Lots of wading time these past few days.  Tuesday they started shutting down for a few hours in the morning until 6:00 p.m.  Wednesday we had off water from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and Thursday was from 10:00 a.m. until 8:00 pm.  Friday and the whole weekend absolutely no generation.  Must say the weather was not the best last Wednesday and Thursday, especially Thursday when it rained most of the day.  Friday, sunny and in the 60s, Saturday and today, sunny and temperatures in the 70-80s. 

This coming week doesn’t look too bad weatherwise.  Tomorrow is probably going to be the worst day of the week.  Low 50s with rain.  Tuesday and Wednesday are predicted to be partly sunny and 60-70s; Thursday a chance of showers with temperatures in the low 70s; Friday partly cloudy and low 70s, and we see a chance of showers again on Saturday but temperatures in the upper 70s.  Monday’s generation projection is for off all day until 6:00 p.m.  This, we will have to see.  Both Beaver and Table Rock are creeping up a little.

Jim out with Jim and Ron (brothers), from Minnesota last Wednesday.  Good day for the guys on the olive sculpin bugger, a size 18 black midge and a size 18 gray scud.  Good day for the guys despite the cool day.  But, being from Minnesota, they thought it was a pretty nice day!

Thursday, in the cool…almost cold!, rainy day, Carolyn had Ron and Kathy, from Louisiana out all day.  Even in the rain, Ron boated a nice 17 inch rainbow on a size 18 black soft hackle.  However, I think Kathy (front of the boat syndrome) outfished Ron that day.   Fish didn’t know it was raining  most of the day….as they hit soft hackles and holographic green cracklebacks all day!  Good day.  Stan was out all day with John, from Sedalia, and his friend, Phil, from Kansas.  They had a good day fishing a size 18 black zebra midge drifting the high bank below Lookout Island. 

Friday was an awesome day!  Stay took Dr. Ernie and his grandson, Tom, out for half a day.  They are from the Springfield area.  Grandpa said his grandson was a better fisher than he was.  Watching Tom throw a line, he was pretty darn good!  They had a wonderful day on the primrose & pearl, rusty and ruby midges.  All size 18.  Darrell and Carolyn were rowing the Louisiana crew around!  Carolyn had “the Stripper”, aka Dawn, and Darrell had Albert and James Albert out.  This was Darrell’s first outing since his knee replacement.  Maiden voyage and he did really well.  Good to have you back on the water Darrell!  As for the fishing, the guys quit because they got tired of catching fish.  Their best flies were primrose & pearl and copper dun midges in size 18.  Now the ladies, on the other hand, were still fishing when the guys were loading up the boat.  Hot flies were a size 18 ruby midge and a size 16 rockworm caddis soft hackle.  Couldn’t keep the fish off it!  Needless to day, the “cacklecraft” was in true form.  Jim introduced a couple guys from Maine to the wonderful world of fly fishing.  Norm and Phil said they wanted to try their hand at this fly fishing thing.  Jim had them throwing pretty good lines by the time he kicked them loose.  They had a great day pulling the olive sculpin, as well as drifting the size 18 primrose & pearl midge with a blood worm dropper.

Talked with a few people who said yesterday was a bit tough.  Gina and I were at the Tri-Lakes Fishing expo in Brighton yesterday wishing we were fishing.  Pretty good turnout, but I think lots of people were taking advantage of the beautiful day.

Yes, we do need some rain for the flowers.  Although our red buds, cherry and pear trees and many flowers have already hit full bloom, we still need some rain.  Weather forecast pretty much on track, partly cloudy and mid 40s tomorrow, chance of showers Tuesday and mid 40s; mid 50s Wednesday and partly cloudy.  Back to chance of showers and upper 50s Thursday…good news Friday with partly cloudy and lower 60s and partly sunny and mid 60s on Saturday. 

Saturday, we did have no generation until about 1:00 p.m., as projected, with the equivalent of slighly under one generator for the balance of the day.  Today, the projection is for a low one generator all day.  Think the all day part is correct, but they are runnint just a little higher than one generator.  Tomorrow’s projection is for a low one generator all day.

Both Wednesday and Thursday, Jim had Clay and his younger brother, Tucker, on the water for half a day.  The boys had a good day on the primrose & pearl midge and a size 18 gray scud.  This time, they got to try their hand at pulling a size 12 sculpin bugger. 

