Sorry to say water is still generating 24/7.  Both yesterday and today, they have been fluctuating it a lot….from almost 11,000 cfs down to 3,500 cfs.  That will confuse the fish!  Table Rock has leveled off at 917.8 feet.  All we can hope is that we get no more rain for a while.

Stan managed to get on the water Saturday with Kristie and Rick from Missouri.  Rick is having a drift boat built in Colorado and he not only wanted to hook a few fish, but learn how to handle a drift boat.  They did manage to accomplish both in their half day outting.  The red midge, size 16, Primrose and Pearl, size 18 and size 12 olive filoplume were their flies of the day.  Jim was on the water Monday with Marvin from Indiana, and Richard (formerly from Indiana) from Kansas.  They are new to the sport and wanted to learn as much as they could and catch some fish.  Again, it was a successful day.  They brought in fish on the size 16 red midge, size 20 black midge and red San Juan worm.  Said they learned a lot and hope to come back.

"Thank you" everyone who helped us celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary!  And, thanks to those who could not attend but sent us cards and notes!  We had a wonder day of casting, tying and eating hot dogs!  What a great celebration! 

Winners of the Grand Prize Drawings were:

Helios 8’5", 5 weight 4-piece rod – Fritz Oeser from Springfield, MO

1/2 Day Float for Two – Kirk Sloan from Branson, MO

Fishpong Vest – Kyle Smerek from Dardenne Prairie, MO

Generating non-stop for the past five days now.  If we get more rain, you can probably expect to see that pattern continue for a while.  What more can I say.

Darrell has a couple guys from Mississippi out Tuesday and Wednesday, Lee and his father, Ronnie.  Didn’t tear the fish up, but they each boated some fish.  Ronnie said "is was the best time he had had in his life".  He then corrected it to "is was the best time he had had in his life…since the day he got married".  Their best flies were the olive filoplume and the red midge.

Stan was out with Bud and his son, Scott, from Arkansas.  They had a pretty good day on the new hot pink glitter midge and the size 12 olive wooly bugger. 

CELEBRATION TOMORROW – APRIL 18.  LOTS OF STUFF GOING ON, RAIN OR SHINE – GOT A BIG TENT.  GREAT DRAWINGS, SUPER HOT DOGS, LOTS OF PRODUCT REPS.  SEE YOU HERE!!

10 YEAR CELEBRATION IS ALMOST HERE!  HOPE YOU WILL COME AND HELP US CELEBRATE. 

With the rain we received over the weekend, the water in Table Rock Lake came up about a foot.  You know what that means…..water generation.  Table Rock is at 916.8 as of this morning.  They have run three generators non-stop since Monday morning at 6:00 a.m.  I expect we will see that pattern until the level get close to 915.0 again. 

Boats on the water Sunday, Monday and yesterday.  Sunday, Dana had brave 12 year-old Gage from Texas on the water.  This guy wanted to fish!  They hooked up with several fish, including a real nice one that jumped out of the water and spit the fly back at Gage and took off.  Peach egg and red midge were their flies.  Monday Darrell was out with Gene from OK and Stan was out with Mike from IA.  Pretty good day on the red San Juan, olive filoplume and the bugged-eyed bugger for all of these guys.  Yesterday Carolyn was working with Buddy who lives in Branson.  He took the two-day school and yesterday was his day to apply what he had learned.  Worked on casting and different setups in the morning, found a lot of fish laying in a nice calm hole and coaxed a few out of there, but caught most of our fish in the afternoon (when we really got serious) on the red tungsten midge and a new glitter thread hot pink midge we are experimenting with.  Stan had a couple guys, Richard from TX and Jim from NY out.  Think this is their second time fly fishing.  They did well on the red size 16 midge, size 14 miracle scud, size 16 olive wooly bugger under a sink tip.

Slight change in generation pattern this week, but not enough to help out the waders, unless you are a night owl!  Turned off the water at mid-night Tuesday and left it off until 5:30 a.m. and have followed this same pattern every day since.  At least three generators going the balance of each day. 

Three boats on the water Wednesday and they all said it was a tough day but everyone did manage to boat several fish, and a few nice ones!.  Since this was the first time they had shut down the water for over a week, when they started back up in the morning, the water was muddy most of the morning and the wind was doing it part to make casting a challenge.  Dana had Huston and Raymond from Florida out.  This is the third time Huston has fished with us and he keeps coming back!  Their best flies were the Fl. Orange and Fl. Pink San Juan worms (dirty water) and a peach egg.  Jim had Jay and Patrice from Michigan.  This couple took our two-day school four years ago.  Little rusty on the hook sets since they don’t get much practice.  Best flies were the Fl. Orange San Juan, Miracle Scud and Red midge.  Stan had Curt and his father, Mike, out for the day.  They try to get together every year and spend a day on the water together.  Best flies were the red midge and size 16 olive wooly bugger.

