Weather continues to be great.  Cool, crisp mornings, in the 40s and the days warming up to low 70s or low 80s.  This morning’s sunrise was beautiful.  Rich reddish orange streaks above the sky line.  Chances of rain creeping into the forecast early next week.  However, continued mild temperatures.

Generation continues to give us waders lots of wading time inthe mornings until around 3:00 p.m.  On for 4-6 hours, off again until the next afternoon.

Ron, who spends most of his time here in Branson, took the two day fly fishing school.  Definitely “hooked”.  After spending the first day in class room then at the water’s edge learning the various casts, Ron spent Monday standing in the water putting everything together.  I heard him uttering as he was bringing in another fish, that he might never pick up a spinning rod again!  Best pattern was the primrose & pearl midge, but he did get a few hits and fish strippping the holographic green crackleback. 

Mike and Natalie, from Texas, spent the morning on the water with Jim Tuesday.  They had a good day on the rusty and black midges with the blood worm dropper.  Natalie is fairly new to fly fishing, but she obviously had beginners luck….think she outfished Mike!.  Way to go Natalie.

Yesterday, Stan had Wendell and Glenn out for the morning.  We had not seen Wendell for a couple of years as he had been having some health problems.  Good to see you back on the water Wendell!  Unfortunately, it was a slow morning for these guys.  About the time they were ready to come in, fishing picked up and they started hitting the holographic green crackleback dry!  Up until then, although slow, their best pattern was the primrose & pearl midge.  Joel from Minnesota, needed a refresher course.  He spent the morning with Jim and they caught fish on a size 18 gray scud, the rusty midge and a blood worm dropper.  Joel just needs to fly fish more.

Going to the Conclave in Mountain Home, Arkansas Friday and Saturday.  If you don’t have anything to do and have never attended this event, it is fun and informative.  Hope the generation will be off so we can wet a line in that part of the White River.

What can I say about the weather.  Looks good all the way through Friday.  Chance of some clouds moving in Thursday, but mostly sunny and temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s.

Generation off again today.  Heard the horn go off around 4:00 p.m.  Projection was for one generator at 4:00 p.m. for one hour.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until 3:00 p.m. when two generators will come on and probably ramp up to a low three generators until about 11:00 p.m.  We will just have to wait and see what this week holds as far as generation pattern.  Probably off in the mornings and something in the afternoons for a while.  Will keep you posted.

Fishing has been very good the past two days.  Darrell out yesterday with Scott and his friend,Lonnie.  These two crazy guys are from the St. Joseph, Missouri area.  Scott complaining that he could not work on his casting because he was hooking fish all the time.  Best patterns were the primrose & pearl or ruby midges, and a ginger scud.  Kent and “Doc” from Independence, Missouri, were out all day with Stan.  He worn them out with a size 18 white midge and the primrose & pearl.  The first time Buddy and Pam fly fished, it was with Jim in 2004.  They spent the day with him catching fish on the black and rusty midges, blood worm dropper, or stripping the bug-eye jailhouse sculpin.  Good day on the water!  Meanwhile, Carolyn was teaching Tim and Kathy the fine art of fly fishing. First the roll cast, then the pick up and lay down cast, and finally they earned their fly and started catching fish on the primrose & pearl midge.  Before we left the water, Tim was pulling in fish stripping the holographic green crackleback just under the surface.  I think we have a couple of new fly fishers on the stream.  Tim and Kathy are from Joplin, Missouri. 

Today, Jim and Darrell, had a group of guys out for a long half day.  Jim took Darin and Chris, and Darrell had Mitchel and Jade.  Lots of fish for both boats on black zebra, primrose & pearl, ruby and brown midges, blood worm and size 12 bug eye-bugger.

What a gorgeous day!  Upper 60s today, not a cloud in the sky…a little bit of wind gusts every once in a while, but otherwise perfect.  Looking for more of the same through next Thursday.  Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70s, up to upper 70s or low 80s. 

