Other than Monday and Tuesday, we have had very little morning wading time on the water.  Had a good rain…or bad….depends on your perspective, rain almost day Tuesday.  Lots of water, but had minimal affect on the water level.  However, they have been running water pretty steadily since.  Projection for today is that one generator will come on around 10:00 a.m., ramp up to two by noon then up to four.  Certain we will see water this morning.

Just pulled up the projection for tomorrow (it is 5:00 p.m. Friday, 7/24) and the projection is for it to be off all day except for a couple hours around 5:00 p.m.

On the water Monday with "The Stripper"  Slow day.  We were determined to only strip, of course!  Did catch a few this way, picked and rolled a few and definitely missed a few.  Most everyone else we saw were drifting egg patterns, midges, scuds and catching a few every once in a while.  It was not a bang up day. 

Jim on the water Tuesday with Jim and Phil from Kansas.  They caught a few fish and decided the downpour was for ducks so they came off early.  Stan out with John from Kentucky.  John is a die hard fly fisher.  They came off after the half day plus was over and had a good, wet day on the water.  John decided you should wear your rain jacket out over your waters…..not tucked into them.  At little wet in there John?  They did best on the red tunghead midge with the pink San Juan worm dropper. 

Wednesday Jim, Jim and Phil tried it again.  What a beautiful day!  Fishing was good too.  They landed several fish on the size 14 Miracle Scud, red midge and size 12 Bug-Eyed Bugger. 

Yesterday Stan had Jim and Phil on the water again.  Another pretty day.  He worked them with the sink tip line and the olive size 12 filoplume and black Bugt-Eyed Bugger.  Gina and Carolyn took a play day.  They started out just below where Rockin Chair comes in with two generators going.  Lots of fish on that bank and all the way down to across from the boat ramp.  We played up and down the river all day.  Best set up of the day, I think we finally agreed, was the size 16 Lightening Bug with a micro pink San Juan worm dropper.  We caught them on about 10-12 other patterns we tried, but this was the most consistent.  Fun day, lots of nice fish, one 19 incher and lots in the 15-16 inch range.  Best thing of the day, we saw LOTS of fish.  More fish than we have seen in a long time.

GO FISHING! 

What a gorgeous weekend.  BUT, they ran water almost all day both Saturday and Sunday.  Projection for Monday is water off until noon, when they will start out with two generators and ramp up to all four.  May get some wade time this morning.

Stan and Darrell had a group on the water Friday.  Duane, David, Caleb and Randy, from North Carolina, were all new to fly fishing.  Got off to a slow start in the morning with the water low, but that was okay as they needed to learn the basics.  Once the water came on, so did the fish.  Boated fish on the miracle scud, red San Juan and the red midge. 

Duane – 7/17/09

Saturday Darrell was out with Don and Linda from Salem, MO.  This was a refresher trip for Don as he is getting back into fly fishing since he plans to retire in 17 months…but who is counting…and wanted to start fly fishing again.  And he is going to do it all, as he bought everything he needed to tie all the flies he fished plus some when they came back to the shop.  Most productive flies were the red midge and pink San Juan worm as the water had come on. 

Linda, really – 7/18/09	Don – 7/18/09

Linda, Darrell apologizes for cutting off your head.  He is a better guide than photographer!

Sunday was a floatilla.  Jim, Darrell and Dana had a group of five guys and one gal.  Several of them are professional golfers and they were in town playing golf and having a good time.  Darin, Julie, Mitchell, Jade, Doyle, and John tried their hand at fly fishing.  A few of them had tried it before, but most were new to the sport.  With the water off for a little while in the morning, they were able to get out and wade a little, learned a lot and caught some fish.  Darrell’s boat did best on the holographic green crackleback and gray scud.  Dana’s guys caught them on the red San Juan worm, and Jim’s group used the miracle scud, gray scud and bug-eyed bugger.    Gina was also on the water.  She had Brad and Dalton from Louisiana.  This was Dalton’s first time fly fishing and he’s a quick learner.  Their best patterns were the black wooly bugger and olive/brown scud.  Caught fish, but it was a bit slow, especially in the morning.

We are still getting lots of wading time in the mornings.  Yesterday, generation started at 1:00 p.m.  That start or later every day this week.  Weekends have seen water off almost all day with a little generation in the late afternoon, say around 5:00 p.m. for 2-5 hours.  Weather prediction for this weekend is beautiful!  50s to low 60s at night and mid 80s during the day.  No rain in the forecast.  If you don’t go fling a fly rod, at least get out and enjoy the weather!

