Water came on at noon today instead of the projected 2 p.m.   Reports coming into the shop the last two days from waders are mixed.  One guy has a great outing and the next guy says fishing is painfully slow.  Stan went out this afternoon with Perry and his daughter Brittany.  He said they just got set up and the fish were active all around them.  They started out great guns, getting takes and fish . . . and then the horn sounded and conditions did a 180.  Perry and Brittany got a crash course in beginning fly fishing though and were very happy with the results.  

Our guide Darrell shared these next pictures of John from this past weekend’s fishing trip.  The picture of the fish in the net is dazzling!  Good art work Darrell.

 John displaying a "River Rainbow"

  Picture by Darrell Lundberg

Got lots of trips to report on from the last week.  We know you want the scoops and nuts, so here we go. 

Last Monday Thomas and Carolyn from Texas were out with Darrell.  Carolyn was in Branson and attended the Orvis fly fishing school at Dogwood Canyon and wanted to try out her new skills on the tail water.  They caught fish on the P& P and the holographic green crackleback. 

Tuesday Gina took her sister Penny and Uncle Don from Florida out for his first fly fishing trip.  He needed a quick lesson in casting before he tackles a stream in North Carolina later this summer.  Don casted like a natural and hooked his first fish on a wooly bugger.   He was all smiles and Gina was a very proud niece. 

Thursday, Jim had a couple of more Texans, Chad and Charles, who wanted to learn to fly fish. They worked on nymphing skills and caught their first trout on  rusty midges and the blood worm dropper.  Gina spent the afternoon with Clint and his nine year son, Sam from Louisiana.  It was Sam’s first fly fishing trip.  According to dad, Sam is a lucky fisherman, and he proved it by hooking up with the first fish of the day and later setting the hook and landing a 16 1/2 inch rainbow all by himself.  Seemed like the fish got bigger as the water got higher, and Clint inched out Sam and caught a 17 incher right at the end of the day. 

   Sam’s Big Bow!

Clint’s aka Dad’s Bigger Bow !

 Friday, Stan took Walter fishing.  Walter has recently moved to Oklahoma and has been exploring trout fishing opportunities in the area.  Sore shoulder and all, Walt was determined to get water time and catch some fish.  Four more folks from Louisiana booked an introduction to fly fishing with Jim and Dana.  Quinn and Larry took the float with Dana and caught fish on the red midge.  Jim worked with Craig and Judy on casting and hook setting and Craig and Judy  hooked their first trout on a fly with rusty and red midges. 

Saturday and Sunday Chuck and Judy from Oklahoma City put a floatilla of friends on the water with Stan, Jim, and Darrell.  Chuck and Judy were excited to fish their new Sage rods acquired last April here in the fly shop and had a ball catching fish on red, rust and P&P midges.  Mike and Pam got some help with casting fishing techniques from Jim.  They did some streamer fishing with bug eye buggers and nymphing with midges and boated a good number of fish in the two days.  Darrell fished with John one day and added a second fisher Chuck on Sunday.  The purple and black midges and the filoplume were the hot flies for them. 

The Kerrs from Louisiana were in Branson again this weekend.  Saturday, Dawn and Carolyn her mother-in-law were out with Gina.  Carolyn fished until noon and boom, boom, boom caught several fish in a row while the trout ignored Dawn.  Dawn took over first chair after lunch and found a spot below Lookout Island where she demonstrated once again why she is known as the "Stripper."  She caught lots of fish on the filoplume.  On the drift out , she fished her first thingamabobber with a big ruby, little ruby dropper, learned the choronomid wiggle, and nailed several 16 and 17 inch wide bellied rainbow.  That lady can fish! 

Stripper strikes again!

Sunday Stan was out with Phil, a returning customer from Kansas.  Dana fished with another yet another vacationer from Louisiana, Ken.  Ken had a great float down the river and caught fish on the olive filoplume, red midge and peach egg.

A couple of ice fishers from Wisconsin, Keith and Bill went fishing with Stan on Monday, the official first day of summer.  Don’t need to tell you they didn’t need to drill any holes in ice to get to the fish.  It was hot challenging day for these fishing veterans, but they boated some good fish on the rusty midge and the pink San Juan worm and had plenty of hits and misses.  Despite the heat, Bill thought it was pretty cool day of fishing. 

That’s the wrap for the last week.  Today the road to the MDC boat ramp is closed for repaving–so no boats on the water today.  Lots of folks were wading today.  Some of our regulars reported fishing was slow on midges but got some action on woolies and cracklebacks and eggs.  The water was off until 2 p.m. and a couple of generators are going now.  