Pretty nice Rainbow Curt!

Well, we have had three generators going for well over a week now.  The Corps has maintained a fairly stable pattern of three generators with an average 9700 cfs and tailwater level of 709.0.  We hit a level in Table Rock Lake of 916.2 this morning. 

Stan on the water Saturday.  It was a pretty day, EXCEPT for the WIND!  One did not have to cast your fly line if the wind was blowing in the right direction.  Just hold your fly rod in the air and let the line blow straight out to your target.  Unfortunately, it was never blowing in the right direction!  Despite the wind, Eric and his father-in-law, Tony, from the St. Charles, MO, had a fun day.  They are both new fly fishers and this was definitely some of the worst conditions under which to learn.  They landed some fish and "pick and rolled" a lot.  Think the wind was blowing the flies out of the fishes mouths before they could get a good hook set.  LOL   Their best flies were the red size 16 tungsten head midge and a size 16 olive wooly bugger using the sink tip.  Once the guys let the sink tip sink long enough to get down in fairly shallow water, they started getting hits and catching some fish.   I ventured out on my own for a couple hours just to see if the fish were laying up where they should be after these many days of generation.   Sure enough, they are, but it was tough for me to managing a good drift and keep the boat from blowing into something.  Did find some slack water where I could fish a seam and had a few brief moments where the boat stayed where I wanted so I caught enough fish to make me happy.   

The few people fishing up around the Hatchery area have been catching them on the burgundy midge, size 18 and the red size 16 midge.  Of course, they gray scuds are working in this area.

DON’T FORGET APRIL 18!  COME CELEBRATE OUR 10 YEARS WITH US! 

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION – Mark your calendars!  It’s almost time.  APRIL 18, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  Hourly drawings, grand door prize (could it be a new rod?), product representatives, guides, fly tying, and much more.  OH!  Can’t forget the hot dogs!   Hope we see you!

Good news about the generation is that is has been consistent for the past week.  Very little deviation in the amount.  Level has remainded almost the same at 708.9.  If you have access to a boat, this is good because the fish will start laying up in more predictible places and staying there.  When the water level goes up and down a lot, the fish are in and out of locations and stay no where in particular. 

Had a father and son stay in the cabins early this past week.  They did catch some fish at the hatchery area and had a great time together.  They were catching them on the burgundy midge and had good luck late in the day.

Stan was on the water yesterday with a couple of MN., Nancy and Kirby.  Nancy is a seasoned fly fisher, but Kirby is pretty new.  He did have a good despite the 2 generators keeping Taneycomo at a level hovering around 707′  Most of the fish were caught on the red midge, but Stan also got him into some fish on the size 16 olive wooly bugger on a sink tip.

10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION – Mark your calendars!  It’s almost time.  APRIL 18, 2009 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  Hourly drawings, grand door prize (could it be a new rod?), product representatives, guides, fly tying, and much more.  OH!  Can’t forget the hot dogs!   Hope we see you!

LADIES – Again this year, we are offering the full day fly fishing clinics.  April 25, 2009 is the date for the first Women’s Fly Fishing Clinic.  Sign up now!  May 23, 2009 will be an Open Fly Fishing Clinic for both men and women.  This clinic is filling up, so if you are interested in this date, call soon!  417-332-0460  More information on the clinics can be found on our website under Fly Fishing Schools/Fly Tying Classes

With the rain we had last week and continuing off and on this past week, Table Rock Lake has creeped up to 915.3 and Beaver is up to 1121.0   This translates to generation!  They have shut Table Rock down for 4-6 hours late at night the past three nights, but we are seeing at least two generators during the day and several days have had the equivalent of three.

Despite the fluctuating water this past Monday, Darrell and his regulars, Ole and Marion, had a good day out of the drift boat on the red size 16 tungsten beadhead midge and a red worm.  They are ready to come back in May and again in October! 

