We managed to get very little rain yesterday.  Springfield and areas north and east of Springfield got most of the rain.  So far today we have not seen any rain.  However, the forecast gives us a 60% chance today.  As a matter of fact, we are under a tornado watch until 6:00 p.m.  Once we get through this, we are in the clear until next Friday when there is a chance of rain again.

Yep!  Still generating water.  They did shut it down Thursday morning until 11:00 a.m. and again on Friday until 10:00 a.m.  No such luck on Saturday or today, but they only ran one generator both morning for a while.  This is can be waded, especially in the area below the fish hatchery.

Busy, busy Saturday.  Darrell took Mike and John from Ozark, Missouri out for the morning.  Think they wished they could have stayed all day.  Good day on the holographic green crackelback and the big ruby midge.  Darrell’s  camera not working or we would have a picture of their 18″ rainbow.  Ted, from Indiana, had a half day float with Stan.  Stan’s camera was working.

Little overcast today and temperatures are supposed to be in the mid 60s.  Looks like partly sunny again tomorrow with temps in the mid 60s.  Friday throuth Monday we have chances of rain.  As the weather man said this morning, they will be scattered and doesn’t look like a lot of rain concentrated anywhere.  Let’s hope.  We certainly don’t need another 2011!  Temperatures will continue to be mild.

They started releasing water at Beaver day before yesterday on a pretty regular basis.  So far, it has dropped a foot.  Table Rock is at power pool and still running almost all the time.  The way they have been running, we are keeping up with the water coming in from Beaver. 

Think we might have another fly fisher in the making.  Art and his son, Sam, from Provo, Utah spent the morning on the water with Stan yesterday.  This was the one thing Sam wanted to do while he was here.  He certainly has a great fishery with the Provo River 30 minutes from him back home.  They had a good learning and catching day on the ruby midge, but mainly on the holographic green crackleback.

Did have a little rain yesterday afternoon and a little more overnight.  However, today was great.  67 degrees and lots of sunshine with very little wind.  Still looks like nice weather all week until Thursday when we might get some rain some time during the afternoon or evening and into Friday morning.  Temperatures holding in the upper 60s to low 70s.

Sort of followed the projection today.  They did start out the morning with only one generator going, but they did ramp up to a low two earlier than projected.  However, they have kept it at a low two.  It should ramp up a little more this evening.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until 1:00-2:00 p.m.  Would that be nice!

Great day on the creek for Bob from Oklahoma.  Fairly new fly fisher and he hit the water running with Stan yesterday.  Started out with the big ruby and a copper dun dropper, switched over to stripping the holographic green crackleback on the sink tip, and when the sun faded due to the threatening rain clouds, they switched to the olive wooly bugger and caught fish all day.  Good number of fish to the boat and a good number of “pick and rolls”!  Think Stan wore Bob out!

A group of fishers came in this morning heading for the river.  Suggested the holographic green crackleback to them and they came back for more.  With the one generator on this morning, they caught lots of fish on this pattern stripping them with the sinking leader.  They were fishing the area below the fish ladder.  Happy campers!

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.