The days have been absolutely lovely.  Little brisk in the morning, but by mid morning, the sun is out, temperatures warming up to upper 50s or low 60s, and with no wind blowing, this is great.  Looks like more of the same except for the possibility of Monday night.  Temperatures through Friday are low to mid, maybe upper 60s.  The weekend after Thanksgiving looks like upper 50s; sunny Saturday and some clouds on Sunday.

What can I say about the generation schedule that has not already been said.  During the week we are still seeing quite a bit of wading time.  For whatever reason, they insist on running it some during the weekend!  Last weekend we had all the ladies here….they ran it all weekend.  This weekend it is beautiful….they are running it this weekend.  Fortunately, most of the time it is one or maybe a low two and you can wade in some places with this amount of generation.

Pat - 11/16/12

Stan on the water yesterday morning with Pat from California.   Running two generators when they put it but it was at the equivalent of not quite a full one generator.  They had a good day on the red midge and size 18 ruby midge.  Carolyn took herself fishing and had a great day….just getting to fish!  Good day on the big ruby with the little ruby dropper, but best fun was on the golden variant sculpin stripping it on the bottom using a 200 gr. 24′ sink tip fly line.

Pretty 20" rainbow

Wind blew through here pretty good today.  Not a good dry fly day!  It is raining as I write and will probably continue off and on through this evening.  Could even get a little slick as they are forecasting upper 20s for our lows both tonight and tomorrow.  Tomorrow is supposed to sunny up with temperatures in the mid 50s.  Mid 50s to upper 50 throughout the week and into the weekend.  Very little chance of any more precipitation once we get through today.

Thank you generators.  No generation Friday, they they certainly ran generators all weekend.  A little generation projected for tomorrow morning, otherwise off until lte afternoon when some will come back on. 

Michelle - 11/10/12

Friday fished very well with no generation.  Georgiana and Michelle, two ladies from the “Gals Go Fish” club in the Kansas City area, fished with Gina.  Good day for these ladies on the P&P and copper dun midges, and the CQ streamer.

Saturday, Darrell took John and his son out for a full day float.  Stan had their friend, Walt for the day.  These guys from Wildwood, had a good day, despite the wind.  Darrell’s boats best pattern was the P&P midge.  Stan used the P&P and the red midge most of the day.  The ladies from the River Runners Women’s Fly Fishing Club tried to wade fish, but the river was pretty high in most places.  However, they persisted and most everyone caught some fish.  Patterns were the P&P, ruby and the black midge with the copper beadhead.  One of the gals caught a few on a red San Juan worm, but mainly the black copper head midge dropper.  Main thing….a good time was had by all.

Looks like a good Friday and Saturday are in store for us.  That’s the good news.  Sunday looks like a chance of showers with temperatures starting down.  By Monday, showers chances decrease, but so does the temperature…..low to mid 40s!!!  After Monday, all next the temperatures are in the low to mid 50s.  Time to get out the warm clothes.

Generation schedule has been somehwat like a “March Hare”.  Not sure what it is doing.  They say they are going to run…and they don’t.  The say they are not going to run…and they do.  Anyway, it is off this morning (was supposed to be on from 8:00 a.m. to noon)…….to be continued…

Daya on the water Sunday with Damon from Lee’s Summit.  Good day for Damon on the rusty and P&P midges.  Wayne and Colleen, from Hawaii, braved the cooler weather and spent the day on the water with Jim.  Water was a little up and down, but they had a good day on the size 10 CQ streamer, and a size 14 miracle scud.   Stan had Matt and Paul from George out for half a day.  These two also did well on the rusty and P&P midges. 

A little cooler Tuesday, so Wayne and Colleen only stayed for a half day on the water with Jim.  Another good day on the CQ streamer, and the rusty midge with a blood worm dropper.  Bob from Michigan comes every year for the Veteran’s activities they Branson does so well.   But, he always has time to spend at least one day on the water with Stan.  They had a good day on the Big Ugly with a P&P dropper.  Took the Big Ugly several times!  Bob likes stripping that crackleback too, and it was working.

