Brian Wise

Terry, Very little to no dry fly action on the river for the most part anyway. The Tricos are coming off all the time but no risers to them....or very little anyway. They like soft hackles though Brian

Well, with all the rain that filled the lakes up we were blown out for the better part of last week. On the falling water Woolies, San Juan Worms, and huge Stones did pretty well. Believe it or not the water is pretty much back to normal, that "flush" was exactly what we needed. Brian

Wait a second....I know that guy...... Nice Fish Man! Brian

2sheds, You can camp and rent a canoe from either place. Since I am a little "bias" about ROLF I'll give you both websites and hopefully some other people will chime in.... River of Life Farm Sunburst Brian

I can easily make the float from Blair to Patrick pretty much a full day fishing trip. Love that float but it is pretty short... Brian

I would have to suggest Kelly to Blair. Kelly to Patrick you pretty much see all of the good trout water but it can be a big float if you fish pretty hard. Brian

Brian, The river is looking pretty good. The moss isn't anywhere near what it usually is this time of year. Having said that though the water is pretty low. But what we really have to remember is that the river is really wide so if you look at CFS, if the river is low a couple hundred CFS it only matters by a couple of inches in "depth"....either way I would like to see the river up quite a bit more than it is. Brian

Fished 2 guys last week for 2 days. Day one we floated from ROLF to Blair. Hardly saw any bug activity and the fish were pretty hard to pattern. Started off nymphing one guy and the other swinging a soft hackle which is pretty much my set-up on a 2 person trip, I usually don't want to start the day with both people fishing the exact same set-up with the exact same flies....easy to miss something that way. Several takes at Old House, blanked at the Rock Garden, several takes at the Corner. The bite did pick up when we threw a San Juan Worm. Day 2 put in at Kelley Ford and rowed up to Rainbow Spring. Pretty much right off the bat landed a 15" bow but still not the numbers I was looking for for this time of the year at the spring. Pulled a nice little bow from Hensley. Day 2 1/2 had a half-day trip after the end of the second day. Decided to make the same float that we floated that day from Kelley to ROLF. I was actually really looking forward to this trip because it was an evening half-day trip and those are usually pretty good fishing trips. Started the fishing at McKee Bridge and caught a fairly nice 16" bow, moved downstream to Hensley and caught a coupld young of the year and another better rainbow. Switched to a bead-head Crackleback right at dark and got hit after hit at Rainbow Alley. Best flies were pretty much the San Juan Worm, Red Fox Squirrel Nymph, Crackleback, and Copper Johns. Brian

If you are planning on doing a kick boat I would make sure you have a FULL DAY planned. You will basically run through 3 of the longer pools on the river in a float from Kelley to Blair. When you get to the actual Blair Bridge you will know, it is big, the access is 1/4 of a mile below the actual bridge. As far as timing compared to landmarks about the only way I can help you there is by saying that the half-way mark for that float is roughly the first island below ROLF, I'm not sure I can give you timing from certain parts of the river to Blair not knowing much about kick boat floating. Along with the other fly suggestions (my usuals ) I would add some San Juan Worms and Red Fox Squirrel Nymphs. For a shuttle down there I would probably call Sunburst, I think they shuttle cars. Sunbursts # is 417-284-3443. Good luck man, and let us know how it goes! Brian

Hey guys, Took 3 ladies from 417 magazine in Springfield on the river. 2 of them had never touched a fly rod and the other had only fly fished a couple of times. No offense guys, but teaching woman is so much easier than teaching men. They were all throwing stellar drifts within 30 minutes. Again, we floated from River of life to Blair bridge. We pretty much started the day of fishing at Old House Riffle and immediately before we started fishing the flies were dangling in the water and we hooked a 2 1/2" rainbow which we REALLY like to see. Within the first couple of drifts one of the ladies hooked a decent little brown, and then we hooked another one of the young of the year rainbows. Moved down stream to the Corner above Blair 2 of the ladies were nymphing and one was swinging a bead head Crackleback. The Crackleback was the better of the flies at the corner. Nothing big and not crazy good fishing but defintely enough action to keep things looking up. Best flies were a #16 Chart. Copper John and the Bead Head Crackleback Brian

