Good day to ostanding out there in the water.  Generation shut down completely at 10:00 p.m. yesterday and is still off this morning.  Scheduled to be off until 1:00 p.m.  Believe it is to be on until 9:00 p.m. and back off again.  Maybe it will be off again tomorrow, but will know for sure what the projection is by 4:30 p.m. or so today.  Overcast this morning and no wind.  Forecast is for upper 80s to lower 90s.  What a pleasant change. 

No one guiding for the past couple days, but that will change soon.  Lots of trips coming up.  Have talked to several customers who have been wading and fishing in the mornings when the generation was lower.  One fisher has had a great couple days fishing dries.  He said almost anything you threw in the way of a dry was working, especially up near the bank below the fish ladder area.  Black ants, beetles, hoppers, and he had something very similar to an orange stimulator.  Came in to stock up on more flies.  We have also noticed more dry fly activity when on the water. 

A little overcast today which makes it feel cooler, and it is not supposed to be quite as hot as it has been.  Think we are looking at mid 90s, which certainly is better than the 100s.  Coming week looks like low to mid 90s also.  Relief at last!  Water has been off since yesterday morning.  Projected for a low one generator for 3-4 hours this afternoon.  Monday looks like one generator until 1:00 p.m. when they will eventually ramp up to the equivalent of three generators. 

Joe – 8/14/10

Fishing certainly better yesterday than the day before.  Jim had Jim and John from the Jefferson City area out all day.  They said they had a fun day and worked all kinds of patterns.  Caught some fish and missed a whole bunch!  Boated a nice 20 inch rainbow on a black bugger.  Also caught fish on a black ant, various midges, and, of course, old dependable scuds.  Stan had two brothers, Joe and James, out for a late morning start half day.  James now lives in Nixa and Joe comes from Oklahoma.  Started out a little slow, but once they put on a copper dun midge, size 18, it just improved from there.  Wound up catching lots of fish on a bug-eyed bugger.  Fish seem to be holding better in the old river channel along the high bank above the Fall Creek area. 

Although the projection for today was no water except for three hours this afternoon, I was not too surprised when I checked the generation this morning and found they were running an equivalent of one generator.  Good news is they did shut it off around 8:00 a.m.  Projection for tomorrow is also no generation except for a while in the afternoon.  We are looking forward to a cooling trend which will put our temperatures in the low 90s instread of 100s!  The humidity will also drop, which will certain be a BIG comfort factor.

Think the fish are even sick of this heat.   Fishing Wednesday and Thursday was slow.  Jim had David from Illinois out in the morning.  they boated some fish, but worked for them.  Rusty midge, blood worm, tan b-bug and #10 olive bugger were the main flies they used to catch fish.

Stan had Olen and Skip from the Kansas City area out Thursday.  Skip is pretty new to fly fishing with Olen being the seasoned fisher.  It was a slow morning but picked up a little before the generators came on and also after the water picked up.  It seemed to fish better further down near the end of the quality management area.  Best flies were the big pink San Juan worm and an olive marabou. 

IT HAS BEEN HOT!  So far this week, temperatures have been in the upper 90s with heat indexes in the 100s!   If we are lucky, it looks like a little relief in sight by Sunday when it will cool down to at least the lower 90s, possibly upper 80s.  Generation pattern has been pretty consistent this week.  Water off in the morning from midnight until 6:00 a.m. when they run a low one generator for maybe an hour.  Staying off until noon or 1:00 p.m.  Have been starting it up pretty hard with first two generators, then the last two within an hour and running them to a tailwater level of 710 feet.  Fishing is still fair to good depending on where you are and how and what you are fishing.  However, so far this morning, based on everyone who has come into the shop, it is tough!  At least in the upper area near the Hatchery where most of them were fishing. 

Monday, Jim and Dana out with our annual group from Texas.  Jim had Rick and Davis.  Jim said the cone head bugger pulled well with a low one generator going.  They also caught fish on the red midge and gray scud.  Dana had Taylor and Beau.  They were catching on the red midge, olive floozie and peach egg.  Caught fish all the way down to Fall Creek. 

Mike from Kansas spent Tuesday morning with Jim.  Fishing a little slow but they caught fish on the black midge, size 18 tan b-bug and gray scud.  Carolyn was out with Jim and Brad from Oklahoma.  This was the second day of the two-day school they were attending.  The morning before, they spent learning the various casts.  Jim was roll casting the entire belly section of his fly line within no time.  He said it was just like something they do when they are roping cattle.  Unbelieveable!  We worked on nymphing/midging, streamers and even dries.  Know they caught fish on every technique.  Wanted to make certain they knew how to rig up and fish various presentations.  Black and rusty zebras were working; the olive floozie on the intermediate sinking leader, a size 14 yellow hopper pattern in the skinny water where fish were working, and, after doing a seine check where we found lots of light tan/gray colored scuds, a size 16 light gray scud.  Noticed several pregnant scuds on the seine too.  Last, but not least, the holographic green crackleback, also working the shallows in the shade along the boat ramp bank.  Jim owns a ranch in Oklahoma and knows places and people out West with rivers running through their land .  Thought it was about time to learn how to fly fish so he could pack into some of those places and catch some fish on a fly rod.  I think he is going to do that some day.

