Looks like we have a slight chance for showers this afternoon.  Still looks like next Thursday before there is another chance.  Otherwise, sunny and mild temperatures in the low to mid 70s until Thursay when it may to to the mid 60s.

Yesterday’s generation was a projected.  One generator on until 1:00 p.m. when they turned on another.  Today, we started out with a low two generators and they added another one at 10:00 a.m.  The third generator was not supposed to come on until 100 p.m.  Ahhhh…life in a tailwater!  Sunday’s projection is the equivalent of one generators untio noon, they a very low two which will ramp up by 4:00 p.m. to a full two generators.  Monday!  If we can believe it, no generation until 2:00 p.m.  Then two for an hour; up one more to three until 7:00 p.m. when all four will run.  Would this be nice?!

Phil - 4/6/12

Carolyn on the water with a Bransonite, Phil.  We spent the morning catching fish on the big ruby with a primrose & pearl dropper.  Later we caught on the holographic green crackleback using the sinking leader.  Think we worked the 3.9 ips leader this time.  Only one generator going until about time for drift out at 1:00 p.m.  Nice drift with one generator!  Tried the Big Ugly with a midge dropper down the high bank, but no takers.  It’s such a fun way to fish, we just had to try it!   Another fun day!

Nice day today.  Not too hot, not too much wind, little overcast now and then..great day!  Looks like more of the same.  Next possibility of rain looks like Saturday, but depending on who you listen to, not real likely.  Temperatures look like they will be more normal for the coming week.  Mid to upper 60s with low 70s sneaking in now and then.  Next good chance for rain looks like next Thursday and Friday. 

This is the third day we have seen something other than a full four generators running 24 hours a day.  The projection this morning was for only one generator to run until about 1:00 p.m.  NOT!  Around 10:00 a.m., they cranked on two generators to add to the one projected, so we had four generators going from 10:00 a.m. until ?  It now 3:15 p.m. and they are still running three.   Table Rock is now at 915.6 feet.  Just a little over half a foot and we will be back at power pool.  Still have to deal with the extra water Beaver is holding.

Stan on the water the past two day and he has had a couple good days.  Yesterday, Houston, from Floriday spent the morning catching fish.  Good day on the red midge and….you know it….the holographic green crackleback using the sink tip line.  Houston has been fishing with us since 2007, and this was probably one of his better days.

Today, Dean and Bev from Arkansas, spent the day with Stan.  Think Bev outfished Dean.  But you know how that front of the boat syndrome is.  Whoever is in the front of the boat usually catching the most fish.  They had a good day on the big ruby midge and the holographic green crackleback.   Said they had a fun day! 

Bev - 4/5/12

Looks like upper 70s today and pretty good chance we will see some rain later today into tomorrow.  Continuing mild temperatures, but a little cooler than we have been experiencing….more normal!  Mid to upper 60s and 70s.  Once we get through tomorrow, the next rain chances show up mid to late next week. 

First major chance in the generation pattern yesterday afternoon.  They shut down the generators around 5:00 p.m. and kept them off until midnight.  Today we are seeing reduced generation.  Started out with a low two generators, ramped up to full two then three and will be down to the equivalent of one generator around 10:00 p.m.  We are less than a half a foot away from normal power pool in Table Rock.  Now, we still have the water from Beaver to get rid of and hope we don’t get a major amount of rain from the rain coming in tonight or the chances next week.  It would be nice to see wadeable water again!

Dana took Brian, from Oklahoma, out half a day Sunday morning.  Pretty good day on a red San Juan worm and an olive wooly bugger. 

Rayna - 4/2/12

How about another smile to add to the collection.  Proud Dad, Dave, let us have this picture of his daughter Rayna with a beautiful, fat rainbow she caught using our #16 gray scud.  They had a great day catching up around the outlets (lots of water running) on the scuds and tan egg patterns.  They were catching both rainbows and browns!  He said “although it was difficult with the water being high, we still had fun!”  And that’s what it is all about!

Broken record.  Weather continues to be exceptional for this time of year.  Lots of sunshine and warm temperatures.  Chances of rain moving in Tuesday and Wednesday, but temperatures remain in the upper 60s to mid 70s most of the time. 

Table Rock Lake is down below 916.5 and we continue to see generation 24 hours/day.  Very little generation at Beaver, so they still have a little over five feet to dump into Table Rock in order to get back to their normal power pool.  But, we’re getting closer!  Bull Shoals is also running 24 hours/day and has been for the past five days.  

Stan had Darby, from Texas, out half a day Thursday.  Good day for Darby on both a beadhead olive wooly bugger or the holographic green crackleback stripping with the intermediate sink tip.  He really liked working the sinking tip. 

