Our second Taneycomo trip of the year took place this past weekend.  Jim Craig, Mike Oldani, Jim “the Great” Anzer, birthday boy Patrick Gallagher and Kenny Klimes fished on this weekend trip.  Patrick, who is a Msgt in the Air Force at Ft. Leonardwood, would meet us at Dana’s BBQ in Branson while the rest drove down together in Kenny’s green suburban. The three met at Kenny’s house and with excitement filling the air, took off down the road for Branson. Well, so they thought. The car was full of chatter as Kenny pulled onto Hwy 70 going west bound.  Did I say Hwy 70??? All of a sudden Kenny got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach and Dionne Warwick’s song rang in his head,”Do you know the way to Taneycomo, I’ve been away so long I may go along and lose my way….”.  Now 45 minutes out of their way, the gang got to see the middle of rural Missouri – it was a bad start.

Patrick held a table for us at a packed Dana’s BBQ but he’s so big and muscular no one questioned him.  After lunch, we checked into the condo and were on the water by 2pm.  The flow was at 2400cfs which is fishable but not ideal.  But we caught fish. Jim Craig found an excellent spot down from the dam. Mike and Patrick joined him and caught plenty of rainbows. The water was ice cold and that was found out early by Kenny who at the time was talking to one of the guides on the water, Carolyn Parker.  As he was smoozing her and walking sideways (big mistake) he was grabbed by an evil root wad and came crashing down. She yelled out, “whoa, that’s gotta be cold!” Unfortunately, he not only got soaked but put a small hole in his waders that plagued him the rest of the weekend. One down and two to go!  Friday was successful as we had several first timers to the condo and Taneycomo. A nice dinner and NCAA basketball filled the evening.

Saturday started early and after bacon and eggs, the guys hit the water again.  The temperatures hovered in the low 70s and blue skies (but the water was still cold!!). Many fish were caught on this day and they fought hard. Most rainbows were in the 16 -10 inch range with many around 14 inches. The flow would fluctuate between 2400 – 1400 cfs so the guys had no problem finding places to fish from close to the dam to Andy Williams’ house (he wasn’t home by the way). Patrick decided that he could go around a large boulder to fish and slid into the deep, dark abyss. Underwater for a time, the butterfly stroke became his best friend. He made it out but wasn’t laughing about it until he made it to shore. Mike Oldani was next to experience the cold shower – and the two Jim’s had several close calls.  The dryer in the condo was working overtime. The best flies were the Ruby 2 midge (see fly tying instructions on Riverrun Outfitters web site – please don’t look up River-runners), P&P midge (when the sun came out), Chocolate midge, Woolybuggers and Tiger Tails in olive, Son of San Juan worm, soft hackles and a few more normal flies.

Saturday night we ate and celebrated Patrick’s birthday party – 32 years old!!?? Boy, I remember those days. We celebrated with libations of adult beverages – probably a little too much. But hey, it was Patrick’s birthday. Hot apple pie and a “slab” of vanilla ice cream did the trick.  Sunday morning the day turned very cold so more clothing went on for the morning fish.  It seemed like the water became super cold which you could tell by Kenny yelling , “I can’t feel my legs!”.  Remember he did put a hole in his waders. A few more fish were caught and then it was time to return home.  We packed and said our byes to Patrick and the four of us headed home on HWY 44!!! But we did stop at the famous Missouri town of Uranus. We took some pictures that you can see and bought fudge in Uranus. Did you know the best fudge is made in Uranus!  It was a great trip and new friendships were made and old ones solidified.