We are again, seeing lots of wading time.  So far, every morning, since last Sunday.  One exception was Monday when they turned it on at 4:00 a.m. and ran it almost all day.  Otherwise, we have had no generation from midnight until 1:00 p.m. or later each day.  Today, we are not supposed to get generation 7:00 p.m. and then only for one hour.  Sunday, same pattern except the one hour of generation will be at 4:00 p.m.  Monday, a little more generation starting at 3:00 p.m. 

Carolyn - 9/26/11

Carolyn had Carolyn and Dawn, from Louisiana out last Monday.  Beautiful day, weather wise, and fishing was not bad either.  We picked several fish on the primrose & pearl midge dropped under the big ruby.   This was Carolyn’s third time (hasn’t been on the water since last year) fly fishing and she was back at it like she had just fished last week.  This lady is very focused and stays tuned to what she is doing.   Carolyn had to head home early, so she hitched a ride back to shore and Dawn continued the afternoon hitting the bank with a big ugly and primrose & pearl dropper.  What a blast.  When Dawn would lay her big ugly against the bank of a likely looking place for a fish, “Bam”, fish on!  Took the dry as much as the midge.  Darrell out Monday was Dennis from Arnold, MO.  They had a good day on the primrose & pearl midge as well as the ruby. 

Tuesday, Ron and Rick, from Jasper, Texas, spend the morning with Stan.  Good day for these guys on the red San Juan worm and a black midge.  Little slow in the early a.m., but definitely picked up at the morning moved on.  Darrell had Dale and Warren from Lock Lloyd, MO. out in the morning.  These guys irritated a lot of fish on a gray size 16 scud, and primrose & pearl midge and stripping the olive filoplume. 

Monday, Wanda and Joanna, from Lockwood, MO. spent the morning with Carolyn.  Always a fun day with these two.  And, “oh happy day”. Joanna caught most of her fish on a dry fly.  She hates throwing beach balls with bugs under them.  Had a size 10 stone fly on Joanna and a big ugly with a primrose & pearl dropper on Wanda.  Wanda caught some on the big ugly, but most of her’s were on the primrose & pearl.  Beautiful day.  Wanda’s nicest was an 18″ female rainbow. 

With the generators off the past few days, lots of folks fishing and having some good days.  Lots of patterns working, gray scuds, rusty midge, ruby midge, olive wooly buggers, peach fur bug, holographic green crackleback, filoplume, pink or red micro San Juan worms, to name a few.  Better go fishing!

chad to head home early, so

Non-stop generation from this past Monday through Saturday.  Some days more than others, but definitely some dating time in the mornings over the past three days and today, Sunday, it was off until about 5:00 p.m.  Turned on the equivalent of one generator then and, so far, it has been on for a couple hours.

Looks like we have no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days.  Temperatures in the low 70s Monday, moving into the upper 70s Tuesday, then low to mid 80s Wednesday and Thursday and back into the mid 70s by Friday.   Nice!

Jim on the water this past Wednesday with Houston and Debbie, from Florida.  Debbie is a new fly fisher, so Jim spent ime working with her.  Their patterns were the red midge and a red San Juan form. 

Thursday, Stan had Mike, from Iowa, out for half a day.  He’s tough!  That’s what I told him when he came into the shop in his rain gear and it was raining.  They had a wet half day catching fish on the red midge.  Not a great great day, but they caught several fish.

Although the sun was out, this was another rainy day for Stan.  He had Terry Terry and Doc from Oklahoma out all day Friday.  Less than half way through the trip, Stan’s anchor fell off.  Since the water was running, he needed that anchor to lay up.  Terry did some Ozark rigging and came up with a make shift anchor to get them through the day.  When everything settled down, they did catch some fish on the red San Juan worm.   Jim had a half day with Matt from Parkville, and Dana.  Pretty good day for these guys.

Brian - 9/23/11

Carolyn had Ron and his son, Brian, out for the day.  Started out a little slow, but certainly picked up.  Good day of catching on the red San Juan dropped below the big ruby.  Brian’s biggest was a 17″ rainbow.   Darrell had Jeff and his son, Nate out for the morning.  Nate is certainly turning into quite a fly fisher.   Their best flies were the red midge with the red San Juan dropper.  Nate boated a nice 18′ rainbow.

