Brian Wise

Cool, I was planning on doing a good bit on mending during the more fishing oriented demo. I will for sure do a good bit on the mending now. To really do the job I would like to do I would ask someone to knock a hole in the pool...it would be a super short demo though. Deepdiver, the show is the Outdoor Adventures Sports Show February 8-10. My demos are going to be during the weekend. It is the first year of the show but it is going to be big. A lot of hunting, fishing, and just general outdoor stuff....including the Rams Cheerleaders. Brian

Well, it looks like I am going to be the only one doing any fly casting demos at the show in West Plains in February. I have a few general casting demos that I do for clubs and so forth but I am having to come up with a few more to fill up my time slots for the show....enter you guys. My regular demos are, "Common casting mistakes and how to fix them" along with distance demos, and total beginner demos. Here is a rough list of what I am thinking about doing but I really would like your input as to what you all would want to see at a demo. Beginner Fly Casting Intermediate Fly Casting The "Common mistakes...." 'maybe' a single hand spey casting and a demo on total fishing Cool thing is that the Civic Center where the show is has a pool so I will have water for all of the demos(a first for me) which I think is really cool and opens up really covering roll casting and the actual fishing part. What do you guys think? Thanks for your help in advance! Brian

Thanks, sometimes you need all the help you can get on this river. Brian

There is some decent fishing right at Sunburst. I would recommend you the islands above Patrick Bridge though which is only about 1 mile from Sunburst. As you leave Sunburst and hit H hwy again go down the hill and take the first left(before you get to the bridge), that will take you to the campground. At the end of the campground there is a gate and beyond that gate is a trail that will take you to the islands. Great water! I doubt I'll be able to take a float Saturday but will probably stop by Sunburst and meet you guys if that is ok. Brian

I really didn't mean to make it look like I was pimpin' out my blog.. Here is a photo of that fly. Brian

DD, The float from Hammond is a whole lot of smallmouth water before you get to the trout water. I personally know that Sunburst will shuttle you to Kelley (about 3/4 mile downstream of where the "real" trout water begins). Here is my blog, scroll down to the January fly of the month and I would be sure to bring them. Fly Fishing the Ozarks Blog Also bring some egg patterns if you fish them. You looking at coming on the 19th? If you guys want some company, I might be able to sneak away that Saturday mornign.... Brian

Hey Deepdiver, You can't go wrong with either ROLF or Sunburst. They both have camping, they both have lower end cabins for a "guys fishing outing.", and they are both really good to work with. As for floating I would say to do the upper float and stay in the Blue Ribbon area. The upper Red Ribbon can be real good but that doesn't last long and then you get into the plain, boring, populated part of the river.

Hey Orion, I really have to agree with Gavin, pretty much the same as I said in the first post. I have been fishing the area at the islands above Patrick Bridge a lot lately, and have had stellar trips every time I have went. That isn't saying the fishing may have been a little off but that stretch is always good for a few fish at least. Could have just been a horrible day of fishing. The type of fish it would take to physically 'see' the fish in the better water would be a real nice fish. As you waded upstream there is a long deep hole upstream of the second island above Patrick, I would almost guarantee you missed seeing a fish in that hole by not being in a boat. And that is the case for the pretty much the rest of the river and most of the rivers I have seen in Missouri minus the tailwaters and trout parks, and the tiny creeks. Sure, I guess you could take off wading across a nice riffle and maybe see some fish spooked that way but most of the time when you are wading you don't even see the fish that you spook. Give it another shot if you get the chance....for sure. Brian

