What a beautiful day we are having today.  And, we expect more of this great weather through Friday.  Thursday and Friday will probably see temperatures in the upper 60s.  Is this December?!  Unfortunately, Saturday looks like some rain might be moving in with a high probability of rain Saturday night into Sunday.  The following week looks like temperatures in the lower 50s.

Generation  has been non-stop this past week.  However, it dropped from four units to the equivalent of two units.  Big difference in the cubic feet per second.  Still a probable for the wade fishers, but definitely a big better for boats.

Jim on the water last Friday.  He took Dale out on an exploratory trip to see what was going on and how fishing was.  Fishing not as good as they have had, but definitely better than it has been with the low dissolved oxygen levels.  Best patterns were a P&P or thorax midge, and the miracle scud.  There are signs that Table Rock Lake is turning which means better oxygen.  It doesn’t happen over night, but things are definitely going in the right direction.  Stan had JA out for half a day and they caught fish mainly on the P&P.

Saturday, Stan had Mike and his brother Lee, from Arkansas out for half a day.  The guys caught fish on the P&P and ruby midges.  Jim’s guys, Kevin and Steve were also fishing and catching on the P&P plus a black midge.

Looks like we are in for a run of nice weather.  Great weather this weekend. Lots of sunshine, no rain, and temperatures in the 50s.  We might even hit 60s in the middle of the week.  I think our next chance for rain will be late in the week or next weekend.

Generation has been pretty much non-stop for the past several days.  The good news is that they are dropping it toward power pool pretty quickly.  At the rate they are currently running water, we should be at power pool toward the end of next week.

Gina on the water with Wednesday Jim last Wednesday (of course!).  Since no one had been out for a few days, it was an expedition trip for them.  Not a great day, but Jim had a smile on his face.  He had boated a few fish on streamers and stuck and missed a few more.  Unfortunately, Wednesday was a very heavy water day so they had lots of water to deal with.

We will close Christmas eve at 3:00 p.m. and be closed all day Christmas Day.  We will be open New Years day! 

Get you Christmas shopping done early.  Lots of time to give us a call for gift certificates for product, guide trips, lessons, or whatever strikes your fancy!  Or we have plenty of time to ship items.

Cold and rainy today.  Chances of rain through Monday.  At least the temperature will go back into the low 50s by Monday and then sunshine for Tuesday and the rain is out of the forecast through next weekend.

The equivalent of three units running up and down all week.  They have the flood gates open last weekend into Monday and shut them down mid-morning Monday.

Mike – 11/23/15

With some oxygen going into the river Monday, Carolyn took Mike from Texas out for the day.   Fished good in the morning on the blue poison or lightning but dropped under the big ruby.  Also caught some on a red or cerise San Juan Worm.  About an hour after they shut down the flood gates, the catching followed shut down too.

Kathy and Ron from Louisiana went out with Carolyn on Tuesday and worked hard for the few fish they caught.

Hate to say it, but we need some cold weather here to cool down the water and help get the lake turned!

A little nippy this morning.  I think we have hit our high of 40 degrees for the day.  It was raining a little this morning with some snow mixed in for good measure.  Tomorrow and Monday look like sunny and low 50x Monday with high 50s Tuesday.  Thanksgiving Day still looks wet.

Not only are they running and have been running generators for the past two and a half days, but they still have four flood gates open.  From looking at the numbers, we have happy fish as the oxygen level it much better.  They are going to try and continue running them for a while and maybe we can get the lake flipped so the normal source of oxygenated water will be available.  In the meantime, thank you for the flood gates!!

If nothing else, this should add some oxygenated

11/19/15

water to Taneycomo.  Coming to work this morning, we observed four gates opened and pouring oxygenated surface water into Taneycomo.   Maybe it will also help in diluting the high nitrogen and sulfur also present in the water.

