WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

The following was published in the Branson Tri-Lake News:

Arnold man lands record brown

Scott Sandusky, of Arnold, landed this record-setting brown trout Friday afternoon.

By Phil Surratt
Staff Writer
Originally Published Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

A new state record brown trout was caught on Lake Taneycomo on Friday.  Scott Sandusky, of Arnold, was the lucky angler who landed the fish near Cooper Creek.  The record brown weighed in at 28.8 pounds, was 37 inches long and had a girth of more than 24 inches.  The old Missouri state brown trout record was 27.8 pounds set in 2005.  Sandusky caught the trout on a spinning rod with 4-pound test line using Powerbait.  The fish was weighed on certified scales at the Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery.

So, there are still some great browns in Taneycomo! 

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

Yes, we are going to see some wading time this weekend.  That is, if the projection they published this afternoon is correct.  According to the projection, tomorrow the generators will be off from midnight until 7:00 a.m. when they will turn on one generator for two hours, then raise to the equivalent of two generators for two hours, then back to one for two more hours.  From noon on, we should see no generation until 6:00 p.m. when they will turn on the equivalent of two generators until 10:00 p.m.  Sunday will have no generation all day.  Monday is showing a low one generator.  If they generate what is projected Monday, it will be okay for wading.

Hope I see some of you on the water over the weekend.  I certain plan to be standing out there!!!

 WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

 Well, Table Rock Lake is now at 915.0 feet and the generators are still going.  Projection for today is that they will run all day.  It will be a shame to have a beautiful weekend so to waste!  Forecast for the weekend is in the low to mid 60s with sunshine.  Received a call from Scotty’s Boat Dock saying the Corps had called him to advise they were going to start dropping Taneycomo late Saturday night so they can replace the boards at Powersite Dam on Monday.  With this in mind, we know they will not be generating much, if any on Sunday or Monday, and possibly Tuesday if they do not get the work completed at Powersite.  The projection for Friday is generation much like we have seen all week.

The following comment was sent to us from Steve, the fly fisher Stan had on the water that cold, windy Tuesday this week:

"Had a great day on the river with Stan, even with the cold temps and wind. The soup was a great treat. Stan knew just where to go and what water to work, exactly what I was looking for. My first time with a guide and the money/time was well spent. I’m sure, on my own, I wouldn’t have had any idea where to concentrate my efforts. Stan gave good guidance and advice, like fishing with an old friend. Would highly recommend a trip with river run outfitters. The drift boat was great, highly manuverable, my guide had it going up and downstream with confidence and ease. I really appreciated not having a running motor drowning out the natural noises of the river. There was no doubt my guide knew where to fish and what to use, exactly what I had hoped for, great trip. Give Caddis (the shop cat) a scritch on my behalf."  Steve

WE WILL BE CLOSED AT 3:00 P.M. ON WEDNESDAY, 11/25 AND ALL DAY THURSDAY – THANKSGIVING, 11/26  SEE YOU FRIDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING!  HAVE A WONDERFUL TURKEY DAY!

Table Rock is at 915.4 and the projection again for tomorrow is four generators all day.  Sorry, but I thought we would see a change when they hit 916.  So much for thinking!  Fortunately, we did not receive the rain that was projected, so we should see no rise in level from that.  They are running Beaver Lake every day, but so far, it has not had too much impact on Table Rock.  Weather will continue to be pretty cool until the weekend when we are supposed to see 60 degrees and some sun.

Stan and Steve from the St. Louis area on the water today.  Don’t know which was best…the hot soup or the fishing!  They braved the cold, windy, misty day and caught fish mainly on the pink San Juan worm.   The tan scud in tandum was working well at the outlets yesterday.  Not too many souls out today to get a fishing report from this area!

We are not down to 915.5  and so far, we have dodged the bullet of much more rain.  We got a little over 1/2 inch last night, a few showers today but nothing significant.  We still have a prediction of rain for tonight and tomorrow.  The chances are 50% and no indication of how much.  The generation schedule projection for tomorrow is a continuance of what we saw today…..4 generators all day and night.  I am really surprised we have not seen a change in the generation pattern now that we are below 916, but what do I know!  I still think wade fishing is not too far away.

Stan is on the river tomorrow so we’ll let you know how it goes.

However, I cannot say water is off.  We just dropped below 916 feet early this morning and they are generating today with the projection for the same generation tomorrow.  The really bad news is that we are expecting rain beginning some time late tonight or early tomorrow and continuing into Monday.  This could chance everything, especially if we get a significant amount here or anywhere north between us and Springfield!

Table Rock Lake now at 916.2.  They increased the generation quite a bit this morning and are releasing water from Beaver.  Only time now will tell what is going to happen with the generation.  Last I heard, we still have chances of rain Sunday.  Hope for very, very light showers! 

Stan out yesterday with Phil and his daughter, Dana.  They are from Kansas.  Phil had been out with us earlier this 

Dana’s first on fly rod – 11/12/09

year and had a good time.  His daughter said he likes to go various places and fish and that she loves to travel.  She thought that traveling places to fly fish together would be great!  I agree, what a way to spend quality time with your Father.  Anyway, this was Dana’s first time with a fly rod and she did quite well.  Their best patterns were the ruby midge and pink San Juan worm. 

