Days have been hot and humid.  One could almost cut it with a knife.  Expecting another hot one today and tomorrow might just hit 100!  By Tuesday, we are looking at low 90s, then upper 80s into the weekend when it will probably be in the low 90s again.

Generation has been off almost every morning until noon.  For several days they have bumped up all four units.  Yesterday an exception, only the equivalent of two.  Much better!  Projection for today is off until noon, then ramping up to a little under the equivalent of four units by 2:00 p.m.  Monday looks like off until 11:00 then a little under the four units again by noon or 1:00 p.m.

Have to say that fishing has definitely slowed down.  Catching fish every day, but some days we certainly work harder than others.  Carolyn had Jack and Mary Kay out last Tuesday.  No generation so we opted to stay high.  Very slow start to the foggy morning.  Finally found some fish on the ruby 2 and JQ streamer.

Will – 8/7/19

Wednesday, Darren took Celeste & her son, Will out for half a day.  It was scheduled to be a trip for Will, but Celeste decided it looked like fun an went along.  Darren worked with her on casting and she was looking great before the morning was over.  They rodeo’d several.  Best patterns were a scud and a little black and white thread midge.

Rebecca – 8/7/19

Carolyn had Rebecca from California out for the morning.  Fun day on the water!  When she wasn’t catching, she was telling jokes!  Think we kept everyone on the river awake.  Best pattern was the black copperhead midge.  Meanwhile, Jim had Bill and James on the river.  James is new to fly fishing so Jim worked with him on all the necessary skills.  Best for them was the JQ streamer.

Friday, David and his son, Zack fish with Jim.  This was one of the days when the water came on earlier than projected.  Everything turned black, then green and fishing went south!  They did bring in a few fish before the water came in.  No best pattern that day.

Jim back on the water Saturday.  This time it was with Charlotte and Ernie from Kansas.  These two are beginners so it was lots of casting work.  They did get to catch some fish on the scud and JQ streamer.

Days are getting hot again.  Worst yet, lots of humidity the past two days.  Looks like low 90s the rest of the week and slight chances (right now) showing up Thursday through Saturday.

We have actually had four days of no generation during the morning hours.  That was the schedule again today.  Have been turning on two units at noon.

Last Tuesday, Jim took Don and Cindy from Texas out for the morning.  Pretty good day for them stripping the JQ or Tiger Tail streamers.

Don – 7/31/19

Don and Cindy didn’t get enough fishing in Tuesday, so they spent Wednesday morning on the water again, this time with Carolyn.  Another good, fun day for them.  Water running most of the trip so our best pattern was a cerise San Juan worm under the big ruby.

Thursday, David from Illinois fished half day with Carolyn.    Beautiful day, overcast and fishing was good.  Black copperhead midge was the best pattern that day.

Friday, Jim and Carolyn took a group of brothers out for half a day.  Carolyn took the oldest and youngest brothers, Rick and Dana.  Jim

Rich – 8/3/19

had Norm and Bob.  Fun day for everyone!  If I understand correctly, Jim’s boat had to ‘pop’ for dinner and beers that night!  Jim guys were catching on the JQ, ruby midge and San Juan worm.  Carolyn’s boat was catching on the black copperhead with zero units going and then

Dana – 8/3/19

dropped it under a big ruby to keep catching after the two units fired up.

Darren had a couple guys from Kansas on the water Saturday morning, Hugh and Adam.  Good days for these guys on the black copperhead midge with a thread midge trailer.  Adrian and Larry fished with Dana.  They had a good day mainly on the ruby 2.

Adam – 8/3/19

Sunday, Jim took Jim from here in Missouri out for half a day.  Jim got started fly fishing with us a little over two years ago and he’s still at it!  Good day for Jim on the holographic green crackleback, P&P midge or the JQ streamer.

Beautiful weather.  Looks like we will have more of this for possibly a week.  Yeah!  No rain in the near forecast.  Temperatures will continue to be pleasant for several days.  No mid to upper 90s!