Folks have been having a tough time catching in most of the upper wade area of Taneycomo.  And, if you just stand in the water and watch the fish, you can see they are having a tough time just breathing.  We know there is a significant problem at the hatchery right now with fish kills in their rearing runs.  In the past two days, several thousand fish have died as well as a large number of the brood stock.   Apparently the problem stems from high nitrogen and sulphur levels.  This is probably the reason for the offensive odor we have experienced over the past several weeks.  This just aggravates the already low dissolved oxygen levels and the higher than normal water temperatures present in the water.   The fix!  Not sure what it will be nor how long it will take.  We understand they are considering relocating some of the fish to other hatcheries.  We will try and keep you posted.

Nice weekend, but we are getting dumped on today.  Heavy rain this morning.  Supposed to clear for a while this afternoon with more coming in the evening.  Rain predicted again tomorrow.  Temperatures are supposed to take a dive toward and into the weekend with lows in the upper to mid 30s.  By the weekend, we will probably see 40s for the highs.

A couple hours of generation almost every morning.  No generation all day, but generation again in the early evening for a few hours.

Fishing is still tough and the fish are still now happy campers with the low oxygen levels and warm water temperatures.  We had a few trips on the water this past week, but have cancelled everything this week due to the conditions.  Stan on the water last Tuesday with Scot and his grandson, Carter.  This was Carter’s first time fly fishing and he did his grandfather proud.

Carter’s first trout on fly rod – 11/10/15

They were catching with a P&P dropped under a peach egg pattern.

Jim’s fish – 11/11/15

Gina had Wednesday Jim out last week.  They just fished for half a day due to some weather moving in for the afternoon.  They caught some fish on the ruby 2 dropped under a peach bead.  They even landed a shad.

Friday, Jim took Chris and Hugh out for an instructional/catch a few trip.  No best pattern.  Jim and Gregg, from Minnesota were on the river with Stan for the day.  Not a bad day, especially for the current conditions.  This was Gregg’s first time with a fly rod and he did well.  Best patterns were the peach egg with the P&P dropper or the holographic green crackleback.

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Weather has been great!  Beautiful day yesterday with light winds, sunshine and temperature hit the low 60s.  Today we expect upper 60s and lots of sunshine.  Tomorrow, however, may be a different day.  According to the forecasts, we could see 40 mph winds, thunderstorms  with temperatures in the low upper 60s to 70s.  Nasty front coming in from the northwest.  By Thursday, it will be back to sunshine but temperatures more seasonal….in the 50s.

Past two days have seen a couple hours generation in the morning.  Off by 9:00 a.m.   Back on for a few hours in the late part of the day, around 5:00 or so.

Fishing continues to be very tough.  So far, no improvement in the oxygen level, but that is to be expected until Table Rock turns.  Come on cold weather. Jim took Dan, from Texas last Tuesday.  They even went out again on Wednesday.  As Jim stated, “fishing sucked but they had a great time”.   Gina on the water last Wednesday with “Wednesday Jim”  Of course it was a challenging day.  Gina cleared out her fly box and finally got some fish on the little ruby midge under an egg pattern.  Carolyn took Colleen ad Wayne from Hawaii out for a few hours Wednesday.  We had a great boat ride, a lovely shore lunch and came in.

Yesterday, Jim had Derek and Larry out for most of the day.  Don’t know how they did, but doubt that it was great.  Carolyn had Mike and Jan for half a day.  We hit three fish right out of the gate on a size 28 grey scud dropped from the big ruby.  Water had been on for a couple hours, so we had some “kick” water and probably a little oxygen in it.  After it settled down when turned off, so did the trout.  A few more on the holographic green crackleback and it was time to come off.

Beautiful day yesterday.  Sun shinning, temperatures in the low 60s and a light wind.  Today is overcast and a bit nippy!  High is predicted at upper 60s, but it will need some work.  Tomorrow looks like overcast again and temperatures in the low 70s.  Chances of rain Thursday afternoon and most of Friday.  Looks like temperatures are heading to more normal as Friday and Saturday are in the mid 60s and Sunday and Monday look like mid 50s.

