Well, they finally did it!  Shut down the water yesterday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.   Back on until last last night, then back on this morning around 6:00.  Scheduled to be on until noon, when they will shut down for about four hours and back on until late tonight.  The other great thing, the weather was perfect.  Sunshine, no wind, and in the 50s.  Should be pretty good weather again today, with the prediction to be in the mid to upper 50s.  By tomorrow, the cold front will start moving in so our weather is going a bit sour.  If the water is off this weekend, I really don’t think the fishing will be sour.

Both Stan and Jim had trips out yesterday.  That was the other part of the perfect day.  Fishing was great.  Stan had Earl and Larry, from Texas, out for half a day.  They did not start until arount 9:00 in the morning so they got the benefit of most of the off-water time.  Great day on the size 16 red tunghead midge and the primrose & pearl midge.  Lots of nice size fish.  Jim had Jerry and Paul out for a late start half day.  I know Jerry is from Kansas, and sorry Paul, I forgot your state of origin.  They too had a great day on the red midge, red San Juan and gray scud.   Shannon and one of our friends, Mac, hit the water around 2:00 p.m and fished until they were too cold to fish any more.  They had a good day on midges, an olive wooly bugger, but did best stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Also nice size fish!  Reports coming in from the river were good.  Everyone was having a good day and catching good numbers of fish.  Just issued a catch and release trophy pin this morning to a gentlenmen from Minnesota who caught a 21 inch rainbow yesterday on a black wooly bugger.   How sweet it is!

The generation in  Taneycomo just keeps rolling along.  Mentioned in last report that they had not stopped generating over the past seven days except for six hours early Monday morning.  No change.  Generated through Thanksgiving Day and on through the weekend.  Believe the projection for Monday is more of the same.  Hopefully, there is some down time in sight as fishing has been pretty good.  Weather is really not bad, especially for this time of the year.  It is the end of November!   High today should be in the low 60s; with tomorrow about the same but a possibility of showers.  The rest of the week looks pretty good.

Stan had Larry and his grandson Jacob on the water Friday.  Larry is from Oklahoma and I think Jacob is too.  Pretty cool Friday, around 45 degrees for the high.  Worst part of the morning was the wind…again.  Windy most of the morning with 25 mph gusts!  The two did have a good day on the red midge and a dark roe egg pattern.  For an eleven year old young fly fisher who had only fly fished a couple times before, Jacob did pretty darn good!  Kept it up Jacob! 

Steve - 11/26/10

Steve, from Iowa, took a half day float with Dana on Friday.  They too had a good day on the red tunghead midge and a peach egg pattern. 

Saturday, Stan two his regular “after Thanksgiving” mother, Branda, and son, Brandon, out all day.  Brandon is from Wichita and the family gets together in Branson every year, so the two of them spend some time fly fishing together.  Weather was great, 55 degrees, sunny, and NO WIND!  They did well on the dark roe egg pattern, red midge and primrose & pearl midge.

What a difference a day makes!  Day before Thanksgiving it was in the 70s.  Thanksgiving Day there was snow, light granted, but snow and temperatures in the 30s!  Today’s high is the low 40s and tomorrow predicted to be in the mid 50s with the same for Sunday.  By Monday, there is a chance of showers with temperatures again in the 50s.  Think Tuesday might be a bit cooler but sunny.  Must report that for the past seven days, they have run water every day except for six hours early Monday morning.  Otherwise, one to three generators have been running at the equivalent of one to two.  Some days, it is low enough you can wade in select places.

Darrell on the water last Monday.  He had Marlin and his son, Ross, from Louisiana.  They worked had but caught fish on the red and black midges.  Fly fishing was pretty much a new experience for both of them.

Tuesday, Carolyn had Ron and Kathy, also from Louisiana, out for the day.  Nothing competitive between these two.  Ron was ahead at the beginning of the day, but that was short-lived after lunch.  Kathy took the lead and kept on going.  We had a good day, but it certainly would have been an even better day had it not been for the wind.  Missed a lot of hits and lost a lot of fish while we were getting blown everywhere.  Good, fun day on the primrose & pearl midge which fished best under a size 12 UV gray scud.  As we got further down the river near Fall Creek, a dark roe egg pattern was the pattern for the afternoon.

Temperatures today are very nice, however, the wind is not.  Pretty windy and gusty today.  Last I heard, Monday might be in the low 70s, however about a 40% chance of showers Monday.  Generation every day, all day since Wednesday and scheduled to do the same today and tomorrow.  However, the level has been low enough so there are wading opportunities in certain areas.

