Days have been a little warm and humid.  Slight chances of isolated thunderstorms this afternoon into tonight.   Looks like we are in for a whole week of hot, 90 degree temperatures with another slight chance of showers by Friday and probably warmer over the weekend.

Generation schedule has been pretty agreeable for the waders.  Monday it was off in the morning, but Tuesday it was on in the morning and stayed off until Wednesday afternoon.  Wading time Thursday morning, but limited wading Friday as they generated something all day.  Saturday was a good wading day, but we have had low one to a low one generators today.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until noon…..we’ll see about this one! 

Jim on the water last Monday with Curt from Illinois.  Whale of a thunderstorm blew through while they were out fishing.  Despite the weather, they did catch from fish on the rusty midge, a blood worm and a size 12 wooly bugger.

Jonathan - 6/12/12

Tuesday, Stan & Carolyn took Peter, Mac, Briggs and Jonathan out for half a day. Pretty good day.   The two young guys, Briggs and Jonathan, were new to fly fishing, but both of them did great and landed a few fish.  Best pattern for the day was the size 18 rusty and a size 16 ruby midge.   Jim had Steve, from Illinois, out for his first half day trip.  They had a good day Tuesday, but an even better half day on Wednesday.  Best patterns were the rusty midge, blood worm and an size 16 gray scud. 

Wednesday, Gina took Jim and his grand daughter, Daylynn out for half a day  Grandpa wanted to treat his grand daughter to a new experience, fly fishing.

Daylynn - 6/13/12

Daylynn caught on quickly and had a good time.  their best patterns were a size 18 gray scud, the ruby midge and even one on each stripping the olive filoplume and an olive streamer.   Stan had Brent from Wisconsin out all day Wednesday.  Brent fly fishes quite a bit and they had a very good day on the holographic green crackleback, the P&P, rusty, black and ruby midges. 

Scott, from Texas, spent Thursday morining floating with Darrell.  Good day for them on the P&P midge.  Carolyn had Charlotte and Carol, from Arkansas out for half a day too.  Started off a little slow in the early morning, but definitely picked up later in the day on the ruby midge.  Good casters and good fishers.  Jim had Devin, from Oklahoma, out for a half day instructional catching trip.  Worked on casting and other techniques as well as catching.  They did well on the dark olive bugger, a rusty midge, size 18 gray scud and a blood worm.

Friday, Don and Diane from Texas took a half day trip with Jim.  They caught some fish, but it was a bit off (won’t repeat how Jim described the day).  Best patterns were an olive wooly, ruby and red midges.

Keramia with 1st trout on fly rod -06/16/12

New ladies on the water half a day with Carolyn Saturday, Keramia and Marushka.  This was Marushka’s second time and Keramia’s first.  Both laides are doing very well with their casting, hooking and playing fish.  Marushka has already decided that she likes stripping flies better than nymph-style fishing.  No one best patterns that morning, but fished a black zebra, rusty zebra and an olive streamer.  Darrell had their husbands, Dan and Malcomb our for the day.   The guys had a very good day on an olive streamer, the ugly midge as well as the ruby midge.  Stan had Doc and Terry, from Oklahoma out all day.  They too had a very good day on the P&P, ruby and black zebra midges. 

Kevin, from Jefferson City, spent Sunday morning with Jim.  Fairly new fly fisher, so they worked on skills as well as catching fish.  Best patterns were the olive streamer, sizes 14 and 16 ruby midges.  Stan and Dana, also had some fairly new fly fishers from Springfield out.  Bryan is brand new.  He and his brother, David, thought this would be a good way to spent part of the day with their father, Craig, for Father’s Day.  A good time had by all and catching fish on the size 18 ruby as well as the big ruby, and the holographic green crackleback.  Bryan also has a fish swimming around with a peach egg in his mouth.

Great weather and great water.  Weather has been great the past few days.  We received some much needed rain on Monday.  Mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s.  Looks like this trend will continue with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low 90s to upper 80s.  Slight chance of rain Friday and Sunday.  

