Great Thanksgiving Weekend!
Great break on water flow for from Thanksgiving Day through the weekend, and, today, the water is off and projected to be off until some time this afternoon. Hate to say what the projection is as they have been an hour or two or three ahead of their projections the past few days. But, we are getting off water in the mornings. Weather both Friday and Saturday was unbelieveable! Upper 60s Friday and low 70s Saturday with lots of sunshine! Only rain in the forecast for this week is on Wednesday. Otherwise, it will be in the 30s to 40s at night and 50s during they day. Table Rock Lake is holding on the 915 foot range so we might start to see the off for a while in the a.m., on some time from mid-day to early afternoon then back off late at night.
Darrell was on the water all day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. He and Greg, from Texas had a pretty good day despite the early spike in water flow (up to 709.5 feet) then drop back to nothing within two hours. Their best fly was the red midge. Greg wanted to learn the water so he could fish for a few days on his own. He and his wife spent Thanksgiving day and weekend in one of our cabins. Dana was our with D.A. and his son, Kurt. D.A. is from Springfield. They had a pretty good half day on the olive/brown scud, and the red and ruby midges.
Friday we have three boats on the water. Darrell was out for half day with Joe from OK. They did well on the black or red midges. Stan and Carolyn were both out for full days. Brandon and his mother, Brenda have spent the last three Thanksgiving weekends with Stan. This is a neat time for them to spend some time together. Good day on the Primrose & Pearl midge, ruby midge and white grub. Every year, Brenda catches a few more fish than she did the year before. Keep practicing Brenda! Carolyn had Ron and Kathy from LA out again. They had a wonderful day enjoying the warm weather and catching fish on the ruby midge and holographic green crackleback. Finished up at dusk with the white grub.
Saturday we covered the water with drift boats. Carolyn had Mike and Trish out all day. Another fun pair to fish with. These folks are from TX and have fished with Carolyn since 2007. They had a very good day throwing the bug-eyed bugger, holographic green crackleback and the ruby midge. Meanwhile, Gina hit the water with Bella, originally from LA and recently moved to Branson. First time fly fishing in 20 years. Nice southern lady who loves to fish. Gina spent some time her working on skills and catching fish on the red or black midges. Dana and Darrell had two couples, Mac and Betty and Bill and Kourtenay. Mac and Betty originally lived in KS but are not residents of Branson. Bill and Kourtenay were visint them from KS. Dana got the ladies and Darrell had the guys. Everyone had a good time and caught fish on the red San Juan worm, Primrose & Pearl midge and the shammy worm, especially when they kick on the water! Kourtenay didn’t hook any on dries, but had lots of hits on a black ant. Stan was out half a day with Roger and his grandson, Riley . Lots of hits and lots of fish on the orange San Juan, a size 18 parachute Adams, and red midge.
All in all, fishing is very good. Sometimes you have to be in the right place, so move around. From speaking to several folks coming into the shop to buy flies and other items, fish are hitting on lots of patterns. It was especially great to see the number of people getting hits and catching fish on dries. In addition to the parachute Adams, other patterns were the Big Ugly and the griffith’s gnat.