Like I reported Monday, weather continues to look great through the weekend.

The best news is that we are seeing a low one generator running this morning….quite the surprise. They will fire up two units by 1:00 p.m. and run these for 7-8 hours when they will cut back again. Maybe this is our new trend for a while. One can definitely wade in certain areas with a low one generator running.

Weather continues to be unseasonally cool.  Temperatures have been in the upper 70s.  This morning on the way to work, it was 57 degrees!  August!  We are looking at upper 70s today and low to mid 80s through next weekend.  And best of all, looks like very slim chances of rain during this period.

The flood gates were turned off Thursday around 9:00 a.m.  Three generators are still in operation with them running at the equivalent of two units.  Not bad, but still limits the wading opportunities.  Table Rock Lane is at 717.7 feet and we expect them to keep running until we get right at 717 feet or lower. 

Monday, with the five flood gates and 3 generators going, Stan took Steve from Texas out for half a day.  Not only did they have lots of water in the river, it rained on them before they got off the water.  Good day, however, on the big ruby midge, a peach egg and the holographic green crackleback.  Meanwhile, Jim and his two wet fly fishers, Harry and Barry, also from Texas, were catching fish on the red midge with either a blood worm or rusty midge dropper.  Not a lot, but enough to keep them busy. 

Wednesday, the Rick clan from all over, fished half a day with Dana, Darrell, Jim, Gina and Stan.  First time this group had seen all this water.  Overall, it was a successful day.  Almost everyone caught fish and had a good time.  Big ruby, peach egg, white San Juan worm, white grub, Red San Juan worm and the rusty midge were the patterns for the outting.  Renee was the new fly fisher in the group so we put her with Gina.  Good start for Renee don’t you think?

The flood gates shut down Thursday some time around 9:00 a.m.  Even with the dropping water, fishing was very good.  Stan had Ron from Kansas out all day.  They had a great day on the white San Juan worm (shad kill), the grub and the big ruby midge. 

Allison - 8/15/13

Carolyn was finishing up the two-day school Allison and Roy took.  This was their graduation day and they had a very good day also on the black zebra dropped from a big ruby midge.  We also pulled some fish on the holographic green crackleback and a white zonker using the intermediate sinking line. 

Roy - 8/15/13

After we get through tomorrow, it looks like no rain in the forecast for at least five days!  Yeah!  30% chance of rain yesterday, and I drove to work in that 30% chance!  Anyway, it looks like clear skies are ahead and wonderful temperatures…..80s.  This is August!!!

We have had non-stop generation (other than a shut down for a couple hours turing the Hollister flooding) since the 5th of August.  Thursday at 4:00 p.m. they opened up five flood gates.  They are not opened very much, but enough that you know we have extra water coming down the river.    If I heard correctly, they are trying to maintain a total of around 20,000 cfs which includes what is coming over the flood gates plus the generators.  Table Rock Lake is currently at 919.4 feet elevation. 

Good news, we have had boats on the river and fishing is not bad.  As a matter of fact, under the conditions, it is pretty darn good.  The day before the gates opened, but with three units going, Carolyn had Kristi, from Oklahoma on the river for the day.  Beautiful weather, lots of water and fishing was good.

Kristi - 8/6/13

Most of Kristi’s fish were caught on a size 16 black tunghead midge dropped under a peach king egg pattern.  She did catch a few stripping a black sculpzilla. 

Stan and Jim braved the five flood gates on Friday.  Good day for everyone.  Jim had Randal from Kansas out for the morning.  Randal is a fairly new fly fisher, but is certainly catching on quickly.  Good day for this young man on the size 12 ruby with either a brown San Juan of rusty midge dropper.  Stan had Dave and his nephew, Tyler.  Both these guys are seasoned fishers and they did well on the peach egg, big ruby and stripping either a 76er or holographic green crackleback.

Hard to believe we have had so much rain this time of the year!  We have had at least three inches of rain since yesterday morning and Table Rock Lake has gone up almost a foot to 917.3 feet at 2:30 p.m. today.  It will go up some more.  Chances for more rain tomorrow and a slighter chances Tuesday through Thursday.  Temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s so it will be muggy if it is not raining.

Generation every day this past week.  Almost every morning it was a low until noon to 1:00 p.m. then lost of water for a few hours.  Today was the first no generation and they were not supposed to turn on anything until 5:00 p.m.  Guess what!  One unit must have come on at 2:00 p.m. and they are running a low one unit right now.

Lots of families trying to get in their fishing and other summer activities before school starts.  Dana had Brian and his son, Dustin from Minnesota on the water for half a day Wednesday.  Not a bad day for them on the red size 16 midge and a red

Lots of rain the past three days.  Springfield received over two inches.  Other areas north and east of Springfield received a lot more.  I think we are out of the rain for a couple days, at least until Friday, when they predicting more chances for showers on Friday and through the weekend.  Today is a beautiful bright, sunny day with temperatures expected to be in the upper 80s.  It is a little humid.  Thursday through the weekend, temperatues will hover in the upper 80s to low 90s. 

