Over the weekend and so far this week, in addition to the regular flies, we have been getting some good action of dries.  Yeah!!  Mainly small bugs, such as a Parachute Adams, sizes 18-24; extended body BWO, size 24; and a cream midge, size 22. 

Jim, Stan and Carolyn had a group of six brand new fly fishers out Saturday.  They all had a great time and are no longer brand new fly fishers.  This was an annual family get together and think they plan on fishing again next year. 

Ellen tried out her new fly rod Monday and hooked her first trout on a dry fly.  Unfortunately, it headed for the weeds and she didn’t get it to the boat.  She did land several fish on the red tunghead midge earlier in the morning and finished up the afternoon landing more on the holographic green crackleback (her favorite fly).  

Tuesday, Stan was out with Larry and Don from the Overland Park, KS area.  Larry caught his first trout on a dry fly in Taneycomo, a size 22 BWO.  Couldn’t get them away from the dry fly fishing, lots of hits, lots of misses and some fish to the boat.  Good day.

 Jim had a young man, Ty, and his father Roger on the water.  Ty is nine and, although he loves fishing, this was his first time with a fly rod.   As they are beginners, Jim worked with them on casting and presentation.  Hook sets a little slow, but once they caught on they boated some fish.  Red midge and size 18 black midge.

Had to get these two guys on the site although they were out last week.  Todd must have been having wading withdrawals.  Water dropped enough that there were a few places to wade, so……

The guys had a great day and caught lots of fish.  burgundy and black midges and the red San Juan worm.   

If all things remain the stable (weather, etc), they are scheduled to turn the water off sometime Saturday night, August 16 so they can replace the boards downstream at Powersite Dam.  The plan is to have it off  until possibly Monday night, August 18. 

Ed Story the founder of Feather-Craft in St. Louis, Missouri, noted for his creation of the crackleback, passed away Sunday morning.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the family.   We know he will be missed by many, but never forgotten.

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…..