Why can’t we have gorgeous weather and great fishing at the same time?  We are still getting up to upper 50s or low 60s mornings and the high yesterday was in the low 80s.  right now (10:00 a.m), the sun is shinning, it is 67 degrees and a very light wind blowing.  High today will be low 80s.  Sounds like a repeat for tomorrow.  Sunday is showing chances for morning showers and upper 70s for the high.  Monday is another upper 70s to low 80s with plenty of sun.

With the Wednesday rains, we picked up a little in Table Rock Lake so we saw very little gain….none really….on the water dropping.  However, we are on track again and I think we will see the level in the 920 range today.

Wednesday was a rain day.  Started late Tuesday night and kept going well into Wednesday morning. Wednesday Jim and Gina were scheduled to hit the water at 8:00 a.m, but put it off until the rain let up a little.  They did have a lovely day, weather wise, Wednesday.  Light rain for a while in the a.m., then it shut down an there was little, if any wind.  It was overcast all day, so temperatures were very comfortable.  However, the fish didn’t think it was a great day!  Tough day for them, but they hung with it and managed to pull a few fish out on this perfect weather day.  Gina said it was “lots of cussing and discussing”.  Best technique this day was stripping.  Stripped everything!  Oh well….there are more Wednesdays!

Weather has been great the past few days.  Temperatures in the 80s.  Mornings in the 60s.  Love it.  And, we are looking at more of the same for the next few days.  I am seeing chances for showers to enter the picture on Tuesday and Wednesday.  More 80s and even upper 70s Wednesday and Thursday.

Now if we could get the river level down and stop running water 24/7 we would have it all.  But, I think we will see this trend continue for a few more weeks.  However, it is dropping.  We are now at 921.8 and dropping about a quarter of a foot a day.  We can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Stan on the water yesterday with Jason and his son Brooks.  These guys are from Texas but spent a few years in Colorado before returning to Texas.  Just enough time to try out fly fishing, and they liked it.  Discovered that Taneycomo was a trout fishery so they wanted to try it again.  They caught fish mainly on the big ruby and also some on a light olive soft hackle.  Fun day.

Another pleasant morning awaiting me as I walked out the front door this morning.  A cool 60s.  High today should be mid 80s with tomorrow and Saturday in the upper 80s.  Low 90s through most of next week, and nothing looking like rain chances until next weekend and that, right now, is slim.

Generators continue to run.  The equivalent of two in the early a.m. and late p.m. with the equivalent of three from 8:00-9:00 a.m. until 5:00-6:00 p.m.  At least it is pretty consistent.

Sunday, Jim from Clinton, spent the morning on the water with Stan.  That was the last really hot day we had, so they were ready to come off after the half day was over.  Actually thought about a full day, but good sense took over after spending a little time in the sun!  Not a bad day.  Caught a few on soft hackles, but the best pattern was the lightning bug.

Good Wednesday for Jim yesterday with Gina.  Best pattern for them was stripping the tiger tail.  Caught a few early on the pink micro San Juan worm and the ruby 2.  Beautiful day!  80s and a light breeze.

Jim – 8/12/15

Heat advisors today.  Temperature supposed to hit 98 and lots of sun!Tomorrow looks like low 90s with scattered thunderstorms developing in the afternoon.  Wow!  Mid 80s Tuesday through Thursday.  No rain in the forecast after tomorrow until next week.

What can I say about the generation schedule.  Non-stop!  They ran two to three units all weekend and the same is scheduled for tomorrow.   The good news is, it has been staying pretty stable.  That does a lot for the fishing.  When it goes up and down, the fishing seems to be a lot more difficult.

Gina and Stan out last Thursday.  Gina

Jerry – 8/6/15

had Jerry and Randall.  Their best patterns were the ruby 2, either under a peach egg or the big ruby.

Randall – 8/6/15

Stan took Gary and Terry.  No really best pattern.  Fished the tiger tail, a soft hackle and the ruby 2.

Friday, Scott from Nebraska spent the morning on the water with Carolyn.  What a pleasant day!   Enough

fog stayed on the river to keep it cool.  And every once in a while, a nice breeze would come through.  Fish were hitting just enough to keep us interested.  Scott started off the morning with a nice 17″ beautiful rainbow.  I think it was on a ruby 2 dropper under the big ruby.  Later in the morning we caught on a light olive soft hackle and finished up the day stripping the tiger tail under a 3.6 ips sinking leader.

