Warm, sunny days have been and are in the forecast through the weekend.  Still have slight rain chances, but most of these seem to be pretty far north of us, so our chances of any more rain for a while are minnimal.  March seems to be going out pretty much as it came in….warm. 

Table Rock has peaked and is slowly starting to drop.  They have run four generators non-stop since March 22.  I imagine we will see this pattern continue for at least another week and probably two.  They may cut back from four generators to two or three as we get lower, but this is pure speculation on my part.  In the meantime, we’ll just fish high water!

Well, the rains we received last week left about four feet of extra water in Table Rock and five feet in Beaver.  We have seen four generators running 24 hours/day since March 22.  This means a lot of flow going through the generators and a tailwater level of 710.0 feet plus or minus.  Our normal wading tailwater level is around 701.8 feet.  I imagine we will see this kind of generation for a few weeks.  Hopefully, we won’t get another big rain! 

Otherwise, weather is great!  Upper 70s today and lots of sunshine and very little wind.  Looks like low 80s through Wednesday.  Wednesday through Saturday there is a 30% chance of rain, but we will go into April in the low 70s and partly sunny skies.  Hard to believe we have had this kind of weather.

Jim - 3/23/2012

Stan had Jim from Arkansas on the high water Friday morning for half a day.  Not a bang up day, but they caught fish on the big ruby, size 12, and a size 16 red midge.  I went out for a couple hours to get a feel for the river and caught several fish on a red San Juan worm with a tungsten 1/8″ bead tied in the middle of it to get it down.  All the fish Jim caugth as well as the ones I caught were nice.

Saturday, we had three boats floating the current.  Darrell had Tom from Kansas out for the morning.  They had a pretty good day on the holographic green crackleback and the red midge.  Larry and Andrew from the St. Louis area, spent the day with Stan.  They too had a pretty good day.  They were fishing the red midge, a primrose & pearl midge and a beadhead olive wooly bugger.  More fish but they were a little smaller on Saturday than they were on Friday.  Dana had Kelly and Blake out half a day.  They boated a some fish on the steelhead orange egg pattern and an olive wooly bugger. 

Today, Stan took Mike and Matt out for half a day.  Little slower today than Saturday, but they boated fish on the primrose & pearl and red midges.  Fairly new fly fishers who got baptized by heavy water.

It’s raining.  Since mid-day yesterday, the precipitation is pretty close to 2 inches.  Table Rock is at 915.3, but we have not see the affect of the rain and runoff yet.  We are looking at rain again tomorrow, then dropping off to 40% for Thursday and Friday.  Temperatures in the 60s and back into the low 70s over the weekend.  Might even see some partly sunny skies from Thursday forward.

Generation for tomorrow is starting out at three at 7:00 a.m. ,back to two from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. then back up to three for an hour then four.  Good, let’s get rid of this water.  We’ll start seeing the affect of the rain and runoff by tomorrow.  Let’s see where Table Rock goes.  I understand Beaver Lake in Arkansas really got hit hard by the rain, so this will definitely have an impact on our generation.   Such is life in a tailwater!

Dana and Stan on the water with A.W. and three of his son-in-laws, Jason, John and Bob.  Dana had the total new fly fishers, Josh and Bob.  Once they got the hang of casting, recognizing a hit, and setting a hook, they boated some fish on the red San Juan worm, copper dun midge and a peach egg pattern.  Jason, who is also new, and A.W. were with Stan.  They boated quite a few fish on the copper dun and the primrose & pearl midge.  One of those funny days.  They would really hit on a pattern for a little while and then shut down.  Chance patterns and the hit was on again.

Weather continues to be unseasonally warm.  80s the past 3-4 days, and, of course, the wind blows in and out almost every day.  We are expecting rain, and possibly a lot of rain starting some time tomorrow and going into Tuesday and Wednesday.  Looks like this will cool us down a little, into the mid 60s both those day and low 60s by Thursday…but no rain on Thursday.  Friday is looking up, with partly sunny skies and upper 60s.  Lots of sunshine over the weekend with temps in the low to mid 70s.

Had a break in the generation pattern yesterday and today.  Generators were off all morning and did not start up yesterday until 2:00 p.m. and today they started at noon.  Tomorrow looks like back to off in the early morning then on around 6:00 a.m.  Back off at 10:00 a.m. and on again around 3:00 p.m.  With the rain coming in, no telling what the generation pattern will be for the rest of the week. 

