Still looks like tomorrow will be the warmest day of the week, upper 90s or low 100s.  The rest of the week will be hovering around mid 90s, maybe low 90s. 

No change in generation pattern.  Get down there and fish in the mornings if you want to wade. 

Jim, from Arkansas, spent the morning on the river with Stan yesterday.  He first learned how to fly fish with us this past March and fell in love with it.  Wishes he could be here more, but has to make a living!   They had a good day but had to do a lot of changing out on patterns.  No one pattern or method was consistent.  They went through the golden variant sculpin, black midge, red San Juan worm, and the copper head black zebra.  Good day on the creek!

One of the guys who came into the shop yesterday did well on the golden variant sculpin.  He came back for more as he lost most of them.

Thought it was supposed to cool off a little more this week, but looks like we will hit upper 90s again on Wednesday and Thursday with mid 90s by Friday. 

Generation has been pretty consistent in that we have no generation every morning, some generation by mid-day, then off anywhere from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. for the rest of the night.  This Saturday and Sunday, just a short shot of water around 1:00 p.m. for a couple hours.   Monday looks more like the pattern we have been seeing during the week days.  Off in the morning and then on around 1:00 p.m. ramping up to the equivalent of a low three generators until 10:00 p.m. 

Stan on the river Wednesday and Friday with a couple from Texas, Wade and Wendi.  First time fly fishing for trout AND their 25th wedding anniversary.  Two events in one week!  Wednesday was a pretty slow day.  Got a few fish to the boat, but…  Friday was come back day.  Fished much better and they not only caught fish drifting the primrose & pearl midge, but also learned another technique, emergers.  They thew and caught on a size 18 olive WD40 and a soft hackle.  Much better number of fish to the boat and lots of misses.   Hope you guys are still fly fishing together on your 50th anniversary!  Congratulations!

Maybe the hot spell is over.  Monday and yesterday were really nice, except for a bit of heavy rain yesterday morning!  Looked like most of it was going east..but, not all of it!  Anyway, fish don’t mind a little water.  Temperatures for the rest of the week to be mid 90s to low 90s by Sunday and Monday.   Slight chances of rain all the way through Monday.

Generation schedule still consistent.  No generation in the early to late morning or even early afternoon (1:00 p.m.)  So, here’s your chance to get out and do some wading.

Jim our with Jim and Dave from Festus.  Water low and slow, so the moving patterns are still doing best.  Did boat a few on the copper dun midge with a blood worm dropper, but the holographic green crackleback worked best.  One 18 incher on this pattern.  Dana took David from Ohio out for the morning.  David wanted to do some wading, so they headed down to the now much larger gravel area above Trophy Run and threw the holographic green crackleback, filoplume and olive wooly bugger.  David commented that “Dana had worn him out”.  Think they had a pretty good day!

Tuesday, Rick Canup, from Texas, brought his fishing family and a soon to  

Eric - 8/16/11

be new member (Lindi) for their annual fishing event.  Think this is the 5th year in a row they all come to fish wih us and what a really fun group they are.  Dana had Alex and Eric out this year.   Althought the early part of the morning started out slow for all of us, once it picked up, it was a good day.  Dana’s guys were catching on the holographic green crackleback. 

Nice 17 incher for Alex - 8-16-11

Jim had Rick and Davis.  They were fishing a size 20 gray scud and a copper dun dropper.  Not fast and furious, but they landed and missed quite a few fish.  Stan took Chase and they too has a good day pulling the cracklebacks, both the holographic green and the silver bullet (tied with holographic silver tinsel). 

Lindi - 8/16/11

Carolyn got the soon to be newly weds.  Taylor and Lindi are getting married in September.  Not sure who is getting the best deal, but I think it is Taylor.  Lindi took to fly fishing pretty fast and she likes it!  She is going to be a natural if she stays with it.  No, she didn’t kiss all her fish….didn’t want to make Taylor jealous.     At point point Lindi had Taylor down 3 to zip.  He was getting worried, but after 3 to 4 doubles (these two are working together already!), he started catching up.  Fun day on the holographic green and silver bullet cracklebacks.  Once we saw fish sipping, we were stripping these just under the surface off the edges of where shallow areas met moving water.  Our best wishes for a long, healthy, and happy marriage.  Don’t forget to include many happy days of fly fishing together!

Taylor and Lindi - 8/16/11

Lovely weather we’re having.  Temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s through most of the coming week.  Looks like chances for showers again toward the end of the week…long way off, we’ll see.

