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.

Water conditions have been very favorable for wade fishers!  They have not run generators since last Saturday except for two hours Tuesday when they ran two for two hours.  This morning they turned on one generator and ramped it up to two at 8:00 a.m.  It is supposed to shut down at 9:00 a.m. for the remainder of the daylight hours.

Jim had Jerry and Keri from Kansas on the water Monday and Tuesday.  Keri is that cute little gal who caught the nice Rainbow last July during the extremely high water conditions.  She has become quite the fly fisher!  They had a couple good outtings with Jim on the black midge and blood worm dropper. 

Tuesday Stan had Doc Louis out.  Doc is a Pediatrician from Texas.  Loved our fishery and the broccoli salad!  They boated lots of fish on the holographic green crackleback and the P&P midge. 

Wednesday was almost a full house.  Lots of boats out.  Carolyn had Kim and Matthew from Oklahoma out.  Kim is a pretty new fly fisher and Matthew has been fishing for quite some time.  Throws a nice line.  Put Matthew on the fish with the filoplume and sink tip and Kim and I tried to find a midge they would take.  No luck, so we eventurlly got her into fish on the sink tip and filoplume too.  They had four doubles!  Matthew caught a few on a size 20 BWO soft hackle as well as the holographic green crackleback.  Hopefully we have Kim hooked. 

Dana a couple Kansas guys out, Spencer and Uncle Ron.  They "smoked" them all day on the copper dun, rusty and olive midges.  Spencer caught his first brown.  Both were complaining? about being worn out when they got back to the shop!

Stan had Phil, also from Kansas, out all day.  Phil normally swings a golf club but decided to swing a fly rod yesterday and probably considers it a ‘hole in one’ day.  Good day on the olive filoplume in the morning then switched to the P&P and black midges after lunch. 

Chris and his wife Dana spent half a day on the water with Jim.  This is the fourth time these Tennessee folks have been out with Jim.  They enjoyed the lovely day catching fish on the black midge with a blood worm dropper.

April 18, 2009 – Help us celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary!  We will have product reps here so you can pick their brains as well as most of our guides.  Fly tying demos, games, drawings, casting instruction, and more!  Best of all, hot dogs with all the trimmings!  Catch a dog then go catch a fish!  Festivity will start at 9:00 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. 

Water was off all weekend.  They turned on two generators for two hours yesterday and it has been off since then AND fishing is wonderful.

Darrell out with some fairly new fly fishers yesterday morning for 1/2 day, Tristan and James.  Little tough in the a.m. as they had turned on the two generators for a couple hours and they were fishing the drop.  They did get some fish to the boat on the Primrose and Pearl midge and I observed several misses as they were drifting by me!.  Stan had Jeff and Trent, who were part of Darrell’s group, with him.  This is the second time this group from Oklahoma have fished with us.  Their best patterns were the black midge in the morning and the P&P in the afternoon.  What they didn’t catch in the a.m, they made up for in the afternoon. 

Carolyn was on the water with Dawn from Louisiana.  Dawn have a lovely day.  He husband, Albert, and son, James Albert, were fishing from the bank at the Rockin Chair area.  James Albert had tied up a size 20 olive midge (after pumping the stomach of a fish) where he found a bug looking much like what he tied up.  Did it work!  Both Albert and James Albert landed lots of fish yesterday.  Dawn and I cruised the banks looking for the larger fish.  Once Dawn started picking up on the "soft takes" , she went to town.  We fished a size 22 dun midge dropped off an olive midge in the morning, then switched to the 22 dun midge dropped off a P&P when the sun came out.  Good combo and great day!

Generation off all weekend!

Water ran most of Friday, but when it was off for a while mid-day, Gina and Darrell were wading and had a great time.  Gina was throwing a small dark soft hackle and cleaning house.  Darrell was throwing a filoplume or crackleback and also having a great day.

The size 18 black midge was hot Saturday until the rain started.  Once that happened, they shut off.  Afte the rain died down, the holographic crackleback was working.  Folks were also catching fish in the hatchery area on the size 16 dark gray and tan scuds. 

Sunday was just an all around good day.  Water was still off, no wind, and the temperature in the upper 50s.  Gina did well on a glitz midge, size 18, hot pink.  Carolyn was throwing a holographic green crackleback.  Lots of fish and lots of misses.  Also working well was a size 20 olive zebra midge and the size 18 copper dun.  It was one of those almost every cast days.  Saw lots of folks bringing in fish.  As the afternoon came to an end, the size 20 BWO soft hackle was nailing some fish.  Stan and Dawn even had some hits and caught a few fish on the size 22 sproat midge dry fly.  It was difficult to leave the water when we did.  All you could see when you looked up stream were circles everywhere on the water as the fish were coming up to feed!  What a beautiful day.

