River Of Life Farm

Fishing Report 12-5-09

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:03:00 +0000

Since the yo-yo water of October and November has slacked off and we have steady water levels fishing has gone through the roof! Fishing deep is still key with a Rubber-Legs or Mohair leechs as a lead fly and egg patterns, Psycho Princes, Hare's Ears, Pheasant Tails, and the like are great for droppers. The fish are still a touch on the scattered side so fishing the whole riffle and through the tailout is crucial.

On a side note....The North Fork of the White is known most for it's population of wild rainbow trout. Our rainbows are in spawn mode right now and will be for the next few weeks. When trout spawn their beds (redds) are scattered all over the river and these redds are where the trout lay their eggs. The redds look like "washed gravel" or lighter colored than the surrounding gravel and they are generally round in shape. Watch your step because hundred and hundred of eggs are in these redds and one step from a wading fisherman could literally kill hundred of eggs.

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

www.riveroflifefarm.com

A fall hike at River of Life Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:33:00 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to take an afternoon at ROLF...not on the river for once but on a great hike to Inspiration Point with my little boys. The fall colors were at peak and it was a crisp and cool, but beautiful day.

Smiling faces

Inspiration Point Trail

Great view of the North Fork from Inspiration Point.

We made a couple new friends as well.

Fall is a beautiful time in the Ozarks and especially well spent on the banks of the North Fork of the White River.

Fall Fishing Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:25:00 +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. :P

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

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

http://www.riveroflifefarm.com/

Late Summer Fishing Report

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 20:47:00 +0000

Usually when you think of fishing late into the summer you usually think of low and super clear water....making fishing pretty tough. The summer of '09 will probably go down as one of the most consistant fishing summers I have ever seen. The fish moved to the usual holding spots as they do every summer--deep into the tailouts, but this year it seemed like we got rain when we really needed it bringing water levels up just enough and bringing some color back to the water.

Fishing with the usual nymphs under an indicator was usually the way to go but with water levels going up and down we actually saw some days where stripping streamers was THE way to go....all day!

We are also starting to catch more and more young of the year. These little fish can be found just about anywhere in the water they can eat food and grow. They are pretty quick to bite and will eat just about anything that won't eat them first at this point. :)

Stay tuned for the Fall Fishing Outlook coming in the next week!!

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

www.riveroflifefarm.com

The Outdoor Channel Visits River of Life Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Mon, 04 May 2009 16:08:00 +0000

We recently had the opportunity to have a film crew from the Outdoor Channel visit ROLF to film some turkey hunting with Shelby Nold, fishing with Brian Wise, and some of the cabins. Although the turkey hunting was pretty tough the fishing went well and we only ended up needing one day of shooting to get the segment for the Outdoor Channel Outfitters television show. Brian, Shelby, and Tommy McKee (the youngest of the McKee children yet probably the biggest feet!!) joined together to do some fishing for the cameras.

Brian Wise in an interview

Shelby Nold making some casts

Brian Wise and Cameraman John Nabors

Tommy McKee and Cameraman John Nabors

Stay tuned for the airing hopefully sometime this Fall. Spoiler Alert!!! Tommy catches something REALLY COOL for the camera....and also rows Brian's drift boat over the falls!

April Fishing Report

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:20:00 +0000

April brought us many ups and downs as far as fishing goes on the North Fork of the White.....and most of those ups and downs were the water levels. :)

All in all fishing was real steady even with the fluctuating water levels. Of course fishing on the miles of access at River of Life has been real good too. The key to catching fish on slightly higher water levels are to fish REALLY DEEP(sometimes 9+ feet under an indicator) The fly of the month....the Rubber-Leg Stone that has been catching us a ton of fish this spring, along with San Juan worms, Mohair Leeches, and Psycho Princes--all of which can be found in the grab bag of flies in the store in the lodge at ROLF.

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

http://www.riveroflifefarm.com/

A great letter from a world class fly fisherman and ROLF guest.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:03:00 +0000

Dear Myron,
My name is António Rodrigues, from Portugal and i met you last october. I was with John Wilson giving the Chech Nimph Class (Of the Conclave)in front of your house! I have some pictures of that day and i want to share those with you! Thanks to alloud us to use your Wonderfull Farm, to give that lesson, and also (for me) to visit one of the most beautifull places i ever saw!And Easter is time to share! God bless you and all McKee's family!
Best Wishes
From Portugal
António Rodrigues - Tony

Camping and Canoeing at River of Life Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Another report from a group that had a great adventure at ROLF!

