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.

No change in the weather.  Still have a slight chance of showers Sunday and Monday, but not much relief from the temperatures. 

Still looking forward to no generation this weekend while they work on the boards at Powersite Dam. 

Both Stan and Jim on the water half a day today.  They agreed that it fished better than it had the past two days.  Stan was out yesterday with Doc from Tulsa, OK.  Doc said “he needed an attitude adjustment”, so he spent the morning fishing.  Not a banner day as he is still trying to get over an accident he had over a year which messed up his hand and wrist pretty bad.  I think they figured out what he needs to do so he can keep fly fishing.  They caught fish on the ruby midge dropped below an orange San Juan and stripping a black holographic crackleback.

Today Stan had Ted and his son Brad out.  These new fly fishers are from Louisburg, Kansas and they like it!  They had a good day on a ruby midge, red San Juan worm, and stripping a wine holographic crackleback.  Jim’s guys, Bert and his son, Will, which he had out on Tuesday, definitely did better today, and pretty much on the same patterns.  Red midge, gray scud and pulling an olive sculpin.  They are hoping the water is off this weekend so they can get out there and catch some more fish.

Yep…the heat goes on!  Heat advisory through Saturday night.  Expecting temperatures in the upper 90s; possibly low 100s with heat indexes in the low 100s every day.  Chance of showers Sunday into Monday. 

Still expecting the water to shut down some time Friday afternoon and stay off until some time on Sunday.  As I mentioned, this is the plan.  They are going to work on the boards at Powersite Dam.  Hope it happens!

Mike Thomas from Oak Grove had a wonderful morning on the river with Stan this past Monday.  He is a fairly new fly fisher, and they did quite a bit of work and catching with the black holographic crackleback and the flasher.  Also caught some drifting the red midge. 

Jim is back from his fishing trip up in Michigan.  Said it was almost as hot up there as here, so he came back a little early.  Put him on the river yesterday with Bert and his son, Will.  They had a good day on the red midge, a gray scud and the olive sculpin.  Bert is bring his other son to spend a half day on the river with Jim tomorrow. 

Still getting good reports from the outlets at the Hatchery area….but as fishing will have it, some days or times of the day are better than others.  Mainly the tan scuds and brown or tan egg patterns.

We understand from a reliable source, that the Corps plans to shut down the generation on Taneycomo some time this coming Friday afternoon and keep it off until some time Sunday to do some repair work.  Please note that I say ‘plans to’ as plans do change.  Anyway, let’s cross our fingers!

Whew!  Temperatures have been warm and are going to get a bit warmer.  Predicting upper 90s to low 100s through Sunday.  Don’t even see a glimmer of rain in this forecast. 

Generation continues to be non-stop.  However, we are creeping closer to the point where we might see some off time on weekends, or possibly in the mornings during the week, depending on temperatures through the U.S.  Table Rock now sits at 918.9. 

Mike - 17" Rainbow - 7/17/11

Busy weekend.  Saturday, Darrell, Dana, Stan and Carolyn were on the water with a group of guys, most from Kansas, for the morning.  Tough morning.  Quite a few hits, but not a whole lot of fish in the boats.   Probably the best patterns were the cerise or red San Juan worms.  Most of the guys are avid golfers and fly fishing was a whole new world…but, a good time was had by all.

Sunday was another ‘everyone on the water’ day.  Darrell and Dana had the Louisiana Kerrs out for half a day.  Dawn went with Dana and, as many years as she has been fishing Taneycomo, she finally caught her first brown trout.  Think she even caught two plus a good number of rainbows.  Darrell had Albert and James Albert.  Dawn’s best pattterns were the holographic green crackleback, the silver bullet crackleback and a size 18 purple midge.  Darrell’s guys were catching on the red San Juan worm and a red size 16 midge.

