Lovely day today once it warmed up.  Think it was in the 30s when we got on the water, but certainly turned out great.  Almost hit 70 with sunshine and very little wind.  So far, through Tuesday, still looks like mid to upper 70s with a possible cool down by Wednesday and maybe some showers.

Funky generation today.  Nothing until 6:00 a.m. and it was on for about two hours and off again.  Supposed to come on at 4:00 p.m. but nothing happened at 4:00.  Generation for tomorrow and Sunday look like no generation except for a one hour low one generator around 6:00 p.m. 

Price & Marge spend half a day with Jim today.  Good day for them on the red midge, red San Juan worm, the red blood worm, and a black zebra.  Said they had a whale of a lot of fun today!  Stan and Carolyn had a family from Miami, OK.  Karen, Mark, and Ryan and one of Ryan’s friends, Joe on the water this morning.  The boys went with Stan and they had a good day on the red San Juan worm when the water was running.  When it shut down, they changed over to the primrose & pearl midge and continued catching.  As they drifted down toward Fall Creek, the copper dun was the ticket.  Fairly new fly fishers, but they brought in several fish, hooked a lot and, of course, missed several.  Carolyn had Mark and Karen.  Both are also new to fly fishing.  They also hooked and landed several fish on the red San Juan worm with the water running.  Also changed out to the primrose & pearl midge once the water dropped out.  As the current got slower and slower, they looked for something else and settled on stripping the olive filoplume on an intermediate sinking leader.  All in all, several nice fish, including at 16-1/2″, 17″ and a 19-1/2″ rainbow.  Karen like stripping the filoplume.

Karen - 19-1/2" - 10/21/11

A couple cool, windy days yesterday and today.  Today was a bit warmer and the sun was out.  Yesterday was a bit miserable.  Temperature looking up for the weekend and most of next week.  Looks like 70s most of the week.  Don’t see any rain in the forecast right now.

Generation has been a bit spastic the past few days.  Over the weekend, we had off water almost all morning both Saturday and Sunday.  Water came on Saturday around 2:00 p.m. for four hours.  Sunday it came on at 1:00 p.m. for 8 hours.  Monday we had water from 7:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m..  Tuesday it came on at 2:00 p.m. and stayed on all night.  Wednesday water was on almost all day and shut down at 11:00 p.m.  Today it was on at 6:00 a.m., stayed on for six hours, then off and back on at 7:00 p.m.  Looks like tomorrow will be an off, on, then off and back on day again. 

As far as things to be heads of about.  October 23, 2011, they will start drawing down Taneycomo so they can put a more permanent solution for holding and releasing water at Powersite Dam.  It could take as long as three weeks to get the new system into place.  In the meantime, we will see little, if any generation, through Table Rock.  We expect to see some type of minimal flow to maintain the fishery during these three weeks. The Missouri Department of Conservation developed plans over a year ago to place structure on the upper part of Taneycomo in the Special Mangement Area.  Looks like they plan to place some of this structure during the shut down.  Big bolders have been placed in various places along the river, probably waiting for the draw down.

Last, but not least, March 1, 2011, the new fishing regulations will ban porous sole shoes in cold streams in Missouri.  This means that if your have felt sole shoes, you must either replace them, or treat them so they are no longer porous.  There is a u-tube video on the Missouri Department of Conservation site which shows one method of making your felt soles non-porour by treating them with several layers of rubber cement.  Although it is an inconvenience for many, including us….we have several felt sole bootfoot waders in stock for rental, whcih we will either have to replace or treat, BUT MDC is being proactive in trying to prevent DITTMO and other harmful algae from getting into our Missouri waters. 

Now, on to fun stuff.  Jim out with Mark, from Grain Valley, MO. Monday.  Pretty good day, especially before the four generators came on.  Size 12 gray scud, size 14 red midge, a peach egg pattern, and a size 6 bug-eyed scuplin were their flies for the day.  Rick and Mary, from Tulsa, OK. spend the morning with Carolyn.  They were scheduled for a 1/2 day wade trip as they wanted an instructional/fishing trip.  We did work on the roll cast and catch some fish on the ruby midge with the red San Juan dropper.  Got down to Lookout Island, where we worked on the pick up and lay down cast, and stripping.  Nice couple looking for something to do together for their retirement years.  Mary likes to golf and I hope we can get her as intersted in fly fishing.  Think she will be good at it.  Best flies were the ruby midge, and the red San Juan dropper.

