Water was off yesterday as projected and is off again this morning.  Today’s projection is for it to be off until 3:00 p.m. then on for four hours and back off for the balance of the night.  Looks like it will be party cloudy today and pretty warm…low 90s. 

Everyone I talked with yesterday was catching fish.  One of our customers came in and got his Trophy Trout pin for a 21 inch rainbow he caught on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  He and his friend were worn out from catching fish.  Now that is hard to imagine.  Jerry, one of our customers, came in to get some more size 14 olive wooly buggers.  He had a wonderful morning and was running out of ammunition.   He fishes further down near the Lookout Area.  Darrell reported from the Hatchery area that they were also catching lots of fish.  Various colored midges, dark gray scuds and cracklebacks were some of the patterns he knew folks were throwing.  Jim had Lenny and Paul, from Texas out for half a day.  These brand new fly fishers were also worn out from catching fish.  Sure Jim wore them out a little working on their casting, line work and other skills.  They were catching on a size 18 black midge and a size 20 bloodworm. 

Better go fishing!

Well, the generation projection for yesterday was followed.  No generation until 2:00 p.m. and then they really cranked it up.  All four generators took the level up to 710 feet.  Generators were turned off at 8:00 p.m. and Taneycomo was back to 701 by 11:00 p.m.  So far this morning, it is off and the projection is for it to again be off until 2:00 p.m.  Had some rain last night.  Local weather said we had 2/10ths of an inch at the Branson Airport.  Sounded like more than that to me!  Table Rock did bump up a little in level from 916.0 to a 917.1 feet.  They expect what showers we may have left to be through here this a.m.

Wednesday’s are my normal day working the shop, so I’m working away.  Stan comes in around 11:00 a.m. and we discuss the fact that the generation is off!  Finally!!  His next words were, "if you want to go fish for a couple hours, I’ll watch the shop".  Yeeha!  After a little reorganization of my boat bag to my wading vest, I was in my car and heading south.  Walked down to the water at the Rocking Chair area and there were dimples all over the water.  Off with the sinking leader, on with the floating, and digging through my fly box for the right color soft hackle.  Rock Worm green in a size 16 and I had my first fish on.  Stood in the water for quite a while, oblivious to anything else around me except stripping my soft hackle and hooking (and missing) fish.  Eventually I came back to earth and spotted a few folks fishing downstream.   Couple of them looked familiar, so I worked my way down, fishing and catching on the way.  Sure enough, it was Jan and Mike, the couple I had had out on Monday.  Mike was sitting in the shade on the bank.  Jan was still casting away.  Said "Hi!" to Bud and Jerry as I walked by them.  Bud was catching fish on the size 18 ruby midge and Jerry had on his sinking leader stripping a natural colored filoplume.  Jan said she had caught some earlier in the day on the red San Juan worm, but was having little luck now.  With all the fish still dimpling the water, I suggested she try stripping something sub-surface.  She had a holographic green crackleback, of course, so she put that on as I put on a bright orange bodied, light hackled crackleback.  Immediately, we both started getting hits and fish.  Maybe an hour of sheer bliss, when Jan realized they were running late, had to leave and my phone was ringing….Stan, wanting to know where I was.  My time was over.  Oh, well.  Big deep breath while I reflected the magic and perfection of the time my Honey gave me on the water.  He can do no wrong…at least for a few days!

With the water off again today, wish I could have a quick redo! 

Well, so much for generators running for a while.  I check the projection and it says the water will be off until 2:00-3:00 p.m. today.  This, of course, is dependent on how much power may be needed by SWPA.  Anyway, the water went off at midnight and is still off as I write.  Rain moved out to tomorrow and it is going to be hot today.  Near or in the 90s. 

Generation continues to be running 24/7.  However, the level has dropped from the 710 plus feet to fluctuating between 703.1 for a low to 708.9 for a high.  We have seen this trend since early the morning of May 26.   Table Rock is still two feet high and Beaver is still almost six feet high.  Will probably seen continuous generation for a while.  Some rain possibilities in the forecast for tonight into Thursday.  Think the weekend was projected to be nice. 