Nate - 9/23/11

Dana had Buzz from Florida on the water Saturday for half a day.  Pretty good day on the holograpnic green crackleback and a size 16 fl. pink San Juan worm.  The Louisiana Kerrs were here Saturday.  They stopped and fished the White on Friday with guides out of Arkansas and had a very good day there.  Dawn landed a 25″ brown on a hopper.  Was she pumped!  Good job Dawn. 

Dawn - 9/24/11

Saturday, Dawn fished with Carolyn and the guys, Albert and James Albert fished with Darrell.  No big browns for us, but, Dawn had a good day on the big ruby with the primrose & pearl dropper.  A very respectable number of fish on this including a pretty 19″ rainbow.  We also caught some on an olive wooly bugger, the holographic green crackleback and a size 18 black zebra midge dropped below the big ugly.  Darrell’s guys best patterns were the red midge and the red San Juan worm.

Talked to several fly fishers today who were fishing because there was no generation today.  Pretty happy with the fishing.  Catching on several patterns including holographic green cracklebacks, black zebra midges, size 14 Hare’s ear numphs, and size 16 gray scuds.

Whew!  I worked hard today.  Had to take a break!

Had some pretty good rainfall Saturday and Sunday.  Table Rock went up about 6-1/2 inches and is now slowly dropping.  We are again enjoying beautiful weather.  Tomorrow looks like it will only be in the low to mid 60s and cloudy, but the rest of the week will be mid to upper 70s and mostly sunshine. 

Generation for the past seven days continues to be 24/7.  However, other than a big blip Monday afternoon and a smaller one yesterday afternoon, they have pretty well kept it at the equivalent of one generator even though many days they are running two.  This puts the tailwater level between 704 and 705 most of the time. 

Pat - 9/19/11

Carolyn had Jim and Pat, from Indiana, on the water Monday.  Jim has done some fly fishing, and Pat was brand new.  We got lots of hits and several fish to the boat on the red San Juan worm dropped from either an egg pattern or the big ruby.  Pat got her casting down good, line work great….still needs a little work on the hook set.  But, the fish were taking very soft Monday.  I decided to indoctrinate her into the “stripper club” and she hooked this nice rainbow on a golden variant sculpin.  Yeah Pat!  Jim caught enough fish that Pat said she wasn’t taking his picture any more.

Dave from Illinois spent the whole day yesterday on the river with Jim.  They had a good day on the red midge, red San Juan, peach egg pattern and a bug-eyed sculpin.  Dave’s best fish of the day…..well he had two, one was a 21 inch rainbow and the other was a toothless brown aka sucker. 

Jo Ann - 9/20/11

 Stan had a new to fly fishing couple from California, Zeke and Jo Ann.  They had a ball.  Really enjoyed the river and outdoors as much, almost, as the fishing.  Best patterns were the red San Juan worm,  primrose & pearl midge, and the silver bullet crackleback. 

Zeke - 9/20/11

Wonderful weather!  50s at night and we have gotten a little rain, mostly during the night, but a few sprinkles during the day.  So far, certainly not enough to chase us off the water.  Looks like this nice pattern will continue.  Rain chances through tomorrow and back to sunshine for a couple day.  Showeers moving back in by Wednesday, but temperatures continue to look like low 80s or mid 70s.

Non-stop low generation, except for Monday and Tuesday, for the past seven days.  Friday and so far this weekend, the generation has been a low enough one that folks are wading, especially below outlet three and, if one has a boat, there seem to be gravel bars all over the place where you can beach your boat and get out and wade. 

Stan and I took off Sunday afternoon heading for Dallas, Texas.  Gave our presentation Monday night on the Taneycomo fishery to a good, active club, the Dallas Fly Fishers.  Thank you guys for staying awake during our presentation!  That Monday, Jim was on the water with Steve and Joy from Irving, Texas.  both are new fly fishers so Jim took them through the basic casting and line management.  They did land a few fish so they could work on their catching skills.  Patterns were the red San Juan worm and red midge.

Tuesday, Darrell took Ken and Candice, from Tennessee, out again.  They caught fish on the big ruby with the San Juan worm dropper. 

