So far this week, we have seen generation most of each day.  Monday it came on at 5:00 a.m. and did not go off until Tuesday evening at 10:00 p.m.  Back on Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. and only off for less than an hour around 9:00 a.m.  Projection is for some level of generation all day today.  The rain we had over night raised Table Rock  by 2/10s of a foot since midnight.  Good news is the sun should be out all weekend.  Let’s hope the generators give us a break!

Three boats on the water Tuesday.  The generation flow was a bit erratic that day and they had to look and work for their fish.  Darrell had Earl from the St. Louis area out for half a day.  Earl had a good time and caught some fish on the crackleback and black midge.  Stan was with Sam from Idaho.  This guys fishes a lot and all over the place.  Their best patterns were an olive wooly under a sink tip, and red and black midges.  Jim was out with Al from Arkansas.  Al is fairly new at fly fishing so they work on techniques and casting.  Did catch some fish on the red midge, orange San Juan and a black/brown bugger.

Wednesday was more of the same generation wise and fishing.  Stan and Dana had two brothers, Brian and Chuck, and Brian’s son, Dustin, out all day.  These guys come here from Minnesota at least once a year and have been for several years.  Dustin caught his first Taneycomo trout on a fly rod this time (which he did not want to touch).   Best patterns were the red midge, red or pink San Juan dropper, the ruby midge and one of Brian’s red midges. 

Brian – 8/19/09	Dustin – 8/19/09

Last week’s generation pattern was pretty stable.  You could count on no generation in the mornings until at least noon, then on for most of the afternoon and off by 7:00-8:00 p.m.  they did turn the water on early Saturday…noon, and Sunday it came on at 2:00 p.m.  However, water came on at 5:00 a.m. and has not been shut down yet.  The projection is for water to be on until 8:00 p.m. today.  We shall see.  Weather has been nice.  Upper 80’s to lower 90’s.  Cold front coming through today which should keep the temperatures in the upper 80’s for the latter part of the week.  We do have chances for scattered showers today and tomorrow.

Jim had Daniel and Phil, from Oklahoma on the water Saturday.  These guys wanted to work on skills and catch some fish…which they did.  They caught fish on the size 16 Miracle Scud, size 18 gray scud and the size 12 Bug-Eyed bugger.  Think most of their fishing was near or at the Lookout Island.  Dana has Chris and his son Drew out for half a day.  Think they had more fish on they they got to the boat.  They were throwing an olive wooly bugger, red San Juan and Pink San Juan when the water came on.  Meanwhile, Darrell and Stan were out with our Louisiana fly fishing family, Dawn, James Albert and Albert.  Good day on the golden variant sculpin, pink or red San Juan worms and Ruby midge.  Dawn had a VERY nice one on for a little while, when it cleared the water and sent her fly right back to her.  That’s fishing! 

Fishing has been pretty good.  Some mornings have been slow, especially with the fog on the water.  Got to keep looking for the fish if you don’t get into them.  The fish seem to be podded up so you need to move around to find them.  Fish are a little spooky on some days too.  If they are looking at your fly and don’t take, try going down a size in tippet.  We have found 6X has been working great most days, but on "those" days, we drop to 7X.  They have also been a little line weary.  Try not to line slap on the water with your fly line, and definitely don’t cast right at the fish….cast upstream a little and drift into them. 

This morning was an exception to the foggy mornings we have been having.  Came over the dam at 7:15 a.m. and not a bit of fog on the water.  First morning for a long time.  If we keep having cool nights and mornings, we will probably start seeing less fog in the a.m.  Generators have been coming on pretty consistently by noon or 1:00 p.m. every day including today, Saturday.

Gotta fix an "oops" from last week.  Jonathan and Jordan had fished with Gina on Wednesday and I posted their information shortly after this trip.  I did not have pictures of their trip at that time.  Anyway, sorry I got the cart before the horse.  

Jordan’s first fish – 8/5/09	Jonathan – 8/509

 Wednesday, Stan, Darrell and Jim were out for half a day with another group from Texas.  Stan had Rick and Taylor, who caught fish on the Black Midge with the copper head early in the day, then the P&P and Ruby and Burgundy midges later in the day.  Darrell had Rick and Chase and they too, did best on the black Midge with the copper head early then the P&P midge.  Jim’s guys, Rich and Davis, caught their fish on the P&P, size 16 miracle scud and the black midge. 