Good news!  Fishing has been good to very good.  We were really busy over the holiday weekend and had lots of boats out.  All day Friday and Saturday, Jim and Dana had a group of guys from Minnesota and Kansas on the water.  Bill and Buck were brave enough to get into the boat with Jim (Bill has been out with Jim many times) and Warren and his son-in-law to be, JJ, were out with Dana.  Know they all had a good time and caught fish.  Jim’s guys were catching on the good old red midge with the orange San Juan dropper and his Bug-eyed sculpin.  Dana’s were also catching on the red midge, plus a peach egg pattern and a size 12 olive bug-eye bugger.   Good way to break in a new son-in-law….take him fishing!  Our Louisiana Connection, which has grown, was out with Darrell and Carolyn on Friday.  Darrell took Albert and James Albert out all day, and Carolyn had Caroline (the new member and Dawn’s mother-in-law) and Dawn out.

Caroline – 5/28/10

  Caroline could only spend half a day on the water, but she had a fish-filled morning.  She was also intiated into the "stripper" club.  First time she stripped cracklebacks and caught a fish on her first three strips.  She thinks she really like this!  Darrell was using holographic green cracklebacks and the red midge.  They were also experimenting with lots of other patterns on which they caught fish, but those two were the most consistent.  Carolyn’s gals were using the big ruby midge, holographic green crackle back and a size 18 copper dun midge dropper off the big ruby midge.  Everyone was using the intermediate or 5.6 ips sinking leaders when stripping the cracklebacks.   

Dawn’s 19 inch Rainbow

Check out the smile on Dawn’s face after she hooked this 19 inch rainbow on the big ruby midge.  This was really a nice fat fish.  Most of the fish we have been catching are fat! 

Saturday, Darrell had Jeff and Nate, from Arkansas, out again.  Nate is a nice young man who is becoming a good fly fisher and out fishes his father on occasion.  They did very well on the holographic green crackleback and the red midge. 

 Stan had Brian from Oklahoma out for a half-day float Saturday.  Brian had been with us before and had a good day on the big ruby with a Primrose & Pearl dropper and the crackleback. 

Sunday we were all on the water again.  Stan had Justin and Houston from St. Joseph out for a half day.  Once Houston got back in tune with fly fishing, he caught into fish with the big ruby and size 18 ruby dropper.  Justin was stripping the holographic green crackleback, which he really enjoyed.   Jerry, his two daughters, Keri and Sarah, and his son, Nick spent Sunday with Jim and Gina.  Sarah is brand new to fly fishing.  She and Jerry took the boat with Gina, and Nick and Keri went with Jim.  Jim fished the red midge with an orange San Juan dropper while Gina waas using a size 18 burgundy midge, orange San Juan worm, peach egg and an olive wooly bugger.  Sarah persevered with this new sport until she stuck and landed several fish.  She even caught a couple stripping a wooly bugger.  We have a work in progress here! 

Jerry’s 17 inch Rainbow	Sarah’s first fish to the net

Dana also had a new fly fisher on the water.  He had Justin and his wife Lisa from Kansas.  These two were on their honeymoon.  Lisa rode along on the trip to watch Justin and enjoy the river.  Justin boated fish on the olive filoplume, a size 12 bug-eye bugger and the red midge.  

James Albert – 5/30/10

And, the Louisiana Connection was on the water again!  Darrell had Albert and James Albert out all day.  This young man, James Albert, is really starting to throw a line!  Carolyn had Dawn out all day, and what a day we all had!  It was an olive filoplume, green crackleback and red midge day.    Dawn also caught a bunch on the flaming orange flat braid bodied, ginger hackle crackleback.  Catching was so good, Dawn and Carolyn stayed out a little too long and a "scattered shower" downpour is more like it! caught them before they got off the water.  Found a safe haven under the roof of Fall Creek Dock.  