Hugh- 3/30/12 (check out the smile)

Friday, Stan and Carolyn had three generations of Herschends on the water for the morning, Peter, his son Jonn, and grandson Hugo.  Carolyn took Jonn and Hugo and Stan had Peter.  Think Jonn has a fly fishing buddy in Hugo.  Second time with a fly rod and he is roll casting, mending, and can definitely detect the strike, set the hook and bring in the fish.  Although his first fish was on a red midge with a red San Juan dropper, his favorite, after catching a few, was stripping the crackleback.  These were the best patterns for everyone that day. 

Another beautiful day in the Ozarks!  Sun shinning with temperatures in the upper 70s and very little wind.  Nice change!  Looks like we will be dry through the weekend, but slight chances of rain Monday.  Temperatures in the 80s until probably early next week when it will drop to the upper 60s, but once we get past the rain chances Monday, back into the 70s by Wednesday. 

Yes they are still running generators almost full board every day.  Backed off a little the past two day, 12,000 cfs instead of 14,000 cfs.  Not much difference to notice at these levels.  Like I said in my last report, we will probably see this for a couple more weeks and then we’ll have to see what they do with Beaver Lake as far as releasing the extra water they picked up during the rain.

Darby - 3/29/12

Darby, from Texas, spent the morning on the river with Stan.  They had a very good day on a size 12 BH olive wooly bugger and a size 12 holographic green crackleback stripping them with the intermediate sinking line.   I think when he got back to the shop, he was ready to go do it again!

Warm, sunny days have been and are in the forecast through the weekend.  Still have slight rain chances, but most of these seem to be pretty far north of us, so our chances of any more rain for a while are minnimal.  March seems to be going out pretty much as it came in….warm. 

Table Rock has peaked and is slowly starting to drop.  They have run four generators non-stop since March 22.  I imagine we will see this pattern continue for at least another week and probably two.  They may cut back from four generators to two or three as we get lower, but this is pure speculation on my part.  In the meantime, we’ll just fish high water!

Well, the rains we received last week left about four feet of extra water in Table Rock and five feet in Beaver.  We have seen four generators running 24 hours/day since March 22.  This means a lot of flow going through the generators and a tailwater level of 710.0 feet plus or minus.  Our normal wading tailwater level is around 701.8 feet.  I imagine we will see this kind of generation for a few weeks.  Hopefully, we won’t get another big rain! 

Otherwise, weather is great!  Upper 70s today and lots of sunshine and very little wind.  Looks like low 80s through Wednesday.  Wednesday through Saturday there is a 30% chance of rain, but we will go into April in the low 70s and partly sunny skies.  Hard to believe we have had this kind of weather.

Jim - 3/23/2012

Stan had Jim from Arkansas on the high water Friday morning for half a day.  Not a bang up day, but they caught fish on the big ruby, size 12, and a size 16 red midge.  I went out for a couple hours to get a feel for the river and caught several fish on a red San Juan worm with a tungsten 1/8″ bead tied in the middle of it to get it down.  All the fish Jim caugth as well as the ones I caught were nice.

Saturday, we had three boats floating the current.  Darrell had Tom from Kansas out for the morning.  They had a pretty good day on the holographic green crackleback and the red midge.  Larry and Andrew from the St. Louis area, spent the day with Stan.  They too had a pretty good day.  They were fishing the red midge, a primrose & pearl midge and a beadhead olive wooly bugger.  More fish but they were a little smaller on Saturday than they were on Friday.  Dana had Kelly and Blake out half a day.  They boated a some fish on the steelhead orange egg pattern and an olive wooly bugger. 

Today, Stan took Mike and Matt out for half a day.  Little slower today than Saturday, but they boated fish on the primrose & pearl and red midges.  Fairly new fly fishers who got baptized by heavy water.

It’s raining.  Since mid-day yesterday, the precipitation is pretty close to 2 inches.  Table Rock is at 915.3, but we have not see the affect of the rain and runoff yet.  We are looking at rain again tomorrow, then dropping off to 40% for Thursday and Friday.  Temperatures in the 60s and back into the low 70s over the weekend.  Might even see some partly sunny skies from Thursday forward.

Generation for tomorrow is starting out at three at 7:00 a.m. ,back to two from 11:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. then back up to three for an hour then four.  Good, let’s get rid of this water.  We’ll start seeing the affect of the rain and runoff by tomorrow.  Let’s see where Table Rock goes.  I understand Beaver Lake in Arkansas really got hit hard by the rain, so this will definitely have an impact on our generation.   Such is life in a tailwater!

