Brian Wise

Glad to hear you did good Darren! I wish it could have worked out for us to hit the river....there is always next time! Those big stones on a little bigger water work pretty good don't they Brian

hahahaha, gotta love those goldens. Actually when we were on the Spring River last winter and the river was a little blown out that same golden saved the day. I would really like to fish the river with you. Pretty much all of January won't be good for me, I have a big trip the first weekend and then going to Denver for the Best of the West competition. We'll hook up...sometime Brian

Drew, You can catch fish on the stones year-round. Basically they are a bug that is in the larva form for a few years so they are always in the water, some years there are more than others (like lately there have been more goldens than we have seen in years...if not ever.) But yes it seems the stones start moving more around mid to late fall and are very active through the winter. Honestly though I will use the Stone as my lead fly on a two fly set up all year long, mostly because they are a super heavy fly and they can act like split-shot, but split shot that looks like a bug that is in the river and it has a hook in it We have literally caught fish consistantly on stones for the last several months. A #4 Golden is a "touch" on the big side (ok, it's really big, we usually use 8's or 10's) but I decided to give it a try because of the higher water and because of the clarity of the water, something a little bigger in profile. Brian

After over a month of yo-yo water(that I am not a huge fan of fishing) water levels are getting very stable. For a little over a month the water levels climbed to over 1000 cfs twice and then peaked at that big flood at over 16,000 cfs. Saturday (16th) we floated from Kelley Ford to Blair but started off rowing up to the Spring to start. Caught 1 out of the mouth of the spring but was still trying to figure out the higher, dark green water. That fish was caught on an orange egg pattern. Decided to drop an egg off of a Golden Stone for fishing Lamb Shoal and caught 2 there both on the stone.....no pattern. First of all I should probably say the upper part of the river (from Kelley Ford to McKee Bridge) hasn't been the best water in a little while now so my expectations weren't crazy high for the trip that day anyway. Ended up with 4 fish in the half-day which turned out to be probably more fish than I had thought he was going to catch for that water and so short of a day of fishing. BUT we did figure some stuff out for the next day of fishing 1: The fish are FAT 2: Fish insanely deep 3:Use huge stoneflies Sunday (17th) we floated from ROLF to Blair. Picked up a nice fish on a #6 Golden Stone at Jack's riffle, picked up 2 fish right in front of the Tree House at River of Life, picked up a couple at Cave riffle (see a pattern here ) He caught fish every where we stopped, nothing real big, actually the biggest probably going 15" but there were plenty fish caught to make up for the lack of size. ALL fish caught on Sunday were on the same #4 Golden Stone, hung it up a few times but HAD to get it because who carries a bunch of #4 Golden Stones!!! Brian

Darren, Funny, I am supposed to call you tonite about this very trip. There is plenty of water in the river right now. It is steadily falling out after the very big water we had a couple weeks ago but should still be good when you get here. Will call you tonite to see what we can do for you... Brian Wise Head Guide River of Life Farm www.riveroflifefarm.com

Greg, The "real time" part of that # is long gone. It is now "Bubba" on the answering machine telling you what the water was doing 2 hours ago.... I liked it better the old way, even though you had to call back 20 times...you got to-the-second information. Brian

Shuffel Your Feet This guy is good..... Brian

Ebay 'Roo Patches Brian

Brian, So your wild rainbows spawn with the browns? This water could be perfect or hurt your spawn...depends on a few different things. The rainbows on the North Fork of the White spawn around January and we have had big water come through during a couple spaws recently, one of the times was the best spawn in several years....the other....the worst. Brian

10 fish on a high water day, fishing very little.....awesome, add a 20 incher on top of that, CRAZY! Brian, when you started fishing yesterday morning the river was at about 1100 CFS, by the end of the day yesterday it was around 900 cfs. Usually when the water is on it's way down after high water (peaked at 1500 cfs on the 16th) fishing is a little rough until it quits dropping so much per day. I actually had a trip cancelled this weekend, wish we could have gone now!! Egg patterns are going to be a staple in fly boxes from now until the middle of February. I suspect the stones didn't produce as well as they have been because of the high water stirring them up real good and then with the water coming down the fish just don't see as many of them as they had the previous days. A bright colored egg in this situation would have been the perfect fly, great call on your part. I fished on Veteran's Day(11th) and the fish were a little lethargic. Caught 5 in about 2 hours of fishing, all on a stone. Congrats Brian, anyone that does that good on falling water can sure be in my boat ANYTIME! Where did you fish? Brian