He may be a small trout, but he’s a keeper!  Gina’s grandson Will stopped in for visit yesterday.  Caddis was the main attraction, of course. 

The heat is on here at Taneycomo.  Don’t think there could be a better place to spend a hot afternoon than standing in the cold waters and  fishing for trout. Lots of vacationers/fly fishers kept the guides in a sweat last week.  Fishing was good, and customers landed lots of nice fish last week in the 16-17 inch range.  You might hit  some slow periods when the fish are on siesta mid day, persistence will pay off. 

It was another week for a hodge podge of files that worked.  With all the green moss on the bottom the olive filoplume was a winner.  We saw trout with bellies full of moss, and they were sometimes very interested in mouthing a fly that looked like that green gook in search of scuds or sowbugs.  You needed to make sure that filoplume was on or near the bottom for success.  Olive wooly buggers and the bug eye bugger sometimes produced the same result.  The midges at the top of the list were the ruby, red, rusty, purple, and black.  Peach eggs, pink San Juan worms, holographic cracklebacks, and the miracle and grey scuds had some good days too.  The fish seem to be hanging close to the bottom no matter what the generation level is. 

Speaking of generation, it was all over the place last week.   We started the week with units off in the mornings and generation of 2-3 units coming on about 2 p.m.  Thursday morning two units were running and the other two generators come up and kept water rising all day.  Then for the most part, we had one or two units on steady for the weekend.  Yesterday we started out with a low one and tail waters around 703.6 and about 2 p.m. two more came on.  This morning the generators are quiet, but expect we will hear some warning horns later, and more units will crank on to product power for our air conditioners. 

Well, they pretty much followed the generation projection for the weekend.  Water off Friday until 2:00 p.m; Saturday until noon, and then it came on low; and Sunday until 3:00 p.m.  It came on each afternoon for no longer than 7 hours, then back off the the rest of the night.  Weather even cooperated.  Looked like rain for a while today, but we managed to get through it.  Friday morning we had a gulley washer for about an hour, but once it stopped, it turned out to be a nice day.

Jim on the water Friday, in the gulley washer, with Marc and his son John.  These fishers from Ohio tried to get on the water with Jim Monday, but we had some bad weather that day too.  Persistence paid off as they had very good day Friday on the rusty midge, blood worm dropper and the bug-eyed bugger.  Water was off for all of their trip and they picked fish all the way down to Fall Creek.  Once Kristi picked up her husband, Rick at the airport, they headed to the fly shop and took a half day float with Stan.  These two fish a lot.  They had a wonderful day on the rusty and purple midges.  Even saw them on the water this morning (Sunday) and they said they had a great morning on the Primrose & Pearl Midge.  Rick has his own drift boat, but discovered it is hard to run a drift boat and fish at the same time.  He did take Kristi out this morning, and they both caught fish.

Stan took Kim and Steve out for a full day on Saturday.  Think Kim caught her first trout on a fly rod with us about seven years ago.  She has come a long way since then and really likes it.  They both had a very good day on the Primrose & Peal midge while the water was off.  One they started generating, Stan changed to the Big Ruby.  That was all they needed to continue hooking fish.  Dana had Ron and his son, Nick out all day.  These fisher had a great day on an olive wooly bugger, red midge and a little brown midge.  Ron and his other son, Jeremy, had fished with us several years ago.  This time Nick got to spend the day on the water with his father. 

Jim was out today with Dave and his father Jeff.  Good day on the rusty midge and blood worm dropper.  Dawn, aka "the Stripper" from Louisiana, joined me for a fun day on the water.  True to form, we both stripped various patterns for the short period of time we were out.  Caught some on the holographic and blondie cracklebacks, a few hits on an olive bugger, but once we put on the rock worm caddis soft hackle, it was total chaos until we quit.  Several doubles, lots of "pick and rolls", and lots of fish to the boat.  What fun!  But alas, all good things must come to an end, so we started rowing out about 2:30 p.m.  Dawn’s husband Albert, who was upstream, was yelling at us to see if we had a camera.  One of our customers, Kevin, had a big, beautiful rainbow hooked and wanted a picture.  We rowed very quietly up to where he was still playing the fish, used our big net to net him and took a picture of this beautiful catch.  Think Kevin was still floating when he came into the shop later to get copies of his picture and leave his e-mail address so we could send him copies of the pics.  Good job Kevin!  What a great way to end the day.  Oh yes, this beauty was carefully revived and will put a smile on someone’s face again.  Who knows, it could even be Kevin.

