Darrell had a gentleman from Alaska, Carl, out Wednesday.  They had a very good day, despite the wind.  Boated lots of fish and missed lots of fish.  Best flies were the red size 16 tungsten beadhead midge and the hot pink micro San Juan.  They also had the opportunity to fish the filoplume under a sink tip, which Carl really enjoyed.

Stan was out with Bob from Michigan yesterday.  They too had a very good day.  Boated bunches of fish on the red midge, the Lightening Bug, and stripping a holographic green crackleback with a #4 shot above it. 

Both boats commented on the changes to the river.  Even with two genertors going, some of the boat docks are now sitting on gravel bars!  Will be very interesting when we are back to normal levels. 

Yeah! !  They started shutting down the flood gates around 11:00 a.m. today.  They were completely off by early this afternoon.   Have at least one boat going out tomorrow.  Will let you know how fishing is.

Friday evening, April 25, a group of 12 ladies enjoyed a "get to know each other" session in Branson, MO.  Saturday, April 26, 2008 a new women’s fly fishing group was born!  Within 1 1/2 hours, we had officers, a name, mission statement, dates for our next meetings, and goals.  The prompting force behind this quick accomplishment was the urge to go fishing which we did the balance of Saturday.  Saturday evening we all gathered together for dinner and to celebrate our new group.  It was like we had all been fishing together most of our lives.  The River Runners Women’s Fly Fishing group is open to new members.   Our plans are:  lots of fishing, having fun and learning together.  At this time, our members (16 in total as 4 could not make the first meeting) come from Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.

The entire White River Chain is at or almost at flood pool.  This morning around 2:00 a.m., they open the ten flood gates at Table Rock Lake again.  Most of the folks who were affected by the first opening were just getting back into their homes and getting things cleaned up.  Unfortunately, they may be faced with more of the same.  Stan spent all day yesterday helping one of our friends move his belongings in anticipation of the gates opening again.  Glad they did it! 

We had some trips scheduled today but cancelled them.  We are always concerned when the water first starts up due to debris and other unknowns. 

Good news – The Dogwoods are in bloom and it is the prettiest I have seen them in a long time.  Obviously they have had lots of moisture.  AND, when the gates are turned off again, fishing will be very good.  Right after the gates were turned off last time, we had boats on the water and fishing was very good.  Most of the fish we caught were "beefed up" probabaly from fighting the heavy water. 

Several ladies meeting this weekend starting Friday evening with a "get to know each other gathering".  Short meeting Saturday morning to decide what we are and what we want to do.  Main focus to is fish a lot!  Plans were to fish Saturday and Sunday, but think we may have to work on fly tying, socializing, working on casting skills and anything else we can think of.  We are always open to new members who want to join us now or later and have fun fishing.  Just get in touch with River Run Outfitters and we will forward you information. 

Had two boats on the water yesterday.  A brand new couple from the St. Louis area out with Jim.  Ryan is an ER doctor and his wife, Beth is a nurse.  They had a great half day float day on the water.  Lots of fish on the red midge.  Largest was about 17 inches.  Pretty darn good for their first time fly fishing.  

Stan and Shannon went out and played.  Wanted to see what the high water had done to the river.  They had a great few hours on the water too.  The red midge was also the best fly for them.

We are supposed to get some more heavy rains tonight.  Hope we don’t, but if we do, they will probably open up some flood gates again.  We are going to sell to be selling water wings pretty soon for those folks who want to get out on their own and fish.

Stan and Dana were both on the water all day yesterday.  They folks are on the out for another day!  Lots of nice fish for both groups.  Stan caught most of his on the red tungsten midge and Dana’s on an egg pattern.  Water still very dingy and they had four generators going most of the day.

Don’t know how much longer it will last with the flood gates off and the water cooling down, but lots of other fish, walleye, white bass, and small mouth have been caught by some of our customers on spinning gear (Stan’s boat actually caught a nice small mouth on a red midge with a fly rod) are being caught up by the Hatchery Area.

Stan and Jim’s trips yesterday were great.  Everyone caught lots of fish and had a great time.  Nice fish too!  Water was falling all day as they shut the generators down to one for a while starting at noon until about 4:00 p.m. when they turned it back up to three.  They were running three generators this morning at 8:00 a.m. when I checked.  Tailewater level was slightly above 708.  Both boats fished the red tungsten midge almost all day.  Why change….it was working great!  Dennis, one of the guys in Stan’s boat, said "I have been fishing all my life and this is the most fun I have ever had!" 

Flood gates are off and fishing is good. It’s not raining and the sun is shining. 

Had two boats on the water yesterday.  They turned the flood gates off around 9:00 a.m. and the water was dropping all the time they were out.  Despite the still dirty water and the fact that it was dropping all day, they still had a good day fishing  Fish were nice too.  Several 15-1/2  inchers, and better.  Plus, they look good.  Good color and nice and fat.  Jim’s guys, from Nebraska and Kansas, were catching on the Bug-Eyed Bugger, and red midge.  Darrell’s guys from Colorado Springs, CO caught most of theirs on a large red midge and the size 18 copper dun. 

Talked to Stan today.  He has John and Dennis from Florida out.  They were just taking a break for lunch.  They had already had a very good day on the water, mainly on the red tunghead midge.  They had just cut the generators back from 3 to 1.  Don’t know why, but we’re enjoying it. 

Be careful if you go out on the lake.  Lots of banks have been cut back and some of the trees along the banks may not have much to hold their root systems.  Also, this morning I was looking at the damage to some of the boat docks up above Short Creek and noticed a long log or tree right in the middle of the river that had not been there before.  It was just below the water line and probably not very visible to boaters coming up the river.  Be aware that there may be new objects in places where there once was nothing.  STAY SAFE!

As I write, (9:30 a.m.), they are shutting down the flood gates.  We have two boats going out this morning and the water level at the boat ramp is going down as they are putting in the boats.  Imagine fishing will be a bit difficult today with the major change in water.  Good news is that the water will clean up.  The water coming over the flood gates really put a lot of very off colored water into the lake.  We’ll let you know.