Temperatures are holding good in the 70s and 80s.  Pretty good chance for rain Monday, and right now, that looks like the best chance until the weekend.  Friday and Saturday are both showing an 80% chance for rain.  As always…..we’ll see.

Why in the world did they run water all weekend?  It was not a lot, but more than some people want to see if they are wading.  Anyway, they ran between 3000 and 4000 cfs more or less all day both days.  Projection for Monday is some generation in the morning, then off at 7:00 a.m. and not back on until 4:00 p.m.  As always, Mondays are a always up for grabs as to what they will really do.

Jim on the water Saturday with Charles and his daughter Caroline.  This was their first time fly fishing and Jim took them through all the instructional hoops.  They had a good day catching fish on a Tiger Tail.  Good start for new fly fishers.  Sheryl and Matt spent another

Sheryl – 4/15/17

day on the water with Carolyn.  Sheryl had a great day as she upped her goal on catching.  She more than doubled her best day on the water so far, so now she has to double this last day.  We too had a good day stripping Tiger Tails and then the holographic green cracklebacks.   Earlier in the day is was a ruby 2 under the big ruby, however, stripping was the best method yesterday.

Sill having great weather.  Temperatures still in the 0s-80s.  Chances are picking up for rain Sunday and a lesser chance on Monday.  Next week, temperatures are holding but Thursday through Saturday all have better than a 50% chance for rain.  We’ll see…..

Generation pretty consistent until today.  They were showing 35 mwh all day….here we go again!  When we checked this morning around 7:00 a.m. nothing was running.  Well, that didn’t last long.  Water came on around 11:00 a.m. and bounced around most of the afternoon.  Projection for Saturday is 35 mwh all day.

Our group of guys from Texas, California and New York were here over last weekend and most of this week.  They had some great fishing on the river Saturday.  Sunday they went to Roaring River and it fished pretty good for most of them.  Monday we had the flotilla on

Dan’s Brown – 4/10/17

the river.  James took Dan and Larry.  Great day for these guys on the copper dun and ruby 2 midges under the big ruby.  Finished up their afternoon stripping the Tiger Tail.  Stan had Roger and Don.  They had a good day too on the ruby 2.  Rich and Russ fished with Dana and they pulled a lot of fish on the ruby, copperhead back midge and either a beaded red San Juan worm or red size 12 midge under the big ruby.  Bringing up the rear was Jim with Lou and Tom.  Ruby or copper dun midges, hot hare’s ear and stripping the Tiger Tail.  Carolyn had

Brian – 4/10/17

Brian & Bess – another of several doubles

a couple from the St. Louis area, Brian and Bess.  They were just a few days past their first year anniversary (married April 1, 2016).  Fun day for these two on the ruby 2 and hot hare’s ear.   All the boats were really hitting fish and they decided to crank on at least a couple units.  Water trashed up so bad you could not keep your flies clean.  I think most of us anchored up somewhere and had lunch.  After the water cleared, we also finished up our afternoon stripping the Tiger Tail.

Wednesday, Jim took Derek from Illinois out for half a day.  Good day of fishing with the P&P, blood worm, and hot hare’s ear.

Friday was the funny water day.  Off when a couple of the boats hit

Scott – 4/14/17

the water but not for long.  Tough morning.  Good news was that it did improve after the water had been on for a while.  James had Scott from the St. Louis area.  With all the water, it was the big ruby with the ruby 2 dropper.   Jim had David out for half a day.  They were catching on the baby ruby, P&P, blood worm, hot hare’s ear and Tiger Tail.  Stan had a fun day with Scott and his daughter Anna.  Both are fairly new to fly fishing so this was an experience.  Tough morning for them, but they

Anna – 4/14/17

finally started stripping the holographic green crackleback and had a good day.  Both really liked this way of fishing, especially Anna.

Weather is gorgeous and the generators are idle.  Looks like we will continue to see temperatures in the 70s for the next couple weeks.  However, we are seeing possibility of showers scattered throughout the next couple weeks.  Tomorrow is showing thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Thursday’s forecast has some thunderstorms in it.  Low percentages throughout the week and by the weekend, Sunday has a 60% (right now) chance of thunderstorms in the a.m.  As we all know, this is a moving target.

