Weather has been down right hot!  Yesterday, it hit the low 90s.  Today, and Wednesday, they are forecasting upper 80s and if the sun comes out, I would not be surprised to see it in the 90s again today.  Thursday are Friday are supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s.  There are chances of thundershowers Wednesday night into Thursday morning.  A cool front coming through over the weekend so temperatures will drop into the mid 60s Saturday and Sunday with a chance of showers.  Monday back into the lower 70s.

We continue to see five flood gates and four generators on Taneycomo.  At noon today, Table Rock Lake pool level was 929.05.  Beaver was as 1129.2 and Bull Shoals is now at 692.97. 

Nice Rainbow on a Primrose & Pearl Midge

Took myself fishing yesterday.  Wonderful day. Wanted to get a feel of the current with the drift boat and check for more layups.  Fished, and caught fish, on everything from the big ugly with a primrose & pearl size 18 midge dropped 3 feet, the steroid ruby midge with a size 16 red tunghead midge dropped a foot and fishing 6 to 7 feet deep, to stripping the holographic green crackleback and our new addition, the silver bullet (just another version of the holographic green but tied with holographic silver).  Fish seem to like either version of the cracklebacks equally well.   On my way down the river, I did take a few more shots of some of the damage.  Definitely much more damage than the flood of 2008.

This house at Pointe Royale lost their entire back yard where they had recently built up, added a pool as well as a retaining wall to hopefully keep down the erosion.

Home at Pointe Royale - 5/9/11

Another home at the Pointe.  In the process of getting fill in to prevent any more damage.

Home at Pointe getting fill work done

Several of the condos just behind Fall Creek Dock have lost their decks as well as yard areas around the condos.

Condos behind Fall Creek Dock - 5/9/11

 If anyone is wondering, Fall Creek Dock is still in tact.  If they had any damage, it was not visible to me.

Five flood gates and four generators are still opened and will probably be for several weeks.  What a beautiful day!   Sunny, a little wind and lots of water!  Still have a chance of rain late this evening and tomorrow morning.  Slight, and let’s hope that is what it is.  Also, still a chance of isolated thunder showers Wednesday.  Temperatures will be hovering in the low 80s most of the time.  

Stan and I ventured out for our day of adventure today.  What a wonderful day!  Nice to get to fish together for a change.  Didn’t get on the water until around 10:30 a.m.   Slept in, had a leisurely breakfast and eventually got to the river.  Fog didn’t get off until late this morning anyway!  Rigged up with the big ruby and a cerise worm dropper and caught a fish within 5 minutes.  Whoa!  Gonna be a good day.  They didn’t hit the cerise worm again!  Anyway, drifted on down to another good looking spot, changed the worm for a P&P and caught another fish!.  However, what they really wanted was red.  Big red ruby with the size 16 tungsten beadhead d-ribbed red midge  dropper was the ticket under and indicater.  Hit another spot as we floated down and saw a few fish coming up.  Sounds like a sinking leader and crackleback or bug-eyed bugger to us.  Sure enough….bamb!  Lots of fish stripping.  We had a wonderful day on the water, catching fish, good time together, casual lunch and beautiful day.  We are ready to go fishing.   We know where they are and know what they are hitting.   Nice quality fish too.

Let's go fishing!

Sun is still shinning this morning, but we are expecting some rain later today.  However, the weather man said is would be insignificant.  Thank you…thank you.  Back to sunshine on Friday and into the 70s.  Chance for isolated thundershowers Saturday and again on Wednesday.  Temperatures moving into the low 80s by Sunday and into the middle of the week.

We still have five flood gates opened here on Taneycomo.  Table Rock Lake level this morning was 931.31.  Beaver Lake is still holding in the 1129 level and Bull Shoals has risen to 689.71 feet. 

Still hearing from fishers up at the Hatchery area.  They are catching nice rainbows and are starting to see and catch other species such as white bass, large mouth and walleye.  Every cast is a surprise!  Stan and I are going to hit the water tomorrow to see what has been displaced and where the fish are holding.  Should be a day of adventure!  Want to made certain conditions are safe before we start taking folks fishing.

We are on our second day of sunshine.  Did have a few clouds roll in yesterday afternoon and drop a few sprinkles on my windshield as I drove home, but nothing in the way of rain.  So far, the rest of the week is predicted to be sunshine and warm…even into the low 80s by the weekend.  Keep this up and we should dry up a little!

Five flood gates continue to run along with the four generators here at Table Rock Dam.  At 8:00 a.m. today, Table Rock’s level was 931.47.  Yes, it has come up about a foot since May 1, when it was 930.1.  Beaver is still holding in the 1129 range.  It was 11.29.24 at 8:00 a.m. compared to 1129.05 (the lowest) on April 29.  Bull Shoals has come up two feet since May 1.  It is now at 689.02. 

Could not help but stop for this picture this morning.  Looks like a big cloud over the dam.  Not a bad cloud…just pretty.

Pretty Cloud over Dam - 5/4/11

The few fishers fishing up near the dam, yes you can get near the water now, have been reporting lots of fish gathered up there as well as catching some nice ones.  Day before yesterday, a guy reported a 24 inch rainbow.  I have not yet heard of any fresh water species being caught, but know several folks are also fishing for them.

Yesterday, around 8:00 or 9:00 a.m., they shut down the flood gates to 5!

Five Flood Gates - 5/1/11

Right now, Taneycomo is sitting at 713.3  feet, which is down about 14 feet from the 727 plus were were experiencing with the 10 gates.  Table Rock is holding at 930 feet and Beaver is still at 1129.  We will probably see some rise as yesterday evening brought us some heavier rains.  Looks like about an inch in most places.  My 50% chances of rain for today changed to 70-80%, so we will probably see some more rain today.  Forecast is for clearing tomorrow into the balance of the week.  Yeah!!

