It has been hot and humid the past few days and I think we have more in store for the next several days.  Mid to upper 90s and possibly hit 100 degrees by this coming weekend.  Good time to stand in the cold water!

Generation schedule has been pretty up and down all week.  It’s supposed to come on at 2:00 p.m……it comes on at noon.  It’s supposed to be on all day….they don’t turn it on until noon (that was the case today).  As I have said many times….that’s life in a tailwater!

Jim out last Monday with Barry and his son,  Brandon.  New fly fishers and a tough day.  I think Brandon was the fish lander that day.  Dad was happy to watch him catching on the red midge, miracle scud and copperhead black midge.

Tuesday, Jim took Larry and Jim out for half a day.  It was a P&P and blood worm day.

Thursday, Ted from Kansas took a short half day with Jim.  Another touch day, but they managed to land some on the P&P.

Saturday, Stan took Dennie and his grandson, John out for the day.  Slow start in the a.m, but about 11:00 a.m. the fish decided it was time to eat.  Good day, mainly on the P&P and then the holographic green crackleback on the sinking leader once the water started moving a little more.   Jim had Brent and David out for half a day.  These new fly fisher caught a few fish, but Jim said there was no best fly for them.

90s today with slight chance for rain.  We did get some rain yesterday afternoon.  Mid to upper 80s predicted for all week into the weekend with chances for rain creeping back into the pictures by the weekend.

Boy, you can’t count on anything!  Yesterday, the projection was for one unit to come on around 200 p.m.  Hooha!  Came on at noon.  Today we were supposed to have a low one unit until noon……it’s OFF!  The generation schedule has been a bit erratic this past week.  Monday, off in the morning then four units in the afternoon.  Tuesday, low one in the a.m., then fired up around noon.  Back to no generation on Wednesday morning then four units in the afternoon.  Low, then a little more, then back down Thursday and Friday was up and down and finally up.  We had one unit on yesterday for 3-4 hours.

Fishing continues to be slower than we would like to see for this time of the year.  Darrell on the water Friday with Matt and Brad from Parkville.  They caught a few fish on the tan flashback scud and an egg pattern.  Jim had Randy, from Kansas out for an instructional half day.  Also a few fish on the tan flashback scud, a red midge and the copperhead black midge.

Saturday, Stan took Scott and his son Justin out for half a day.  New fly fishers caught fish on the copperhead black midge early in the day then the P&P midge.

I forgot to mention that the highlight of a trip I had out earlier in the week with Dawn and Albert, was spotting two immature eagles in the trees about a half mile above Fall Creek.  We could hear them calling back and forth across the river.  One immature was on one side of the river and the other on the other side with either Mom or Dad.  Really a great finish to a fun day!

Lots of rain this morning.  We might get some more this afternoon, but tomorrow is predicted to pretty nice and sunny with temperatures in the low 90s.  Still looking at 40-50% chance of rain through the weekend with temperatures in the low 90s.  Upper 80s to low 90s for most of next week.

No generation yesterday morning.  Today they started the day with low generation, 1100 cfs then ramped it up a little at 9:00 a.m.  11:30 a.m. and we are seeing 2 units at 705.3 feet and 3805 cfs running.   Supposed to increase that some more this afternoon.  Not certain what they will do tomorrow.  We are definitely below power pool.

It’s been a little tough out that the past few days.  Talked to some fishers who were wade fishing yesterday while the water was off and they were catching a few, but they were certainly working for them.

Tuesday, Jim had Mark and his son Ben out for half a day.  Ben is a new fly fishers and it had been many years since Mark had been fishing so it was a catchup and learning day for these guys.  Mission accomplished and they caught fish on the red midge and hot hare’s ear nymph.  Carrell and Carolyn had the Louisiana family out.  These good fishers worked for their fish that day.  Can’t really say we had a best fly, but the red San Juan worm was probably best during the rise from the second unit.  At least it was a beautiful day and we all had fun!

Robert and his son, Logan took a half-day instructional trip with Jim on Wednesday.  They caught a few fish, but it was another “no best fly” day.

