Power generation was off all weekend and lots of fly fishers were on the water catching fish.  Water came on Monday at 2:00 p.m. until midnight.  Off this morning and projected to come on at 2:00 p.m. 

Finally got Dawn’s picture off the camera of the fish she caught Saturday while she was out with Carolyn.  She was slow stripping an olive filoplume on the bank between the boat ramp and the stairs.  Beautiful, hooked jawed Rainbow.  We had a wonderful day stripping #12 filoplumes, #12 olive wooly buggers and #10 black wooly buggers.  Steady catching, warm sun, nice breeze (sometimes a little too breezy!) and lots of slow moving geese swimming up and down back our boat.  Dawn just  kept saying, "it doesn’t get any better, this ia great".   Albert, her husband was up around the R-bar hole catching fish "right and left" on the red or hot pink San Juan worms.  James Albert, her and and his friend were up and down the river catching them on various patterns. 

Dawn – 6/6/09

Jim on the water yesterday with Paul and Will from Texas.  Will is 6 years old and a great young man.  Really worked hard at fly fishing.  They boated fish on the burgundy midge, blood worm and #18 gray midge.  Takes where they were fishing were pretty soft. 

Other than Friday, when two generators were turned on at 6:00 a.m., the water has been off until around noon each day and all day Saturday and today, Sunday.  Once they turn them on, it is all four generators raising the level to or close to 710 feet.

Talked to several of our customers who were wade fishing Saturday and, depending on where you were, fishing was very good.  The Hatchery Area and areas below the boat ramp had the best reports with the Hatchery No. 1.  Almost everything was working, pink or red San Juan worms, the filoplume.  When the sun was out, the P&P midge and when it went in, the burgundy midge.  Great day on the water!

Jim out Thursday with Phil and Mike from Grain Valley, MO.  Good day on the size 16 Miracle Scud, the size 16 red midge and size 12 gray scud. 

Stan on the water for a half day with a couple guys from Texas…at least that’s where they live now, Brad and David.  Both had fished quite a bit before but never used the sink tip and a wooly in high water.  Caught a lot of fish on the size 12 olive wooly bugger, especially after the water came on.  Also caught some on the size 16 Pink San Juan worm.  Carolyn had Ellen from here in Branson and her niece from out of town Sarah on the water.  Sarah just graduated from High School this year and is visiting Ellen.  Ellen has been hard at work trying to give Sarah all the different experiences she could think of.  Fly fishing was one of them!  Bet everyone heard us when Sarah hooked her first fish AND, keep it on and brought it to the boat.  Beautiful, fat Rainbow.  Sarah took all the pictures so I hope she sends me some to put her on the site.  With two generators on when we started we were fishing the #16 pink San Juan worm dropped from a size 16 Lightening Bug and we finished up the afternoon with four generators going and both Ellen and Sarah catching them on the sinking tip line with the size 12 olive wooly buggers.  If Ellen and Sarah were not going to the Dixie Stampede after we got off the river, we probably would still be out there they were both having so much fun!

Pattern this week has definitely been off late at night and off the next morning until noon or so when they ramp up to all four generators.  When you get to the water to wade, you will notice lots of green growth on the bottom of the river.  Talked to the biologist at the Hatchery yesterday and he said not to worry.  Probably getting some of the nutrients which have run into Table Rock Lake are being released into Taneycomo because of so much generation lately.  Should not cause a problem with any of our scuds, sowbugs or other critters on the bottom, just give them better cover. 

Darrell on the water Tuesday and Wednesday for a couple half days with Jeff and his son Nate, from Arkansas.  Had to look for fish both days in places where there was a decent amount of water flow, such as riffles and narrows.  Boated several fish on the blood worm dropper and the burgundy midge.  Nate even out fished his father Wednesday.  Nice young man and a good fisher. 

Jeff – 6/3/09	Nate – 6/3/09

Yes!  The was has been off for a while the past four days!  Saturday they turned it off at 7:00 a.m. and it was off the rest of Saturday and Sunday until 5:00 p.m.  Back off Monday at 6:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. and off this morning still….it is 10:00 a.m.

Stan had Pat & Margie from Kentucky on the water again this year.  They loved their drift trip so much last year, when they got back to Kentucky, they ordered them a Clackacraft to fish their home waters.  Slower catching yesterday morning than the day before, but they caught several on the tan scud.  When the water came on, and after all the moss and everything else cleared out a little, fishing was definitely better on the olive size 12 wooly bugger.  Margie boated a nice 17 inch Rainbow.    Darrell has having his play day yesterday and caught a 20 inch plus Rainbow up in the Hatchery Area on the burgundy midge dropped from the Big Ugly.  

Water off all day until 5:00 p.m. when they turned on one generator.  Projection is that the water will be off until 1:00 or 2:00 p.m. tomorrow when they will ramp it up from one generator to finally four at 4:00 p.m.

Stan and I went out around 2:00 today and played, and what a great day to do that.  When we got on the water, we tried the normal stuff we have been using, the olive wooly buggers, holographic green cracklebacks, etc. and caught a few fish.  Action was not quite fast enough and we started seeing lots of surface action!  So what’s a fly fisher to do?  Stan started out with a cricket pattern and caught a few.  I had on a dark olive soft hackle and caught a few.  Stan changed to a black size 16 ant and I put on a size 16 ginger ant and that was the ticket!  We caught several nice 14-17 inch Rainbows on these.  After they slowed down on the terrestrials, we decided to start throwing soft hackles as we were seeing lots of dorsal fins and tails.  Sure enough, the size 20 BWO soft hackle was what they wanted.  Finished up the afternoon with these.  What fun on our little 4 wt. dry fly rods!  No such thing as a perfect storm, but there certainly is a perfect day when you can throw dries and soft hackles!

