After such as warm weekend, the temperatures are really cooling down.  50s yesterday, 40s today and 40s projected for the balance of the week.  Only chance of moisture is projected for today.  Not sure why, but they have been generating 2-3 generators since 5:00 p.m. Monday.  Tailwater levels have fluctuated between 704.0 to 707.9 feet.  Table Rock remains stable at 915.0 feet.  Looking at the water temperatures at various levels on Table Rock, it might not be too long before Table Rock turns over.  Will keep you posted on generation projections as I get them.

12/2/09 – 4:43 p.m. – Appears from the SWPA projection that they will run about the same as they did today, all day.

Darrell on the water Monday with Al from the St. Louis area.  They had a good half day on a white midge and the red midge. 

Tuesday Jim was out all day with Jim and Brenda from Butler.  Seems that Brenda out fished Jim again!  Water was fluctuating all day but they pulled off a pretty good day.  Landed fish on the red midge, red San Juan and a gray midge. 

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Great break on water flow for from Thanksgiving Day through the weekend, and, today, the water is off and projected to be off until some time this afternoon.  Hate to say what the projection is as they have been an hour or two or three ahead of their projections the past few days.  But, we are getting off water in the mornings.  Weather both Friday and Saturday was unbelieveable!  Upper 60s Friday and low 70s Saturday with lots of sunshine!  Only rain in the forecast for this week is on Wednesday.  Otherwise, it will be in the 30s to 40s at night and 50s during they day.  Table Rock Lake is holding on the 915 foot range so we might start to see the off for a while in the a.m., on some time from mid-day to early afternoon then back off late at night. 

Darrell was on the water all day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.  He and Greg, from Texas had a pretty good day despite the early spike in water flow (up to 709.5 feet) then drop back to nothing within two hours.  Their best fly was the red midge.  Greg wanted to learn the water so he could fish for a few days on his own.  He and his wife spent Thanksgiving day and weekend in one of our cabins.  Dana was our with D.A. and his son, Kurt.  D.A. is from Springfield.  They had a pretty good half day on the olive/brown scud, and the red and ruby midges. 

Friday we have three boats on the water.  Darrell was out for half day with Joe from OK.  They did well on the black or red midges.  Stan and Carolyn were both out for full days.  Brandon and his mother, Brenda have spent the last three Thanksgiving weekends with Stan.  This is a neat time for them to spend some time together.  Good day on the Primrose & Pearl midge, ruby midge and white grub.  Every year, Brenda catches a few more fish than she did the year before.  Keep practicing Brenda!  Carolyn had Ron and Kathy from LA out again.  They had a wonderful day enjoying the warm weather and catching fish on the ruby midge and holographic green crackleback.  Finished up at dusk with the white grub.

Saturday we covered the water with drift boats.  Carolyn had Mike and Trish out all day.  Another fun pair to fish with.  These folks are from TX and have fished with Carolyn since 2007.  They had a very good day throwing the bug-eyed bugger, holographic green crackleback and the ruby midge.  Meanwhile, Gina hit the water with Bella, originally from LA and recently moved to Branson.  First time fly fishing in 20 years.  Nice southern lady who loves to fish.  Gina spent some time her working on skills and catching fish on the red or black midges.  Dana and Darrell had two couples, Mac and Betty and Bill and Kourtenay.  Mac and Betty originally lived in KS but are not residents of Branson.  Bill and Kourtenay were visint them from KS.  Dana got the ladies and Darrell had the guys.  Everyone had a good time and caught fish on the red San Juan worm, Primrose & Pearl midge and the shammy worm, especially when they kick on the water!  Kourtenay didn’t hook any on dries, but had lots of hits on a black ant.  Stan was out half a day with Roger and his grandson, Riley .  Lots of hits and lots of fish on the orange San Juan, a size 18 parachute Adams, and red midge. 

All in all, fishing is very good.  Sometimes you have to be in the right place, so move around.  From speaking to several folks coming into the shop to buy flies and other items, fish are hitting on lots of patterns.  It was especially great to see the number of people getting hits and catching fish on dries.  In addition to the parachute Adams, other patterns were the Big Ugly and the griffith’s gnat.