Looks like more normal weather pattern is here.  90s tomorow and Wednesday with Thursday and Friday in the upper uo and a 50% change of rain.  The weekend has low to mid 90s and again, changes of rain.  A little more on Saturday with Sunday and Monday in the 40% range.

Generation schedule continues to be no generation in the a.m. and something, usually 1-2 units, coming on at noon t0 1:00 p.m. and ramping up to 3-4 shortly thereafter.  Low generation over the weekend, about one unit, for 4 hours or so.  Today, they fired up all four at noon!  Lots of water!  The projection for tomorrow is a low one unit until noon, then a low two for an hour, full two for an  hour then three units for four hours.  Should have it back to a low one unit by 10:00 p.m. or so.

Jim on the water last Tuesday with John and his grandson Cole from Louisiana.  Fun day for John watching his grandson catch fish.  CQ streamer, P&P midge and micro scud.  Ron and Sarah from Kansas, were out with Stan.  These new fly fishers had a good day on the P&P.  Nice 18 inch rainbow for

Sandra – 7/29/14

Sandra.

Thursday. Carolyn took Michael and Kirk out for half a day.  They fished with Stan on Wednesday, but he had a trip scheduled with Bob from Michigan on Thursday, so the drew Carolyn for their second day.  Miserable day Wednesday as they had high water and lots of rain Wednesday.  These guys are both new to fly fishing so Thursday, they went through the paces.  Lots of casting and fast mending as we fished the rise (two generators came on around 11:00 a.m.) with the red San Juan worm dropped from the big ruby.  We caught a few earlier in the morning with the black copperhead midge, but the action was the water rise.  Stan and Bob were out for the morning.  Good day for Bob on the black copperhead midge, then a size 20 black soft hackle.  This was especially fun for him as he was breaking in his new 10 foot, 4 weight Access rod!  They finished up the day with an olive wooly bugger.   Nick, from South Carolina fished with Jim.  CQ, copperhead black midge and blood worm dropper were their patterns for the day.   Soft takes and tuff to keep the fish on the hook!

Saturday, Mike and his daughter, Amanda fished with Stan. They are owners/operators of Lakeshore Resort.  Great day on the copper dun and P&P midges.  Carolyn went fishing with Dawn from Louisiana.  We had a fun day stripping the holographic green crackleback in the shallows.

Lots of learning for Don and Larry from Kansas.  They spent half a day with Jim.  Both came back to the shop babbling.  CQ streamer, black zebra midge and blood worm dropper.  Fun and fishy day for these guys.  Stan had John and his son, Joel out for most of the day.  These good fly flingers had a great day on the black zebra midge early, then the P&P.    Think John is coming back in September!

Hot weekend, but what a wonderful start to this week.  Yesterday was in the low 80s and that is what we are getting again today!  Chances of scattered showers tomorrow with temperatures in the mid 70s.  Thursday through Saturday go from mid 80s to upper 80s, and back in the low 90s by Sunday.

Generation over the weekend was mean.  Saturday we started the day with no generation.  By noon, they fired up all four units and everything went south!  Lots of water and lots of stuff floating in the water.  Sunday was a little better.  They did not turn on as much water.  Yesterday it came on at 1:00 p.m. and they blew through a good four units.  Today we were expecting generation by 10:00 a.m.  It is after noon and we are still waiting.  Ahh!  Life in a tailwater!  Think I have said that before.

Beth – 7/26/14

Lots of trips out this weekend.    Dana had Beth and Wes out Saturday.  Good day for these two on the holographic green crackleback and a size 22 rusty

Wes – 7/26/14

midge.  Bill and Ron, from Kansas were on the water with Jim.  They did well pulling a size 12 CQ streamer.  Darrell had Karen and Jeremy from the Kansas City area.  They did best on a brown San Juan worm and the P&P midge.    Stan took David and Steve, both from the

Karen – 7/26/14

Overland Park area out for the day.  Like everyone, considering the conditions, not a bad say on the P&P midge and a holographic green crackleback.

Paula – 7/27/14

Sunday, Darrell was out again.  This time with David and Billy Crupper.  Good day for these guys on the San Juan worm and P&P midge.  Billy caught a nice 19 inch brown.