Geez man, I have GOT to night fish with you! Brian

Davy, The NFOW is fishing pretty good, especially after the higher water pushed a lot of the moss out. I must admit though I have been in your area more lately...saw your truck at Rim Sunday. The first time I met Dave was at ROLF, he had a TON of good things to say about the "original" North Fork. Brian

Welcome Davy!! Brian

For what it is worth I really like the Pro Series. I have casted and fished both and the Pro rod is a seriously great rod. The series one (Signature Series) is quite a bit slower and isn't quite as much of a pleasure to cast. Saying that though, you can't go wrong with either. Definitely cast before you buy.... Brian

Phil, Wish I could have made Conclave, I know, I have no excuses it's 30 minutes from me!! Casts in the 80's are seriously solid casts...very nice. I have been tossing around the idea for a long time about a casting competition....would LOVE to set something up! Is it possible to do something like this indoors over there?? Brian

INSANELY long!! The contest is pretty much "grip it and rip it" as long as it lands in the pool....or other side of it in the winners case this year. I have seen a video from a local station around Salt Lake City that has a different angle on them casting....it's been a while though. Didn't you throw a pretty solid cast at Conclave this year Phil? Brian

Phil, I am actually thinking about going to one, never casted off of a platform so I thought I'd make one. I would be ALL IN for helping get something like that together! hmmmmm Brian

Hey guys, I was wondering if anyone knows the dimensions of the casting platforms they use at some competitions....such as Best of The West. Thanks! Brian

How did the tournament go? Brian

Well guys the event went really well. Who would have thought it would take over 70lbs to win the tournament! To be honest with you I am a fly fisherman (trout) and don't quite know the specifics but most of the top ten were jig fishing in pretty deep water (20+') Anyway here are a few photos I came up with at the tournament. Dion Hibdon and his co-angler heading to a different spot.... Mr. Hibdon again..... First day leader Dave Lefebre with a hookset Winner Dion Hibdon Second Place Larry Nixon Gratuitous Fish Photos I must say it was really cool being a part of this event...even though I was behind the camera. For more info check out FLW Series Link Brian All photos Copyright Brian Wise 2006

Hey guys, Matt Tucker (www.ozarkchronicles) and I will be covering the FLW Tour this week at the lake for Mid-America Outdoors. We should have 1 or 2 (thousand ) photos so I'll post some when I get back and go through them. Brian

Fishing was a little slow this weekend (note: My fisherman for the weekend had never touched a fly rod...could have a little to do with it ) Wet flies are doing fairly well when all else fails, I would definitely have a few with me. I VOW to do more reports for the OA board....my fault guys, I'll do better. Brian

Terry if you put a 40 footer in the river....I better be invited!! Brian

There are no "falls" on either river until you get to Dawt Mill dam on the North Fork. We do have pretty low water on both rivers and I honestly can't recommend taking a boat very far up either one. I'd say just a little ways up the Bryant would be ok but I don't think you would make it very far very easy. Brian

mcp633 and others, A tailing loop is caused by the rod tip following a concave path. The line does what the rod tip tells it to do period, if the rod tip follows a "U" shaped path....tailing loop. BUT, there are several ways to make the rod tip follow that conclave path: Overpowering is probably the most common reason people throw tailing loops. We have all been through this, you make a good stop on your backcast and WHAM hit your forward cast like you are throwing a mile (a little extreme there ) Smooth acceleration of the rod is the way to fix this. Start your forward cast slow and make a gradual speed up until the stop. Like Mr. Berry said, having too low of a backcast "can" cause this to happen if you throw that low backcast and then raise the rod tip a touch after the stop, the line will be pulling the rod tip down as you make your forward cast causing a tail (if you are in the same plane after the stop and the little raise of the rod compared to your forward cast.) Starting the forward cast too early is another very common mistake. Make sure the line has totally straightened out before you start your forward cast. Kind of like above (dropping the backcast) starting the rod too late (letting the line almost fall to the ground) can also cause a tailing loop. Basically throw a nice high backcast (good call Mr. Berry) that way the line can straighten out as it is slowly falling, then make a smooth acceleration to a good stop on the forward cast...viola! Without seeing your cast jdavis I would tell you to slow down and smooth it out a little. And get to know your new rod a little, they all have there own "personalities" I'm such a nerd!! Brian