Temperatures look good over the next week.  Mostly upper 80s.  Also chances for rain increased to 60% starting Tuesday and running through Friday.  Would not break my heart if we got some of it, but so far, in the forecast then disappears!

Generation pattern pretty much unchanged.  Off in the a.m. then on for a few hours in the afternoon then back off again.

Jim, Jackson & Spencer – 8/4/18

Fun day for our Orvis 301 group last Friday.  Jim and Carolyn had Spencer, Pat, Tibor and Jackson standing in the water learning

Tibor – 8/4/18

more about fly fishing.  JQ and Tiger Tail streamers were the patterns of the day.  We did catch some on the black copperhead midge.

Saturday, Stan took Frank and Hans out for the morning.  This was Hans first experience with a fly rob and he did good.  Black copperhead midge was their pattern for the morning.

Gina had a new lady, Diana, on the water Monday.  After they finished working on classroom stuff….knots, rigging,

Diana – 8/6/18

etc. they went to the water to work on casting.  Diana is hooked.  She got fish on the black copperhead midge and worked with streamers when the water started coming up.  Jim, from Arkansas, spent the morning with Carolyn.  Fun day just fishing everything.  We caught fish on a black ant, the redass soft hackle, JQ streamer, 56er and the holographic green crackleback.

Wednesday, Stan took Reagan and his son, Will out for half a day.   Good, fun day for them on the black copperhead midge, ruby 2 and 56er.

Back into the 90s until early next week.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday show chances for showers with temperatures in the mid 80s.  Looks like 80s through the weekend, but again, chances for showers.

We continue to see no generation during the morning hours.  Generally cranking it up to at least 3 units and sometimes 4 for the afternoon.

Dan – 7/30/18

Gina on the water last Monday with Dan and Roy from Kentucky.  There were here for the Fly Fishing Expo.  Good day for these guys on the copperhead black midge,

Roy – 7/30/18

ruby 2 midge and stripping either the JQ or tiger tail streamers.  This was their first time with streamers and they really like it.

Tuesday, Carolyn took Audrey out to teach her

Audrey’s 1st on fly rod – 7/31/18

how to fly fish.  Her father, Drew, took half day instruction from Carolyn back in 2003.  He’s looking for a fly fishing partner and I think he just might have one.  She picked up casting quickly and soon was hooking fish on an apricot or roe egg pattern.  They would not look at a midge that day.

Mark, from Nixa, spent the morning on the water with Stan Wednesday.  Mark has been out of the fly fishing world for a while, so they worked on casting for a while.  Didn’t take him long to get back into the grove.  Another no midge day, but Mark landed several on the peach egg pattern.

Crystal’s lst – 8/2/18

New woman fly fisher on the river Thursday with Carolyn.  Fun day for Crystal learning how to cast and catching fish on the black copperhead or ruby 2 midges and a few stripping a JQ streamer.

Had a little rain yesterday.  Probably not enough to make much of a difference.  However, it did cool things down and we are expecting low upper 79s today, low 80s tomorrow and upper 80s Wednesday with sunshine!  Nice!  As we move into later in the week and weekend, it will be low to mid 90s.  Still now bad, especially for this time of the year.

Generation continues to be no or low in the morning and a couple on in the afternoon.  Lots of time to get in some wade fishing.

What a fun weekend.  The Branson and Springfield Chapters of the Missouri Trout Fishermen Association held their second fly fishing Expo this last Friday and Saturday at the Lion’s Club in Branson.  Lots of great fly tiers demonstrating their skills with some really neat and unique patterns.  Good showing of several of vendors were also at this event.  I got to spend most of each day showing potentially new fly fishers how to cast.  Really neat was that several of these were young men and women.  There will be another Expo next year during the month of July.  They announced the dates but I forgot what they were.  Will post as soon as I find out.  Then you better mark your calendars as this was a really good event.

James – 7/23/18

Now let’s get the fishing activity up to date.  Jim, Gina and Carolyn had a three

Jim & Aidan – 7/23/18

generation family of six out last Monday.  They were all brand new and wanted to see how they liked fly fishing.  Everyone at least got one fish to the net and several managed to do more.  Of course, the water was not cooperating, but we

Andrew – 7/23/18

certainly made the best of it.  They all tried both nymph style fishing as well as pulling streamers.  Mainly, we caught on the black copperhead or ruby 2 midges and stripping the JQ or 56er streamers.  We had

Eli – 7/23/18

James (grandfather), Jim and his son, Aidan, and Jason and his sons, Andrew and Eli.  Hope I got that right!

Stan took Jim and his grandson, Max out again on Tuesday.

Jason – 7/23/18

Very slow bite in the morning.  Finally caught some fish on the big ruby then they slide down the back side of Lookout Island.

