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.

Must say again, they have been pretty close with following the generation schedule most of this week.  Pump a little water in the morning for one hour or less at about 6:00 a.m. then off until some time in the early afternoon when they run the equivalent of four generators for about eight hours.  Been giving us some good wading time in the mornings to catch fish.  Weather has even been cooperating.  A bit warm, but no rain and even a little wind a few days. 

This past Wednesday we had Stan and Jim on the water for half a day.  Jim had Carl from Ohio out working on "everything" as Jim put it.  Carl is brand new and really wanted to learn.  Had a good morning on the water and caught fish on on the size 18 rusty midge, blood worm dropper and black midge.  Think Carl had a good time!  Stan had Rick McNary, from Kansas, out for half a day.  They had a wonderful day on the primrose & pearl midge with a blood worm dropper.  Stan also introduced him to the sinking like and a hololgraphic green crackleback.  He really liked this!

One of Jim’s regular, regulars, Bud and his friend Derek spent all day Thursday stripping the size 12 bugger, or tossing a size 18 black zebra pattern, and when that did not work, a gray scud.  Fun day and they were both worn out when they came into the shop.

Tracy – 7/23/10

Friday, Bud had recoupled so he spent another day with Jim pretty much throwing the same patterns.  Another good day and "pooped" Bud at the end of the day.  Carolyn had Tracy and Bill, from the St. Louis area, out for half a day.  This neat couple was ready to learn anything they could.  Worked on Tracy’s cast and she was throwing a good line by the time we finished the morning.  Bill has a great roll cast and can get to almost anything he needs to.  Had them working the floozieplume until the water came on then we switched to the big ruby with the cerise large San Juan worm and caught fish all the way down to Fall Creek.  Stan and Gina were out with a group, some from Columbia, for half a day.  Stan was with Jim and Andrew.  Good day on the primrose & pearl midge with a blood worm dropper and the black midge with a copper head and copper wire.  This was Andrew’s first time with a fly rod and he certainly held his own!.  Gina had Merrill and Melanie.  Only married for about a year and pretty new to fly fishing.  Worked the peach egg pattern, red midge and the olive floozieplume!   Darrell had Steve and Chris our for the early morning.  Chris is just home from Iraq.  Steve got to spend the day with one of his boys, Chris.  They boated fish on the purple midge under the Big Ugly. 

Overall, fishing is probably fair to good.  They have been a little picky on patterns, so keep on trying various things, and definitely try different presentation techniques.  Looking for the best water will also help.

So far this week….knock on wood….they have followed the projected generation schedule pretty well.  Off in the mornings from midnight to 6:00 a.m. when they turn on a low one generator for an hour or less.  Stays off until 1:00-2:00 p.m. they start ramping up until all four generators are going.  Around 7:00 p.m. they start shutting down so the tailwater level is back to a level of 701.6 around midnight.  Weather is still hot.  Temperatures in the 90s and heat indexes in the 100s.  Little breeze yesterday which helped a little.

Mixed stories on fishing as the week goes on.  Some folks are having a hard time, but Monday and Tuesday, those folks fishing in the hatchery area were catching fish on the light gray size 16 and smaller scud or sowbugs.  One customer reported a very good day just above the boat ramp on a size 14 olive wooly bugger.  Today it has been the dark gray scud and a size 14 and up to size 8 olive wooly bugger.  Think some of the difficulty some are having is where they are fishing.  Need to move around a little to find the fish.

Dana on the water Monday with Dana and her friend Annika, from Denmark.  This was a total surprise for Annika as they had not told her what she was going to be doing Monday morning.  She and Dana had a good time and caught fish on the red midge and copper dun midge, size 18.  She was really catching on to casting before the morning was over.  Stan had Craig and Trey, from Texas out for half a day.  This was their first experience too, and they caught fish on the primrose & pearl size 18 midge. 

Trent – 7/20/10

Darrell took Trent from Minnesota out for half a day Tuesday.  Trent is pretty new to fly fishing, so he learned a lot and caught some nice fish.  Best fish of the day was the 22 inch rainbow he hooked on the size 18 purple midge.  Way to go Trent!

Typical July weather, except we have have over five inches of rain this month.  Looks like it will continue to be mostly sunny and hot until the weekend when we have a chance of showers.  That’s a long way off, so it remains to be seen.  Generation pattern this past week was on all day except for Tuesday morning when the generators were off until 1:00 p.m.  This weekend we had no generation until early afternoon both days.  This was great!  

Kelton – 7/16/10

Friday, Darrell was out for 1/2 a day with James and Kelton from Arkansas.  They had a good trip on the holographic crackleback and the big Ruby midge, both before and after they turned on the water.  Stan half half a day with Kurt, from Oklahoma, and David from Kansas.  Both these guys are pretty new to the sport and did well on the natural colored worm under a size 14 gray scud.  They did best on the holographic green crackleback under the intermediate sinking line. 

