Brian Wise

Hank, Above Rainbow Spring is pretty good smallmouth water, in fact they shocked a HUGE on last fall. ROLF does do trips up there and would be more than happy to help you out. I'd bring some crawfish patterns along with some smaller Clouser minnows and Woolies, Sneaky Pete's in the Spring. Brian

Dido, leaves everything in a straighter line. Brian

Walk In Access is "ok" on the river. It's a good thing and a bad thing, if we had a ton of accesses on the river it would be that much more access that wouldn't be as picturesque. But it would be nice to have at least a couple more public accesses. I'll post some directions if you want. Brian

jtwest, For the most part the fish make you earn them. There are some exceptions like right now the yearlings are still in that "growing mode" and eating everything that drifts by. You need good drifts in the right spots to be super successful on the river, wild fish will be wild fish. But really, anyone can come and catch fish with a little pointers. Let me know the next time you plan on coming down and I'll help you with patterns and spots on the river to fish. Brian

Thought I had better jump in and introduce myself as well..... I live in Gainesville, mostly fish the North Fork of the White, White River, Norfork River and the warm water river Bryant Creek. I am the head guide\instructor for River of Life Farm on the North Fork of the White and have been guiding for them for 5 years. I'll be moderating the North Fork of the White River's spot on this great forum so stay tuned there. Looking forward to helping out some more and let's face it.....being helped out myself. Brian Wise

I'll be there next Monday (16th) doing a seminar on the North Fork of the White at 7:30. Man Phil, we should have planned this a little better and had yours one day, mine the next and carpooled.. Brian

Where do you get your spinner blades Fox? I'd like to throw some of them things at some Smallmouth. Brian

Just now getting around to getting this posted.... Fished the islands above Patrick Monday (2nd.) It had been a while since I took a wade-in trip in the afternoon\evening, thought I needed to try that. Threw a lot of Stones with several different droppers. Mostly throwing a "20incher Stone" that intrigued me enough to tie. REALLY like that fly Dropped everything from egg patterns to a tweaked Hot Wired Prince off of the stone, everything caught fish no big fish to report but some pretty decent numbers and several small rainbows (suprising for area this time of year.) The second island upstream of the Patrick bridge fished better than the first but did catch a few at the first island, I really need to figure out the plunge pool below the first island....there HAS to be hogs in there!! The "20 incher" Brian

I hear this all the time.....NEVER gets old though.

Hank, That is one thing everyone needs to remember, the summer on our beautiful Trout and Smallmouth rivers can be a zoo........seeing them in the Winter, totally different story. Brian

This isn't exactly a rod\reel "combo" but I would give TFO a good look. We gave one of these rods away at a Fly Fishing Clinic and it is a really nice rod for the price, fairly slow (read forgiving ) and quite a bit lighter than other models. Check out theses links TFO Pro Series Rod TFO Cassette Reel Brian

Tim, I agree with the summer-time canoe traffic. Fall, Winter, and early Spring are awesome, most of the time on my trips you don't even see anyone on the river. The Teal Prince is super easy: #10-18 hook Silver Bead Teal colored herl (marked as "Bright Green" on the package) Silver tinsel Black rubber leg material (the round one's that come in strips are the easiest) White Rubber leg material White hackle for collar Slide bead on hook Tie in 2 black rubber legs (still stuck together) at the bend Tie in Tinsel Tie in Herl Wrap Herl forward to just bead, tie off Wrap Tinsel over Herl, tie off Tie in Hackle for collar Wrap hackle for collar, tie off Tie in 2 White rubber legs (still stuck together) just behind bead Whip finish I'll try to get some pictures sooner or later. KCfisher, I do remember helping someone with the double-haul for a bone fishing trip, but I'm sorry I don't remember your name. I'm glad I could help you out a little! About the Kick boat, it depends on your definition of a kick boat. If you are talking about a one man pontoon, you could have a great float from ANY of the put-ins. If you are talking about more of a belly boat it's a no-go. I would personally float from Kelley Ford to Blair Bridge, it's kind of a longer float but that would be the best total fishing float on the river right now and probably for the rest of the winter. Let me know if you decide to come down and I'll hook you up with some info. Brian

That doesn't suprise me, I think they put more $ into the floor mural than all the fly tying materials together. Anyway, How's it going Greg?!?! Brian

Tyson, It's great to hear yet another fisherman really enjoys the river. I have heard of so many people that have a love\hate relationship with the NFOW.......it's a challenge, REAL trout fishing (No offense intended to any other trout streams.) I say love\hate but everyone that fishes or floats it LOVES sometimes it will drive you crazy though. That would be the infamous Toby, he gains several pounds during the summer he is liked so much. Let me know when you are going to be down again and I'll hook you up with what to use and where to go. Brian

Phil, Exactly, tweaking patterns is half the fun! I dub the body of mine with superfine in several different colors(I don't work with turkey rounds) and I use 1-2 strands of herl (2 for the bigger ones.) Honestly I don't think you can have too much peacock herl on ANY fly . What I like about Jeremy using more herl is that it is that much lighter on the under side and it truly is more of a "shellback".....I had never thought about doing that. I'm thinking I'll dub the body of mine with the superfine and use more herl for more of a shellback like in Jeremy's, the best of both worlds! I should say I use Cracklebacks as nymphs just as much or more than swinging them or fishing them dry.....75% of mine are either bead head or glass beaded, I love them as nymphs!! Brian

Tied a little different......nice. Brian

North Fork of the White River With water levels now stable from heavy rains a few weeks ago fishing is good! The water levels are a bit higher than they have been for a while opening up more of the little eddies and "nooks and crannies" to fish. The newest hatch of rainbows are in "growing mode" and are feeding fairly predictably in the Blue Ribbon section. More browns are being caught upstream as well as they go through the spawning motions. The Stonefly bite is building back up and they are catching good numbers of fish now (it's about time.) Egg patterns, Copper Johns, Micro-May's, Hare's Ears, bead-head Cracklebacks, and Red Fox Squirrel Nymphs are all doing very well. Fish are still hanging around in the smoother water JUST after the tail-out of a good riffle. I would still fish all the way from the head waters of a riffle until a few yards into the totally smooth water (if there is enough structure to fish it.) Brian

Water is very low! Hopefully we will get a little more water for the Walleye early next year. It is looking better than it was though. Brian

Nice fish there Tippet7! Any chance the second fish was wild?? Brian

I have heard crazier set-ups than that. If it works for you use it! Generally I use a 9' 4x leader and drop 2-4' of 5-6x tippet off of it. Brian

I throw 2/0 Saltwater poppers almost exclusively when Smallmouth fishing on the fly. When they are even slightly turned on to top-water it is some of the most fun you can have with a rod in hand. Brian

Bryant Creek, Ozark County Missouri. Sister river to the North Fork of the White river, flows into the head waters of Norfork Lake. If you can catch it in the lake (Norfork) you can catch it in the Bryant, all bass including Whites and Stripers, crappie, walleye, catfish and of course all the Bluegill you can stand. Brian

RGK, Check this link out, the picture is a little different than others I have seen but it's pretty much same concept. Y2K Bug Brian

WOW, 107 registered members in what, a little over a month.....that's cool. Thanks again Phil for putting this out there. Brian www.riveroflifefarm.com

15"! The limit in Bull Shoals and Norfork Lakes is 18", I wish it was 15" we've been catching 17 3/4" Walleye on Norfork lake for 2 years. Brian