What happened to Fall?  Temperature this past Saturday morning was in the teens!  Yesterday we had snow flakes and sleet at times.  Fortunately, it was just warm enough that nothing stuck to the ground around here.  This morning it was only 20 when I went out the door.  Not ready for this yet.  Good news is that by this coming Friday, it will be in the mid to upper 50s.  Yeah!  And, by next week, we seem to be back into the low to mid 50s all week.

No change in the generation pattern.  Off almost all day.  One or two units on late in the day for a couple hours.

Tim – 11/7/18

Carolyn on the water Tuesday and Wednesday with Tim and Judy from Nebraska.  They both book our school back in May and needed some more practice!  Beautiful sunny day Tuesday and the fish were working the banks.  We put on a stimulator with a black copperhead midge and picked fish most of the day on this.  As the day

Judy – 11/6/18

got brighter, we switched to the P&P to finish the trip.  Wednesday was another nice day although a little cloudy.  However, that didn’t stop the fish from looking up and Tim caught his nicest fish on the stimulator plus a couple others!  Otherwise, the fish were taking the black copperhead midge.   Jim out with a couple of his long-time clients from Hawaii, Wayne and Colleen.  Good

Bob – 11/7/18

day for them on the P&P with a gray scud dropper.  Bob and Dennis from Texas were on the water with Darren.  Good day for these guys too.  They were fishing the rusty or P&P midges with a scud dropper.  Beautiful rainbows!

Dennis – 11/7/18

They too found most of the fish were up very shallow near the banks.  Gina had Ron and his wife Sharon out for the

Sharon – 11/7/18

morning.  Their best fly was the black copperhead midge.  Sharon is pretty new to fly fishing but got a good cast going and landed some trout.  Maybe she is on her way to

Ron – 11/7/18

becoming a fly fisher (she normally fishes with a spinning rod).

Thursday, Carolyn took Lawerene and Wendy from Texas out for half a day.  New fly fishers and, unfortunately, they had a tough day!  We fished everywhere and tried everything.  Did pick a few fish on the black copperhead midge.

This weekend, the River Runners Women’s Fly Fishing group was here for their annual Taneycomo fix.  Cold start Saturday morning, but most of the 20 ladies who showed up, managed to spent at least a few hours on the water fishing and almost everyone caught fish.  A great day was had by all.  Back to the water on Sunday for some more catching and fun.  And, Sunday was certainly much warmer!!!!

Fly Tying schedule has been posted on our site.  Check it out on the site below to see the schedule.  Remember, you need to sign up if you want to attend as space is limited.  Hope to see you at one of the sessions!!    http://www.riverrunoutfitters.com/fly-school/

With the overcast days, I could not get a picture to do justice to the trees right now.  Think they won’t be around too much longer either as we have had lots of wind the past two days and the leaves are quickly being blown away!  Thanks to the wind, we have had several brisk days!  Looking at chances for rain Monday, but Tuesday looks great!  Sunshine and mid 60s.  Wednesday will be partly sunny with temperatures in the upper 80s.  Friday and Saturday are looking like sunshine and upper 40s to low 50s.  Partly sunny Sunday and low 50s.  Not too bad if the wind is not blowing!!!

Generation continues to be nothing during the morning hours and then one or two units on for an hour or two late in the day.  The projection for Monday is more of the same.

Denise – 11/2/18

Great 40th anniversary surprise present!   Denise booked a half day fly fishing trip for herself and her husband Jim.  Gina had the fun of take these two out the past Friday.  Good day fishing for them which just made it all the better.  This was a first for Denise and she did great.  They finished up their day with a double!  Patterns were the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.

Saturday, Gina took Bill and his wife, Janice out for half a day.  These two are brand new, so they spent a little time working on the various cast so they could get their flies into the water.  They had a fun

Megan – 11/3/18

day hooking fish on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.  Megan and her husband Mason fished with Carolyn.  Slow start to the day, but we finally started catching some on the P&P midge and JQ streamer.  Megan has fished with us before and she want Mason to try fly fishing.  He does lots of other fishing, but not fly fishing.  Caught on quickly and was soon pulling the JQ streamer.