Lots of wading time every morning the past six days.  Yesterday was an  except as they started the day with a low one generator and then turned it off around 11:00 a.m. Yesterday’s projection was for low flow all day.  That’s alright…made wading good in the afternoon.  Today it was off today until around 1:00 p.m.   Tomorrow the projection is for no generation until 1:00 p.m., then on for four hours (low one generator), and off. 

Karen - 6/4/12

Karen’s first time fly fishing was last October.   This year she came back with a life-long friend, Mickey, and the two of them spent half a day last Monday with Carolyn.  This was Mickey’s first time fly fishing and she caught on quickly, as did Karen on her first trip.  We had a fun and good catching day on the water using the size 18 ruby midge and

Mickey - 6/4/12

stripping the olive filoplume on a sinking leader.  The guys, Mark  and Tim were with Stan.  They were catching their fish on the primrose & pearl midge. 

Tuesday, Jim had John and Chris, from Wildwood, MO. out for the day.  Good day on the size 12 ruby, the size 16 red midge and a gold bug eye bugger.  

Carolyn took Laura, from Oklahoma, out for a half day instructional trip.  Her husband, Scott, came along for the ride as they were running water.  We definitely improved on the casting.  She hooked several on the big ruby midge, but her best pattern and technique of the day was stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Good day for her on this pattern. 

Several of us on the water Friday. 

Mary’s first trout on fly rod 6/8/12

John from Aurora, had booked a full day a full day trip with Gina. His wife, Mary decided to come along and learn about fly fishing.  So, they spent half a day on the water and Gina worked with Mary most of the time on casting, and presentation.  Quick learner and it was no time and they were catching fish on the ruby midge and stripping the olive filoplume.  

John - 6/8/12

Carolyn had JP and his father, George, from the Kansas City area on the water Friday.  We started out with the size 18 rusty midge and JP caught a nice 17-18 inch rainbow.  He escaped before we could get a picture.  Once the fish layed off the rusty, it was the size 18 ruby.  Stan was out with Bob from here in Branson.  They too, did best on the ruby midge.  John, also from Branson, was with Jim.  They had a good day on the ugly midge, a size 18 gray scud with a blood 

JP - 6/8/12

worm dropper.  It was one of those weird days.  Some places, we dropped to 7X to get the fish to take our flies.  We would see them come up and look, then swim away.  As soon as we dropped to 7X, the catching was on…..so was the breaking off of flies!  Move to different water and we were back to 6X.  

Two more fly fishers on the water. 

Lynda's first on fly rod - 6/9/12

Lynda and Rich, from Belle, Mo. took Carolyn’s two-day fly fishing school Saturday and Sunday.   Rich recently retired and they are looking for something to do together.  They have definitely found it!  Fun couple and both caught on quickly.  Saw lots of good casts, but also some not so good…..mostly good though.  Lynda caught most of her fish on the rusty midge.  Rich caught

Rich - 6/9/12

several on the rusty midge and also did well stripping the holographic green crackleback.  He was fishing shallow, moving water, so he only had on a size 6 split shot above the crackleback to get it down a little. 

Fishing has been fair to good, to very good depending on where you are and the time of day.  There are definitely days when it fishes much better the further you go down the river. 

Weather continues to be sunny and warm.  Had one cool day last Friday but it quickly warmed back up into the low 90s to upper 80s.  Forecast looks like more of the same through the weekend into next week.  

Water off almost all day both Saturday and Sunday.  They turned on a low one generator for maybe an hour each day late in the afternoon.  Yesterday, it was off until 3:00 p.m. when they fired up a low two for 3-4 hours; then off for the rest of the evening.  Today we are seeing a low one generator with the tailwater level bounching in the 704. plus or minus level.  This was pretty much the same thing they did last week.  

A little bit behind here so I am going to try to get caught up…again.  Last Tuesday, Jim on the water for an instructional trip with Stuart and his 8 year old son Hayden.  Hopefully, they learned a lot.  They caught fish on the ugly and rusty midges, and the bug eye bugger.  