So far, the projections each day have been a bit off!  Yesterday, they projected only three hours of generation in the morning and off the balance of the day  Wrong.  They had it off, turned it on, then off, then back on again and kept it on all day.  Today it should have been the equivalent of three generators, but they turned on all four and really cranked out the water.  The good news is it is now off and we hope they follow their schedule and keep it off the rest of the day.  Sun in shing and temps should be in the upper 50s today.  Tomorrow is going to be in the upper 40s, but sunshine.  Friday will be in lower 60s with sunshine.  Have no idea what the water will be doing either days but hope they at least have it off for Thanksgiving!

With the generators off or at a low two, fishing has been great.  However, a couple days it depended on where you were in the river.  One of the days, fishing above the boat ramp all the way up to the Hatchery was so, so.  Down below the boat ramp along the low bank from the now Trophy Run area all the way down to the gravel bar up and oppostie side from where Fall Creek boat dock was fished great.  Dry flies, such as an 18 parachute Adams, or size 16 Elk Hair Caddis, and I’m sure other patterns would have worked, but these for certain.  Almost everything else such as the size 18 ruby midge, copper dun midge, filoplume, olive wooly bugger were also working great.  A  gentleman came in this morning and said he was catching them on a size 16 Prince Nymph which he normally uses for weight and drops midge below it, but they were hitting the Prince Nymph best. 

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

Currently they are running one generator with the level at tailwater below the dam staying pretty steady at 703.9 feet.  They are projecting this flow for the entire day while they are working on the boards at Powersite Dam.  Won’t know what they "plan" to do tomorrow until late this afternoon.  Sun is shining and the temps are supposed to be in the lower 60s.

Everyone we passed as we were rowing upstream yesterday had a smile on their face.  Even commented to a couple gentlemen about how happy they looked and their responses were pretty much, "yes, it has been a while since we have been able to fish!"  Our Louisiana family, Dawn, Albert and James Albert were out with Darrell and Carolyn all day.  Other than some hefty breezes off and on during the day, it was wonderful.  Warm sunshine, water off but a good flow, AND the fish were happy.  Everyone had a great day catching lots of fish on almost everything.  Of course, Dawn, aka "The Stripper" was throwing olive wooly buggers and the olive filoplume, with the filoplume working the best of these two.  Early in the day, she got her first experience throwing soft hackles.  Fish were coming up pretty good in the shallow areas, so after catching a few midges in our caps, opted to throw a size 18 black soft hackle.  Sure enough, she hooked and brought in her first Rainbow on the soft hackle.  Meanwhile, Darrell, Albert and James Albert were up in the Rockin Chair area catching fish on the white grub and the ruby midge.  After enough wind in the upper area, Carolyn and Dawn rowed down to the now Trophy Run area and settled down stripping the bugger and filoplume.  Fish were wanting both stripped real slow using the intermediate sinking leader.  Darrell and the guys rowed down to the old KOA narrows area and homesteaded.  They spent the balance of the afternoon there catching fish on the ruby midge with a copper dun midge dropper.  Dawn and Carolyn rowed back up there and fished and caught on the ruby midge for a while.  Fish were really working the edges, so James Albert started wading the banks and caught a nice 22" Rainbow on one of his sculpin patterns.  Happy guy!  Just a little before we decided it was leaving time, Carolyn put a chain-eye pine squirrel scuplin back on Dawn’s line so she could finish her day stripping.  Eight casts, eight fish.  What a way to end the day.  Almost all the fish we caught throughout the day were nice and running in the 14 to 17 inch range.  Most looked very healthy, good girths and great color.  One of those days to put in your memory bank!

                                     James Albert – 11/22/09

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

The following was published in the Branson Tri-Lake News:

Arnold man lands record brown

Scott Sandusky, of Arnold, landed this record-setting brown trout Friday afternoon.