Generation has been pretty consistent.  No generation from midnight until as early as 10:00 a.m. or late as noon over the past four days.  Although the projection has indicated a low one generator to be running, they have pretty much ran the equivalent of two generators until 9:00-10:00 each night.

Dave Jones -20" Rainbow - 8/13/11

Stan and Dana both on the water yesterday.  Stan had Mike and his son, Dave out for the morning.  No water when they started so they fish various things, but the best pattern for them was  the size 18 Primrose & Pearl midge.  Dave landed this nice 20 inch rainbow on one.  Although it was a bit slow, they had a good morning.  Dana had Dawn and John, from St. Charles, Mo. out for a couple days.  This was their first morning on the water and they had a pretty good morning on a brown beadhead wooly bugger and a tan B-Bug.  Sunday was a much better day for both of them.  They were using the brown beadhead wooly bugger and the olive floozie.  John even caught a crappie!  They are on their way in September to fish the North Platte out of Casper, WY.  Have fun guys!

My computer wizard was here yesterday, and I am back in business again.  Terrible when we are so dependant on computers!  

Weather has been awesome.  Cooler days and some much needed rain.  Unfortunately, Wednesday we also had some lightening and thunderboomers so we cancelled a couple morning trips.  Not good standing in the water with a lightening rod in a lightening storm!  Temperatures to remain in the upper 80s to low 90s for the next few days.  Once we get past today and tomorrow, the rain chances will be gone.  

Generation schedule has also been great.  The past few days the generation has been pretty much off all day except for a generator starting up in the afternoon for an hour or so.  Lots of wading time!  

Ethan with 17-1/2" rainbow - 8/6/11

One trip Carolyn had over the weekend was Lennie and his two sons Ethan, who is nine years old, and Pearson, who is ten. What a pair of neat young men.  Both picked up on casting quickly, however, Pearson has had some previous exposure to fly casting.  Ethan probably would have caught a few more fish if he would have left his fly in the water.  This one loves to cast!  It’s great to see boys this age learning how to fly fish.  Think their father will have a couple 

Pearce with 16-1/2" rainbow - 8/6/11

fishing buddies for life.   Lennie was catching on the bug-eyed bugger, size 12 stripping with a sinking leader.   Both boys caught theirs on the red San Juan worm.  Had a few hits on a black midge and gray scud, but nothing to the net. 

Talked to the biologist at the hatchery the other day as I have not been seeing very many scuds in the lower part of the river (around the boat ramp).  He confirmed what we

Lennie - 8/6/11

have been suspecting, the dissolved oxygen level is pretty low.  We have been noticing, that although the fish still look fat and healthy, they are pretty worn out from being caught.  Please take a little more time when releasing your fish to make certain they are completely revived.  Fishing has been somewhat slow, but many of the fish being caught are nice size.  It’s just nice being able to stand in the water again.

What a relief in the weather!  Finally getting cooler temps.  We have had rain, lightening and storms go by, near, or somewhere in the area for the past 2-3 days.  Anyway,  between being on the water and having my computer internet modem knocked out by lightening, the extreme delay in getting a fishing report up.  Onward!  Weather for this week looks great!  Upper 80s to low 90s.  Is that great or what after all the 100 degree days we  have survived!?  We do have a chance for showers Wednesday into Saturday.  Today was lovely.

Generation has been almost correct every day.  Correct in that it will be off in the a.m. each day, which it has.  However, they have pretty much started up the generation 1-2 hours earlier than the projection almost every day.  Almost..!  Even with starting up a little earlier than projected, lots of people are getting a chance to do some wade fishing in the mornings!  Yeah!

Now for ketchup!  Stan on the water last Thursday with John and Dan from Oklahoma.  They had a good day on the flasher and lightening bug. 

Friday, Stan was out with Tom from Nebraska.  Not a great day, but Tom was totally new to fly fishing.  He learned a little and caught fish on the flasher.  Richard, from Arkansas, spent the morning with Dana.  He is a fly fisher and wanted to learn a little about our water.  Best flies were the holographic green crackleback and the olive filoplume. 

Saturday Craig and Stephanie, from Oklahoma were graced with the company of Stan for the morning.  Stephanie grew up in Alaska, so she had fly fished that area while growing up.  Both have fly fished other areas, but were certainly impressed with our fishery.  They had a good day on the holographic green crackleback, the flasher and the floozie.  Meanwhile, Darrell had Jeff and his friend, Chris on the water.  These guys from Oklahoma caught fish on the copper headed zebra midge and, during the water rise, a red San Juan worm.