Sunday, Darren took Andy

Andy – 11/4/18

and his son, Drew out for the morning.  Another cool, blustery day, but they

Andy – 11/4/18

stuck it out and caught several fish on the rusty midge, black copperhead midge trailed with a size 18 scud.

Not a lot of fish being caught right now, but most folks coming into the shop and commenting on now many more larger fish they are catching.  AND, they are really pretty right now.

Couple of beautiful days yesterday and again today.  Temperatures in the 70s with lots of sunshine.  Think we will have a repeat tomorrow.  Thursday still looks like 70s, but rain will be moving in during the afternoon and evening hours.  Wednesday a definite temperature change with more chances for showers off and on all day.  Thursday will be mostly sunny and 60.  By the weekend, we are looking at sunny skies Saturday and upper 50s.  Sunday upper 50s but chances for showers pop up again!

No generation still except during the evening hours when they are running one or two units for an hour or two.  Otherwise, lots of wading time during the day!

Whole lot of fishing going on the past week.  Dana out a week ago this past Saturday with Brian and friend, Kelly.  Tough day but they did boat some fish on a tan b-bug or a peach egg pattern.

Keith – 10/21/18

Sunday (Oct. 21) Carolyn took Pat and his friend Keith out for half a day.  Good day for these guys on the ruby 2 midge and stripping a holographic green crackleback.  Keith has fish for trout for a long time, but had never fished for them with a fly rod.  He had a good start with a nice 19 inch rainbow.

Mike spent Monday morning on the water with Carolyn.  This was another tough day.  Worked hard for fish and caught several on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.  Really wanted to catch a few on the holographic green crackleback as this is Mike’s favorite way to fish, but they would not cooperate, so we took what we could get!

Tuesday, was a very good day for John and Bob who fished

John – 10/23/18

with Carolyn.  Most all of the fish were caught on the ruby 2 midge.

Gina had Virginia out for part of the morning on Wednesday.  She brought several fish to the boat on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges.  It was one of those cool days, and Virginia called it a day early since she was cool and tuckered out.  Jim had Gary and his friend Allen on the water for half a day.  Carolyn had Bob, the other part of this three-guy trip.  Allen is brand new to fly fishing, so Jim worked with him on casting and other necessary techniques and they fished off and on in between.  Caught some fish on the baby ruby with a gray scud dropper.  Carolyn’s fisher, Bob had a good day on the black

Allen – 10/25/18

copperhead midge and three takes (missed them all) on a size 14 yellow Humphy up against the bank!  First time he had tried a dry and really liked this.  The next day, Thursday, Gina had Bob and Allen and Carolyn took Gary.  Bob got

Bob – 10/24/18

to do some more fishing with a dry, this time with a dropper, and had fun doing this.  They had a good day on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.   Gary had a good day on the black copperhead midge and broke off on a really nice fish on a dry up against the bank.  Saw him swimming away laughing at us!

Leann – 10/26/18

Friday, Carolyn had two new fly fishers from Kansas, Rob and Leann.  Fun day working with them on the basics and letting them catch a few fish on a ruby 2 midge.   Nick and Mike spent the morning with

Mike – 10/26/18

Gina.  They both attended our Orvis 301 clinic last August.  Good day for them on the ruby 2 and black copperhead midges and a gray scud.

Nick – 10/26/18

Carolyn had Josh and wife, Kate on the water Saturday.  Fun day for them.  Kate has fished Taneycomo before and never caught a fish.  We proved her wrong.  Both had a good day on the black copperhead midge early then the P&P dropped under

Kate – 10/27/18

a dry against the banks later in the morning and early afternoon.  She

Kate’s sculpin

even caught a cute little sculpin!