Thursday was "Kacklecraft" day.  Carolyn on the water for half day with Joanna and Wanda.  Joanna started catching fish on the black ant dry and everything went down hill from there.  Tears were flowing from laughing so much.  These two ladies are very good casters and could put their flies right up near the bank where the fish were waiting.  We had a good, fun day on the Ruby midge, black ant and a size 22 black spotlight midge emerger.   As soon as the horn went off, we switched out to the beadhead size 16 red midge with the hot pink dropper for Wanda and she proceded to catch more fish, including one beautiful 17-1/2" Rainbow. 

Friday Stan had a full day with Doc and a friend of his Barb out all day.  Doc is Stan’s very first customer and always tries to get on the water with him several times a year.  This was Barb’s first exposure to fly fishing and she had a blast.  They had a very good day on the P&P midge dropped under the Red Tunghead Midge and the holographic green crackleback using the sink tip.   Jim had Jim from Wildwood, Missouri on the water for half day.  Jim wanted to improve his skills and learn more about fly fishing.  They worked on skills and caught fish on the size 16 miracle scud, with a blood worm or size 18 gray scud dropper. 

With the rain that blew in, and I mean blew in, Monday, the weather has been very pleasant.  Days are in the mid to upper 80s and supposed to go back into the 90s over the weekend.  Mornings have been very foggy on the river and it has been hanging around until 9:00 a.m. or better.  Generation has been pretty much according to the projections; starting as early as noon, but generally 1:00 p.m. or an hour or two later and running until 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. 

Monday Carolyn was on the water again with Nicole and her grandfather Jim from Arkansas.  Nicole is now 12 and loves to fly fish.  We had a fun half day catching fish on the Primrose & Pearl midge and a holographic red midge that we have been playing with for a while.  Not sure yet if it is going to be a regular pattern, but it certainly did the job on Monday.  She did a great job of playing and bringing in her fish on the 7X tippet.   Had Jim on a 6X tippet and he caught almost as many fish as Nicole so I don’t think the tippet size was a major factor that day.   Certainly has been on other days.  Catching was slow in the early part of the morning with the fog on the water. 

Nicole – 8/10/09

Which is larger?  Her smile or the fish?!

Tuesday, Dana had Kelly and Ann from Oklahoma out for their first try at fly fishing.  They had so much fun, they called and booked another trip for today.  They are on the water again today for half day to catch some more fish.  Their best patterns yesterday were the copper dun, size 18 midge and a red San Juan worm.  Stan, Darrell, and Jim were all on the water for a full day with a family from Texas.  At least most of them are from Texas.  Believe Layne is from Washington.  Stan had Layne and Joe, Jim had Larry, and Darrell had Josh and Ryan.  Pretty foggy when they got on the water, but the fish were coming up so Darrell and Stan started their groups out with dries.  The Big Ugly with a size 14 Hi-Vis Beatle seemed to hit the spot.  Once they stopped hitting these, they used the Big Ugly for an indicator and hooked fish on the red or black size 18 midges.  With the water rise after lunch, it was the red midge and red San Juan worm. 

Ketchup time!  Generation pattern pretty consistent this past week.  Off in the mornings and then coming on anywhere from noon to 2:00 p.m.  Off over the weekend again except for a short period of time in the late afternoon around 5:00 p.m.  Weather hot and muggy most days. 

Last Tuesday was like home week for Jim.  He had Frank and Dean from Michigan out for a full day.  Slow start that day with the water low and fish were taking very softly.  Picked up well during water rise when the generators came on.  The size 12 Bug Eye Sculpin did very well during the rise.  Low water they fished the size 16 miracle scud, size 18 brown scud and the size 18 P&P.  Tuesday and then again on Friday, Gine had Jonathan and his 9-1/2 year old son, Jordon, out for a couple half days.  They came to visit Branson all the way from Conneticutt.  Tuesday was their first fly fishing experience and Jordan landed his first trout on a fly rod.  Both were very fast learners.  Jordan is like a sponge and can repeat back to you everything regarding the live cycles of bugs and about and all about the scuds and sowbugs.  He even captured a sculpin for us to put in the shop.  Fun day on the water.  Their best flies were the P&P and burgundy midges and Jonathan experienced a hook up on an orange crackleback. 

Wednesday Stan had Tom and his grandson, Zack out for half day.  They really messed with the water that day.  Turned it on at 8:00 a.m. for a while, then on, then back on.  Even with all this water fluctuation, it they had a very good day on the P&P, Rusty and Burgundy midges. 

Thursday, Jim and one of his regular regulars, Bud hit the water to work on a new technique.  Went out to work on dries, but the first were not real cooperative on any dry patterns.  Worked a bit on technique then got down to business with the P&P midge, blood worm and orange San Juan. 