Hey all, Not sure who posted this or if it was posted. I received this email from the forum becuase of the "Report this to a Moderator" option. Here is the exact email and the question that I want to answer. The have made the text of the question red. Brian Wise, You have been sent this communication from PBR via the "Report this post to a moderator" link. ------------------------------------------------ Topic: Report 12-29-07 ------------------------------------------------ Link to post: http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?a...amp;#entry54613 ------------------------------------------------ Report: Brian,<br /><br />My buddy and I walked from the bottom of the blue ribbon area bridge to the next upstream bridge without seeing one fish (@4miles?) on 1-3-'08. Frustrated, we went upstream to the put in below rainbow springs and walked about 4-500 yrds upstream again w/o seeing one fish. We have @ 15yrs. flyfishing expereince and were using polarized glasses. Where did the fish go? The only thing we did see were a ton of chubs<br /><br />Thanks and great looking river ------------------------------------------------ Regards, The OzarkAnglers.Com Forum team. http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php I do have a couple of questions for the person who posted this. Where you fishing or just walking? From the bottom of the Blue Ribbon section to Blair Bridge (the next bridge upstream) is around 2.5 miles. About not seeing fish. To be honest with you the only fish we see before we catch them is when were are sight fishing to a big, big fish that is in a smoother water tailout or in a pool. Another thing is if you are wading or even up on the bank a little it is going to be hard to see the fish from a distance especially in the water where you 'may' see a big fish. Another thing, this time of year we don't generally see a lot of big fish in the pools, they are usually in the deeper tailouts. The vast majority of our fish are caught in the riffles where it is especially hard to see fish. I'm not exactly sure of where you fish for the most part but if you are used to fishing in the tailwaters these freestone rivers are a LOT different....you just don't 'see' as many fish before you catch them. However, having said all of that--during certain times of the year you can wade to spots and totally sight fish to big fish---a total sight casting kind of thing. The only way to 'see' the vast majority of the fish in the NFOW is if you were to snorkel (sp?) the riffles and deeper tailouts....you would defenitely see a ton of fish if you did that. If you were fishing my first instinct would be to say that you weren't nymphing deep enough. I would like to touch a little more on this and get a little deeper into the subject with whoever posted this, would you care to repost this with what exactly your day was, was it a fishing day or just a scouting day? If you were fishing what flies did you use, how deep were they and so on. I'd have to see this info before I could go any farther than my explanation for not seeing fish above. Thanks guys! Brian

Very nice job! Wish my first few flies looked that good. Brian

Trav, My wife uses CS2 like Lilley said above. It is a HUGE program adn a bit hard to really 'use' because of it's size. She is really, really good with it after a couple of years of using it but I am still totally lost. (And I am fairly computer literate) On top of that the program is several hundred dollars. Don't get me wrong when you figure out how to use it it is an amazing program. Here is one example of literally thousands of things you can do in it. When I shoot photos I use Picassa for post processing. It is quick and easy and you can export your photo what ever size you want really easy too. It is a Google powered program and after you download it you can use a really cool feature to host your photos online right in the program....did I mention it is free? Here is a link: Picasa About the pixels, set your camera to the highest quality it will shoot. This will take the best photo the camera can, and then you can re-size in which ever program you end up with. Basically you want the available pixels so you have that much more to work with when processing. Brian

About the Drift.... Very nicely put Gavin. The only time I really drift is when throwing distance. I have to say it is a must if you are my size. It's all in the timing Zach, time it right and you WILL see a difference in your distance..time it wrong and it all falls apart. I'm sure you don't really mean "continuous." If you cast in circles like the ribbon twirlers this is possible or a 'continuous' belgian cast. The line may 'seem' continuous but even that truely isn't a true statement. I'm sure you know this but all of what the line does comes from the rod hand and when talking about casting most of the time we talk about the rod hand and the rod. The line has to do what the rod tells it to period, so move the rod correctly and the line will follow suit. Brian

Hey all, Just wanted to let you know that there is going to be a NICE show in West Plains February 8-10 at the Civic Center. The show isn't only fishing but will have a lot of fishing demos. I'll be doing fly casting demos at the pool inside the Civic Center all three days, and I believe that Brian Sloss of the Eleven Point Canoe Rental is going to have a booth. Should be an awesome show, check out this link for more info. 2008 Outdoor Adventures Sportshow Brian

Yeah Greg, nice looking rod. That is one of the rods they are throwing at the Best of the West this year....prepare to see Rajeff go crazy with this rod. I like the rod and all but how the rod handled didn't just JUMP out at me as being my new favorite rod. I do think it is cool that the reel seat is the same color as the Eastfork reel that Loomis puts out...that would look pretty sexy. I am going to give the Eastfork reels a shot but with my stroke (insanely aggresive) the Eastfork was a little slow. But that is coming from someone that would cast a broomstick and call it too slow. Brian

Hey Aaron, When I talk about tailouts I am talking the downstream part of a riffle. Usually when a riffle starts to dump into a pool it gets a little deeper...that is where I am talking. Another thing to look at is if there is a good drop off at that transition, that will hold fish in any water I have fished. Fishing the tailouts in bigger rivers can be hard if you are wading. Usually if you are fishing the tailout you will be wading in deeper water. THAT is where the drift boat comes in handy but it can also be done in a canoe or pontoon as well. Another thing to think about too is if you are in a boat of any kind is if you hook a fish in the tailout don't just keep floating on through the hole, row or paddle up and drift it again. We did that on this last trip and when we caught one in a tailout we always caught at least one more by rowing back upstream and drifting it again. Usually when fishing the tailouts on the NFOW we use the same rig we use for nymphing the riffle, just a little deeper. But the tailouts are a great place to strip streamers too. Hope this helps. Brian

