Have had boats on the water every day this past week, and we have been catching fish.  Some days better than others.  BUT, yesterday was great!  Had three boats out.  Darrell and Dana had a party of three guys from the St. Louis area on the water, Malcomb, Dan and Larry.  Great day.  They were standing, yes, I said standing in the water hooking and missing lots of fish (this was in the early afternoon).  Red San Juan, red midge, grey scud and black zebra.  Carolyn had Mike and Jan from Oklahoma out.  Jan has been fly fishing maybe a little over two years (with us) and had mostly nymph style fished.  Yesterday she hooked her first fish on a dry   Size 24 Sproat Midge Emerger in olive.  She hooked and missed several on dries in the morning.  Mike was stripping the holographic green crackleback and hooking up with a lot of fish.  Jan has done some stripping for fish and wanted to work on the some more, so we rigged her up with the sink tip and crackleback.  They had several doubles before we left our first lay up.  A little before noon yesterday, they shut the water OFF.  By the time we got down to the lookout island, the water was at a wadeable level.  We had lunch and watch Darrell and Dana’s party bringing fish.  Jumped out of the boat and also started bring in more fish.  Gray scud, tan scud, crackleback, and a few on a flaming orange San Juan. 

Water is supposed to be off today from noon until 6:00 p.m. or so they back on for a while and probably off again late.  Not certain what will happen tomorrow, but they are scheduled to have the water off or low Tuesday and Wednesday to work on the boards at Powersite Dam.  You know what this means.  You should be able to get into the river and wade!  Let’s go!

Trees are gorgeous right now.  Hard to keep an eye on what is happening in the water.  Water is still very warm for our fish and the oxygen level is low.  PLEASE make certain you fully revive the fish before you release them.  Saw several belly up fish in the water yesterday.

We have 40 women in Branson for the 13th annual IWFF Festival.  What a crazy bunch of women.  So far we have had clinics on fly tying, basic and advanced casting, drift boat handling, reading the water, rigging, entomology and more.  We are covering it all. 

Been really busy getting everything ready for this Festival, so my fishing reports had suffered.  Can tell you they have run the water 24/7 for the past three days.  However, they have kept it at 706.5 down to 705.3.  It is fishing good.  We have had boats on the water every day, even had some of the IWFF ladies on the water.  Had fun Sunday and Monday on dries.  Of course, the red midge and red San Juan worm are working.  Had one fellow come into the shop today and he was happily complaining about the golden variant sculpin pattern he purchased from us falling apart after catching 20 fish.  Purchased another one and was on his way.  Will be back to normal next week.

Early Tuesday, October 7, 2008, Mel Krieger passed away.  He had been very ill for a while we understand we went very peacefully.  He leaves a legacy of years of experience in fly fishing, which he has passed on to those of us in the fly fishing world through his many books and instructional videos.   He will be missed.

Perfect day on the water yesterday.  Light wind, not too hot yet sunny and caught some fish!  Look up at the hill sides and they are taking on a hint of colors. 

Stan was out with Heidi and Alan again.  They caught fish on the Big Ugly with a black midge dropper and the Pink Lady egg pattern.  Jim was out with Bud and Ben.  Didn’t get a report from him on what they caught them on, but know they boated some fish. 

Gina had not been on the water for a while due to an accident where she hurt her wrist.  She is on the mend and needed a "fix" and also wanted to see how her wrist would take the rowing.  Wrist survived the rowing and she definitely got her "fix".  She did well in the afternoon on the Primrose & Pearl midge.

Water flow has had a definite pattern this week.  Generators shutting down somewhere around 10:00 every night and staying off until 6:00 a.m.  Yesterday they only started up 2 generators and kept it at 2, thus the tailwater level stayed around 704.0 until 11:00 a.m. when they fired up another generator and raised the tailwater level to 706.  With the lower water level, the water was discolored more than it has been, and of course, really clouded up when the generation was increased.

Since last Friday, we have seen a consistent pattern of off around 11:00 p.m and back on around 6:00-7:00 a.m.  And, when they turn it on, the generation flow is much lower than it has been, usually an average of 4000 cfs.  This equates to a tailwater level of 706.0 plus or minus.  Actually seeing a few areas where a person can wade.