Not sure who had the most fun Saturday.  Natalie from Independence, took a half day float with Carolyn.  She has been working at fly fishing for a couple years and still struggling with the how’s and why’s.  We got rid of many of those Saturday as she caught fish on midges rigged for high, fast water as well as slow, skinny water.  She even joined the ranks of “stripper”.  We fished the ruby 2 under a big ruby, a size 16 red or black d-rubbed midge, and stripped the tiger tail.  Natalie thinks

Natalie – 8/8/15

she likes stripping the best.

Pretty nice day so far today.  High is expected to be 88 and it is partly cloudy.  Chances for rain late to night carrying into tomorrow morning.  The way the forecast looked, it may be more to the north and east.  We might get something.  Thursday through Saturday is showing a 50% chance for showers…so, that 50% chance it won’t rain!

Still water, water every day.  The equivalent of 1-1/2 units this morning which they ramped up to two units at 11:00 and three by noon.  Running pretty good right now with a little over 10,000 cfs running.

Matt – 8/1/15

Carolyn on the water both Saturday and Sunday with Matt and Mindy.  Fun couple!  This was Mindy’s first time with a fly rod, so we started from the beginning.  Roll cast first, mending and line management.  Fast learner and she was doing well in the fast, tight water we worked.   First day, Matt was at the helm and caught most of the fish.  I think he pulled this nice rainbow out stripping the JQ streamer.  The second day, Mindy was up front

Mindy & Carolyn – 8/2/15

and it was her day.  First two fish to the boat were browns. Better day on the water mainly with the black copperhead midge, ruby 2 and lightning bug.  I think we have another woman fly fisher in out midst.  I know Matt hopes so!  Darrell and Dana were also out on Sunday.  They had a group of three guys.  Dana had Paul and Evan from St. Louis.  They fished the ruby 2, red midge, peach egg and fat grub.

Josh’s brown – 8/2/15

Darrell’s guy, Josh was fishing a ruby 2 and caught this nice brown.  Stan had Ken and Tom out for the morning.  They were stripping the holographic green crackleback or nymphing the copperhead black midge.  Stan worked them hard, and they caught several fish.

Our high today was 91 and it was in the upper 60s this morning when I came into the shop.  How pleasant!  Prediction for tomorrow and Sunday are low 90s.  Mid 90s Monday and Tuesday and I’m seeing a 50% chance of showers both Tuesday and Wednesday next week

Generation schedule for the weekend and also for Monday is 1-1/2 units in the morning until 8:00 a.m. then it will ramp up to a full two units.  At 3:00 p.m. it will bump to 2-1/2 units for an hour and then two full units for two hours, back to 1-1/2 a couple hours, then two and back to the 1-1/2 through the night.  Slight variations on Monday, but almost the same.

Jim – 7/29/15

Gina and Jim on the water this past Wednesday.  Kept looking and found fish in various locations.  Good quality overall, a couple 17 inchers, 16-1/2 inches and several in the 15 inch range.  That’ll work!  Most of the fish were on the ruby 2 under the big ruby.  Did catch a few on the holographic green crackleback.

Stan had Fred from Florida out Thursday.  Gorgeous day.  8776 degrees and low humidity.  It would have been a great day even if they had not fish!  Well….maybe.  They had a fun day stripping the insect green soft hackle.  Caught most of them on this, but did catch some on the ruby 2 under the big ruby.

Not much relief in sight.  Supposed to be in the upper 80s tomorrow.  That might feel better, especially if the humidity drops.  Low to mid 90s through the weekend and into next week.

Still seeing almost non-stop generation every day.  It will be off this afternoon around 8:00-9:00 p.m until midnight.  Then, we will get one unit until 7:00 a.m. when it will ramp up to two units.  Two units until noon, then three until 9:00 then back on to two for two hours, then back to one.  Might be interesting.

Morgan – 7/27/15

Jim and Carolyn on the river half a day with a family of four from Oklahoma.  Jim took Steve and Sandra, and Carolyn took their daughters, Morgan and Hallie.  Wish the conditions had been better, four generators, and hotter than blue blazes!  The only one in the group with previous experience was Steve.  All the ladies were new to fly fishing.  I must say, the young ladies did very well learning the roll cast, mending and other basic line management.  We lost a few fish, but also managed to get some to

Hallie – 7/27/15

the boat.  Hallie and Morgan caught all their fish on the ruby 2 midge.   Richard from Florida was fishing with Stan.  They did well on an insect green soft hackle, the JQ streamer and the holographic green crackleback.  Richard thought it was a fun day as he got to fish soft hackles.