No generation all weekend.  They shut the generators down Friday afternoon and they are still off.  According to the projection, we will not see any generation until tomorrow afternoon.  I’m holding my breath as I know Mondays are always up for grabs.

This past Tuesday, Jim and Carolyn had a group out for half a day.  Jim had Price and Marg who have fished with him for well over ten years.  Nice day on the water.  Turned out a little cooler than

Shirley – 4/4/17

predicted and a bit of an upstream wind.   Fortunately, the fish kept everyone’s minds off the weather.  Good day for Price & Marge on the baby ruby, a #16 hot hare’s ear nymph and stripping the bug eye bugger.   Carolyn’s couple, Oscar and Shirley had a good day also on the Ruby 2 and black copperhead midges.

Oscar – 4/4/17

This was their first time with a fly rod and both of them did very well.

Saturday, Carolyn took JP and Eric out for half a day.  What a hoot of a day.  Lots of fish on the black copperhead midge, ruby 2 and later in the day, the P&P.

Eric – 4/8/17

We finished up the afternoon stripping the Tiger Tail with a holographic green crackleback trailer.  After nymphing most of the trip, JP and Eric enjoyed this.  Great way to finish the trip.

JP – 4/8/17

Had some balmy weather a couple says last week with the weather.  Wednesday and Thursday were pretty brutal.  Lots of wind Wednesday and bitter cold Thursday with wind and some light rain.  Friday was a little nippy early, but sunny and warm to finish off the day and the month.  Today is gorgeous.  Mid 65s and party cloudy.  Think we might see some rain this evening which is predicted to go into early tomorrow and hang around until some time tomorrow afternoon or early evening.  Tuesday is looking like mid 70s and dry.  Wednesday, mid to upper 50s with showers later in the day and into the evening.  Thursday looks nice again.   Maybe l0w 60s but dry and the same for Friday.  So far, the weekend is looking really nice with temps in the upper 60s, low 70s and sunny.

The SWPA generation is now showing “0” when they are not projecting generation instead of the “35” we have been seeing for days.  Table Rock Lake has come up considerably with all the rain we have been having and is now sitting at 911′ plus.  This is good as it puts us only 4′ below normal power pool.  Water projection for this weekend was “0” and that is what we are seeing.  According to the schedule, they will turn on a couple units tonight around 7:00 p.m.  There is quite a bit of generation scheduled for tomorrow.

Really good days on the water this past week. Gina on the water last

Jim and colorful bow – 3/29/17

Wednesday with Jim.  As I mentioned, this was one of those windy days and a good drift was tough.  However, fishing wasn’t.  Good day for Jim stripping a tan filoplume.  They did catch some on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges, but it was a filoplume day.

Jim and Gina had a group of guys out Thursday.  Jim took David and Terry and they were catching on the baby ruby and

Randall – 3/30/17

Gary – 3/30/`7

hot hare’s ear nymph.  All Jim could say is wind, rain  and cold!  Gina’s guys, Randall and Gary did great on the ruby 2 midge and stripping the tiger tail.

Friday we almost emptied the guide pool.  Stan was on the water half a day with Rick and Doug from Independence.  These two had a ball on the ruby 2 and copper dun midges.  Gina had one of her regular

Dale – 3/31/17

Earl & Karsten – 3/31/17

regulars, Dale on the water for half a day.  They always have fun and catch fish.  It was a ruby 2, then filoplume and JQ streamer day for them.  Carolyn was on the water with two new fly fishers, Earl and his son Karsten.  It just doesn’t get any better than seeing new fly fishers learning and best of all catching.  We started with the ruby 2 and black copperhead midges and before the day was over, Karsten was pulling them in on the Tiger Tail using a 3 ips sinking leader.  Trying to get them off the water at the end of the day, I finally said “last fish guys”.  Well, they complied by doubling up….both caught

Steve – 3/31/17

their last fish at the same time.   James had Steve and Chris from Kansas out all day Friday.  They also had a great day  on the ruby 2, black copperhead and P&P midges.  They had so much fun they went out again on Saturday.

Chris – 3/31/17

Saturday was only a half day, but they did a lot of harm on the copper dun midge, black copperhead and a size 18 tan scud.