Three boats out Wednesday, and what a pretty day it turned out to be!  Best day of the week as far as the weather was concerned and fishing turned out to be pretty good too!  Jim had a couple brand new guys from Texas, Billy and his brother Jim.  Bet this boat had some confusing conversations for a while….Jim…Jim!  The guys learned a lot and caught some fish.  Jim had them wading at the Lookout Island.  Fortunately, the water fluctuated that day between 705 and 706, which is low enough to allow wading in some areas.  I had Mike and Trish, also from Texas on the water.  We were anchored up a little down from Jim and I could see the guys were casting pretty good but heard a lot of "hook em", "hook em" coming from Jim.  Think the hook sets were still a little behind!  Mike and Trish, especially Trish, had a wonder day on the holographic green crackleback and the olive filoplume.  We would use the sinking leaders when the fish were not coming up and then switch back to regular leaders just under the surface when the fish started ‘popping’.  Caught a few fish on the bank just above the boat ramp on the red size 16 tungsten midge earlier in the day.  Stan was out with Martin and David.  These guys are from Independence, MO.  David is brand new and Martin has some experience.  Most of their fish were caught on the red size 16 tungsten beadhead midge.  They did get lots of hits and a few fish on the olive wooly bugger, size 16, and the olive filoplume.

Thursday, Jim was out with Gary from WI.   Gary just travels around for several weeks until the weather warms back up in WI.  He decided to taike a 400 mile detour on his way home to stop by and firh with Jim.  Their flies for the day were….yep!  the red tungsten beadhead midge, the black midge and a gray scud.  Gary stayed on one of the cabins and said they were very nice!  Wants to bring his wife back with him next time.

Stan was out Friday with Dan and Drew from Liberty, MO.  Both are brand new!  Tough day to learn how to fly fish!  Wind blowing and water almost as high as it could get at 710.2.  Guys had a very good day on the red midge, caught fish and learn a lot!!  Welcome to the world of fly fishing Dan and Drew!

Crazy water and weather the past four days.  Ran various levels of water all day Thursday until 11:00 a.m. Friday morning.  Off the balance of Friday. The equivalent of one generator running Saturday morning until 8:00 a.m.  No generation until 7:00 p.m.  Sunday morning the equivalent of one generator running until 8:00 a.m.   Weather warm, every day except yesterday when it was drizzling or outright raining and the temperatures did not get much above 50 degrees.  Bone chilling with the temps and rain.  Friday was windy!  Temperatures were great, but one of the drift boats called in to see if we had any surf boards as the waves were almost high enough for a good surf run.  Today was a warm day in the 70s with a bit of wind. 

Thursday Stan had a bass fisherman from Florida on the water all day.  Jim wanted to try his hand at fly fishing!  He got some fish to the boat on the P&P and the Bug Eyed Bugger.  Lots of hits, but a little slow on the draw most of the time.  Great guy and fun to be on the water with.

Jim had Dan and Tim on the water Friday and Saturday.  Found out that Dan lived three houses from Stan and Carolyn in Stilwell, Kansas for several years!  The guys had a couple good days with the black midge, 18 and smaller and gray scud, 16.  Gina was wading the Rocking Chair area Saturday with Reese and Landon from Oklahoma.  Their father, Tad, wanted to get the guys started on the right foot with a little instruction.  Landon is 12 and Reece is 10.  They were getting hits on the black and olive midges.  Tad, watching and fishing from the sidelines was catching fish on the black soft hackle, size 20.  Once Reece started getting hits on the soft hackle, he stopped watching the fish circling his feet and forgot he was cold.  Great couple of young men.  As Gina said, "nothing like helping a kid land his first trout….made my day!"

Darrell was fortunate enough to get Malcomb and Dr. Dan from the St. Louis area on Saturday.  Malcomb is noted for his serenading on the water.  Despite the cold, windy, rainy day, they caught lots of fish on the olive filoplume, size 12, black zebra and P&P midges, 18.  The Rocking Chair area fished best for them, then past the Pointe area, the shallow edge of the old river channel

Jim had Morgan and Larry on the water.  These regulars been going out with Jim forever.  Great couple of guys.  Morgan did some serious damage to his right hand with a circular saw about a year and half ago, so Jim has been working with him to turn him into a southpaw (left hand is the only right way).  Glad to say, Morgan is doing well with it.  They landed several fish before they decided it was too cold and came off the water early.  Cruised right by the fly shop on their way in and straight up to Dana’s hamburger shop to eat lunch.  Best flies were the black midge, 18 and smaller and gray size 16 scud. 

Dana was also on the water Saturday with Steve and Bo from Texas.  Steve is just getting started and Bo has done some fly fishing.  Steve was throwing a pretty good line by the end of the 1/2 day trip.  Best fly was the black zebra midge with a shuck. 

Sunday was sunny, warm and still windy.  Dana on the water with Max and his 10 year old nephew, Andrew.  Andrew got the first hit, but didn’t manage to bring it in.  Their bugs were the P&P and the olive filoplume.  Andrew was going back home to talk his father into coming back and taking him fishing again.  Think he likes it!

During the week, most of the folks coming into the shop were doing well in the Hatchery Area on small gray scuds, as small as 20s.