Beautiful Snow!
What a perfect snow! When I awoke this morning, there were about two inches of snow lining the railing around our deck. All the trees were covered with this same beautiful snow. It made me remember one winter day when we had a similar snow fall during the day time. That day I could not resist and grabbed my fly rod, drove over to the Rocking Chair area and walked into the water (it was off for a change!) There was absolutely no wind and the flakes were falling slowing from the sky and softly touching the water. The snow muffled all the outside sounds so it was quiet as could be except for an occasional splash from a fish rising after a snow flake. I think the fish thought there was a "hatch" of some kind as several of them were coming to the top and sipping. With such perfect conditions could I hope to also catch some fish! It was one of the best days I can remember. Memories are wonderful. In reality, I was probably freezing my buns off and fishing was so-so. No…..I don’t think so.
Now, back to the real world. We continue to see generation 24/7. Projections for the past four days were for 25 megawatts every day. This would usually make one think they would be running one generator, and rightfully so. What they have been running has been one, two or even three generators over the past four days. Most of the time, they have been running two generators. Except for short periods during the day, they have maintained the tailwater level somewhere in the 703 to 705 feet range. Levels of 703 and 704 feet are definitely wadeable in some areas, but one needs to be alert to the fact that the water could sneak up higher and catch one off guard!! So, pay attention to what is going on around you.
Several people have been fishing over the past few days and fishing is good. As we noted a few weeks ago, Table Rock Lake has turned over so the oxygen content in the Taneycomo tailwater is good and the fish are happy. Over the weekend, olive or black wooly buggers were doing very well. Monday and yesterday, in addition to the gray or brown scuds and wooly buggers, black midges were the ticket. Had several people come in and say they had had a great day on the black midges. They observed several hatches during the day.
Jim had Lou and his son, Matt, out for a half-day float yesterday. These guys from Illinois have fished with us several times before and were ready to hit the water again despite the weather. As it turned out, it was a pretty comfortable day out there. Everyone had "layer" well and stayed warm. The fish were cooperative too! They boated several fish on the red midge, a size 6 Bug-Eyed Bugger, a size 18 white midge as well as a size 24 black midge emerger.