Looks like we might be in for some rain tomorrow.  Pretty good chances in the morning, and stopping by late afternoon.  We’ll just have to see.  Saturday looks pretty good, partly cloudy, or sunny, with temperatures in the mid 60s.  That sounds good.  Sunday a little cooler, upper 50s and sunshine.  Next week looks like a mixed bag.  Mid to low 60s early then into the upper 50s.  Chances for rain mid week.

Not much change in generation pattern.  Probably off more than before as they have only been running 1 maybe 2 units for a couple hours late in the afternoon.  Otherwise, no generation during the morning hours, with the exception of yesterday.  They ran one unit for at least three hours.

Eli’s first trout on fly rod – 10/10/18

Gina on the water last Wednesday with Robert and his grandson, Eli.  Good day for them as this was Eli’s first fly fishing experience.  Gina worked with his on casting and he picked it up pretty quick.   Wasn’t long before he was throwing

Eli dipping Grandpa’s fish – 10/10/18

a sinking leader and shooting line.  Fun day for everyone on the JQ streamer and ruby 2 midge.  Chip and Dawain were on the water with Carolyn.  Good day for these guys on the ruby 2 midge.  Lots of quality fish 14 inches

Chip – 10/10/18

and above.

Thursday, Chip and Dawain spent the morning wading in the water with Gary.  Another good day for the guys, this time on the San Juan worm and a gray scud.

Jim, Darren and Carolyn had a group of guys from the Kansas City area on a company outing on the water both Friday and Saturday.  Fun bunch of guys.  They were all pretty  new to fly fishing, but all caught on pretty quickly and we all had a couple fun days.  Jim’s guys, Mark and Jeff were catching on the baby ruby midge, gray scud and when the water came on, a #10

Scott – 10/12/18

JQ streamer.  Darren’s guys, John and Tom were catching on the size 18 ruby 2 midge, an olive gray scud in a size 18, and a black and silver zebra midge, also an 18.  Scott fished all by himself with Carolyn on Thursday and had a good day on the ruby 2 midge.  Friday, Scott was joined by Josh and they had a

Josh – 10/12/18

great day on the black copperhead midge.  This was the best pattern for them all day.  Debbie and Debbie “Doc”

Debbie – 10/12/18

spent Friday morning on the river with Gina.  Good day for the ladies on the black copper head midge.  Both are new fly fishers so a little casting instruction started their

Debbie -10/12/18

day, but it ended on catching fish!  Gary took a new fly fisher, Kevin, from Kansas out for an instructional trip.  Fun day and caught fish on the red San Juan worm and the black copperhead midge.

Saturday, Dana took Gary out for the morning.  He fished in Alaska and got the fly fishing bug.  They had a tough but fun day.  Fished the black copperhead midge.  David, from Iowa was out with Gary.  David is also new to fly fishing so Gary worked with him and he caught several fish on the ruby 2 midge or a tan scud.

Becky 10/14/18

Becky got her husband, Pat, a full day trip for his birthday.  They spent last Sunday on the water with Carolyn.  Becky is new to fly fishing, but it didn’t take long before she was hooking fish.  They both had a good, fun day on his birthday trip.

Monday and Tuesday, Meredith, from Indiana, spent two days with his friend, Dave Miller, fishing with Carolyn.  Nice days and fishing was good.  Monday the guys were running pretty even all day catching fish.  Tuesday was a “mojo” day for Meredith,  He fished the ruby 2 midge until there was no red left on the fly and continued catching.  He was going to keep this fly and frame it,

Meredith – 10/15/18

but fish number 28 took the once red, now silver midge from him.  We managed to scrap the red off a couple other flies and he continued catching.  Fun guys to run the river with.  Gary tied a few silver (ruby) 2 midges for them to use the next when they were going fishing on their own.  When I passed Meredith on the river the next day, he said he was catching!

Peggy – 10/16/17

Tuesday, Gina was on the river with Nelson and Peggy.  They were celebrating their 50th anniversary.  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!  What a great way to celebrate.  They had a good day on the black copperhead midge.

Darren was out Wednesday with Terry and his friend Larry.  Larry is fairly new and had fun missing and hooking some fish on the ruby midge and olive/grey scud.  Dan and his wife, Nyla were on the water with Carolyn.

