Guess I must be having a great time!

Weather has been absolutely gorgeous!  Crisp mornings (upper 30s to 40s), and days are sunny and in the upper 60s to mid 70s.  No rain chances until possibly Monday, then warning up a little more….probably into the 80s.  Water generation has been half way nice to us over the past five days.  All day Saturday and Monday, they had water generating.  Sunday, yesterday and today, lots of wading water.  

Last Thursday water was generating all day.  Fluctuated up and down all day between 704 and 706 feet elevation.  Jim on the water with a couple of pretty new fly fishers, Bruce and Kathy from Texas.  Fairly good day on the red midge, pink or orange San Juan worms, and the size 16 gray scud.  Stan had Doc from Oklahoma and Mac from here and Kansas (that’s another story) out all day.  This crew would have fun fishing in a bath tub, but fortunately they had Taneycomo and it treated them pretty good.  Best flies were the primrose & pearl midge and the holographic green crackleback.  

Friday, Gina and I left early in the a.m. for the Southern Council FFF Conclave held in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  Conclave ran Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.  Guess where we were from 5:00 p.m. until "O" dark hundred.  Had a fun time fishing the Rim Shoals area thanks to some nice folks from the Tulsa Fly Fishing group who were staying there and hauled us up the river in their boats to the shoals, and, of course, hauled us back at dark.  They even fed us one night!  We wade fished and stripped sculpins, holographic green cracklebacks; drifted various midges and just had a great time.   

Saturday, Jim had Khris and Billy out for a full day float.  Khris and Billy are from Oklahoma.  Khris has been fishing for some time, but Billy is, or was, not a fly fisher.  Jim spent most of his time with Billy working on casting and other skills.  Good day on the red midge, gray scud and a red San Juan worm

Darrell and Stan were out both Saturday and Sunday mornings with a group of new and experienced fly fishers.  Darrell had Allan and David and Stan had Marc and another David.   Primrose & pearl midge, gray scud, San Juan worm, ruby midge and olive floozie were their bugs over the two mornings.

Sunday was play day.  Gina and I were going to fish below Bull Shoals dam, but, as is the case with these wonderful tailwaters, they turned on two generators.  Soooo…with cell phone in hand, we called Table Rock and it was off.  So, three of the Tulsa Fly Fishing group, Valley, Leah and Greg, plus Gina and I, headed for Taneycomo!  Loaded up one of the drift boats to carry all our stuff, rods, boat bags, water, cookies (thank you Mary Ann and Virginia), nets, you name it, we had it in the boat.  Parked the boat on the gravel bar below the Rocking Chair area, walked into the river, and proceeded to catch fish.  What a wonderful afternoon we all had.  Greg was fishing from his nice drift boat he built and catching fish on an wooly bugger type fly tied with olive marabou tail, peacock herl body and gold bead head under an indicator and having a grand time.  We threatened to throw him out of his boat several times.  However, we were all catching fish on tan scuds, pink San Juan worm droppers, copper dun midges, the Miracle Scud, and missing a lot and sticking a few on a charcoal sculpin, golden variant sculpin and the olive floozie.  When Valley’s knees got tired, we parked her in a good spot and she proceeded to catch several fish, among them, a nice 21 inch rainbow.  Leah just got a new rod for her birthday over the weekend and it definitely worked well for her!  This was her first trout out of Taneycomo on her new rod….but she didn’t stop there. 

Valley – 21" Rainbow, 10/3/10	Leah – 10/3/10

Everyone is fishing, and why not.  The weather has been perfect, and the generators have been off most every morning into early afternoon when they have fired up one of two generators…..except for today.  Turned on two generators about 1:00 a.m. and they are still running,  Even had three going a little while ago, but it has backed back down to two and we will see generation (according to the SWPA site projection) all day.  Still a beautiful day!

This week we have seen lots of people fishing, and most of them have been catching.  Lots of patterns reported by fishers coming into the the store.  Big Ugly both as a dry and as an indicator with a midge dropper has been working very well for the past several days.  Primrose & pearl midge working great in some areas.  Olive midge also doing well.  One of our customers had a great day on soft hackles yesterday.  For the most part, especially yesterday, the quality of fish are good. 

Jim out Sunday with Ray and Sandy from Kansas.  They had a fair day.  Couldn’t find that particular fly the fish wanted that day. 

Monday, Ed, from Arizona decided to try his hand at fly fishing again.  Been a few years since he last went out with Jim, so they hit the water for a full day float.  Good day, but Ed had to go back to basics and work on casting, mending and line management again.  Especially had to work on hook setting.  Think he has been bass fishing in between.  Their best flies were the Ugly midge, black midge, blood worm and gray scud.