Had boats on the water every day.  Fishing has been pretty good.  Stan had Barry out Sunday and they caught some fish on the parachute Adams, size 18.  Also caught some drifting with the red San Juan, size 18.  Monday and Tuesday Stan had Dave from Illinois out for a couple half days.  They found a bunch of fish sipping, and had good mornings on the dark olive size 18 soft hackle both days.  Monday they also fished the red San Juan and Tuesday and finished up on the Pink Lady egg pattern.  Heidi and Alan from the St. Louis area were out with Carolyn.  Had a couple nice fish on that we did not get to the boat.  They did best on the red midge with a red San Juan dropper in the a.m.  Did get to catch a few fish on the dark olive size 18 soft hackle (had to introduce them to one of my favorite ways to fish) and finished up the early afternoon with the Pink Lady egg pattern.  Darrell’s folks on Tuesday did well on the olive filoplume, Big Ugly’s with a copper dun midge dropper and a variety of other patterns on which they would catch a couple fish then have to change.  Couple more fish and change again!

The generators were off from midnight Thursday until noon yesterday.  According to the SWPA site they were going to turn them on a 1:00 p.m. yesterday, so they were pretty close.  They did shut them down at midnight again last night and they are supposed to turn on two generators at 7:00 a.m. today; run two until 10:00 p.m. at which time they will shut down.

Didn’t have any trips out yesterday, so Stan went out an played for a little while.  He had a great streak of fish stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Shortly before they turned on the generators, the fish shut off this so he changed to the red San Juan.  Started catching fish again and continued catching after the horn sound for water release. 

8:38 a.m. – They actually turned on the generators at 6:00 a.m. today (off a little there) and they turned on three instead of two.  So far, it has been a low three.  Tailwater level is at 705.7

Generators were shut off at midnight last night and are still off at 5:25 a.m.  According to the schedule, they will stay off until 1:00 p.m. today.  We will keep you posted on what happens.  Dare we step into the water and wade for a little while !?!

Table Rock is now down to 917.0, and they are still running four generators.  However, as of noon today, they cut back the cubic feet per second of water flow and the level in Taneycomo was 706.3.  A far cry from 711.5 (plus or minus) we have had until now.   Will keep you posted on our progress from here.

Since Saturday, we have had boats on the water every day except today.  Fishing not great, but still catching fish and they are looking good.  Really coloring up for the fall spawn and still pretty healthy looking.  Stan had Louise and Bob from Indiana out Monday.  Think Louise outfished Bob by a few fish.  Best flies were the red midge with the red size 16 San Juan dropper.  Tuesday, Darrell took Ed from the St. Louis area out.  Ed was mainly interested in learning more about techniques and improving his casting.  Ed accomplished this and landed some fish.  They also did best on the red midge with a red San Juan dropper.

Stan’s guys, Hank and Ken, had a good day Tuesday with the red midge, pink San Juan dropper and Pink Lady egg pattern.  Ken had never fly fished before and certainly missed his share of fish, but did get several to the boat.  Both of them caught some pretty fish. 

Hank – 9/30/08	Ken – 9/30/08

Dana’s guys from Louisiana, Tommy and Hans, not only caught fish on the red midge and red San Juan, but also the holographic green crackleback both as a dry and stripping.

Flood gates were shut off at noon today.  Cubic feet per second (cfs) of water flood went from 11400 cfs to 7000 cfs.  What a difference.  Still not at a wadeable level and probably will not be until they get Table Rock down to at least 917. 

Stan is on the water with two guys from Kansas, Ken and Jeff, and they are having a wonderful afternoon on holographic cracklebacks!  Said they had had several doubles already.

Good news is Table Rock Lake level is dropping.  Since my last report on the 17th, they have dropped the lake level over three feet.  Bad news is, the flood gates are still open.  They still have a goal in mind of 917 feet elevation above sea level.  This they want to get to with or without the flood gates.  When they hit the target of 920 feet, they did shut down the cubic feet per second of water flow, but have elected to keep the gates open.  Of course, this could change tomorrow.  Bottom line, they will run water 24/7 until they get to 917.  Then we will have to see what they do.  If it will get the water back to a wadeable level quicker, so be it!

Have had boats on the water most of the week and it has been tough fishing.  Before they hit 920 feet, the tailwater level was being held at 713.5.  This needs a lot of weight to get down to the fish.  After hitting 920, they cut the level down to 711.3 (plus or minus).  Water has been dingy, temperature is up and dissolved oxygen is down.  Therefore, tough trips.  Catching a few fish, but certainly nothing to write home about.  However, from the folks coming into the shop, they are catching lots of fish up around the outlets on almost anything you want to throw in.  Primarily scuds, tan and gray; San Juan worms, tan or brown small egg patterns to name a few.