We will be closed Thanksgiving Day.  However, we will be open the day after Thanksgiving.  Come on in and check out the Orvis Reel Deal.  Again this year, we can give you a choice of certain Orvis reels free with the purchase of a Helios or Hydros rod!  Just in time for Christmas shopping!

Stan on the water Friday with Todd and Brian.  Todd is from Ozark and I believe Brian was from Illinois (not certain).  They had a good day even with a late start.  This was Brian’s first fly fishing trip.  He was happy to have caught his first trout on a fly rod and very happy with the size of the fish they caught.  Best patterns were a red San Juan, red and black midges.  This one is for you Stan from Chicago.  While waiting for them to come off the water ( I took the trailer around to meet them at the take out), I noticed the fish coming up everywhere in the shallow water around the boat ramp.  The only rod I could find in the car was a 4 wt. 7’6″ Trout Bum with a big ugly fly.  Beggars can’t be choosie, so to the water I went with this rig and plop!  About the 3rd or 4th cast, a nice rainbow took my big ugly.   Think it could have been a great dry fly evening had I had a smaller pattern.

Saturday, Troy and Dave from Warrensburg took a half day with Stan.  They had two generators, then one running while they were out.  Again, nice quality fish on the red San Juan and copper dun midge.    Pretty windy on Saturday.

Weather continues to be cool today.  From this morning’s forecast, looks like we may have a pretty windy one today.  Tomorrow will still be cool, in the 50s, less wind, and overcast.  However, forecast for the weekend looks good.  Temps in the 60s and sunny.  Hope this is right!  Generation schedule has been pretty right on.  Little generation Monday, Tuesday, and again today.  They projected one generator this morning at 7:00 a.m. for one hour and they did it.  Should be off the balance of the day.  And, reports from the river are good.  Folks catching fish on almost everything, including a few dries!

Several of the gals could not resist one more day on the water, so they hit Taneycomo again on Sunday. Great day for all of them. 

First picture is interesting, Valley in a raft!   This gal, from Oklahoma is a fishing machine.  

Check out Lorraine. This is her first trout ever on a fly rod.  Was she excited. 

This dynamic duo is Gina and her sister Penny. If you know Gina, you know she will try to get everyone in her family hooked on fly fishing! She certainly did it with Penny.

Last, but certainly not least, we missed  this picture earlier of Carolyn, from Arkansas, with her nice rainbow.  Nice fish Carolyn! 

All the women had a wonderful time laughing, sharing, fishing, catching, and just plain having fun this past weekend.  Until the next time, watch out Taneycomo!  We’ll be back!

So much for the weather forecast I heard day before yesterday and posted yesterday. It was raining this morning on my way to work. Not too heavy, but still, it was rain. Anyway, as I am writing, the sun is starting to peek through the clouds. Looks like it is on its way out. Yesterday and so far today, (knock on wood), they have pretty much followed the generation projection. Today, they are projecting it to be off until around 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. when they will turn on the equivalent of one generator for about three hours and then off the rest of the day.

If you are interested in learning how to tie flies, or pick up some different patterns, we have posted the free fly tying clinic schedule on our site. Clinics start December 4, 2010 with “Basic Fly Tying” being the first session. Check out “Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Clinics” for the 2010-2011 fly tying and fly fishing clinics schedule. Give us a call if interested.

For those of you who knew that Shannon Roberts decided about three months ago to retire, I just wanted to let you know that he came back out of retirement. He got in some fishing time, and I’m sure some “Honey Do” time, but he missed the shop and all the wonderful folks he talks with every day, so he’s back! If you are in the area, be sure to stop by on a Friday or Saturday and say “Hi, glad to see you back!”

Any by the way, fishing has been good. A few of the ladies stayed over Sunday and fished some more. They all had a great day on various patterns, but especially small, 16-18 gray scuds. Customers coming into the store over the past two days commenting that fishing has been good, scuds, soft hackles, olive buggers.

What happened to our lovely temperatures? Nice weather most of last week except for Saturday. Brrrr! Saturday was overcast, windy, with temperatures in the 40s in the a.m. that crept into the 50s during the day. Today looks pretty nice. Definitely sunny, very little wind and temps in the low 60s. Pretty much the same forecast this coming week until Thursday when we they are forecasting a chance of shows. Temperatures all week in the upper 50s to low 60s. Not too bad for November! Generation a bit crazy these past few days. Two hour blip Sunday evening; off all day Monday until 5:00 p.m. Equivalent of two generators all day Tuesday and off until 1:00 p.m. Wednesday. Once it came on Wednesday afternoon, it stayed on until Friday at midnight. Saturday they ran the equivalent of one generator for an hour and turned it off the rest of the day. It is still off today with the projection for a generator by 2:00 p.m. today.