New fly fishers on the water with Stan on Friday.  John and his son, Beau, spent the morning learning how to fling a fly rod.  Pick up pretty quickly on casting and even landed some fish.  The red San Juan worm was the pattern of the day for them.

Saturday, we had the fleet out.  Jim on the water all day with a couple of his regulars, Morgan and Larry, from Georgia.  They had a lot of fun and caught fish on a black bugger, the red San Juan worm and a gray scud.  Greg and Kathy , from Kansas City, spent the morning with Stan.  They are both fairly new to fly fishing and had a very good day on the copper dun midge early in the morning.  Later, it was an olive midge and a holographic green crackleback.   Dana has a couple fishers from Sunset Hills, Mo…..Francis and Frank.  When they weren’t joking with the other drift boats going by, they were catching fish on the red San Juan worm, an olive midge and the clown egg pattern.   

Carolyn Kerr - 3/17/12

Last, but not least, Darrell and Carolyn had three generations of Kerrs on the river; Carolyn, Albert and James Albert.  Carolyn and Albert fished with Carolyn in the morning.  Albert likes to wade and he was out wading and catching fish on a gray scud, and later the g-bug.  Carolyn was catching on the ugly midge and a copper dun midge.  Darrell had Dawn and James Albert.  They were catching best in the morning

Dawn - 3/17/12

Although we have not seen the first day of Spring yet, the weather certainly doesn’t  know that it is not Spring.  Nor to the trees and flowers.  Everything is blooming….almost.  No dogwood trees yet, but cherry blossoms, red buds, bartlett pears, forsythia, daffodills, and I’m certain there are others, are in full bloom.  Weather has been warn and windy.  I think this entire week has been in the upper 70s to low 80s.  So far, we have had no rain.  Temperatures through Monday look like they will be in the mid to upper 70s.  Tuesday through Thursday look like mid to upper 60s.  Depending on which forecast you look at, we have a 50% chance of showers tomorrow.  Tuesday looks like the best chance of rain, with Wednesday and Thursday another 50-50 chance. 

Generation continues to start up in the morning around 6:00-7:00 a.m. and then off at 10:00-11:00 a.m.  Projections have shown staying off until 5:00 p.m. or so, but so far this week, they have turned on something earlier and then turned on all four around 5:00 p.m.  

Monday, Darrell had Pat from Texas, out for half a day.  Tough day.  They boated a few fish on a ruby midge.  Carolyn had Trish and Mike out for a half day also.  We worked our “buns” off for the fish we caught.  It was a couple on this fly, and another on a different fly.  Not really one single more than two-fish fly.   Mike and Trish are troopers and went out with Carolyn again on Tuesday.  Did catch a few more fish this day.  Mainly on a red San Juan worm and the copper dun midge. 

Trish - 3/13/12

Okay, we’re going to give her one more chance.  Wednesday, Mike and Trish took another half day with Carolyn.  Much better day, but still not up to the normal numbers we see this time of year.  It was another red San Juan worm day, but we also caught and missed several fish on the holographic green crackleback when the water turned on early.  Also caught a few on the big red midge and a copper dun midge.  Bill and Fran from Pennsylvania took a half day float with Stan.  They caught most of their fish on the copper dun midge.  Pat decided he needed another day on the water too, so he went out with Darrell for a half day on Thursday.  Better day for them.  Lots of learning as well as fishing.  Caught fish on the blood worm and a dark olive midge.

Rain most of today, sometimes pretty heavy.  Really won’t see the impact of the rain until tomorrow and probably the next day.  Looks like most of the rain is out of the area and we are expecting mostly clear tomorrow with a high in the upper 70s.  Tuesday will be around 80 with Wednesday in the upper 70s.  Slight chance of rain Wednesday with increasing chances Thursday and Friday.  Temperatures to stay in the mid to upper 70s into the weekend.

Generation schedule continues to give us wading time from around noon until 6:00 p.m. or so every day.  Projection for tomorrow is along the same lines, but with this rain, we may see a change in the generation pattern.  We’ll keep you posted.

