Definitely a Fall day today with the overcast skies and rain.  Thanks to all the wind we had last week, most of the leaves are off the trees!  Upper 30s tomorrow, mid 40s Saturday and back into upper 30s or low 40s to start next week.  Maybe mid to upper 40s by mid week into the weekend.  Kind of think we will see low 50s for the weekend.

Generation continues to be pretty much 1-2 units for 2-3 hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon.   Otherwise, perfectly good wading water.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until 5:00 p.m. then we will see a couple units for a few hours.

Terry – 11/17/13

Couple good days on the water last week.  Tuesday, Gina took Terry, from Harrisonville, out for half a day.  Terry had been with us before for the Orvis Fly Fishing clinic we had here in July.  It was more instruction and definitely more catching for Terry this time.  Despite the heavy wind, they worked scuds, and lots of streamers.   They pulled the CQ streamerand the size 16 holographic green crackleback.  Best scud was the tan with orange flashback. 

Stan had Guy, from Minnesota, out half a day on Wednesday.  Guy was a beginner and now says he is an “ex-beginner”.  He picked up casting very well and once he got past the hook set, he was landing fish.  Best patterns were the P&P and little ruby midges. 

A couple of REALLY windy days the past two days.  Looks like it is blowing in some cooler weather.  Temperature this morning was in the low 70s.  By the end of the week, the prediction is for low 50s during the day and low to mid 30s in the early morning.  Increased chances for rain by the end of the week too.

Generation schedule has been pretty much 2-4 hours of low generation some time during the day.  Yesterday it was supposed to have been in the morning and today it is supposed to be in the afternoon.  As they didn’t run anything until noon yesterday, we’ll wait and see what the actual it for today.  Tomorrow’s projection is generation from 6:00 to 10:00 in the morning and again around 5:00 p.m.

Dana out last Saturday (yes, I’m behind again) with Mike and his son Ian from Kansas.  Not a great day, but not a bad day on the tan b-bug, and the P&P midge.   

Ron – 11/11/13

Bruce and Ron from Oklahoma attended our two-day school Monday and Tuesday.  Since Tuesday was going to be such as bad day, we took to the water Monday afternoon for casting, rigging and fishing work.  Back to the books Tuesday morning then a little more streamside work that afternoon. 

Wednesday, Chuck spent a half day with Stan.  Best pattern that day was the copperhead black zebra midge.  they had a pretty good day…considering.

Bob had been out last week with Stan and decided he needed another fix on Friday…..so.  Good day for Bob on the ruby and copperhead black midges.  Doug and Pam were on the water with Carolyn.  We worked for our fish, but overall, it was a pretty good day.  Caught fish stripping the holographic green crackleback and the CQ streamer.  Best midges were the ruby and the copperhead black zebra.

So far, weather has been pretty good.  Only negative has been the wind, and we have had some wind the past few days.  Temperatures have been in the mid 60s the past few days, but we are expecting upper 30s? on Tuesday.  Burrrrr!  Not a whole lot better Wednesday, when it is predicted to be in the mid 40s.  Low 50s Thursday, creeeing into the mid to upper 50s by the weekend. 

Once we got through the draw down, we have only seen a low one unit come on for maybe one hour some time in the morning.  Projection for tomorrow is more of the same.  Low one unit on for an hour at 10:00 a.m.  Monday currently shows two units on for two hours at 7:00 a.m. and a little over one unit on for two hours at 7:00 p.m.

Jim and Brenda, from Oklahoma, spent the morning on the water with Stan last Saturday.  Not a great day, but certainly not a bad day for these two on the copper dun midge.  Super windy and no generation going.

Sunday, Jim took Ward and his father, Ken, from Kansas out for half a day.  They had a fun day on the P&P  and copper dun midges.  Also landed some on a gray scud.  Stan had Mike, from Iowa out.  They had a good day on the P&P and the black midge with a copper head.

 Bob, from Michigan, spend most of the day on the water with Stan Monday.  Pretty good day for Bob on the copper dun and copper head black midge.  Had some fun catching on the big ugly in the shallows.  This was one of the days when the generation was very low, so flow was certainly minimal that day.

