Looks like a cool off….upper 90s instead of low 100s!  At least for a couple days, then back to triple digits and no moisture to speak of in sight.

Generation continues to mostly be off in the a.m. each day and on around noon or later.  Sunday was an exception as we had generation all day yesterday.  I expect we will continue to see this trend.

Trish and nice rainbow - 7/18/12

Just like the water, fishing has been up and down.   Carolyn had a fun week as she spent Monday, Wednesday and Friday on the water with Trish and Mike from Texas.  Monday started off slow but finished up much better.  Caught a few on midges, the P&P and copper dun, but mainly stripping the CQ streamer or a mouse gray sculpin pattern.  Wednesday was a good day.  We pulled streamers most of the day, especially while the water was off.  Once it came on, it was the big ruby with a fl. pink San Juan dropper. 

Mike - 7/18/12

 Pulled more streamers at Lookout Island and on the drift out it was back to the ruby/San Juan combo.  Trish caught a nice rainbow on this rig further down river.  Friday was an afternoon drift and it started out great.  The water was rising when we got to the river and it fished good on streamers on the sinking leader.  Red midge through the Trophy Run area and back to streamers further down.  Then the water shut down and so did the fish.  Still a nice float that afternoon munching on watermelon and cherries. 

Friday morning Carolyn had Laura and Scott from Oklahoma out again.  This was Laura’s second time on the water and everything is really starting to come together.  Her cast is looking great, and it was good near the end of our time on the water to hear her say “just a few more casts!”  She brought in a nice 17 inch rainbow stripping the CQ.  Good day for both of them.  We would experience a period of 10-15 minutes where nothing would be happening, but move up or down stream just a little and the bite was on again.  

Jim on the water Saturday with Gary from Washington.  New experience for Gary so Jim spent time on the basics, casting, line management, and hooking and playing fish.  They had a pretty good day on the P&P, ruby and a brown midge. 

Sunday, Ken and his father-in-law, Tom, spend the morining with Jim.  I think these guys from Texas thought our weather was not that hot.  They experienced quite a bit of water fluctuation yesterday so it was a little off.  But, they did land some fish on the CQ streamer, size 12 ruby midge, and the size 18 ruby and size 14 miracle scud.

Looks like 100s for the six days with no moisture in sight.  Did have a short  shower yesterday that cooled us off for a brief period of time.  What a pleasant sound….rain drops!

Generation schedule continues to be pretty consistent.  Off in the mornings and early afternoon.  Generation start up has been around 2:00 p.m.  Last weekend we have most of the day with no generation.  Projection for today looks like noon or 1:00 p.m.

Stan on the water last Thursday (Boy!  am I behind?) with Adam from Blue Eye, and his father Eric.  Adam had his first experience fly fishing with Stan a couple months ago and decided his father had to give it a try.  They had a good day on the big ruby, the size 16 red midge and the size 18 ruby midge.  Water was off at put in but came on at 9:00 a.m. that day and then back off at noon.  Jim had Brandon and his friend Eric, from St. Louis out for the morning.  They did the red with red midge dropper, the CQ streamer and a bug eye bugger.

Friday, Darrell and Jim introduced Matt, David, Aaron and Isaac to fly fishing.  Good start for these guys from Oklahoma.   It was a P&P, black midge with copper head and brown midge day.

Mark and Wally - 7/14/12

Mark and his father, Wally, spend all day Saturday on the water with Carolyn.  Mark and his wife, Fran, took our two-day fly fishing school in 2010 and have been avid fly fishers (as much as they can) ever since.  Tying their own flies, the whole works!  We had a very good day on the water with the copper dun, size 18 when the water was down as well as stripping the olive streamer.  Once the water came on, it was the big ruby with a worm brown San Juan worm dropper.  Mark’s best fish of the day was a 17 inch rainbow and Wally was close behind him with a 16-1/2 incher. 

Carol Ann - 7/14/12

Jason, she loves it!  Jason and Carol Ann took a 1/2 day float with Carolyn on Tuesday.  It was Janson’s hope that she would like fly fishing.  Yes!  Carol Ann loves it!  As with any new skill, we still have some practicing to do, but she is going to be a good fly fisher.  They both did well well with the P&P midge as well as stripping the olive streamer.   Carol Ann got the largest fish of the day, a 17 inch rainbow.  Stay with it Carol Ann!