We will continue to see the low flow during the morning and late evening hours then 2-3 units coming on around noon.  They estimate it will be at least another 10 days before Bulls Shoals gets low enough for them to evaluate the probable at Power Site dam and get the boards back in operation.

Fishing during the low water flow in the mornings is nice.  Lots of fishing trips, schools and the Missouri Trout Fly Fishermen’s Third Expo was this past weekend at the Lion’s Club on 76 East.  Saw lots of faces we had not seen for a while.  Great time.  Now for the fishing.  Needless to say, I’m a little behind on fishing reports.

Jim on the water Saturday, July 20th (that’s how far behind I am!).  One of him long-time regulars, Carmen and his son, who is now 10 years old, Randy.  Good day for them.  Carmen had not fished for a while so it was a refresher course.  Caught fish on the JQ, ruby midge and hit

Tiffany 7/21/19

hare’s ear nymph.  Sunday. Carolyn took Tiffany out for half a day.  Really good day for this young lady who caught most of her fish on the black copperhead midge.  Tiffany is pretty new and she did great hooking and bringing in the fish.   Jeremy, from Oklahoma, was on the water with Dana.  They had a good day on the black copperhead and Ruby 2 midges, and striping the tiger tail.

Monday, Gina took Lisa out for half a day.  Lisa is a very good caster and got several fish

Lisa – 7/23/19

to the boat stripping tiger tails, cracklebacks, or fishing the big ruby.  Mainly it was stripping that day.  John and Lucia spent the morning on the water with Carolyn.  This was a weird morning.  We rowed up toward the ladder area and got started fishing.  Pretty soon, two horns went off.  Oh boy!  More water.  Better re-rig.  Change everything out and two more horns.  What’s up?  Checked with the actual via phone and no more units had really come on.  Back to the original rigging.  Before we left the upper area, at least eight horns had blown

Lucia – 7/23/19

(we only have 4 units).  The water did keep going up and down, but not as much as they horns they blew.  Anyway, a good day for John and Lucia on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges under the big ruby, including a couple smaller browns.   Wednesday, Darrell and Carrie fished with Carolyn.  Tough day.

Carrie – 7/24/19

All our guides out that day had the same story.  Picked some nice fish, but we worked hard for all the fish we caught.  It was a cerise San Juan worm with a gray scud dropper in

Darrell – 7/24/19

the shallow water for us.  Jim had two Bobs on the water.  They worked the size 8 JQ streamer, a size 12 ruby and a 14 hot hare’s ear.  Ian and Hal from Pennsylvania fish the morning with Darren.  Big ruby with a scud dropper were their bugs.

This past Friday, Jim had Norman from Indiana out for half a day.  Lots of water and it made for another tough day.  Did catch several fish on the JQ, ruby midge and hot hare’s ear nymph.

Sunday, Jim had Jerry on the water.  Another JQ day with a few on the ruby midge.  Gina’s guys,

Dan – 7/28/19

Dan and Roy from Kentucky were here for the Expo and always try to fish with Gina after the event.  This Sunday was the day and they spent the whole day on the water

Roy – 7/28/19

catching on the JQ and Tiger Tail, crackleback (1st fish and biggest), and pink San Juan worm.  Beautiful, sunny day and the fish were cooperating.

Currently it is 94 degrees here in Branson, which was the high predicted for the day.  Tomorrow and Saturday we will see upper 90s then mid 90s Sunday and 80s on Monday and into the following week.  Year!  Right now, with the humidity, it is HOT!

Still seeing low flows in the a.m. and then ramping up to three around noon or after.  That is the projection again for tomorrow.  Maybe the rut we’re in for a while.  We’ll just have to see.

With the low one unit in the morning, fishing has been good early.  Once they fire up the two then three units, everything trashes up for a while.

Jim has been complaining about this generation pattern as he has been on the water the most here lately.  He was out Sunday with Cr4ooper and Kross.  Pretty new fly fishers so he worked with them and got them some fish mainly on the JQ streamer.  Once the water fired up, he was out of there.