Sandy – 110713

New fly fishing lady, Sandy and her husband, Bryan, spent half a day on the water with Carolyn Thursday.  Lots of stuff to learn, but she is taking to it like a fish to water.  Caught a few fish on the ruby midge, but probably the best pattern for both Sandy and Bryan was the CQ streamer on the 1.5 ips sinking line.  Sandy liked fishing this way.  Stan had Wayne and Coleen, from Hawaii on the water for the morning.  Good, fun day for these two on the P&P and ruby midges.  Ralph, one of Jim’s regulars, spent all day on the water Thursday with him.  Good day for Ralph on the ruby and P&P midges, and a gray scud.Friday, another good day for Ralph, who when out with Jim again, on pretty much the same patterns, the ruby and P&P mdiges and a gray scud.  Wayne and Coleen didn’t get enough on Thursday, so they spent another morning on the water with Stan.  Another good day for them on the P&P & ruby midges.  Possibly another new woman fly fisher in the making.  Betty and her friend, Debbie spent the morning with Carolyn. 

Debbie’s 1st on fly rod – 11/8/13

Although Debbie was more focused on learning technique, she did manage to catch a few fish on a ruby midge.  Betty is not new to Taneycomo and she was down stream a little distance catching at least one fish on almost every midge she tried.

Reports from the river say folks are seeing numerous dead brown trout in the water, especially upstream by the dam. Stan counted 30 dead trout on his trip this past Sunday, and in one spot fifteen fish, one rainbow and the rest brown. We know the dissolved oxygen is typically low this time of year and wondered if this was the cause or what the heck was happening. Rather than speculate, Carolyn gave the hatchery a call this morning. The manager  is well aware of the fish dying and looking into it.  According to him, the problem is a result of stress.  He says the strain of brown trout stocked in Taneycomo is particularly susceptible to stress, and the increased numbers of browns concentrated upstream for the fall run is part of the reason. They are assessing the situation and are not aware of any disease that would be causing a kill. That is the news for now. The fall is a stressful time for all Taneycomo trout because of the low oxygen and the heavy fishing pressure, so please remember to land your catch quickly, keep the fish in the water when removing the hook, and revive it before releasing.

FYI – Still drawing down the lake level.  Appears they started drawing down yesterday and are continuing today.  Plan was to do the work today.  Not certain what, if any, affect the rain will have on the work.  Hopefully, we will see the lake back to normal soon.  At 9:00 a.m., the tailwater level was 701.2 feet.  Looks mighty low out there!

Looks like we have peaked out in our fall colors.  However, it is still very pretty and sometimes difficult to focus on fishing since everything around is to beautiful right now.  We had a couple warm days last week and some rain.  Today is supposed to be sunny and mid 60s.  Little color through the weekend and a chance of showers starts creeping back in last monday into Tuesdy and Wednesday of next week.  High 50s to lower 60s into the weekend and mostly sunny.

No generation scheduled for today except for a couple hours late in the day and then only the equivalent of less than one unit.  With the draw down scheduled for November 3, we will be surprised if they run much, if any water tomorrow.  Sunday will start the draw down and they want low water Monday for the work to be done on the generator.  Probably, if the work is completed on Monday, Tuesday will see generation to fill Taneycomo. 

Lots of trips over the past week.  Last Thursday and Friday, Stan took Gary and his friend Bob, out for half days each day.  Good day for these guys, when they were fishing and not telling jokes, on the big ruby and lightning bug.  I think their largest was a beautiful 17″ rainbow.   Friday, Dana had Mitch and his father Phil on the water all day.  both are beginners and they had a great time, learned a lot and caught fish on the little ruby, the red midge and the big ruby. 

Sam, from Texas, wanted to get two of his sons introduced to fly fishing, so Stan and Carolyn took them out Saturday and Sunday for a couple half days.  Good couple outings for these guys.  Quick learners and Dad had done some homework with them on casting.  Fish were cooperative too. 

Nick and 18″ rainbow – 10/27/13

Nick hooked a nice 17 incher on the first day and this 18 incher on the second day.  Justin brought in a beautiful 17 incher on the second day.  Big ruby and the lightning bug were probably the best patterns for both days.

Justin and 17″ rainbow – 10/27/13

David, from Oklahoma spent the morning on the water Monday with Stan.  They had a good day, again on the big ruby and the lightning bug.  Jim was on the water with Mark, from Rogersville.  There best patterns were the ruby, the lightning bug, and the hot hare nymph.  Last, but definitely, not Carolyn took Jerry and his wife out all day Monday.  This was part of Jerry’s birthday gift from his wife.  (How about this for a sweet wife?)  Lots of fish day, but nothing of any size.  I think the largestfish we landed was 15 inches.  At least, we kept busy bringing in fish.  It was the big ruby, lightning bug, black size 16 midge in the a.m. and then again late in the day.  The egg pattern dropped from the big ruby worked well on the high bank down from Pointe Lookout.  And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jerry!!