Darrell on the water Friday with new fly fishers, Chris and Maggie from Georgia.  Learned the basics and boated a few fish on the P&P.  Had a good time.

Not Chris! – 08/07/09	Maggie – 08/07/09

Friday was a busy day.  Dana out with Jeff from Arkansas.  They had a good day on the olive wooly bugger, olive midge and red San Juan.  Meanwhile, Gina and Carolyn had a family of five out wading.  Katelyn and her father Glen are from Kansas and Kolby, Tanner and Mike are from northern Missouri….Rushville, to be exact.  

Kaylyn & Glenn – 8/8/09	Tanner – 8/8/09

What a fun time.  Everyone learned to roll cast, and a couple even started throwing a pretty good regular cast.  We all still have a ways to go but they are off to a good start.  Best of all, they all had a good time and caught some fish.  Katelyn developed a killer technique for stripping back the olive wooly bugger and caught several fish this way.  Other patterns were the holographic crackleback and golden variant sculpin.  And drifting on down the river Friday was Jim with his guests, Dave and Karen from Illinois.  They had a good day on the olive midge, blood worm and brown size 16 scud. 

 Saturday Jim had Jim and his son Nick out for half day.  They are from Ballwin, MO.  Pretty good day on the olive midge, blood worm and size 16 olive scud.  Soft takes when the water was low, but midging was okay.

Weather projection through the weekend is for hot, humid, mostly clear days.  Slight chances of pop up showers, but mostly to the north and northeast of us.  Water generation so far this week has been to come on at 2:00 p.m. and that is the projection again for today.  Two generators on to start followed by two within the hour. 

Jim came in Sunday after I had posted the fishing reports.  He had John and Charlene out again, from Carl Junction, MO.  Both are pretty new at this (might be their second time), so they worked on casting, line management and hook sets for a while.  Boated several fish on the gray and olive browns scuds.  Think Charlene is into fly fishing for the long haul.  She came back and purchased the Temple Fork Casting for Recovery rod, a reel and some fly line….looks serious. 

Stan was out yesterday with Norman from Indiana.  He used to fly fish and decided he wanted to get back into it again.  And that he did.  They had a good half-day outting on the rusty and P&P midges.  

Norman – 8/3/09

Meanwhile, I sneaked away from the shop to fish for 2-3 hours.  Wonderful day….just being in the water.  Did have a very good day on the P&P midge.  Very few things did not work for me.  Fished the black wooly, olive wooly, and the crackleback all under the sinking leader.  These all worked, especially the black wooly.  Water was a little dingy when I first got out.  Once the water cleared and the sun came out, P&P was hot! 

Just heard on the news last night that we have had the coolest July on record.  Can’t believe it is such a beautiful day for August either!.  Yesterday we had a pretty good downpour in the morning and it just plain cooled down right before the rain came through. 

Ran a couple generators Thursday from 7:00 a.m. until midnight.  Friday, generators came on at 2:00 p.m. until 10:00 p.m.  Saturday it only came on for one hour at 5:00 p.m. and that is the projection for this afternoon. 

It has been a slow 2-3 three days catching on the river.  This coupled with the soft takes, spastic water generation, and heavy fog some mornings.  Darrell on the water with Larry and Callie from Texas Thursday.  This was a "quickie".  Got to the shop at 1:30 p.m. and had to be back by 5:00 p.m.  Did get several fish to the boat in the time they "drifted through" on a gray scud and holographic green crackleback.  Jim out with one of his regulars, Carl from Arkansas.  They were on the water in the morning in the rain and heavy fog.  They also got a few fish to the boat but were using an orange San Juan dropped from either the red midge or gray scud. 

Friday Dana had Conlen and Ethan from Texas out.  Lots of looks but few fish.  The ones they brought to the boat were on the Rusty and P&P midges.  Meanwhile, Jim had Kevin, and his two sons, Jake and John on an instructional wade trip.  This group from Texas wanted to learn how to fly fish.  Learned lots and caught some fish on the size 16 miracle scud, and a size 18 osterich bug.  Did get in one nice 18" Rainbow. 

Carolyn hit the water yesterday with Keith and Eric from Oklahoma.  The sky opened up on us and we decided we didn’t want to get as wet as the fish so we rolled everything up and called it a day.  We hit the water today and decided it was a good decision.  Fishing today was very good.  First fish out of the chute for Eric was a nice 17-1/2" fat Rainbow.  He then caught a 17" Rainbow and just nice, fat fish most of the morning.  Keith caught several nice sized fish too, but he couldn’t top Eric in size.  They did have at least two doubles.  What a difference a day makes!  Most of our fish were caught on the Primrose & Pearl midge, and the olive wooly bugger under a sink tip.  We worked on casting today and adding a new skill of stripping patterns under a sink tip leader.  Also caught a few on the golden variant sculpin, holographic green crackleback.  Keith thinks stripping is now his favorite method for fishing. 