Bottom line is that fishing is good.  Had two different groups come into the shop today and one group was having a great day on red or the red ass soft hackles.  Another group caught “lots of fish in a short time” on cracklebacks.

Had a bit of heavy rain this morning and they are expecting more later tonight.  Tomorrow there is a 50% chance of rain (that’s the forecast right now, again, we’ll see).  Nice mid 60s Friday and 70s Saturday with rain moving back into the forecast for Sunday and Monday.  Then, slight chances for next week with temps in the 60s-70s.

Water a little spastic, especially yesterday.  Today it was fairly high early, but they shut it down to one unit early and then off.  Off right now but we’ll probably see some generation around 5:00 p.m.

Mike – 3/26/17

Great day on the water Sunday for Mike who spent half a day with James.  No generation so they fished from what was once the “Big Hole” down to the Rockin Chair.   It was the P&P, ruby 2 and tiger tail.

Tuesday morning saw three units, 6500 cfs and a level of 706+ at put in for James and his two clients, Chris and Craig.  Especially tough morning and this was Craig’s first experience with a fly rod.

Craig – 3/28/17

However, as the day progressed, the water dropped some, then went up, and down, but they pulled off a good day on the tiger tail, big ruby with a black copperhead midge or a peach

Chris – 3/28/17

egg pattern.   Stan had another new fly fisher on the water, Jeff from Alabama.  In their half day outing, they caught some fish on the copper dun under the big ruby.

Good temperatures and we have been getting some much needed rain.  Didn’t think I would hear myself say that.  Table Rock has come up to 908.5′ as of this a.m.  This is almost a foot and a half in just a few days.  And, we have more in the forecast.  Currently, rain is predicted for tomorrow morning and again for Wednesday and Thursday.  Temperatures are remaining in the 60s and 70s.

Generation a little different this past week.  We actually had generation almost all day Thursday.  Friday it was off in the morning then on early afternoon and ran almost the balance of the day.  Same thing Saturday…turned it on at 2:00 p.m.  So far today, it is still off.

Teddy – 3/20/17

Stan and Carolyn took a family from Parkville out for half a day last Monday.  The only one who was a fly fisher was Bill, the father of the clan.  Carolyn had the ladies, Abby and Alex, and Stan took Bill and  Teddy.  Beautiful day with no generation but a little….sometimes more….wind blowing.  Much to Abby’s surprise, everyone, including her, caught fish.

Abby & Alex with a double – 3/20/17

We all had a great day on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges.

Thursday, we all hit the water expecting it to drop around 19:00 a.m. or so.  Not.  Water did not turn off, and, in fact, increased around 1:00 p.m.  Gina had Stacy and his son, Devin out for half a day.  Great day for these two on

Devin – 03/23/17

the ruby 2 and red tunghead midges.  Devin brought both the first and last fish to the boat.   Dick, from Kansas, spent the day on the water with James.  A little slow

Stacy – 3/23/17

start in the early part of the morning, but things picked up around lunch time and they had a great day mainly stripping the tiger tail.  They also caught fish on the P&P under the big ruby.   Carolyn took Jim and Nancy from Illinois out for half a day.  Very good day for these guys too.  Started out with the black copperhead midge on one and the ruby 2 on the other….both under the big ruby.  After Jim

Jim – 3/23/17

caught his second fish on the black copperhead, it took two minutes to change out Nancy.  I think we all agreed this was one of our better days of catching for more nice fish.

Last really cold day was last Monday.  Don’t think it got out of the 30s.  Since then, it has moved into the 60s, 70s, and we are expecting 80s tomorrow.  Tuesday has a 50% chance of rain with temperatures in the upper 70s.  Wednesday is a cool down,,,,,low 50s, but back to the low 70s Thursday.  Right now, Friday through Sunday shows 60s and chances of rain both Friday and Saturday.  To be continued…

Pretty much the same pattern on generation.  If they are going to run water, it has been in the morning then off the balance of the day.  We had one units on for three hours yesterday morning.  Kind of messed up fishing while the units were on and for a little while after they turned them off, but after that, it was “fish on”.