Billy – 7/27/14

Gina had Paula and Chris out for the day.  Not a bad day for them either on the big ruby and the black copperhead midge.   Sunday, Stan had Steve and Woody out for the day.   It  was a big ruby day for these two guys.  Steve caught a nice 17-1/2″ rainbow that looked (in the below picture) that he was trying to get away.

Steve – 7/27/14

Ed from Kansas and Bob from the Jefferson City area, were out with Dana.  CQ streamer, red San Juan worm and red midge were their patterns for the day.

Full day trips are still very “iffy” right now because of how they are turning on the generators and because there is so much algae in the water.  All four at once…dirty, dirty, dirty.  If they ramp them up one or two at a time, it is not so bad and you can usually get in a descent day.

Not too much I can say about the weather except HOT!right now it is 98 degrees.  Tomorrow will again be in the 90s, but next week looks like mid to upper 80s.  Yeah!

This past week they fired up all four generators several days.Monday it hit 14,000 cfs, Tuesday was almost 11,000 cfs and Wednesday and Thursday almost 13,000 cfs.  That’s a lot of water.

Last Tuesday, Stan took Bob from Michigan out for possibly a full day trip.  With the projections on generation as high and coming on as heavy as they have been, we  don’t guarantee a full day.  Why spend all that money.  We just come off early and adjust for the time.  Why burn up and have hard fishing if you don’t have to?  They had a descent day on the holographic green crackleback.

Elliot – 7/22/14

Frances and her son, Elliot, booked a full day float with Carolyn.  Again, due to the bad water, we opted to turned it into a half day.  These two had fly fished a little before and caught fish on a white San Juan worm, a cerise San Juan worm and the holographic green crackleback.  They both liked stripping the crackleback.

Frances – 7/22/14

Jim had Jack and his grandson, Zac out for half a day.  This was Zac’s introduction to fly fishing so Jim spent a lot of time working with him on casting and line management.  They also fished with Jim most of the following day.  Best patterns were the CQ streamer, black zebra midge and a gray scud.

Stan had Walt and his son, Payton out on Wednesday afternoon for a half day.  This was the worst of all conditions….hot, water ripping.  Unfortunately, other commitments only allowed this window for them to go fishing.  They brought in a few fish on the cerise San Juan worm.

Thursday, Carl and Paul spent half a day with Jim.  It was the CQ streamer and a black zebra midge for these guys.  Not a bad day.   Carolyn took a family of three out for an instructional wade trip with catching a few fish a bonus.

Kyle – 7/24/14

After going through the paces of roll casting, the regular cast, and a little on all the “stuff” you need to fly fish such as leaders, tippet, flies, indicators, fly line, etc. we headed out to learn a little on presentation.  It was a P&P day although two of them caught fish on the crackleback when we worked on stripping.  Kyle was the first one to land his first trout on a fly rod.  Dad, Bob, was the second.

Bob – 7/24/14

At last, Kay caught her first fish on a fly rod.  While Carolyn was trying to get it in a position to hand to Kay to take a picture, Kay had cast her fly back into the water and hooked another!  Chaos for a few minutes.  Needless to say, we lost her first fish, but did get a picture of her second fish on a fly rod!

Kay – 7/24/14

Stan had Jeff and Sam out for half a day on Thursday and a full day Friday.   They had a fun couple outings on the copper dun and P&P midges in the morning, then the holographic green crackleback in the afternoon Friday.  Hot day!!

Low 90s predicted for today and tomorrow and Sunday look like scorchers….upper 90s!  Mid to upper 80s projected for all next week and chances of rain are pretty slim.

Ran water both days last weekend, the turned it off for Monday morning.  Mid-day then turned it on and cranked it!  Tuesday and Wednesday, lower float in the a.m. but bumped it up early afternoon.   We did have until noon yesterday before they turned it on, but boy when they did.  All four units (they were supposed to ramp it up) and it dirtied up big time!  Off today until 10:00 a.m. and, so far, they are doing pretty much what they projected.