Saturday, Carolyn had Rick and Kristy from the St. Louis area out for what wound up to be a full day wade/float.  They had a great time on the primrose & pearl midge, callibaetis soft hackle size 18, olive floozieplume, and scuplin patterns.  Wish we could have stuck all the hits we had on the sculpin, but they were short taking several of the hits.  Wasted no time, however, on the other patterns.  When the water came on about 1:00 p.m. the rise fished very good with the primrose & pearl and our high-water go to setup, the big hot pink midge with a hot pink San Juan dropper.  That’s when we decided to ride out the rise and make it a full day.  Fished great the rest of the day as we picked up several more on the high-water go to setup and the floozieplume.   Jim had Price and Marge from Kansas out for half a day.  They did well on the size 18 rusty or black midges with the size 22 blood worm dropper.  As always, they had a great time with Jim.

Sunday, we saw one of our customers who has greatly cut back on his fishing time since "the twins".  Good to see him with a fly rod in his hand again!.  Mario, from the Springfield area, brought his father, Mario, so the two of them could spend a half a day fishing with Stan.  This was Mario Senior’s first time with a fly rod.  With a little instruction he did land his first fish on a fly rod.  They did well on the primrose & pearl and purple size 18 midges.   And then there was the Stripper, Albert and James Albert from Louisiana.  They were on the water all day with Darrell and Carolyn.  The guys were catching fish on almost anything they tried, but best were the primrose & pearl and purple midges, size 18 with the water off.  Then the ruby, size 12 when the water came on.  Meanwhile, the Stripper and Carolyn spotted fish feeding in about 1-1/2 feet of water and started throwing soft hackles and the L’il Easy at them.  What a hoot watching the wake of the fish as they chased the L’il Easy to eventually take it!   Also did well on the floozieplume and sculpin patterns.  High-water setup worked when the water came on, but the water was so gunked up and dirty, it was hard keeping a clean fly in the water.  Did pick up some more on the drift out, but nothing like we had done with the low water.

Generation has continued 24/7 sinceTuesday afternoon.  So far, it has been fairly in the mornings, then ramping up to 3 or 4 generators in the afternoon.  Table Rock has only come up 2/10ths of a foot after all the rain we earlier this week.  It has been pretty hot out on the water, but we are expecting some rain this afternoon ot tonight which they say will cool us down a little…..Hope so!

Lots of fishing and even some catching going on the past couple of days.  Stan was on the water Tuesday with Darren, from Kansas.  We have known Darren from way back in our firefighting/EMT days.  they had a good day on the hot pink midge dropped under the big ruby midge.  Jim was out with Jack who drove here from Indiana.  Their bugs for the trip were a gray scud, the big ruby with a pink San Juan worm dropper. 

Wednesday, Jack drug Jim out again, kicking and screaming.  More fish on pretty much the same bugs as Tuesday.  They had a fun day and even stretched the 1/2 day into a full one. 

Jack (the one w/Darrell)

 Meanwhile, Darrell had Jack from Texas out for 1/2 a day to teach him the fine art of fly fishing.   Not only did he learn a lot, but boated several fish on the hot pink midge under the big ruby.  Stan was having Matt, from Michigan throw the same bugs with good results. 

Fishers managed to get through yesterday without much rain.  However, the sky opened up last night and we got lots of rain.  Flow projection was pretty much right on this weekend, and this morning flow is a bit higher than projected.  Projected was 25 mwh and it appears we are getting around 50.  This means tailwater level between 704 and 705 fett with 3500 to 4000 cfs.  Scheduled to ramp up to the equivalent of two generators by 2:00 p.m.  With all the rain we received, sure projections will be subject to change as we see the effect of the runoff.

Yesterday was a fish top water or strip something off the bottom.  Everyone we talked to was catching fish. Some definitely more than others.  The scuds, midge, nymph fishers were catching fish, but those using size 16 black ants or beetles, or even a small white dry, and those stripping olive wooly buggers from a size 6 down to a size 14 were doing very well.  Had to pick your spot for the dries…look for the classic nose circles indicating top water feeding to catch on dries, but they were working well and what fun!   Every day is a new day on the water here lately. 

so far this weekend, they have followed their projection.  Water turned offaround 11 p.m. Friday night and stayed off until 2:00 yesterday afternoon.  The equivalent of one generator for five hours, then back off again.  It is off this morning and the projection is for the same pattern as yesterday.  Weather sunny and warm yesterday.  Predicting some rain today, probably this afternoon.