Jim – 8/10/10	Brad – 8/10/10

So far this morning, the generation schedule is right on.  Actually running about 25-30 mwh (as projected).  Still early, so we will see if it stays in that range.  If it does, it is certainly wadeable below the fish ladder, once known as outlet 3.   Weather forecast is mid to upper 90s today and tomorrow, so it is going to be a warm one. 

Stan out yesterday with Colin from the Kansas City area.  Colin is a Mid Shipman at Annapolis Naval Academy.  He is finishing up soon and waiting to see what his assignment will be.  He is fairly new to fly fishing and had a very good day with Stan catching fish and learning more about different ways to fly fish.  They caught fish stripping the holographic green crackleback and the large pink midge when they were drifting.  Good luck with your career Colin!

Followed the generation projection Saturday with the low one generator spike in the morning and again in the afternoon.  Otherwise, the water was off all day Saturday.  Today, the projection was for a low one generator until early afternoon, but I can tell you that did not happen.  They actually have the equivalent of one full generator, using two units.  By 4:00 p.m., they should shut down the generators until midnight.  Tomorrow’s projection is a low one unit until 1:00 p.m. when they will start ramping with two generators and all four by 3:00 p.m. 

Fishing is still rated fair to good, again, depending on where you are fishing and what you are throwing.  In the early mornings, if the water is off, try a black zebra or the rusby zebra.  Near the outlets, tan or brown glo balls, or gray scuds.  If there is any surface activity, especially if the fog is still on the water, the small, 18-20 black thorax midge has been working.  Otherwise, strip olive or black buggers. 

Mohammed with 19" rainbow – 8/8/10

Dana had a couple doctors from Nebraska on the water for half a day Saturday.  Farhan and Mohammed loved the loved the surroundings as well as the fishing.   Their best flies were the tan b-bug and size 16 dark gray sow bug.  Jim was out for the morning with Norm and Chris.  These two from Indiana had a good day on the black midge, blood worm and size 12 olive bugger. 

The rain we had yesterday certainly did make it much more comfortable today.  Not nearly as hot.  Ran a high one generator all morning today then ramped it up to four units by 1:00 p.m.  Schedule for Saturday if off except for one generator for an hour in the a.m and again in the afternoon.  Otherwise, no generation.  Sunday looks like a low one generator all morning, then completely off by 3:00 p.m.  Somehow, that does not compute.  Anyway, Monday will be back to the low to high one in the a.m. then ramping up to four generators around 2:00 p.m.  Weather looks like it is going to be pretty nice.

Jim took Mark and his son, Aaron, from New Haven out this morning.  Aaron had several fish on but could not quite get them to the net.  He stayed with it, and finally success!  Aaron was really happy that he had hooked and brought a fish to the net today.  Good work Aaron.  Mark had a good day on a cone head bugger, a size 14 red midge and a size 14 gray scud.  Stan on the water with Todd from Kansas.  Being from Kansas, you can imagine, Todd is a bass fisher.  Once he found the touch for setting the hook on trout, he had  good day stripping a holographic green crackleback and drifting the red midge.  Everyone said it was a nice day to be on the water.

Wow!  Can not believe it is already Thursday.  Generation schedule changed a bit the past two days.  Yesterday and today, they projected a low flow equivalent to one generator in the morning and evening hours, and ramping it up to the equivalent of four by 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.  The low one was about a full one yesterday and and little higher than that today.  Just heard the horn a few minutes ago and they are flowing four generators at a level of 707.8 and rising.  They are even running two generators at Beaver right now.  This past Saturday, the water was off until about 1:00 p.m. except for a real low flow at 6:00 a.m. which lasted an hour.  Sunday was pretty much wadeable all day.  They did run the little spike in the early morning, and turned on one generator for an hour and a half around 3:00 p.m. but that was all.  Monday and Tuesday was the early morning spike then on with all four at noon. 

Weather has been HOT.  Nice to see the rain today.  Looks like it will cool us off for a few days with chances of isolated thunder showers both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Temperatures in the low to mid 90s with chances again of showers Friday and Saturday.  Quite aways off, so no telling what the weather will be by next weekend.

Dana had Mike and his son, Ian, from Kansas out for half a day Sunday.  They had a good day on a tan b-bug, and light gray or dark gray scuds.  Hooked a lot and missed a lot. 

