Nice day today, but the weather folks say have a cold front coming through later today which will run into Thursday.  Tomorrow’s high will be in the upper 50s.  Thursday might make mid 50s with the morning in the 30s.  Good news is that Friday will go back into the 60s with upper 60s Saturday and low 70s by Sunday.  About a 30% chance for rain tomorrow and then nothing for a while.

Finally turned off the five spillways and pulled the generators back to the equivalent of two.  Yeah!

Sunday when several of us were on the river, it was a flood of shad.  Must have come over the spillways as they were swimming all over the place of there were tons of them just floating at various levels.  The fish had more food than they could handle!  Jim and Carolyn had a family from Mississippi on the river.  Jim had the guys, David and his daughter’s friend, Cole.  Carolyn had the ladies, Brit and

Makenna – 3/28/21

Makenna.  These two were brand new and wanted to learn a little about fly fishing so we spent some time learning the roll cast as well as the pick up and down cast.  With all the shad in the water, the fish could have cared less about what we were doing.  However, the ladies worked hard and did manage to bring a few fish to

Brit – 3/28/21

the boat on the white mega worm under the big ruby.  It was the ladies’ day!  One of our regulars, Mike, was on the water with Dana.  They also brought in a few fish on the mega worm or the lightning bug under the ruby ruby.  Not only was the abundance of food a challenge that day, the wind did us no

Mike – 3/28/21

favors.  At one time, with five spillways and three generators rolling, I was bring blown up stream by the wind!!

Weather has taken a turn for the better.  Mid 60s today and tomorrow.  Upper 50s Tuesday with a 50% chance for rain.  Then it will warm back up again into the low 60s, upper 50 by Thursday and low 70s by Saturday.  50% chance for rain again on Thursday.

Of course, no change in the water flow.  Five spillways and three generators.  Currently, Table Rock Lake is sitting at 917.45.  Starting to see a sloooow drop in level.  We certainly do not need any more rain.

Everyone on the water Friday.  Unfortunately, not much

Rylee – 3/19/21

improvement in the fishing.  Dana took Rylee and her friend Cade out for half a day.  Both are new to fishing and Rylee caught her first trout on a fly rod.  It was the big ruby with a cerise San Juan worm dropper.  Carolyn had Levi and his grandfather, John.  John has fished with us for many years, but this was Levi’s first trout outing

John – 3/19/21

with a fly rod.  What a trooper.  Despite the tough conditions, he stayed with it

Levi with 1st Trout – 3/19/21

and finally hooked his first trout on a fly rod.  Fun day!  Jim was on the water with another of our long-time fishers, Mike from Iowa.  They landed some fish, including a nice 23″ rainbow.  They were fishing a JQ streamer or the ruby midge.

Yesterday, Carolyn took Keith and Nick out for half a day.  Slow morning, but we finally landed a few fish on a chartreuse egg pattern under the big ruby.

Keith – 3/20/21

Weird weather.  This morning when I woke up it was 36 degrees.  Yesterday it was in the 50s!  Think our high today was 42 and yesterday we were in the low 70s!  Oh well, this too will change.  Tomorrow we are supposed to see mid 50s and low 60s Saturday.  Mid 60s Sunday through Monday.  Seeing low 70s by next weekend!

We are in our fourth day of five spillways and three generators for a total release of almost 15000 cfs.  Projection for tomorrow is for more of the same and I imagine we will continue seeing this level for several more days!  Table Rock Lake is two and three quarter feet above power pool.

Jim on the water Tuesday with Kyle and Brennan from Tennessee.  Fairly new fly fishers and the conditions were tough.  They fished the JQ streamer and a ruby midge.  Dana and Carolyn had a family from Iowa on the water.  Dana had Jim and his son, Luke, and Carolyn took Trisha and Keira.  Everyone was brand new.  Good day to work on casting as catching was not good.  Fished lots of patterns, ruby, with ruby 2 dropper, white mega worm, gray scuds, lightning bug, crackleback, salmon and yellow egg patterns.  No magic button!

The Corps opened up five spillways this morning at 9:00 a.m.  These spillways will release at 5000 cfs.  This plus three generators will result in a total output of 15000 cfs.  Not certain how long we will see this flow, but we are currently over power pool by more than a foot and a half.

Quite a bit of rain the past few days and we are expecting some more today.  Hopefully, it is dry Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday is currently showing a 60% chance for some more rain.  Then the chances go way down until next week.  Temperatures Monday and Tuesday are going to be low 70s!  Low 60s by Tuesday then several cooler days.

Needless to say, with all this rain, Table Rock lake has come up about 1-1/2 feet since Friday.  It will be at power pool (915′) this morning.  It will definitely come up some more but how much depends on how much rain we get yet today.

With all the rain, they have increased the generators to two units at this time.  Darren on the water Friday with Lou and Mary from Illinois.  Tough day!  They worked hard for a few hits.

Yesterday, Ron and his friend Brad, fished with Darren.  Another tough day, but they did land some fish on the eggstacy egg and a San Juan worm.

A little cool and overcast today.  High should be mid 50s and a little rain.  Saturday through Tuesday, it’s low to upper 60s.  By Wednesday, low 70s.  Thursday some rain is showing  up in the forecast.  50-60% chances through Saturday, and the temperatures drop down to the mid to upper 50%.  Week away so it will probably change.

For the past week we have seen the equivalent of a low one unit almost all day.  The exception some mornings around 8:00 or 9:00 is that they might run two units for one to three hours and then shut it back down to a low one the balance of the day.  Today, I think they ran a low two for an hour then back to the low one (35 mwh).  At the low level, there are several places where you can get into the water and wade.