Tuesday Jim spent the day with Jim and David, from Kansas.  Had not seen Jim for a couple years and it was good to see him again.  They all had a good day (after a slow start in the early a.m.) on a green midge, gray scud, size 18, a size 16 miracle scud and a blood worm dropper.  Scuds fished especially well in the afternoon.

Wednesday, both Jim and Stan were on the water all day with trips.  Jim had Alan and Adam from Oklahoma.  Alan said his son, Adam, was a better fisher then he, but they both did well.  Olive and primrose & pearl midges, in size 18, the blood worm dropper, size 16 miracle scud and a size 18 gray scud.  Stan had Kate and her son, Matt for the day.  Normally, Kate and her husband Dave fish with Stan.  They try to come here once a year from the UK to visit their son, Matt.  Unfortunately, Dave was not feeling well, so Matt got a chance to try his hand as fly fishing.  He said it was definitely something he could get used to!  They had a good day also, and were using the size 18 primrose & pearl midge and a white grub. 

As I said in my last report, generation has been off every morning except for last Tuesday when they ran water all day.

Other than Tuesday, we have had lots of opportunities to wade in the mornings this past week.  Most days, and today included, the generators have been off until around 2:00 p.m. each day.  Weather has been great.  Today is a bit breezy and we are expecting some rain tonight which might go into tomorrow.  Temperatures, after this front goes through, should be more seasonal, in the 70s for the day time high.  Possibility of some showers on Sunday.    

Jim – 9/19/10

Gina on the water Sunday with Jim and Linda from Kansas.  They had a good, fun day on the water.  Linda wanted to work on her casting, and they definitely made progress there.  Their fish catching in the Rocking Chair area was on the primrose & pearl midge and olive bugger.  When the water came on, they drifted on down and successfully worked the olive floozie. 

Monday was a busy day.  Stan out with Larry and Moe from Kansas for half a day.  Larry started fishing with us in 2004 and started Moe with us in 2006.  Monday started out slow for them.  When they did get into some good fishing, it was pretty late in the morning and they needed to get on the road early.  Short but good.  Best patterns were the primrose & pearl and red midges.

Robert – 9/20/10

Robert, from Illinois, was on the water all day with Carolyn.  He completed the Orvis Fly Fishing course at Dogwood Canyon several years ago and tries to fish with us once a year.  Early morning got off to a slow start, picked a few fish on a black wooly bugger and a black midge.  After several midge color changes, the rusty midge was the ticket until the water came on.  One of the day’s highlights was spotting a very nice brown which we threw a few patterns at until he decided to leave the area….enough of us!  Robert did catch a nice 17 inch rainbow.  Finished up the day with the big ruby and a cerise San Juan worm dropper.  Turned out being a good day.  Jim and Dale from here in Missouri went streamer stripping.  They pulled streamers all day with the best being a dark rabbit sculpin in a size 6.  Dale pulled a nice 20 inch rainbow out on this pattern.

Tuesday we had generation all day.  Stan took Ed and Ken, from Alabama out for a full day float.  They had a good day on the holographic green crackleback, primrose & pearl and red midges.   Brent and Janie from Texas spent the morning with Jim.  They are pretty new to fly fishing, so Jim worked with them on casting, line work and techniques, plus catching.  Their best patterns were the red midge and gray scud. 

Bruce – 9/22/10

Wednesday we saw the start of another "stripper" on Taneycomo.  Carolyn had Bruce and Jan from Colorado.   A little slow again in the early morning.  Once we put a little ugly midge under the "Bug Ugly", this was the combo.  Finished up the day stipping various patterns, the floozie, crackleback, and the best out of the lot was the 56er.  Jan had never fished this way before and she liked it!  Every hookup brought a happy, excited noise while she was bringing in the fish!  It was great!  Caught several "rodeos" too (fish on for 8 seconds or more before getting off).   Jim had Bill from Arizona out all day.  they had a good day on a gray scud, the miracle scud, gray sculpin, and black midge with a blood worm dropper.  Stan also out all day.  He had Ron and Denny from Iowa out.  This was a first time for Denny and he loves it.  He had several "rodeo" fish too.  They stripped the holographic green crackleback using the intermediate sink tip line, and also caught several on the burgundy midge, size 18.  Lots of moving around and trying different patterns to find the spot and pattern the fish are wanting right now.  Many of the hits are very soft, so I suspect fishers who are not catching many fish are possibly just missing the hits.  Once you find the spot and/or pattern, fishing is pretty good!

Seeing and hearing about a few nice browns.  No great numbers yet.  Most fishers are still fishing for them at night and understand last night was pretty slow.  One of our customers caught a nice 24 inch rainbow Monday on a size 18 copper dun midge in the Rocking Chair area.

 

Certainly could not tell that Fall is almost upon us by the weather.  Yesterday was in the low 90s, today will be in the 90s and I think they are projecting the same for tomorrow.  Oh well, should not complain.  We will be wishing for days like this come January and February.  Water off most of today, except for 1-2 hours late this afternoon.  Tomorrow the projection is for the water to be off until 3:00 p.m. when it will come on for 6-7 hours, then off.  As we always say about Mondays, we’ll see.