Monday, Stan had Jerry and his brother Charlie out for half a day.  They are both seasoned fishers although Charlie is pretty new to trout fishing.  He does a lot of off shore fishing in Florida.  His brother Jerry is from Lee’s Summit and just fishes a lot.  They had a good day stripping the olive floozieplume.  Also fished the primrose & pearl and purple midges dropped under a hopper.  Jim had Matthew and Lukas from Texas out for an instructional trip.  They went through everything from roll casting to knots and bugs.  They did get to practice landing fish which they caught on the black midge and blood worm.   

Julia – 8/2/10

We almost had everyone on the water Monday.  Darrell was also out with Pat, from Oklahoma and his son, Chance.  Pat and his wife had been out with Darrell back in 2007, and he wanted to introduce his son to fly fishing.  Best fly for them was the primrose and pearl midge.  Carolyn was introducing another woman, Julia from Oklahoma to the wonderful world of fly fishing.  She loved it!  After spending some time on roll casting, pick up and lay down casting, mending, and line work, we went live with a fly.  Primrose & pearl midge was working, but the best was the floozieplume.  We have another "stripper" on Lake Taneycomo.  Picture is not of her first trout on a fly rod….sorry.  We just had a little trouble hanging on to those slick fish!  She came into the shop the next day and learned the knots.  This, of course, was after she had already been fishing in the morning.  One last thing about Monday, it was HOT! 

Tuesday Dana took Brian and his son, Dustin out all day.  This was another hot day, but the humidity seemed to be a little bit better.  Bet is was still a little warm, however, for these two from Minnesota.  They had a good day on the tan b-bug and red San Juan worm.  Darrell took Mike and Silvia, also from Minnesota, out for half a day.  You can imagine what the shop was like before everyone left with Brian and Dustin, Mike and Silvia, and Darrell all being from Minnesota.  They were all on another planet for a while.  Mike and Silvia’s best fly was the purple midge.  Both are pretty new, so Darrell gave them some instruction during the trip. 

Wednesday, Stan and Doc Stewart, from Oklahoma got onto the water just a little earlier than normal (another hot day).  Doc was in an auto accident this past April while in New Zealand and severely injuired his right hand.   His goal for the morning was to see if he could still fly fish.  I am glad to say, after a few trials and errors, he still has the magic touch!  He was able to bring in fish stripping an olive wooly bugger as well as drifting the big ruby with a 

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primrose & pearl midge dropper.  Kayla and her brother Kalvan (Butch), from Nebraska were brave enough to spend  half a day on the water with Jim.  These two had never fly fished before and Jim said they worked very hard at learning everything.  They landed fish on the gray scud,  and pink, red and purple midges.  Gina had Joyce and her grandson, Robbie, on the water Wednesday.  This was Robbie’s first experience in a drift boat and first experience catching trout on a fly rod.  He made his Grandma proud!  Tough day as they got on the water a little late in the morning and the generators were ramping up during their trip.  Crazy currents made getting a drift or even stripping patterns challenging.  Robbie still managed to land some fish on the floozieplume and the red midge. 

Other than Friday, the water had been off every morning, except for the one hour around 5:00-6:00 a.m. when they turn on a low one for an hour.   Then, they turn on all four for six to eight hours sometime around noon or 1:00 p.m.  Back off around 8:00 p.m.  Friday they ran a the equivalent of a low one generator until 6:00 a.m. when they added another generator.  By noon, it was running all four and did not shut down until 10:00 p.m. 

Jim had a very nice young man, Peyton from Georgia, on the water Tuesday.  Peyton thought he wanted to learn how to fly fish, so his Mother booked a trip for him.  Jim said he was a good student and landed fish on the black midge blood worm dropper and an olive bug-eyed bugger.  Peyton came back into the shop the next day to rent equipment for his father so he could take him out and show him how to fish.  Peyton caught fish but I don’t think his father landed any.  Maybe next time.

Wednesday and Thursday, Stan had Joey and Shelia from Oklahoma on the water.  They fished all day Wednesday and half a day Thursday.   This was Shelia’s first time with a fly rod and she picked it up very fast.  Think she even caught the most fish each day.  They were catching on the size 18 purple and olive midges.  Nick and John from North Carolina spent the day with Jim Thursday.  Nick fly fishes quite a bit and John not as much.  They were able to catch fish on the size 14 bug-eye bugger, and did well on the black midge, blood worm and size 12 pink midge when the water came on.  Both bugger and midges have been working well in the area by Trophy Run development.

Darrell had Chester and his friend Larry out Thursday and Friday mornings.  Chester took the fly fishing course offered by Dogwood Canyon last year.  He hopes to take his fly rods on a motorcycle trip to Alaska some day.  They good a couple good morning on gray scuds and the cerise San Juan worm. 

