Brian Wise

Rubber-Legs How-to Materials (in order of apperance): #6-10 heavy shanked hook .030 Lead Wire Black Thread 5 2″ strands of Spanflex Variegated Chenille Place hook in vise. Wrap 15-17 (or more for bigger hooks) wraps of the .030 lead wire on hook. Dress hook with black thread, start behind the wire with a “ball” of thread, then bring the thread forward to the eye wrapping another “ball” in front of the lead making the lead solid so it will not slip. Bring thread back to the bend of the hook. Bend one of your strands of Spanflex directly in half. Tie the Spanflex in where you bent it in half with the ends pointing out creating the tail. Strip off 1/8 of an inch of chenille off of the strand(this will help not bulk up that end of the fly as you wrap the chenille forward) Tie in the stripped part of the chenille. Wrap the thread forward 1/3 of the hook. Wrap the chenille 4 turns forward and tie off(but don’t cut the chenille yet). Tie in a strand of Spanflex on the closest side to you, this should be done in a way that you can simply lay the Spanflex across the hook to tie off the other side. Then, tie the other side. Don’t worry about trimming the Spanflex yet. Wrap the chenille 2 turns forward, tie off and then add another set of rubber legs exactly the same way as above. Tie off and wrap the chenille forward 2 more turns. Add rubber legs. Now bend another strand of Spanflex in half the exact opposite way as you did the tail. This will create the antenna. Tie the bent strand of rubber legs in front of the chenille with the strands pointing toward and over the eye of the hook. One last wrap of chenille, tie off and whip finish. Pinch all three side strands of Spanflex between your fingers of your non-cutting hand (much like a barber) and cut them at a slight angle with the longer strands in front. If needed trim the other side (closest to you) at the same angle….and DONE! I tie these in a ton of different colors. I also tie these with a dubbed body of SLF. GREAT North Fork of the White fly! Brian

Muleball, I am working on step-by-step instructions for the Rubber Legs for the blog. When I get done I will post it on here. What kind of stone are you looking at? Brian

You can launch a boat at the Lake at Tecumseh. I haven't heard a current report and stayed away from the high water this weekend. Brian

smallmouth man, To be honest with you wading on the lower/lowest part of the NFOW or Tecumseh is probably not going to get you to the fish. We still have pretty high water at the lake and the NFOW is running 2020 CFS (as of 7:45 Monday, 24th) so wading would either be tough or it wouldn't let you get out to the fish. Since the high water I haven't heard a whole lot about the White on Norfork lake. I do know that there are some big sows that are being caught on some feeders off of Bull Shoals around the Pontiac and Isabella areas which are about 30 minutes from the Norfork headwaters. Brian

I may be swinging through on Friday or Saturday, I'll look for the cap! Brian

Yesterday (3-20) the water was still over the bridge at Hodgson from the floods. I hadn't had a chance to float the river before all the water came through. It won't be long.... Brian

Yeah, everything is good here. The river is on it's way down and I did't hear about any wash-aways or anything like that. I am going to ROLF tomorrow, may shoot some photos there but they won't be as shocking as if I would have ran over there today. Brian

Here are some photos of Tecumseh shot from the bridge this morning (3-19) Looking upstream Looking downstream Brian

This is at Dawt Mill. Couldn't make it to Blair Bridge becuase part of PP hwy was shut down. and the Wheel This is the ramp at Dawt Mill. Brian

Nice! Glad you guys did well. Stones with Rubber Legs..... Brian

Terry, That is a Loomis GLX High Line Speed. Cool reel seat huh! Great rod.... Brian

By the way, that brown was caught while highsticking Leonards Pine Squirrel Sculpin that was "chasing" a black slumpbuster. Brian

So, I was fishing and caught a nice brown on a two-streamer set-up.... Then that brown coughed this up! Yes, I picked that thing up and put it on my reel(insert gagging emoticon here) Brian

Duane, I sent your jacket with Randy's shirt. He should have it in a couple of days. Brian

Trav, that is my eldest sporting the Ozark Dead Drifters Society shirt. Hopefully he will be rowing soon Brian

ahhh, I was trying to do it the hard way. Brian

Test.... Brian

Dano, Actually this year is the first time in a while that I am not guiding on the Sowbug Saturday. If I run into you we'll go out and see what we can do! Brian

I usually host my photos on Photobucket but I can't use those on the new OA? Do we have to upload to OA now? Brian

You can use the same equipment that you take fishing everyday Dano. A faster rod can make it a little easier along with a strong WF line, but you can do these casts with a 3 wt if you want. Once you get the hang of it you can pound out some crazy long casts...even with a 9' 5wt. Set your anchor and just flick the peanut butter off the spoon. Brian

I tell you what guys, since I have been messing with single handed speys I find myself throwing them more and more. I throw a ton of Snap T's when I am nymphing, for me it gives me more control over where the flies are going to land than a good old Flop Cast. Snake rolls are crazy handy when throwing wets, soft hackles, etc. I made myself go on a couple of fishing trips without throwing any back casts and now they are super comfortable. AND you can practice these on grass since there is enough tension to hold your anchor point. They are fun to boot! Brian

You mean law enforcement in other places have an idea of fly fishing techniques? Must be nice.... Brian

I was actually on the water this evening in the snow at Tecumseh. There are for sure some walleye in that area...some nice ones as well. I went with a gal that caught 2 that were over 4lbs. Vernon is actually a distant relative of mine (don't hold that against me ) and I saw him this evening. As far as levels go, you can keep an eye on what the Bryant and the NFOW are doing to really see how the Tecumseh water is going to be and you can find those graphs here North Fork of the White River Levels Bryant Creek River Levels. To add to that you can check the lake level here. Norfork Lake Level At the top of that page is the lake level, but that is right at the dam. Like I said above though (and I'm sure you know) the Tecumseh area is probably best guessed upon what the twin rivers are doing. But they are both up pretty high and starting to clear up a bit. Good luck! Brian

You can't go wrong with Simms. Having said that I haven't messed with the Riversheds a whole lot. They are more along the lines of lightweight waders. I have the G3's and they are like $99 more dollars than the Riversheds and they are made out of a new kind of Gore-Tex, depending on the $ you are wanting to spend I would check those out too and while you are at it check out the L2's which I believe are made out of the same fabric as last years G3's. And now I have gone cross-eyed. Brian

As of now I will be there Saturday. Terry, that fly had a whole bunch of Rubber Legs on it didn't it. Brian