Seeing a whole row of 90s until Thursday and Friday, when the predictions are for upper 80s.  Not much in the way of rain, just slight chances on a few days.

Generation here continues to be almost non-stop.  They did cut back on the flow a little over the weekend.  The equivalent of two units in the a.m. and late p.m. with the equivalent of three units during the day.  Monday looks like they are going back to the off for two to three hours in the a.m. then ramping up to the four  units by noon or so.  Off again late in the evening until early the next morning.

Stan had John and his son Wyatt, from Illinois on the water last Thursday morning.  They did not let too many fish slip by them on the big ruby with a ruby 2 dropper or stripping the tiger tail.

Friday, Peter spent the morning on the river with Carolyn.  Fish were spotty but we pulled a few out on the ruby 2.  Highlight of the day was Missy, or we are starting

Missy or Murphy?

to suspect it might be a Murphy!

Yesterday looked like everyone was trying to get in a great weekend on the water at the same time!  When we dropped our drift boats in, two different kayak groups came in, plus a pick up with an individual pontoon, small jon boat and some other water craft pulled in and six to eight boats were drifting by the boat ramp.  Thought we were going to have to get a traffic control person to get all of us organized!  When the dust settled, Jim took Dan and Rob from Kansas out for half a day.  Fairly new fly fishers, so Jim worked with them on various skills.  They caught some fish on the ruby, hot hare’s ear and the tiger tail.  Carolyn and Stan had a family of four, also from Kansas, out for the morning.  All were new to fly fishing, so the tough conditions made it even tougher.   But,  everyone caught or had some fish on with the ruby 2 or peach egg pattern.  Stan took Lisa and Trev, and Carolyn had Tony and Tatum.

Looks like a week of temperatures in the 90s through the weekend.  Slight chances of rain scattered throughout, but nothing major.   Let’s hope not, we don’t need any more rain!

Generation this week has been off very late at night until 5:00 to 6:00 a.m. the next day.  One unit on for an hour, then two units for an hour or two, then four for the remainder of the date until very late gain.

With the water off then on this week, it has been tough fishing.  The fish are not settled in where we normally find them because of this fluctuation.

Jim out for half a day with Carl and Paul yesterday.  They caught fish, but worked for them mainly on the ruby, gray scud and a sculpin pattern.  Gina had her Wednesday Jim out for the day.  She said the fish were wherever….  They had an everything day, rain, fog, sun,

Jim & nice brown – 7/22/15

four units, and spotty fish, but definitely enough to keep them interested.  Best pattern was the ruby 2 midge.

Stan out today with John and his son, Wyatt.  They worked hard, had fun and caught fish.  Mainly it was the ruby 2 under the big ruby and a few on the tiger tail.

Pretty nice temperatures out there right now.  It is actually in the 80s with overcast skies.  Looks like chances for rain are increasing as the day goes on.  Tomorrow’s forecast calls for another day in the 80s and even better chances for rain, especially in the a.m.  Thursday is back into the low 90s and thunderstorm possibility developing in the afternoon.  Hot, but dry through the weekend.

Funky water the past couple days.  Off in the a.m., then the equivalent of two units on around 7:00 a.m. for a couple hours then all four units until late in the day.  Two mornings of ugly, dingy water and lots of trash.  With all the running water time, I guess there’s lots of stuff on the bottom, and especially the banks that were under water, that need to get flushed through.  Hope it doesn’t take too long to clean up.

Jim on the water last Thursday with Richard from Springfield.  Jim was working with him on the different casts and they also caught some fish on the ruby, hot hare’s ear and tiger tail.

Sunday, Carolyn started the first day of a two-day school with Larry from Kansas.  While working on casting, the water looked so good

Larry’s 1st on fly rod – 7/19/15

based on what it has looked like (only a little over one unit running and projection for just a little more later in the morning), we decided it might be best to get in the fishing portion and take advantage of the good conditions.  Good idea!  We headed for the water and after working on some more stuff, started stripping the holographic green crackleback and it was great!  Caught some nymph-style fishing with the ruby 2 midge, but stripping the crackleback was the best.

Monday when we hit the river and it was dingy.  We worked a dry fly along the banks with no interest.  Tried midging and stripping, but when two more units came on, the water trashed up even more.  We were on a tight time schedule, so we decided to call it a day and row out.  Stan was out with William

William – 7/20/15

from Oklahoma.  They worked hard and caught a few fish on the tiger tail.  I could hear Stan from across the river grunching about the water!  Jim had Dave from Kansas out for half a day.  They did some casting work and also caught a few fish.  We all agreed it was a tough fishing day.