Dana and Stan on the water with A.W. and three of his son-in-laws, Jason, John and Bob.  Dana had the total new fly fishers, Josh and Bob.  Once they got the hang of casting, recognizing a hit, and setting a hook, they boated some fish on the red San Juan worm, copper dun midge and a peach egg pattern.  Jason, who is also new, and A.W. were with Stan.  They boated quite a few fish on the copper dun and the primrose & pearl midge.  One of those funny days.  They would really hit on a pattern for a little while and then shut down.  Chance patterns and the hit was on again.

Weather continues to be unseasonally warm.  80s the past 3-4 days, and, of course, the wind blows in and out almost every day.  We are expecting rain, and possibly a lot of rain starting some time tomorrow and going into Tuesday and Wednesday.  Looks like this will cool us down a little, into the mid 60s both those day and low 60s by Thursday…but no rain on Thursday.  Friday is looking up, with partly sunny skies and upper 60s.  Lots of sunshine over the weekend with temps in the low to mid 70s.

Had a break in the generation pattern yesterday and today.  Generators were off all morning and did not start up yesterday until 2:00 p.m. and today they started at noon.  Tomorrow looks like back to off in the early morning then on around 6:00 a.m.  Back off at 10:00 a.m. and on again around 3:00 p.m.  With the rain coming in, no telling what the generation pattern will be for the rest of the week. 

New fly fishers on the water with Stan on Friday.  John and his son, Beau, spent the morning learning how to fling a fly rod.  Pick up pretty quickly on casting and even landed some fish.  The red San Juan worm was the pattern of the day for them.

Saturday, we had the fleet out.  Jim on the water all day with a couple of his regulars, Morgan and Larry, from Georgia.  They had a lot of fun and caught fish on a black bugger, the red San Juan worm and a gray scud.  Greg and Kathy , from Kansas City, spent the morning with Stan.  They are both fairly new to fly fishing and had a very good day on the copper dun midge early in the morning.  Later, it was an olive midge and a holographic green crackleback.   Dana has a couple fishers from Sunset Hills, Mo…..Francis and Frank.  When they weren’t joking with the other drift boats going by, they were catching fish on the red San Juan worm, an olive midge and the clown egg pattern.   

Carolyn Kerr - 3/17/12

Last, but not least, Darrell and Carolyn had three generations of Kerrs on the river; Carolyn, Albert and James Albert.  Carolyn and Albert fished with Carolyn in the morning.  Albert likes to wade and he was out wading and catching fish on a gray scud, and later the g-bug.  Carolyn was catching on the ugly midge and a copper dun midge.  Darrell had Dawn and James Albert.  They were catching best in the morning

Dawn - 3/17/12

Although we have not seen the first day of Spring yet, the weather certainly doesn’t  know that it is not Spring.  Nor to the trees and flowers.  Everything is blooming….almost.  No dogwood trees yet, but cherry blossoms, red buds, bartlett pears, forsythia, daffodills, and I’m certain there are others, are in full bloom.  Weather has been warn and windy.  I think this entire week has been in the upper 70s to low 80s.  So far, we have had no rain.  Temperatures through Monday look like they will be in the mid to upper 70s.  Tuesday through Thursday look like mid to upper 60s.  Depending on which forecast you look at, we have a 50% chance of showers tomorrow.  Tuesday looks like the best chance of rain, with Wednesday and Thursday another 50-50 chance. 

Generation continues to start up in the morning around 6:00-7:00 a.m. and then off at 10:00-11:00 a.m.  Projections have shown staying off until 5:00 p.m. or so, but so far this week, they have turned on something earlier and then turned on all four around 5:00 p.m.  

Monday, Darrell had Pat from Texas, out for half a day.  Tough day.  They boated a few fish on a ruby midge.  Carolyn had Trish and Mike out for a half day also.  We worked our “buns” off for the fish we caught.  It was a couple on this fly, and another on a different fly.  Not really one single more than two-fish fly.   Mike and Trish are troopers and went out with Carolyn again on Tuesday.  Did catch a few more fish this day.  Mainly on a red San Juan worm and the copper dun midge. 

Trish - 3/13/12

Okay, we’re going to give her one more chance.  Wednesday, Mike and Trish took another half day with Carolyn.  Much better day, but still not up to the normal numbers we see this time of year.  It was another red San Juan worm day, but we also caught and missed several fish on the holographic green crackleback when the water turned on early.  Also caught a few on the big red midge and a copper dun midge.  Bill and Fran from Pennsylvania took a half day float with Stan.  They caught most of their fish on the copper dun midge.  Pat decided he needed another day on the water too, so he went out with Darrell for a half day on Thursday.  Better day for them.  Lots of learning as well as fishing.  Caught fish on the blood worm and a dark olive midge.