Not quite up to freezing mark yesterday morning, but the day finished out in the low 50s.  Today is going to be a breath of spring, and basically, so is the weekend and into next week.  Some showers are predicted for tomorrow, but temperatures in the upper 40s. Sunday back into the upper 50s, AND low 70s for both Monday and Tuesday.  Be still my beating heart!  Cool down Wednesday, 40s, and then back into the 50-60s.

So far this week, we have had generation all day every day.  Today is another story.  Generators went off at 8:00 a.m. (I am writing this in a hurry) and will be off all day. 

 As I said, not quite to freezing mark yesterday when Stan pulled out of the drive with his drift boat.  We were so thankful the boat ramp had been cleared!  A couple of his guys, who braved a white-knuckle trip from Illinois over the weekend to come here and fish, Don and Steve, were going fishing!  Great day on the “creek” for these two on the big ruby with either a P&P or blue poison dropper in the a.m.  As the day progressed, it was the P&P or copper dun midge droppers.  Fish seemed to be in pods.  You would fish a ways and not have a  hit, then reach a section where you couldn’t keep them off.  Jim had Derek, also from Illinois, out for the first day of his two-day fishing.  We’ll report on them tomorrow as we’re not sure what patterns they were stripping yesterday.  Carolyn took Ron and Kathy, from Louisiana, out all day.  Lots of catching for them on the blue poison and lightning bug droppers.  Late in the afternoon, way downstream, the egg pattern was working best.  Not Ron’s largest fish, but certainly a beautiful male.  Had to get a picture of him.  Great day on the water! 

Colorful Rainbow – 3/6/14

Bummer!  Just enough warm weather to make one ready for Spring then back into the deep freeze.  Good news, Spring will be here someday.  Blue sky right now, but I looked out the window earlier this morning and snow flakes were flying.  We will probably see rain (I hope it is rain) on Friday as the temperatures are supposed to be in or near 50.  Sunday may be another story.  We will just have to follow the weather forecasts and see what turns out. 

Low generation almost all weekend.  A few periods early in the day of higher flows, but pretty much one or a low one unit during both days.  Of course they are turning the generators off from late morning until late afternoon each weekday so far.  That is again the projection for today.  Don’t worry, we will get a weekend with no generation!

Stan on the water Saturday with Scott from Arizona.  Lots of fish day on the blue poison in the morning and the P&P in the afternoon.  In between using these, Scott also caught several fish stripping the CQ streamer, but especially the holographic green crackleback.  Still seeing lots of smaller fish in the daily catches.  But, that’s fishing!  Other than yesterday, reports from the river are that fishing has been good on almost everything.  Most folks yesterday said it was pretty tough. 

We still have a few spaces left in the Spey/Switch rod clinic we are holding here March 22.  Give us a call if you are interested. The instructor will  have all the necessary equipment for this clinic. 

Maybe some rain tonight, and a slight chance for some again tomorrow.  Biggest problem, just like today, will be the wind.  But, temperatures in the 60s which should continue into Saturday.  Downturn in temperatures by Sunday…..more seasonal…. in the 40s which we will see most of next week.

The generation schedule has given us no generation every day this week from about 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.  Same scenario for tomorrow. 

George – 2/19/14

Today was ladies day on the water.  eorge, who lives by Bennett Springs.  She enjoys coming to Taneycomo for a change in fishing.  Great day for George, mainly on the size 18 copper dun midge.  Carolyn had Pam, from Texas, and her daughter Tiffany out for half a day.  Tiffany just graduated from medical school and this was part of her graduation celebration.  Good day for these ladies too.  Tiffany started her day off stripping the CQ streamer in olive.  The other best pattern of the day was the size 18 copper dun.   By the way Tiffany…..CONGRATULATIONS!

Tiffany – 2/19/14

 Monday was a very good day for almost everyone on the water.  Lots of patterns reported as fishing well.  Couple guys came in and said they nailed fish on the Blue Poison.  Unfortunatley, it was not working very well on Tuesday but several fishers said Tuesday was a tough day.  We did fish the Blue Poison today and it fished well in some places. 

This beautiful weather is definitely a relief from the bitter cold and snow!  Almost all traces of the snow have melted away!  we are looking at mid to upper 50s today and 60s tomorrow into possibly Thursday.  Thursday, however, has a slight chance of moisture in the forecast.  After that, 50s dropping to the low 50s by next weekend. 