Just for everyone’s information, according to representatives from the Corp of Engineers and Empire District Electric, there is a plan to draw down Taneycomo starting November 3.  The plan is to have Taneycomo down 4-1/2 feet by November 4 when they will do some needed generator repairs.  Hopefully, the work can be completed on November 4 and they can start bringing Taneycomoe back up late on November 4 or at least on November 5.

Starting to feel and look a lot more like Fall.  Temperatures today in the mid 50s. Forecast for tomorrow is more of the same.  We were predicted to have a freeze warming by morning, but I think we might escape that one!  Maybe a low in the 30s with mid to upper 50s.  Saturday through mid week temperatures are forecast in the mid 60s with chances of showers creeping in Tuesday and increasing Wednesday and Thursday.  Weekend looks dry with temperatures in the upper 50s to low 60s

The generation schedule continues to look spastic.  On pretty high in the mornings, about  707.0 levels, then dropping down, then back up, or today, off!  tomorrow should be about the same as projected today, but it is off right now and they say they will be running it until 10:00 p.m. tomorrow.  We will see!

Had one of the toughest days I have spent on Taneycomo last Thursday.  I took Rich and his son, James out for half a day.  James is eleven and this was his first fly fishing trip.  Fortunately, he had a good time, but certainly did not catch his first trout on this trip.  We boated a few fish, lost a few fish, and had very few hits that were missed.  Generation was, of course, spastic, but not any worse than we can see on any given day.  The water was off colored, and the strangest thing we all noticed was that we did not see fish!  We even had an opportunity to get into the water and move around…..no fish at our feet, no fish in the normal spots where we see them.  Anyway, glad that day is over, happy James had fun and he said he will come back and see me.

Now for better days.  Stan, Bob and Jim were scheduled for an instructional wade trip with Jim last Saturday.  Looked like a “go” but, turned out to be a “no go”.  Water was on.  Anyway, they improvised and managed to get into the water (which did go back to zero units a little later) and work on skills and even catching.  Landed fish on the ruby midge and hot hare nymph.  Stan on the water that day with Gary and Dave from Texas for half a day.  Good day for these buys on the big ruby, little ruby and P&P midges.  Ed and Rick from Kansas spent the morning out with Dana.  They caught on the little ruby, a red San Juan worm, and an orange egg pattern.   Gine had a couple of her regulars

Dale – 10/19/13

out all day, Dale and Glenn.  Dale brought in this nice 19-1/2″ rainbow.  They had a good afternoon on the P&P midge, a size 14 crackleback and the CQ streamer.  Didn’t get enough on Saturday, so they went out again Sunday morning.  Another good outting for these guys on the P&P and little ruby midges. 

Gelnn – 10/20/13

Monday, Carolyn took Jim from Rolla, out for half a day.  His wife, Diane, rode along to help coach him and enjoy the beautiful Fall day.  Jim had a good day on the big ruby midge with a size 16 black midge dropper to start the morning.  As we progressed down the river, we switched to an egg dropper along the high bank below Lookout Island. 

Jim’s first rainbow on fly rod – 10/21/13

Steady hits all morning.  Guess who’s coming back to learn how to fly fish!  Diane!!

On the river again Tuesday.  Bryan, from the St. Louis area, floated with Carolyn.  Really good day for Bryan.  He’s only been fly fishing for a few years, but has come a long ways.  Even in the heavy wind we experienced Tuesday, he usually put his line where it had to be.  Best patterns were the lightening bug, big ruby and the CQ streamer. 

Wednesday, Jim took Jerron and his wife, Ty, out for a half-day instructional trip.  This couple from Louisiana wanted to learn everything they could cram into a half day about fly fishing.  Jim did his best and they even landed from fish on the red midge the hot hare nymph and pulling the CQ streamer.   Carolyn had Cheryl and her husband, Gary out for half a day.  Good day for these two, especially Cheryl.  They boated fish on the big ruby, the lightening

Cheryl – 10/23/13

bug, and stripping a CQ streamer with the 2.6 ips sinking leader.  Cheryl is fairly new to this sport, but is already throwing a pretty nice line.

Gary – 10/23/13

Beautiful weather!  Temperatures have been in the 60s.  One morning it actually felt cold for a while as it was overcast with a little wind int he morning.  More of the same expected.  60s to even upper 50s by early next week.  Today and tomorrow there is a possibility of some showers.  Otherwise, clear through next weekend.