True Grit! – Yesterday, Cathy, who is transferring from Nebraska to Virginia for a new assignment on the USS Harry Truman, spent half a day on the water with Gina.  Since is was lightening and thundering in the a.m., Cathy sat in on the fly tying clinic.  Around 11:30 a.m., they saw a clearing, so off to the water with hot coffee, hand warmers, and fly rod in hand.  Tough day on the water, thank you weather.  Got some mist and got some fish!  Fish were not too interested in midges, but took notice of the olive floozie and filoplume.  Yeah!  Good luck Cathy on your new assignment.

We went from summer to winter almost overnight!  80s on Thursday and upper 30s on Saturday!  Forecast for the next few day doesn’t look great.  Could probably say it was more typical spring weather than anything.  Mid 40s and partly cloudy tomorrow, with chances of showers Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and temperatures from mid 40s to low 50s  Thursday we start looking up with mid 50s, partly cloudy and then partly sunny and upper 50s or better by Friday.  One forecast I saw even said 70s by Friday.  That remains to be seen. 

Generation still erratic….what’s new.  Lots of off time Wednesday (and fishing was great)!  Thursday was off in the morning until 6:00 a.m., on for four hours, then off for 5-6 hours and back on.  Yesterday, with a projection of low one all day, we actually saw off from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. then back on.  Off this morning and running about the equivalent of one generator now.  Started up around noon, pretty much as projected.  Projection for Sunday is low one all day then off most of Monday. 

Missed posting a trip Stan had out last Monday.  Gus and Dianne walked into the shop and said they wanted to go fishing.  So, Stan saddled up and off they went.  Very good day on the water for these two fly fishers from Illinois.   Lots of fish on the holographic green crackleback as well as a couple versions Dianne ties.  When they weren’t stripping, the primrose & pearl did its job.. 

Wednesday, Betty and Phil spend half a day with Stan.  Another one of those WINDY days which dealt these new fly fishers a bit of a fit.  However, they still caught lots of fish on the holographic green crackleback and primrose & pearl midge.  Meanwhile, Dean and Gary from Kansas spent the day with Dana.  They too were having a very good day on the primrose & pearl midge.

Dean - 3/23/11

Garu - 3/23/11

Thursday, Stan and Dana had a group out from Texas.  All are pretty new fly fishers.  As a matter of fact, Caroline caught AND touched her first trout!  Caroline and Todd spend the half day with Dana, and Stan worked with Johnny.  Although fishing was not as good as Wednesday, this group still had a good day on the water and caught more trout than they have so far.   

Caroline's first - 3/24/11

Todd - 19" - 3/24/11

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Generation has been a bit erratic over the past week.  Over the weekend, good wading water from 9:00 a.m. Saturday until 5:00 p.m. Sunday.  Monday, there waas a small window early in the morning before they turned it on at 6:00 until about 9:00 a.m.  Stayed off until 5:00 p.m. and basically did not shut down again until Tuesday about 11:00 p.m.  Wednesday was a full day of wadeable water until 7:00 p.m.  Today is another story.  Projection was for three hours of generation this morning and then off until 7:00 p.m.  So far, they started up about when they projected, but it had not yet shut down, as projected, when I checked at 11:00 a.m.  Instead, they cut back to a low one generator.  That’s wadeable and a really a good drift!

Gina and Carolyn both got to spend time on the water these past few days with what we hope are tomorrow’s fly fishers….if we did our jobs right!  Both Monday and Tuesday, Carolyn had Lisa and her son, Nick, from St. Louis out for half-day trips.  Nick has done some fly fishing with his uncle, Mike from

Nick - 19" rainbow - 3/21/11

Oklahoma.  Lisa has not been fly fishing a some time.  After a little refresher on casting, we went to work catching fish.  Monday was Nick’s day.  He caught lots of fish, including one beautiful 19 incher.  Lisa caught the most fish on Tuesday, especially when she started stripping an olive bug-eyed bugger below Lookout Island.  She really like this kind of fishing.  Other good patterns were the primrose & pearl and red midges.  Two fun days and they both seemed to really enjoy fly fishing.  

Tuesday, Gina had Eric and his son, Quinn who are from Illinois, out for a half day.  This was Quinn’s first fly fishing outing.  Hopefully, Eric has a new fly fishing buddy.  After a little work on helping Quinn get a fly into the water, and recognizing a strike, Quinn landed his first fish on a fly rod.  Quinn had a little trouble handling the rod, but he could certainly set a hook, play the fish and bring it into the net!  Patterns were the floozie, red and rusty midges.

Quinn - 3/22/11

Eric - 19" Rainbow - 3/22/11

Wednesday, Carolyn spent the day with Jera and her son, Hunter from Kansas.  These two have been fishers, but are fairly new to fly fishing.  Of course we worked on casting, mending and some line management, but most of the day was spent catching.  Yesterday was a catching day on almost anything!  Carolyn introduced Jera to stripping a fly, which she really enjoyed.  Hunter even got into stripping after she started catching so many on the holographic green crackleback.  We also stripped the olive filoplume and threw the ruby and primrose & pearl midges.