Monday, Carolyn walked into the shop expecting to take out a couple new fly fishers.  Mike and Jan, from Oklahoma had booked half a day for their daughter and granddaughter.  As it turned out, daughter and granddaughter really wanted to spend the day at the pool, so Mike and Jan ‘sacrificed’ and took the half day trip they had booked!  I have mentioned Mike before.  He is now a retired doctor who lost his sight a little over a year ago.  He and Jan both are avid fishers and good fly fishers.   There was lots of fog on the water when we started in the morning and fishing was a bit slow.  As the fog lifted and the day went on, fishing picked up and Jan talked Mike (hard job) into make a day of it.  We have a great day on the water stripping the holographic green crackleback and olive size 12 filoplume.  Normally, Jan outfishes Mike, but I think this was Mike’s day.  Lots of fish and his best was a 19-1/2 inch rainbow.

Mike – 5/31/10

Still generating water 24/7.  Despite the heavy rain fall we had Tuesday, Table Rock Lake is holding at 917.8.  It has come down one foot since Saturday.  I am surprised it has not come up, and still might rise some, since they cut back the amount of water they are generating yesterday morning.  Don’t get too excited, the tailwater level is now fluctuating around 707.0 feet instead of the 710. plus we had most of last week and over the weekend.  After today, the rain possibilities will be out of the forecast until some time Monday.  We are hoping for that to disappear from the forecast!

Despite the rain and high water, fishing from the boats has been good.  Fishing up by the hatchery continues to be hot and cold.  Tan, camel or gray scuds, and the shammy worm are some of the better flies reported as catching fish in this area. 

Dana on the water Sunday with Cooper and his uncle, Lee.  Lee is new to fly fishing, and we think he liked it.  They caught fish on the red midge, peach egg and bug-eyed bugger. 

Sunday, Stan had Pete and his son-in-law, Tim, out for half a day.   Pete, who fishes here on his own quite a bit is from Oklahoma and wanted to learn how we fish the high water as well as watch his son-in-law learn the sport of fly fishing.  Think Stan accomplished both.  They both caught lots of fish on the big Ruby, Copper John and size 18 Ruby.  Water level was as 710.8 and it was 89 degrees outside.  Hot day!  Meanwhile, Jim and Darrell were both out with Wayne, Wain, Taylor and one other young man (sorry I can’t read his name).  Wayne is from Kansas and wanted to introduce this group to fly fishing.  He had fly fished many years ago and wants to get back into it.  Jim worked with his two young men on casting and everything else.  They boated several fish on the red midge with a pink San Juan dropper and worked the bug-eyed sculpin a bit.  Darrell’s guys caught their fish on the big Ruby with a small red midge dropper.  Wayne said this just might have to be an annual outting for them.

Monday, Mike, from Iowa, hit the water again.  This time with Stan.  He brought his brother-in-law, Earl to learn how to fly fish.  They had a good day on the big Ruby, size 18 ruby dropper and the holographic green crackleback.  Mike likes stripping cracklebacks.  Jim was out all day with Bob and Mary Ann from Jefferson City.  They have been fishing with us for at least seven years and go out a couple times a year.  They had a good day on the red midge, pink San Juan and bug-eye.  They have some top secret incident that occurred on this trip which none of them will divulge, and just had a really fun day.  Darrell had Ken and Candice from Tennessee, out for half a day.  Right out of the chute, Candice caught a beautiful 18 inch Rainbow and it was really fat!  They have pictures, so she can prove it.  They fished the red midge and the holographic green crackleback. 

Tuesday Jim had Dale out for a full day.  They were catching fish on the red midge, orange San Juan and bug-eye when they noticed a few dark clouds and thought they heard rumbling in the sky.  They noticed the fish slowing down on feeding and all of a sudden the sky opened up.  Heavy rain almost drowned the two of them!  Stan had the brothers, Dennie and Bob from Joplin out for a full day too.  They had been catching fish on the big ruby, #18 ruby, P&P and Copper John.  They headed for refuge at the Fall Creek boat dock, but when they got back to the shop, they all looked like drowned rats!  This was certainly a pop-up storm as it did not show up on radar until just a little before it hit.

Wednesday, the two brothers Dennie and Bob, were brave enough to go out with Stan for another full day.  Pretty well fished the same patterns and had another good day of fishing, laughing, and missin’.    Think they are headed for Alaska in a few months.  Watch out Alaska!  Matt from Oklahoma, went out with Jim for half a day.  He had a very good day on the red midge and orange San Juan.  Good quality fish. 