Kevin – 6/13/10 – 26-1/2 inch Rainbow

Had the generators off at midnight and did not turn them back on until 3:00 p.m. yesterday, as projected.  However, they ran them last night until midnight.  The projection was for them to go off at 8:00 p.m. and stay off.  they are off again this morning, as projected, and should come on around 3:00 p.m. again today.  Stayed dry yesterday, but our boat out this morning is probably a little water logged!

Stan out with Ben and Sarah from Kansas.  Ben has been out with us several times, but Sarah had her first exposure to fly fishing last April (on their honeymoon) when they went out with Carolyn.  She is quite the outdoors lady and fell in love with fly fishing.  They had a wonderful half day on the water using the rusty midge and purple midge.  They mainly fished the area from the boat ramp down through the old KOA (now Trophy Run) areas.   Lots of nice quality, fat and fiesty, fish.  Some of our customers from Oklahoma, Lionell and Susan came into the shop just a little before the water came on and they were worn out from catching fish.  Ha!  Ha! 

Sarah – 17-1/2 inch rainbow	Ben – 17 inch rainbow

Last time the water was off for a while was Saturday about 10:00 p.m., and stayed off until 4:00 a.m. Sunday.  This morning, lo and behold, the water was off.  They turned it off at midnight and it is scheduled to stay off until 2:00 p.m. then ramp up to four and back off at 8:00 p.m.  Not a clue what will happen tomorrow, but would not be surprised to see it off again.

Reports from the river this morning were "if you can get a fly in the water, you will catch a fish".  Catching on almost everything, soft hackles, midges, wooly worms, wooly buggers, cracklebacks, scuds, and the list goes on.

Sunday, Carolyn had Lynn and David from here in Missouri out for half a day.  Lynn was indoctrinated into the "Stripper Club".  Fairly slow in the early part of the day on midges, so we changed over to the sinking leaders and started throwing the olive filoplume.  Lynn is pretty new to fly fishing, but with a little time spent on her casting she was getting that filoplume right into the seams and stripping.   She definitely got the hooking and bringing in fish figured out.  David has been fly fishing for some time, so he took off with his sinking leader, some filoplumes, natural and golden variant sculpins and had a good time catching and missing…..a few, fish on these patterns.  Stan had John and his son, Reed, also from Missouri, out for half a day.  Reed is a nice young man and a pretty good fly fisher.  He and his father had a very good day catching fish on the Big ruby with the size 18 ruby dropper and the size 18 purple (yep! purple), midge. 

Monday Darrell took Vince and his grandson, Alec, from Illinois out for a short half day trip.  Before the rain and thunder started threatening, they were catching fish on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  Darrell was sorry to have to get off early, but did not want to take any chances being the high spot in the water holding lightening rods!

Tuesday, was a busy day.  Stan and Jim had a group of guys from Florida out for half a day.  Jim, with Art and Joe caught fish on the red midge, a black thorax midge and a size 12 bug eyed-bugger.  One of the guys was new to fly fishing, so Jim did some casting and line work with him.  Stan had Dan in his boat and they hooked fish, missed a few here and there, on the big ruby with the size 18 ruby dropper.  Carolyn had a couple young gentlemen (both are in their 80s) out for the day.  Bob is from Arkansas and his long-time friend, Jack, is from Illinois.  Bob is just getting started in fly fishing.  Love it!  They, and especially Bob, had a very good day with the holographic green crackleback and the fl. orange bodied, light hackle crackleback. 

Jim took Bill and his son, Doug from Ohio, out Wednesday.  Water was going up and down with erratic regularity (how about that for description?!).  Between ups and downs, they caught fish on the red and black midges and the bug-eyed bugger.  Wednesday had lots of people complaining about the water levels and off and on catching…..life in a tailwater.

Water generation Friday and Saturday were pretty much as projected and the weather has been dry, for a change.  Now we can start complaining the other way.  Really a bit hot!  Got into the 90s both days  Today is supposed to be in the upper 80s with a chance of showers tomorrow.  Generation scheule has the equivalent of one generator running today from 5:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. when it will be off the balance of the day.  That could be nice….some of that sunset fishing when the fish are coming up, and for those night fishers, definitely.

Jim on the water 1/2 a day with Mike from here in Branson.  They had a very good day on a size 18 black midge and a blood worm.  Mike is still pretty new at this sport, so they worked some on techniques again this trip. 