Generation was off almost all day both Saturday and Sunday.  Monday, the generation was spastic.  Full one unit, then down to a low one, then up to a full one, then a low three.  Where oh where do the fish want to go?  Yesterday, was a nice, fairly even low one unit running all morning which they bumped up early afternoon to not quite the equivalent of a full two units.  Today the projection is pretty much the same as yesterday.  That remains to be seen!  

Darrell on the water Monday morning with two gentlemen from Pennsylvania, Bob and Dave.  Pretty good day for these guys, especially on a size 12 red San Juan worm.  John and Jeff from Illinois were out for the morning with Stan.  They had a pretty good day too on the red San Juan

Jeff - 7/29/13

dropped from the size 12 big ruby. 

Beautiful weather over the weekend.  Temperatures in the 70s and overcast off and on during both days.  Another nice day today, 70s and overcast.  Slight chance of showers tomorrow with cool temperatures.  I think we might see the 80s Thursday and creeping back into the low 90s by the weekend.  We are looking at chances of showers starting Friday.

Generation schedule has been fairly consistent.  Low generation in the mornings, followed by two units starting up sometime after noon.  The weekend was wonderful….no generation almost all day both Saturday and Sunday.  They hit one unit for an hour each day late in the day.

Stan had Daniel and Zamir  from Springfield on the water for half a day Saturday.  Definitely better then that tough day last week!  Good day for these gentlemen on the black copper head midge and a b-bug.  Darrell’s guys from here in Branson, Donald and Mark, also did well on the black copperhead midge.  One of the ladies who took our July full-day fly fishing clinic decided it was time to venture out and test her skills and knowledge.  

Debbie - 7/27/13

Pretty sure she has this fly fishing figured out.  She caught this nice rainbow on the black copperhead zebra.  Of course, I had to venture out to see how she was doing and fortuntely was there to take a picture of one of her rainbows!  Decided to wet a line and was happy to start catching fish again on the holographic green crackleback on the sinking leader.  They have not been hitting this pattern for a while and I keep trying.  It is working again, especially on a nice sunny day. 

Sunday, Jim took David and his son Hunter out for some instruction and some catching.  They learned a lot and had a good day catching on a varigated CQ streamer and stripping an orange body 56er.  Guess who else was out….Debbie.  This time, she not only caught fish on the midge, she threw a black size 12 wooly bugger on the sinking leader and caught several fish on that.  She is ready for another weekend!

Much needed rain the past couple days.  Out of the forecast for the weekend, but chances for scattered showers on Monday and Tuesday of next week.  Good part of this is that the temperatures will remain very pleasant….upper 70s, low to mid 80s until the end of next week.

Some kind of generation all last week, mainly low in the a.m. and 2-3 units for the afternoon.  Yesterday, no generation until 3:00 p.m.  No generation projected for today except a low one unit coming on at 4:00 p.m. for one hour.  Tomorrow looks like an exact repeat of today.  Monday, will go back to the low flow in the a.m. and a couple units coming on early afternoon.

Tough day on the creek this past Tuesday.  Darrell had Jerry and his daughter, Sarah out for the morning and they could not find any producing fly.  Jim had Harold and Sophie out while Stan took Mike and  Curt.  Everyone boated a few fish, but it certainly was a battle to find fish. 

Glad to say by Wednesday, fish were a little more agreeable.  Carl and Paul from Ohio spent the morning on the water with Jim.  Good day for these guys on the weighted CQ streamer.  Stan had Terry, from South Carolina out for the morning and Terry had a good day on the black copperhead zebra midge and the peach egg drifting the high bank on the drift out.

Dale spent Thursday all day on the water with Jim.  Fair to good day stripping the olive CQ streamer or the rusty midge. 

Stan’s new fly fisher yesterday got off to a great start.  It was one of those very good days on the black copper head midge.  Nice fish to boot!  Several nice sized fish, 16-18 inches.    That was the good news.  Bad news was that he spent most of his morning in a downpour.  Rain off and on all the time he was on the water and mainly “on”.  However, we think he likes fly fishing!

We have seen some much-needed rain the past few days.  Actually cancelled a trip Monday because of the heavy lightning.  Today, we are expecting mid 80s by noon and upper 80s for the day.  This will be pretty much the same forecast through the coming weekend.    By early next week, the temperatures will rise back into the 90s. 

Not a whole lot of change in the generation patterns.  Over the past three days, we have seen low generation in the mornings instead of no generation.  They are still running 2-3 generators every afternoon.  I really doubt that this pattern will change much over the next few days.

Not a bad day for the Louisiana Kerrs last Thursday.  James Albert spent the day with Jim working streamers and pulled a respectible number of fish on these.  Carolyn had Dawn and Albert.  They too had a good day on the CQ streamer, copper dun, black copperhead and P&P midges. 

Friday Stan took Doc from Oklahoma out for the day.  Slow bite on the copper dun and P&P midges.  No generation and temperature was near 100….I’d lay low too! 