Monday, Carolyn took Paul and his two sons, Joseph (11) and Jacob (13) out for half a day.  Of course, this was the coldest day of the week.  We stayed out for a couple hours and they caught fish on the black copperhead midge, but we soon decided they were not having a good time.  Let’s roll them in and try again later in the week when it warms up….unanimous!  To the bank we went, loaded up and back to the shop.

Wednesday, and yes, Gina and Wednesday Jim were on the water.  Still a little cool on Wednesday, so they made it a noon start to let it warm up a little.    They had a good day on the ruby 2 midge and a red soft hackle.  Lots of fun despite lots of LDRs (long distant releases).  Walt, from Texas, spent the afternoon on the water with Stan.  Good day for them too, but on the black copperhead in the early part of the afternoon then the copper dun midge the balance of the afternoon.

Carolyn took John and his son Anthony out on Thursday.  Started out a little slow for us up near the Hatchery so we did not stay around there too long.  Move on downstream and hooked several on the black copperhead midge.  Worked the narrows below the boat ramp with the tiger tail and ruby 2 midge.  Finished off the afternoon with a bang.  Stan had Tim and Stephan out for a late a.m. start.  Great day for them on the ruby 2 midge.

Jacob – 3/17/17

Friday it was Paul and his two sons again.  This time on a warm day.  70s….yeah!  We went straight to the narrows as I wanted to let Paul some streamer work with the sinking leader and tiger tail.  Got him off to a good start with this set up.  Meanwhile, Jacob and Joseph were wearing me out with “fish on”.

Joseph in action – 3/17/17

Very good day for both of them on the ruby 2.

Stan took Matt and his son, Matthew out for the day Saturday.  Very good day for these guys on the ruby 2 midge.  Unfortunately, Matt lost the bet on most fish.  New sunglasses for Matthew or yardwork for Matt for a year.  Matthew is now wearing new sunglasses.  Tony from Kansas wanted to work on technique and was especially interested in drift boat fishing as he is getting ready to build a drift boat.  We had a good day on the black copperhead midge early, then the ruby 2 midge and stripping a tiger tail.  This was Tony’s first time to catch a trout on a fly rod.  Think he was hooked before but this finished him off.   Jarrod and his father Wayne spend the day on the water with Jim.  Very good day for them mainly on the hot Hare’s ear nymph.

Overall, we are hearing from fisher all up and down the river having very good days on the water.  I talked to one of our customers who was fishing down past Fall Creek and he was catching on the ruby 2 midge.

This great weather we have been having is going to come to an end, at least for a few days.  We have a severe thunderstorm watch in effect from 11:10 a.m. today through 7:00 p.m.  This is going to drop our temperatures into the mid 50s tomorrow.  Saturday will definitely be a jolt as the high might be upper 30s with rain and snow showers possible.  The good news is that Sunday will be in the low 50s with sunshine.  Monday through Wednesday look like 50s with various moisture possibilities.  But by Thursday, we’re back into the upper 60s going into the 70s Friday and through next weekend.

Generation continues to be a mystery.  I love a good mystery.  Although there has been a projection for water every day, from mid-day Friday until late Monday night, we had no generation.  Great weekend.  Tuesday they turned on a couple units for a little while in the morning, then off.  Late afternoon, they turned on a couple units again for a few hours, then off.  Yesterday we had three units going early and they dropped a little all morning but not enough to easily wade.  They finally turned it off at 1:00 p.m. and fired them back up at 4:00 p.m.  So far today, we seeing two units with a level of 705.0′ give or take a few inches either way.

Stan out last Friday with George from Wisconsin.  They had a good day on the black copperhead midge early, then the hot hare’s ear nymph, and finished up with the white grub worm.

David – 3/6/17

Monday, Jim took David and Scott out for half a day.  Good day for these guys on the ruby or P&P midges and the hot hare’s ear.  David caught a really pretty brown.  Carolyn had Jan and Dr. Mike…a vak pasas (this means “the blind guy” in Hungarian)  for half a day.  Really good day for them too on the black copperhead midge and stripping the filoplume or tiger tail.  As you can imagine, stripping is a much easier method for Dr. Mike as he is sight impaired and this way he can

Mike – 3/7/17

feel the take.  Jan started out midging, but we got her into stripping and she is going to master this method too.