Stan had Gary from Lenexa, Kansas out yesterday morning on a learning expedition, and they caught some fish too!  Gary is fairly new at fly fishing and wanted to learn more.  They were able to get fish on almost every technique they worked on.  Beetles and a size 20 Adams were their dry flies.  The black and copper dun midges for midging.  Black wooly bugger under a sink tip for streamers, and the dark hackle soft hackle for emergers.  Carolyn had grandfather, Calvin, and grandson CJ, both from Kansas out on a half day fishing/learning trip.  After we went through the basics of roll casting, mending and handling the line, we "picked and rolled" and landed a few fish on the black zebra.  CJ got pretty hot on the black wooly bugger under the sinking leader.  Almost everyone we passed on our drift out was catching a fish on something.   It was a little slow, especially for Taneycomo.  Black pine squirrel, olive filoplume, black midge, holive wooly bugger, were some of the responses I received when I asked folks what they were catching fish on. 

One-day FLY FISHING CLINICS have been scheduled for September 12 and October 10.  These are very good introduction to fly fishing clinics which give you an understanding of equipment selection, leaders, tippet, bugs and all those basic things which make fly fishing more successful.  We also spend a good amount of time working on casting and rigging.  SIGN UP NOW!  More information under Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Classes.

Generation came on a little earlier than projected yesterday, right around noon.  Came on today at 2:00 p.m.  Appears we are  going to continue having wading time each morning into early afternoon for a while.  Also off late at night.

Jim on the water for a half day Sunday with Dwan and Robert, both from Wichita, KS.  Despite the soft takes and picky fish, they had a pretty good day on the bunny scuplin, gray and brown scuds. 

Monday Jim had Steven and Zach from Texas out for half a day.  Brand new fly fishers worked on casting, line management and hook sets.  Good students and boated some fish on gray and olive scuds.  Think they like it.  Darrell and Carolyn had the Louisiana fly fishing family, Albert, Dawn and James Albert out for a short half day….it was supposed to be anyway.  We have tagged Dawn with the name "The Stripper" as that is becomming her favorite way to fish.  She just sat in the drift boat and stripped holographic green cracklebacks most of the time we were out and had a fun time bringing in fish!  She’s the one who had the nice Rainbow on our site a few weeks ago….yep, stripping.  James Albert was on the opposite bank in the drift boat stripping golden variant sculpin patterns on a sink tip.  Caught a nice 17" bow and several others on this fly.  Meanwhile, Albert was in the water a little upstream from us at the Rockin Chair area catching fish on the copper dun midge. 

Albert – 7/13/09	James Albert – 7/13/09

 Generation schedule continues to follow the schedule pretty good within an hour or the projection.  Running every afternoon for 4 to 8 hours.  So, lots of wading time late at night and early in the morning into early afternoon.  Can’t complain much except for the heat.  Creeping back into the 90s during the day.

Darrell had Gary from Oklahoma and his son Eric, from North Carolina, on the water for half days Thursday and Friday.  Did pretty good both days on the Copper Dun midge and the holographic green crackleback.  

Gary – 7/10/09	Eric – 7/10/09

 Stan out Friday with Ned from Maryland.  His brother was following from afar taking pictures of them in action.  Saw some of them and they look really great!  Maybe we’ll have some to put on the site.  Ned had a good day using the Rusty midge and a black wooly on the sinking line. 

Carolyn had Beth, from Oklahoma, out for a short half day Saturday.  The morning storm kept us off the water for a while.  Didn’t want to sit out there with a lightening rod!  Fog stayed on the water almost all morning.  It was so neat and quiet.  The only thing you could hear were the sounds coming from my "Cacklecraft", aka Clackacraft.  At one time all you could see were people’s heads just above the fog line.  Beth boated her largest fish yet, a 17" Rainbow.  We fished the wide area just above the entrance to the Rockin Chair walk in.  Beth had lots of hits on the black wooly bugger on a sinking leader…..but not too many to the boat.  Got the fun of hooking them and playing fhem for a while  Darrell calls these "rodeo" fish.  If you have them on for 8 seconds, it’s a catch….we’ll have to ponder that one for a while.

Beth – 7/11/09

Stan was out Saturday, after the storm, with Kristie and Rick from the St. Louis area.  They too did did well on the black wooly bugger.  They were fishing about 100 yards above Beth and Carolyn.  When the sun came out, the P&P midge worked great and the black wooly just kept on catching. 

One of our customers from Louisiana had a fun day today on black beetles and tan hopper patterns.  Carolyn out throwning the black wooly for a couple hours.  Nice fish are still hitting this pattern pretty streadily.  Caught and missed a good number in a short time….then the water came on.  It will probably be my go to first thing tomorrow.

If anyone lost a spare spool loaded with sinking line inside a neoprene reel cover, we found one on the river last week.  Just give us a call – 417-332-0460  or e-mail – rvrrunoutf@aol.com and identify the type of spool and the brand on the reel case cover and it’s back with it’s owner!

Water off again this morning.  Projection is for a couple generators around 3:00 p.m.  Will probably see them at 2:00 p.m. 

