Fly Fishing the Ozarks » fish

Fishadelic Foto Friday!!

Brian Wise — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 10:02:21 +0000

Usually, I am a pretty good "fish poser" meaning I can hold a fish and look comfortable. You see though, I have an AWESOME husband and wife that come down to fish with me now and then and I swear everytime I have a photo with the Wife part of the duo I look like an idiot while she shines....totally funny.

Fishadelic Foto Friday...Awkward Guide Pose/Supermodel Fisherman Pose Edition!!!!

Fishadelic Foto Friday!!

Brian Wise — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:30:25 +0000

Respect The Dome....

Fishadelic Foto Friday!!

Brian Wise — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:36:24 +0000

The Silver Surfer edition of FFF. He loves bluegill and doesn't care who knows!

Fall Fishing Outlook North Fork of the White River

Brian Wise — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:15:35 +0000

A picture is worth a thousand words....

With a LOT of the canoe traffic slowing down, the nights cooling off, and already some leaves changing color it is time to look at the outlook for fall fishing. Besides, when you see temps in the high 40's in late August--you can't help but to look forward to fall fishing.

Usually when we think of fall fishing we think about water levels being low and crystal clear, not so much this year. We had a great summer with water levels staying as close to the 60 year average as we have seen in a while so the low and clear water we usually have this time of year really isn't there. With an above average prediction for rainfall in September we are looking (and hoping) for water levels to do very well.

With the water levels being higher than they typically are this time of year we are taking full advantage of it, we are still fishing bigger flies, and above that we are still getting away with heavier tippet. You see, the peak of the colors changing is pretty close to the peak of the brown trout movement as they get started in their spawn....which makes using 4x tippet to any given nymph and 3x + on streamers incredibly helpful and landing any "pig" you happen to hook--we like that

Finding the fish is usually pretty easy in the Fall. The deeper tailouts and deeper riffles are the go-to without a doubt. I have said it a thousand times but it demands to be said again, if you see a drop-off fish it HARD, especially in a faster running tailout. While nymphing, nymph DEEP (another thing I can't stress enough) lose flies! If you are a fan of stripping streamers jump all over ANY chance you get this fall...basically any low-light situation be it early morning, late evening, cloudy, rainy--all of this equals good stuff for streamers. Be aggressive with it, if I am personally stripping streamers for fishing I am not going to mess around--give me big and nasty and I'll strip it back like my life depends on it, unless the fish tell me otherwise.

The most beautiful time of year equals awesome fishing....even if the fishing is tough.

Brian Wise
Head Guide
River of Life Farm
www.riveroflifefarm.com

Back to my roots….and passing it on.

Brian Wise — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:42:56 +0000

As a new fly fisherman there is NO better way to learn how to hook, fight, and just plain catch fish than fishing for bluegill. Notorious fighters, and absolutely gorgeous, these fish are the reason a LOT of fisherman got hooked on fishing at a young age....not a lot of species can say that.

I learned how to catch fish on a fly rod with bluegill. I have 2 little boys (6 and 4) and both of them are trout fisherman, and on the fly at that. Recently I realised that neither of them had caught a single bluegill on the fly rod and we really needed to change that. I loaded a fly box full of floating foam bluegill bugs along with some small colorful woolies, stopped by the store to fill the cooler with Capri-Sun and Oreos and we were off. Florence C. Cook's landing on the Bryant Creek is where I caught my first fish on a fly rod (and MANY more after that) so that had to be where we went. With the drift boat in-tow we were after it, there was a rowing lesson in store for the boys too.

As usual the bluegill were quick to eat...real quick.

The bow of most drift boats fits a kid nicely...and is often a source of a fight among my boys as to who gets to sit in it first. This trip the youngest won with a sweet left hook that big brother didn't see coming at all.

The rowing lessons went well, the anchor was down to get the most out of the training but it went well.

So while little brother was on the sticks and protecting the boat from supposed somali pirates:

big brother decided to bust out some slabs....

The thing is, they had a blast. We did some swimming lessons (none of that pansy pool swimming lessons, they fought the current like little men) but I can honestly say that this was a fishing trip where I fished WITH my boys...catching fish right along with my eldest and handing the rod off to my youngest to strip in a fish. Some nice bluegill were caught but the thing both of them keep talking about and rolling belly laughing about is the little fish---that unmistakable sound of a tiny bluegill that is too small to take a floating bug is a sound that I hope all three of the Fly Fishing the Ozarks readers know....

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fishadelic Foto Friday!!

Brian Wise — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:00:39 +0000

A little different here. If you know hardcore fishing you know that breakfast can be the most pivotal part of the day...and sometimes the hardest meal to actually 'get done' after a rough night with the buddies.

Here's to breakfast....

Fishadelic Foto Friday!!