Weather…continued warm and sunny.  Haven’t seen much indication moisture in our near future.  Just temperatures remaining in the mid to upper 90s through the weekend into next week.

Generation has been spastic again…or still!  today it was supposed to be off until 2:00 p.m.  Guess what!  It came on around 9:30 a.m.  One day, it was supposed to be on and it was off.  At least we have had pretty good weekends so far.

Skip, from Kansas, spent the day with Stan Monday.  Fishing was better in the morning with one unit going and they probably caught most of their fish for the day in the a.m.  Best on the big ruby and the CQ streamer.  Around noon, the second unit came on, the water got pretty dirty and fishing slowed down.  The good news was the weather, around 85-88 degrees and overcast.

Tuesday, was a good day for everyone…not a great day, but a good day.  Stan had Mike from California out for the day.  Mike is planning to move to Branson as soon as he can find a home.  Their morning started out with no generation and they pulled the CQ streamer.  At noon, they turned on two generators, so it was time to take a break for lunch to let the dirt drift on through.  Not fast in furious in the afternoon, but they did pull some fish on the big ruby with either a rusty or scud dropper.  Jim had Terry, from Defiance, MO out for the morning.  Where they saw fish dimpling, they fished an orange size 18 midge cluster.  Otherwise, it was the CQ olive size 10 streamer.  Darrell has one of his customers from Minnesota, John, out for the morining.  Their best pattern was the black zebra with copper head and copper wire.

Wednesday was a good streamer stay for Paul and Joe from Nebraska.  Paul has fished with Jim several times over the past three years or so and brought Jim a newbie, Joe.  They had a fun day on the size 8-10 CQ streamer.   Dana had Wayne, from Marshfield  and Dave, from Illinois, out for half a day.  Their best pattern was the red midge.

Although the weather forecast say we are having temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s, it was in the upper 90s today…..and very humid.  Now, according to the forecast for the rest of the week, it should be in the low 90s with little chance of moisture until Wednesday of next week.  Let’s see…..

Other than yesterday, we have had no generation in the mornings, so that means wading time in the morning.  Yesterday, they ran something all day.  We had no generation until around noon today, but tomorrow looks like low one generator for a while then ramping up to high one and low two during the day. 

Darrell and Carolyn had the Louisiana Kerrs on the water most of the day this past Saturday.  Caught quite a few fish on the black zebra with the copper head, copper wire, primrose & pearl midge and holographic green crackleback.  Sunday was a soft hackle day.  It just fished good Sunday on several patterns.  Dawn and Carolyn fished the area just above Trophy Run as we noticed lots of fish dimpling the water.  Size 16 light olive soft hackle was wonderful!  When they layed off this pattern, we would switch to something else for a while, like a yellow soft hackle, the silver bullet crackleback, holographic green crackleback, and catch some more fish.  Once they layed off that, back to the light olive.  Also caught several on the primrose & pearl midge before we spotted the subsurface activity.  Meanwhile, James Albert was catching fish stripping the gray sculpin pattern.  Albert was having a wonderful day on the size 20 hare’s ear under a gray scud. 

Monday, Skip from Kansas, spent the day with Stan.  Better fishing in the morning before they started messing with the water levels…Up then down, the up and back down again.   With one unit going in the morning,  they did best on the big ruby midge and stripping the CQ olive streamer. 

Darrell had John from Minnesota out for half day this morning.  John has fished with Darrell back in 2006, and decided it was time again.  Caught most of their fish on the black midge with the copper head and copper rib.  Terry started fishing with us in 2005 and he came back and fishe with Jim today.  They had a pretty good day on the CQ streamer and an orange midge cluster.  Mike, from California, is trying to relocate to Branson.  Needed to take his mind off trying to sell and buy a house, he spent the day on the water with Stan.  Pretty good day on the big ruby, size 18 rusty and a size 12 gray flashback scud. 

Mixed reports on fishing today.  One guy was having a great day on a dark brown San Juan worm.  Two other guys came in and didn’t catch a thing on a brown San Juan.  Few others doing well stripping size 12 olive wooly buggers, and others on a brown scud.  Just depends on where you are.

