Great day on the water yesterday.  Water was off until 10:00 a.m.  The river has definitely changed.  Gravel bars where there were none, some channels are completely filled in, quite interesting. 

Darrell and his two folks from Louisiana had a wonder ful day.  Lots of fish and lots of fun.  Red midge and pink San Juan were their hot flies. 

Water is off again this morning.  Think I better go check things out. 

Tough day yesterday.  Had five boats on the water and all the guides were moaning when they came off the water.  Every boat caught a few fish but it was far and few, and they tried everything.  They had three generators going, water pretty dirty, but it was a bright, beautiful day.  There was no best fly.

Tuesday through Thursday, fishing was very good. At least two boats out every day and they all caught lots of fish.  Several in the 15 inch range, one 16 incher and a 17 inch brown.  Flies were the red midge and with a hot pink or hot orange micro San Juan dropper.  Picking a few with the Bug Eyed Bugger too.

Water turned off at midnight last night.  At 7:30 a.m. today, it is still off.  Doubt that it will be off very long.  We will just have to wait and see.  The guys that checked out the river this morning said there are lots of changes to the river.  Trees down in places where there were none, no water in some places, new riffles.   Going to be fun and interesting working a new river!

Both Monday night and last night, they turned the generators OFF from about 10:00 p.m until 6:00 a.m. the next morning.  They then ran only two generators yesterday until around 2:00 p.m. when they turned on the third generator and about 4:30 p.m. they turned on the fourth.  So far today (it’s 10:30 a.m.) we have followed the same pattern. 

Boats on the water all week.  Still fishing good except Sunday when we had 40 mph winds and a cold front come through.  Monday still fished a little slow, but better than Sunday.  Tuesday fished good and today is fishing very good.  Talked to one of the boats to see what was working and they hooked three fish while we were talking.

Had one or two boats on the water every day this past week and it fished good all week.  Most of the days we started out with at least two generators going but by the time we came off the water it was up to four generators.

Monday, Stan had Allen and Heidi out for half day, and Carolyn took them out again on Thursday.  Both days were a "hoot" and they caught lots of fish.  Allen brought in a nice 17 inch Rainbow which was the highlight of his day plus they caught several others in the 15 plus range.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, Stan had Steve and Kathy from New Jersey out.  They have been fishing with us since 2004.  Neat couple who love to fish.  Other than the weather, they had a good 2-1/2 days. 

Wednesday we had some weather coming in and out of the area and it was probably the slowest day of all, but Darrell’s guys managed to boat over 30 fish in a half day.  Thursday they did much better. 

Best flies are still the red size 16 tungsten beadhead midge usually with a hot pink or bright orange micro San Juan worm dropped from the midge.  Hooked a few on the filoplume and the bug eyed bugger using a sink tip.  On the days when the sun was out, the tungsten beadhead Lightning Bug was the best attractor fly.

Jim, our guide from Michigan, took out Bruce from Minnesota and Bob from California.  Despite the heavy running, flucturating water, Bob hooked and played several fish for the first time with a fly rod, and brought even brought several to the boat.  Everyone had a great time, caught some fish and learned a lot.  Welcome to the wonderful world of fly fishing Bob!  Thank your friend Bruce for the introduction. 

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.