Stan had Bobbie and Arnnie out Wednesday.  Believe Arnnie recently retiresd and they are wanting to get into something that they can do together now that they have more time.  These folks came all the way from California and really like the area.  They caught fish on the red San Juan worm, under the size 16 red tunghead midge as well as the rusty midge dropped under the red tunghead midge.  Had a wonderful time!

Thursday, Jim took Bob from Ballwin out for what was supposed to be a half day wade.  Generator going, so they hopped into the boat and caught fish on the olive bug-eye bugger, pink San Juan worm and the red midge.  Takes were soft and short….sounds pretty familiar right now…so several misses among the ones that made it to the boat.  One of our guys, who started with us while we were still downtown, Mel, said “he had an itch”.  So, he booked a half day float with Stan.  They had a good time with the red tunghead midge, a maroon crackleback and the red San Juan worm. 

Jim - 9/16/11

Friday was floatilla day.  Stan had Jim from Lee’s Summit.  Fun day for Jim on the red San Juan under the red midge. 

Darrell had Earl and Al from St. Louis out for the morning.  This had to be a boat full.  As Al said, “between Earl and Darrell, it was non-stop jokes all morning!” Again, the red midge with a red San Juan worm dropper. 

Earl - 9/16/11

Bud and Greg were with Jim.  Grey wanted to do some streamer work so they fished the bug-eyed bugger, as well as the red midge, red and cerise San Juan worms. 

Al - 9/16/11

Susan’s 1st on fly rod – 9/16/11

Carolyn had Susan and Barbara from Michigan out for the morning.  These two ladies are brand new, so we went through a little casting and line work.  Needed to work on keeping fish on the hook!  As all the guides experienced, the takes were very soft.  Lots of hits, several hookups and several didn’t make it to the boat.  We did boat some fish on the red San Juan worm dropped below the pink lady egg pattern.   Barbara had our boat’s fish of the day on for quite a while (definitely a “rodeo fish”) but we just couldn’t get it to the net.  Nice fish Barbara….Susan and I saw it!

Just as they projected, the equivalent of one generator running all weekend.  Tailwater level wandering between 704.1 to 705.2 feet.  Flow 3000-4000cfs.  Same projection for Monday, but Monday’s are always a “wait and see” as things can change over the weekend. 

No change in the weather forcast.  Low to mid 90s Monday and Tuesday.  chances of showeers cool us off for Wednesday through Friday.  It is an absolutely lovely day today!

Dad, Kent said it is rare that he gets his two sons together at one time any more, but they managed to do it Saturday and the three of them spent the entire day on the river with Stan and Jim.  Good day for everyone.  Troy and Seth are new fly fishers and they spent the day with Stan.  They caught lots of fish, and I understand a few other things, on the red San Juan worm, and the Big Ruby midge.  Troy had one really nice one on that cleared the water, looked at him and took off!  Jim had Kent pulling the olive sculpin and the bug-eye jailhouse bugger.

Every day is a new day here on Taneycomo.  Is that an astute statement?  Anyway, we woke up Saturday morning to the equivalent of one generator running Saturday, and the same projection for Sunday and Monday.  Friday, and all last week, we had no generation in the mornings and generation starting up around 1:00 p.m. each day. Lots of wading time.   Oh well, we’ll see what the rest of this week brings.    The good news is that with the one generator where they are running, you can wade, especially down below the fish ladder (outlet 3) on the flat area that is normally out of the water with no generation.

Weather continues to be lovely.  Upper 70s, low 80s but looking at some low to mid 90s Monday and Tuesday.  Then chances of rain show up again  with cooling temperatures. 

Ginny - 9/8/11

Buz and Ginny from Springfield have this beautiful wooden drift boat called “The Fly Girl”.  Buz built it himself and it is a work of art.  They have fished Taneycomo several times with minimal success.  Thursday, they took a half day float in the afternoon with Stan after the generators had fired up so they could experience fishing it with generation.  Good day on the water with the red San Juan worm and stripping a holographic green crackleback.  Paul and Ken from Nebraska decided they needed to fish with Jim again.  They did a full day of nothing but pulling streamers, the olive sculpin and jailhouse bugger. 