Albert - 19" rainbow - 7/17/11

Dawn's 1st Taneycomo brown - 7/17/11

Gina was having a fun day with two new fly fishers from Kansas, Casey and Celeste.  They are avid outdoors people who love to hunt.  Casey is an archery outfitter in Kansas and Celeste helps him.  Casey had a little previous fly fishing expeerience, but this was Celeste’s first time and she liked it.  Their best patterns were the red San Juan. holographic green crackleback and the red midge.

Casey - 7/17/11

Nice rainbow Celeste - 7/17/11

Stan had another Kansas fisher on the water, Ken Gilpin from Iola.  Ken just loves to fly fish.  They had a good day on the red midge and holgraphic green crackleback. 

Even with the high water, when the flow and level are fairly stable, fishing is good.  When they start lowering, raising, lowering, etc. the fish tend to move in and out also.  With these conditions, you need to move around a lot to stay up with them. 

Outlets are still fishing well, especially with the size 16-14 tan scuds, and anything that resembles the fish food pellets.

Hot yesterday.  My car registered 106 degrees all the way home.  We are under a heat advisory for the area until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday.  Still a slight chance for showers Wednesday and Thursday and a cool down both these days.  Friday looks like mid 90s and creeping back up Saturday….mid to upper 90s. 

Still no change in generation schedule.  Running 24/7 with the lowest level around 8:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. the next day.  Raised it all the way to almost 710 feet yesterday around 5:00 p.m.  Table Rock is now at 920.4  feet.

Dana and Gary from Illinois spent Saturday morning on the river with Dana.  Pretty good day on the steelhead orange egg pattern with either a cerise or fl. orange San Juan worm dropper.  Stan had Dallas and Christina from Willow Springs, MO. out that morning.  Brand new fly fishers and had a bit of trouble getting the nack of setting the hook on these trout!  Best pattern was the cerise San Juan worm.  Not real productive morning, but they caught a few fish, learned a lot and had fun.

Mid 90s today and upper 90s tomorrow and Monday.  No rain in sight until Thursday and it will probably be a chance of showers. 

Generation continues 24/7 with the lowest levels early in the morning.  Running 3-4 generators by noon with levels reaching 707 and above.  Good news, Table Rock Lake is now at 920.8….getting close!

Ralph - 7/7/11

Dana finished up the third day of fly fishing with Ralph from Texas on Thursday.  Ralph had a good three days and is looking forward to doing it again.  Some more folks from Texas, Fred and his son, Jeremy, spent half a day with Stan.  This was Fred’s first experience with a fly rod so lots of learning curve.  They did get a few fish to the boat on the silver bullet crackleback. 

Friday, Darrell took Mark and Nikkie out for the morning.  Another bunch from Texas.  Mark has always wanted to try fly fishing and I think both of them liked it…..even the one on the way.  Nikkie is seven months pregnant and I think the baby boy will take to fly fishing as soon as he can hold a fly rod!  Their best pattern was the red San Juan worm.  Carolyn had Bob, from Washington, and his grand daughter, Courtney, from Springfield, out for half a day.  Grandpa fishes the rivers in Washington and Oregon and was quite impressed with the quality of fish we have in Taneycomo.  Hopefully, we have a new fly fisher in the works.  This was Courtney’s first time with a fly rod and she did pretty darn good.  Best patterns were the cerise or red San Juan worms, holographic green crackle back and a rockworm caddis soft hackle.  We saw some rises in some slack water and Bob picked off several of these with the soft hackle or crackleback before they stopped. 

Courtney - 7/8/11

Bob - 19" Rainbow - 7/9/11

Temperature today is predicted to be 90.  Thursday and Friday still look like upper 80s and chances of showers today throuh Friday.  Saturday through Monday we expect low to mid 90s and sunshine. 