Generation schedule has been pretty consistent.  No units during the week from mid morning until late afternoon.  We are still scratching our heads wondering why they generate on the weekends!  For the past two weekends we have had some kind of generation.  However, this weekend, it was wader friendly.  Low units later in the morning until late afternoon.

Jim on the water Saturday with a couple, Don and Mary, from Illinois.  Pretty much an instructional trip for Mary as she is pretty new to fly fishing.  they had a good day on the CQ streamer, a red midge with a brown San Juan worm dropper.  Miss Dawn and Albert spent the afternoon with Carolyn.  Fun, fun day for us.  Lots of fish on the lightning bug with or without a black copperhead zebra midge dropper.  Meanwhile, JA was out with Stan and they were downstream catching on a plain black wooly bugger using sink tip line.

Sunday Chris and his son, Garrett, spent half a day on the water with Jim.  Good day for them on the CQ streamer.  Stan took Ron from Wisconsin out for his first time fly fishing.  Unfortunately, Ron is scheduled for a shoulder surgery in a few weeks, so casting was not his forte.  He did, however, get the fly into the water enough to hook some fish on an orange egg pattern under the big ruby. 

Yeah!  Warm weather in the forecast.  Need I say more?  We are looking at 50s to even 60s for the coming week.  Possibly back into the 40s by next Sunday. 

The other good news is that we have seen no generation during the day for the past several days and it is off already today!  Turned it off at 9:00 a.m and it is supposed to be off until 3:00-4:00 p.m.  They turned a unit off yesterday at 5:00 p.m.

There are all kinds of Valentine’s Day presents and I had one of the best yesterday.  Been working almost every day at the shop.  With the wonderful change in weather, my fishing fever has been heating up.  Around 2:00 p.m., in the door comes Stan and says “go fishing”.  Well you couldn’t see me for the dust!  Out the door and to the water I went.  Walked down the stairs below the boat ramp and started casting immediately.  Third cast and a smile came to my face.  It was a magical day catching almost one fish after another for quite a while.  They slowed down for a little and I changed flies a couple times, but before I left I went back the holographic green crackleback and started catching again, almost one after another.  Scout’s honor.  I should say, most of them were prety small, but I was happy.  Did hook a few larger males.  Gina even showed up so we got to fish together until they turned on the generator.  What a wonderful Valentine’s present!  Thank you Stan!

Tough weather we have been having over the past five days!  Nasty snow on Sunday caused pile ups everywhere you looked.  Nice Monday (sort of) followed by more snow on Tuesday and Wednesday and now frigid temperatures!  Maybe some dusting late tomorrow night with temperatures in the 30s Saturday and Sunday.  Don’t worry, Spring will come!

Until today, we had seen some no generation or very low generation during the middle of the day.  Today it is run those generators at almost every dam in the grid.  I imagine with this extremely cold weather everywhere, they need all the power they can muster.  This too shall pass.

Only fishing news I can pass on is that on this past Monday (the best day we have seen for a while), it fished great with the size 16 lightning bug or a size 8 CQ streamer or 10 wooly bugger, both in olive.  Just enough hits to have fun on a griffith’s gnat, but not the numbers of these other patterns.  These reports come from customers who came in Monday. 

Spring will be here before we know it so let’s use this time to get ready.  Clean those fly lines.  Best thing is to wash them in a non-grease cutting dish soap such as Ivory or a commercial line cleaner/dressing.  If using soap, strip off most of that line and put in a sink or pan with a little Ivory soap.  Wash is down well with a soft cloth then rinse well.  This is a good time to check your line for breaks or knicks by running your fingers along the line after drying.  Any break in the surface of the line will allow water to seep into the core and cause your line to sink.  Check the leader loop area for any signs of a break.  Easy fix by adding a new leader loop or make your own with amnesia or some mono line.  Last, but not least, if your line does not feel as slick as it did when you first put it on, apply a line dressing to help restore some of that slick finish.  Good, clean, slick line is paramount for those nice casts!

