Generation projection has been pretty much right on all last week.  No generation until early afternoon, then generation for two to six hours and back off until the next afternoon.  However, this weekend was a different story.  Projections for both Saturday and Sunday were no generation until 5:00 p.m. then one generator for one hour then off the balance of the day.  HO HUH?!  Saturday, generation started shortly after midnight and continued until 7:00 a.m. when it shut down until 8:00 a.m. then back on until noon when they shut it down for the balance of the day.  Today, the generators came on around 7:00 a.m. and are still on (shortly after 10:30 a.m.)  Forecasting rain chances Monday and Tuesday and scattered showers the rest of the week with temps. in the 70s to low 80s. 

Jim had two new guys on the water Thursday for a half day trip, Charles from FL, and his son, Kenneth, from WA.  It was a fairly slow day, but after going through the normal instruction on casting, line management, etc. they did catch some fish on the copper dun and the gray scud with a blood worm dropper.  Hook sets were there biggest challenge. 

Friday, Darrell had Earl and a friend, Miles, from the St. Louis area out for half a day.  Good day on the water.  They boated several fish on the Ruby midge, size 18, and the size 18 olive zebra midge. 

Earl – 9/11/09	Miles – 9/11/09

Carolyn had Art and his boss, David, out for half a day.  Art lives here in Missouri and David is from Texas.  They too had a good day using the size 18 copper dun midge dropped below the Big Ugly and the size 18 Primrose & Pearl and Ruby midges.  Caught several on the Big Ugly, but they were taking the midges best.  Also had a few stripping the holographic green crackleback.  

Rebecca & Georgia – 9/12/09

Gina had Georgie and her daughter Rebecca out for a long half day Saturday.  These ladies live just across the river from Kansas City on the Kansas side.  This was the day they started messing with the generation.  The ladies worked for their fish, but caught several on the Fl. Red San Juan worm, Primrose & Pearl size 18 midge as well as a dark brown zebra midge.  Gina’s word was ‘tough’.   

So far, Monday and Tuesday they had not started generation until 3:00 p.m. on Monday and 2:00 p.m. Tuesday.  Projection for today is 3:00 p.m.  Probably will see generation at 2:00.  Glad they really ran some water yesterday for a while.  Lots of algae or something floating in and on top the water…..Ugly!  Weather has been nice, 80s.  However, we are getting some rain today and the projection is for slight chances tomorrow and Friday.  Right now it looks like the chances will increase by the weekend.  Let’s hope it goes north or south of us. 

Both Jim and Stan on the water Monday.  Jim had Dennis, a fairly new fly fisher from Trenton, MO out for a 1/2 day wade trip.  Dennis wanted a "learning experience", so Jim obliged.  They worked on lots of stuff as well as catching lots of fish.  Best patterns were the size 16 Miracle Scud with a blood worm dropper and the size 18 Ugly midge.  Stan was with Rod, from Kansas.  They too had a good day but on the size 18 Ruby Midge. 

Yesterday, Stan had Pete from Virginia out all day.  Pete has a hat full of ugly bugs and added the Big Ugly to his collection after fishing yesterday.  Pete really liked our fishery and plans to bring a friend and come back as soon as he can.  Obviously, the Big Ugly was one of their patterns, and they dropped the size 18 Ruby midge from this.  When the third generator came on yesterday, it had the water so dirty you could not keep a fly clean.  Not much action after that.

We did get a lot of rain early (I was still trying to get some sleep) Saturday morning and it looked like it was going to rain some more most of the morning, but it cleared off and was a great day.  Had so much water flowing into Taneycomo from all the creeks downstream, the tailwater stayed about a foot high (with no generation) all day Saturday.  Table Rock only came up about a 1/10th of a foot, so we are holding at 915.34′.  Both Saturday and Sunday they ran the equivalent of one generator 1-2 hours between 4:00-5:00 p.m.  Water is off again today with the projection of the equivalent of one generator somewhere around 4:00 p.m.  Beautiful, suny day with temperatures in the mid 80s.  Same projections for tomorrow.  Even though they are projecting the same generation schedule for tomorrow as today, I think we will probably see a little more.

I fished for a little while Saturday.  Waded in at the Rockin Chair area.  Did not see too much action when I got there.  Picked up a few early on a P&P soft hackle and a holographic green crackleback.  Not enough to get excited about so I changed to a golden variant sculpin pattern under a sinking leader.  This was what they were looking for.  When I left I loaned my sinking leader and a few sculpins to one of our customers who was not having much luck.  Hope this helped!