New Fly Fisher, Randal 3/10/12

Jim out with Rick and his son, Randal, Saturday.  Over the years, Rick has brought all of his sons to learn fly fishing with Jim.  Randal is the latest one and he loves it.   Jim worked with him on everything so he can pull buggers and drift scuds and midges.   Stan out for half a day with Jim and Jim Jr. from Oklahoma.  They had a good day on the red midge in the early part of the day and the primose & pearl midge later in the day.  This was one of those days when it fished better during the drop after having three generators on when they started.

Talked to a couple of our customers who were out today and they said it was a tough day.

Windy again yesterday.  However, today, we definitely have cooler temperatures, overcast and some rain…even had a little sleet earlier today.  But, it is better than some of the wind we have been having.  Tomorrow we should be back to sunshine, temperature in the low 60s and winds maybe 10-20 mph.  That’s an improvement!  Saturday looks pretty good, mid 50, partly sunny, and a chance of rain moving in late, which, of course, will probably hang around for Sunday.  they are forecasting rain for Sunday and temperatures in the low 60.  Monday and Tuesday look good.  Upper 60s on Monday and 70s both Tuesday and Wednesday.  Slight chance of showers Wednesday and Thursday.  

Still lots of wader friendly water.  Projection for today was no generation until 3:00 p.m. It is 3:54 p.m. and the water it still off.  Maybe they will fire it up at 4:00 p.m.  They did run one generator for a short time this morning, but it was not enough to cause problems is you wanted to wade.  For the past four days, we have had 3-4 generators running in the morning for 4-6 hours, then off the remainder of the day.  So, usually by noon, the generators had been off long enough for the river to lower to a wading level in many, if not most of the areas.

Fishing has been, as some of us said yesterday, “spastic”.  Jim out all day with a couple fishers from Michigan, Frank and Dean.  They pulled streamers in several areas most of the day and worked hard for fish.  The salvation of the say was a rusty midge and gray scud combo. 

Steve - 3/7/12

Stan had Steve and Jean, from Illinois out for half a day and they had a very good afternoon on the rusty midge early in the afternoon and finished up with the copper dun when the fish stopped hitting the rusty.

Had a couple different customers come into the store today and each of them had had a very good day.  Lots of fish.  One was fishing the primrose & pearl midge (image that today?) with a size 18 gray scud dropper.  Taking both patterns.  The other guy was fishing a little red midge he ties.

With all the wind an a tornado, I feel like we are still in Kansas.  I think we have had at least five straight days, maybe more, of wind.  The temperatures are still above normal, but the wind makes it feel cooler than it is.  Monday looks lile it might be a nice day with temperatures in the upper 50s, sunny and, so far, no indication of high winds.  However, Tuesday looks windy with temperaures in the upper 60s, and partly cloudy.  By Wednesday, we will still see upper 60s, cloudy and chances of rain later in the day continuing into Thursday which will be in the mid 60s.  Friday looks like upper 40s, partly cloudy with mid 50s by Saturday. 

Generation has been pretty much right on except (there’s always an exception) yesterday when the water was supposed to be off all day.  Not!  They turned on one generator at 4:00 a.m. and it was on until noon and back on around 5:00 a.m.  Most of this past week we have seen the generators off as early at 9:00 a.m. to as late as 11:00 a.m.  They remain off until about 5:00 p.m. and then come on for 3-4 hours and back off again.  Generation today was as projected.  It is almost 1:00 p.m. and they are off.

I don’t think the fish were happy campers the day after the tornado came through.  Stan had Doc from Oklahoma on the water all day and it was a catch a few fish on this pattern then change.  Catch a few more, change again or move.  Probably had more hits than they realized but it was hard to detect the strikes due to the heavy chop on the water.  Best pattern in the a.m. was the rusty midge.  By late afternoon, the olive midge started working very well, the wind had calmed down quite a bit and it was about time to come off the water.

Brandy - 3/3/12

Saturday, Cody and Brandy, from Oklahoma spent the morning with Stan.  Brand new fly fishers managed to do quite well despite the wind…again!   Their best patterns in order were the copper dun, ruby and primrose & pearl midges.  I had an opportunity to spend a couple hours on the water.  Caught a few on a Hot Hare Nymph (Shannon’s at it again), the mouse gray sculpin, but the best pattern of the day was the holographic green

Cody - 3/3/12

crackleback.  This has not worked well for almost a week and after catching fish on several other patterns, I had to give it a try.  It’s back to usual catching self again.  Caught some fish, had enough of the wind, time to go in…great day!

