More rain in the forecast for tonight.   Everyone just cross your fingers that it is not a lot of rain.  Chances of rain again tomorrow morning then scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon.  Sunday and Monday look dry, but 50% chance of rain shows up again Tuesday.  A few dry days again, but rain showing up over the weekend.  As always, this will change

Still running 3 flood gates and they now have all four generators up and running.   Don’t expect to see much change unless we get a lot more rain.

Good news is that fishing has been good.  Jack had a good time last Saturday so he went out again with Dana on Tuesday.  He had a fun half-day trip catching on the ruby 2 or a size 16 lightning bug.  One of Stan’s regulars, Ken spent Tuesday on the water with him.  Good day on the holographic green crackleback and the lightning bug under the big ruby.

Jim – 5/17/17

Wednesday Jim spent the day fishing with Gina.  Good day for him on the crackleback or wooly bugger and the lightning bug.  The big negative that day was the WIND.  It was relentless.  They were blown off anchor several times and if that wasn’t the problem, they were blowing around in circles.

Dave and his friend Craig spent Thursday on the water with Carolyn.  Fun day for these two guys on the big ruby with the red tunghead midge dropper, or stripping an olive leech, holographic

Crappie – 5/18/17

green crackleback or the floozie.  Lots of nice fish but the one everyone was most impressed with was the nice crappie we hooked stripping the floozie. We were ready to catch supper.  Stan was out all day with Gary and Barry from north of here in Missouri.  They were catching on

Barry – 5/18/7

the lightning bug a stripping a holographic green crackleback.  They had another full day scheduled on Friday but Stan came off early as it was looking mighty dark in the sky.  Didn’t want to get caught on the water in a storm.  All the fish were catching are really nice and fat.

Gary – 5/19/17

Harry and Carl from Carthage spent the day on the water with James.  Good day for these guys too.  Their best patterns were the big ruby, a beadhead red San Juan worm and stripping the tiger tail.

Carl – 5/18/17

Harry – 5/18/17

Weather looks great until we get closer to the weekend…..figures!  Rain chances start popping up Friday.  By Saturday, it’s up to 90% chances and a little less on Sunday, especially in the a.m.  Monday is back to sunshine and temperatures in the upper 70s.  This will be the trend for next week.

Right now we have three flood gates open at approximately 3900 cfs and the generators are running 6000 cfs +/-   Good drop from what we have been fishing.  We understand that one of the sections of head water gates on Powersite has been damaged by the flood.  It is stuck in the down position.  They may need for Bull Shoals to drop to a level where they can safely access the air lines under the dam to repair the problem.   In any event, we do expect to see water flow for awhile.

Stan and Jim on the last Thursday with a group of guys from Virginia and Oklahoma.  Fun day for these guys.  Jim had John and Kim.  They were bringing in fish on the tiger tail and the hot hare’s ear nymph.  Stan’s guys were catching on the lightning bug under the big ruby, or stripping the holographic green crackleback on a 7 ips sinking leader.  The 23,000 cfs flow didn’t slow down these fly fishers.

Saturday, Jack and Brian, from Connecticut, spent the day on the water with Stan.  They had just finished the 2-day Orvis school and both were ready to catch fish!  Mission accomplished.  Wonderful day for these guys on the lightning bug (so they worked on nymph style fishing) and stripping the holographic green crackleback.  Still a lot of water moving, but no problem.  Dana had Jack out for half a day.  It was the lightning bug or steelhead orange egg for them.  Pam and Tiffany from Oklahoma spent half a day with James.  Despite a rough start, they finished up with a good day on a white jig, brown San Juan worm, and the little ruby midge.

Joni – 5/14/17

John and Joni from North Carolina spent the whole day on the water with Carolyn Sunday.  Joni started out on a roll.  After all, it was Mother’s Day.  John did catch up and we had an awesome day, especially

John – 5/14/17

stripping the holographic green crackleback.  I think they took some cracklebacks home with them to try in some of their fisheries.

Chances for some rain tomorrow morning and again on Friday morning.  Let’s hope it is not a gully washer.  Good news is that I have not heard it will be a gully washer, but could have some heavy hail in places.  After that, we’re in for sunny skies for a few days…..at least into next week.

Still have ten flood gates open a little and three generators for a total of about 23,600 cfs.  We are a little over one food below flood pool, but still over 13 feet above desired power pool for this time of year.  We’ll definitely see all the generators for a while.  Not certain when they will shut down the flood gates.