Tuesday, John and Steve from Oklahoma spent the morning on the water with Jim.  Steve is new to fly fishing, so Jim worked with him.  They had stable flows for about four hours, so fishing was pretty good and both the guys landed fish on the size 8 JQ streamer.  Carolyn had a student finishing up her school and her best pattern was the ruby 2 midge.

Jim and Caleb fished with Jim Wednesday.  Good day on the JQ streamer, ruby midge and hot hare’s ear nymph.

Looks like we might get some more rain Monday and Tuesday due to Barry.  Best chances are Monday and temperatures will certainly be nice….in the mid to upper 70s!  Tuesday has less chance for rain and temperatures in the mid to upper 80s.  After that, it low to mid 90 and sunshine through the weekend and into next week!

Still running a low one unit early in the morning.  Then they turn on a full one unit or a low two units.  But, it keeps bumping up each hour so we reach three units by noon or so.

Jim on the water last Sunday with John and his friend.  Pretty good day pulling a #8 JQ streamer.  More misses than landed.

Thursday was a pretty tough day for everyone.  Darren’s guys, Mike and Dean worked hard.  Lots more tangles than fish.  Their best pattern was a scud under the big ruby.  Jim had Garret from Kansas and he landed a few fish pulling the #8 JQ streamer.  Carter fished again with Carolyn.  They did pretty well on the black copperhead early then the ruby 2.  Pulled a few streamers and maybe had 7-8 hits and none to the boat.  It fished good early while there was only a low one unit.  Once they started ramping up the units, fishing went south.

Beautiful, sunny day.  However, if we run true to form, we will see a show sometime this afternoon.  At least that’s been the pattern the past few days.  And, the prediction is 40% (we’ve had rain with 30%) chance around 4:00 p.m.  Temperatures in the upper 80s and low 90s through the week with 40% chance of rain each day!

We continue to see no generation late in the day and into the morning.  Two generators on around 8:00 a.m. and run for a couple hours the off for 3-4 hours and back on with one or two and eventually ramping up to a full four units.  However, today and last night, although projected, they did not follow this pattern.  Low all night and then they ramped it up at 7:00 a.m.  Currently it is holding at a low two units which puts it three to four feet higher than normal no generation level.  This can be waded in some places if you’re careful.

Jim on the water Friday with Billy.  Pretty good day stripping the tiger tail and later in the morning they caught some fishing a red ass soft hackle.  Fun!  Eugene and his friend, RM were on the water with Darren.  They fished the ruby 2, scuds and sowbugs and even did a little stripping.  Jim spent the morning with Carolyn.  He does some salt water and streamer fishing

Jim – 7/5/19

but had never fished midges.  So, we introduced him to the wonderful world of midges.  Fished the ruby 2 under the big ruby while they were running two units.  After a couple hours, they shut down the generators so it was a #16 ruby 2 on top and the #18 ruby 2 on bottom for a slow drift.  Good, fun day!  Finished up with the last fish on a holographic green crackleback on a sinking leader.

Saturday, Jim had Linsey and her friend, Clark on the water.  Both are beginners so Jim did lots of instruction before he let them catch fish stripping the JQ streamer!

Upper 80s to l0w 90s almost every day plus slight chances for rain almost every day, especially in the afternoon.  That seems to be the pattern right now.

Weird generation pattern right now also.  Past two or three days we have no generation until 8:00 a.m. then they turn on two units for two hours.  Off for three hours or so then ramp back up with first one unit then two or three and eventually four.  Off by 8:00-9:00 p.m.  Understand this is due to the boards being down at Powersite.  They need to get Bull Shoals down a couple feet before they can fix them.  In the meantime, Taneycomo just flows straight through and they are running water a little spastically to keep a desirable level of water in Taneycomo.