Hunter - 17" Rainbow

Jera - 3-23-11

From the temperatures and looking at all the blooming trees along the river, it looks like Spring has sprung.  Temperatures continue to be in the 70s.  Chance of showers tomorrow, probably late in the day, which will cool us off a little Wednesday, 60s, back into the 70s and rain chances moving in again for the weekend.  Long ways off…we’ll see.  As I posted yesterday, the generation schedule must have been celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  Instead of running all day both Saturday and Sunday, they shut them down Saturday at 9:00 a.m. and kept them off except for maybe a couple hours at 7:00 p.m.  Off all day Sunday until a little after 4:00 p.m.  Projection was for off all day today and we know they fired up at least two at 6:00 a.m.  It is, at least from observation off right now and it is 11:30 a.m.  To be continued….

Saturday on the water was rough!  Wind was blowing solid right up the river and, there was no flow so very difficult to get a good drift.  Jim was out all day with Dwan and Robert from Kansas  They have fished with us almost every year since 2006.  They worked hard, mainly trying to cast and keep a good drift, and turned it into a pretty good day.  Best patterns were a size 18 black zebra , a size 18 black thorax and a size 12 Sculpin bugger.   Meanwhile, Stan and Carolyn had a birthday Father and his three daughters on the water.  Ted, Kristyn and Lora are from Kansas and Emily is from New Mexico.  Everyone except Emily was new to fly fishing.  What a day to show new fly fishers how to fish!  Even a roll cast would wind up in never-never land.  Despite our difficult conditions, everyone caught fish on the size 16 red midge, the size 18 copper dun and primrose & pearl midges.  Gotta say everyone was a real trooper! 

Yesterday, Stan, Jim and Dana had the French family, Jera, Steve, Matt, Josh, and Hunter, also from Kansas (must have been Kansas weekend) on the river all day.  Weird day.  The morning certainly fished tough for all the boats.  After lunch, most of them started picking up some fish and had a good day on the primrose & pearl midge.  Stan introduced Steve to soft hackle fishing, which he liked, as well as pulling awooly bugger.  Matt and Josh, with Dana, pulled a nice 18 inch plus Rainbow out along with several other nice fish.  Many of the fly fishers coming into the shop said they had a tough morning.  Couple of the guys said they weren’t ever seeing the fish swimming around their feed like they normally do when wading.  Did pick up for most in the afternoon and one of the main patterns was the primrose & pearl midge.

Anyone want a windy day?  Today was it!  Weather forecast did say it would be cloudy with a possibility of rain…no mention of the white-cap creating wind, and not just gusts..it was pretty much steady most of the morning.  Anyway, tomorrow is supposed to be in the 70s with sunshine.  Hope there’s no wind!  Surprise!  Surprise!  Generation schedule stated one low generator all day today.  Turned the thing off at 9:00 a.m.!  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Weather continues to be great!  Saturday has a chance of showers and/or thunderstorms.  Sunday through Tuesday looks like partly sunny and temperatures in the 70s.  Whoa!  Generation for the past two days has been a low one generator, as projected, and looks like that will be the projection through the weekend.  Monday, of course, they are projecting no generation ALL DAY! 

Jim had a treat Thursday.  He took Mike and his 11 year old son Connor out for a half day float.  It was mainly an instructional trip as Connor is pretty new at this fly fishing.  Good day on the water for both Mike and Connor.  Caught fish on the size 10 olive sculpin, the size 16 red midge and a grey sowbug.  Mike and Connor are from Kansas.  Neat young man.

Jim - 18 inch Rainbow

Jim, from Arkansas, took a half day instructional trip with Carolyn.  Great start to his fly fishing passion.  Comments throughout the day were “this could be addictive” , “this is additive”.  Had a great day after I stop beating him up on “don’t bend your wrist” and, ‘MEND”!  Normal comments to any new fly fisher.  He was throwing a good like by the end of the day….most of the time, and did well on hooking most of the fish and bringing them in.  He was able to work the indicator system as well as pulling streamers well by the end of the half day.  Two 18 inchers and lots of other nice fish on the primrose & pearl, rusty brown midge, sculpin, olive bug-eye bugger and the holographic green crackleback.  Like most…he loved stripping!

Jim had a regular, regular, Bud on the water for a half day.  Bud says he is keeps coming back as he is trying to finish college….fishing college!  He learns something new every time he takes a trip.  They had a great day on the size 10 dark olive bugger and a size 16 red midge.