Boats on the water Monday and yesterday.  Monday, James took his parents, Albert and Dawn out for a test run.  Got a call from them mid-way through their trip and they were catching fish!  Nice, fat fish.  Fun day for them on the worm brown San Juan worm and the white grub.

Jim out with John from Florida yesterday.  Good day for them on the hot hare’s ear nymph and stripping a size 8 tiger tail.  They did experience from dirty water in places they wanted to fish, but once they found clean water, the catching was on.

If you can get on the river in a boat, you will probably catch some fish.  They are still there and definitely feeding!

I promised a fly tying schedule this past weekend.  Some other issues have popped up, but we still plan to hold a few fly tying clinics.  Right now we are trying to adjust to a schedule of fly fishing schools we will be having over the next few months.

Cloudy and light drizzle this morning.  According to the weather forecast, we should see clearing later on today and wind.  Clear skies through the weekend and well into next week.  Yeah!  It will be nice to see things drying up.

They reduced the flow out of the gates slightly at 8:00 a.m. yesterday.  We are now just a little over flood pool (flood pool is 931′ and at 7:00 a.m. we were at 931.45′).  I would expect to see them drop the gates a  little more when we hit the 931′ level.  Yep!  Just got word they dropped it another 3200 cfs at 8:00 this morning.  All the roads in the area are open, and believe it or not, things are pretty much normal except the level of Taneycomo.  This is going to take a while.

When Taneycomo gets a little lower, we will go out and make certain conditions are safe to us and our guests, and that the fish are settled into fishable areas for fishers to catch.  May be as early as this weekend.

In the meantime, we plan to start up some fly tying clinics so everyone has something to do while we’re waiting to go fishing!  As always, clinics are free and we’ll hold them on Saturday mornings.  If another day of the week works out, we’re not opposed to have a couple sessions each week.  The clinics will be posted on our site this weekend…….stay tuned.

Ten Gates – 4/30/17

We had down pours Friday night into Saturday and it rained almost all day Saturday.  There were times Saturday when you could not see anything in front of you as the rain was so hard.  We did see a little more rain through Saturday night into Sunday morning, and I am seeing a little more rain on radar but no where the intensity we have had.  This also appears to be the last of it for a while.  At least until  Wednesday and Thursday when chances for rain pop up again.  We will need a long dry spell to dry out!

Generation/flood gate pattern had been at 15000+ cfs 24/7.  Friday morning they increased it to 20,000 cfs and today the Corp said releases would range from 40,000 to 60,000 cfs.  I’m sure this will be a moving target as we have not yet seen all the runoff that will come into the system.  Much of the flooding in the area yesterday was due to the runoff hitting the creeks and not the flow from the dam.

Now for more pleasant information.

Jim on the water Tuesday with Karen and her sister, Linda.  This was Linda’s first time and what conditions in which to learn to fly fish!  They had a good day on the ruby midge, hot hare’s ear and the tiger tail.  Bob and his brother Bill, from Texas, fish with Dana.  They were catching well on the holographic green crackleback, the white jig and a ruby 2 midge.   Stan and Carolyn had a group of guys from Illinois.  Rick and Rick fished with Carolyn.  Rick is fairly new, but he held his own.  They were catching on the holographic green crackleback trailing the Tiger Tail.  Also caught some on the cerise worm and lightening bug under the big ruby.  Stan’s guys, Steve and his son, Andi were hitting them good on the holographic green crackleback and the ruby 2 under the big ruby.  Fun day!

Thursday, Stan took Cory and his mother Gina out for the day.  They had a great day  on the holographic green crackleback and Lightening Bug.  I understand Gina caught the most fish, but Cory caught the largest.  Leroy from Texas spent a late afternoon drift

Leroy – 4/27/17

on the water with Gina.  Fish would not bite on a nymph, but did take some streamers, the crackleback, wooly bugger and tiger tail.

Jim had Michael and Mike, from Texas, on the water Friday.  Pretty slow day for everyone.  They are pretty new to fly fishing so Jim used some of the time to work on their skills.  They really could not find any best pattern.  Carolyn had Keith on the water.  He is fairly new also, and worked a bit on casting.  Using the sinking leaders, he was throwing a pretty good line most of the time with a black wooly bugger and picking a few fish.

Lots of rain over the last several days AND we are in for more.  According to our local predictions, we will see thunderstorms developing late in the day on Friday and continue into Saturday where the predictions is for 100% chance of heavy thunderstorms…..probably all day and into the night.  Sunday had backed off a little with showers predicted in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon into evening.  Monday I see sunshine!  After that, chances for rain decrease so maybe we can dry out.