Nyla’s first on fly rod – 10/17/18

Nyla’s first time fly fishing and she did well.  Dan has been working with her; we polished up a few areas and she is roll casting and regular casting well.  Better yet, catching fish!  Ruby 2 and P&P midges the patterns for the day.

Thursday, Paul and his son, Joseph spent the morning fishing with Carolyn.  Tough day, but we managed to catch several fish on the ruby 2 and black copperhead midges and an egg pattern.  Did not fish stead anywhere.  3-4 fish in one spot and move on.  Nice day and we had fun.

F

Looks like our 80s days are over.  Rain coming in this afternoon with a cold front behind it.  By tomorrow morning, we will hit our high for the day…..upper 60s.  Thursday morning we will see the beginning of some mid to upper 40s for the start of the day.  High Wednesday looks like maybe mid 60s!  Trees are starting to turn, so it is time for Fall to move on in.

Still no generation during the morning hours.  Something coming on around 1:00 p.m. or maybe later.

Carolyn on the water last Tuesday and Wednesday with Don and Cindy.  Cindy is fairly new and is doing great.  Caught several fish and one nice one on either the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges.  Al and Shelly spent more of the day on the water with Jim.  Tough day for them but they did get some fish to the boat on the P&P, hot hare’s ear and the miracle scud.

Friday, Jim took Mark and Jim out for half a day.  They were beginners and wanted to learn and fish some.  They worked on everything including catching a few fish stripping the JQ streamer, size 10.

Gary and Jerry from Ohio, spent Saturday on the water with Jim.  Little better day this day on the P&P and hot hare’s ear.  Didn’t get in a full day, but they had lunch, including broccoli salad!

Carolyn had a full day school for Kristen and Leif.  After classroom and then going through casting, they got a fly and were able to land some fish on the ruby 2 midge before being blown off the water with the generators coming on.

Today, Jim took Bud and Dennis out for half a day.  Tough day!  Three units came on an hour early (they were supposed to only turn on one) and by noon, it was raining.  Carolyn had Stephen and Ward out for half a day.  Agree….it was tough.  A few fish caught stripping the holographic green crackleback and only one on a black midge.  Maybe had a few hits, but one of the toughest days we have had on the water for a while.  We’ll try and blame it on the fronts or backs coming through.  Message from the weather station while on the water was that a tornado watch had been issued for Branson.

Wonderful sunny, not too hot days the past week or so.  A slight increase in temperatures for the next few days will put us in the upper 80s.  Not typical October weather, but still not hot as we had been.  We can handle this.  Slight chances for rain by Tuesday and again by Saturday.  Then temperatures will drop into the upper 70s for a while.

Past seven days we have seen no generation during the morning hours.  Then, one to two units on for two to four hours anywhere from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Of course, yesterday was an exception.  They turned on a couple units to start with at 3:00 and ramped it up to four units before shutting down about five hours later.  Oh well, keeps us on alert.

Fishing has been good.  The dissolved oxygen levels at times are running as low as 2.5 mg/l, but are also getting up into the 6.0 or better range at times.  So, we are happy with the fishing right now.

Stan on the water last Tuesday with Mark from Nixa.  Second time he and Mark have fished together and they had another good day…all on the black copperhead midge.

Dave – 9/27/18

Thursday, Carolyn took Martin and Dave, from Texas, out for the morning.  Good day for these two fly fishermen.  They have a few years behind the “sticks”.  We caught

Martin – 9/27/18

almost everything on the black copperhead midge.  It was overcast almost all of that morning.  Jim’s long-time clients, Marge and Price were on the river with him that day.  They had a fun day mainly on the miracle scud.  Hooked a few stripping a size 10 JQ streamer.

Donna – 9/28/18

Rick and Donna from Illinois, fished with Carolyn all day Friday.  They’re gluttons for punishment!  Good day on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges.  Jim was on the water for half a day with Mike from Texas.  A lot of instruction, but Jim had him catching on a size 10 JQ streamer as well as a P&P midge and the hot hare’s ear nymph.