Susan - "Fish On!" - 3/18/11

Stan had David and Susan out for half a day.  These new fly fishers are from North Carolina.   There was never a doubt when Susan had a “Fish on”….you could hear her from a mile away…well may 30-50 feet!  What a great time they had.  More fish than they had every caught.  Pattern was the size 16 red midge. 

With a low run generation the better part of the day, most  folks were  having a good day on the water.  Midges, San Juan worms, scuds and sowbugs, as well as a diverse selection of streamer patterns were working.  A little wind in the afternoon, but overall, the weather was great as was the fishing.

This weather is great!!  It is going to be in the upper 70s, probably lower 80s today!  Happy St. Patrick’s Day to everyone…get out and enjoy the sunshine.  Even better, the projection through Wednesday of next week is temperatures in the 60s to 70s with a possibility of light rain Saturday and looks like some rain again by Wednesday.  Think positive…they are not saying “some chances of snow”!

For those of you still trying to see what the water is doing, as of 8:30 a.m. today when I called the number, it just kept ringing.  Must assume (not a good thing to do), it is still out of wack.  Anyway, I can tell you the water was off all day yesterday, just as the www.swpa.gov site projected.  Today, they projected a low one generator all day.  So far, it is almost right on the money.  Running about 35 mega watt hours (mwh), which flows approximately 2500 cfs, and puts our tailwater level at 704.5.  Table Rock Lake is now sitting at 910.65.

Most everyone I have talked to has been having some good days on the water.  One of our customers, Connie, has been fishing a red San Juan worm and said he pretty much has been catching the nicer size fish.  Still picking a few “dinks”, but not as many.  An olive wooly bugger was working well for a young man who came into day.  He was fishing just above the boat ramp.  Hare’s ear is working well below the rebar hole.  Lots of catching on the primrose & pearl midge.  You can’t catch fish if you’re not fishing!

Stan and Dana both had trips full day trips on the water yesterday.  Great day to be outside instead of inside for sure!  Dana had Jacque and his son, Allen, from Fulton, Missouri.  Very good day on the water using the primrose & pearl, rusty and copper dun midges.  Allen said he was worn out when he got back to the shop.

Jacque - 3/16/11

Allen - 3/16/11

Stan had Don and his son, Ryan, out again.  Wonderful day, weather perfect and the fish were happy.  Best flies were the primrose & pearl and rusty midges.  Rusty fished best early and they finished the day with the P&P.

Don - 3/16/11

Ryan - 3/16/11

Beautiful weather over the weekend, especially Saturday, but they ran one generator up and down both days, all day.  Rainy and crummy weather yesterday, but the water was off.  Make sense?  Good news, weather is shaping up…in the 50s today with sunshine AND the water is off.  Looks like they are back to their generators on in the a.m. for 3-4 hours; off the balance of the day until 7:00 or 8:00 p.m. then on for a while in the evening.  Weather for the rest of the week looks nice.  Temperatures to be in the 60s or better.  Rain might be creeping back in for the weekend.

Most of the fishers I talked to who were fishing were having Saturday and Sunday were having  a tough time.  Even talked to Lamar, who owns Scotty’s boat dock in Branson and he said fishing was off over the weekend.  Once the water shut off yesterday a different story.  Great fishing yesterday.

Stan and Jim had a family from Kansas on the water for a half a day Sunday afternoon.  Stan took Keith, and Jim took Michelle and their son, Linn.  Michelle and Linn are fairly new fly fishers, so Jim worked with them on both streamer and indicator presentations.  Also some casting and hook setting.  Boated quite a few fish on a size 12 bug-eye bugger, size 16 red midge and a size 14 grey scud.  Keith had a good day on just the size 16 red midge.  First fish on was a nice 17 inch rainbow.  Although catching lots of nice fish, there are still lots of “dinks” mixed in with the beautiful rainbows.

Great day, weather wise, Saturday.  Today is expected to be in the 50s and increasing chances of rain as we go through the day.  Tomorrow, showers and temperatures in the 50s.  The balance of the week looks great.  Hope it stays that way.  Temperatures in the 60s to 70s with sunshine!  We are expecting generation again today…all day.  Yesterday, the chart appears that they ran run generators most of the day with the level staying between 704 and 705.  However, they must have fired up another generator around 5:00 p.m. as the level went up 705.7.  Projection for tomorrow is generation in the a.m., then off around 10:00 until late afternoon.

Talked to several fishers coming into the shop.  For many of them, yesterday was a tough day for catching fish.