gary2400

Congrats on the 3 months! That's got to be one of the hardest things to do. Sorry you won't be sneaking up behind me for a while. I will miss those new patterns as well.

I want to rent the first jet ski from Lilley so I can run it up to the dam at night. Maybe Leonard will think the beavers are now motorized. Pitiful....just pitiful ...that's why I like the night fishing. I was there Friday night and the only other people there at midnight was Rick and another guy. That's my kind of recreation! I caught 24 on black and purple hibernators.

The "25" generation advertised turned out to be 2-3 units generation. Got to the water Fri at 9:30 pm with the level 706+ and dropping. My lady and I started above #1 and ended up staying there. We caught 18 between us, she caught one on white and we caught the rest on black and purple #8 hibernators. The water was slow enough toward the bank that we just used a beaded fly. Brother-in-law and my dad arrived about 10:30 and fished below #1 and they caught several on olive pine squirrels. We were the only ones on the water and we left about 1am. I think the water settled at around 704+...very fishable but I doubt it would have been easy below #2. Saturday night was close to the same water pattern and catch except there were a couple of other people down below #1. Most fish were 14-18 but a handful were 20" and just above. 4 browns were caught. The pavilian was DARK, all the night lights were out at #2. gary

I have seen it scheduled that way maybe 2 times before and fished it. The water was about 6-9 inches above 'no flow'. If you like slightly faster current it's great. I'm trying it tonight and hope it isn't a typo...

I love the H20 ....it's awesome and works good for me. Thanks Leonard for turning me on to it. Haven't been fishing a lot lately, getting ready to move toward Sprgfld and closer to being able to fish a lot. I may run into you this weekend Leonard......if the water is down.

I am a cheap cheap spender and I have found a 6 wt 9' rod works best overall for me at Taney. I usually only fish at night throwing streamers and I have also found that fly line rated for bass gives me more distance. It is just a tad heavy in 0 generation and a tad light in 2-3 generation. I use straight 8# flourocarbon in place of the leader and about the length of the rod. This all works great for me and what I do until I try to show off a big fish in the net to Leonard and trip over a big rock in the water and soak myself. (saved the fish though he was already wet!)

I can't wait to try some of that but I spent the last week helping daughter digging out in Joplin. I was sad at the flooding losses over the last month around Branson but looking at Joplin I can't believe there wasn't more loss of life. My daughter's family got under the house just in time and I believe that was why they survived. The outpouring of help has been unbelievable. The Catholic church that was totally torn up is just a block from the daughter and the next day they were out giving people up and down the block money for gas/etc.....unbelievable. We pulled the lumber and trees off of my daughter's car and there was a 100 dollar bill that had floated right onto the seat.....God is merciful....

We all have our favorite places to wade at night depending on water and weather. The weekend before the flood I found a way to horn in on one of Leonard's favorite spots even if he is standing there and catching lots of fish. Just stand above or below him and tell him there is a large shadow in the water coming right at him(a beaver) and he will get so nervous he'll give up the spot.... works every time! By the way Leonard...there really was something swimming toward you when I called out, serious.

The only thing about night fishing last thursday through Sat nights was Thursday was WOW, Friday was Cool, and Saturday was a bust. After the rain cleared on Thursday with NO generation I caught about 30 in 1 1/2 hours on an olive pine squirrel up on the flats. Friday night the water shut off at midnight and my dad, brother-in-law, Leonard, and me killed them as the water dropped and until another storm came in around 2am. Saturday they never shut off the water and it was slow. Dad tied on one of Leonard's new H2O flies and caught four in a row. That fly was catching a lot of fish but Leonard didn't have enough so I didn't get one:(......It looks like I'll have to wait a long while now to try one. The FLOOD....I went to the dam and looked around at 5pm today and it is incredible! The pavilion is all but covered in water and there is only about 6" of the top of the doors visible on the restrooms. The water was splashing over the top of all the floodgates, and it looked like they were evacuating the fish from the "brown trout" hatchery area. I drove down to Lilleys and his dock is a mess with the water looking like it would only have to come up around 5 or 6 feet to be in his store. I also looked at the new bridge down at the Landing and I would say you can't take a boat under it on the west side....I kind of thought it was a little low when they built it. I think it would be tough to get a boat under the Kimberling City bridge too from the looks of it.