Be sure to check under Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Classes.  We have our Winter/Spring schedule of fly tying classes and fly fishing clinics listed.

Table Rock Lake is now at 916.4 feet.  Since Tuesday it has dropped five tenths of a foot.  We might just see it at or below 916 by Saturday or Sunday.  Remainds to be seen what the generation pattern will be, but I hope we see them drop to one or two generators during the afternoon hours of the day and eventually see it off for the weekends.  What a wonderful thought!  Nice sunny day today with a little breeze.  Cool this morning…think it was in the upper 30s.  Believe it will get into the 60s before the day is over.  We are supposed to start getting some windy conditions tonight but rain is still out of the forecast until late this week or early next week, and, we hope, nothing too significant. 

Bob – 11/10/09

 Bob, from Michigan, decided he wanted to go out again, so he and Stan were out Wednesday.  They had a pretty good day on the pink San Juan worms, red midge and olive bugger.

Jim had Steve and Jodee, from Kansas out for a half day trip.  They fish Bennett Springs a lot and since it is closed right now, they needed to go fly fishing.  Boated fish on the red midge, orange San Juan worm and peach bug. 

Yesterday Stan and Shannon decided to take our Orvis rep. Mike, who lives in Colorado, out for a while.  They caught some fish on the ruby midge, pink San Juan and the bug-eyed bugger.  Had a fun day and now Mike can get back on the road and start thinking about work!

Table Rock Lake had reached 916.9!  I am cautiously optimistic that we will see some wading water  within a week.  Looking at the graphs, Table Rock dropped one foot in five days.  If that trend continues, we should be at 916 or less in five to six more days.  Weather continues to look good with no significant rain, if any, in the forecast.

Stan finished up the three days with Scott from Kansas with a "perfect day".  Scott’s son, Joey,  joined them yesterday and started right off with 16", 17" and 18" Rainbows.  Weather was overcast but warm.  No wind and very little boat traffic on the river.  Scott fishes out West a lot and was happy to learn he could get into similar fishing conditions as out West only four hours away!   Such as the quiet conditions of the drift boat, good fishing and not crowded (we told him this didn’t always happen).  They caught many of their fish on the pink San Juan worm, but the best fly and most fun was stripping the olive wooly bugger in the seams.  They were using the intermediate sink tip line with 4X tippet. 

Yes, the level of Table Rock Lake continues to fall.  It is at 917.1 this morning.  The tailwater level of Taneycomo has held fairly steady at 707.8 feet.  The past 3-4 days were beautiful!  Too bad all the leaves have blown off the trees.  Temperatures were in the 70s with lots of sunshine.  Today is going to be overcast, but no rain!  Temperatures should be in the lower 70s.  Forecast through the weekend looks like a slight chance of ran tomorrow (20%) and again a slight chance of rain over the weekend.  Otherwise, sunshine and moderate temperatures. 

Wendy’s first fish on fly rod

Couple of busy days on the water.  Saturday, Jim and Dana had a group of guys from Arkansas on the water; Samuel, Jake, David and Frank.  Pretty good day for everyone.  Red midge, orange or red San Juan worms, and peach colored egg.  Eric was out all day with John and Kim from Texas.  Kim had fished with us in June this year and decided to try it again.  They caught fish on the red tungsten beadhead midge and a cerise San Juan worm.   Darrell was also out with a couple ladies from Texas, Lisa and Wendy.  They decided now was the time to try something they wanted to do……try fly fishing.  Stan was also on the water Saturday with Scott from Kansas.  They spent half a day fishing yesterday and are on the water again today.  

Jake – 11/07/09	Samuel – 11/07/09

Sunday was family day.  Bud from Lee’s Summit, MO. has been going out with Jim for quite a while learning all the ins and outs of fly fishing.  For his birthday, which was November 7, he wanted his entire family to fish with him…..and they did!  What a great outting and fun family.  The guides Jim, Darrell, Dana and Carolyn, with all the family members in the boats, formed a circle so we could give Bud a birthday cupcake and sing happy birthday to him.  After all our singing, only one more fish was caught in this area.  Guess they did not like our singing.  For those in the group new to fly fishing, there was lots of learning, lots of missing and quite a bit of catching.  Derek and his wife, Amanda, were wade fishing at one time with Dana.  After Amanda spent a little time in the water, the baby who is due in March, decided to do a little kicking.  So, back into the drift boat for Amanda!  We decided the baby didn’t like the cold water.  They were catching fish on the Orange San Juan worm dropped from the Ruby midge.  Carolyn had Shannon and her boy friend Chad in her boat.  Both are brand new so we worked on the roll cast, line management, and once we got down recognizing the hit, hooked and brought in some fish.  Best patterns were the pink or red San Juan worm.  Think Bud may have a new fishing buddy with Shannon.  Jim had Darrin and Vanessa with him.  This couple are also brand new so Jim spent lots of time working with them.  They brought in fish on the red midge and an orange San Juan worm.  Darrell had the birthday guy, Bud.  Beth, his wife, rode along to spend the day with the family and enjoy the beautiful day.  Their best patterns were also the red or pink San Juan worms.  Hopefully, after this day, Bud will have lots of fishing buddys.

Bud’s birthday party – 11/08/09	Derek & Amanda
Shannon’s first fish on fly rod