Yesterday morning, Jim had Ken and Ethan, from Columbia on the water.  Ethan is new to fly fishing, so Jim took him through the basics process.  They had a good day catching too on the black zebra, blood worm and gray scud.  Stan had Gary and Kent out all day.  These guys are from up around the Kansas City area.  They had a great catching day too.  Black zebra in the early part of the day, Primrose & Pearl midge and gray scud later in the morning and early afternoon.  Also did well with the holographic green crackleback and stripping a 56er.  We are seeing a few browns.  Nothing consistently in big numbers, but a few here and there.  Also know that some of the fishers out there in the dark are doing good night fishing for browns.

Yesterday was another beautiful day to be on the water.  Probably in the upper 80s, maybe low 90s.  Water was off until 3:00 p.m. and we are experiencing off water again today.  Think they are scheduled to turn it on some time this afternoon for a few hours, then back off.  Weather forecast this morning shows no rain until mid week, and then just a chance.  Right now it looks like next weekend will be a repeat of this weekend.

Mel – 9/17/10

Darrell on the water with Mike and Mel from the St. Louis area yesterday.  They had a fun day using the Primrose & pearl and copper dun midges, and a gray scud.   Gina also on the water for half a day with Gail and Carole.  Gail is a full-time RVer and Carole is from New Jersey.  Carole loves this area, especially the fishing, and is looking for a place to live as I write.  Both are new to fly fishing and they had a wonderful day.  Best patterns were the floozie, burgundy an primrose and pearl midges, and a tan scud.  Carole is especially fond of the floozie.  Looks like another "stripper" in the making!

Duffy said yesterday was a perfect day for him.  He got to fish no generation, the rise with low generation, and the fall (they barely had it on for two hours) …….all in the same day.  other than Wednesday, no generation on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday or this morning.  We are expecting generation this afternoon around 3:00 when they will start ramping up to what looks like four generators.  However, generation should be on for only five hours so it might be off tonight.  Weather had been absolutely beautiful.  A little threat of rain Wednesday, but it went on by us and temperatures have been in the 80s with the same in the forecast.

Stan took Millie and John from Florida out all day Wednesday.  This was Millie’s first time and she almost outfished John.  She had one real nice one on for a bit on but froze up and away he went!  Best flies were the ruby and primrose & pearl midges and the holographic green crackleback. 

Bud and Welby came back for another half day with Jim.  They had a good morning on the black zebra, blood worm dropper and a gray scud. 

After the rains left, we have had some beautiful days.  Warm, but not too warm, and sunny days with just a little breeze.  Water, however, has been spastic!  Thursday, it was off until 5:00 p.m.; came on for a couple hours then off the rest of the day.  Friday, it came on at 5:00 a.m.  They ramped it up to the equivalent of three generators and turned it off around 7:00 p.m.  Saturday, it came on at 5:00 a.m. again and stayed on until around 1:00 p.m.  Similar pattern again on Sunday.  Projection is for it to be off most of today. 

Stan on the water Friday with Jim from North Carolina.  Once he got the hook set down, he had a good day on the red midge, holographic green crackleback and the 76er (don’t ask). 

Saturday, Carolyn out with a couple young folks from Arkansas, Cierra and Alex.  Cierra’s father, Brian, came along to help corral the young folks…..thank you Brian.  Slow day for us.  We had a few hits and fish drifting down to the Lookout Island on the  bug ruby and hot pink San Juan worm.  Didn’t even see many people catching fish as we were drifting down.  Caught a few more at the Island on the Primrose & Pearl midge with a size 20 primrose dropper.  Darrell had Malcomb and Scott, from the St. Louis area on the water all day.  They caught some in the upper area of the river, but did best at the bend above Fall Creek where the Primrose & Pearl midge was hot.  Earlier they picked some around the Island onthe holographic green crackleback and big/small ruby midges.

Beautiful day today.  Sun is shinning, pleasant temperatures, light breeze.  Possibility of more rain tomorrow, but right now it looks like it might be north of us.  Hope it is.  Had the generators off this morning until 6:00 a.m.  Turned on two, running at the equivalent of one.  They will ramped up to the equivalent of three by 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. today.  As expected, Table Rock Lake came up a foot from the recent rains.  We will see a little more increase due to the run off from all the rivers and streams running into Table Rock. 

Have to let you know that everyone who braved the rain yesterday with the water off, had a wonderful day on the water.  They said the fish were chasing and taking everything.  Red, copper dun, black midges; gray scuds as well as tan; olive wooly buggers, cracklebacks.  It was just a great day.  One guy even caught a nice bass while stripping his olive wooly bugger!