Stan on the water this morning and they were already having a good day on the Rusty Midge.  Some of our regular customers are fishing the Rockin Chair area and doing well on the size 18 dark olive soft hackle.  One other customer said he was doing well on the "green butt" soft hackle.  Also spoke with another customer who has been catching some between outlet 1 and outlet 2 on the south bank with beetles, ants and the black zebra midge under a Bug Ugly.  Maybe we better get out there and do some fishing

We continue to see the water off each morning so you can get out there and wade until 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. during the week, and most all day on the weekends.  Bad news is the weather is starting to warm up again….into the 90s.

Little behind in my updates.  Been busy!  Friday Dana had David from Louisiana out for a full day drift.  Hooked several fish on the rusty midge, olive/brown scud and an olive wooly bugger.  Jim had one of his regulars, Pat from Oklahoma on the water for half a day.  They did well on the P&P midge, blood worm and a size 18 gray scud.  Takes were soft and they missed and lost a lot of fish too. 

Saturday, Dana back on the water with Steve and Anne Marie from Missouri.  They had a fun day on the black and rusty midges and the crackleback.  Anne Marie is fairly new to fly fishing and was definitely holding her own on catching fish.  Meanwhile, Jim, Stan, Darrell, and Carolyn had a bunch of guys from all over who were together for a wedding taking place in the afternoon.  What a party we had before the wedding.   Most of the guys were not fly fishers, so we started with the basics….got them roll casting, mending and hooking up with a few fish before our short morning was over.  Had to get them all out of the water early so they would not be late for the wedding.  Our best fly was the rusty midge.  One of the guys did hook a few on the holographic green crackleback. 

Justin – 7/4/09	Mike (Best Man) – 7/4/09

John – 7/4/09

Monday Jim had Maynard from Ballwin out for half day.  Maynard fishes here every summer, but had never taken a trip with us.  Fished a bit slow at the low water, but picked up considerably on the rise with scuds at Lookout Pointe.  Also fished the copper dun, miracle scud and size 10 Bug-eyed bugger.  Maynard was very happy with his trip, especially the 17 inch Rainbow they boated.  Carolyn had a new young man on the water, Connor, who wanted to learn how to fly fish.  Started him out with the basics too, the roll case, mending, line management, hook set and playing a fish.  We went out again Tuesday morning and all his skills were looking pretty good.  Hooked a few fish on the P&P midge and a peach colored egg pattern.  Connor’s techniques are looking good but his attention to the indicator instead of all the fish in the river need a little polishing up!  This too will improve….nice young man!

Connor – 7/6/09

They continue to pretty much follow the generation projection.  Water on at 2:00-3:00 p.m. for several hours then off for the balance of the night into the next day.  Hopefully, they will follow last weekend’s pattern and have the water off both Saturday and Sunday until late afternoon when they only turned it on low for a couple hours.

Lots of patterns have been working these past few days.  Beetles and the Bug Ugly near the bank have been working for those who want to catch something on top.  Had several of our regular customers using the Big Ugly up near the Hatchery with good success.  Couple other customers came in and they had been doing great on the olive filoplume under a sink tip at the Rockin Chair area.

Yesterday was a Primrose & Pearl (P&P) day.  Stan had Eric and Becky from Kansas out for a long half day.  This is Becky’s second time with a fly rod and she definitely faired quite well this time using the P&P.  She out fished Eric in quality and he out fished her with quantity.  Bottom line, they both had a great day.  Several other folks fishing the Rockin Chair area and below were also doing well with the P&P.  A couple of them even came in and purchase all the materials for tying them so they could whip up their own.  Buggers and cracklebacks are still fishing well.  

Becky – 7/1/09

Generation schedule continues pretty much as projected.  Both Saturday and Sunday water was off except for a couple hours in the late afternoon.  Of course, today they fibbed a little.  Water was not projected to come on until 4:00 p.m.  Guess what.  One generator going at 7:00 a.m.

Sunday Gina was out with Irene and Jill from Independence, Missouri.  Wonderful day for these two fly fishing women.  Not only did they almost get their fill of catching trout, but also caught a 2-3 pound catfish on a filoplume.  Never know what they fly will catch!  They caught trout on the burgundy and P&P midges, the pine squirrel sculpin, and the filoplume.   

Jill – 6/28/09	Irene – 6/28/29

 Monday, Stan was out with Chris from Tennessee.  Chris has been fishing with us off and on since 2005.  They had a wonderful day on the holographic crackleback under the intermediate sink tip line.   This fished well for them at the Rockin Chair area and all the way down through the previously KOA area (now Trophy Run area).  They also boated some fish on the P&P midge.  Darrell had Greg from Festus, Missouri out for half a day.  They did well in the Rockin Chair area and the just below the boat ramp on the P&P midge, black wooly bugger and the filoplume.  Fish both the wooly bugger and filoplume with the sink tip.  Carolyn’s half day took two fishers from Oklahoma, Scott and John to the water.  Scott has been with us before, but John is brand new.  Never would have know it after John got the feel for setting the hook and bring in the trout.  Very good day on the black wooly bugger and the holographic green crackleback.  Also caught some early in the trip on the P&P midge. 

John – 6/29/09	Scott in action – 6/29/09