Looks like another sunny day with temperatures in the mid 60s.  Must admit, the mornings have been a little frosty.  Chance of rain tomorrow afternoon with temperatures in the upper 50s.  After upper 50s Tuesday, we will start creeping back up in temperatures and hit upper 60s low 70s  toward the end of the week.  Pretty much sunny to partly sunny until the weekend where a slight chance of showers is showing up right now.

The generator gods were against us this weekend.  We have had generation ranging from a low one up to a low three generators running almost all day since Friday.  Brief periods very early in the morning where there was no generation, but by the time the sun came up, generation came on.  Earlier in the week, we had lots of wading time.  Hopefully, since we ran this weekend, it will be some other dam’s turn next weekend.

Fishing is still good.  Jim’s trip last Wednesday with Steve from Illinois went well.  They had two good days on the CQ size 10 streamer, and the P&P with a blood worm dropper.   Pat and Rose, from California fished with Stan.  Rose is now a new fly fisher.  She had a great time.  They did well on the ruby and P&P midges.  Nice sunny day with no generation!. 

Friday, Robin from Kansas, and Marvin from Arkansas, took a half day float with Dana.  They had a good day on the P&P midge and a size 12 beaded red San Juan worm.  The weather was so nice, Doc, from Oklahoma called and said he had to get on the water and see what the fish were doing.  He spent the day with Stan and they had a great day on the P&P and red midge. 

Saturday was an old home day for Darrell.  Two guys he knew back home in Minnesota, Mike and Doug, took a trip with him.  Good day for them on the ruby midge.  Dana had Mike and Shawn from Iowa out for half a day.  Their best patterns were the size 18 P&P, a size 12 P&P and the big ruby.  Water generating up and down all day.  Two new ladies to fly fishing, Heather and Melissa, from Oklahoma took an instructional/fishing trip with Jim.  He got them casting and catching on a red midge and a tan scud.  Mark and Greg from Kansas, had a very good day with Stan on the P&P, the red midge and an olive wooly bugger. 

Seeing pictures of some nice rainbows caught up near the outlets.  Not much in the way of browns.  As we have mentioned, we really don’t think we will see the brown run that we have in past years due to last year’s flood.

At least this morning was in the low 40s…..didn’t have to scrap my window.  Looks like a nice weekend in store.  Temperatures through Saturday will be in the 70s.  Sunday is cooling down a little, but still in the 60s.  Ever so slight chance of rain Saturday night.  So far, next week doesn’t look bad either with temperatures in the mid to upper 60s.

Generators off yesterday until late.  Little surprise today.  They were not supposed to generate anything until this evening, but we had a surprise equivalent of one generator fire up at 9:00 a.m.  I think it was on for a couple hours then back off.   Every day is a surprise!

Jim on the water Monday with Steve from Illinois.  Will get a fishing report from them when they get off the water today.  Yesterday, Mark, from Grain Valley spent the day with Jim.  Tough fishing in the a.m. but it certainly took a turn to the good by afternoon.  Good day for them on the CQ streamer.

Scraped ice off my window yesterday.  The past three mornings have been in the 30s.  Fortunately, it did warm up during the middle of the day, but the wind has been downright nasty for the past 4-5 days.  Looks like another morning in the 30s tomorrow, then a slight warm up.  Morning temperatures in the 40s with the days warming up to the mid to upper 60s.  By the weekend the projection is low to mid 70s, and clear skies.  Sunday some precipitation might be moving in which will increase in chances by next Monday.

This past week has probably seen more water running time that water off time.  Today, however, they ran a low two generators for a couple hours this morning and it is now off and should be for the rest of the day.  We had up and down generation both Friday and Saturday.  Last Thursday was pretty nice with a low one generator for a couple hours in the middle of the day.  Tomorrow, we will have a low one generator early in the morning, ramping up to a low two, then back down to a low one.