Somewhat of a pattern the past four days with the generation schedule.  The equivalent of one generator first thing in the morning until 6:00 a.m., when it ramps up to the equivalent of 1-1/2 generators.   By noon or 1:00 p.m., they are running the equivalent of  three.  At the lowest level early in the morning the tailwater level reaches 704 feet.  However, this is not a very big window of oppoortunity for wading.  Once we reach noon or 1:00 p.m., the level is at or approaching 708 feet.

Dana took Ralph, from Texas, out Tuesday for his second half day on the river.  They were out Sunday and still have another 1/2 day to take on Thursday.  Sunday fished better for them than Tuesday when they caught fish on the holographic green crackleback, cerise San Juan worm and silver bullet crackleback.  Tuesday,  they pulled a few on the holographic green crackleback, but probably did best on the flaming orange San Juan dropped under a size 14 ruby midge.  Darrell spent Tuesday morning with a couple from Wisconsin, Dick and Karel.  Their best pattern was the cerise San Juan worm.  Tuesday was a busy day.  Stan had Dan and his daughter, Hayley, out also.  They are from Wichita, Kansas.  Fun day for Hayley, as this was her first time with a fly rod.  She picked up on stripping pretty fast and caught fish on the holographic green crackleback, and another flashy-type pattern somewhat like a crackleback, but not exactly.  They also caught some on the red midge.  The other boat on the river Tuesday was Gina.  She was with John and his wife, Elsa, from Oklahoma.  They had a fun day as it was Elsa’s first experience and John had not fished for quite some time.  They each got some fish to the boat on the red San Juan and the floozie. 

Elsa Gray - 7/5/11

John Gray - 7/5/11

Past few days have been a little tougher than usual.  Even talking to some of the folks who fish up in the hatchery area, they are working for their fish.  But the good news is, they are having fun!

Yesterday was well into the 90s with heavy humidity.  Fortunately, the morning had some cloud coverage, but by noon, it was hot!  Stil looks like we will see some cooling over the next five days.  Low 90s today and tomorrow, upper 80s Thursday and Friday and back into the low to mid 90s Saturday and Sunday.  Slight chances of showers Wednesday through Friday…where is the rain then we want it?…

Generation, just like the heat, has been relentless.  Over the past eight days, we have only seen the generators off for six hours early Friday morning.  Somewhat of a pattern the past three days; low two generators in the morning until 6:00 or 8:00 a.m., then ramping up to a full two then low to high three generators.  Water is still dingy and when they crank up the last generator, it really gets dirty.

Darrell had Dwayne, from Texas, on the river Sunday morning.  Dwayne was surprised to see a river like this closer to home.  He fishes out West a lot.  They had a good day on the cerise worm and holographic green crackleback.

Fourth of July, Darrell had Tom  from Wildwood, MO out for half a day.  Fish were taking soft, so missed several fish.  Best pattern was the cerise worm.  Did also catch a few on the size 12 black zebra midge.  Carolyn had Jim and his wife Irma, out for half a day.  Irma is brand new, so we worked on the roll cast and the pick up and lay down cast before hitting the water.  Casting got better as the day went on and she has a natural feel for mending.  Unfortunately, I did not get her into very many fish to hook and play.  But when she got the opportunity, she did a good job!  Have to admit, it was a tough day for me finding fish.  The ones we caught were on the cerise worm.  Stan was on the water with a couple friends.  They too had a slow day.  Today is another day…it will chang!

Looks like we might be cooling down a little over the next few days.  Today through Wednesday looks like low to mid 90s.  By Thursday we are looking at upper 80s and chances of showers.  Believe these are slight chances.

Pretty much non-stop generation for the past week.  Only exception was early Friday when they had the water off until 5:00 or 6:00 a.m.  Table Rock Lake is now at 922.1 feet…..and dropping. 

Young man from Texas, Mitch, spent Friday on the river with Stan.  Good caster and fly fisher, and loves to fish.  Had a good day on the red San Juan worm, but especially liked stripping another version of the crackleback that Stan tied up, on the sink tip line.  HOT day in the very upper 90s!