Other than yesterday when they turned on the equivalent of one unit at 8:00 a.m. for an hour, we have had no generation in the mornings and something coming on around 2:00 p.m. every day for a few hours.

Don’t know if it was that shot of unexpected,  not projected water they ran yesterday morning or what, but fishing yesterday was good.  Stan has a couple, Melissa and Andrew, from Indiana out for the day.  Good day for these new fly fishers, mainly on the P&P with a size 18 gray scud dropper.  I had an opportunity to get in a few hours and had fun stripping the olive filoplume on a 1.5 ips sink tip fly line.  Also caught several fish on the holographic green crackleback.  Fished with some friends for a little while and we did well on the P&P and copper dun midges.

Scuds at upper MDC ramp

A couple weeks ago when putting in my drift boat, I could not help but notice the water moving right next to the ramp.  Look at this layer of scuds!  Yesterday, when taking out at a another ramp about 5-1/2 miles downstream, almost the same layer of scuds.  We have to say our food source for the trout is definitely there and appear to be healthy.

Scuds – 11/2/15

Beautiful day today.  Monday through Wednesday look nice with temperatures in the low 70s.  Thursday and Friday are looking like rain.

Generation continues to be off most of the day.  Of course, except today.  They turned on the equivalent of  one unit using two generators.  Ran it for a couple hours, then off.  Tomorrow looks like it will be off until last in the afternoon and then on for a few hours and back off.

Carolyn had Len and Sally out last Monday for half a day and the generators came on….un expectedly, at 10:30.  We had had a few fish on cracklebacks before this happened, but when the units came on, the water trashed up so we decided to call it a day and try again on Wednesday.

Wednesday, Stan had Bob and his friend Shelby out for half a day, and Carolyn had Len and Sally out again.  Bad day.  Stan’s boat maybe had a few hits and Carolyn’s folks only caught one fish on a red soft hackle.  Thank you Sally for saving my honor.

Thursday was another day.  Carolyn had Know and Gabrille out for half a day.  Morning started off slow, but about mid-morning Gabrille caught a fish and then another.  Knox, decided he needed to catch up and he did and kept on going.  Good day for these two on a #18 gray scvud dropped under the copper dun midge.  Stan had Doc from Oklahoma out for half a day.  They were catching fish on the copper dun midge or P&P midge.  Dick and Kathy from California spent the day on the water with Jim.  Not a great day, but they did catch some fish on the miracle scud and hot hare’s ear nymph.

And then there was another day…..Friday.  Looked like a repeat of Wednesday.  Jim had Dick and Kathy out again, but for only half a day.  They came in early as fishing was bad.  Terry and Yasuto were out with Stan.  They had a full day booked, but after working hard for a few hits, decided to have lunch and call it a day.  Carolyn took Janessa and Brian out for half a day.  We finally found a fish on the miracle scud and maybe missed a few others on the gray scud.

As I mentioned earlier, the dissolved oxygen in Taneycomo is very low.  The fish still look health, but they are definitely just sitting in the water exerting the least amount of energy possible.  Fortunately, there are lots of scuds….tons of scuds in the water, so food is probably just drifting into the fishes mouths so they don’t have to work too hard.

Dissolved oxygen level coming into Taneycomo is very low right now.  This occurs every year, but it certainly seems to be having a more significant affect this year.  Seeing LOTS of dead fish on the bottom and floating down the river.  Rowing up from the boat ramp to just below the rebar hole, saw 2 to 3 dead fish about every 10 feet.  Even though you release a fish after you have play it for a few minutes to bring it in, and he swims off, he may go 30-40 feet and flip over on it’s back.  I have netted several fish over the past few days and kept them in the net facing upstream until I felt they were fine.  I noted that many of these were face up for a while and then started rolling over.  Worked the net to make certain they turned back over and kept them facing upstream in moving water.  Sometimes took several minutes, but I know the fish had a much better survival chance.  Let’s take care of this wonderful resource we have here in Taneycomo!