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!

Wow, is that what it was??? I thought I was finally getting in tune with my inner self, world peace, the universe, and all those little lights streaking across the sky. It made me want to burn incense and chant to the fish. One of the bows I netted said "catch more bass" as I pulled my fly from his lip and another said "be afraid, be very afraid....run! it's the squid!"

I thought I heard voices from down past the ramp Sat night. Surprisingly only 1 or 2 was down past rebar except my crew so everybody must have been above #2. There was a lot of vehicles in the lot.

Got to the water Friday night about 9:15 with 4 units running and the schedule saying they would shut down to 1 unit by 10 and 0 units at midnight. I started up by #1 at a favorite spot for lots of generation and immediately landed a nice 20"er on a black and purple streamer. At 10 pm they shut all the water off, cool! When the current went slack I left to go down between #2 and #3. I didn't know it then but I walked past fly2fish with his group walking down to #1. I fished below #2 without luck and started working my way down to rebar and below the tree as the water dropped. My dad and brother-in-law showed up around 11 and they did real good at the rebar hole. I ended up with 25 fish in all and got to talk to fly2fish on my way out as his group was down that way too. He was catching some on white. When the moon got high it got real slow. I used mainly an unweighted #8 olive pine squirrel that is the most pitiful looking fly in my box. I don't say this to brag but this fly literly has all the fur bit off of the palmered area from catching so many fish. About all that is left is the tail. When I tied on a new one they wouldn't hit it. I had to watch my line real close as they seemed to be wanting to hit it and go upstream. Saturday night I met a friend that had never fly fished or wade fished but he was anxious to try it. We got there at 9 pm and the water was off and dropping. We fished at #2 and we spent time with the basics and then later moved on down toward the big hole. It was a slow night and I only managed about 6 fish and then only when the moon was behind clouds. Again it was the pitiful fly that did the job. My friend Roger loved it though and I think he's hooked. It was enjoyable to show somebody my limited knowledge and give back to somebody else what some of you have done for me. No Henry on Sat night?

Got to parking lot about 11:30 as water was to be off at 12. Met member JD as he was leaving, nice to meet you JD and if I have your username wrong reply to me and correct me. Started below #1 and caught 2 as the water shut off. I quickly worked my way down to the rebar and then below the tree and then on down to the big hole. I used a #8 olive pine squirrel as nothing else I tried worked as well just like the week before. There was only 4 people at #1 and I was alone down below but the bite was fantastic! I only planned on a couple of hours but ended up staying past 4. I ended the night with 35 fish and about that many more hookups. I had 3 at 20+ and a lot of 16's and 18's. Caught 25 of them in the first 1 1/2 hrs.

I have wondered about that pesky rebar material from the first time I lost several flys in that hole. I have read in the past on this forum that these were left over from the dam construction or that they were placed there deliberately to promote trout habitat. When I was a young man I worked on a lot of huge construction projects and none of these explainations ever made a lot of sense to me from a contractor's point of view. As I mainly love to fish at night I find myself doing other things waiting on the darkness; fishing off of Lilley's dock for relaxation, spending a couple of hours on Crane Creek, or just looking around. I was in the Dewey Short visitor's center on the lake side of the dam and was looking at the pictures of the dam construction and I noticed something that gives me the best explaination of that rebar. During construction from the dam looking downstream there was a concrete bridge across the White River in what looks like the exact spot where the rebar is. My theory is this: The bridge was later removed but the footings were never completely removed, especially the the ones in the "channel". I would also guess that in the 'old days' this was a wagon crossing of the White which later progressed to the bridge being built. Many of our roads today are just improvements of the old wagon roads. My ancestors are from over around the Hercules Glades Wilderness area in east Taney County and the old wagon roads are still there in the wilderness if you look closely. Just a theory....doesn't make it fact. If anybody has some documents, I'd like to hear it or read it...love that history!

Friday:Got to the water around 10pm and they had 2 units running so I took my dad and went above #1. Had limited sucess until the water was shut off at 11 and then started catching them. When the current went away we moved down to below #2 and we hooked into several. I caught this 20.5 x 12.5 beauty between #2 and #3 on an olive hibernator pine squirrel. I placed him between my knees and kept him in the current until he was able to swim away. Sat night: The water was off by 8pm and I headed down toward the big hole right after dark. Caught a lot of fish...nothing over 18" but a lot of fish. All of them were on a size 8 olive hibernator like the night before. When I switched to something bigger or a different color, they would slow down. Every time I went back to the original it picked back up. I had something happen that had never happened to me and was wondering if anybody else had it happen..... the horn blew at 12:30am so I went back up to the stairs....the water never came up all night.....nothing was opened, a fluke? It sounded more like the horn I've sometimes heard when they shut all the gates(long, long horn). Can't take the chance though if you are at rebar or below.

I was at Lilleys fishing off the dock for relaxation just waiting on dark for my favorite time below the dam when a gator came from up the lake and pulled into the dock. That's some sweet boat gator! It was great to meet you. Just from watching boats....I'd rather see you on plane than like all those "bulldozers" out there. I don't see how Phil's dock takes all the punishment.

Took my youngest son (24) to fly fish for his first time. They were running 2 units when we got there right before dark. Spent most of my time working with him and managed to catch a few above #1 on cone head hibernators purple/black. Switched to olive with flash in it and did just as well. Water went to 1 unit around 10:30. Went up to the pavillion to see if the water would shut down by midnight but it didn't. The horn blew at 1am and back to 2 units so we left. Met Laker67 in the parking lot, my pleasure to have met you Rick. It's always nice to meet somebody after you have read their posts. Hope to get son back when water is down and lines are tighter. I think he liked the fly fishing thing. He didn't have a clue that we were going to fly fish, that was as entertaining as anything.

It's like the speed limit....not knowing the law doesn't exempt us from it, you'll still get a ticket. The signs are easy to read and are in plain sight and I've only been there once. It's amazing how even on taneycomo with the signs right there how people ignore them or don't care.

Hey Henry that was my red chevy truck and my dads red ford in the lot Sat night. I used the black and purple flash hibernator that Leonard gave me (they have them at Lilleys) and caught over 20 in a couple of hours between #2 and #3. Two of them were over 20" and they were all full of fight and fat. I seen lights coming back from the big hole around midnight and figured maybe it wasn't so good down there so I didn't go on down. Sounds like you did great....no Leonard though? Leonard I would like to tie some of those myself but I don't know what flash you used?