Brian Wise — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:00:12 +0000

As always, if you have a photo that you want plastered on Fly Fishing the Ozarks after I completely mess with it send it to bnwise@gmail.com

Eleven Point River October, 2007

Brian Wise — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 21:04:35 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

The following report is a story of how Brian Greer was crowned "King $hi!", how I learned the breast stroke in waders, how Matt Tucker came into his own as a guide and Drift Boat captain, and how I finally found out how beautiful the Eleven Point river truely is. Rated PG13

Friday October 19, 2007:
After a nice wade-in trip just below Hwy 19 Bridge with Mr. Sloss-and watching him totally slay the fish in a 100 yard stretch-him and I decided to call it a night and head back to the Fly Flingers Headquarters (Eleven Point Canoe Rental.) As soon as we stepped off of the trail we met up with Matt Tucker and Brian Greer. We got out of our gear and shot the breeze a little and soon found ourselves at a nice little restraunt in downtown Alton where evidentally all the waitresses knew exactly, and I mean exactly what Mr. Sloss wanted on his burger....gotta love smalltown America!
After the meal we met up with the rest of the Fly Flingers, it turns out to be a true "Fly Flinger" your name needs to be Brian. I was not aware of this and was glad I was accepted by default. A campfire ensued, beverages were enjoyed, flies were tied by the Vice Guy (me) and the word Brian was said 337 times to which 7 people answered. Saturday October 20 2007:We started the day with high hopes and an AMAZING morning.
The "Doubting Walt" Brian Sloss' Drift Boat came out to play.....
We followed Brian Sloss down the river keeping an eye on the holes he was concentrating on.

We started fishing stones with and egg pattern as the dropper. Turns out that later in the day we would find out that the stone was not only for extra weight.

It took us a bit to get really keyed in on the bite, figure out where the fish hang, and to generally get the feel for the river.

We started down a nice little run and I heard the boat start to drag a little and I reminded Tucker that "That is what they are for" just like my wife reminded me of that the first time my boat drug on a little gravel. Tucker handled the boat really well in his first riffle on a Missouri trout stream, WAY better than I did my first time.

As we made our first stop we came across familiar territory, a nice riffle. I fished the head waters after a promise to Tucker that I would grab the boat, a promise I could not keep after seeing that water. My first fish of the day was a gorgeous little young of the year, ALWAYS awesome to see. Mr. Greer fished a little more downstream and landed his first of the day as well, proably a 13" fish.

Back in the drift boat with a little more space in between us and the Doubting Walt my first drift I rolled a seriously nice 'bow and finally decided I had ran into a bad run of tippet, changed out and all was good the rest of the day. We drifted through the next hole and caught a few fish.

Our next stop put us at a little island, the main run clearly on river right. We walked the boat down that side and watched as one of the Fly Flingers was absolutely killing the fish in this one run. He did not have the run to himself very long after he started slaying them and was soon covered by Fly Flingers. We saw the Doubting Walt at the top of the island as we passed and had not seen Mr. Sloss anywhere. Come to find out he had found a few fish in a nice little hole on the skinny side of the island.

This is where Tucker caught his only fish of the day (a good guide only fishes when his fisherman insist...and force a rod into his hand)

Now this is where Mr. Greer decided he had had enough with messing around. Somewhere in between Little Hurricane and Mary Decker Mr. Greer was crowned King $hi!. It started subtilely at first, a fish every 10 casts or so and then it just got to be an unbelievable sight. In ONE spot, one spot...Mr. Greer lost count of the fish he had caught. I decided it was time to catch a little bit of this from behind the lense(even climbing a sycamore at one point to get the angle....in waders....with a camera)

This is just a glimpse of the awesomeness of the newly crowned King $hi! and the boat handling skills of Mr. Tucker to keep the King drifting.

I could not handle any more of watching this from behind the camera so I jumped back into the boat with the permission of the King. The King granted me a couple of fish but continued to prove that he was still the King. And to prove it even more King $hi! landed a beauty.

A hook-jawed male that pushed the tape right at 18". Now at this point things get a little fuzzy, you see not long after King $hi! landed of the fish of the day I decided it was time to test the depth of the water by wading one step too far and took my first swim in waders. This was not a fall, it was literally one step too far in the mighty Eleven Point. As I took the step I remember wondering when my foot was going to hit bottom...then wondering again when it would happen--it never hit bottom. The bad thing is as I exited the boat I handed Tucker my camera and he proceeded to catch the latter part of my swim on film, with my own camera.

As time passed the water that was left in my waders started to get pretty warm as it sucked the body heat directly out of me.

But we moved on to the take-out. Honestly the Eleven Point is a beautiful river and I would love to see it with full fall colors, but we caught a glimpse of them along with the main reason King $hi! came to be--a perfect drift.

Brian