Needless to say, with all this rain, Taneycomo is running three generators (one is down for maintenance) and have five of the flood gates open at one foot.  Last time I checked, they were running a bit over 15000 cfs.  We will probably see lots of water for a while, especially with the rain coming in this weekend.

Before flood gates, Gina had Jim out last Wednesday.  They started out fishing good, but around 11:00 a.m. they turned on two generators, and the fish decided to get lockjaw.  Before generation, it was a tan filoplume or ruby 2 midge.   A few hits on a crackleback and wooly bugger after generators.  Mike from Iowa was out with Stan for a half day.  They had a pretty good day on the ruby 2 and the holographic green crackleback.  Stan’s biggest grunch was the wind!!

Thursday was almost a repeat of Wednesday.  Two units came on at noon and the fish got lock jaw.  Stan had Colby and Cory on the water and they landed a few fish on the black copperhead midge.

Last Sunday morning it was baptism by fire.  First thing that morning, they started releasing more water.  When we got to the river, it was probably around 10,000 cfs.  Before the day was over, we had 12,000 cfs going.  No great expectations, but it really turned out better than we expected for the first day of high water.  Dana and James Albert had a group of guys from Minnesota on the river for a couple days.  Bill went with Dana and their first day produced fish on the crackleback, big ruby and the JQ streamer.  James Albert had two new to fly fishing guys, Bud and Gary.  Gary caught his first fish on a fly rod using the big ruby with a ruby 2 dropper.  Jim and Stan had a group from Kentucky.  Buddy and Pam spent the day with Jim.  Good day for them on the tiger tail, ruby and the hot hare’s ear midge.  Stan’s couple, Mike and Brenda were catching on the ruby 2 midge.

Dwan – 4/23/17

Carolyn had Dwan and his brother-in-law Robert, both

Robert – 4/23/17

from Kansas, out all day.  We had a great day on the big ruby under the cerise worm, and stripping the holographic green crackleback behind a tiger tail on a 4 ips sinking leader.

Dana and James Albert’s guys hit the water again on Monday.  Another good day for Dana’s guys on the crackleback, bug ruby and a size 14 miracle scud.  James Albert’s guys were catching on the big ruby with a little ruby dropper or the beadhead red San Juan worm.

If our weather forecasters are correct, looks like we are in for some rain over the next three days.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday are all showing over 75% chances for rain.  That’s pretty good.  Temperatures are going to take a nose dive on Saturday into the mid 50s.  A bit chilly!  After that, however, it’s back into the 70s and chances for rain are slim until Thursday next week and that is only a 30% chance.

Generation has been a little spastic.  No, not the schedules, but what they are doing compared to the schedules.  So far this week, they have turned the generators on about two hours earlier than projected.  I know, it’s only a projection.  Anyway, it was supposed to be off today until 1:00 p.m. and I think it came on at 11:00 a.m.

Mike – 4/17/17

What a great day Monday.  It was overcast and there were periods of a real light drizzle, but the temperature was pleasant and very little wind until later in the afternoon.  Carolyn had one of her regulars on the river, Mike from Oklahoma.  He is working really hard at becoming a more permanent Branson resident.  Until he does, he really enjoys getting on the river and enjoying some good conversation and observing the great outdoors.  No great expectations on catching fish, just likes to be outside.  Fortunately, or unfortunately, he did not get to observe a whole lot of the great outdoors as he was pretty busy catching fish on

Momma saved the day!

either the Tiger Tail or the holographic green crackleback…..his favorite way to fish.  We did get to observe one really neat thing while on the water.  A mother hooded merganser was swimming by us with her ten ducklings close behind her when a bald eagle swooped down to try and take a duckling.  Mother jumped up in the air making awful squawking sounds, even outdoing my yelling.  With all the commotion, the eagle flew off without dinner!  He sat up in a tree for a short period of time and must have swallowed his pride as he eventually flew away.

Tuesday, James took a father/son, Vaughn and Tyler, from Texas out for half a day.  Brand new fly fishers.  They were catching some fish on the big ruby with a ruby 2 dropper.  They had so much fun, they went out again this morning.  Slow start to the morning, but finally the fishing picked up and it was the big ruby with either the ruby 2 or little ruby dropper.  Little ruby seemed to work better than the ruby 2 today.  Another fun day for these guys.  Vaughn said he thinks he has a new hobby.  LOL

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