I guess it was really early morning 4/4 as I got to the water at midnight with 1 truck and one van in the lot. No generation, powerful south wind as the front was approaching with lightning in the far west and northwest. I started at the flats as I figured the high bluff would protect from the wind which it did for the most part. Caught a half dozen on #8 olive hibernator with no bead or weight. I switched colors and flys but nothing else caught on them. The wind would seem to wrap around the dam area and blow from the northwest but it would come and go so I made the cast in the lulls. After an hour I thought swifter water might help so I moved down below #2 and did a lot better. Still, the olive was all they would bite. I used the unweighted one at first and they would hit it as soon as it hit the water...that was fun. I switched to a beaded one later. They didn't hit hard and the larger ones would just "tic" the line so I had to set the hook quickly. Caught about 7 or 8 there with the largest being a brown and a bow at 18" each. The front came in and the wind turned strong and steady with no little lulls so I called it a night around 2:45. The wind was a real challange, I like a breeze but not a hurricane!

I've had the horn thing happen to me several times and no water. But if you're down at the big hole you can't take the chance. I've wondered myself what the horn and no water is about.

Gee Leonard....I'm jealous. I guess I should have stayed with you instead of handing George off to you. Dad and I went on down to the big hole Fri and Sat night. The bite was good while the water was falling Friday night but not so good after it fell out. Sat night not so hot either as the water was off most of the day.

The moon is exactly why I wasn't there last weekend. I was wishing I was there Sat night though with the clouds. I did manage to slip down last night (Tues 9/28) and was amazed that there were 7 other vehicles in the lot. I fished from 8-11 and ended up with around 15 with the largest being 16" (only 1 brown). The moon came up around 10:15.... JDC, right or wrong I have found that on those bright nights I have to use smaller stuff and I drift it and let it lay for a long long time and then 3 or 4 tiny little strips and let it lay again. I use my red light and more than not I can see the line move before I feel the bite so I just yank and usually have one. If the short strips don't do it I try a long sloooow one and then let it lay again. My best fly in the moon has been an olive hibernator that has almost all the palmered fur bitten off (or cut off). Thanks sooo much to whoever put that section of rod in the back of my red truck last night, that was my creek rod that evidently fell out..,.. I owe somebody one! The people on nights are the greatest!

Hey Leonard... I was down toward the big hole Saturday night. Sorry I missed you. Brother-in-law enjoyed fishing with you. What's this about 40 fish? I'm not buying it! I caught around 12 Sat night and 15-20 Friday night, no browns this week. Water was off at 10pm Friday and 11pm Sat....not according to schedule. You are right about the bank at #1, if a person isn't carful they will go for a swim in high water or a 3' fall in low water.

There have been two times in the last couple of months that the water was shut off at midnight. Each time at about 1:15am there has been a long sounding horn that I've heard before(but not often) when they've shut down all the water. I was down toward the big hole so only an idiot would stay down there after a horn in the middle of the night. Both times that this happened I went back up to #2 and the water never rose. Looking at the graph on the generation link, the water didn't rise all night. Is this some kind of an all clear horn that was delayed? Or,is it linked to some sensor that the horn sounds when the water falls to a certain level? or?????? You have to heed the horn! Report: last Friday night I caught 4 browns out of 20 fish. The largest was 24 long x 15 girth with another 21 x 12.5. The previous weekend I caught around 40 total fish with no browns. Friday a black hibernator with UV purple was the ticket as that cold front got closer to the area, no moon, lots of clouds. Love those approaching storms!