Jonathan 5/31/12

All day Thursday and Friday afternoon, Jonathan, from Waynesville, MO. spent time on the river with Stan.  He is on a mission to learn everything he can about fly fishing.  Friday morning was spent in the shop with Carolyn learning how to tie flies.  Quick learner and did a good job.  He even caught fish on the flies he tied when he went out that Friday afternoon.  They had a great couple of outtings and caught fish on the red midge size 16, the size 18 little ruby and a holographic green crackleback.  

Mike needed some R&R, so he spent most of the day Friday on the river with Stan.  They had a nice laid back day of catching fish on the big ruby.  Low flow one generator going all day, so it was a nice slow drift.   Jim had some new fly fishers, Bart and Lorrie, from Oklahoma, out Friday morning.   They too had a nice leisurely day of learning and catching on the holographic red midge and a size 10 bug eye.   Dana took Matt and Adam out for a learning experience.  They caught fish on the big ruby and the red San Juan worm. 

Another day of no generation until 3:00 p.m.   Turned on the equivalent of one generator.  Pretty high to wade in some areas.  When I checked at 4:00 p.m., the level was at 705.3.  Supposed to run for a while and then shut down again.  No generation is projected for tomorrow until noon or after. 

Hot day out there, but there was enough wind at times to cool you off.  Looks like a slight chance of rain  with the biggest chances still Wednesday evening into Thursday.  Otherwise, temperatures today and tomorrow in the 90s.  Mid 80s for Wednesday and mid 70s for Thursday.  Wow!  Friday looks like upper 60s.  But, the trend appears to be going upward Saturday and Sunday. 

Lots of waders on the water today.  Probably the most I have seen all year.  Holiday weekend and no generation….it’s good to be standing in the cool water. 

Nate - 5/26/12

Darrell had Jeff, and his son, Nate, on the water both Saturday and Sunday mornings.  They had a couple very good mornings.  Saturday it was the ruby midge and Sunday it was an olive/black midge and the burgundy midge. 

Jeff - 5/27/12

Monday, Jim had Tom, from Okalahoma on the water again.  They had a very good day on the gold bug eye, a rusty midge and a blood worm.  Jim said he just rowed from moving water to moving water.  Gerald and his son, Matt, decided they wanted to learn how to fly fish, so they spent the morning on the water with Dana.  Off to a good start using the primrose & pearl midge.  Said they had a fun time and learned a lot.  The price is “ballroom dancing lessons”.  That’s what Malcolm is paying for his wife Marushka to learn how to fly fish.  Marushka spent the morning on the water with Carolyn learn the roll cast, basic cast and shooting some line. 

Looks like we are in for some warmer weather over the next few days.  Good time to be standing in some cool water!  Temperatures in the mid to low 90s through the early part of next week, then we will see the upper 80s and a chance of showers by Tuesday.  Biggest chance of showers looks like Thursday with temperatures dropping to upper 70s to low 80s. 

They had the generators off this past Sunday until 6:00 p.m.; then a low two generators Monday through Tuesday.  Wednesday they generated the equivalent of a low two generators early and eventually shut it down late afternoon. Thursday it was a low one, but shortly before noon, they cranked it up to a low two and then shut it down!  Both yesterday and again this morning, the generators are off.  Projection has two generators coming on around 1:00 p.m. today and off again late evening.

Diane - 5/21/12

Fishing has been and continues to be very good.  We may have a little slow period during the day, but overall, catching has been good and good on lots of things.    Tuesday, Diane and Brian, from the St. Louis area on the water all day with Stan.  They had a fun day on the big ruby and stripping the holographic green crackleback.  This was one of Diane’s first experiences with the sink trip.  After she got used to the extra weight, I think she liked it.  This was one of the higher water days.

Stan on the water again Wednesday, this time with a couple of beginner fly fishers from Louisiana, John and Tina.  They thought this was pretty cool and both caught on quickly to casting and catching.  Another big ruby day as we had low generation that day.  Carolyn had Penny, who recently moved to the area from Alaska, on the water again.  We had a good catching half day on the big ruby and sink tipping the holographic green crackleback and olive filoplume.   I have talked to several fishers in various areas who are finding the olive filoplume to be working very well right now.  Darrell had Rick from Texas on the river Wednesday.  Their best pattern was also the big ruby.