Brian

Fished a half-day trip in the evening with a father and son from Kansas City. Father had been fly fishing for quite a while but his son was still pretty new. Put in at Kelley and floated to ROLF. The learning curve kind of applied to both of them right off the bat, fish on at Kelley but lost it. Switched the father from nymphing to swinging wets and soft hackles and that did not do any good at all....with stellar swings . Most takes came nymphing with a golden stone. I can honestly say that I saw more stones hatched and over the water than I had ever seen. I want to say they were yellow sallys but some of them were just more golden than the yellow sallys that we had been seeing, pretty cool but still no risers to the stones (not that it was like a big "hatch" or anything though.....unfortunately. ) Brian

The Best of the West really is something else. Nothing like people stacked 5 and 6 deep on each side of the 180' casting lane watching you cast. Have you thrown there motroutbum? Brian

There is a casting competition at Bennett at the Trout Fishing Showcase, just can't remember when it is. It was my first comp last year. Brian

Zach, Great cast man! 86'in competition is pretty stellar and especiall since it was your first comp. Pretty much the only competitions that are pretty close are at the Conclave and Sowbug (i think there is one at the sowbug) held in Mtn Home Arkansas. Last year there was going to be a casting comp at the Show Me Games but only 2 spectators showed up so it was nixed. I really want something to happen in Missouri with these kind of comps....there is so much to be learned from them. Can I ask where the comp you won was? Good Work Brian

ToPwAt'R GuY, Southern Douglas county and Ozark County. Runs directly into Norfork Lake. Brian

Hey guys, Had a chance to float the Bryant with my wife, it had been a while since she had a chance to fish so I manned the boat(most of the time at least ) Floated from Cook's Landing to Tecumseh. The hole below Cooks didn't produce much except for a couple of slab bluegill and goggle eye. The smallmouth were holding more in the deeper riffles and in their eddys. The trusy Pop R produced some nice fish in the 15" range casting upstream into the eddys and the seam of the riffles. Brian

Wow Don, I didn't know there was an online version! Thanks!!! Brian

Thanks Brian, I was pretty excited about that. Brian

Thanks guys! We were suprised that it was that big of an article....figured it "may" be half that size. Don, It is a good thing he didn't take that photo a second later to catch the beautiful tailing loop. How is the bow treating you?? Brian

Hey guys, Just wanted to let you guys know that the little magazine that you get from your Electric Coop...you know, the one you usually throw away . ROLF has the center of the magazine....check it out before you throw it away. Brian

Hey guys, Floated from ROLF to Blair again, mostly to stay in front of the crowds as they pushed down the river. Caught several young of the year 'bows mostly as the nymphing rig would start the swing. The lady hooked a really nice rainbow right in front of the cabin they are staying in but had problems "keeping the rod up" and lost it only to hook another within just a few casts. Her husband did well swinging 2 Cracklebacks, the bottom most being the anchor point of the rig and it worked like a charm once he got used to the "feel." Hatches were sporadic at best with probably the best of the hatches coming in a downpour, caddis and a lot of them. Still seeing Yellow Sallys most everyday, but no numbers of them at all, which is to be expected.....good nymph pattern though. Key flies had to be #10 GB Crackleback dropped off of a #12 green Crackleback. Brian

Hey guys, Fishing has been hit or miss lately. Yesterday was a miss..... Floated from ROLF to Blair hitting all the usual spots. Caddis came off pretty much all day, no risers (nothing unusual there.) Started off with a stone with a caddis pupae dropped off of the stone, switched to soft hackles, then to a bead-head crackleback, then insert the rest of my fly boxes in there and nothing was consistent. Floaters I'm sure didn't help a ton and there were a couple of big groups that came through. After the middle of this coming week fishing will pretty much have to be split up into two different trips in one day, early in the morning, and then coming back to the water around 4:00 p.m. (depending on where you are planning to fish in the evening it could be a little later than 4:00) especially on the weekends because of the floaters. Brian

Any suggestions for a newbie to these streams? I am going to be fishing them pretty soon and have never been, flies, holes, and directions would be awesome. Thanks guys! Brian

I couldn't agree more... When you hook the fish of a lifetime why not have a "tiny" edge on your competition. Brian