Should not complain, at least the temperaturein in the upper 40s.  However, the wind it unbelievable!  Sitting here in my office listening to it howling through the trees and everything else.  The temperatures will continue to be fairly mild for the next few days.  By Tuesday, however, it looks like lower 30s and a chance of moisture.  If the temperature stays in that range, it will probably look a whole lot like snow!  And the forecast past that does not look real good at this time.

We have actually has off generation during the late morning into the last afternoon for the past three days.  I would have an optimistic guess that it will continue this way through the weekend. 

Gina on the water just fishing last weekend and she had a fun day on the CQ streamer.  Lots of fish.  Only complaint (can you imagine?) was that many of them were small.  We have been seeing quite a few smaller fish over the past couple weeks.  However, had a fisher come into the shop today and he lost a nice size fish pulling a streamer in the rebar area yesterday.  He was heading out to see if he could find him again today. 

Today is one of those shiver days!  I think our high might hit 20 and the wind is nasty.  Monday was close to 60.  This weekend is supposed to be in the 50s, then back into the 20s for Monday!   Should not complain…..we could be out East!

We have just started to see a little cut back in generation.  Only one unit for six hours yesterday afternoon.  Actually no units from midnight until 5:00 this morning and we are supposed to see no generation for a few hours this afternoon. 

Stan on the water last Sunday for a catching, training session with one of his customers, Don and his son Mark.  Don just purchased his own drift boat and wanted to work on how to fish from the boat and a little on handling the boat.  Mission accomplished.  Worked the various spots, based on the water flow and caught fish mainly drifting the ruby midge.  Mark is pretty new, so Stan worked with him on catching.  

Monday, Dennis, from Kansas, took a half day float with Stan.  Lots of fish on the ruby, P&P and lightening bug, but nothing of any size.  Talked to several other fishers who were fishing by the hatchery and they said pretty much the same thing.  Good fishing that day, but few, if any, in size. 

Don’t forget the spey/switch rod clinic coming up March 22.  This technique certainly has application for Taney. 

The weather has almost been as erratic as the water flows.  One day it is in the 50s, and the next day in the 30s  Supposed to see a warm day today, but tomorrow looks like 30s.  Back into the 50s Saturday through Monday.  Good news, no moisture in the near horizon.  Lots of 40s next week.

Non-stop generation for a whole week.  Table Rock Lake did come up almost a foot after the last rain we had.  Table Rock is now at 905.4 (915 power pool) and droppping. 

Dave and Chris, from Kansas spent half a day on the water with Jim this past Monday.  Good day for these guys.  Fairly new fly fishers, so Jim had them pulling the CQ streamer on a sinking line.  Water running that day, so this seemed to be the ticket.

Sorry for the very late Happy New Year!  I have been out of commission since last Saturday with some kind of “creeping crud”.  Anyway, I do think I am going to survive and am certainly ready for SPRING!!!!!!  Rain in the forecast for tomorrow (like that….rain…..not ice or snow) with temperatures in the mid to upper 30s.  Temperatures continue to climb.  Friday and Saturday show upper 40s…maybe low 50s.  Definitely low tomid 50s early nesxt week, then upper 40s sliding into the lowe 40s by next weekend……I’ll take it!

We finally saw some off generation during the late morning yesterday and the day before.  Last time we had wadeable water was last Saturday and Sunday, when we had some off time in the morning then generation the balance of each day.  Today we are seeing anywhere from one to a high two units all day. 

Stan on the water the last Monday of 2013 with Patrick and his friend Josh.  This was Josh’s bachelor outting.  With three units and 7800 cfs, the guys had a great half day on the big ruby and an egg pattern.  Good luck Josh.  Hope your new wife will let you come and fish again some day.

Penny – 1/1/14!

A few of the RRWFF “polar group” were on the river again this New Year’s Day.  Some were rewarded more than others as with Penny and this nice rainbow!  It was a fun day for everyone, and almost every everyone caught fish.  A variety of patterns were working, but the best seemed to be either a pink or red San Juan worm dropped from either the big ruby or an egg pattern.  Also, depending on where you were fishing, the big black midge with a size 18 black midge dropper caught a few fish.  What a fun, Happy New Year day.  Great way to start the year.

  Saturday, Stan took Kim, from Smithville, out for half a day float.  Kim throws a good stick and they caught quite a few fish, mainly on the ruby midge.