Had four boats on the water Tuesday with people from the various Orvis Endorsed Lodges, and other sports related activities such as dog training, wing shooting, etc. Two of the boats had never fly fished before people and the one of the other two boats had a couple from a lodge in Alaska where they guided, and one boat with a pair from Montana where they guided. We had a quick two hours on the water. Almost everyone boated at least one fish and some several more.
Wednesday, Stan took Dave Perkins, the Vice Chairman of Orvis on a quick, short outing to give him a look at our abnormally high river. Dave caught fish on the Primrose & Pearl midge and the Bug-Eyed Bugger using a sink tip. He was quite amazed we were catching fish in this high water.
Lots of Orvis people were staying at Big Cedar Lodge where they attending the annual Orvis Endorsed Lodge award for 2007. The award went to Eagle Nest Lodge on the Bighorn River in Hardin, Montana. This lodge was the first lodge in the world to be dual-endorsed by Orvis for both fly fishing and wing shooting.
Hate to say this, but we are getting more rain. They dropped Table Rock almost a foot yesterday, but today’s rain will probably make short work of that.
Had a boat on the water yesterday, but it was a miserable day with the rain the high water. They caught some fish, but I think they were ready to "wring out" when they got off the water. We are all looking forward to the days when we only have to fish four generators!
Stan had Bill and Chan from Minnesota on the water yesterday and the day before. They had a great time. Yesterday could even be called a very good day on the water. They caught lots of fish, but best of all, they were able to catch over half of them on the holographic green crackle back. They both really liked this way of fishing. Over the two days, they fished the size 16 red tunghead midge, a peach egg pattern and the holographic green crackleback, size 14
Gina and Carolyn were both on the water yesterday. Gina had Joe from Minnesota out for half a day. Gina warned him about the unsual conditions but he wanted to go out and "prospect" with Gina. Joe is a good fisher and fishes a lot of lakes and some streams in Minnesota. They had a respectable day on the water, caught some fish and he had a good time. What more can one ask for.
Carolyn had a couple from Louisiana, Ron and Kathy. They are both good fishers. Kathy would probably rather fish than eat. They fish Taneycomo on their own every chance they get. Although yesterday was not as good as when they have been able to wade fish we made a good showing and also had a good time.
Our best flies for the day were the Pink Lady egg pattern in the a.m., the red size 16 tungsten midge, copper dun, size 18 midge in the afternoon and the Bug-Eyed Bugger under a sink tip. The Bugger also worked best in the afternoon.
Had two boats on the water yesterday. Water was very dirty and really moving. They all caught a few fish, but nothing like we were doing before they opened the flood gates! Fishing will get better as the water clears up and the fish get acclimated to the higher water and start moving into any calmer areas they can find. Stan is on the water today and at 10:00 a.m. they had already done as well as all day yesterday. They are fishing a sink tip line with a Bug-Eyed Olive Bugger.
Last we heard, the flood gates will be open until April 8, unless we get alot more rain. Let’s hope we don’t.
Don’t forget the women’s fly fishing clinics scheduled for this Spring. The first one is scheduled April 19, 2008, and we still have a few openings. Another women only clinic is scheduled June 7. We do have a co-ed clinic scheduled May 3 if you and your partner would like to learn together! Give us a call. Join in on the fun!
Wow! Just opened up five flood gates! The Corp. advised us the impact would be to raise the tailwater level another foot and increase the flow by 50,000 cfs. At 8:00 a.m. the tailwater level was at 921.5 (normal power pool-915.0 and top flood pool-931.0) So much for the bad news.
Up until yesterday, we had boats on the water every day and fishing was steady. Everyone coming off the water with a good day. The Red Tunghead, size 16 and size 18 Copper dun midges still the most consistent flies, and if you wanted to throw some line, the sink tip with the olive filoplume.
Good news – after the gates have been open for a day or two, the fish will start settling in again and we will again find fishing to be steady. And, I think we are going to see some sunshine soon.
Four boats on the water again yesterday. Great day on the water. Weather nice and so was fishing. All the boats came in reporting good numbers. Still running lots of water, but they cut it back to three generators flowing 6000 cfs for most of the morning and dropped it even lower in the afternoon. Really helped fishing!! We are getting closer to normal power pool. So far today, they have run four generators.
Gina’s guy, Kevin, from New Mexico, caught a 16-1/2" Rainbow. This is a lucky guy. Not only did he catch lots of fish, but his wife bought him the 1/2 day guide trip as his anniversary gift. He and his wife are in Branson celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary. Kevin caught most of his fish on the Burgundy and Primrose & Pearl size 18 midges.
Stan had out a birthday boy, Doc from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Lots of fish, food and a good time. Their flies were the size 18 Buyrdungy midge and size 16 Red Tunghead midge.
Darrell’s client, Ken, from Wisconsin, was getting away from the cold. Ken had a great catching day, mainly on the Burgundy midge and the size 16 Red Tunghead midge.
Don’t know what Jim’s guys were catching fish on. They are on the water again today and scheduled to go out tomorrow (based on weather).
We had four boats on the high water yesterday. The two guys in Jim’s boat, Ed and Bob, were catching fish on a size 6 Bug-Eyed Bugger, olive. They also caught a few on a red midge. Darrell’s guys, Dave and Dan, caught them on the red midge, but did best on the Olive filoplume. Stan’s boat with Jim and John, caught them mainly on the red tungsten midge. They caught a few on the Burgundy and Copper dun midges. Ken and I, in my boat drifted the back of the island looking for fish. We tried some midges back there, but not only didn’t see any fish, we didn’t get any hits either. Drifted on down and noticed fish coming up in the flat area at the bottom of the island. Normally this area is the island. Anchored over the grassy area (now under water) and started picking up fish on cracklebacks. Ken had some he had tied with the burgundy holoshimmer we use for the midge which were working very well. I used the holographic green and caught several, but I believe Ken’s burgundy was working best.
We have seen four generators running 24 hours/day since the morning of March 4 thanks to the big rain we had. Table Rock Lake level is up 2.2 feet over power pool (915.0). We will probabaly see this trend for a while until they get the lake level down.
Had one boat on the water yesterday. Despite the high water they had a great time and caught quite a few fish. Best flies were a size 12 red tungsten midge and the olive grizzly filoplume on a sink tip. They had so much fun, they just left to tryt it again today.