Sunday, Jim had Manuel and his wife, Lorna, out for half a day.   Didn’t take them long to get into fish on one of Jim’s newer bug-eyed sculpin patterns.  It is a size 12 with grizzly hackle and a "Jailhouse Marabou" brown/black tail.   They had such a great time, they booked a couple days around Labor Day 2010.  Downstream, Stan was out with Mike from Iowa.  They were trying various midges with little success until Stan tied on the size 18 Ruby midge.  Between the Ruby midge and the golden variant sculpin, they had a very good, enjoyable half day.  Meanwhile, Carolyn was upstream with Dawn (aka ‘The Stripper’) and her mother-in-law, Carolyn.  This was Carolyn’s first experience with a fly rod and she started out with a bang!  After working on casting a little, mending and a little line handling, we put on a size 18 Copper Dun midge.  About the 4th or 5th drift resulted in a fat, 18 inch Rainbow.  Carolyn proceeded to catch several more on the Copper Dun.  The Stripper was strippping (of course) Jim’s bug-eyed pattern.  She caught fish on this, got lots of hits on the golden variant sculpin, and caught fish on a few other patterns we put on.  Other good patterns during the day were the P&P and the filoplume.  Fun day and Carolyn is coming back!  

Carolyn – 9/6/09

Carolyn’s first fish on a fly rod.  Told her it doesn’t work this way everytime! 

Three generations of the Kerr Family – 9/06/09

 Albert, Dawn, and James Albert have been fishing Taneycomo for more than two years now.  After each trip they go home to Louisiana with tails of the fish they caught and good times they had. Carolyn decided it was time for her to join in the fun.  We spent a long half day on the water Sunday and had a ball.  The "Cacklecraft" was in her true form. 

Generation schedule since Tuesday has been consistent…..running!  Most of the week it has been two generators at a tailwater level around 705 plus or minus.  Other than Wednesday, weather has been great.  Cool nights and just right days, 70-80 degrees.  Bit of a breeze for a while yesterday.  We do have rain in the forecast.  Think there is a 50/50 chance for tomorrow.  So, that means there is a 50% chance it will not rain!

Pat – 9/3/09

Darrell out for half a day with Ron and Pat from his part of the country, Minnesota.   They had a fun outting and caught fish stripping the holographic green crackleback or drifting the pink San Juan. 

Jim was out for a long afternoon float with Bud and his son, Derek.  They had a good day stripping the red ass emerger in the seams.  They picked some nice rainbows and a few browns.  Also did well earlier in the day with the pink San Juan dropped below the red midge.  Better fish and definitely more fun stripping the emerger.

Generation pattern so far this week has definitely been a bit erratic.  Monday it was off until 2:00 p.m.   On until 8:00 p.m. then off until midnight.  On at midnight until 6:00 a.m. or so then off for about three hours then back on.  So far, they have not shut it down and are projecting generation all day today.  However, it is primarily two generators at a level of 705 feet plus or minus.   Weather has continued to be great, but today we got some rain.  Rain in the forecast, 40-50% chance, into Friday. 

Stan and Jim were on the water Monday for a half day with a group from Texas.  Judith and Jim were with Jim, and Norman and Laura were with Stan.  All of them were fairly new to fly fishing and they had a fun trip catching trout on the Copper Dun Midge, size 18; a size 16 Lightening Bug; size 20 blood worm dropper under a size 16 Miracle Scud.  They were scheduled to go out again today, but the rain made everyone think otherwise…especially when we heard some thunder this morning.  

Tuesday, Jim had Danny from Mississippi out for half a day.  Danny had some some salt water and warm fly fishing, but never trout and lighter gear.  Had to do a little hook setting work in order to get some fish to the boat.  With the water flowing, the red midge with either a red or orange San Juan worm were their patterns.  Stan had a couple of his regulars, George and Hubert from over by Bennett Springs, out for a late morning start half day.   George  was very pleased with the quality of the fish she consistently caught.  Good day on the Lightening Bug with a pink San Juan dropper early in the trip, then switched to the red midge with the same dropper later. 