Running four generators 24/7 and expect to see this trend for a few more weeks.  Weather forecast are good until Monday night when they are now forecasting the possibility of rain Monday night into Tuesday.  Cross your fingers.  We don’t need this rain! 

Fishing from boats is absolutely great.  Jim had Alec and a friend, Jim, from here in Missouri on the water for a full day on Friday.  Good day pulling Bug-Eye buggers in the morning, then the red midge, gray and brown scuds later in the day.  Stan had Gary and Barry from Lee’s Summit.  Gary said this was the second best day he has had fly fishing and he fishes a lot.  The Big Ruby, pink San Juan and Copper John were their flies for the day. 

Another great day Saturday.  Darrell took our one of our long-time regulars, Mike, from Iowa.  He really need to get on the water as his wife wanted to go shopping.  So….she went shopping and he caught fish!  Everyone was happy.  Good day on on the Bug-Eyed Bugger and red midge.  Jim had Jim and Dean from South Dakota out for half a day.  Lots of fish on the scuplin olive Bug-Eye bugger, red midge and pink San Juan. 

Overall, lots of fish, good quality…that is FAT…fish and full of flght!  Folks are also catching fish from the outlet areas. During the day, this is hot for a while, then slows down and, wait long enough, hot again.  Stay with it and you’ll probably pick up a few fish.  Not too much room because the water is so high, but catching them on a variety of patterns.  RS2 was even working a couple days ago.  The standard patterns, gray or tan scuds, egg patterns and San Juan worms are working well.

As I mentioned earlier, we received considerable rainfall over the past weekend.  This has resulted in Table Rock Lake rising to 918.7 Tuesday, but has dropped a little over the past few days.  We are now at 918.4.  This is due, of course, to running four generators 24/7 since Monday.  With no more rain, it will take several weeks to get the tailwater back to the 915.0 feet level.  We did not get the rain they had projected for today.  Still a possibility of some more tonight, but maybe we will be lucky.  After tomorrow morning, the sky looks like it will be blue with plenty of sunshine and warm (80s) temperatures through Thursday.

Jim had Glen and Mark from Louisiana on the water Tuesday.  They are both beginners and spend half a day learning how to cast, manage line, hook and play fish in the high water.  Good learning session and managed to bring some fish to the boat on the red midge with a pink San Juan worm dropper.  

Carolyn had Barbara and Richard out for half a day.  They fished with her on the same date last year.  Last time they were out, we had two generators going.  Before we finishedthat day, they had turned on three then four generators,  and the sky dumped a lot of rain on us.  This year, we had four genrators going and the sky was dumping some rain most of the day.  We did catch some fish on the big Ruby midge with and pink San Juan dropper and the red or pink San Juan with a tungsten bead tied in the middle of the fly . 

Richard – 05/19/10	Barbara -05/19/10

Wow!  With the rainfall we received Friday, guess what happened to Table Rock Lake!  Thursday, the water was off until 11:00 a.m.  Started it up with a couple generators and the sky dumped on Friday, so they have been running 24/7 since then.  By Saturday, they had four generators going and they will probably continue with this pattern for at least a couple weeks.  May back down a little, as they are running maximum right now.  Forecast is for some more rain starting tomorrow afternoon and into Thursday.  Hopefully, Friday and the weekend will be dry.  There is a 40% chance of showers on Friday and the weekend is looking like a ray of sunshine may come through

Trip booked for Monday got rained out.  Did get a couple guys on the water today for half day with JIm.  Glenn and Mark from Louisiana, wanted to go out and try their hand a fly fishing for trout.  Both are new to the sport, but did get some fish to the boat on the red midge and a standard pink San Juan worm.  Despite the high water, they had a good and fun day.  They might even try it again!

Water has been off since yesterday morning.  It is still off and scheduled to be off until 2:00 p.m. today when they are projected to start up with one generator for an hour, up to two for five hours, back down to one for an hour then off for the balance of the evening.  Weather beautiful yesterday and should be again today.  We are expecting rain some time this evening into tomorrow. 

