 

Jerry’s 17 inch Rainbow	Sarah’s first fish to the net

Dana also had a new fly fisher on the water.  He had Justin and his wife Lisa from Kansas.  These two were on their honeymoon.  Lisa rode along on the trip to watch Justin and enjoy the river.  Justin boated fish on the olive filoplume, a size 12 bug-eye bugger and the red midge.  

James Albert - 5/30/10

And, the Louisiana Connection was on the water again!  Darrell had Albert and James Albert out all day.  This young man, James Albert, is really starting to throw a line!  Carolyn had Dawn out all day, and what a day we all had!  It was an olive filoplume, green crackleback and red midge day.    Dawn also caught a bunch on the flaming orange flat braid bodied, ginger hackle crackleback.  Catching was so good, Dawn and Carolyn stayed out a little too long and a "scattered shower" downpour is more like it! caught them before they got off the water.  Found a safe haven under the roof of Fall Creek Dock.  

Monday, Carolyn walked into the shop expecting to take out a couple new fly fishers.  Mike and Jan, from Oklahoma had booked half a day for their daughter and granddaughter.  As it turned out, daughter and granddaughter really wanted to spend the day at the pool, so Mike and Jan ’sacrificed’ and took the half day trip they had booked!  I have mentioned Mike before.  He is now a retired doctor who lost his sight a little over a year ago.  He and Jan both are avid fishers and good fly fishers.   There was lots of fog on the water when we started in the morning and fishing was a bit slow.  As the fog lifted and the day went on, fishing picked up and Jan talked Mike (hard job) into make a day of it.  We have a great day on the water stripping the holographic green crackleback and olive size 12 filoplume.  Normally, Jan outfishes Mike, but I think this was Mike’s day.  Lots of fish and his best was a 19-1/2 inch rainbow.

Mike - 5/31/10

Still generating water 24/7.  Despite the heavy rain fall we had Tuesday, Table Rock Lake is holding at 917.8.  It has come down one foot since Saturday.  I am surprised it has not come up, and still might rise some, since they cut back the amount of water they are generating yesterday morning.  Don’t get too excited, the tailwater level is now fluctuating around 707.0 feet instead of the 710. plus we had most of last week and over the weekend.  After today, the rain possibilities will be out of the forecast until some time Monday.  We are hoping for that to disappear from the forecast!

Despite the rain and high water, fishing from the boats has been good.  Fishing up by the hatchery continues to be hot and cold.  Tan, camel or gray scuds, and the shammy worm are some of the better flies reported as catching fish in this area. 

Dana on the water Sunday with Cooper and his uncle, Lee.  Lee is new to fly fishing, and we think he liked it.  They caught fish on the red midge, peach egg and bug-eyed bugger. 

Sunday, Stan had Pete and his son-in-law, Tim, out for half a day.   Pete, who fishes here on his own quite a bit is from Oklahoma and wanted to learn how we fish the high water as well as watch his son-in-law learn the sport of fly fishing.  Think Stan accomplished both.  They both caught lots of fish on the big Ruby, Copper John and size 18 Ruby.  Water level was as 710.8 and it was 89 degrees outside.  Hot day!  Meanwhile, Jim and Darrell were both out with Wayne, Wain, Taylor and one other young man (sorry I can’t read his name).  Wayne is from Kansas and wanted to introduce this group to fly fishing.  He had fly fished many years ago and wants to get back into it.  Jim worked with his two young men on casting and everything else.  They boated several fish on the red midge with a pink San Juan dropper and worked the bug-eyed sculpin a bit.  Darrell’s guys caught their fish on the big Ruby with a small red midge dropper.  Wayne said this just might have to be an annual outting for them.

Monday, Mike, from Iowa, hit the water again.  This time with Stan.  He brought his brother-in-law, Earl to learn how to fly fish.  They had a good day on the big Ruby, size 18 ruby dropper and the holographic green crackleback.  Mike likes stripping cracklebacks.  Jim was out all day with Bob and Mary Ann from Jefferson City.  They have been fishing with us for at least seven years and go out a couple times a year.  They had a good day on the red midge, pink San Juan and bug-eye.  They have some top secret incident that occurred on this trip which none of them will divulge, and just had a really fun day.  Darrell had Ken and Candice from Tennessee, out for half a day.  Right out of the chute, Candice caught a beautiful 18 inch Rainbow and it was really fat!  They have pictures, so she can prove it.  They fished the red midge and the holographic green crackleback. 

Tuesday Jim had Dale out for a full day.  They were catching fish on the red midge, orange San Juan and bug-eye when they noticed a few dark clouds and thought they heard rumbling in the sky.  They noticed the fish slowing down on feeding and all of a sudden the sky opened up.  Heavy rain almost drowned the two of them!  Stan had the brothers, Dennie and Bob from Joplin out for a full day too.  They had been catching fish on the big ruby, #18 ruby, P&P and Copper John.  They headed for refuge at the Fall Creek boat dock, but when they got back to the shop, they all looked like drowned rats!  This was certainly a pop-up storm as it did not show up on radar until just a little before it hit.

Wednesday, the two brothers Dennie and Bob, were brave enough to go out with Stan for another full day.  Pretty well fished the same patterns and had another good day of fishing, laughing, and missin’.    Think they are headed for Alaska in a few months.  Watch out Alaska!  Matt from Oklahoma, went out with Jim for half a day.  He had a very good day on the red midge and orange San Juan.  Good quality fish.