Bogan – 6/30/19

John and Bogan from Florida fished with Darren this past Sunday.  John does quite a bit of fishing in Florida, but this was only

John – 6/30/19

Bogan’s second time with a fly rod.  The guys got some fish to the boat on the ruby 2 fishing mainly in the upper part of the river.  Dana had Mike from Oklahoma out for the day.  They had a good day on the ruby 2 under the big ruby and stripping a tiger tail.

Steve – 7/1/19

Moday, Carolyn took Matt and Steve out for half a day.  Zero generation when we hit the water.  It was good day for these two.  Best patterns were the black copperhead or ruby 2 midge.  Did catch a few stripping the holographic green crackleback.   When they fired up the first generation at noon, rowed up toward the fish ladder and heavied up with the big

Michael – 7/1/19

ruby.  Fished good until they upped it to three units and everything dirtied up.  Gina and Dana had the Sichter family out.  Gina had  Michael, and he was

Wayne – 7/1/19

catching fish on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.  Dad, Jim, and his other son, Wayne fished with Darren.  Their best area was up near the fish ladder on a #14 trans scud, black copperhead midge and the thread midge.  A fun time was had by all!

Tuesday, long-time customers, Rick and Kristi needed a fix so they spent the morning on the water with Carolyn.  Slow start with no generators.  Then they turned on two units at 9:00 a.m. so it was upstream toward the ladders.  Fished this area until they

Jackson – 7/2/19

turned the two off after maybe an hour of running.  Drifted down and through the narrows catching fish on the #18 ruby 2 under a #16 ruby 2 midge.  Travis and his 10 year old son, Jackson were out with Gina.  She worked with both of then on casting as this was Jackson’s first fly fishing experience and Dad

Travis – 7/2/19

had not been fly fishing for several years.  Jackson hooked some fish but did not get one to the boat.  He had a great time, especially getting to wear waders and stand in the water without getting wet!  Ruby 2 and black copperhead under big ruby were their patterns.  Darren and Dana had Mark and his two sons, Patrick and Sean on the water.  The first day, Mark and Pat

Pat – 7/3/19

fished with Dana.  All are new to fly fishing, so it was a learning curve this day.  Mark and Pat landed fish on the red San Juan worm.  Darren had Sean and they were fishing a #14 scud.

The guys didn’t get enough fishing on Tuesday, so they went out with Dana and Darren again on Wednesday.

Sean – 7/3/19

This time, Dana took Pat and they fished and caught on the rusty midge and the red San Juan worm.  Mark and Shawn were with Darren and they were catching on a #14 scud , the ruby 2 and black copperhead midges.  Wiley, from Oklahoma, was on the water with Carolyn for half a day.  This was another two generators on at 8:00 a.m. for a couple hours.  Rowed up to the ladder area and drifted the big ruby with

Wiley – 7/3/19

the ruby 2 midge.  Picked a few here.  When the water shut down, drifted down through the Rockin Chair area where we picked up several more, then through the narrows.  Fished good until they turned the generators back on again!

A little cooler today than it has been.  Supposed to hit 90.  Looks like upper 80s and low 90s through the coming week with slight (30-40%) chances for rain from Tuesday through Friday.  Then the same chances from next Sunday through Tuesday.  That’s a long ways off.  Will probably change six times!

Low generation for a short time yesterday morning.  This morning, we had a low one unit until noon when they cranked it up to the equivalent of two units.  Scheduled to ramp up to the equivalent of three by 1:00 p.m.  According to the schedule, there should be no generation tomorrow until noon or 1:00 p.m.  Then one for an hour and ramp up to three for an hour, then three for four hours.  Cross your fingers.  Would be great to see no generation for a while in the morning!

Kathi – 6/27/19

Thursday, Gina took Kathi and Bill out for the day.  Good day nymphing all day with the big ruby and black copperhead or ruby 2 droppers.  Lots of water

Bill – 6/27/19

with the equivalent of three units most of the trip.  Dana had Brock, from Texas, out for half a day.  Good day for them on the ruby 2 under the big ruby and stripping the Tiger Tail.

