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! 

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.