I can not begin to tell you how great fishing is right now.  There probably is no one magic fly.   Folks are coming in reporting catching them on lots of patterns.  Of course, the holographic green crackleback, but also dark brown soft hackles, olive filoplume, the size 18 ruby midge with a white marabou tail, the ruby without a tail, black wooly buggers, olive wooly buggers, size 18 gray scuds just to name a few. 

Al – 5/11/10

Darrell had Al from the St. Louis area out for half a day yesterday.  Plum wore him out!  They started out great on the size 18 ruby midge with a white marabou tail but finished up with the olive bug-eyed bugger.  Once Al got the hang of stripping and setting the hook with this setup, he was a mean machine. 

Stan seized the opportunity to spend a few hours on the water yesterday.  It was so good, he called me a little before I closed the shop and said to meet him at the boat ramp and we would fish for a little while.  What a sweetheart!  Fastest I have closed the shop at 5:30.  Think I was at the boat ramp by 5:34!  First fish on by 5:40 and it was a nice fat, beautifully colored 16 inch rainbow!  Great way to end the day.  When the wind wasn’t blowing, the water was silky smooth and you could see circles everywhere from the fish feeding on emergers.  Stan didn’t fish with me very long as he was worn out from catching all afternoon.  Oh well, I was certainly up to fishing for a hour or so.  Doesn’t get any better than it has been for the past few days.  When we left the river, we both with smiles on our faces!

Not certin how long it will last, but the generation pattern has been very nice to us the past few days.  Actually had the generators off Thursday from midnight until 1:00 p.m.  Friday it was from midnight until 9:00 a.m. and Saturday from midnight until 11:00 a.m.  The great thing yesterday was that when they turned on the one, it was a nice low one which kept the tailwater level bouncing between 705 and 704 feet.  This is wadeable in certain areas.   However, still take care as they do move it up and down as much as a foot which could cause you trouble if you didn’t realize it had come up and had to walk though a now deeper area to get out.  Weather has been nice except for the WIND.  Still a factor and the past three days had some pretty mean gusts!

Fishing, on the other hand has just been great.  Dana and Carolyn had one of Dana’s regulars, Jeff from here in Missouri, and his brother-in-law Bob and Bob’s son, Ian on the water Friday.  Bob and Ian are new to the sport, so Carolyn took them for some roll casting, mending, and line management sessions.  Ian’s first fist was a nice fat, 16 incher which Ian handled with skill.  Caught that one on the hot pink micro San Juan.  A few tangles here and there, but all in all Bob and Ian had a good day on the Big Ruby, pink San Juan, size 18 Ruby and the holographic green crackleback.  Dana had Jeff on a holographic green cracklebugger (just what it sounds like), the red midge and a peach egg.  

Jeff – 5/7/10	Ian – 5/7/10

Rick and Kristie from the St. Louis area need a fix, so Darrell took them out in the afternoon.  Another good day on the water for the two of them on mainly the red midge.

Yesterday, Dana had Mike and Christy from Oklahoma out for a half day.  Somehow they managed to be color coordinated.  Each one of them had on the same color blue jacket.  Betty and Courtney, in the boat with Carolyn for a half day, decided to call them the "Blue Team"  Blue Team had a good day on the red midge, copper dun and the rusty midge.  "The Betty Team", that was Courtney’s idea since Betty was boating one after another before Courtney could even get one to the boat.  Things evened out before the day was done as Courtney almost caught up.  They had a great day on the Big Ruby, and the size 18 ruby.  Lots of nice fish for everyone.  Rick and Kristie didn’t get enough on Friday so they were out with Jim again for half day.  They pulled some streamers and did some soft hackle, size 16 red butt, as well a red and black midge and had another wonderful day. 

And for Mother’s Day, where else would two fly fishing mothers be enjoying themselves the most?  On the water catching fish!  Both had been attending the River Runners Women’s Fly Fishers meeting held at Stockton Lake.  On their way home, via a little detour, they spent a few hours on Taneycomo enjoying the day and fishing.  Gina hooked up with a nice 20 inch rainbow stripping an olive wooly bugger.  She decided this was a great finish to her day so she her gave the fly to Valley who finished up her day with a nice 18 inch rainbow on the same wooly bugger!  Happy Mother’s Day!

Mom Gina – 20" Rainbow	Mom Valley – 18" Rainbow