Hearing mixed reports on fishing.  Friday, it was a low two generators most of the day and people were catching fish in the Hatchery area on small, 16 and smaller, dark gray scuds and holographic green cracklebacks.  These were the two main ones we heard of.  Yesterday, one of the guys fishing the Rocking Chair area did well on the Primrose & Pearl midge fishing very shallow 15-17" on the edges of the banks where the fish were working.  Dark gray scuds were still a player in the Hatchery area.  Also heard from some fishers who were struggling.  Said it was "pretty tough".  Couple fishing sculpins and dark olive wooly buggers said they did well and were catching the nice fat fish.

Last Thuraday, Jim had Ray from Kansas, out all day.  They had a fun day on the size 14 ruby midge and a small gray scud.  Little tougher than normal; the fog stayed around longer than usual and the water level was fluctuating most of the day. 

Jim was out half a day with Chuck and his son, Collin, from Texas Friday.  These two are brand new to fly fishing, so Jim worked with them most of the morning on casting and line work.  Did hook some fish on the red midge and gray scud.  Must have been school day.  Gina was also on the water with a new fly fisher, Tom from Aurora.  Tom is Gina’s pharmacists and is going to Montana later this month.  Realized he better learn "the ropes" so he spent the morning with Gina learning the roll cast, pick up and lay down cast.  She also worked with him on handling a sinking line, stripping, mending and indicator fishing.  Think he is going to be ready for Montana.  Landed several fish, so he has worked on hooking and landing fish.  Have a great trip Tom!

EVENT – Every Saturday during month of July, River Run Outfitters is participating in the Orvis "Fly Fishing 101" event.  It consists of free half hour fly casting and leader and knot tying lessions with one of our staff.  Upon completion, you will receive a FREE $15 savings card valid for that day only to put toward purchase of any Orvis product.  Also, a free Trout Unlimited membership valued at $35.   Sessions are only held between 9a.m.-12noon and you must contact us prior to attending to reserve your space.  What a great way to get started in the wonderful sport of fly fishing!

Oops!  Missed the full day trip Dana took out on Monday.  He had Jerry and his wife, Barbara, out for the day.  Barbara really enjoyed the day and she would catch a few fish and then sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery.  They caught fish on the gray scud and a dark gray sow bug.  These folks fish all over the country and enjoyed our fishery.

Tuesday, Stan took Jerry and a friend, Benny out for the day.  Running four generators, but they had a great day on the big ruby midge, a natural San Juan worm, a gray scud, and the olive filoplume.  This was Benny’s first fly fishing adventure and he thinks he is "hooked". 

Still generating all day.  Started out with two this morning until around noon when they turned on one more.  However, the extra generator did not result in much change in the level.  It was 706.0 with two generators and is now 706.9 with three.  Overcast most of today with scattered light showers.  Expecting the same weather for tomorrow.  Will have to see this afternoon around 4:30 what the generation will be for tomorrow.

Another good day on the water yesterday.  Stan and a friend from Texas, Dan, went out around 11:30 a.m.  They caught a lot of nice, fat fish on the olive filoplume, holographic green crackleback, big ruby midge with a big hot pink midge dropper, and gray scud.  Caught fish on other patterns too, but these were the most consistent.  Gina had Valley, from Oklahoma, and one of her relatives, Tim, from Florida out all they.  They had a wonderful day on the "floozieplume" (can’t make up my mind on how to spell this one), gray scud and pink San Juan.  They too experimented with other patterns and caught fish, but these were the most successful. 

Valley – 7/7/10	Tim – 7/7/10

No down time on generation since late Monday night.  Yesterday they started off slow, but before the afternoon was over, they had all four going full blast.  Today, they started off low with two generators, but have now ramped the two generators up so the tailwater level is at 707.0 feet.  Light to heavy showers off and on today, so it is pretty hot and humid!

Wanda – 18-1/2" – 7/5/10

Jim on the water yesterday with Scott and Adria from St. Joseph.  Scott has been fishing with Jim since 2001, and Adria is just getting started.  They had a good day on the small black midge with the blood worm dropper and a size 16 gray scud.  Carolyn had the birthday ladies, Wanda and Joanna out for half a day.  Tried to get them on the water last month (their actual birthday month) but we were blown off thanks to a rain storm.  But as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait.  Nice day of fat rainbows.  Wanda’s 18-1/2 inch rainbow was caught on a size 18 Primrose & Pearl Midge.  They were a bit leader shy that day so she was using 7X.  Other good pattern for the day was a "fluzzieplume".  This is just something in the works.  May be good, may not, we are still testing it.  Did watch one of our customers fishing just below where we were at the Rockin Chair and she was using a size 14 olive wooly bugger and catching fish right and left.  So, it was a good day on the water Monday.