Saturday, Jim had Kurt from Kansas City out again.  Best flies were the rusty midge and a blood worm.  Kurt too, is fairly new to fly fishing so they also worked some one techniques.  Carolyn out with Virginia and Mary Ann from Springfield.  These gals just got started about two years ago, but have been out of it since then due to health issues.  Health issues under control so they are rearing to get back into the fling of fly fishing again.  They even came by the shop for some casting refresher before the trip.  We had a very good day on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  Worked with Virginia a little to get her started on new techniques, so we worked on stripping patterns.  She caught a few on the filoplume using the sinking leader, and a holographic green crackleback stripping it just under the surface.  Mary Ann stayed with her Primrose & Pearl and was definitely the "top dog" when it came to numbers, but Virginia’s "just one more fish before we go in" was the best of the day.  A beautiful, 19 inch, fat rainbow to the boat.,,,,,on the Primrose & Pearl. 

Fish are still fat and fisty.  Lots of fight even in a small one when you hook them.  Other patterns working for fishers in the Rocking Chair/Boat ramp area yesterday were an olive wooly bugger, size 18; purple midge; rusty midge; and the holographic green crackleback.  

Mary Ann – 6/5/10	Virginia’s 19 inch Rainbow

Water was off yesterday as projected and is off again this morning.  Today’s projection is for it to be off until 3:00 p.m. then on for four hours and back off for the balance of the night.  Looks like it will be party cloudy today and pretty warm…low 90s. 

Everyone I talked with yesterday was catching fish.  One of our customers came in and got his Trophy Trout pin for a 21 inch rainbow he caught on the Primrose & Pearl midge.  He and his friend were worn out from catching fish.  Now that is hard to imagine.  Jerry, one of our customers, came in to get some more size 14 olive wooly buggers.  He had a wonderful morning and was running out of ammunition.   He fishes further down near the Lookout Area.  Darrell reported from the Hatchery area that they were also catching lots of fish.  Various colored midges, dark gray scuds and cracklebacks were some of the patterns he knew folks were throwing.  Jim had Lenny and Paul, from Texas out for half a day.  These brand new fly fishers were also worn out from catching fish.  Sure Jim wore them out a little working on their casting, line work and other skills.  They were catching on a size 18 black midge and a size 20 bloodworm. 

Better go fishing!

Well, the generation projection for yesterday was followed.  No generation until 2:00 p.m. and then they really cranked it up.  All four generators took the level up to 710 feet.  Generators were turned off at 8:00 p.m. and Taneycomo was back to 701 by 11:00 p.m.  So far this morning, it is off and the projection is for it to again be off until 2:00 p.m.  Had some rain last night.  Local weather said we had 2/10ths of an inch at the Branson Airport.  Sounded like more than that to me!  Table Rock did bump up a little in level from 916.0 to a 917.1 feet.  They expect what showers we may have left to be through here this a.m.

Wednesday’s are my normal day working the shop, so I’m working away.  Stan comes in around 11:00 a.m. and we discuss the fact that the generation is off!  Finally!!  His next words were, "if you want to go fish for a couple hours, I’ll watch the shop".  Yeeha!  After a little reorganization of my boat bag to my wading vest, I was in my car and heading south.  Walked down to the water at the Rocking Chair area and there were dimples all over the water.  Off with the sinking leader, on with the floating, and digging through my fly box for the right color soft hackle.  Rock Worm green in a size 16 and I had my first fish on.  Stood in the water for quite a while, oblivious to anything else around me except stripping my soft hackle and hooking (and missing) fish.  Eventually I came back to earth and spotted a few folks fishing downstream.   Couple of them looked familiar, so I worked my way down, fishing and catching on the way.  Sure enough, it was Jan and Mike, the couple I had had out on Monday.  Mike was sitting in the shade on the bank.  Jan was still casting away.  Said "Hi!" to Bud and Jerry as I walked by them.  Bud was catching fish on the size 18 ruby midge and Jerry had on his sinking leader stripping a natural colored filoplume.  Jan said she had caught some earlier in the day on the red San Juan worm, but was having little luck now.  With all the fish still dimpling the water, I suggested she try stripping something sub-surface.  She had a holographic green crackleback, of course, so she put that on as I put on a bright orange bodied, light hackled crackleback.  Immediately, we both started getting hits and fish.  Maybe an hour of sheer bliss, when Jan realized they were running late, had to leave and my phone was ringing….Stan, wanting to know where I was.  My time was over.  Oh, well.  Big deep breath while I reflected the magic and perfection of the time my Honey gave me on the water.  He can do no wrong…at least for a few days!

With the water off again today, wish I could have a quick redo! 

Well, so much for generators running for a while.  I check the projection and it says the water will be off until 2:00-3:00 p.m. today.  This, of course, is dependent on how much power may be needed by SWPA.  Anyway, the water went off at midnight and is still off as I write.  Rain moved out to tomorrow and it is going to be hot today.  Near or in the 90s.