It is hot out there on the water!  If you’re going to be out, make certain you drink lots of water and/or electrolite replacement beverages.  This is the time of year we see heat exhaustion!  Heat exhaustion can turn into heat stroke and that’s not good.  KEEP HYDRATED!!! 

Darrell had Richard from Clinton, MO out Thursday.  Jim was out with Sean from Columbia, MO, and Dana had Dwight and Bob from Parkville, MO.  It was Missouri day.  All were half day trips and everyone caught fish.  Flies were the red, pink and burgundy midges, pink worm, holographic green crackleback, #6 bug eye and peach egg.

Friday Jim had Howard from Ft. Leonard Wood.  They work on indicator fishing and small flies.  Blood worm dropper under the copper dun and #8 bug eye.  Darrell had Rhonda and her son, Wilson out for half day.   They boated several fish on the burgundy #18 midge. 

Saturday, almost everyone was on the water.  Jim out with Paul from Texas.  Bugs were the black zebra, blood midge and #8 bug eye.  Darrell, Gina and Carolyn had a group from Oklahoma and Kansas City – Lewis, Terry, Ed, Gary and Kent.  They went to school together and try to on a regular basis like a reunion.  Decided an attempt at fly fishing might be fun for this gathering.  Think we had one in the group who had fly fished before.  Good day, they all learned how to get the line in the water, mend, and catch fish.  The black, burgundy and red midges were working well.  Also used the Big Ugly (mainly as an indicator) but the fish also took that dry.  Gina had one of her guys working a sink tip and catching them on the olive wooly bugger.  Stan had Lou from here and his son, Tony from CO.  They did well on the black midge.

Sunday was HOT.  Jim was out with David from Kansas City.  He fishes a lot for various species of bass and does some saltwater fishing.  Little experience with trout.  David now knows a lot more about trout fishing and is ready to come back.  Worked midges and pulled some streamers.  Darrell had our regulars from Louisiana, Al and Dawn on the water.  They had a good day on the burgundy midge and holographic green crackleback.  Stan also had some regulars from Missouri, Kristi and Rick.  Wonderful day, also on the burgundy midge and the black midge.  Carolyn had a new little guy Eric and his father, Keith, on the water.  First time for Dad but Eric had been doing a little fly fishing already.  Both of them pick up the roll cast and pick up and lay down cast pretty fast.  After a little work on hook setting, we started bring fish to the boat on the red and black midges.  Think they are going to be fly fishers!

August 3, 2008 – Eric

Don’t forget to check out Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Classes.  We have three Fly Fishing Clinics scheduled for the balance of this year.  August and October will be the Women’s Clinics and September is the Co-Ed Clinic.  Give us a call and reserve your place!

Taneycomo has fished good all week.  Talked to several guys fishing up around the outlet area and they are seeing and catching some nice fish.  Water level is now at 921.8 and dropping. 

Stan was on the water Monday and yesterday with Rocky from Kansas.  They had a great couple of days fishing.  Rocky was introduced to dry fly fishing on Taneycomo, which he really liked.   Had an especially good day yesterday on size 18 parachute Adams and a size 18 parachute black dry.  Water is clear enough that 7X was a must on dries.  Their other good flies were the size 18 burgundy midge and the holographic green crackleback or bug eyed bugger on a sink tip. 

Darrell was out Tuesday with Bonnie and Gary from Kansas.  They are both beginners and were celebrating their 30th anniversary.  Happy Anniversary Gary and really hope you like your anniversary present!  The learned a lot and caught lots of fish on the pink San Juan and the burgundy midge.   

Jim was out Monday with Jim and Jim from North Carolina.  Can you imagine the confusion on that boat.  Hey, Jim!  They had a fun day and caught fish on the red midge and black thorax.  Tuesday he had a regular Pat and his nephew (I think), Cody.  They are from Oklahoma.  Jim worked a lot with Cody as he is new to the sport.  They mixed up their techniques between indicators, buggers and cracklebacks, so he could get a feel for different ways to fish.  Yesterday he had two brothers, Dan and John, from St. Louis area.  They fish the red midge, black thorax and bug eye. 

Yeah!  Although we have had a little rain here and there, very little of it is going into Table Rock Lake.  It continues to drop at about a foot every three days.  We are now at 922.8.  Keep tying those flies and getting your gear ready for when we can wade again!   As we keep saying, think the wait will be worth it.  The water has cleared up completely in the past week. 

Fishing continues to be good as well as the quality of fish.  Stan was out with Ken and Don Saturday and they caught a lot of nice fish.  Don’t think there was anything smaller than 13 inches in the bunch.  Gina was out with a couple friends.  She was working at sharing her passion with them.  Must have worked that day as they were not ready to come off at our regular take out so they went on down the river to Cooper Creek take out.  I fished for a few hours and had a very good day.  Love it when I can catch some on dries, move to emergers, down to midges and finish up with a few more emergers.  Only in one place did the sink tip with the holographic green crackleback work for me.

Jim had Jim and Ryan from Kansas out yesterday.  They had a good 1/2 day on the red midge and black #22 midge.

No change in the generation pattern yet.  Still running 24/7 and keeping the level around 708.5 plus or minus a few 10ths.  When they do decide to shut down the water, we think fishing will be great!  The fish we are catching are in wonderful condition and will really be good and healthy when the water goes down. 

Gina and Jim were on the water Tuesday.  Gina had Robyn, from the St. Louis area out.  She is the daughter of the gentleman who created the crackleback at Feathercraft.  Needless to say, they caught lots of fish on the crackleback, as well as the black midge and an olive woolly. 

