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Mic I have never wrapped hackle and herl together. Any time I wrap a hackle to imitate legs on a stonefly pattern I am just going to cover it with a wingcase(pheasant, turkey or chenille). I would find a recipe for a Pat's rubber legs and try that first. Brian Wise has a nice tutorial on this site for the pattern. You can really make them any size or color. FWIW I always thought Montana stone was a black and yellow chenille pattern.

Chris I have a 9 foot Outcast pontoon with a stainless frame. I really had no plans on selling it but it is just sitting in my garage collecting dust since my driftboat purchase. I am in Oklahoma but get to the NFOW at least once a month. Its a long shot but feel free to pm me if interested.

Zonker welcome aboard! Thanks for the report and pics. Congrats on the good trip.

As long as I am in some sort of boat or pontoon the water color would concern me more than the cfs. We have had good wade fishing(don't forget the split shot) using pontoons to get around as high as 1800cfs. It looks like this current water rise is getting ready to crest if you don't get anymore rains it would be perfect this weekend. If you get big rains on Thursday it could be dicey.

Nice work Justin. It will be really handy to have a place to pick stuff up right on the river. Sign me up for a sticker for the driftboat.

Can't go wrong with Rio Grand or Rio Gold. Might want to check out SA lines also.

Bang for your buck you can't go wrong with the Lamson Konic. Large arbor great drag system $120. You can spend more if you want there are lots of sweet reels out there but you don't need to.

Justin my buddy caught this right in front of your ramp Friday the 1st. It's bait compared to the fish Chris caught but we were happy. Our two biggest fish came off of the Sunburst property this weekend. I'm not sure what your feeding these big boys but keep up the good work!

Jack your total budget is really important. I just went through this with a friend who wanted to upgrade. His budget was $500 we went Sage Vantage$250, Lamson Konic$120 and Rio Gold$80. I was pretty dead set on line and reel but with the rod he had tons of options in that price range. I would even suggest buying the reel and line first and then cast as many rods with it as possible. The main thing with the rod is a lifetime warranty don't buy one without it TFO's warranty is second to none but remember with their rods you don't normally get a case just a rod sock.

Brian thanks for the report. We were on the river Friday through Sunday and had really great fishing also. To add to your report we got a great streamer bite Sunday between Sunburst and James(throwing big streamers from the drift boat and seeing the takes is really cool). To date this was the best weekend I've had on the NFOW.

Moanzi another great video thanks for posting it. As a fellow skiff owner I dig the RO.

Brian I was shocked when I looked at the graph. We went under Patrick at 11:00 AM Sunday. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to take the back leg brace off but that would have bought me another 3 to 4 inches of clearance.

Chris, We will either be back the weekend of the 19th or the 25th. I will push for the 25th. Gavin, After the last two trips last fall of sub 400 CFS it was really nice to have more water in the river.

Got out with a couple of friends Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Good flows plus great water color plus cloud cover all weekend equaled really good fishing this weekend. Floated Kelly to Sunburst Friday and Saturday and Sunburst to James on Sunday. Caught 100% rainbows Friday and Saturday and an equal mix of brownies and rainbows Sunday. Nothing big landed but the numbers were really good all three days. Fished a stone and dropper rig all weeekend but I think Sunday would have been a good day to throw streamers and some bugs were on the water this weekend with some splashy rises so a wet fly may have worked this weekend too. Found out my skiff can make it under Patrick at 3.5' and 1100 CFS by accident(didn't realize the river had spiked so much over night) but my back leg brace to one heck of a beating. This was one of my friends first trip and I can't count the times I said "it isn't always like this" as he was releasing another fish. Can't wait to get back.

Sounds good I will keep an eye out for you.

I think wading is very doable at the current flows. TC if you go stop in and say hi I will be there with a couple of buds Thursday - Sunday. We will be in one of the sleeper cabins with a white toyota and a grey drift boat.

If I was going to buy another pontoon it would be one of the frameless NFO's(love the weight and compact size for travel). My 9' framed stainless outcast pontoon is close to 70lbs and a real beast to move around. You did mention a bad back and I would think that would be a huge negative with the framelss NFO's the seat doesn't look anywhere near a supportive as a normal framed pontoon or what you could rig up for a canoe. Pontoons are pretty big pains to row in still water I wouldn't make it my main craft unless I was fishing almost exclusively moving water. I would probably go with a light one man canoe or something like a native ultimate 12(great seat).

Amen to that. I wonder when the last time the river was over 400cfs maybe early October late September? Sorry I had to cancel on you this weekend Justin we will be up sometime in February.

Great report and I'm glad you guys had a great trip. I went pheasant hunting and pouted the whole time because of the warm weather and knew I should have been on the river instead. Oh well maybe I will catch half a break with this storm and still get to head up this weekend.

I own 3 Battenkill barstocks and they have all been great reels no problems at all.

Jason great report! Congrats on a sweet half day of fishing.

The fishing is pretty good there plus you are close to Patrick and Blair so he could fish those accsesses and hit the islands above Patrick should keep him plenty busy if he doesn't want to rent a toon. The river is pretty low so he should have no problem wading.Give us a report when you get back I will be at Sunburst the following weekend and would love to know how you guys did. Good luck.

Hoglaw, I have spent alot of time fishing in Southeast OK but I have yet to float the Glover. It is certainly remote and April may be a little early but I hear the smallmouth fishing is top notch. There are a couple of fly shops in that neck of the woods that could probably help you plan a trip down there. The Glover is on my bucket list for sure.

Jim, I think we chatted briefly on the NFOW this October I was the guy in the grey Clackacraft skiff with all of the rug rats running around catching crawdads below the falls. The boat looked to be in great condition and that is a great price. Good luck with the sale.

Dave, You can't go wrong with a 9' 5 or 6 weight for most freshwater fly fishing. If I was going to have one rod for bass, panfish and trout it would be a 9' 6 weight. Good luck.