Sistie – 7/18/14

Ketchup time!  Gina had Roger and Sistie out last Friday.  Good day for these two on a UV gray scud, size 16 black copperhead midge and the peach egg.  This is Sistie’s second time fly fishing and it just gets better.

Roger – 071814

Stan had Phil and Nick out for the day.  They had a good day on the holographic green crackleback and a peach egg with the black copperhead midge dropper.  Kathy and Ron from Louisiana, were in the area with family.  They couldn’t stand it and had to go fishing Friday.  Pretty good day for them, especially on the holographic green crackleback.  Bad news was that Ron caught one more fish than Kathy!  Oh well, he was about due.  Jim had David, from Oklahoma out all day.  David just finished the Orvis School and wanted to practice what he had learned.  Think he learned a whole lot more that day and caught fish!  It was the CQ streamer, copperhead black midge and gray scud for them.  Darrell

Charlie – 7/18/14

had Charlie and Sam out for half a day.  Tough day for these guys.  Pattern was the P&P midge.

Last Monday was a whole new game on the water.  Good day of generation as the heavy water did not come on until 3:00 p.m.  What a difference.  Ron and Sharon fished with Carolyn.  Great day!

Ron – 7/21/14

Started out up by the root wad and caught a few on the black copperhead midge.  Pulled a couple more on the CQ streamer.   Knew the water was coming on just after lunch so we headed downstream, had lunch and fished the rise when they turned on two units.  Fast and furious hooking, missing and catching on the red San Juan worm dropped from a peach egg pattern.  Wore them out!  Stan took Katie and her boyfriend, Beau out for the day.  Katie finally caught a fish on a fly rod plus several more!  They both had a very good day on the crackleback and a rockworm caddis softhackle….the highlight of the day!  Especially for Katie as that was what she caught her first fish on.

What an unbelievable July!  Temperatures in the 70s for several days.  Unfortunately, a couple of those days we had a pretty good wind, so it actually felt cool at times!  We are heading back into the upper 80s and low to mid 90s.  Chances of rain Wednesday, and I think we may have a chance of rain over the weekend.  To be continued…..

Generation has been it’s normal erratic.  Not really off for the past three days.  Friday was one unit which ramped up to a low two around 5:00 p.m.  We have seen the equivalent of one to a little lower Saturday and today, Sunday.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until noon, then 2 units for an hour, ramping to a low three, then four units by 2:00-3:00 p.m.  We will see four units for 5 hours.

Trying to get caught up a little at a time.  Stan on the water last Monday with Larry from Iowa.  They had a half day of catching fish on a yellow egg and the black midge with a copper head.  This was Larry’s first time with a fly rod and he did well. 

Tuesday, Stan took Mike and Clayton out for half a day.  These new fly fishers from Texas had a good day on the yellow egg and the holographic green crackleback.  There was only one unit on at about 1200 cfs for most of their time on the water.  Nice!    Carolyn had Jessica and Luis out for half a day. 

Luis – 7/15/14

For his first time fly flinging, Luis did well.  He had a couple on stripping a ginger wooly bugger and a few on and off on the black copper tunghead midge.  Definitely was not a fast and furious day for these two, but it was a beautiful, cool July day.

Darrell took Mike from Michigan out Wednesday.  Weird day.  Normally we have been seeing water on during the afternoon.  Off, from midnight until noon or later the next day.  Wednesday, it was on at midnight and continued until 7:00 a.m. the next morning.  A slow day, but Mike boated some fish on the P&P midge. 

Thursday, Jim took Eric and Darren from Smithville, MO out for the day.  Pretty good day for these guys even though there was no best fly.  Darren was pretty new to the sport, so there was a bit of instruction for him while they were on the water.  Darrell and Gina had a two-boat group out for half a day.  Darrell took Dad, David, and Gina took the boys, Aaron and Tyler.  Not a bad day for everyone on the P&P, chartreuse egg, and size 18 gray scud.  Couple of neat fishing buddies, Tyler and Aaron. 