Wednesday, Carolyn had a great time!  Hope the boys did too!  She took Thomas and his exchange friend from France, Nathan, out for their first experience

Nathan’s first trout – 7/25/18

fly fishing.   After a little instruction on the roll cast, and regular cast, they both were getting their fly into the water.  The challenge was communicating to Nathan what he had to do when the indicator (what’s that in French?) went

Thomas & Nathan – 7/25/18

down.  It was a black copperhead midge day for them.  Neat couple of young men.  Hopefully, they will keep on fly fishing!  Gina had David and Diana out a couple half days on Wednesday and Thursday.  Good two outings on the black zebra and P&P midges first day, and big

David – 7/26/18

ruby, black midge and tiger tail on Thursday.  Jim paired up a couple fishermen, Tom from Grain Valley, and Bob from Michigan on Thursday.  Off and on day for them with

Diana – 7/26/18

the water fluctuating up and down.  They caught on the ruby, gray scud and stripping the tiger tail.

Dawn and John fished again with Stan on Friday.  Good day for them on the P&P, mega worm and JQ streamer.  Pleasant day with the water off until 1:00, and the temperature was great.

Weather has cooled down a little.  Instead of mid to upper 90s we are seeing low 90s and upper 80s.  Much better.  Plus, most of the days, the humidity has not been as bad as it had been.  Looks like we might have some rain in the forecast, especially (at least right now) Sunday and Monday.  Temperatures look like they will continue to be mild.

Generation pattern has changed a bit.  Several days now, we have seen low generation in the morning.  Some days they ramp it up early….10:00 or so, some days it is later.  This morning it was to have been off all morning until 1:00 then a couple on for the afternoon.  NOT!  They started it early with a low one and just turned it off at 7:00 a.m.  Not sure what the rest of the day will bring.  Oh well, that’s fishing on Taneycomo!

Missed reporting Jim and Gary’s trip last Monday.  They had a first-time fly fishing family out on a wade trip.  Amy (Mom),  Brad  (Dad) and their two sons.   Fun day for them on a size 18 scud and stripping the bug-eyed bugger.

Stephen – 7/19/18

Last Thursday, Stephen and his friend, Ward spent the morning on the river with Carolyn.  This was Ward’s first time with a fly rod and he picked it up pretty quickly.  Think he even likes it.  Had

Ward’s 1st on fly rod – 7/19/18

some water moving this day so it was the big ruby with the #16 red tunghead midge dropper.

Nick and Michael spent most of last Saturday on the water with Gina.  This is part of the Orvis 301 fishing program being

Nick – 7/21/18

held by the Leawood Orvis store.  Both are fairly new at fly fishing and they had a good, fun day catching on the black midge, white mega worm and stripping the

Michael – 7/21/18

tiger tail.  Lots of good instructi0n was going on!  Jim had a couple more guys in this 301 program, Stan and Richard. Their best pattern was the dragon fly nymph.  Stan was  out with Sid and Walter.  Slow start in the morning for them, but it definitely picked up after noon and they were catching on the P&P.

Ron and Cathy from Louisiana were back to fish again with Carolyn.  Definitely fished better for them than their trip on Friday the 13th.  Ruby 2 was the midge of choice and then we pulled several fish stripping either the 56er or the JQ streamers.  Stan had Michael and Jeremy out for half a day.  They started out with the big ruby and the ruby 2 dropper.  Finished up in style stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Guys really likes this!  Jerrad and Michael spent the morning on the water with Jim.  He had them stripping and catching on the JQ and tiger tail streamers.

Pretty nice day today!  Almost noon and it’s only 78 degrees.  What a change from the temps we have been having.  Unfortunately, this will be short lived.  Upper 90s are the forecasts into the weekend.  Maybe we’ll see upper 80 mid to late next week.  Other than today, chances for showers are far and few between.

Same old, same old generation pattern, except for yesterday!  Yesterday they turned on a unit at 10:00 a.m., another at 11:00 and kept going till they had all four on.  Today, the schedule is back to two on at 1:00 and then four in an hour.

Last Thursday, Stan took Keith from Arkansas out for the morning.  (we have not been doing full day trips due to the HOT weather and the way they are coming on with generators)  Had a pretty good day on the ruby 2, P&P, but especially the rusty midge.  Gina had Paula out that morning and they too had a pretty good day.  Just like

Paula, aka “Spanky” – 7/12/18

many mornings here lately, it was tough early, but eventually, (especially after the fog lifts) they got into them.  Best bug in the morning was a black soft hackle or P&P.  Later in the day, after some water came on, the tungsten beadhead tan scud was the ticket.