Thursday, Peter and his son, Jacob spent the afternoon with Darrell.  Little tough this day.  They cranked up the water about the time they hit the river and within an hour or so, they shut it down.  Needless to say, the fish and fishers were a bit confused.  They did boat some fish on the big ruby, but it was a tougher than normal day.

Leroy - 5/24/12

Thursday was a flotilla day.  Dana  had Leroy and Don, from Texas, out for the morning.  They had a very good day on the rusty midge.  Larry, from Oklahoma, spent the morning on the water with Darrell.  Their best flies were the ruby and the P&P.  Mike, from Kansas, fished with Jim.  Good day for them on the P&P, rusty and blood worm.  Stan had Bob, from Florida, and Bobby, from Kansas, out for the day.  Despite the 25-30 mph winds, they caught a lot of fish on the P&P, ruby and stripping the holographic green crackleback.

Bob - 5/24/12

Fishing has been very good.  I have been talking to lots of folks and they are definitely catching on many things, scuds, olive wooly buggers, P&P, ruby, filoplume, egg patterns, soft hackles, and even a few dries!

As far as the weather goes, we must be living right.  More sunny to partly sunny days coming up.  Temperatures ranging from the upper 70s today to low 90s by Thursday and through the weekend.  I am not seeing anything that looks like rain in the near future.

We actually had no generation for a while over the weekend.  The water was off Saturday until 2:00 p.m. and Sunday until 5:00 p.m.  They were supposed to turn it on around 1:00 p.m. yesterday but it definitely was later.  Today we were supposed to get a low one unit until 2:00 p.m.   They did a low flow for a while but they cranked it up at 8:00 a.m. and it has been bouncing around between the equivalent of one unit or a very low two units. 

Ginger - 5/15/12

Fishing has been wonderful.  Ginger and Mark, from Texas, spent last Tuesday morning (yes, I know I’m behind!) on the river with Carolyn learning the fine art of fly fishing.  We had low one unit that day so it was perfect for them to get into the water and learn how to cast and fish.  Both caught on to casting quickly.  It was after their first fish that casting went south!  Lots of fish on the big

Mark - 5/15/12

ruby, and they even caught a few stripping an olive wooly bugger using the intermediate sinking leader.  Great teamwork!  Several doubles drifting the high bank below Lookout Pointe.  Keep practicing guys. 

Wednesday, Gina had Pat Esposito from South Carolina out for a second day of fishing.  He fished with Stan on Monday.  Pat had another good day of fishing and landed a nice 17 inch rainbow.  Best patterns were the big ruby with a size 18 ruby dropper, the pink worm and stripping the flasher.

Pat Esposito - 5/16/12

Bobbi and Arny, from California fished with us last year.  They came back again and fished with Carolyn this year.  Fun couple.   We had a good day…good old big ruby midge.  Also caught some on an olive wooly bugger and a primrose & pearl midge.  Another great day of a low one generator going. 

Meanwhile, Stan was on the water with Ron and Brian from the Kansas City area.  They had a great day on the big ruby and the olive wooly bugger.  I think Stan wore them out catching fish that day!

Bobbi - 5/17/12

Friday, Dolph, from Kimberling City, brought his brother-in-law, Tom, for a half day float with Carolyn.  Another good day on the ruby and olive wooly bugger. 

Stan had Rob, from Ballwin, MO. out Saturday morning.  Started out a little slow, but certainly picked up on the size 18 ruby midge.  He caught a nice 18 inch rainbow in the Trophy Run area. 

Arny - 5/17/12

Jerry, from Springfield, wanted to infect his son Brandt, also from Springfield, with the fly fishing bug.  He sent Brandt and his uncle, Tom, out with Carolyn for the morning.  Brandt is brand new, so we worked on casting a little.  Always need to do more and get in more practicing, but he definitely had a fun day on the water hooking fish on the  

Brandt - 5/20/12

primrose & pearl midge.   Brandt was on a roll.   He out fished both his Dad and uncle.  Once it started clouding up in the latter part of the morning, the rusty midge was a better pattern for us. 