Steve and his friend, Kyle, fished again with Carolyn this past Friday.

Kyle – 6/28/19

Another good day for these guys on the ruby 2 under the big ruby.  Different water than their last trip which was a low one unit all day.  They had to work with the two and  three generators flow.  Think Steve brought the first fish to the boat but Kyle was on a roll.

Saturday, eight ladies from Gals Go Fish took the Orvis 301 clinic.  Two of them were paired up with a guide to fish and learn for the day.  What a day!  Hot, one unit on when they started, ramped up to two shortly after getting on the

Carol and Gina – 6/2919

water and hit three units by the time they took a break for lunch.  Darren had Martha and Kathi.  They fished the ruby 2 under a big

Georgiana – 6/29/19

ruby.  Gina’s gals were Georgiana and Carol.  Size 16 ruby 2 under the big ruby were their patterns for the day.  Hooked at least one stripping.  We always try to get the ladies into stripping!.  Dana’s fly fishing gals were Michelle and Sarah and they had a good day on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges under the big ruby.  Last,

Cheryl – 6/29/19

but not least, Sally and Cheryl fished with Carolyn.  It was the black copperhead, ruby 2 and finally the P&P under the big ruby for

Sally’s first brown – 6/29/19

them.  Each hooked at least one fish stripping, but none to the boat.  Fun, fun day for everyone, especially the guides!

Had another big rain this past weekend.  Rained all day Saturday!  Needless to say, almost every place added several more inches to our already wet conditions.  Scattered chances for rain today but doesn’t look like anything serious.  Think we might have three or four days of sunny weather, then chances for rain again the rest of the week into the weekend.

Generators running pretty much non-stop.  In addition, Monday, they opened the ten spillways 1 foot each so this is adding approximately 10,500 cfs to the 9500 cfs from the three generators.  There is a possibility they will shut down the spillways tomorrow….we will see

Jeff – 6/24/19

Nathan – 6/24/19

Gina on the water Monday with a couple of brothers, Jeff and Nathen, from Colorado.  No generators when they put in but in short order (9:00 a.m.) they cranked up three units.  Good day for these guys on the black copperhead midge or Li’l Ruby under the big ruby.  Both seemed to fish equally well.

Rain most of last night into today and it has almost been non-stop all day.  Good news is that there is no rain in the forecast for Monday or Tuesday, but by Wednesday, we are seeing chances 30-40% again.  Friday through Sunday look great…no rain forecast, but Monday and all next week into the weekend there are chances again!

Generation schedule continues to be up and down.  Projection for tomorrow is no generation until 1:00 p.m.  Would that be nice!  Then 2 units for an hour or so and ramping up to three.  We shall see.

June – 6/17/19

John and June spent half a day on the water with Carolyn last Monday.  They had a very good day on the black copperhead midge under the big ruby and stripping the holographic green crackleback.  If I remember correctly, this was June’s first time pulling streamers and she did well.  Water started out with no flow when we hit the river.  Maybe fished 45 minutes and on came one unit and an hour and it was up to two units.  Of course, in short order it was up to three.  Not a problem, but the trash that goes through with each unit certainly makes keeping your flies clean.

Wednesday, Jim took Dirk and Katie out for half a day.  Dirk has been fly fishing for a while but Katie is pretty new.  So Jim worked with Katie and got her into some fish.  They fished the black midge and stripped the tiger tail.

Gina took Richard from Florida out for half a day on

Richard – 6/20/19

Thursday.  They had three units going, but the good news was that it was a beautiful, sunny, dry day!  Ruby 2 and tiger tail were their best flies.

Our Louisiana regulars, Ron and Kathy fished all day with Carolyn on Friday.  HOT! was the word for that day.  Lots of sunshine and eventually some wind which certainly helped cool things down a little.  Worked hard but had a pretty good day mainly on the black copperhead midge.  This was one for Ron.  He actually out fished Kathy.  That doesn’t happen very often.