Friday the 13th, Gary took Larry from Texas out for a morning wade trip.  Pretty good day for Larry, especially on the rise.  They were catching on a size 18 gray or tan scud and the P&P midge.  Carolyn had her long-time Louisiana couple, Cathy and Ron on the water

Cathy 7/13/18

Friday.  The way our day started out, we were moaning about it being the 13th!  Another slow start, but eventually we brought several fish to the boat on the black copperhead or ruby 2 midges.  As usual, Cathy caught the most!

Jim from Louisiana, spent Saturday morning on the water with Stan.  It was the black copperhead and ruby 2 midges for them.  Jim had a hoot of a day.

Elijah – 7/15/18

Derek and Dustin fish with Dana on Sunday.  Pretty good day for these guys on the ruby 2 or black copperhead midges, or stripping an orange crackleback.  Carolyn and Gina had a group of young men out for a morning wade trip.  Gina had Erin and Carolyn had Elijah and Ezra.  Along with their father, they all took our fly fishing clinic a few weeks ago.  They are all getting

Erin – 7/15/18

ready for a trip out to Yellowstone this fall and want to get good at fly fishing.  We worked an area with midges with some success.  Decided to move and try something different.  Between the group, we put on the JQ or a Tiger Tail.  After some more work on casting, everyone was throwing a pretty good line and stripping.  This was definitely

Ezra – 7/15/18

more successful than the midging was.  Good and bad thing was the generators coming on at noon.  Bad thing was we had to quit wading…..good thing, we quickly rigged them up with the big ruby and a San Juan worm and fished the rise.  This really helped them with the importance of, and “how to” mend their line.  Fun day!

Stan had Truman from Florida out this morning.  Throws to a lot of salt water fish, so he is a good caster.  After fishing and catching on the black copperhead and copper dun midges, they put on a JQ streamer and finished up the morning in good style.

We continue to see 90s almost every day now.  Getting down into the 70s at night and early morning.  Don’t see much of a change in this pattern for a while.

No major change in the generation pattern.  Still no generation from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. until the next day as early as 11:00 a.m. but as late as 1:00 p.m.  An exception last Monday when they turned it on at 10:00 a.m.  Monday’s are always a surprise.

Jerry and Cathy on the water last Monday for a half day float with Carolyn.  As usual, slow in the early morning while the fog was on.  Once it lifted a little, a size 20 black soft hackle, the black copperhead midge or ruby 2 were the best patterns.  However, this was one of those days when they cranked on the generators early….10:00 a.m. so we quickly changed out to the big ruby with a red San Juan dropper on one and the white mega work on the other.  As long as we could, we rowed up below the fish ladder area and drifted down.  Two doubles and several others hooked doing this.  Fast and furious catching for a little while.  Another unit came on and we found a spot and pulled a few out on the JQ streamer.  Then it just got to dirty and fast so the fun was over.

Tuesday, Jerry and Cathy spent that morning on the water with Stan.  This day they left it off until at least noon.  Another slow morning, but they finally caught some fish on the ruby 2 midge.  Jim had Charles and Kris out for half a day.  They had very little experience with streamers and wanted to learn a bit more about this method so Jim hooked them up and they pulled fish on the tiger tail and also a few early on a #20 black soft hackle.  They had a great time with these techniques.

Jim had Jonathan from Kentucky out Wednesday morning.  Low/flat water made fishing tough for them plus this was Jonathan’s first time with a fly rod.  Worked on skills and Jonathan brought in a few fish on the tiger tail, bug eye bugger and baby ruby.

Still looks like a little cool down over the next two days.  Then, back into the 90s but it will be low 90s for a few days.  We’ll take whatever we can get!

Generation schedule is still unchanged.  No generation in the a.m. until maybe noon or even 1:00 p.m.

Jim on the water the 4th with Anthony and his wife, Robin.  Robin is just getting started so he worked with her on the basics and even let her catch a few fish.  They had a good day on the ruby with a blood worm dropper and even caught some on a black ant.

Thursday, Nick, from Arizona spent a good part of the day on the water with Stan.  This was one of those rare days (anyway, here lately) where they started the water at 11:00 a.m.  Slow start to the morning anyway, so they stayed with it and turned it into a good day on the big ruby with the red tunghead midge dropper, plus a few stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Jim had Don and his two boys Josh and Jeremy on the water.  New experience for both the boys so it was instruction time.  Good time was had by all and they caught some on a black any or the ruby midge.

Gary out with Jeremy and his son Garrett and Garrett’s friend Connor.  Got everyone casting pretty good so they started fishing.  Slow start, but finally everyone started catching on either a tan or gray scud.