They did generate water every day last week except for a short down time Tuesday night from 7:00 p.m. to midnight.  Generation in the mornings was lower, but they ramped up in the afternoons.  Both Saturday and Sunday we again saw no generation all day except for 3-4 hours in the afternoon.  Projection for today is no water until 3:00 p.m. then off again the balance of the day…..we’ll see.  Weather has been unbelievable!  When I got into my car this morning to come to work, it was 49 degrees.  Brisk morning to say the least.  High for today is mid 70s.  The weekend was beautiful too.  Should have unseasonal lows this week with the possibility of showers mid week. 

Jim took Kevin from St. Joseph, MO out Friday for a half day float.  Kevin used to fish this area a few years ago and wanted to get "back in the grove again".  Had a couple generators going to they fished a size 16 red soft hackle at the Lookout Island which worked well in the film.  Also caught fish on the size 14 Miracle scud with an orange San Juan worm. 

Saturday, Stan and Carolyn had the Louisiana Kerr family out for half a day, all day, whatever we wanted to do.  Obviously, Dawn, aka "The Stripper" wanted to throw patterns she could strip.  We did well in the morning on the holographic green crackleback.  Late morning or early afternoon, they just shut down on this, so we went looking for new waters in which to strip.  Unfortunately, they didn’t like anything we threw, so we started drifting midges with a San Juan worm dropper.  Hot pink and red worms were our afternoon patterns, especially after they turned on the generator. 

Sunday Darrell had Rick and Ken from Columbia, MO. out for the morning.  These guys did well on mainly on the P&P midge,  Also caught some on the Rusty and Zebra midges.  Carolyn fished with a local guy, Chad for a while in the morning.  Chad is getting ready to go home to Tennessee for a week and wanted to throw some dries in his home waters.  Worked mainly on technique as we couldn’t find a dry they were real excited about except the Big Ugly and they certainly were not overly excited about this one.  In the afternoon, Carolyn had Stephanie and Spring out for a learn day.  These two nurses from Skaggs are a hoot.  Fly fishing is something both of them have been wanted to learn, so this was the day.  We started out, of course, with the roll cast then progressed to the picked up and lay down casts.  Got through a little line management work and the horn went off.  Okay, time to change gears.  We rigged up with the Lightening Bug with a red San Juan dropper and the red tungsten beadhead midge with a hot pink San Juan dropper and started fishing.  Fished the rise, got into the boat and drifted for a while.  If anyone was on the river, they had to hear the screams and hollering of these two when they would hook a fish.  What a joy, what a day!  Lots of hookups, breakoffs, and a few actually made it to the boat.  We finished off the afternoon, sitting in the boat, eating black seedless grapes, enjoying the cool breeze blowing across the water, learning how to tie knots.   Hope they are practicing at work (on their lunch hour, of course) today.   

Stephanie – 8/30/09

Our Louisiana family called Sunday morning to report that they were catching lots of fish in the Hatchery area on the Fl. Orange San Juan worm and an orange bodied crackleback. 

They have continued to run water all this week except for about four hours Monday night.  Otherwise, they start out the morning with a level in Taneycomo around 704 to 705 with two generators going and ramp it up around noon, then back down around 6:00-7:00 p.m., but never shut it down during the night.  Weather has been nice…in the 80s.  We do have the possibility of showers in the morning and the projection for water flow is about the same as we have had all week.  Doesn’t look like they will ramp it up quite as much in the afternoon, but they do plan to run all day.  Weekend weather looks beautiful.  We will have to see tomorrow afternoon what they will do with the water.  Let’s hope they turn it off like last weekend.  Fishing was very good Saturday and not so bad on Sunday. 

Stan had Mark and Teri from Kansas out for half day float Wednesday.  Teri has had some casting lessons but she had never caught a fish on a fly rod.  Think she out fished her husband, Mark, and is in love with fly fishing!  She can’t wait to do it again.  Their best patterns were the Lightning Bug, and the red midge.  Darrell had Dale, who owns a fly shop and guide service in Arkansas, and his friend Gary on the water for half a day yesterday.  Dale had been out with Darrell before and actually came back to fish with him again.  They had a good day on the red and orange San Juan worms and the rusty midge dropped below the red midge. 

