Brian Wise

When I was doing the distance casting curcuit, I used Armor-All a lot. It made the line crazy-slick, and maybe a little 'too' slick for good fishing situations. I actually still have the SA line I used for competition distance casting and it shows no ill-effect from Armor-All, but for fishing situations I feel like soapy water would be better than Armor-All. But your best bet is something like Rio's Agent X dressing. Soap and water will take the dirt off of your line but the true "Line Dressings" will moisturize your line to help stop the dry rotting proccess.

I have heard of stuff like that....that sucks. SERIOUSLY cute gal......not french, but better--a redhead. After we heard there was a photog there I asked if she wanted in the front of the boat "for obvious reasons" and she declined, my reply "their loss" I wasn't sure how the french took sarcasm, but the guy thought that little comment was pretty good.

Yeah, we went to Wisconsin and Minnesota last August.....it was a bust for Musky, but we did manage some nice smallmouth and a dink pike.

The Frenchman (who was very cool by the way) and his wife (who was very cute by the way) both ended up casting well and catching fish. She will end up in the Spring video coming early July. The cast wasn't gorgeous by any means, and out of all of the photogs and videographers I have fished, ONE knew something about fly fishing. So a photog and a fisherman that knew very little about fly fishing didn't add up to a great photo. But, an hour later.....the dude was throwing lazer loops and was unknowingly on the cover of a magazine--strong showing for his first hour with a fly rod in hand. Wish my first hour was like that.

Ouch! You paid for an ad but they didn't throw love at you? Just saw it......and am completely embarassed about that cover. The guy was french so that explains it all--should have had his wife in the front of the boat, she could cast AND was easy on the eyes.

My What????

Dig it!! Very, very cool Justin. By the way, it sounds like you and I really need to keep an eye on our reels.

For as long of a shank as you are using I would you a longer, webbier Schlappen feather for starters. Great job though!

Very cool!!

EXXXACTLY! And the EAT is what I remember most from it all. I can still tell you how every big fish I caught this year ate, the rock, ledge, or cut it came from, and what fly it was on. It is the most haunting thing I have ever done.

I am slowly working on a streamer fishing video. I am not really big on instructional type videos (nothing against them, but I just don't have the means to do a good one, and if I am going to do it I am going to do it right instead of doing it half-way and boring the audience to death) but am planning on doing a video that puts "real" streamer fishing into context for the average fly fisherman. I see so many people with reports of "slow fishing" with big streamers and I think, as guides, we tend to put streamer fishing up on a pedastal because of the crazy-awesome eats, swipes, rolls, and hook-ups that we have seen and it may put big streamer fishing out of context a little because for every eat, swipe, roll, and hook-up there are 1000 strips that go unnoticed. For the most part, compared to nymph fishing........big streamer fishing is unproductive. Even on the tailwaters, a good day of nymphing is 100 fish--whereas a good big streamer day is boating 6 fish or getting 4 or 5 great eats or rolls. It is the eat that we live for. Wow, I kind of got all nastalgic there.

That is very cool....but in all seriousness, I wouldn't know how to go about that. I would do it myself but the technical part of videos such as compression rates, and working with the file itself (to make the videos fit onto a dvd without losing quality) I know enough about to be dangerous. I can do everything an "editor" can, but that is about all my knowledge. I appreciate the idea and, quite frankly, I think it is pretty cool you brought it up. One thing you 'can' do if you have an HD television is hook up an HDMI cord to your computer or laptop (if they have a port) and watch the videos directly from youtube on your television, in almost full HD.

What I have noticed about the beads is the bigger the fly the more the beads. You can kind of think of them as "space fillers" and if you have an extra-long fly you don't want that second hook to be too close to the head so you can toss a couple more beads in the articulation point. I use 4 beads on the Double Deceiver. As for the opposing hooks, that I am not 100% sure about. That is how Schmidt ties it so I went ahead and did it that way. 9 out of 10 big fish will be hooked on the front hook so I can see good and bad points for doing it this way. I honestly think you could pretty much completely replace wool with Lazer Dub. It isn't 'quite' as thick and takes more material to get a thick head compared to wool, but on the other hand it has that great amount of flash, makes a great brush, and has some GREAT colors. I use it a lot on big flies.

As soon as I said that I was going to do Mike Schmidt's patterns after I finished the Galloup Series I got a TON of requests for the Meal Ticket. Rightfully so, this fly isn't crazy huge, or 'too' heavy. It can be fished on a 6wt and is equally as good of a smallmouth fly as it is for trout....just a super cool fly. Hope you guys enjoy. Recipe: Back Hook Hook - Gamakatsu B10s #2 Body - EP Sparkle Brush Tail/Wing - Tiger Barred Rabbit Strip Legs - Craz Legs Articulation Point - Beadalon Spacer - Glass Bead Front Hook: Hook - Gamakatsu B10s #1 Eyes - Lead Eyes Body - EP Sparkle Brush Wing - Tiger Barred Rabbit Strip Legs - Crazy Legs Head - Wool

Ahhh, so you were just culling out the little fish.

That is crazy! Were they small fish? Not sure I can say I have had more than 3 fish ever lost on a B10s....in total. They didn't break off did they?

The Fish Skull holds it in place. I swear, Fish Skulls would keel a craw hook. In all seriousness though, I am not 100% sure it would make any difference if you tied an Ice Pick that did flip over. The only action that fly has is jigging so it wont hurt the action at all and it is defenitely not going to make a fish NOT eat because the darker color is on bottom. Now, if it were a fly that had more of a "darting" action then yes, it would matter because then it would mess with the action of the fly and in my eyes that is the main thing about all of these flies.....how they move through the water.

NICE! What hooks are you using on the Peanuts?

Neither is the dubstep stuff I use on the tying videos......it is crazy, just a bunch of noises put together to form some kind of beat.

Rich is a stud. One of the first tying videos I ever did was of his "Ice Pick".

Very Cool!

HEY!! You have to match the music to what is going on in the video......Bluegrass, "Sexy Tractors", and coon dawgs only covers the boring stuff. (and yes, I have already used that song in one of my tying videos )

Putting in below Blair or Patrick on any given day of the weekend this time of year will probably get you away from fisherman......but the locals put their aluminum canoes, mulletts, and rebel flags in at those accesses pretty often on Saturday mornings. If it is worth anything, I am putting in EARLY on Saturday and Sunday. People think they are getting "smart" and beating the crowds of Memorial Day weekend by going the weekend before.......which has made for 2 holiday weekends in a row for the last several years, if that makes sense. Get on early, pull off early, siesta, hit it again late afternoon. Great time of year to get 2 solid floats in per day.

Nymphing is pretty hit or miss right now on the river as a whole. I would lean toward the lower side (although I am still not a fan of the water very far down from Patrick unless you are throwing streamers). Floated from ROLF to Patrick last night throwing streamers and got several eats, nothing huge but it kept the interest for sure.