We continue to experience above normal temperatures.  Today through Wednesday is forecast to be in the 60s.  We are expecting some rain, possibly heavy at times, to move into the area some time tonight and continue through most of tomorrow.  Thursday we might hit 70, but definitely in the upper 60s.  Another chance of rain for Friday, but temperatures will remain mild, into the mid to upper 50s by the weekend, and more warmup next week. 

Taneycomo was definitely wader friendly this past week, and, unless we get a lot of rain out of the forecasted rain for late tonight and tomorrow, we will probably continue to see wader friendly water.  However, let’s see what we get from this rain coming in.   Pretty much according to the projections, the generators have shut down by 11;00 a.m and not coming back on until around 5:00 p.m.

If this fishing report was written after being on the water Saturday, I would have said fishing is tough.  However, yesterday renewed my faith in this fishery.  Great day. 

Dawn & Carolyn's Double - 2/27/12

Not only were the fish cooperating, the weather was awesome.  Warm sunshine just made you want want to sit back and bask in the sun.  Every once in a while there would be a gust of wind, but the biggest interruption was the fishing.  Dawn, Albert, James Albert, and I spent a few hours on the water yesterday afternoon.  Once we figured it out, there was very little down time between hits or bringing in a fish.  Don’t know how many times I looked back to the boat Albert and James Albert were in and both of them had bend rods.  Best combination was a size 18 primrose & pearl midge with a size 18 light gray scud dropper.  Fish were taking streamers, but the only one they consistently were interested in was a mouse gray articulated sculpin pattern.  We would get one or two stripping olive buggers or the holographic green crackleback but nothing as consistent as the sculpin.  Not only was the fishing very active, the quality of the fish was better than we have seen for a while.  Good day on the river!

FYI – Yes, a tornado hit Branson early this morning.  These is quite a bit of damage on the “strip”, but they are saying much of it will be back up and running as soon as they clear the debris left from damaged buildings, power poles and trees.  Our side of town where the shop is located had little, if any damage.  We are all fine and thank all of you for your calls and concern.

Weather continues to be great, except for a bit of wind here and there.  Temperatures will probably be in the low 60s today and we are expecting pretty much those temperatures through Friday.  However, rain is in the forecast for Tuesday and a slight chance of moisture on Friday.  Weekend looks like mid to upper 50s right now.

Generation schedule this week has been wader friendly.  Everyday the generators have shut down.  The shut down as been as early as 10:00 a.m. and as late as noon.  Most of the days it has stayed off until 5:00 p.m.  I think one day it started up at 4:00 p.m.  Off almost all day today.  It was on for two hours this morning and will be off the rest of the day.

Stay on the water Thursday with Curt from Walnut Grove.  Curt was wanting to learn more than catching.  They worked on stripping, sink tips, midging, working sculpins, the whole gamut.  He had a great day of  learning and even caught lots of fish.  Their best patterns were the primrose & pearl midge and the holographic green crackleback.  However, he did catch or have hits on everything different pattern and method he tried. 

Jim blew onto the water Friday with George and Brad from St. Louis.  Jim described the winds as “typhoon winds”.  He was blown off anchor several times during the day.  Despite the winds, the guys did manage to catch some fish on the rusty midge and a gray scud. 

Saturday, Stan took Don and Mark out for a half day of working on various stripping methods.  They wanted to broaden their bag of tricks when trying to catch fish.  They worked on several different methods, but it was just plain tough fishing yesterday.  I talked to several folks who has fished  various places on the river yesterday as well as several of us out fishing, and everyone agreed that it was just plain tough.  The best pattern for some was the primrose & pearl midge.  Nothing seemed to work consistently very long.  You’d catch a fish or two on something and then nothing.  Tried pulling sculpins and the only color they seemed to want more than once was the mouse gray.  They hardly looked at the crackleback although we caught a few on this.  Even some friends who fished the White and Norfork yesterday said it was tough down there.  Must have been something in the air as I am getting good reports on fishing today.