Jim had Larry from Texas on the water.  They caught several fish on the red midge and black emerger pattern.  Both Gina and Jim were pulled off the water a little early due to a thunderstorm which blew through the area, but they still caught lots of fish.

Yesterday Jim had two fairly new fly fishers on the water, Bud and Ben from Lee’s Summit.  Stuck a lot of fish and boated quite a few on the red midge, black thorax midge and an orange San Juan. 

Stan and I went out today for a few hours.  We don’t get to fish together very often.  Wonderful day.  Started out a little slow, but we were throwing dries and other flies to try different things out.  Picked a few on a black size 12 beetle, BWO, and size 21 soft hackles.  Nothing fast and furious.  We finally got serious and put on the holographic green crackleback and proceeded to catch all the fish we wanted. 

Still generating water 24/7.  However, yesterday around 11:00 a.m., they shut the flow down to around 5000 cfs.  This resulted in a drop of the level in Taneycomo to 706.8 for about one hour.  Just long enough for one of our trips, Stan who had Ken and Steve from Kansas out, to get out and wade around the Lookout Island.  Great day on holographic green cracklebacks under the sink tip.    They also hooked fish on a size 20 black zebra soft hackle.  Lots of fish.  Darrell was out with Dan and Malcolm from St. Louis area and they hooked three browns among the many fish they caught on the crackleback and red midge.  Jim and Carolyn both had brand new fly fishers on the water.  Jim had Caleb and Ethan from Texas and Carolyn had Keegan and Sarah from Oklahoma.  We got them roll casting and throwing some line.  Sarah hooked a few on the size 18 black zebra midge and a few on the hot pink San Juan.  She also had hits on the holographic green crackleback but never got them in.  Keegan hooked fish on the red midge, hot pink San Juan and really liked the cracklebacks!  Good day on the water…..

Gina had Scott and Rhonda from Winconsin on the water all day Tuesday.  They had a wonderful day on the water.  Caught lots of nice fish.  Rhonda is just getting started and she did quite well.  They were fishing the olive bugger on a sink tip, the black zebra midge and the red midge.  Jim had Brian and Brandon from Oklahoma.  Brandon is 11 and just getting started.  Jim worked with him on indicator fishing.  It was almost nip and tuck for a while.  Red midge, black midge and olive bug eyed bugger. 

Wednesday Darrell had Rick from Canada out.  He had fished the previous 2 days with Stan and Darrell finished him up with another good day.  Jim was out with Andy from Branson and his friend Greg from out of town.  Greg is a beginner and was soon catching fish on the red midge and #18 black midge.  They boated a lot of fish in a half day.  Stan and Carolyn had Doc, his son Pat, and two grand daughters, Conner, and Hannah.  In addition to getting out and collecting rocks as various places, Conner and Hannah each boated from fish.   Doc and Pat, who were Stan had a real good half day on the red midge, pink midge and pink San Juan.  The girls were fishing the red midge and black zebra.  Everyone hooked fish stripping the holographic green crackleback. 

Sunday and Monday AND today and no rain.  AND, no rain in the forecast for at least the next three days!!  Still running generators 24/7, but the water has cleared up considerably from 2-3 weeks ago.  Lots of folks are catching fish up around the outlets on lots of different things.  Scuds, of course, small dark midges, and even some dries in the late afternoon early evening.

Boats on the water Sunday and Monday.  Stan had Earl from Texas out Saturday and Sunday.  They had a couple of great days on the water.  Earl was introduced to cracklebacks and soft hackles and really liked that.  Darrell and Jim had a group of guys from Kansas out Sunday.  They too had a great day.  Jim had Dwan picking up fish on a black midge as well as a black size 20 soft hackle.  Robert and Phillip, who were with Darrell worked the bug eyed bugger and also the hot pink San Juan. 

Gina and Carolyn took a group of guys out in the afternoon from Arkansas.  Gina’s guys, Mike and his son, David, caught a lot of fish on the olive wooly bugger, the black zebra, and the red midge.  Mike caught the numbers and David caught the quality (largest fish to their boat).  Carolyn had Ed and John.  They did well on the holographic green cracklebacks with the sink tip.  Also caught a lot on the hot pink San Juan and finished up the day with the red midge.  All in all, a beautiful day.  Weather was great, light wind and good quality and quantity of fish. 

Stan and Carolyn had a family from Kansas out for a half day trip on Thursday.  Stan had Jerry and the son Nick, and Carolyn had Margaret and the daughter, Kerie.  Kerie and Jerry had fished with Carolyn last year on Father’s Day. Think Dad has a fishing buddy. 

We all did well on the orange or pink San Juans, pink midge and cracklebacks.  Everyone enjoyed the cracklebacks.  We were fishing the cracklebacks under a sink tip. 

Dana had Bob and Kerry from Missouri out all day.  They had a wonderful day on the pink midge, pink San Juan and ….you guessed it, the holographic green crackleback. 

Yesterday, Jim and Darrell took a group from Oklahoma out.   Yesterday was a little tough.  Keith and Brian who were with Jim caught fish on the red midge, black midge and orange San Juan.

Stan and Jim out today.  We’ll see how fishing is today.

Stan had Scott from Oklahoma out yesterday.  They had a few sprinkles of rain every once in a while.  No lightening and thunder, so it turned out to be a good day.  They caught lots of fish on the holographic green crackleback with the sink tip, mainly in seams on the slack water side.  Caught a few on the pink midge, but the crackleback was the fly.  Fish laying up everywhere they stopped to fish.  Scott is ready to go out and do it again!