In addition to the many homes along the river which have been sitting in water up to their eaves, there are several homes along the river at Pointe Royale sitting on the edge of the banks.  The heavy water eroded away the trees and ground around several homes foundations and they are now in jeopardy of falling into the river.  Hopefully, with the cutback in water flow, these homes can be shored up and saved.  We just keep having to tell ourselves it could be worse.  Be thankful we are not in Alabama where more than property has been lost!

Sitting here listening to the sound of rain drops on the roof of the shop.  Doesn’t look like a real heavy, set in rainfall.  I have heard everything from half an inch to two inches.  I’ll go for the half inch.  Still expecting some more rain tomorrow…think the chances are 50%.  Good news, that means there is a 50% chance we will not have more rain.

At noon today, Table Rock Lake’s level was 930.07 feet.  Beaver Lake is holding in the 1129 feet level and Bull Shoals has come up almost a foot from yesterday to a level of 685.63.  Flood pool for Bull Shoals is 695 feet. 

Drove to Powersite Dam yesterday to see the impact of Taneycomo on the downstream areas.  Following are a couple pictures of this area.

This is Powersite Dam.  Actual drop from the top of Taneycomo to the top of Bull Shoals Lake appeared to be 30 feet or so.

Shadow Rock Park - 4/30/11

What a beautiful morning!  Woke up to sunshine instead of thunder, lightening and rain!  Forecast is for sunshine and 60s today with sunshine and 70s tomorrow.  Unfortunately, they do have rain in the forecast again for Saturday and Sunday.  Let’s hope is disappears.  I know at one point in time yesterday, Table Rock Lake was sitting at 935.55.  At 10:00 a.m. today, we were at 935.02.  Good news is the lake is going down…not much, but moving in the right direction.  They continue to flow 68,000 cfs using the flood gates and generators.  Beaver has dropped ever so slightly below flood pool, so it too is moving in the right direction.

Below are a few more pictures of the area.  Note in the first two pictures, Trophy Run’s club house is in the water.  The last picture is the house which sits just downstream of the ramp where we take out on our float trips.

Trophy Run club house - 4/28/11

Overlook on Hwy. 165 - 4/28/11

Take out area - 4/28/11

Table Rock lake level has risen to 935 feet.  This is a little higher than the Corp had projected, but it has been very difficult for them to get a good prediction due to the additional rain and runoff Table Rock is experiencing.

Below is a picture of Table Rock Dam after they increase the amount of water being released through the flood gates from the day before.  This happened around noon on Tuesday.

     Increased release through flood gates 4/26/11

Looks like there will be a lot of clean up after the water goes down.  Following pictures are of the parking area at outlet 2, the parking upsteram at outlet 1, and the shelter house and restroom below outlet parking area.

Parking area outlet 2 -04/26/11

Parking area outlet 1 - 4/26/11

Shelter house & restroom - 4/26/11

For those of you who have taken guide trips with us, this is a different view of the boat ramp where we launch the drift boats.

MDC Boat Launch Ramp -04/26/11

Last, but not least, everyone is inquiring as to what affect this is having on Branson Landing.  As of this morning, the Bass Pro boat dock, which was located upstream from the restaurant, broke loose and is now floating down Taneycomo.  Below is a picture of the parking garage for the condos located on the downstream side of the water show area.

Condo parking garage - 4/26/11

Many homes and businesses along the river have either been evacuated or advised to be ready to evacuate.  We need some sunny, rain free days so the water can start backing off.  Everyone…stay safe out there!

The monsoon has turned into an all out flood!  Excuse the spots in the picture….those are rain drops!

These aren’t showers….they are monsoons!  Lots of rainfall since Thursday.  Few hours breaks here and there, but then the sky opens up again.  Last I heard, we have chances of rain through Wednesday.  Temperatures will be pretty much in the 60s, but rain.  

Although the projection for today was low generation this morning and there was none projected for yesterday, they fired up the generators around 5:00 p.m. yesterday and they were still running as of 7:00 a.m. today.  They are running 3 to 4 units with the tailwater level at 707.8 feet.   I would not be surprised to see it running all day today and probably tomorrow.  Table Rock Lake is sitting at 917.3, up almost three feet since Friday. 

Before the rain really affected the river, fishing was still very good.  I am certain it will still be good, but probably a little more difficult to get to unless you have a boat or webbed feet!  Stan on the water Thursday with Dwight and his friend, Phil.  These guys are from up north in Missouri and Dwight has fished with us a couple times before.  This was Phil’s first experience and probably one he will not forget.  First time out and he hooks a beautiful 20 inch rainbow.   Unfortunately, Thursday was another WINDY day with 30 mph gusts.  Stan said they had white caps rolling upstream.  Fortunately, they did have a good day.  Boated lots of fish on the primrose & pearl midge and the holographic green crackleback.  

Phil - 20" Rainbow - 4/21/11

Dwight - "slippery little thing!"

Friday, Ken and Cindy, from Maryland, took a learning/catching trip with Carolyn.  They had never fly fished before, saw lots of people catching fish earlier in the week on Taneycomo, and thought this looked like a fun thing to do.  Think they like it!  We started out with the basics, roll cast, then pick up and lay down cast, mending, recognizing a hit, hooking, and playing in a fish.  What fun!   Unfortunately, before we got off the water, the wind came up and I think at times they thought tippet and leaders were spider webs trying to wrap around everything in sight!  Good day on the copper dun, then the primrose & pearl and finished up with the ruby midge.  Cindy is a potential “stripper”.  She liked stripping the holographic green crackleback on which she caught several fish.

Cindy - 4/22/11

Ken - 4/22/11

Ken & Cindy working on roll cast