Briana's 1st on fly rod - 9/9/11

Friday, Carolyn got to introduce another female to fly fishing!  Brad wanted Briana to get into fly fishing so he booked a half day instructional float for Briana.  We let Brad ride along!  Picture of Briana’s first to be followed by several more and larger.  Think her largest was 17-18 inches.  The couple had two doubles during the morning and should have had at least a couple more.  These

Brad - 9/9/11

two, from Peculiar, MO. are expecting their first new fly fisher Christmas eve.   Oh yes, we let Brad throw in a line too!   Unfortunately, this picture does not do justice to this fish.  It was brilliant.  p.s.  I think Briana likes it!

Brad & Briana's double -09/9/11

This weather has been absolutely wonderful!  Mornings are crisp, in the upper 40s or low 50s; the days are in the upper 70s to low 80s, and lots of sunshine.  By Monday of next week, looks like we will creep back into the upper 80s or low 90s.  See some chances of showers toward the end of next week, but we know how that goes…maybe so, maybe not.

Generation schedule….lots of wading time.  They are still pretty  “right on” with the schedule, so people wading.

Sunday, Dave and his son Jefferson, from Oklahoma, spend the morning learning how to fly fish with Jim.  Their best pattern was the varigated gold sculpin pulled very slowly.  They also caught a few on the blood worm.  Meanwhile, Stan had Trahy and his wife Beth, from Kansas out for half a day.  They had a pretty good morning on the rusty midge, and, when the water came on, the red San Juan worm. 

Fishing is spotty.  Find the right spot and you’ll pull several fish, so keep moving if you are not catching.  Depending on the day, either the golden variant sculpin or the charcoal gray sculpin have been working.  Several mornings, even with the sun out, the black zebra has been the one to go to.  Don’t forget the filoplume.  I fished for a while Monday and this was the best pattern for me, in certain places, using the sinking leader.  As the sun got higher in the sky, the primrose & pearl with a bloodworm dropper was the ticket.  However, takes were very, very soft.  With the wind blowing, it was a challenge to know when you had a hit!

Lovely weather we are having.  Low 80s today and, so far, overcast skies.  Sun peeks out every once in a while, but not for long.  Into Friday, they are forecasting low 80s and upper 70s.  Relief!

No change in generation pattern.  Off in the mornings with generation starting around 1:00 p.m., and running until 7:00-8:00 p.m. 

Yes, we did have an oil slick on the upper part of Taneycomo Thursday morning.  Jim had a half day wade trip out and he called me the moment he saw the river.  I checked with the Hatchery folks and they had just become aware of it.  Not certain what caused it, but they did fire up a generator early that day and it was soon gone.  There is no sign of any residue from the incident nor negative affect on the fishery.  

Jim out with Jeff and Donna from Nebraska on Tuesday…the day with the strange film on the water.  Both are new fishers, so Jim worked with them on various skills and techniques.  It was an interesting day with the water going up and down due to the oil slick on the water.  They hooked fish on various patterns, including the red midge, red San Juan worm, a white midge and the primrose and pearl midge.

“Stan the man” on the water Saturday with Jonathon and Melinda from St. Louis.  Melinda caught on quickly to fly fishing and they caught fish on the primrose & pearl midge and holographic green crackleback.  Definitely a slow start but picked up when the water started coming on.  Jim had Matt and Josh, from Oklahoma out for an instructional morning.  They caught a few fish on the gray scud with a blood worm dropper.   Carolyn was in the water with Marcie and Bob, from Nebraska.  Slow, but fun day for us.  Marcie caught her first fish on a dry, the Big Ugly.  Had another nice one hooked on the golden variant sculpin.  Think Bob caught his fish on the primrose & pearl midge.  Fun couple that I think will spend lots of time together fly fishing!

Over the past few days, lots of people fishing.  Best catching has been in the Hatchery area in or near the outlets.  Fishers are catching a few fish in other area, but it will be one or two fish on this fly, then change.  Best patterns in the Hatchery area have been the tan scud, especially the flashback tan scud, gray scuds size 16, the white grub, the pellet pattern and primrose & pearl midge.  Also heard a few catching some stripping the golden variant sculpin.