Wednesday, Stan squeaked in a 1/2 day float for Greg from Kansas and his nephew Phillip from the St. Louis, Missouri area.  Couple of nice guys who needed a break from their daily grind.  They missed a lot of fish but also caught a lot during the trip on the red size 16 midge with a pink San Juan dropper and the #12 olive wooly bugger.  Only had 3 generators going at 707.5′  Nice float when the wind would lay down. 

In the past 2-1/2 days, the Table Rock Lake level managed to get below 916.  However, think this might be a short-lived level based on all the rain we have been having.  They have also shut the generation down the past 5 nights around midnight and left it off from 3 to 6 hours.  At 2:00 p.m. today, we are still at 915.7 in Table Rock and they are currently running all four generators.  It will take a few days to see the impact the runoff from the rains will have on Table Rock.

Fun day on the water yesterday with Ben and Sarah.  This neat couple just got married last Friday and are on their honeymoon.  Think Ben has himself a fly fisher for a wife.  We had a good day on the hot pink San Juan worm dropper below the size 16 red tungsten beadhead midge.  Sarah is brand new to fly fishing.  She picked up roll casting and line management very quickly but it took a while to recognize a strike and then set the hook.  Once she caught on to that, she started narrowing the catch gap Ben had on her pretty quickly.  One of the better days on the water for quite a while.  Lots of nice fish, 15-17 inches. 

Sarah – 4/28/09	Ben – 4/28/09

Table Rock Lake reached the 916. level Sunday.  Since then they ahve been shutting down the water late at night and leaving it off for 3 to 6 hours into the next morning.  Day time generation is still high with 3 to 4 generators.  We are expecting rain over the next three days.  Let’s hope it’s not a gully washer or the lake will go back up and generation will continue with no breaks.

Since the evening of the 23rd, they increased the amount of generation by about 3000 cfs.  This raised the tailwater level from 709.0 up to 710.3 or so.  That extra foot plus and heavier water has really made fishing tougher these past few days.

Wednesday Jim was on the water with one of his regular regulars, Paul from Nebraska and his friend Wayne.  Their days started off slow, but they finally started pulling fish on the red midge, black size 18 midge and gray scud.  Could not get any takes on any streamer patterns, but they did have a good day.

Thursday, Jim had Chris, who lives in Missouri, on the water.  Chris has been fishing with Jim for several years and this was his first outting for over a year.  They caught fish on pretty much the same patterns as the day before with the exception of the red San Juan worm.  Water was starting to fluctuate a lot and it was one of our wonderful windy days!  Tough casting.  Meanwhile, Carolyn had two guys brand new to fly fishing, Mark and Rich.  Mark is from PA and Rich now lives in KS. but hails originally from NJ.  Fun couple of guys.  Payed attention, learned a lot and even landed a few fish.  Think our best flies were the red midge and the pink size 18 glitter thread midge.  We are still working on a name for this pattern.

Stan had Bob and Bud, who are part of the Mark and Rich group.  They caught several fish on  the red midge, the pink glitter thread midge and a red San Juan worm. 

Darrell’s trip Thursday was tough, but what Mike from Texas didn’t catch in numbers, he made up for in quality.  He landed a beautiful 23-1/2 inch Rainbow on a red San Juan worm in a 1/8" tungsten bead.   Their other fish during the day were caught on the red worm and an olive filoplume.  By the way, these other fish during the day included one sucker! 

                         WOW!  – Mike, April 23, 2009

Saturday everybody was on the water again.  Darrell was out with Malcom and Dan from the St. Louis area.  They brought in several fish on the red San Juan worm, and pink glitter thread midge.  Carolyn has Frank and Ron from Springfield, MO on the water.  They had attended a meeting at the Chateau and decided they needed to fish while they were in the area.  We had to do a lot of looking and lots of changing patterns, but managed to get a fair number of fish to the boat.  Frank worked on numbers and Ron worked on quality.  Ron’s best fish was a 17-1/2 fat Rainbow.  (Nice way to say Frank caught more fish, but Ron caught the biggest!)  Our best pattern was the red tungsten midge and a hot pink size 16 San Juan worm dropper.

Jim and Dana were out with a group from Lee’s Summit, MO area Saturday.  Jim had Dan and Ed , and Dana had Dave and his son Ben.  Both boats landed a few fish and best flyes were the red midge and a red or orange San Juan worm.

Today, Stan had Ken and Kevin from Iola, KS on the water.  Pretty good day, considering how tough it has been.  Boated several fish, including a fat 17" Rainbow, on the red San Juan worm, size 12 olive wooly bugger and a size 12 filoplume.  They fish yesterday but didn’t get enough fishing, so they fished again today. 

                        Nice fish Kevin! – April 26, 2009

Dana’s trip today had a rough go.  Jeff, who has fished with Dana several times, and his friend JR didn’t bring many to the boat today.  JR is new, and both of them missed several fish. 

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.