Fishing is very good right now.  I had several folks come into the shop yesterday and today saying how great fishing is.  

We continue to see the low generation pattern through most of the day.  They did crank up the generators Monday afternoon as well as Tuesday, and again today around 3:00 p.m.  Pattern for Thursday is more of the same with, according to the projecting, not quite as much generation when they fire up around 3:00 p.m. 

Adam Thormann & 18" Rainbow - 5/12/12

Mike, from Oklahoma who also has a place in Branson, and his daughter’s friend, Adam took a 1/2 day float with Stan this past Saturday.  Very good day on the water for these guys.  This Adam’s first fly fishing trip and he certainly got off to a great start.  Caught on quickly to casting and the landed the largest fish on the outting.  Best patterns were with big ruby and an olive wooly bugger.  Low one generator going for the entire drift.  Great! 

Monday, Stan had Pat from South Carolina on the water all day.  Pat fished with us several years ago and was glad to be back.  He is to fish again on Wednesday with Gina.   Stan and he had a very good day on the with the red midge, the big ruby and a holographic green crackleback.   

Rebecca with 17" rainbow - 5/15/12

Gina had Rebecca and Bobbi on the water Tueday.  Rebecca lives near Montauk and really loves that fishery….can’t blame her.  Bobbi is from Kansas.  They all had a great fun day on the big ruby with a size 18 ruby dropper, the flasher, and a gray scud.  Sounds like they had a good celebration day for Rebecca’s birthday.  Carolyn had Ginger and Mark, from Houston out for a half day instructional /catching (that’s part of the learning curve) day.  Quick learners.  Had the roll cast down in no time as well as the regular cast.  As I always tell people when they learning to cast, “when you are learning, once you catch your first fish, your casting will go to to poop in no time.”  Did for a while, but they came around and the casts were looking pretty good again by the end of the trip.  Now for more practice!  We had a really good catching as well as fun day on the big ruby and stripping a size 12 olive wooly bugger.  I think they like it! 

Another nice weekend of weather.  Temperatures in the 70s and it was overcast off and on.  Threat of rain, but each day it slipped by us.  Looks like a continuing trend with temperatures moving into the upper 70s Monday and low to mid 80s by Wednesday.  Right now, no rain in the forecast. 

Interesting generation pattern over the past three days.  They have been holding to about half of one generator.  It has put the tailwater level to a maximum of 704.59 feet during this period with it as low as 703.1.  The projection for Monday is more of the same, but we know about the Monday projection after the weekend.  Let’s see what it is. 

Overall, fishing has been good.  Bill and Laura from Mexico took a full day float with Stan on Thursday.  They had taken the Fly Fishing school at Dogwood Canyon and wanted to try out their new learned sport!  Good day for the two of them on the black zebra midge.  They really loved the Branson area and said they would certainly be back.  

Laura - 5/10/12

Jim was out that day with Jim and Charlie.  They had very good day on an olive/brown gold eye sculpin, a blood worm and the rusty midge.  The Louisiana Kerrs spent all day Friday on the river with Darrell and Carolyn.  Started out a little slow in the morning, but certainly picked up in the afternoon.  Dawn started her morning out with a nice 17 inch rainbow, picked an 18 incher and finished off the afternoon with a 19 inch rainbow.   Best patterns for all of us were a white San Juan worm, cerise San Juan worm, ruby midge, black zebra midge and James Albert caught a few stripping a white wooly bugger. 

Dawn with fat 18" rainbow - 5/11/12

Saturday, Jim had Ron and Mike, from Springfield, Mo. out for half a day.  They had a good day on a bug-eye sculpin and a soft hackle.  Carolyn had David, from Ozark, out for half a day instructional trip.  We worked on knots, casting, bugs, more casting and eventually catching.  Best patterns for David were the ruby midge and the cerise San Juan worm. 