By Phil Surratt
Staff Writer
Originally Published Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

A new state record brown trout was caught on Lake Taneycomo on Friday.  Scott Sandusky, of Arnold, was the lucky angler who landed the fish near Cooper Creek.  The record brown weighed in at 28.8 pounds, was 37 inches long and had a girth of more than 24 inches.  The old Missouri state brown trout record was 27.8 pounds set in 2005.  Sandusky caught the trout on a spinning rod with 4-pound test line using Powerbait.  The fish was weighed on certified scales at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.

So, there are still some great browns in Taneycomo! 

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

Yes, we are going to see some wading time this weekend.  That is, if the projection they published this afternoon is correct.  According to the projection, tomorrow the generators will be off from midnight until 7:00 a.m. when they will turn on one generator for two hours, then raise to the equivalent of two generators for two hours, then back to one for two more hours.  From noon on, we should see no generation until 6:00 p.m. when they will turn on the equivalent of two generators until 10:00 p.m.  Sunday will have no generation all day.  Monday is showing a low one generator.  If they generate what is projected Monday, it will be okay for wading.

Hope I see some of you on the water over the weekend.  I certain plan to be standing out there!!!

 WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

 Well, Table Rock Lake is now at 915.0 feet and the generators are still going.  Projection for today is that they will run all day.  It will be a shame to have a beautiful weekend so to waste!  Forecast for the weekend is in the low to mid 60s with sunshine.  Received a call from Scotty’s Boat Dock saying the Corps had called him to advise they were going to start dropping Taneycomo late Saturday night so they can replace the boards at Powersite Dam on Monday.  With this in mind, we know they will not be generating much, if any on Sunday or Monday, and possibly Tuesday if they do not get the work completed at Powersite.  The projection for Friday is generation much like we have seen all week.

The following comment was sent to us from Steve, the fly fisher Stan had on the water that cold, windy Tuesday this week:

"Had a great day on the river with Stan, even with the cold temps and wind. The soup was a great treat. Stan knew just where to go and what water to work, exactly what I was looking for. My first time with a guide and the money/time was well spent. I’m sure, on my own, I wouldn’t have had any idea where to concentrate my efforts. Stan gave good guidance and advice, like fishing with an old friend. Would highly recommend a trip with river run outfitters. The drift boat was great, highly manuverable, my guide had it going up and downstream with confidence and ease. I really appreciated not having a running motor drowning out the natural noises of the river. There was no doubt my guide knew where to fish and what to use, exactly what I had hoped for, great trip. Give Caddis (the shop cat) a scritch on my behalf."  Steve

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

Table Rock is at 915.4 and the projection again for tomorrow is four generators all day.  Sorry, but I thought we would see a change when they hit 916.  So much for thinking!  Fortunately, we did not receive the rain that was projected, so we should see no rise in level from that.  They are running Beaver Lake every day, but so far, it has not had too much impact on Table Rock.  Weather will continue to be pretty cool until the weekend when we are supposed to see 60 degrees and some sun.

Stan and Steve from the St. Louis area on the water today.  Don’t know which was best…the hot soup or the fishing!  They braved the cold, windy, misty day and caught fish mainly on the pink San Juan worm.   The tan scud in tandum was working well at the outlets yesterday.  Not too many souls out today to get a fishing report from this area!

We are not down to 915.5  and so far, we have dodged the bullet of much more rain.  We got a little over 1/2 inch last night, a few showers today but nothing significant.  We still have a prediction of rain for tonight and tomorrow.  The chances are 50% and no indication of how much.  The generation schedule projection for tomorrow is a continuance of what we saw today…..4 generators all day and night.  I am really surprised we have not seen a change in the generation pattern now that we are below 916, but what do I know!  I still think wade fishing is not too far away.

Stan is on the river tomorrow so we’ll let you know how it goes.

However, I cannot say water is off.  We just dropped below 916 feet early this morning and they are generating today with the projection for the same generation tomorrow.  The really bad news is that we are expecting rain beginning some time late tonight or early tomorrow and continuing into Monday.  This could chance everything, especially if we get a significant amount here or anywhere north between us and Springfield!