Fishing has been good almost every day this past week.  Stan had Mike from Iowa on the water this past Monday morning.  Good day for them on the P&P under the Big Ugly.  Matt and his wife, Gievanna, from Kansas, went out for half a day with Darrell.  They too had a good day.  They were fishing the P&P and the black zebra with the copper head.  Jim had a couple of his regulars, Morgan and Larry, from Georgia out all day.  They were catching fish on the CQ streamer, or a blood worm dropped under the P&P. 

Tuesday it was Joe and his friend, Darrell, from Springfield out for the morning with Stan.  This was Darrell’s first time fly fishing and he picked up casting pretty quickly.  They did well with the red midge dropped under the big ruby as they had three generators running when they put in.  It dropped down to two units, and lots of wind. 

Jill - 10/23/12

 Carolyn had Bryan and Jill out for the day Tuesday.   Jill is pretty new to fly fishing, but she seems to really like it and is catching on fast.   Think our best pattern was the ruby midge.  Also caught fish below the Lookout Island stripping the holographic green crackleback and a CQ midge. 

Jim left town, so Wednesday, Carolyn took Morgan and Larry out for half a day.  Good day for these guys on the CQ streamer, filoplume and a size 18 ruby midge with a blood worm dropper.  Stan and Darrell had a group from Arizona out for half a day.  Darrell took Dave and Clark, and Stan took Tom.  Darrell’s new fly fishers had a good day on the P&P midge.  Stan had the ruby or the P&P on Tom. 

Richard - 10/24/12

 Richard and his son, Kevin, from Nebraska spent the morning with Dana.  They did well with the P&P midge dropped from the Big Ugly.

Dan - 10/25/12

Thursday, Gina took Dan and his son Danson out for half a day.  Dan has been out with Gina before, but this was Danson’s first time.  These guys are from Texas.   They had a good day on the copper dun midge dropped from the Big Ugly, or the P&P midge.  Dan also caught a few stripping the CQ streamer.  This was the day the cold front came through and the fish shut down around noon.  They mnaged to get off the water just before the rain started.  Another one of those windy days!

And another windy day, Friday.  Darrell and Stan had the group from Arizona out for another half-day float.  Big ruby with a small ruby dropper for Darrell’s guys, Clark and Dave, and the red midge for Tom who was with Stan. 

Pam - 10/26/12

 Doug and his wife, Pam from Kansas spent a late morning start half day on the water with Carolyn.  Pam now has the nickname of “trout magnet”.  She had a very good day on a P&P dropped from an egg pattern.  Doug was just going to go along for the ride and watch Pam.    That didn’t last long.  Before we knew it, Doug had a P&P dropper from his red midge.  Several nice 15-16 inch rainbows for for Pam.  Fun day on the water, despite the WIND@!

Dale - 10/27/12

Yesterday, Gina took Dale and Glenn from Oklahoma out again.  good day for these guys.  First and biggest fish of the day was a 17-1/2 inch rainbow on a Big Ugly.  Other flies were the P&P or ruby midges dropped under an egg pattern.    Stan had Jim from Oklahoma out all day.  they did well on the red midge and the P&P midge.  Vicki and Steve from the St. Louis area spent the morning with Darrell.  They had such a good time last year, they wanted to try it again.  Good day for them on the P&P and red midges.

Fishing is good.  Talking to lots of fishers and everyone is catching fish, still on lots of different patterns.  Black or olive leech patterns, black zebra midges, red midges, P&P, gray scuds, cracklebacks, small wooly buggers, the CQ streamer, different color sculpin patterns, and I know I’m missing some.  Better go fishing!  Still not seeing many browns, but some very nice rainbows!

Other than the wind, beautiful days.  Yesterday out down right warm!  Today it is in the 80s and that is the projection for the next couple of days.  It does look like we will have a cool down by Friday when temperatures will drop to the 50s.  Whoa!

Other than last Thursday, we are still enjoying little generation during the day.  They will run a low something every afternoon (yesterday it was a bit more than it has been), but only for a couple hours, then it is off again.