Melissa and Ben from here in Missouri took to the river yesterday with Dana.  Melissa is brand new to fly fishing and Ben has been fly fishing several times a month for the past 4-5 years.  They had a very good day on the holographic green crackleback, P&P midge and the Copper Dun.  As you can see, presentation is everything.

Melissa & Ben 5/30/09	Melissa & trophy sucker 5/30/09

Generators off yesterday at 7:00 a.m. and are still off.  It is 7:30 a.m. Sunday, May 31.  Projection is to be off all day, but I just imagine they will turn them on by some time this afternoon…..we’ll see!

Strange ritual going on yesterday in the river.  Lots of people standing in the water yelling "Hi!" and "Good to see you again" as well as many other greetings of those who have not seen each other for several months or better.  AND, they were all catching fish.  Think the fish were as happy as the fly fishers that the water was off.  It was a beautiful day.  Sunny, warm and a bit of a breeze to keep a chop on the water.  In the area where Stan and I were fishing, I know people were catching fish on dark olive size 18 soft hackles, black wooly buggers, olive wooly buggers, and the holographic green cracklebacks.  Think we all caught a "gazillion" fish….well maybe not quite that many but it was a great day!

As I write, 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 30, 2009, the water is off!  The projection for today was that the water would be off all day.  Can we believe that?  Not really, as it was on this morning until 7:00 a.m.  So, with that in mind, can we believe it will be off the balance of the day?  Not sure, but I am certainly going to go stand in the river for a while and smile….at least until I hear a horn blow.

Wednesday and Thursday, Stan had Mike and Fred from Oklahoma on and in the water fishing.  They were only scheduled for Wednesday, but after that day, they wanted to hit it again.  Lots of fish in the two half days on the size 12 olive wooly bugger, red midge and holographic green crackleback.

Thursday, Darrell had Marshall, also from Oklahoma out for half a day.  They did very well on the olive filoplume on a sink tip. 

Marshall – 5/28/09

Jim had a couple from Kansas, Mark and Linda.  This was Linda’s second time in two years, but Mark gets to fish a little more frequently.  They boated from fish on the #10 Bug-Eyed Bugger, the red midge and a gray scud. 

Friday we had three boats out.  Jim had the Joe and Joe team from Kansas.  Both Joes have fished for many years, but are new to fly fishing.  They learned a lot, caught fish on the red midge and #14 Miracle Scud and had a good time. 

Darrell had Mark and Dale from Arkansas on the water.  They have a fly shop and guide shop on the Spring River.  They had a good day on the red midge and olive filoplume and have a few new techniques to take back and try on their home water. 

Carolyn had a couple, Jan and Mike from Oklahoma, who have been fishing with us for a long time.  A couple years ago they brought their entire family, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law to either fly  fish with us learn how.  This is a great outdoor family loves all kinds of fishing and hunting.  Think a few of them have fly fishing pretty high up on their "like" list.  Two months ago, Mike had a life changing event….he lost his vision.  The main thing he and Jan have not lost is their love and skill in fly fishing.  We had a great day stripping holographic green cracklebacks, olive wooly buggers and Jan did some work with a Lightening Bug and size 18 burgundy midge dropper.

Jan & Mike with his nice 18" Rainbow – 5/29/09

One of several doubles – 5/29/09

Other than early this morning, they have been generating all day.  Off at midnight and back on around 6:00 a.m. with one generator.  Projection is to ramp up to four by 2:00 p.m. today.  Have not running quite as high of water the past two days, but it is still too high to wade.  Table Rock is holding at 916.3, but we still have the excess water in Beaver to deal with.  They are just about one foot from their flood pool; almost 9 feet above power pool.

Jim had a fly fishing couple, Mark and Mary, from Idaho out for a full day Tuesday.  They started the day off pretty good catching fish on the #6 Bug-eyed  Bugger, red size 16 midge and a gray scud.  Just after lunch a nasty black cloud loomed overhead with indications of heavy rain and who knew what else.  They decided it was time to get off the water and headed in early.  Gina was on the water with Gene from Oklahoma.  He had been out with us berfore and decided to do it again.  She got Gene into some nice fish on the holographic green crackleback, the bug-eyed bugger and the size 18 burgundy midge dropped from the size 16 red midge.  Fortunately Gene had just purchased a new rain jacket the day before so he got a chance to give it the "acid test".  They got into some rain just a little before they got off the water.  

Gene – 5/26/09

As I said in yesterday’s report, water still running most of the time, but it has been off or low in the early morning, with one or two generators going, then ramping up during the morning and usually up to all four by noon.

What a neat day on the water Sunday.  Darrell and Stan were out with Dawn, James Albert, Albert, and a friend of James Albert, Kash.  All these folks are from Louisiana and true die-hard fly fishers!  Jim was on the water with Dee Dee from California and her daughter, Michelle from New York.  Carolyn was out with Lynn and her husband David from here in Missouri.  Lynn had tried fly fishing several times before this outting and never caught a fish.  We definitely broke this jinx!  It was overcast all day and the fog never really left the area.  It stayed on or a little above the water most of the day.  When it started drizzling right after lunch, it lifted for a little while, but soon rolled back in.  At one time during the day, all of us were within shouting range of each other stripping #12 olive wooly buggers, #12 filoplumes, #6 bug-eyed buggers or a holographic crackle back using the sink tip line.  It was definitely a strippping day and the fish were taking all of those patterns and everyone was hooking up.  On the drift from the boat ramp to the shallow water on Pointe Royale Island, the red San Juan worm, or red midge  picked fish along the way.