Tuesday, Don and Steve from Illinois spent the day on the water with Stan.  Super good day for these guys on the black copperhead midge early then the P&P under the ruby 2.   Carolyn had Len and his friend Don, from the St. Louis area, out all day

Len – 3/8/17

Tuesday.  These guys had a great day stripping the filoplume early and when the fish shut down on this, we finished up the day with the Tiger Tail.

Wednesday Jim and Gina out all day.  Water generation funkie this day, but they had another great day on the Ruby 2, Tiger Tail and a peach egg pattern.  Beautiful day, especially in the a.m.  Started getting a little wind later in the day.  Carolyn had Len and Don on the water again.  This time it was just for half a day as they wanted to get back home before dark.

Another wonderful day!  Since water was running pretty good, most of our good stripping places were gone. So, Len and I worked on Don’s midging technique.

Don – 3/8/17

Mastered!  Well he is making great progress with this method.  Tried several patterns and the Ruby 2 was the fly of the day.  We did find a spot below Lookout Island where Len pulled in some fish on the Tiger Tail.  Needless to say, Len came back to the shop and purchased materials to make the filoplume and Tiger Tail!  Stan had one of his favorite ladies, George, on the river Wednesday the afternoon.  She had a wonderful time catching on the Ruby 2 midge.  She has a place at Bennett Springs but enjoys fishing Taney for a nice change.

Spey/switch rod clinic – March 25, 2017  – Call to sign up.

Looks like 60s and 70s throughout the next ten days or better.  Tomorrow is sunny and lower 70s.  Upper 60s over the weekend and low 70s for the early part of next week, then upper 60s.   Not seeing any winter weather anywhere in the forecast!!

Still the same generation pattern.  Either no generation all day, or a couple units on in the morning for a couple hours, then off until late afternoon when we might see one or two units come on again for a couple hours.

Jim – 3/1/17

Wednesday Jim had a fun and productive day on the filoplume early, the JQ later and then the red soft hackle late in the afternoon.  Lots of wind yesterday…..blew them off anchor several times and they were fishing in white caps on occasion.  The fish didn’t mind.

Good reports coming from fishers on the river.  Most everyone catching nice and several fish, and lots of different patterns seem to be working.  Better go fishing!!

Wonderful weather, wonderful fishing…..what more could one ask for.  We had an unbelievable weather so far this month.  It looks like Spring here.  Flowers are blooming everywhere as well as the forsythia and several different trees!  Yesterday we hit the 80s.  I had the air conditioning on at the fly shop!  We are now in for a few days of more normal February weather.  High today will be in the upper 50s with the weekend into Monday in the low to upper 50s.  Still now bad.  Monday and Wednesday look like chances for rain with temperatures in the upper 50s.  After that, we go back into the 60s again.

The generation schedule……..  We talked to SWPA to try and find out what they are thinking with their 35 mwh generation schedule.  As I mentioned in jest a couple times in my earlier reports… 35 mwh must be SWPA’s norm for zero.  Well, this is somewhat true.  Not getting into too much detail, what they told us was that they are in a conservation mode right now as all the lakes are down.  Unfortunately for us, Table Rock Dam is the designated source if there is a power need somewhere in the states to which they provide power so they are showing the possibility of generation throughout the day so there are surprises.  What we are really experiencing here on Taneycomo is zero generation almost all day every day.  Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, they fired up a couple units for just a couple hours.  If in doubt, give us a call and we’ll let you know what the actual trend has been.

Fishing has been wonderful too.  James on the water all day Tuesday with Paul from here in Missouri.  Paul racked up the fish on a gray scud, ruby 2 and black copperhead midges, and a red soft hackle.  This was Paul’s first time swinging soft hackles.  We think he liked it.

Yesterday, Barry and Norm from Kansas spent half a day wading the area with Gary.  Lots of action for these guys on red soft hackles and hot hare’s ear nymph.  Norm is pretty new, but he is definitely “hooked”.  Meanwhile, Stan was drifting “Doc” from Oklahoma up and down the river.  Good day for Doc on the ruby 2 early, then the hot hare’s ear.

Just a reminder.  We have a spey/switch rod casting clinic on March 25.  This is a neat way to get your line out there with minimal effort.  Give us a call if you’re interested in attending this clinic.