"UP cast BEHIND you" I remember the first time I heard you use that I thought that was awesome! Especially for beginners. For a visual tool to get the same result I have started using an exagerated visual target. Most of the time I am teaching at or close to the river so I'll ask them to look behind them and ask them to cast to the top of the trees then they will "feel" it....and another lightbulb goes off. :-) Brian

Floated from ROLF to Blair. Started the day with a stone/egg combo, the eggs being a #18 whiteish egg and the regular peach colored as well. Fishing was pretty good until the sun hit the river and then it went through the roof....for the rest of the day. Reverted back to the good old standby (that I all but forgot about) rubber-leg stone. Fish came 3 or 4 to 1 on the rubber-leg compared to "nice" stones. No bruisers at all but the average size was much better even with catching 15+ young of the year. The young of the year are still holding mostly in the faster water of the riffles. They are fun to play with and will keep your attention in between bigger fish but if you are targeting bigger fish of course fish the tail-outs. GOOD day of fishing! Brian

Very True.... Brian

Good points Ken. Another thing to remember if you run trips in the boat and then wade. I run my trips mostly in the boat now but we still wade quite a bit too. If you have more than one fisherman you basically wade about 4 times the amount of a regular fisherman. I figured it up one time and on a regular trip with 2 fisherman I'll probably wade a total of 4-5 miles in at least thigh high water per day on top of rowing 6 miles. It pays to be in shape too... Over the years I have started training the guides for ROLF. First I will take the guys on a trip for them to see how I run my trips, then I will make them guide me, and then they have to go on at least 2 trips with me and my fisherman before they can go on their own.....90% of the guys that wanted to guide didn't make it to the trips on their own. I do promise that when you do start guiding you will learn a lot about fishing and that is always cool too! Kayser, feel free to give me a call anytime if you have any other questions about guiding, I don't know it all for sure but might be able to help out a little. Brian (417)679-3159

I went to the "School of hard knocks" as well. To be dead honest with you too, pretty much like everyone has said here...when you are a good guide you are a butler that is good with a boat, knows the water like the back of his hand, can make friends with fence post if they could talk, and probably above all a good instructor. I am not talking CCI Instructor, I am talking a REAL instructor from teaching everything from knots to how to get the flies "un-hung" off of a rock(seriously ). Honestly, the happiest fisherman I have had either caught VERY few fish, or none. When things slow down during the day I teach them something that they never knew. If you can get yourself to where you can teach anyone from beginners to total experts something, then your fisherman will be a lot happier on the slow days. The instructor part you can work on now, join a club and help on the days where they have casting lessons, or better yet teach as many kids as you can, that'll get you started Like everyone always says "It's not as glamorous as you think it is".....but dude, there is no denying that it is awesome. Mr. Dally could not have said it better. Brian

'Cause it's made by SA.... Brian

I have casted both the Sharkskin and the Rio Gold. The Sharkskin will have to be on the market for a little while longer before I pay $99 for it. I really did like the line and would have it if it was a little more reasonable. It shoots like CRAZY and I actually like the sound it makes going through the guides! The Rio Gold is really nice too. It had a really nice feel, but seemed a little on the heavy side to me. I bet it fishes great. I am fishing the Mastery GPX with the Dry Tip. I was really bummed out after the first trip I took becuase I cut the "welded loop" while straight lining with a streamer. It really is a good line and I have no problems with it now. One thing to watch with this line though is if you nymph at any distance it is kind of hard to tell how the last several feet of your line is laying because of the last 12' or so of line is a darker color. But I was fishing a brighter line all the way to the end before I got the new GPX. Once you get used to that thought it really is a great line. Waiting for one more little boy to go to sleep so I can eat some cookies and carrots.... Brian

Good point, if you do for sure go to a school I would make sure they at least got you started rowing. Basically anywhere you are going to be a fulltime guide out west you will be guiding out of a drift boat. Brian

I'll second that, he has a great site! The rods are a ton of fun to play with, and really can be put to good use around here too. Brian

I am one of the lucky ones... 15 minutes to the North Fork of the White 30 Minutes to the White River, AR 40 Minutes to the Norfork River, AR Life is good! Edit: After looking at this again, I do have to say that usually do not follow all speed regulations adopted by either state(or any state for that matter ) Brian