Another busy week on the water. Stan took Bob and his friend, Mike, both from Michigan, out all day Monday. Bob tries to fish with us 3-4 times a year, but Mike’s visits are maybe once a year. Good day on the water for these guys using the Primrose & pearl, Copper Dun and Ruby midges. Dawn, aka “The Stripper” and Albert, from Louisiana, spent a long half day on the water with Carolyn. Good day, with back to back 18″ rainbows, Dawn caught one then Albert, on a pine squirrel sculpin pattern. Lots of other nice fish on the burgundy and copper dun midges, holographic green crackleback and a size 16 light gray scud. Jim had Wayne and Colleen from Hawaii out again. What a cute couple. They are still pretty new at fly fishing and really love it. They had a good day on black zebra midge, size 18 gray scud and a size 18 olive wooly bugger.

Tuesday, Stan took Hubert and Georgia out for half a day. They had a wonderful day on the water with the primrose & pearl and red midges. This picture was not their largest fish, but the composition of the picture is so neat. The other treat of the day was an eagle perched in a nearby tree where they were fishing.
Jerry from Indiana spend half a day on the water with Jim. They worked on skills a little and caught fish on the black zebra, black thorax, red midge and a size 12 gray scud.

Stan out Wednesday with Chad. Chad owns Ozark Angler in Little Rock and Heber Springs, Arkansas. They had a good day on the primrose & pearl and copper dun midges. Dan, from Texas, spent the morning with Jim. He is new to fly fishing, so guess what they did. Worked on casting and line work and caught some fish on the size 12 bug eyed bugger, the black midge and a gray scud.

Ripp from Louisiana spent Thursday with Darrell. They had a good day on a ruby midge and holographic green crackleback. Jim and Larry from Texas, had a pretty good day. They caught fish on the red and black midges, and a gray scud.

Ken from Kansas is recovering from surgery and thought the best medicine would be a half day on the water catching fish. Think it worked. He spent the morning with Stan and they had a great day on a size 18 red midge. Nice fish Ken! Hope you are feeling better.

Friday was the beginning of a crazy weekend. Close to twenty members of the River Run Women’s Fly Fishing Club descended upon Branson for their quarterly meeting. And what does a fly fishing club do when they get together? Fish, of course. So fishing was the first, second, and third thing on the agenda. So for those of you who were near the lake on Friday or Saturday and heard lots of laughing, cheering, and yelling, it was just a bunch of crazy fly fishing women having a great time. Pictured above is Barbara with one of her nice fish she caught on the size 18 ruby midge. The weather Friday was not too bad, just a bit windy. Saturday was bitter all morning. It did get a little more comfortable by the afternoon, but not one of our more pleasant days. Several of these hard core women were on the water all day fishing and catching. They certainly enjoyed the evening meal of chilli which helped take the brrrrr out of the day. Best pattern Friday was a size 18 ruby midge dropped from the big ruby. Saturday, a size 8 natural colored pine squirrel sculpin seemed to be the favorite with the fish. Despite all the noise, Stan had Kent from Independence on the water for half a day. Think they headed down stream before all the ladies got to the water so they didn’t hear the worst, or best, of it. They worked hard for their fish. In the middle of their trip, they generated for an hour and then shut it down. Best patterns were the red, primrose & pearl and rusty midges. Darrell had Tony and his wife, Amber out for the morning. Comment, bitterly cold. Amber came through, despite the nasty day with a nice fish. They were using a black zebra and ruby midge.

Way behind again! Only had the water off from midnight until 2:00 a.m. last Tuesday. These rest of the week has seen was on at 6:00 a.m. for a couple hours; off for 6-8 hours,; then back on for 4-6 hours. Thank you…by Saturday we had generation for only three hours in the morning, and then they shut it off the rest of the day into Sunday.  Sunday we had a little blip of water for a couple hours around 8:00 p.m.

Last Tuesday, Jim had Carl and Dan from Oklahoma City out all day.  It was one of those tough days.  However, they did catch some fish on the size 14 red midge, a gray scud, and a size 18 black thorax midge.

Bob from Kentucky, spent the morning on the water with Stan Thursday.  Stan found his match with this guy.  If you know Stan very well, you know he has some parameters on when he will fish.  “If it’s 40 or below, Stan don’t go”, or “if the wind is 20 and above, Stan don’t go”, and on, and on…..  Anyway, when Bob booked his trip, it almost sounded like Stan.  Despite their limitations, they had a good day on the water.