100s for a few more days, then it looks like a cool off Sunday through Tuesday….tehmperatures in the 80s.  Wow!  Low 90s to mid 90s into next weekend.  That would be a nice break.  Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a hint of moisture in our future at this time.

Generation continues to give the waders lots of morning wading.  On in the afternoons and generally off by 10:00 p.m.

Really good day for Jim and his guests, Scotts and Adrea, from St. Joseph. MO.  Had a fun morning start using a orange bodied crackleback in a size 18 on the surface.  Best of the day was the size 10 CQ streamer. 

Folks coming into the shop are doing well on a variety of patterns.  Several days of soft hackle action, especially yellow, orange, olive and bright green.  Starting to hear the red midge working again, and the holographic green crackleback and olive size 12-14 wooly buggers are still producing.  You just have to look for the best drifts or pockets of fish to work.

Looks like 100 degrees through Sunday.  Possibly a cool down, low 90s to upper 80s Monday and a chance of rain is showing up Wednesday and Thursday…..that would be nice!

Generation schedule continues to give the waders time to wade almost every morning.  I think I heard the horn go off around 2:00 p.m. today.  I just imagine, with tomorrow being a holiday, it will be off most of the day.

Stan on the water yesterday.  Only got to the mid 90s!  Wow!  A warm day instead of a hot day.  LOL!  He had Laird, from Bruner, MO. and his son-in-law, Ranee, from California out all day.  they had a very good day on the P&P and copper head black zebra midges.  Ranee is still in the learning stage.  He wants to get this down so he can teach his son fly fishing when he is ready to learn, which will be here before he knows it!

Reports are varied.  Soft hackles are still working in the early mornings when the fish are dimpling, especially yellow and olive.  Also taking some smaller, size 16 crackleback on the surface.  One of our customers had a good morining stripping the CQ streamer this morning.  Stay small on tippet when nymph style fishing, 6X or even consider 7X if you see the fish refusing your pattern.

The weather men this morning and my two other sources for weather all say we are going to see low 90s tomorrow with a very slight chance of scattered showers.  Tuesday looks like mid 90s then back to the upper 90s and l0w 100s for the rest of the week.  A little break would be nice!

More of the same on generation.  No generation in the mornings.  During this weekend, we have not been generation until 3:00 p.m. yesterday and are not supposed to see any today until 6:00 p.m. for about three hours.  It stayed on yesterday until 8:00 p.m. 

Jim out Friday with Jeff from Illinois.  Brand new fly fisher, so it was an instructional trip.  Got him to throwing a pretty good line so they were stripping and catching on the CQ olive streamer in a size 10.  Darrell had Daniel and his wife, Angela, out for half a day.  They hail out of the St. Louis area and Daniel wanted to get his wife some experience fly fishing.  Their best pattern was the size 18 ruby midge.

Dannie - 7/1/12

Today, Stan and Darrell had the Hoving family from Texas out for the morning.  Dwayne fishes alot all over the place.  He is leaving soon for Canada where he will be doing small mouth fishing.  First time for all the the other family members, Debbie and their two daughters, Gabbie (8), and Dannie (13).    Gabbie had a couple fish on, but soon decided she was going to be official netter for her father’s fish.  Debbie and Dannie caught fish on  the black midge with a copper head and copper ribbing.  Dwayne was catching his fish on the P&P and the black/copper midge.  Everyone had a fun morning and enjoyed the cool water!  Keep it up ladies!

In a word…..HOT.   I think I am beginning to sound like a broken record, but it doesn’t change the fact that the forecast are for tempertures to remain in the upper 90s to low 100s for the next seven days.   And, there is nothing that looks like rain in the forecast!

We continue to see wading water in the mornings.  The generators have been coming on sometime around noon or after and staying on most of the rest of the day; sometimes going off late.

Stan’s guys he had out for three days in this heat, had a good time and caught lots of fish on the P&P and ruby midges and stripping the holographic green crackleback. 

Howard - 6/27/12

Gina out Wednesday with Dale, from Oklahoma, and his friend, Howard from Montana.  they had a great day on a tiger tail (we’re making up names again!) the P&P midge, a crackleback and the floozie. 

Thursday, Gina took Barb out to celebrate her birthday.  She decided her present to herself would be a guided fly fishing trip.