Saturday Carolyn and Gary spent the day with a group from various places who came to the River Run full-day fly fishing clinic.  Think we have some more folks ‘hooked’ on fly fishing.

Sheryl – 9/30/18

Matt and Sheryl fished with Carolyn Sunday.  This was their 25 year wedding anniversary and they have spent several of their anniversaries on the water with us.  Really fun day and lots

Matt – 9/30/18

of fish on the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges as well as a size 18 gray scud.  TJ spend half a day with Gary on a wade trip.  They had a really good day too on the tan scud and a ruby 2 midge.

Rain came in early today, cleared for a while, and we will get some more tonight which will continue into early tomorrow morning.  Currently, it looks like most of it will be out of the picture by 9:00 a.m. or so.  Temperatures tomorrow will be cool for a change…..upper 60s!  Sunday looks like mid 70s and then more normal temperatures for this time of the year, low 80s and 70s through next week.

After a couple weeks with low flow every day, we have had no flow, except for one unit a couple hours late this afternoon.  This looks like it will be the pattern through this weekend.  Monday will be no flow all day, then two units on at 2:00 p.m. for three hours.

Jim on the water Monday with Dick from here in Missouri.  Dick is getting started so Jim took him through the paces.  They caught fish on a hot hare’s ear nymph, scud and stripping the tiger tail.  Stan was out with Paul, also from Missouri.  Think this was his first time here on Taneycomo although he fishes various Parks throughout the state.  He caught a nice 18 inch rainbow on a P&P under the ruby 2.

Tuesday, Kevin and Patty spent the morning with Jim.  Fished a little slow for them that day, but they did catch from on the hot hare’s ear and a ruby midge.

Carolyn had Kathy and her husband out Wednesday.  This was Kathy’s day.  Jim was just going along to observe.  She is brand new to fly fishing so Carolyn worked with her on the roll cast to start with.  Lots of hits on a black copperhead midge and several hook ups but could not get them to the boat.  Think the fish were just barely taking this pattern that day.  Finally put an apricot egg pattern on her and first hit, Kathy hooked up with her first fish on a fly rod that she got to the boat.  After that, it was several more to the point that Jim decided he needed to get into the act.  Before going in, Kathy mastered the regular pick up and lay down cast.  Think she is “hooked”.

Awesome weather.  60s in the morning then mid to upper 80s during the day and lots of sunshine.  Looking at more of the same Thursday.  Friday shows a little more chance of rain with highs in the mid 80s.  Pretty much the same for Saturday, and then Sunday rain chances increase and the temperature drops to the upper 70s.

We have had the same generation pattern for over a week now.  Low generation in the morning (had been no generation), then ramping up to 3-4 units around 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.  The low flow has been good for fishing and one can still wade in various areas.

Stan on the water Thursday and Friday with Mark from the St. Louis area.  Couple of good days for Mark.  What more could one want….beautiful weather and catching fish!.  Thursday he

Mark – 9/14/18

fished a little ruby under the big ruby, a partridge & orange soft hackle, holographic green crackleback and a 56er.  Friday it was a P&P under the little ruby midge.  Also caught some on the holographic green crackleback including at 19 incher.

Carolyn had Edward and Jim from the St. Louis area out Friday and Saturday.  They had booked two full days but with the water coming on high in the afternoons, we hung around for a little while to see how it would fish.  Both days when it came on, fishing basically went south so we went in early.  However, while it was low flow, we had lots of hits and caught some fish on the ruby 2 under a big ruby or the red tunghead midge.  Pulled a few on the holographic green crackleback and 56er.   And caught some on an apricot egg pattern.  Saturday, nymph style fishing was mainly on the ruby 2 midge.

Jim on the water Saturday with Chris from Tennessee.  Chris has fished with us in the past but quite a while ago and he had to brush off the cob webs.  Got the hang of it again and it was a tiger tail or the hot hare’s ear nymph.