Scott and Adria spent all day Saturday on the water with Jim.  It was a size 10 CQ streamer day, mixed with the P&P and gold head olive midges, and  dark gray scuds.  Good day for these two.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the rest of the crew had a group of new fly fishers from the Leawood, Kansas Orvis store who were taking the Orvis 301 Clinic.  This was a full day of actively learning and fishing.   Stan had Mark and Becky from Blue Springs.  Good day for these two on the copper dun, big ruby (when the water came on) and the P&P midges.  Jim from Columbia, spent the day with Darrell.  Their best pattern was the CQ streamer.  It was streamer work for Jim!  Dana had Toni and Dan from Warrensburg.  Not a bad day on tha tab b-bug and a black midge.  Carolyn had Dan and LuAnne from Kansas City.  

LuAnne - 7/20/13

Sunday was another Orvis 301 group.  More fun!  Jay and Terry from Harrisonville were with Jim.  If I remember correctly, Jay caught most of the fish in the a.m. and Terry got even in the afternoon.  Good day for these guys on the big ruby and the rusty midges.  Darrell had Nathan, who works at the Orvis store, in his boat.  Nathan had a good day on the CQ streamer.  Michael and Kenny, from Kansas, were with Dana.  Best patterns were the CQ streamer and the tan b-bug.  Carolyn had Ralph and Marianne

Marianne – 7/21/13

from Kansas City.  This was one of those “whoever sits in the front of the boat” days.  Marianne could do no wrong.  Yes, we let Ralph catch some fish too!   Good day for these two on the copperhead black and rusty midges.  Fished the rise with the big ruby midge and a red San Juan dropper.  At least two doubles for Ralph and Marianne.  Crazy weekend!

Weather is hot!  90s yesterday and again today.  90s looks like the projection into the weekend.  There is a slight chance of showers every day into next Tuesday.  Not much relief in slight.

No generation in the mornings the past three days.  Prior to that, it was low flow in the morning and then a ramp up to a high one unit or low two.  Really preferred that generation pattern to what we are having now. 

Jim had an interesting trip out last Saturday.  Tim from Kansas brought his nephew, Sverjen from Poland to fish.  Whole lots of sign language going on.  Jim didn’t speak Polish and Sverjen did not speak English!  Fish did care.  Sverjen hooked fish on the blood worm dropped from a P&P midge, a size 18 gray scud dropped from the P&P, or the copper dun midge.    Keith and Claudia from here in Missouri spend the morning with Stan.  Claudia is a new fisher, and I think she likes it now.  They fished the P&P and copper dun midges.  Carolyn had Ron and Joyce,

Joyce - 7/13/13

also from here in Missouri, out for half a day.  Not a fast and furious day, but lots of fun and we caught fish on the CQ streamer, the hot hair nymph, the black zebra and a copper dun midge.  The trip was a very thoughtful present from their son. 

Sunday, Cassie and David from Kansas City spent quality instructional time on the river with Jim.  They are both new, fishing was slow, so they did a lot of skill and technique work. 

Debbie - 7/15/13

Monday, Stan and Carolyn took Vic, Ken, Debbie and Laura out for half a day.  Of course, Carolyn took the ladies and Stan took the gentlemen.  Lots of stories on this trip that will never be disclosed!  This was Debbie and Ken’s first time with a fly rod.  both did well.  Best patterns were the copper dun, P&P and the copper headed black zebra midge. 

Weather has been pretty nice the past week.  A bit of wind yesterday, but the temperatures have been pleasant…..for this time of the year.  Looks like low 90s into the coming weekend when they are calling for scattered showers.

Generation patterns have been it’s usual spactic self.  However, seems like the levels are up more than off of down.  The few times of low flow have been great.  Wish it was stay at the low levels more.  We did have off water in the mornings over the weekend.

Darrell on the water last Tuesday (wow!…running late again)  He has Pat from Texas out for the morning.  They had a pretty good day on the CQ streamer.  Terry was out with Dana.  They too had a good day on the CQ streamer.  Also caught fish on the tan bug and a P&P midge. 

Wednesday, Jim took Dean from Oklahoma out for half a day.  Fish were pretty tight lipped that day.  They caught fish, but no pattern was working best .  Bret, from Iowa, was out all day with Stan.  They caught fish on the holographic green crackleback, and the P&P under the big ruby.  Unfortunately, as soon as they found the pattern and a pod of fish, another generator would come on and scatter the fish again.  It was frustrating, but they had a pretty good day.  Darrell took Greg and Deb out for the morning.  P&P was their pattern.

Thursday, Teresa and Trey from Tennessee spent the morning with Carolyn.  Fun couple.  Fortunately, it was one of those off mornings and Trey started hooking and catching on the CQ streamer.  Also caught fish on the blood worm dropped from the ugly midge or a black zebra.  Jim was with Jorge from New York.  Pretty good day for these guys on the copper head black zebra and a gray scud.  Jorge is pretty new, so Jim did quite a bit of work with him on his skills.  Dean and Bev spent the morning with Stan.  It was the P&P, Rusty and big ruby midges for them.