Happy Birthday Barb! - 6/28/12

She had a great time and the trout even helped out.  Best patterns were the tiger tail and a rusty midge.

Talked to several folks fishing today and they are saying it is pretty tough.  From what we have been seeing, stripping something, especially small olive buggers, dead drifting the filoplume, or slow pulling the 56er have been working pretty good.  Early in the mornings, you might do well with a yellow, orange, or olive soft hackle if the fish are dimpling the water.

That is about all you an say about the weather…..HOT!  Temperatures hovering close to or in the 100 degree range for the next 7-8 days and not even a hint of rain! 

We had most of Saturday and Sunday with no generation.  They ran a little late Saturday afternoon and then three generators Sunday afternoon , dropping down overnight then back up to a low two through Monday.  Tuesday it was low one generator from midnight until 8:00 a.m. Tuesday morning; off for 4-5 hours, then back up to a low two.  We had no generation today until 2:00 p.m. and it is currently flowing at a low two.

Jim had his couple from Hawaii, Colleen and Wayne, out half a day on Sunday.  They had a good day and Colleen landed a beautiful 21-1/2″ rainbow on the CQ streamer.  They also caught some on an orange crackleback. 

Monday, Stan took Dennie, from Joplin, and his brother Bob, from Washington out for the afternoon.  They didn’t get enough Monday afternoon, so they went again yesterday and….guess what? they are on the water again today.  Not certain what all they have been fishing, but I know they have been catching fish.  Dennie caught the most yesterday, and I heard Bob was ahead today.  (Dennie said he felt sorry for him, so he was letting him catch more fish today!)

Tuesday Jim took a new fly fisher out to teach him the “ropes” of fly fishing.  By the time they were finished, he was false casting with the best of them….well pretty good anyway.  There’s always room for practice.  They also caught some fish in the process on the CQ, a gray scud and a red midge.  Tom, from Texas, really took a liking to fly fishing!

Wednesday it was back on the river again for Wayne and Colleen with Jim.  This was a full day, but with the heat, they came off a little early.  Still had a good day, mainly on the CQ streamer.  Darrell and Dana were on the river for half a day with a group from the Missouri Holstein Assn.  Darrell had John and Brady.  They caught fish on the ruby and ugly midge.  Dana’s guys, Brian and Brandon, caught fish on the ruby midge and a peach egg.

What can I say about the weather except HOT!  And, it looks like it will hang around for a while. 

Generation has been weird….to say the least.  That is, several days this past week.  If you were around Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, you would have wondered if there was a short in the horn alert for water release or did we add more generators.  There were times, at least it seemed that way, that the horn was going off every couple hours or so.  We did talk to one of the guys at the dam and he said they were working on something to do with the releases, so they blew the horn every time they release a little water.   I think we are back to normal now.

Forgot to mention Stan’s trip a week ago this past Thursday.  He has Phil, from this area, and his visiting son, Shane, out for the morning.  They had a good day on the P&P, Ruby and black zebra midges. 

Monday, Darrell took John and Mindy from Springfield, out for half a day.  They had a good morning on the P&P.  Jim had Carmen and Jeff out for a half day trip.  These two have been fishing with Jim since 2002!  Very good day for them pulling an olive streamer.

Carolyn took Michael and his son Jerrod out for a spin Tuesday.  Weird water day, but we did catch fish on the ruby midge and pulling the olive streamer and a holographic green crackleback.  Michael is from Kansas and Jerrod is from the Kansas City area. 

Thursday was another one of those funny water days.  Stan had Ken from Texas out for the morning.  Despite the weird water flow, they had a pretty good day on the big ruby, dark olive soft hackle, and an holographic green crackleback.  Looked like rain and some weather when they started out, but it cleared up and was a beautiful day to be on the water.

Yesterday, Darrell took Mike, from Arkansas, out for half a day.  Pretty good day on the olive streamer and a holographic green crackleback.  Jim also had his couple, John and Patty, from Florida pulling the olive streamer.  They also caught fish on a size 14 1and 16 ruby midge. 

Jim and nice rainbow - 6/23/12

Jim had Jim and his daughter, Kathy, from Arizona, out this morning.  Jim hooked into this nice rainbow pulling the olive streamer (we’re trying to come up with a name for this fly).  They also did well on a gold crackleback.