Fishing Report 7/30-8/1

[vanven]

I drove down from KC on Friday with grand plans of fishing all weekend and besting the 22 inch rainbow I caught 5 weeks ago on my last trip. Very little of that happened.

Friday 7/30

Too hot to fish. Too hot to drive to a fly shop and walk across the smoldering asphalt parking lot.

We got down to Branson mid afternoon Friday. The water was running, in fact it was running higher than I had seen it for a long time. It was on the 4th step at outlet 2. I decided to shop with the wife and come back at night. I came back down at about 9:30pm and waited for 2 hours for the water to drop, and it did. It was on the bottom step of outlet 2 when I called it a night. Never got a line wet.

Saturday 7/31

I had decided to get some sleep and fish early Saturday when the schedule said the water would be off. I pulled myself out of bed at 5:00am and choked down a couple of the stalest Dunkin Donuts ever. This was probably a sign that I should have stayed in bed.

I fished from 6:00am until about 11am. The sun was up but there was still a very thick fog on the water. I am used to fishing at night and using the trees on the opposite bank to guide me. This didnt help me much in the area below the boat ramp. I am not familiar with that area. There are far too many big rocks to stumble over. I finally managed to find a boat and the guide was kind enough to help me find a place to cross the river in the soupy fog. I threw every single midge and scud pattern in my box at the fish below the boat ramp with very little success. The only takes I managed were on a size 18 gray scud. Tan, which is usually a very good bright day color, might as well have been an electrified iron spike. The fish fled from tan when it touched the water. Apparently midges were just as scary. Rusty midge, always a great go to fly, it was a flaming death trap to the fish Saturday morning. Tough, tough morning.

Saturday Night

I tried some new Thai food place an hour before I tried to go fishing Saturday night. It delayed my fishing by about 4 hours. There was no way I was going to try and put on waders the way my stomach felt. It actually took me three trips back and forth to the hatchery before i felt safe in the waders and water......I wont be eating there again...

I hit the water about 11:30pm and fished for 3 hours. Fishing was slow and there were a lot of folks on the water. There was no fog, which is rare. I could see headlamps every 30 yards from the big hole all the way up to the cable. A few reds, a green, some white. It looked like Christmas. Fishing was tough again. I managed about 5 fish to hand in the three hours with just about as many missed takes. I also foul hooked two fish which is really rare at night while stripping big streamers. The takes were odd. Usually they slam a streamer. These fish would just pick up the fly and take it upstream. Instead of feeling for a yank, I found myself feeling for the line to get lighter. I threw a brown PMS, a purple PMS, a purple hibernator, and a black hibernator. I almost went to the big black circus peanut with the stinger hook, but I didnt have my net and didnt feel like pulling that thing out of the back of my head or out of my finger in the dark.

It was a rough weekend fishing. I think the unusually high water left the fish a bit tired and full. The hot weather didnt help either. It might be time to start planning an early October trip. The wife will be 8 months pregnant then and it might be my last fishing trip for a while.

I did stop by Lilley's and saw the new mount of the world record brown. That is a big fish. The funny part is that I think I have seen bigger fish swimming in Taney.

-Jerod