Friday, Darrell took Robert, from Tulsa, out for half a day.  They had a good day, mainly on the size 18 ruby midge.  Stan was also out.  Must have been Oklahoma day, as he had Terry and Dave, also from Tulsa, out all day.  Good full day of fishing, especially when the water started dropping in the late morning.  Best patterns were a size 18 olive midge, a green Copper John and best was the size 18 Primrose & Pearl midge.  Carolyn took Mary Jo and her husband Bill, out all day.  These two are originally from Minnesota, but moved several years ago to Alaska where they once had their own fly shop in Sitka.  Just recently retired, they purchased a camper and are traveling around fishing!  What fun.  Mary Jo was one of the five women, including Carolyn, who went to Sweden and Norway to fish this past June.  Mary Jo said she was going to come to Branson to fish, and she did.  Fun and fish filled day on the holographic green crackleback (Mary Jo really liked this), a size 18 ruby midge, and a size 18 copper dun midge.

Dana had Gene and Terry from Kansas out all day Saturday.  Think it was Terry’s first time fly fishing.  He caught a nice 18 inch rainbow.  What a way to get started.  Their best flies were a size 16 gray scud, size 16 tan flashback scud and a red San Juan worm.

Sunday, Darrell had John and Thomas, from Oak Grove, most of the day.  This was another one of those tough days.  One nice fish, 18-1/2″ rainbow, but the rest were few and far between.  What they did catch was on either an olive filoplume or  the olive floozie.  Folks coming into the store that day were also moaning about the tough fishing.

Not seeing very many browns anymore but we are seeing lots of nice rainbows.   Have pictures to publish of some of the above mentioned trips, but the gremlin is still running around somewhere in my computer.

We continue to see up and down generation, but fortunately, there is enough down time that lots of people are catching some really nice fish up in the Hatchery area. Monday was a real fluctuating day as they had it off six hours in the morning, on for three, then back off for four and back on for seven hours. During the week, Wednesday was the best day for wading. It was off until 3:00 in the afternoon. It as up and down yesterday, but no so much that one could not get out there and do some wading. Weather continues to be beautiful…had one crispy night in the upper 20s but it warmed up to be a very nice day in the 70s.

Wednesday, Stan had Don and John from Illinois out all day.  Fun couple of guys and good fishers.  They had a very good day on the rusty and red midges. 

Carolyn took Ted and Tom from the Blue Springs area out all day Thursday.  This was one of those nippy mornings and the soup really hit for spot for lunch.  We boated several nice fish during the day on the size 18 ruby midge dropped under a size 12 UV gray scud.   I think Tom could catch fish in a bath tub.  Both are good fishers and fish al over the place.  Hope they send pictures of some of the nice fish we caught.

Friday, Cary from Virginia spent the day on the water with Stan.  He fishes mostly in small mountain streams so this tailwater was a real new experience for him.  He had a good day on every one of the midges…almostlllburgundy, primrose & pearl, copper dun and black zebra. 

Had 8 TU pins handed out in the past 3-4 days for mostly rainbows but a few browns over 20 inches so folks are still catching some nice fish.  Understand from the folks at the Hatchery that the brown run is pretty much finished.  However, remember that are always those hanger ons and John come latelys.  Still a few browns handing around and defintiely some nice rainbows!

Along with the windy conditions, the generation pattern continues to be bizzare.  Think I mentioned that they ran it all day Sunday.  Finally shutting it down Sunday night around 11:00 p.m..  It was off Monday morning until 9:00 a.m. when they ran two generators for one hour and shut it back to one and off within another hour.  Off for five hours and back on at 3:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.  Somewhat the same pattern again today.  Wonder what surprise we have in store for us tomorrow.  Had a heavy rain/wind experience come through here early this morning…around 1:30 a.m.  Windy yesterday starting in around 11:00 a.m. and has continued into today.  Forecast for the rest of the week seems dry and cooler with temperatures in the 60s. 

Jim out yesterday morning with Bill and Bill from Oklahoma.  Bet that was confusing at times…Bill "set"; Bill "mend".  Must have worked out as they caught fish.  Best patterns were the black zebra, gray scud and an olive wooly bugger, size 10.  Carolyn had Mike and Jan, from Oklahoma, out for the day.  They had a wonderful day.  Once we got through the weird water levels in the morning, started catching fish on the size 18 copper dun, a size 10 sculpin, and an olive filoplume.  Great quality and quantity day.  Most of the fish were in the 14-16 inch range plus each of them caught a 17-3/4" rainbow.  Really tried to stretch them out to 18", but just didn’t work. 

Jan – 10/25/10	Mike – 10/25/10

Jim just blew in the front door today after his trip with Bruce, from Illinois.  They had a good day with this being Butch’s first experience at fishing a tralwater fishery.  He normally fishes still lakes for trout.  Their best patterns were the red midge, gray scud and a size 8 beadhead olive wooly bugger.