We have a couple boats on the river last Thursday with four generators going.  Fortunately, the trips did not go out until after the generators had been on for a while so the water cleaned up a little.  Jim had Randy from Texas out for the morning.  Randy fishes every other year, so it’s work on technique for a while before they start catching.  Best patterns were the CQ streamer, red midge and a gray scud.  John from Colorado decided he wanted to try our Missouri fly fishing, so he took a half day with Stan.  Lots most water than he normally sees.  They had a good day, despite the water, on the big ruby with a P&P dropper.  Lots of fluctuating water and lots of wind!  Good thing John could cast. 

Saturday, Jim took Jeff and Lisa out for half a day.  They had a good time and caught fish on the size 10 CQ streamer. 

Trish - 102112

Trish and Mike from Texas were out with Carolyn Sunday.  She caught this nice fat male on a P&P midge under the Big Ugly.  Good day on the P&P, golden variant sculpin and the holographic green crackleback.  John from Colorado had to fish one more time before going home, so he spent the morning on the water again with Stan.  Good day for him also on the P&P midge.  Water certainly look different this time (he was out in four generators last Thursday). 

Having to work for your fish.  But, they are there and they are feeding.  The bite is very soft so set the hook on anything unusual.  Streamer fishing seems to be more productive, but even here, the fish are bumping the fly several times before they take it.

Had a little rain Tuesday night and some sprinkles during the day yesterday.  Otherwise, it was a pretty nice day.  Sun in and out most of the day.  Today is sunny, but a bit cooler.  Looks like we will be in the mid 60s today with lots of wind.  Tomorrow should be 60s again.  By the weekend we will be mid to upper 70s and mostly sunny.  Slight chance of rain early next week but temperatures continuing in the upper 70s.

Surprise, surprise when we check the level this morning and found they were generating four generators!  Haven’t seen that in a while.  However, I think we need it.  The water was getting pretty “ucky” with very little generation each day.  They had projected a low one this morning, with a ramp up to a low two and then back down to a low one for the afternoon.  To be continued…..we’ll see what they really do as the day progresses.

Three boats on the water Tuesday.  Pretty day with low water.  Jim had Craig & Gail from Michigan out all day.  Good day for these two stripping the CQ streamer.  Dana had Ron from Connecticut out again.  They spent their half day strilling crtacklebacks and the CQ streamer.

Bob - 10/16/12

First fish on a dry fly for Bob from Oklahoma, who spent the morning on the water with Stan.  The Big Ugly nailed this fish, or the fish nailed his Big Ugly!.  Good day for Bob on the Big Ugly, P&P midge and stripping the holographic green crackleback. 

Few more reports of seeing some nice fish cruising.  Still no great numbers, but at least fishers are seeing some.

Had a little weather over the weekend.  Rained Friday and Saturday nights.  Fortunately, everyone was able to get on the river both days before the rain.  Biggest problem was the wind.  Today is pretty windy too.  Looks like upper 70s and low 80s through Wednesday, when we will have a chance for showers again.  After Wednesday, temperatures drop to the mid to upper 60s through next weekend.  Good news, no rain.

We continue to see mostly wadeable water every day.  Each day this past week, they have turned on the equivalent of one low or one full generator for only 2-4 hours during the day.  Otherwise, no generation.

Despite the dry summer, with the rains we have had off and on the past couple of weeks, we are seeing some color in the trees.  It’s not going to be our normal Fall colors, but it is still pretty.  It is especially pretty floating down the river to see the colors along the river. 

Gary and Debbie, from Florida, spent last Monday morning on the river with Darrell.  Good day for these two on the P&P and black copper head midges. 

Mountain Dance - 10/9/12

Stan and Carolyn had a group from Texas out for half a day Monday.  Carolyn took Carolyn, aka Mountain Dance, and Stan had Jack and Mary Kay.  Good day for everyone on the P&P and holographic green crackleback. 