Yesterday, Stan was on the water all day with Jim Rodman.  They had a fun day on the ruby midge, red San Juan worm, stripping a filoplume, and a partridge and orange soft hackle.  Darrell and Carolyn had the Louisiana Kerrs on the water.  Carolyn and Dawn were out with Carolyn and Albert and James Albert were with Darrell.  Carolyn was on fire in the morning, with  17″ and 16″ rainbows almost back to back.  She was getting hits right and left and Dawn saw very little action.  However, the afternoon was another story.  Dawn was fishing her Big Ugly with a midge dropper against the bank drifting down from Look Out Island.  Fun day as she watch the fish chase and take either her Big Ugly or midge. She thinks this might be her favorite way for catching fish now!  We pulled some really nice rainbows out this way.  Darrell and his guys did well on the ruby, red San Juan and pulling streamers.  James Albert caught a nich 19 inch rainbow on one of his streamers.

Today, Stan had Robert Hellman, from Chicago.  He had a good day on the red San Juan worm and finished off the day with the Big Ugly with a P&P midge dropper.  He loved this!  He thinks it might be one of his favorite ways to catch fish too.

Weather continues to be great, but I understand we are in for a cool down.  Chances of scattered showers tomorrow, then temperatures start to drop.  After Monday, we are looking at upper 50s to low 60s during the day through Thursday.  Probably get a freeze one or two nights during the week.  Friday looks a little warmer… into the mid 60s.

Wading time, wading time and more wading time.  During the week we saw generation coming on around 3:00 p.m. for 5-6 hours and then off for the rest of the evening.  This weekend, we again had two hours of generation in the afternoon and it was not very high.  One could fish right though it in many areas. 

It is a good thing that a bad day fishing is better than any day working.  We have had some good days and some not so good days of catching.  Fishing has been fine!

Susan - 10/13/11

Thursday, Gind took Gary and Susan, from Galena, Kansas out for the day.  They both had taken the Orvis Fly Fishing School held at Dogwood Canyon, but Susan had not yet had a lot of experience actually fishing.  They had a pretty good day on a size 12 olive wooly bugger and floozie, the flasher and a size 18 UV tan scud.  Darrell was out again with Jeff and his son, Nate.  They had a

Jeff - 10/13/11

good day on the primrose & pearl midge and a gray scud.  Jeff may start leaving Nate home as he is starting to out fish him!  Bud and his friend, Ron, from Lee’s Summit spent the morning with Jim.  Good day for these guys on the black and primrose & pearl midges, a blood worm dropper and a gray scud. 

Friday, I think all of us would agree was one of those tough days, especially depending on where you were fishing.  Up around or near the hatchery and outlet areas, fishing was not so bad, but lower on down the river, with the low dissolved oxygen levels, it was slow…..but, still better than working!  Stan had Robert from Maryland out for the morning.  Robert is a good fly fisher who loves to throw dries.  Their best fly was the Bug Ugly dry with a size 18 white midge dropper.  Also caught a few on the holographic crackleback.  Carolyn had Jake from Oklahoma out for a morning of instruction.  We worked on the roll cast, pick up and lay down cast and a little on false casting.   Jake was a good student, quick learner and was throwing a pretty nice line.  He didn’t get to work very much on playing and bringing in fish however.  He did hook a fish strippping the holographic green crackleback and had hits on the Bug Ugly dry and a few hits on the primrose & pearl midge.  Close, but no cigar!   Wayne and Colleen from Hawaii, were out all day with Jim.  They had also fished with him on Monday.  Wanted to fish Wednesday, but this trip was rained out.  Friday’s flies were the primrose & pearl midge, brown midge, blood worm dropper and a size 18 tan scud. 

Saturday was still slow in the lower part of the river.  Darrell had Terry from Minnesota out for the morning.  I bet a lot of Minnesota fishing talk was going on since Darrell is also from Minnesota.  Their best flies were the ruby midge, the primrose & pearl midge and the Big Ugly.  Stan had Joe and his wife, Jean out.  These folks are from Kentucky and Joe had fished with us back in 2004.  This was Jean’s first experience with a fly rod.  Stan said they really didn’t have any good flies that day!  Kevin and his son, Adam, spent the morning with Jim learning casting and line management.  They did get to catch some fish.  Patterns used were the sculpin bugger, tan scud, gray sowbug and a blood worm dropper.

Talked to several fishers today.  Still slow, but catching fish on the Big Ugly, especially with the good chop on the water from the wind.  Also working was the barbell golden varient sculpin.

Trees are starting to turn, and with the nice and much needed rain we have had over the past two days, should turn even more.  Maybe a pretty Fall after all.  Temperatures in the upper 70s, low 80s into early next week.  Expecting some cooler temperatures by Tuesday, probably in the mid 60s.  No more rain for a while.