Aaron & Tyler – 7/17/14

Weather forecast says highs tomorrow will be in the upper 70s!  Thursday could be mid to low 70!  What month is this?  Wow!  Looks like some nice cool weather ahead.  Also have (still) slight chances of rain through the weekend.

Same old, same old generation schedule.  Nothing in the mornings, then coming on from 1:00 p.m. or after.  Generation for 5-6 hours then off again until the next day.

Fishing continues to be up and down.  Darrell on the water last Wednesday with Shannon from Kansas.  Caught a few fish, but certainly not a bang up day.  The ruby midge was their pattern.  Stan had Taisha and her father, Jim out for half a day.  They managed to find quite a few fish stripping the holographic green crackleback.

Friday, Jim took Will and Thomas out for half a day.  No best patterns, but they still managed to pull off a pretty good day.  Darrell, Carolyn and Stan took a group of six

Melissa – 7/11/14

out for half a day.  Carolyn had Melissa and Scott.  This was Melissa’s first time fly fishing and glad to say she did not get skunked!  Best pattern, if you can say that, was the P&P.  Darrell took Corey and Jack,  They fished the copper dun and P&P midges.

Jack – 7/11/14

And, bringing up the rear was Stan with William and Scott.  P&P and egg pattern were their patterns for the morning.

Saturday, Carolyn took Dawn, aka, “The Stripper” out for the day.  Really slow start in the a.m.  We were below the root wad for a while in the morning and saw two fish caught.  Lots of fishers and not many fish being caught.  Late morning we started hooking a few fish on the P&P, but after the first unit came on and we found the right color bugger, it was wonderful stripping a ginger wooly bugger.  Third unit on, we move locations and started catching on the CQ streamer under a 3.9 ips sinking leader.  Finished off the day with a size 16 bead head hare’s ear under a size 16 red midge and drifted the high bank across from the Pointe.  Lost two good size fish and landed a nice, really fat, 16 incher.    Too bad he wasn’t as long as he was fat!

Great weather for the 4th of July!  Not too warm, little wind, and no rain!!!  And, the water was off most of the day.  Upper 80s for today and cloudy.  Looks like 90s tomorrow and Tuesday with slight chances of rain.  Wednesday through Friday, upper 80s to low 90s and getting hot for next weekend.  Good news, no rain in the forecast for next weekend at this time.

Past few days, we have had no generation almost all day.  In the afternoon, anywhere between 1:00 p.m and 3:00 p.m. it’s a low one unit for one to 2 hours.  Same pattern today, but tomorrow, we are going to get two units at 1:00 p.m. and then four units for four hours.

John – 6/30/14

Last Monday, Stan had Peter from North Carolina and John, from Rhode Island out for half a day.  These salt water fly fishers had to make some quick adjustments to this trout fly fishing!  Fun day on the holographic green crackleback on the sinking leaders.

Jay and Derek, from Springfield fished with Stan on Tuesday.  Caught a few fish on the copper dun midge, but overall, it was a tough day.

Karsen – 7/2/14

Gina and Darrell introduced Keith’s family to fly fishing last Wednesday.  Gina had Kristen and Karsen.  Karsen landed this nice rainbow on a size 24 P&P dropped from a Big Ugly on a 7X tippet!  Way to go Karsen!  Looks like a couple more fly fishers in the works!  Darrell took Keith and Korey.  It was the P&P midge and an egg pattern for them.

Kristen – 7/2/14

Sam and his son, Nick fished with Carolyn on Friday.  Pretty steady day for these two on the CQ streamer.  Fished and caught on the P&P midge for a little while, but the CQ was pulling fish almost everywhere we tried.

Saturday, Stan had another salt water fisher and his wife on the water.  Jan and Athens live in Florida.  This was Athena’s first time fly fishing for trout.  New experience.  Copper Dun and P&P midges were the patterns for the day.  Carolyn was down fishing with Mike and his family at Pointe Royale.  Slow in the morning.  We decided we should have stayed in bed until around 11:00 a.m.  Just like clock work, around 11:00 a.m. you started seeing fish in the water and, of course, catching them.  Everyone caught fish on the P&P midge, a egg pattern or a chartreuse 100th oz. jig.  Fun family!