April 18, 2009 – Help us celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary!  We will have product reps here so you can pick their brains as well as most of our guides.  Fly tying demos, games, drawings, casting instruction, and more!  Best of all, hot dogs with all the trimmings!  Catch a dog then go catch a fish!  Festivity will start at 9:00 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. 

If the river guys are being kind, the projection is for the water to be off all weekend!  Here’s hoping.  See you on the water!!

April 18, 2009 – Help us celebrate our 10 Year Anniversary!  We will have product reps here so you can pick their brains as well as most of our guides.  Fly tying demos, games, drawings, casting instruction, and more!  Best of all, hot dogs with all the trimmings!  Catch a dog then go catch a fish!  Festivity will start at 9:00 a.m. and last until 4:30 p.m. 

Water generation has pretty well followed the projections this past week.  Off until 6:00 a.m. then on for 3-4 hours, and off until 6:00 p.m. or so.  Very surprised to see it running last weekend and will be surprised if they run it this weekend.  But, they have their reasons!?  We are just a little below power pool at 914.9.

Darrell is glad to be home.  He and his wife took a two week drive to the west coast to visit relatives.  On the way out he stopped by the San Juan and fished a little.  Fishing was tough!  Being the observant person he is, he noted even the guides were not pulling in any fish.  He was on his home water yesterday (Taneycomo) and caught enough fish to make up for not catching any for two weeks!  The olive filoplume was the ticket.  He tried a few midges and other patterns, but this was the one!  He called me from the water to tell me how glad he was to be home!  Don’t tell him, but we’re glad he’s back!

Well the generation schedule messed up the weekend fishers again.  Water was off during the mid part of each day, except last Monday, all last week and then they ran a low two generators both Saturday and Sunday.  The tailwater level bounced back and forth primarily between 705s and 704s over the weekend.  Today, the projection is to again have the water off during the mid day from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 pm. 

Now for the good news.  We had boats on the water every day since Thursday.  Fishing has been very good.  Not too many larger fish, but lots of fish.  Friday Stan had Doc and Terry from Oklahoma out.  Doc said they set a record for fish to the boat on this trip and he has been with us over ten years now.  Their best flies were the red beadhead midge while the water was moving and they dropped down to the size 18 burgundy midge after the water dropped.  Dana and Carolyn were out Saturday with a father (Troy), his son (Alex) and son-in-law (David).  Troy had fish some and Alex and David were new.  The red midge did pretty well in the earlier part of the day as well as the Lightening Bug.  Once we got to Lookout Island and started throwing the olive filoplume with the sink tip, fish count went up.  This was the preferred method of fishing for Alex and David. 

Stan was also on the water Saturday with Tashia from Independence, Mo and her father Jim.  They had been out with Stan before and were brave enough to come back and go out with him again!.  They had a wonderful day on the water with the red and burgundy midges. 

Yesterday was father/son day.  Stan had Tom and his son, Chris, from Texas out.  Another great day with midges, the red, copper dun and burgundy midges.  Carolyn was out with Howard and his son, Steve.  Howard is from Springfield, Mo and his son is currently living in Texas where he is attending college.  We started out with the red midge, Lightening Bug and a new midge Shannon sent with us to test.  All these patterns worked well.  However, we again picked up the pace on catching when we started stripping the olive filoplume.  Finished off the day down below the high bank area stripping holographic cracklebacks without sink tip in the shallow water.  Steve almost went into the water when he started complaining about how his hand was hurting from catching too many fish!!

Water generation, other than Monday, has followed the projections almost on the tee.  Should shut down today at noon and be off the balance of the day.

Yesterday was certainly a midge day.  Think you could have thrown any color midge and caught fish.  From customers coming into the store, however, the copper dun was number one, closely followed by the burgundy midge and then the primrose and pearl.  Lon, said he did very well later in the day on an olive wooly bugger.  Bob and Mac were out and Bob was catching them on the above listed midges plus the holographic copper midge.  Mac likes soft hackles and cracklebacks and he did fairly well on the holographic green crackleback and the dark olive soft hackle.

Stan even caught some wading a little above Short Creek on the Lightening Bug and copper dun midge.