Brian Wise

Hey flysmallie, returned your pm. Didn't get the notice it arrived. Brian

Nice Fish! Even better color coordination Mr. Sloss. Brian

Have fun man, you guys are floating a really pretty part of the river. By the way, they are calling for a little rain later this week maybe starting Thursday. Brian

Forgot to mention that it is Fiberglass. Brian

Hey Sam, River of Life has cabins...nice cabins Click Here for River of Life Farm Lodging Page You can call them at (417)261-7777 to see what cabins are open for the weekend you are looking to come. Tell them I sent ya. We are quite a ways from Branson but there are antique shops, shopping, movies, etc in the West Plains area about 20 minutes away. Brian

Hey guys, My leg locks on my drift boat are blue and have oxyidized. I can wax them with a compound and it goes away after a while. I suppose the best bet is to buff it out but what compounds do you guys recommend? Thanks!! Brian

jdavis, There is quite a bit more water now than we usually have this time of year. Like Steve said, we had some weather move through the area and hit the watershed pretty hard. That high water didn't blow the river out but made it pretty muddy for about 24+ hours....you should have beautiful water to float. Brian

The father/son duo that had never fly fished. My favorite......9 years old and he did GREAT learning the sport. Too cool! Brian

bobw, The upper float is about 7/8ths smallmouth water and 1/8 trout water. Personally if it wasn't for the trout there is no way you could keep me away from smallmouth but just though I would let you know about the upper float. Cool thing is on the upper float you can see where and why the trout fishing starts....Rainbow Spring Brian

Hey Aaron, Park at the end of the campground by the bathroom. There is a gate up there and a road that turns into a trail that will take you almost all the way up to the second island upstream. The wading is not bad at all. I did get into quite a few ticks so waders or bug spray are nice! Brian

Fished the Islands above Patrick with a buddy Tuesday evening. Did REALLY well on both sides of the upper island, probably brought 12-15 fish to hand between the both of us including 2 16" rainbows and a 16" brown. I fished a rubber-leg (of course ) and he drifted a mohair leech. By the time we got to the bottom island it was pretty much dark and with me wet-wading and picking a ton of ticks off from the hike in we decided to call it an evening. Great, great fishing...the WHOLE river! Brian

It's fishing really well bobw. Hopefully that will hang on at least until you get here. Brian

Greg, I am actually more than due to catch a smallmouth while trout fishing. It has been a long time. Brian

Also check out Pettit's Canoe Rental and Sunburst Ranch both of them have electrical hook-ups. Brian

1 fish over 18" Greg....wish she would have put that one back though. But good for her either way! Brian

September, October...either way it is going to be a stellar fall!! Brian

Brian

Exactly, only KK starts on the other side of the Blair access so you will actually turn down a chip and seal county road on the left that has an MDC sign for the Blair access right before PP hwy(if going south on H) Brian

Yeah, I've known Kevin for years now. GREAT guy and cool company with Wapiti. Brian

Yeah Greg, I'll probably be there for the fishing on Saturday but I'm not sure about Friday. Brian

Sorry for the delay in the report--I was waiting on some photos to get to me. Thursday and Friday took a trip for Wapiti, a sweet new outdoor company out of St. Louis. Thursday started at Rockbridge which is basically Dry Run Creek for grown ups. A good place to do some teaching and the get ready for the 'real' trip the next day--drifting the North Fork of the White. Friday we started at River of Life and floated to Blair bridge, fishing got good quick and basically stayed that way all day. We hadn't been in the boat for more than 5 minutes and had a nice rainbow on. Landed it on the bank and drifted again. Of course, we were fishing a 2-fly rig. The lead fly was the Rubber-Leg stone with the dropper being a red San Juan Worm and the fish were completely split on the 2 for most of the day. Not 10 minutes after the fisherman had said that he had never caught a brown he stuck his first ever. Not a bad brown for his FIRST ONE! Here are a few more photos.... Even the guy behind the camera caught fish....Kevin is the man though. Awesome day of fishing! Saturday brought a father/son trip with neither of them ever touching a fly rod in their lives....and "son" part of the duo was 9 years old. Both of them picked everything up really quickly--make that VERY quickly and the dad was into fish right off the bat. After many hook-sets that were a little 'off'' the son finally drove one home and started landing fish. Same rigs, a little smaller fish this day but fishing still crazy steady. (hope to have photos for this trip soon) Sunday brought converted bait chuckers who had never touched a fly rod either. The wife picked it up quickly...husband not so much. She caught something like 7 or 8 one of them a 16" brown the husband hooked a NICE 'bow--and that was it. Pretty much the same flies but add a Red Fox Squirrel Nymph along with a little lighter line in the lull of the day. GREAT weekend of fishing!

Yeah Greg, right at or below 700 cfs and it is what I would call the best wadeable water. Above that and you can still easily find water to wade but it almost means taking a float. As of 10:25 p.m. 6-18-08 the river is at 637 cfs. And here is the link just in case the one on this page is broken: USGS Real-Time Water Flow--North Fork of the White River Brian

Brian

Yeah, around the accesses is going to be pretty crazy. Blair and Patrick both should be pretty good until around 9 or 10 a.m. Later in the day it is going to be a zoo. I am waiting in some photos to be emailed before writing my next report but fishing last Thursday thru Sunday was pretty good. No insane numbers but good, steady fishing with some nice fish to the boat. I agree with willber, finding the fish is the key right now and floating the river is probably your best bet but like I said from daylight to around 10'ish should be real good around the islands above Patrick Bridge. Rubber-Leg Stones, San Juan Worms, and RFSN's have been the go-to's and get the deep! Brian

youtube is your friend. Youtube Spey Casts Brian