Generation schedule changed yesterday!  Instead of our normal no generation in the morning then some in the early afternoon, we had units on at 6:00 a.m. and they ran all day.  This morning, units came on at 7:00 and are scheduled to be on most of the day.  Although they have four units going, right now, it is running at the equivalent of not quite a full two units.  Can’t wait to see what they do tomorrow!

Other than at the outlet, fishing has been tough.  And there are even days when we hear from the folks who fish the outlets, that they have had a tough day.

Jed with first trout on fly rod – 10/13/13

Carolyn and Gina out last Sunday for the morning.  Carolyn had Lyle, his son Jed, and Jim from Kansas out.  Lyle has done some fly fishing, but this was Jed’s and Jim first time with a fly rod.  Although we worked hard, we can report success for all.  Our best pattern was a size 22 very sparse black midge dropped under either a black copperhead midge or copper dun midge.  Holly and Jerry from here in Missouri spent the morning with Gina.  They too worked hard for fish, but again, we can report success.  Holly is just getting started.  This was her second fly fishing outting, and she loves it!  Jerry has been throwing a stick for a while.  Jerry was 

Jerry – 10/13/13

catching on the CQ streamer and Holly was using a b-bug with a size 18 gray scud. 

Monday, Gina took Don, from Kansas out for the day.  Another difficult day, but they caught fish on soft hackles when the water was off and then switched to the CQ streamer after the water came on at 3:00 p.m.  It was somewhat of a fish a fly day, but with enough chancing of the fly, you can catch a few fish!

Don – 10/14/13

Jim on the water Monday with Warren and his daughter, Kim, from Arkansas.  Another worker, but they caught a few fish on the CQ streamer. 

Tuesday, Carolyn had Mary Ann and Virginia from Springfield on the water for the morning.  Little better day than the two to three prior days, but still worked for the ones we caught.   It was a day of really pretty fish.  Both ladies caught a brown along with their nice size rainbows.

Virginia and nice brown – 10/15/13

Dave and Tracey, from Michigan, fished with Jim Wednesday.  It was like old home week with them being from Michigan.  David is an experienced fly fisher and wanted to get his wife more interested in fly fishing.  If we heard correctly, Tracey landed the most fish.  Best patterns were the CQ streamer, red midge and the hot hare’s ear nymph.   Steve, from Ohio was out with Stan.  They had a pretty slow morning, but when the water came on, so did the fish.  Most of them were caught on the big ruby.

We are starting to see a little more color on the hillsides.  Every once in a while, you will spot one lone, gorgeous tree in full Fall color!  Other than a chance of rain tomorrow, looks like more cool days in the mid to upper 60s all the way through the coming weekend.

Pretty much the same generation pattern we have seen for several weeks now.  No units on in the morning then one to three or four units (but only running it at the equivalent of two) coming on from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and staying on until 9:00-10:00 p.m.  No reason to think this will chance soon.

Busy week.  Stan on the water last Tuesday with John and Tom, aka Mutt and Jeff.  Good morning for these guys on the P&P and red midge. 

Thursday, Jim had Jim, from Illinois, out for the morning.   Best pattern for Jim was the CQ streamer.  They tried several other patterns, but this was the producer.  Don and Phil, from Oklahoma spent the day on the water with Stan.  They had a great day on the P&P, ruby midge and the red San Juan worm (when the water came on). 

Mike with 18″ rainbow – 10/11/13

Friday was a flotilla.  We had a group of seven guys, which was to have been eight, but one of them got stuck in Seattle, on the river all morning.  Dana had Shan and Jade.  They were catching on the clown egg pattern and a red bead San Juan worm (again, on the rise).  Carolyn had the newbie, Mike.  Not for long.  Mike caught on quickly and did well, including a nice 18 inch rainbow, on the hot hare nymph.  When the water came on, we fished the rise and caught fish on the big ruby and a red San Juan worm dropper.   Mitch and Walt fished with Jim.  They worked the CQ streamer, P&P and blood worm dropper.  Last, but not least, Stan had Mike and Pat.  They did well on the P&P and red San Juan worm.  Everyone worked hard for their fish, but they all had a great time!

Walt and Jan, and their son, Bart, and his son, Jacob fished with Carolyn and Stan Saturday.  Carolyn put Walt and Jan into fish mainly on the CQ streamer.  We pull a few on the hot hare, but when we finally zoned in on a spot with the CQ, Jan was on a roll….a new “stripper” was born.  Stan’s guys did best on the copper dun midge.