Larry with fish on! 8/7/11

Sunday, Carolyn was standing in the water with Larry and Julie.  Brand new fly fishers who wanted to learn as much as I could cram into them so they could fish on their own at Pointe Royale, where they own a condo.  We worked more on their casting, as well as various techniques they could use.  With the change in the bottom in that area, the most productive method seems to be stripping.  After midging with the copper headed black zebra midge, a gray scud, and sub-surface stripping the holographic green crackle back (caught fish, or had hits on all of the above), we settled in on stripping the olive filoplume or size 12 bug-eyed bugger using an intermediate sinking leader.  This was the best pattern of the morning.  Fun morning, great people.  Larry came into the shop today, Tuesday, and both of them had successfully caught fish at the Pointe this morning stripping the filoplume!

Talked to lots of people fly fishing right now and it is not fast and furious.  However, most of the fish caught are really nice.  No one pattern seems  to be the magic bullet, but catching a few fish on most everything thrown.  Like I said earlier, stripping seems to be the best, especially small (16-14) olive buggers, bug-eyed buggers. size 12, or the size olive filoplume, especially using an intermediate sinking leader.   Primrose & pearl midge and the red midge were two of the midge patterns that I heard were workng today.

What can I say about the weather….HOT! Expecting 100s for the next four days and upper 90s after that. We are still seeing no generation in the mornings. However, today was not projected to come on until noon and they turned on the first generator at 10:00 a.m. and more within another hour. Out of the past five days, three out of two have been right on the money as far as when they were going to start generating.

Both Darrell and Stan on the water this morning and said it was a little tougher than what they have experienced over the past few days. Caught fish, but had to look for them. Darrell had Mark and his son, Nick from Kansas, out early. They almost finished up their half day before the water started. Caught a few fish on the copper head black zebra. Stan had a couple from Texas, Charlie and Michelle. This waas Michelle’s first fly fly fishing trip and I don’t think it will be her last. After her first fish, she proceeded to hook and land two 17-1/2″. Although a bit tough fishing, she had a good day. Think she even outfished her husband. Oops! No he’s happy to have a fly fishing partner now. Their best patterns were the copper head black zebra, a red San Juan worm and stripping the flasher.

Michelle

Michelle

Talked to several fly fisher fishing up around the hatchery area this morning. Catching some on the holographic green crackle back and a size 14 olive wooly bugger. In case I didn’t mention it, Shannon was doing well yesterday on a size 14 Har’e Ear nymph.

Charlie - 8/1/11

Had a shower come through this morning and it cooled it down for a little while.  It is only 88 degrees right now and it’s 12:30 p.m.  Unfortunately, expect to see 100 degree temperatures through the first half of the week, then upper 90s….not much difference! 

Yes, the generators have been off every morning since Thursday.  The only day they started running earlier than their projection was Friday when they started up the generators at 11:00 a.m. instead of the projected 1:00 p.m.

Stan on the river Thursday morning with Silas and Ted.  Good morning on the copper dun midge and stripping the flasher (this is similar to a crackleback, but is tied with olive midge flashabou).  With the water off, they pretty much fish from just above the Rocking Chair area to just a little below the MDC boat ramp.

Friday there were lots of us on the water.  Darrell had Baxter and Jim from Oklahoma out for half a day.  Not only did they boat several trout, they also landed 3 white bass on the copper headed zebra midge.  Chuck, from Arkansas, spent the morning with Stan.  He had a good day stripping the flasher.  Once the water came on, they switched to the big ruby with a #16 red midge dropper and caught some more drifting down to the MDC boat ramp.  Jim had Carl and Paul, from Ohio, out.  Carl had fished with Jim before, but this was new for Paul.  They did well on the black zebra midge, a gray scud and size 8 and 12 jailhouse bugeye buggers.  This was Trish and Mike’s last half day before heading back home to Texas.  This was Mike’s day.  Trish out fished him Monday and Wednesday, so Friday was his day..not by too mush though.  He did boat a 19-1/2 inch and a 17-1/2 inch rainbow among his morning’s catch.  Before the generators came on, stripping the 56er on a sinking leader was the ticket.  After horns, the red San Juan worm dropped uner a white caddis larva was the ticket. 

