Brian Wise

Thanks for the kind words guys! KC, Twist and shout is right on the money man! Brian

I would take the fight of a 20" rainbow over the fight of most 20" browns anyday. The browns tend to be bullies and kind of do what the want(especially when they get REAL big)....rainbows RUN and generally "freak out" a little more. Sometimes you can't tell the difference in a 14" rainbow or a 14" brown--but it seems from that size up you can take a guess during the fight and 75% of the time you are right, browns tend to want to go deep and rainbows tend to do more head-shaking and running. Is that what you are looking for? How is the detox going? Brian

Thank you sir! They are fun to tinker with. Getting the video camera so late last year I didn't get a ton of footage...but hopefully will this year. Brian

Thanks for the kind words guys! KCRIVERRAT, Honestly, trout are my first passion because they get a LOT bigger! If it werent' for 10lb browns you couldn't peel me off the smallmouth...ever! We should have reports for the marathon "Odyssey" pretty soon, editing video as we speak but I will say, unfortunately, the zippered waders didn't get used like we were hoping this year with the mexican food.....I know, that ruins all the reports and soon-to-be videos but sadly it is true. As for the rest....are you serious? Brian

Hey Guys, I made a little 2009 year in review video of guiding, fishing, and the like. Check it out, it's fun. (Click on "HD" for the best quality) Brian

Exactly what Cole said. Very cool guys and they are going to be adding more "tails" too. Brian

Great report Tito, again, congrats on the boat! Brian

Hey guys, After the slight rise we got from the rainy Christmas week I hit the river for a couple of guide trips. The river was running right at 1000 cfs but it was a 'good' 1000cfs with a great green color. The weather was brutally cold and windy...it was cold....did I mention cold? We started with 2 rods rigged per guy, one a nymphing rig, and the other rigged with a big nasty streamer. Both bites were great from the drift boat and actually we did no wading at all...simply drifted from Kelly Ford to Blair. The best fish came on streamers both days but there was great numbers caught with a deep nymphing rig. Tons of fun guys...

haha, yeah....I had an order of 500 of those things with a TINY time-frame about 3 or 4 years ago. That was the first one I had tied since then. Brian

ROLF has a grab-bag of flies that I tie for them. The Rubber-Legs and Slacker Psycho is in it. BP in Columbia 'may' have the Psycho Prince but I doubt they have the Rubber-Legs. Brian

Seriously? Is this a serious question? To answer...no, there are no 25"+ fish in the North Fork of the White...Eleven Point, Current. Those fish only exist at Roaring River and the tailwaters. Brian

I can't totally agree that 'seeing' the fish and how they react is the best way to learn how to high stick or nymph without an indicator....it's a complete FEEL thing. I can see how it would work in the parks where there are 200 fish within 10 feet of you but in good trout water (i.e. a trout stream) if you see the fish it is generally too late and they are on their way out of your site unless you did a good job getting to them....low and slow. On top of that if it is good "sexy" trout water the top of the water is usually so broken with movment you can't see into the water at all. I would Google Czech Nymphing or Advanced Nymphing Methods. Mind you the "Advanced" part of that is a pretty strong word as basic Czech Nymphing is easier to learn than high sticking for most people that I have taught. Brian

I think it is time to bring Triploids to Missouri. That 28 lb brown on Taney could very well be eaten by a Triploid rainbow. Brian

The Blue Ribbon Area is a little over 6 miles. We get one stocking per year of browns in the Red Ribbon area and we don't have a White Ribbon area on the NFOW. Brian

We tend to go through the whole "Well there 'could' be some rainbows in with the browns when they stock them" every so often. Honestly, not being "pissy" or anything but why do we insist on taking what is a great wild trout stream and trying to knock it down a notch. I realize more than one person has completely had their hat handed right back to them on this stream....personal vendetta? I have been lucky enough to guide people from 30+ states and 10+ different countries over the last almost 10 years of guiding and all but one group of fisherman (that ONE group is a crazy story and I'll tell you if you want ) has really thought a lot of the river after the day was over....even if fishing wasn't that good. Gene testing actually has been done on the rainbows here. Although we all know they were hatchery fish until the 60's the strain we have in the river are genetically the closest to Crane Creek rainbows than any other stream. Now don't go taking me wrong, I am NOT saying these fish are genetically pure by any means but just so you know gene testing has been done...they are wild/streamborn/whatever and there has NEVER been anyone try to claim they were Native. Lesson over...any questions? Brian