Jeff – 2/27/21

Now to get caught up on trips.  Last Saturday, Darren took Jeff and Kirk from Kansas out for half a day.  Good day for these guys on the ruby 2 or black copper head midges.

Kirk – 2/27/21

They fished mainly at the island across from the hatchery down to the boat ramp.  Fished best for

Scott – 2/27/21

them early while the sun was still out.  Scott from Iowa was fishing with Dana.  They had a good day too on the ruby 2 under the big ruby and stripping the JQ streamer.  They were mainly fishing the south bank across from the boat ramp.   Carolyn was on the water with Sheryl and Tabby.  They are getting ready to a trip to Montana this year and wanted to refresh their casting and work on dry fly and streamer presentation, so we spent most of our time doing this.  I can tell you they were not hitting well on streamers this day as we were fishing those.  On the drift out, we did throw the ruby 2 under the big ruby and they brought several fish to the boat.

Derek – 2/28/21. 22″ rainbow

Sunday, Dana and Derek from here in Missouri spend the day with Darren.  Really good day for these guys on a double egg rig or the black copperhead midge.  Their clue for the egg pattern were the number of redds they spotted while on the water.  Fished from the island

Dana – 2/28/21

up by the hatchery all the way through.  Best place was probably the north bank up from Fall Creek.

Nikki and Jeramiah fished with

Nikki – 3/2/21

Dana this pas Tuesday.  Good day for these guys on either a size 10 or 12 gray scud.  They fished from the root wad down to the boat ramp.  Nikki had a fun day.

Wow!  What a weather event we have had.  Thank heavens we don’t get this kind of weather very often.  This will do us for the next 15-20 years!  About eight inches of snow was the final total.  Not bad in most places, but the hills around here make that a little too much snow.  Along with that, we had sub-zero temperatures for a couple days.  Woke up Tuesday and it was -12.  We don’t get that too often around here either.  The good news is that it was a beautiful snow, and it is in the process of melting!!!

Needless to say, with all the demand for power, the generation pattern has been all over the board.  Generally, no more than two units for several hours, then down to a low two or a high one, then back up again.  Bottom line though, it is running 24/7.

Haven’t seen anyone on the river for a few days, but certain when the weather breaks, which it is scheduled to do this coming weekend, they will be back on the river fishing.  And, fishing should be good.

Looks like a damp, dreary day today.  The only good part about it is that it will be in the mid 50s.  BUT, Sunday goes north.  Upper 30s and overcast with a possibility of sprinkles or flurries.  Low 40s Monday and low 50s Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday looks wet and temperatures in the upper 40s.  Friday might make upper 30s and by Sunday it might make upper 20s.  Burrrr

With all the rain we had last weekend, Table Rock Lake went up a foot and a half.  So, by Wednesday morning they cranked up the generators to three and that’s what they have been running 24/7 since then.  It has been steadily coming down, but we are forecast to have some more rain today.   At any rate, even if we just get a little more rain, it will be several days before we are back at power pool.

Allen – 1/29/21

Nice day yesterday and Dana was on the water with Allen from Kansas.  Allan had a good day on the water fishing the big ruby with the ruby 2 dropper.  Several quality fish to the boat.  Plus it was just a pretty day.

Pretty cool and overcast today.  We even had a short bout of sleet!  Sunday looks like low 50s with chances for rain, especially in the evening and into Monday.  Monday is saying upper 50s, but rain.  A cool down Tuesday and Wednesday.  Upped 30s to l0w 40s.  By Next weekend, we might see low to mid 50s and no rain.

Today, tomorrow and Monday, the generation is showing a low one unit.  This raised the water about 2 feel or just a little more.  Generation was as projected today, so we can hope the schedule holds true to the projection.  Only thing that could change that is the rain forecast for Sunday night and into Monday.  If the lake goes up, they might increase the releases.

Because of the low generation today, quite a few people were in the water fishing.  Sounds like it was pretty good, especially on midges and scuds.

Dana on the river Wednesday with Preston and his daughter, Raegan.  Slow day for them, but they did get some fish to the boat on the ruby 2 and ruby midges, and a red San Juan worm.  They also lost a couple really nice ones.

With this nice weather we are getting here and there in January you better get in the river and catch a few fish!

We’re having a few nice days for this time of the year.  Yesterday, it was in the mid 50s.  Tomorrow and Thursday look like more of the same.  Mid 40s for Friday and Saturday, and then Sunday looks like back into the mid 50s again.  Bad news about Sunday is that there is a 50% chance for rain.  We will see…….

Water continue to run at the equivalent of two units 24/7.  Table Rock is below pool, so maybe we will see some relief someday.  Water looks good.  It is clear, the DO is 10.9 to 11 ppm and the temperature is 47.5 degrees.

Paul – 1/16/21

Darren on the river last Saturday with DaWain and his friend Paul.  These guys are from Oklahoma

DaWain – 1/16/21

and DaWain has fished with us before.  They had a fun day catching on the black copperhead midge and a red tungsten beaded San Juan worm.  It was a little nippy that day but catching fish warmed them up!

Linda – 1/18/21

Monday, Carolyn took John and his wife, Linda out for half a day.  Looked like it was going to be a little chilly, but the day turned out to be pretty nice even though it was overcast all day.  Good news, no wind!  Fun day and a great day for Linda who has not been fly fishing for quite a while.  About her third fish was a beautiful 20 inch rainbow.  We were fishing the ruby 2 under the big ruby.