Lots and lots of wading time.  Generation pattern has been stable with no generation in the a.m., then on around 3:00 p.m. for 5-6 hours and back off.  Last weekend, we only saw a low one generator come on both Saturday and Sunday arounf 5:00 p.m. and stay on for 1-2 hours, then back off.  Might see the same trend this weekend…..remember, I said MIGHT.  We’ll see what the projection says tomorrow around 4:30 p.m.

Stan on the water Monday with Jack and Mary Kay from Texas.  We met these folks when we did a presentation to their club in Dallas last month.  Both are fly fishers and had not done much nymph fishing.  They accomplished their mission with this and caught several fish on the rusty midge in the early morning, then the primrose & pearl midge later in the morning.  Also caught several stripping the holographic green crackleback.

Valley and Julie, from Oklahoma came up after the Mountain Home Conclave and they and Carolyn went out on the “Cacklecraft” and had fun.  We threw big uglies dry, the chernoble ant (what is that supposed to look like!?), stripping holographic green cracklebacks off the shallow banks, and drifting chartreuse egg patterns with a big red San Juan worm.  Did get some hits, but no takers on a big Dolly Llama streamer.  Think this streamer was bigger than many of the fish!  We just did a bunch of fun, funky stuff and caught fish!

Chances of showers today, maybe some sprinkles this morning, but better chances after noon.  Again, some chances tomorrow and Wednesday, with temperatures holding in the mid to upper 70s.  Think I saw 80s early next week. 

Taneycomo continues to see lots of wading time in the mornings.  Over the weekend, they only turned on a low one generator around 3:00 p.m. and kept it on a coupld hours Saturday and only one hour yesterday.  We expect to see generation again this afternoon, but the water is off right now. 

Thursday, Jim had Jim and Charlie from Springfield, MO. on the water again.  They had a great half day on thr rusty and primrose & pearl midges, a blood worm, and stripping a size 12 bug-eyed sculpin. 

Stan out with Rick and Kristie  from Town & Country, MO.  Quick half day.  They flew into Branson and got to the shop around 8:30 a.m.  Caught some fish on the primrose & pearl midge and a red San Juan worm and had to be off the water at 12:30 p.m. 

Meanwhile, Gina and Carolyn were working hard at the Sounthern Council FFF Conclave held in Mountain Home, Arkansas.  We had a great time seeing old friends and making new friends.  Unfortunately, they ran water all the time we were there, so fishing was NOT.  Did have some great grub…fall off the bone ribs… fixed by Mark Ballew from Oklahoma.

Handed out two “catch and release pins” yesterday for two 0ver 20 inch browns caught on the good old gray scud.  Taked to several other folks who were catching in this same patterns.  Also talked to Jim, who lives at Pointe Royale, who was catching, but finally lost all of his holographic green cracklebacks to fish yesterday morning.

Weather continues to be great.  Cool, crisp mornings, in the 40s and the days warming up to low 70s or low 80s.  This morning’s sunrise was beautiful.  Rich reddish orange streaks above the sky line.  Chances of rain creeping into the forecast early next week.  However, continued mild temperatures.

Generation continues to give us waders lots of wading time inthe mornings until around 3:00 p.m.  On for 4-6 hours, off again until the next afternoon.

Ron, who spends most of his time here in Branson, took the two day fly fishing school.  Definitely “hooked”.  After spending the first day in class room then at the water’s edge learning the various casts, Ron spent Monday standing in the water putting everything together.  I heard him uttering as he was bringing in another fish, that he might never pick up a spinning rod again!  Best pattern was the primrose & pearl midge, but he did get a few hits and fish strippping the holographic green crackleback. 

Mike and Natalie, from Texas, spent the morning on the water with Jim Tuesday.  They had a good day on the rusty and black midges with the blood worm dropper.  Natalie is fairly new to fly fishing, but she obviously had beginners luck….think she outfished Mike!.  Way to go Natalie.

Yesterday, Stan had Wendell and Glenn out for the morning.  We had not seen Wendell for a couple of years as he had been having some health problems.  Good to see you back on the water Wendell!  Unfortunately, it was a slow morning for these guys.  About the time they were ready to come in, fishing picked up and they started hitting the holographic green crackleback dry!  Up until then, although slow, their best pattern was the primrose & pearl midge.  Joel from Minnesota, needed a refresher course.  He spent the morning with Jim and they caught fish on a size 18 gray scud, the rusty midge and a blood worm dropper.  Joel just needs to fly fish more.

Going to the Conclave in Mountain Home, Arkansas Friday and Saturday.  If you don’t have anything to do and have never attended this event, it is fun and informative.  Hope the generation will be off so we can wet a line in that part of the White River.