Wednesday, Dave and Lynelle, from Kansas City, spent a full day with Stan.  Good day for these two on the #18 black zebra with copperhead, the plain black zebra and a holographic green crackleback.  Mountain Dance had to catch some more fish, so she spent the morning on the water with Carolyn again.  Another good day on the black copperheaded zebra and when they fired up a generators, we went to a larger black midge with a cerise San Juan worm dropper.  Also caught a few stripping the golden variant sculpin.

Larry, from Overland Park, KS. and a friend, Lucy, from Texas, spent most of Saturday with Stan.  Little tougher day Saturday, especially in the morning ( it has been slower in the mornings from 8:00 until 10:30 or so), but pulled off a good day as it progressed on the P&P midge.  Lucy caught a nice 19″ rainbow.   Jim was out on an instructional session with a family, Tom, Jo Lynne, and their son, Jason. 

Feeling some chilly mornings the past few days.  Low 40s several mornings.  This morning felt pretty good and it has been a beautiful, sunny day as have the past few days.  Looks like we might have a chance of showers tomorrow through Saturday.  Friday really looks like the best chances.  Temperatures should be in the mid to upper 70s for the next several days.

Lots of wading time every day.  Ran some water this morning early this morning and say they will run a low one this evening for three hours.  Other than that, very little generation which converts to lots of wading time.

Lots of trips out over the past week and in between that was the annual Southern Council FF Conclave held in Mountain Home each year.  Last Tuesday, Jim had Jack and Frank from California out for the day.  Great day for these guys, mainly midging and scuding, especially the P&P, blood worm and olive scud.  Did pull a few with the CQ streamer, but it was spotty.  Stan had Dub and Ron, from Texas, out all day.  These guys also had a great day on the ruby & P&P midges. 

Wednesday, Bob and Bob, from Oklahoma, spent half a day with Stan.  Both were brand new to fly fishing, but caught on real quick.  They had a very good day on the P&P and ruby midges. 

Alex - 10/4/12

Phil, who lives here in Branson, had a visitor from Romania, Alex.  He wanted to introduce him to fly fishing so Gina took the two of them out on Thursday.  As we have been experiencing here lately, mornings have been starting out slow.  This morning was no different, but Alex did hook into a nixe 16-1/2″ rainbow for one of his first trout on a fly rod.  Fishing did pick up and they had a wonderful, fun day.

Gina and Carolyn spent Friday and Saturday at the Conclave.  Rainy Friday and they were running water at Bull Shoals.  Saturday was a little nicer, but still running water.  The alternative was Norfork. 

Friday, Jim had Dale, from Missouri out all day.  Think this was a birthday present.  Good day for Dale pulling the streamers.  Darrell and Stan had three generations out on Friday.  Stan had Eric, his father, Dale and Darrell had Eric’s two sons, Ben and Adam.  All were new to fly fishing and wanted to give it a try.  Fun day for everyone and everyone caught some fish.  Stan had his guys on the P&P, size 18 ruby as well as the big ruby.  Darrell had Ben and Adam throwing the P&P and black midge with copper head. 

Tina & Ralph from St. Robert, took half a day trip with Dana Sunday.   Both brand new.  Slow day for these two on the P&P midge.  More new fly fishers, Travis and Mike from Kansas, took half a day trip with Stan.  Pretty slow day for these guys too.  Did catch some on the P&P and ruby midges.  And the Louisiana Kerrs floated with Darrell and Carolyn Sunday.  Late morning start for this group, which probably was good.  As we mentioned, mornings have been slow for a few days.  As the day went on, fishing was good.  Dawn, who was with Carolyn, had a good day on the ruby midge dropped under the Big Ugly.  One nice 17″ rainbow.  Darrell had Albert and JA, and they did well on the P&P and copper dun midges.  As always, a really fun day!  Jim had Darrin and Mitchell, from Columbia out for half a day.  Good day pulling streamers.  They also fished the ugly midge with a blood worm dropper.

Monday, Lynda and Rich, from Belle, MO came back for more instruction and fishing with Carolyn.  They took the two day school this past June and needed a brush up.  Although the morning start out a little slow, it certainly picked up on the ruby midge and stripping the holographic green crackleback.