Great weather.  Upper 70s and low 80s for the highs.  Actually in the upper 50s the other morning when I left for work.  Looks like it will continue through the weekend and into next week.  Probably see some mid to upper 80s in the mix.

Definite change in the generation pattern the past six days.  Now we have low, somewhere around 35 mwh, every morning.  Some days they kick it up a little and other days, it stayed pretty much in this same range.  This puts the tailwater levels anywhere from 1-1/2 feet to 2-1/2 feet higher than with no generation.  Although it reduces the wadeable areas down a little, it is good to see some water movement both for fishing as well as for the fish!  There is still quite a bit of wading water.  One just has to go looking.

Caleb – 9/6/18

Gina and Stan on the water last Thursday with four firefighters from Oklahoma.  Gina had Caleb and Russell.  Caleb fished with us last year but is still learning and this was a first for Russell.

Russell – 9/6/18

Stan’s guys, Corey and Ben were also new, so everyone worked on basic skills as well as catching fish.  Gina had her guys catching on the ruby 2, an egg pattern and the JQ streamer.  Stan’s were catching on the ruby 2 and a peach egg pattern.  Fun day for everyone!  Jim had Larry and Ann out for the morning.  Fairly new fly fishers so he worked with them while they were catching fish on the ruby midge, gray scud and a size 10 Tiger Tail.

Dwan and Robert spent Saturday morning on the water with Stan.  Pretty good day for these guys on a peach egg under the big ruby.  This was one of those days when they ran water, up and down, all day.

Rick and his father, Richard, spent the day on the water with Carolyn yesterday.  Good day for these two on an apricot egg pattern, or the black copperhead midge under the big ruby.  They actually had a couple of doubles during the day.  They also pulled some fish on the holographic green crackleback below Lookout Island on a 3 ips sinking leader.  This is one of Richard’s favorite ways to catch fish.  Fun day, lots of fish and a beautiful day!  Jim had Terry on the water yesterday morning.  Terry just finished the Orvis 2-day school we held here at River Run.  He wanted to reinforce what he had just learned.  He had a good time stripping the tiger tail (like this the best) and catching on a gray scud or ruby midge.  He’s hooked!

Keep watching the sky looking for the rain that has been forecast.  Cloudy all morning, but it is actually sunny here right now (1:30 p.m).  According to the forecast, there is a 75% chance for rain right now.  I’m sure we’ll get it sooner or later.

Not much change in the generations schedule.  They did forecast generation all day Tuesday.  NOT!  The turned it on the afternoon, as usual, but with a little more flow.  Forecast generation all day today.  Again, nothing until noon when they turned on 2 units.

Jim on the water this past Sunday with Jason and Haley from California.  This was Haley’s first time, so Jim worked with her on the basics.  Pretty tough day as they would not even take streamers.  Did catch some on the ruby midge and a size 18 dark gray scud.

Monday, Carolyn had Andrew and his son Joe on the water for half a day.  They just finished the Orvis 2-day fly fishing school and wanted to reinforce what they had learned.  Started out a little slow, but did pick up and they caught fish on the black copperhead midge and yellow/orange egg pattern.  Peter, from California, spent the morning on the water with Stan.  They had a pretty good day on the ruby 2.  This was Peter’s first experience with fly fishing and he really enjoyed it.

Jim took Dean and his son, Josh out Wednesday.  It was instructional for John as this was his first time fly fishing.  They caught fish on the P&P, blood worm, and stripping a size 12 JQ streamer.  It must have been new fly fisher day, as Carolyn had Scott and his wife Tricia out for the morning.  This was their first time

Tricia – 9/5/18

with a fly rod, so we went through the basic roll cast, pick up and lay down cast, and later after catching a few fish, worked on shooting line to get a little more distance.  When we first hit the water, first cast of the ruby 2 hat a hit.  After that, nothing for what seemed like forever.  Changed to an egg pattern and again a hit, then nothing.  Let’s move!  Finally a good and fun day for them on the black copperhead midge and the yellow/orange egg pattern.  Think both of them are hooked!