What can I say about the weather.  Looks good all the way through Friday.  Chance of some clouds moving in Thursday, but mostly sunny and temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s.

Generation off again today.  Heard the horn go off around 4:00 p.m.  Projection was for one generator at 4:00 p.m. for one hour.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until 3:00 p.m. when two generators will come on and probably ramp up to a low three generators until about 11:00 p.m.  We will just have to wait and see what this week holds as far as generation pattern.  Probably off in the mornings and something in the afternoons for a while.  Will keep you posted.

Fishing has been very good the past two days.  Darrell out yesterday with Scott and his friend,Lonnie.  These two crazy guys are from the St. Joseph, Missouri area.  Scott complaining that he could not work on his casting because he was hooking fish all the time.  Best patterns were the primrose & pearl or ruby midges, and a ginger scud.  Kent and “Doc” from Independence, Missouri, were out all day with Stan.  He worn them out with a size 18 white midge and the primrose & pearl.  The first time Buddy and Pam fly fished, it was with Jim in 2004.  They spent the day with him catching fish on the black and rusty midges, blood worm dropper, or stripping the bug-eye jailhouse sculpin.  Good day on the water!  Meanwhile, Carolyn was teaching Tim and Kathy the fine art of fly fishing. First the roll cast, then the pick up and lay down cast, and finally they earned their fly and started catching fish on the primrose & pearl midge.  Before we left the water, Tim was pulling in fish stripping the holographic green crackleback just under the surface.  I think we have a couple of new fly fishers on the stream.  Tim and Kathy are from Joplin, Missouri. 

Today, Jim and Darrell, had a group of guys out for a long half day.  Jim took Darin and Chris, and Darrell had Mitchel and Jade.  Lots of fish for both boats on black zebra, primrose & pearl, ruby and brown midges, blood worm and size 12 bug eye-bugger.

What a gorgeous day!  Upper 60s today, not a cloud in the sky…a little bit of wind gusts every once in a while, but otherwise perfect.  Looking for more of the same through next Thursday.  Sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70s, up to upper 70s or low 80s. 

We are again, seeing lots of wading time.  So far, every morning, since last Sunday.  One exception was Monday when they turned it on at 4:00 a.m. and ran it almost all day.  Otherwise, we have had no generation from midnight until 1:00 p.m. or later each day.  Today, we are not supposed to get generation 7:00 p.m. and then only for one hour.  Sunday, same pattern except the one hour of generation will be at 4:00 p.m.  Monday, a little more generation starting at 3:00 p.m. 

Carolyn - 9/26/11

Carolyn had Carolyn and Dawn, from Louisiana out last Monday.  Beautiful day, weather wise, and fishing was not bad either.  We picked several fish on the primrose & pearl midge dropped under the big ruby.   This was Carolyn’s third time (hasn’t been on the water since last year) fly fishing and she was back at it like she had just fished last week.  This lady is very focused and stays tuned to what she is doing.   Carolyn had to head home early, so she hitched a ride back to shore and Dawn continued the afternoon hitting the bank with a big ugly and primrose & pearl dropper.  What a blast.  When Dawn would lay her big ugly against the bank of a likely looking place for a fish, “Bam”, fish on!  Took the dry as much as the midge.  Darrell out Monday was Dennis from Arnold, MO.  They had a good day on the primrose & pearl midge as well as the ruby. 

Tuesday, Ron and Rick, from Jasper, Texas, spend the morning with Stan.  Good day for these guys on the red San Juan worm and a black midge.  Little slow in the early a.m., but definitely picked up at the morning moved on.  Darrell had Dale and Warren from Lock Lloyd, MO. out in the morning.  These guys irritated a lot of fish on a gray size 16 scud, and primrose & pearl midge and stripping the olive filoplume. 

Monday, Wanda and Joanna, from Lockwood, MO. spent the morning with Carolyn.  Always a fun day with these two.  And, “oh happy day”. Joanna caught most of her fish on a dry fly.  She hates throwing beach balls with bugs under them.  Had a size 10 stone fly on Joanna and a big ugly with a primrose & pearl dropper on Wanda.  Wanda caught some on the big ugly, but most of her’s were on the primrose & pearl.  Beautiful day.  Wanda’s nicest was an 18″ female rainbow. 

With the generators off the past few days, lots of folks fishing and having some good days.  Lots of patterns working, gray scuds, rusty midge, ruby midge, olive wooly buggers, peach fur bug, holographic green crackleback, filoplume, pink or red micro San Juan worms, to name a few.  Better go fishing!

chad to head home early, so

Non-stop generation from this past Monday through Saturday.  Some days more than others, but definitely some dating time in the mornings over the past three days and today, Sunday, it was off until about 5:00 p.m.  Turned on the equivalent of one generator then and, so far, it has been on for a couple hours.