Lovely weekend.  No significant generation both Saturday and Sunday.  A little generation in the afternoon for 1-2 hours and that was it.  Beautiful, sunny days in the 80s, a little breezy and fishing was very good.  Monday we saw one generator come on at 6:00 a.m. and by 1:00 p.m. two generators, at 2:00 three generators and by 3:00 we had all four.  Turned them off around 8:00 p.m. last night, but we woke up to two generators this morning that came on at midnight.  The projection for today is generation all day.  Looks like we might be having a repeat of last week’s generation pattern.  

 Jim had Mike from the Kansas City area out for half a day yesterday.  They had a good day catching fish on the size 14 Miracle Scud and an orange San Juan dropper.  Mike wanted to do some wading, so they headed down to the Lookout Island where they were able to wade even though we had one generator going when they hit the water.  Meanwhile, Carolyn started out a full day with Ken and Joanna from Kansas up across from the boat ramp.  This was Joanna’s first time with a fly rod so we had some roll casting, mending, line management, hook setting and other stuff to work on.  While working on that, Ken was throwing a holographic green crackleback on a sinking leader and picking a few fish here and there.  After we got Joanna ready, we rigged a Lightening Bug with a red San Juan dropper on Joanna, and Ken with a red midge with a red San Juan dropper (I think…could have been the other way around).  Anyway, these combinations were pretty much the ticket all day.  Joanna picked up fly fishing in a hurry.  Before the day was over, we were both barking "set" and "mend" to poor Ken.   He didn’t have a chance!  Lots of fish and lots of fun.  Joanna loves it!

Joanna’s first on fly rod – 8/24/09	Ken – 8/24/09

Sunny day in the 80s.  Corps followed their projection on generation.  No generators until 4:00 p.m. when they ran one for little over one hour, then turned it off.  Fish hitting on almost everything you threw.  Slight breeze….not really slight, downright gusty.  Otherwise, everything was perfect.  Projection is for a repeat of yesterday.  Generator scheduled to come on at 5:00 p.m. today for an hour or so, temps to be in the 80s and the sun is shining.  Projection for tomorrow is more of the same except a little more generation to come on at 2:00 p.m. for most of the afternoon.

Darrell on the water yesterday with Jeff and his son, Nate, from Arkansas.  They had a very good half day on the P&P, Bug Ugly and the Pink Glitter midge.   They pretty much stayed in the Rockin Chair area as fishing was so good.

Nate – 8/21/09	Jeff – 8/21/09

Carolyn on the water for a few hours in the afternoon with a family, father, two sons and his daughter.  They were taking the full day fly fishing clinic.  After the morning session of learning knots, equipment, and a little on bugs, the afternoon was spent at the water working on the roll cast, pickup and lay down cast, line management, and playing fish!  When we finally got to the fishing part, we caught fish on every pattern we threw, the size 16 miracle scud, the ruby midge, P&P midge, and the burgundy midge…..even caught some stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Horn went off at 4:00 p.m. (as projected) so the two boys rigged up for the rise and caught a few on the red San Juan.  Great day on the water except for the heavy breeze. 

Beautiful day yesterday.  Sun shining with temperatures in the mid 80s.  Generation was a low two generators all day which kept the level between 704 to 705 ranges.  Projections for both weather and generation are good for the weekend.  Sunny, no rain, temperatures still in the 80s, and no generation Saturday or Sunday except for an hour or two late in the afternoon around 4:00.  What more could you ask for?   Oh…..Good fishing?! 

Stan on the water yesterday for a while with one of our shuttlers, Pete.  They were drifting the red tungsten beadhead midge, size 16, with a red San Juan worm dropper and did well on this combo.  They stopped a couple places along the way to strip some patterns in seams, and picked fish on the bug-eyed bugger and holographic green crackleback.   I slipped out of the shop for a couple hours to get my "fix".  Dropped the boat into the water, rowed over the seam on the bank opposite the boat ramp and started my day off great.  Dropped a Fl. Orange San Juan worm off a size 16 Lightening Bug and caught fish along this bank before drifting on down.  This combo worked all the way down to the Lookout Island where I changed out to the sinking leader to see if I could pick something up on a streamer pattern.  Tried the black wooly, olive wooly and got a couple hits on the golden variant sculpin.  One of our customers, Dale, came up the river in hit boat and settled down to do the same thing just a little distance below my boat.   Between the two of us we went through several patterns pretty quickly.  I tied on the holographic crackleback and it only took a couple casts before I started getting fish or hits.  As I was rowing away, Dale was tying on a crackleback.  Beautiful day on the water!