We continue to see low to mid 90s with lots of sunshine through Thursday.  Slight chance of showers Friday, especially during the evening hours, but still in the 90s.  That brings us a little cool down for a couple days, then back into the mid to upper 90s and lots of sunshine.

No change in the generation pattern.  Is this what it is going to be for a while?  Who knows!!!  Anyway, get out there during the morning hours (cooler then anyway) and go wading.  Still turning on 2-4 somewhere from 1:00 on until 7:00 p.m. or so.  A few times they have surprised us and turned it on a noon, but that’s still plenty of time to catch a good number of fish.

Stan out last Tuesday with JC from Kentucky.  Good day for JC on the ruby 2 and stripping the holographic green crackleback.  JC really like this way of catching fish.  This was one of those rare days when they turned one unit on at 9:00 a.m.  It did fish good with this low level of generation.

Dale – 6/29/18

Thursday and Friday, Gina had one of her long-time regulars, Dale, on the water for a couple of half days.  They had a couple of good, fun days on lots of patterns.  Thursday was a little tough, especially early, but Dale pulled all his fish that day stripping the tiger tail.  Day two it was stripping a wooly bugger or nymphing sowbugs and scuds.  Carolyn had Neil and his wife Terri on the water Thursday.  Slow morning, but eventually started catching on the white grub.  Also caught some stripping the holographic green crackleback, especially after they fired up one unit and before the second one came on.  Once the second unit came on, it was dirty water.

Friday, John and his father, Brian spend the morning with Stan.  Best pattern of the day was the white grub.  Good day for these guys.

Saturday and Sunday were filled with two different groups taking our fly fishing clinic.  Everyone finished up the clinics catching at least one fish and several caught more.  Copper dun, ruby 2 and, of course, the white grub.

Chances for rain early tomorrow morning, but by 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. it looks like it will be out of the picture.  The rest of the week and through the weekend into next week looks good as far as no rain chances.  However, temperatures are going back into the 90s.

Basically, no change in the generation pattern.  The only thing is that many days when they project a 1:00 p.m. turn on, it has been noon when the hit the horn and the water starts to flow.  Otherwise, no generation from the evening into the next day.

Carolyn on the water last Friday morning with Bill from Arkansas.  Bill was out to work on skills so we worked a little on the single haul, fishing streamers and in between catching some fish on the JQ streamer or the ruby 2 with the P&P dropper.

Max – 6/25/18

Monday, Stan took Max out for half a day.  This young man was to have fished with his grandfather.  Unfortunately, his grandfather had a medical issue, so Max came anyway and went fishing.  We’re hoping everything is okay.  Max had a good day on the P&P.

Pleasant break from the heat.  Had a pretty good rain yesterday afternoon.  Definitely cooled us off a little.  High for the next three days looks like low 80s.  Yeah!  Good news, bad news, chances for rain.  Right now, the best chance appears to be on Sunday with an 80% chance.  That remains to be seen.  Two days ago, we were looking at 70% today!  Gorgeous day today.  80s, sunny and a breeze blowing.  Might see some rain late today.  Next week it’s back to the 90s although it looks like low 90s most of the time.

Pretty much the same generation schedule.  Off early evening until early afternoon the next day.  However, today the generation flow when it comes on will be less.  We’ll need a few days to see what the trend looks like there.

Rick and his friend, Gary on the water with Stan Sunday.  This was Gary’s first time with a fly rod and he did pretty good.  Think he surprises himself.  They had a good day on the P&P midge.

Dea – 6/18/18

Monday, Carolyn took Larry and Dea out for the morning.  Dea is new to fly fishing so we worked on casting for a while.  After she got the hang of it, it was catching

Larry – 6/18/18

fish on the ruby 2 and P&P midges.  Think she had a blast, know Larry did!  Great day on the water.

Tuesday, Stan took Jim from Oklahoma on a quick 1/2 day trip.  They started at 7:00 a.m. as Jim had to be off early.  Slow bite until around 10:00 a.m. but then they started catching on the ruby 2 and P&P midges.

Gina had a new couple out yesterday.  They started out with instruction on the various casts, and once they passed the mustard, it was on the water

Vince – 6/20/18

catching.  Good day for them on the ruby 2 midge.  Carolyn had a student, Jerry on the water for just a few hours.  After he mastered casting, we worked on mending and other line management techniques.  While doing this, (hummm, wonder why we had a fly on) anyway, he hooked a couple fish.  He’s getting

Jerry – 6/20/18

ready to take a trip to Montana a week from this coming Friday with his son and grandson to fish the Bitterroot.  I think he’ll be ready.  Lucky guy.

Overall, fishing has been good.  Lots of fishers coming into the shop after having a great day on the water.  Some days, almost anything that hits the water will work.  Better take advantage of this no generation while we have it.