Looks like we have no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days.  Temperatures in the low 70s Monday, moving into the upper 70s Tuesday, then low to mid 80s Wednesday and Thursday and back into the mid 70s by Friday.   Nice!

Jim on the water this past Wednesday with Houston and Debbie, from Florida.  Debbie is a new fly fisher, so Jim spent ime working with her.  Their patterns were the red midge and a red San Juan form. 

Thursday, Stan had Mike, from Iowa, out for half a day.  He’s tough!  That’s what I told him when he came into the shop in his rain gear and it was raining.  They had a wet half day catching fish on the red midge.  Not a great great day, but they caught several fish.

Although the sun was out, this was another rainy day for Stan.  He had Terry Terry and Doc from Oklahoma out all day Friday.  Less than half way through the trip, Stan’s anchor fell off.  Since the water was running, he needed that anchor to lay up.  Terry did some Ozark rigging and came up with a make shift anchor to get them through the day.  When everything settled down, they did catch some fish on the red San Juan worm.   Jim had a half day with Matt from Parkville, and Dana.  Pretty good day for these guys.

Brian - 9/23/11

Carolyn had Ron and his son, Brian, out for the day.  Started out a little slow, but certainly picked up.  Good day of catching on the red San Juan dropped below the big ruby.  Brian’s biggest was a 17″ rainbow.   Darrell had Jeff and his son, Nate out for the morning.  Nate is certainly turning into quite a fly fisher.   Their best flies were the red midge with the red San Juan dropper.  Nate boated a nice 18′ rainbow.

Nate - 9/23/11

Dana had Buzz from Florida on the water Saturday for half a day.  Pretty good day on the holograpnic green crackleback and a size 16 fl. pink San Juan worm.  The Louisiana Kerrs were here Saturday.  They stopped and fished the White on Friday with guides out of Arkansas and had a very good day there.  Dawn landed a 25″ brown on a hopper.  Was she pumped!  Good job Dawn. 

Dawn - 9/24/11

Saturday, Dawn fished with Carolyn and the guys, Albert and James Albert fished with Darrell.  No big browns for us, but, Dawn had a good day on the big ruby with the primrose & pearl dropper.  A very respectable number of fish on this including a pretty 19″ rainbow.  We also caught some on an olive wooly bugger, the holographic green crackleback and a size 18 black zebra midge dropped below the big ugly.  Darrell’s guys best patterns were the red midge and the red San Juan worm.

Talked to several fly fishers today who were fishing because there was no generation today.  Pretty happy with the fishing.  Catching on several patterns including holographic green cracklebacks, black zebra midges, size 14 Hare’s ear numphs, and size 16 gray scuds.

Whew!  I worked hard today.  Had to take a break!

Had some pretty good rainfall Saturday and Sunday.  Table Rock went up about 6-1/2 inches and is now slowly dropping.  We are again enjoying beautiful weather.  Tomorrow looks like it will only be in the low to mid 60s and cloudy, but the rest of the week will be mid to upper 70s and mostly sunshine. 

Generation for the past seven days continues to be 24/7.  However, other than a big blip Monday afternoon and a smaller one yesterday afternoon, they have pretty well kept it at the equivalent of one generator even though many days they are running two.  This puts the tailwater level between 704 and 705 most of the time. 

Pat - 9/19/11

Carolyn had Jim and Pat, from Indiana, on the water Monday.  Jim has done some fly fishing, and Pat was brand new.  We got lots of hits and several fish to the boat on the red San Juan worm dropped from either an egg pattern or the big ruby.  Pat got her casting down good, line work great….still needs a little work on the hook set.  But, the fish were taking very soft Monday.  I decided to indoctrinate her into the “stripper club” and she hooked this nice rainbow on a golden variant sculpin.  Yeah Pat!  Jim caught enough fish that Pat said she wasn’t taking his picture any more.

Dave from Illinois spent the whole day yesterday on the river with Jim.  They had a good day on the red midge, red San Juan, peach egg pattern and a bug-eyed sculpin.  Dave’s best fish of the day…..well he had two, one was a 21 inch rainbow and the other was a toothless brown aka sucker. 

Jo Ann - 9/20/11

 Stan had a new to fly fishing couple from California, Zeke and Jo Ann.  They had a ball.  Really enjoyed the river and outdoors as much, almost, as the fishing.  Best patterns were the red San Juan worm,  primrose & pearl midge, and the silver bullet crackleback. 

Zeke - 9/20/11