Mike - 19+ - 7/29/11

Trish - 7/29/11

Darrell on the water Sunday morning with John and Jacob, from Springfield, Mo. they caught fish all morning on the copper headed zebra.  Jim and Brad from Clinton, MO. had a good morning with Jim.  Brad is new and needed a little instruction, but they started catching on the copper dun midge, holographic green crackleback and size 12 jailhouse bug eye bugger. 

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY to BOBBI.  To help her celebrate her birthday, Gina and a surprise appearance from Valley of Oklahoma, took Bobbi fishing for two days.  The fish gods were watching over Bobbi has she landed a beautiful 24 inch rainbow on the olive floozie.  I kept hearing her saying, “this is one of the best birthdays I can remember!”  Think the ladies had a great time and caught a lot of fish stripping the olive floozie, pine squirrel sculpin, 56er, olive buggers and who know what else!  Valley had a pretty good day too.  She is quickly becoming a “stripper”.

Bobbi Hulett's birthday fish - 24" rainbow - 7/30/11

Valley - 19" rainbow - 7/29/11

Same old, same old on the weather.  Upper 90s today, mid 90s tomorrow, low to mid 90s Saturday and Sunday, then back up into the upper 90s early part of the week.  Still a chance of showers over the next 3-4 days.

One of Jim’s clients, Jerry, from Kansas, brought his son Nick to fish with Jim Monday and Tuesday.  They are getting ready to go to Alaska in August and needed to check all their gear, and brush up a little on casting and techniques.  They had a couple good mornings on the river using the black bugger, sculpin bugger, red midge, white caddis and a gray scud.  Think they are ready for Alaska!

Mike and Trish from Texas, spent Monday and Wednesday mornings on the river with Carolyn.  So glad to see Trish flinging a fly rod again.  Just about a year ago this time, we noticed a lump on the back of Trish’s leg.  This was her trip where she landed a beautiful 24 inch rainbow.  When she went home from the trip she went to the doctor about the lump and found she had cancer.  It has been a long, tough road for both of them, but she is coming along with flying colors.  She certainly has not lost her touch for catching fish!  We are so happy to see her on the water again.  Had a couple pretty good days.  Monday we did best stripping the flasher or holographic green crackleback.  Also caught some on the red midge with a red worm dropper.  Wednesday started out great with three 17 inch rainbows back to back on the lightening bug and a cerise worm dropper.  Then came the horns, a quick rise of the water and fishing slowed down.  We did catch a few more stripping cracklebacks and buggers. 

Trish - 7/27/11

Mike - 7/27/11

Mike's 17 inch rainbow - 7/27/11

No relief in sight on the weather.  Upper 90s today and 100s for Wednesday and Thursday.  The rest of the week looks like mid to upper 90s, with a chance (again) of showers over the weekend.  We had some sprinkles this past Sunday, but certainly not enough to do any good. 

Generation was off on Saturday, as predicted, then a low one generator the balance of Saturday and all day Sunday.  They did get the boards back up at Powersite, so we are back to the normal, one to two generators in the a.m. ramping up to three to four generators basically the balance of the day starting anywhere from 10:00 a.m. to noon.

As I said, the water was completely off Saturday morning.  Think they turned it on around noon, and then only a low one generator so you could still wade.  What a great day.  Jim had Ron and his son, Barrett, from Illinois on the water that morning.  They are both brand new to fly fishing and what a way to start.  After the normal instruction on roll casting, pick up and lay down cast, and line management, he rigged them up with a black zebra midge, and a brown scud with a blood worm dropper and let them catch fish.   They had a ball and caught lots of fish.  Stan and I went out for a couple hours and were tempted to drop a bare hook into the water to see if we could catch a fish on that, as they were taking everything we threw at them…..any color midge, soft hackles, cracklebacks, scuds, buggers.  Everyone deserves a day like this every once in a while!

Yesterday, Darrell took John from Illinois out for half a day.  We’re pretty much only doing 1/2 day trips with this hot weather.  Too hot to spend the whole day in the sun, even if the fish are bitting.  John is fairly new and wanted to learn a little more about fly fishing.  He had a good day and caught fish on the red San Juan worm and the white grub. 

Sheila - 21-1/4" rainbow - 7/25/11

 Carolyn had Jerry and Sheila, from Springfield, MO out for the morning.  This was Sheila’s second time fly fishing and she had a wonderful day.  Not only is her casting looking very good, but she landed a 21 inch plus fat rainbow among her many other catches of the day.  Jerry did a pretty good number on the fish also, but this was Sheila’s day.  He caught the big fish last trip!  Best patterns were the red San Juan worm under the big ruby midge and the white grub.