Eric – 8/2/09

Don’t know why, but they started generating water yesterday at 8:00 a.m. and today they must have started at 7:00 a.m. even though the schedule says  generation for today will start at 10:00 a.m.  Ahh…..life in a tailwater!  Still experiencing nice weather.  We do have a possibility of showers today. 

Jim on the water for a late afternoon half day Tuesday with Jon from Oklahoma.  They threw some sculpin buggers, the red midge, size 12 miracle scud and size 16 gray scud dropper.  Water was rising by the time they got on the water Tuesday as that was one of the days when generation started at noon.  Boated several fish including a nice 17 incher.  Seems as if we are seeing quite a few in this size during our trips.

Yesterday Jim had two brand new fly fishers (now), Candy and John, from Richland, MO.  She loves fly fishing.  She hooked several, broke off several, picked and rolled several, but John brought all the fish into the boat.  Best flies were the size 14 miracle scud with a size 18 gray scud dropper.  Keep working at it Candy!

Unseasonally nice weather.  Temps in the upper 80s and low to mid 90s.  Not normaly in July.  Over the weekendagain we had good wading most of the day.  So far this week, water has been off until noon or so during the day then off late at night.

Stan the man, out with another Stan on Sunday.  Stan is from NC and as coincidence would have it, he too had spent some time the the U.S. Coast Guard.  Of course, the the Stans had lots to talk about during their full day trip.  Good day on the water for the Stans using the P&P midge and pink San Juan worm.  Carolyn was standing in the water fishing in the morning when her phone rang and Shannon inquired if she could take Chad out for half a day to help him learn more about fishing Taneycomo and work on casting and presentation.  Of course! she replied, but had to catch one more fish before leaving the water.  The sinking leader with the black wooly bugger was doing a great job at the Rockin Chair area.  Chad, who is from Branson, and Carolyn hit the water around 1:00 p.m.  Worked on casting for a while, then getting a good drift.  Shortly after 2:00 p.m. the horn sounded, so we rigged up for the rise.  Red San Juan, #1 shot and set our indicator to about 5-1/2 ft.  Fast drifts and lots of mending, but Chad hook several fish this way and brought in a few.  Since the water came up pretty fast, it was boat time.  Drifted down to the Lookout Island and caught a few more on the way.  Now for some more work on sink tip and stripping in the seams created by the water rise and break of the island.  Cross current casts where the fish were taking many times on the swing at the end of the drift.  Good day on the black or olive wooly buggers, holographic green and blondie cracklebacks, red midge and red San Juan.  End of the day, casting look great and we now have a few more ways to present a fly.

Forgot I had pictures of Gina and Carolyn on their girls day out last Thursday.  Caught and saw some nice fish!                               Gina

Carolyn – 7/23/09

Monday, Darrell was out with John and Rick from Columbia.  Good half day trip on the Black zebra midge with a copper head and the copper dun.  Think he was using the Big Ugly for an indicator, especially in the shallow water.  John and Rick spend the night before the trip in one of our cabins, the Mayfly.  Had a good trip and a good time.  

John – 7/27/09	Rick – 7/27/09

Stan out with Rob and Glenn from PA.  Liked our water and the fishing.  Caught most of their fish on the P&P and red midges, and a black wooly bugger under a sinking tip line.  Fished a little slow in the a.m. until the fog burned off.  They also liked the brocolli salad we serve for lunch! 

Fall Fly Fishing Clinics scheduled September 12 and October 10.  Call 417-332-0460 to register for one of the one-day clinics.  More information under Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Classes

Water off this morning and scheduled to be off tomorrow.  Did turn the water on yesterday around 10:00 a.m.  Ramped it up to all four by 2:00 p.m.

Jim and Carolyn had a fun day on the water yesterday.  William and his two sons Zachary, who is 15, and Cory, who is 13, finished the second day of their two-day fly fishing school.  It was great to see how they supported each other, cheered each other on when they were casting or playing a fish.  All of them have been quick learners and want to learn more.  Everyone hooked or caught fish on the red midge, Lightening Bug, or San Juan worm.  Before the day was over, we also had them throwing Bug-Eyes and Wooly Buggers with good success.  Olive worked up until about 1:00 p.m. then we had to switch to black.  Good day of learning, catching, and enjoying some beautiful weather.