Here is this years trout survey. For the record I will keep saying "Wild" fish.... 2009_NFOW_Trout_Population_Summary.pdf2009_NFOW_Trout_Population_Summary.pdf" The brown in that photo was in the Blue Ribbon water just upstream of River of Life. Brian

LB DRY FLY, Not to answer someone else's question but if you are looking at a water proof camera to shoot good stills I would stay away from the GoPro. At 5 megapixel it shoots "ok" photos and every once in a while a real good photo but it's not what I would call consistent on stills. The video quality is insane though. I have a waterproof Olympus Stylus 850sw and it shoots insane quality stills and has the ability to shoot video. The quality of the video on the Olympus is about as consistent as the stills with the GoPro. I LOVE my Stylus for stills and will LOVE my GoPro for video. Hope that helps. Brian

Rainbow trout have not been stocked in the North Fork of the White since 1965....so really there is not an argument on anything except weather they spawn during the "right time". I have a tendency to believe they do spawn during the right time....because we caught over 30 Saturday No one has ever tried to argue the "Wild vs. Native" debate but we'll do a little definitions.... Wild Trout=Born in-stream, but placed there by man 1 or 200 years ago (In our case 45 years) Native Trout=NEVER stocked, placed there by the hand of God. I think we all can agree they are GORGEOUS... Brian

Randall, the double spawn is usually when stocker trout are thrown into the mix as well. You see this a lot on the tailwaters where some fish will spawn in the fall others in the spring. We don't have stocker rainbows in the mix so we just have one major spawn after the browns are done...usually well after but not this year--they are a bit early. I really don't want to push anyone away from fishing the river or make anyone feel like I was meaning to stay away. Fishing is incredible right now and a seriously good time to be on the river...you can see the reds from a mile away. Brian

I too am totally biased..... NFOW Brian

Hey guys, If you don't mind the stupid audio to go along with them I did some videos on tying the Rubber-Legs and a Slacker-Psycho (my version of the Psyco Prince) Fly Fishing the Ozarks Fishing and Tying Videos The videos are marked as such. Brian

I would suggest taking a float at least one day for sure. That is really the best way to fish the river. As far as size of fish....catching a lot of decent sized fish is relative and depends on how you really look at it--and there is always a chance at a really big fish. Like said above the Rubber-Legs have been a great lead fly in a 2 nymph rig for a long, long time but I would also have some mohairs to bring as a lead fly too. The dropper can be anything from egg patterns, Psycho Princes, San Juans, Hare's Ears, Pheasant Tails, and so on. Fish them deep. If you do want to keep fish be sure to watch the regs in the area you are fishing...the Blue Ribbon water is one fish over 18"--and I will say our rainbows are wild and have been for generations and generations and I would personally BEG you to leave them. Brian

I just got the same camera! I pre-ordered and just got mine about a week ago....the quality is insane. Brian

Just wanted to let you all know that the rainbows have moved to spawning grounds and are creating redds at a CRAZY rate. For those who don't know what a red looks like generally they are found in a part of the river that has smaller gravel, they are round and a "washed gravel" look being a lot lighter in color than the surrounding gravel. The fish will be laying eggs in these reds soon and a person wading through one could literally kill hundreds of eggs. This is basically a plea....if you plan on fishing the North Fork of the White over the next several weeks please watch where you wade and try not to wade through the reds--all the rainbows in the river started out as an egg in one of these reds so it is really important to let them be. Thanks guys! Brian

Fishing was lights out this weekend. Floated from ROLF to Blair and fishing was as steady as I have ever seen. I had set up my fisherman with 2 different depths (usually do that to cover 2 bases instead of one) and both fished great....so I had to mess with the fish a little and fish one super deep and the other pretty shallow (for NFOW standards) and they both STILL whacked the fish--it was pretty comical. Rubber-legs, Psycho Princes, and a few new Idlywilde flies were the ticket. Biggest fish went around 17". Fishing is good guys! Brian