Trish and a 24" Rainbow – 7/30/10

Bet lots of people where wondering what all the yelling was about Friday afternoon.  Trish and Mike were out with Carolyn again, and Trish hooked into a beautiful 24 inch rainbow.  She was doing the twitch-twitch, slow strip with the olive floozieplume.  We caught a few fish on most everything we tried, but no real consistent pattern.  Fished the cerise worm, big ruby midge, hot pink San Juan, and the bug-eyed bugger.    This was the day they started with low water early in the day and ramped it up during the day.  Meanwhile, Barry and Gary from the Lee’s Summit area found the water higher than they could wade, so they checked to see if Stan was available for an afternoon trip.  Turned out he was so they spent the afternoon drifting and catching some fish on the cerise worm under the big ruby midge. 

Casey and 15-3/4" – 7/25/10

Last, but not least, here is a picture of Casey on her first fly fishing outting.  We tried to stretch this one so it was as big as her Grandfather, Jim’s fish, but couldn’t quite make it.  Neat young lady and think she will be a fly fisher some day.

Wow!  It has been pretty warm here for the past couple weeks.  Got a little cool off yesterday afternoon and it is overcast, with a 40% chance of rain here today.  Nice for a change!  Generation schedule is still being pretty well followed.  Just as was the pattern last week, they ran one generator for about one hour this morning at 6:00.  It is scheduled to stay off today until around 1:00 p.m. when two will come one and they will ramp it up to four generators by 2:00 and eventually off by 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. 

The early morning fishing has been pretty good, especially if you are there before they turn on the one generator as you get the advantage of fishing the rise.  The downside of this is that as the water starts to fall after they shut down the one, fishing slows down considerably.  But hang around long enough and try different patterns and places, and fishing will start picking up again as the water stabilizes.  Still would say fishing is fair to good, and the fish are good quality.

Tony and Amber, from Oklahoma spent the morning with Jim.  Tony is the fly fisher and Amber wanted to go along to watch and enjoy our river.  They had a good morning on the black thorax midge, size 16 and 18 gray scuds and the blood worm dropper.  Tony pulled out a nice 17 inch rainbow.  Gina had Brenda and Jim, from Oklahoma,  out for half a day.  Brenda decided to get herself a birthday present…a guided fly fishing trip.  She had a wonderful birthday as they caught lots of fish on the floozieplume, ruby and rusty midges, gray scud and the blood worm dropper. 

Brenda – 7-24-10	Jim – 7-24-10

Sunday morning, Carolyn had the opportunity to help James, from Arkansas, get his second granddaughter, Casey, introduced to fly fishing.  This ten year old little gal picked up pretty quickly.  She even outfished her grandfather.  Several times she roll cast her own line, set the hook and brought in a nice rainbow all on her own.  A few other times I would cast for her, but she did everything else.  Grandfather took lots of pictures and when I get a copy of one, she will show up on the site.  Her best pattern was the floozieplume.  She said one of the things she really enjoyed about fly fishing was letting the fish go.  Stan and Dana had a group, Bruce, Adam, Sarah and Jan out for half a day.  Believe they are all from the Lee’s Summit area.  They frequently fish here on their own, but knew there was a high probablility the water would come on so they decided to book a trip with us.  Stan had Bruce and Adam throwing the Primrose & Pearl midge when there was no generation.  Then the water came on, the big ruby with a cerise San Juan dropper was the ticket. Dana had the ladies, Jan and Sarah on the size 16 tan flashback scud and a dark gray sowbug.  A good time was had by all!  Can’t leave Jim behind when everyone else is on the water.  He had Faron, from Louisiana out.  Faron is new to fly fishing, so guess what they did for a while.  Jim worked with him on casting, line work and everything else.  He did let him catch some fish so he could practice playing and bringing in fish.  Their best patterns were a brown midge, the black thorax midge and a blood worm dropper. 

Yesterday, Stan had Gene, from Kansas, out for the morning.  Gene agreed it has been too long since he last fly fished….about two years.  He used to get out at least once a year, but we get busy.  Anyway he had a good morning on the primrose & pearl midge, blood worm and pink San Juan worm.  Darrell and David, from Illinois, were out at the same time.  Pretty good day on the red and purple midges.  David brought in a nice 17 inch rainbow. Now Trish and Mike don’t like to do anything ordinary, so they coerced Carolyn into an late afternoon trip.  When they hit the water, all four generators were running.  They pulled a few fish drifting down to the Lookout Island on the cerise San Juan and pink egg pattern dropped below the ruby midge.  At the island, Trish and her "twitch, twitch, slow strip technique pulled several fish on a size 8 bug-eyed bugger.  Nice, comfortable evening, despite the threat of rain.  The finale was the beautiful sunset we saw from the overlook area on the way back to the shop.