David - 5/12/12

Weather is wonderful.  More typical May weather.  Temperatures in the 70s and light wind.  No rain expected until possibly this coming Sunday. 

What do we believe with the projected generation schedule.  Saturday we were to have the equivalent of a low one generator almost all day.  In fact no generation until around noon when they turned on one for maybe an hour then ramped it up more.  Sunday’s projection was the same as Saturday, the equivalent of a low one almost all day.  We saw no generation until about 4:00 p.m. and then it was low for 3-4 hours then off.  Monday, more of the same, equivalent of one most of the day and we saw no generation until 9:00 a.m., then one to two generators during the day.  Today is the first dzy is has somewhat been as projected.

Haley's first with fly rod - 5/5/12

Did an oops on the trip I had out Saturday.  I did not post Haley’s picture with her first trout on a fly rod for the first time.   Sorry Haley. 

And another new young fly fisher on the water Monday.  David and his son, Noah spent half a day with Stan as they started generating around 9:00 a.m.  Noah has been fly fishing previously with his Dad and it certainly shows.  This guy didn’t catch the most fish, but he caught the largest. 

Noah - 5/7/12

They had a fun day on the red midge and the holographic green crackleback.  Keep up the good work Noah!

Had a short burst of rain come through this afternoon.  It didn’t last too long and probably did not dump very much rain in the area.  Forecast for tomorrow is another chance of rain.  Once we get through tomorrow, looks like no more rain until Sunday and Monday of next week.  Temperatures a little cooler; inthe mid to upper 70s.  Looks like quite a bit of sunshine.

What can I say about the generation pattern.  The projection for this weekend was a lot one generator all weekend.  Guess what?  We had not generation yesterday morning and nothing again today.  They did turn it on yesterday at noon.  Ran a low one generator for two hours and turned on two at 3:00 p.m. followed by three at 4:00 p.m.  Today they did not turn anything on until 4:00 p.m.  Looks like one generator then two generators by 6:00 p.m.  Projection for tomorrow is again, a low one most of they day.  It will be interesting to see if it is zero again until some time late morning or early afternoon.  Sure does make planning difficult doesn’t it?

Darrell on the water Friday with Nick and his brother Michael.  They had a  good day on the primrose & pearl midge and pulling the 56er.  Mike and Nick liked this pattern so well, they were on the water again Saturday catching fish on the 56er. 

Saylor's heading to the water - 5/5/12

Saturday, Marcie and Bob took their grand daughter, Haley, out for her first experience fly fishing.  Beautiful day and, at least for while, the water was off!  Haley was quick to learn the roll cast and the pick up and lay down cast.  We still need a little work on setting the hook.  Once she had one on the hook, she did a fine job of bringing in the fish.  Neat young lady who is into Irish dancing.   Grandmother, Marcie is also working on hook set.  She loves to fly fish and has a very good cast and line management….but she gets so excited when she gets a hit, watch out for that hook set!  Love it!  Grandfather, Bob, was with Stan and they caught almost all their fish on the the big ruby and the size 18 ruby dropper.  That was the pattern of the day in Carolyn’s boat too.  Fishing was definitely not as fast and furious as it had been earlier in the week but we were getting hits and catching fish.   Monday, last week, was awesome.  Tuesday was still very good.  Wednesday was not as good.  And, by Friday and Saturday, it was okay, but certainly not fast and furious.  Jim was on the river with Dale.  He had him on the water experimenting with new modification to the red ass.  Seems it worked pretty good for for them.  Maybe a new pattern in the works.

Talked to some fishers coming in to the shop and they have all said it was a pretty good day today.  Grey scuds were working well in the Hatchery area.  Stan and Dana had a guide’s day on the water and had a good day on the Hare’s ear nymphs.  When they slowed down on this, the size 18 olive midge started working.  When the wind came up and they quit this pattern, the primrose and pearl worked for a while.  Picked up a couple on the size 22 black midge and it was time to get off as a storm was heading our way.