"We were a group of seven from Bentonville,AR went out on an adventure to camp on a river side.We work here for walmart as software engineers and we are from the southern part of INDIA. No one from our group ever tried canoeing and its true there is always a first time for everything and if you had fun doing things you do the first time , you will cherish the moments for a long time.
Thats really true with everyone of us having tried canoeing for the first ever time in our lives and trust me we will not forget this for a long long time. Atleast Sam and Sudheer(Not me - my friend) will never forget the adventure for a while.

We started off late on saturday APR 04, and reached the River Farm by 5 in the evening and within an hour we were all set for canoeing. We had absolutely no idea what's ahead. We 7 guys started off in three canoes. 2 - 2 and 3 in each.
Naresh and I in one, Ramesh and Srikanth in one and the most adventorous bunch of Sam, Sudheer and Srini. The first accident was with the canoe I was in , we couldnt control the canoe initially even though we tried our best and we hit a rock and our canoe tumbled upside down.
Everyone had atleast one crash in the first few minutes. Then when we started learning the art fo canoeing and everything was smooth, came in the most rocky part of the stream. The canoe with Sam,sudheer and Srini have hit a rock and three of them jumped into the river. Then they lost their pedals in the stream and then with great difficulty they managed to pull the canoe to the left ofthe shore. Naresh and I tried to rescue them to the shore and in the process i slipped and fell upside down in the stream. We had laughed at the incident for a while but all our smiles turned to scary thoughts when we figured out that there was a copperhead(venomous snake) sitting in a bag in the canoe which we just pulled to the shore. There you go, Sam who hates snakes was freaking everyone out. We discovered that the snake was in the bag right from the start and snake hater Sam was sitting right on top of the bag from the start.
Everyone was terrified for a while but we managed to pull the canoe to the shore and the three guys who just are out of a shock tried to walk back to the starting point across an unkown territory. They started walking back but within just a few minutes lost their way and three of them had no clue of where they were heading. They walked through whatever came their way and it was getting dark by around 7:30 pm. This never happened with them had to walk with no communication or help or guide whatsoever and they were becoming restless with every minute passed by. Finally and luckily for our group, not to miss the fun part, three of them were able to find the way back.
Then started our second adventure, to set up a tent at around 8:30 pm in the night.
We planned to start a camp fire and then start building our tent in that light...but it seems our adventure wants to get bigger and bigger. The lighter ran out of gas just the moment we started to lit the camp fire. We got the matchsticks from Myron and managed to set up everything.

The next day morning was the most PLEASANT morning i had ever seen. With bright sun rays trying to pierce through the forest and the view i had is simply unforgettable. We were so thrilled, may be we didnt expect so much out there and it turned out to be an extremely happy trip.

And it gives me so much pleasure to thank Myron who have been so helpful and friendly all through our stay. "

Fishing Report 3-28-2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:48:00 +0000

-After a night of rain Friday night/early Saturday morning I met Jack and Brett at the Mountain Log Lookout Cabin, we talked a little about what the water may do. Everything was great so we decided to put the drift boat in. This was NOT a beautiful Spring day, temps started out in the mid 40's and dropped out quickly...add a cold rain and some pretty strong winds to that it you could say it was fairly brutal.

-Floated from ROLF to Blair. The morning started off nicely, catching fish and having hook-ups consistantly. About mid-day we noticed that the water was coming up nicely (not too fast but coming up) and then it got a little dirty and the fishing slowed WAY down. At one point I thought that it really looked and seemed like the water was going down but that didn't last long until it started coming up again slowly. It turns out I was actually right and looking at the graphs that is exactly what the water did. It was a lot like the tailwaters only not so dramatic.

-As the water changed so did our style of fishing. I had one guy fishing a NASTY nymph rig with a huge stone and a San Juan Worm and the other guy with a double streamer rig. The double streamer rig (that was being drifted at the time) got a huge take and the fish literally ran 30' in about 4 seconds, one of the most stout runs I have ever seen. Got the fish to the net and it was a super nice 20+" rainbow.

Had a great time with a couple of fellow Mountain Bikers! :-)

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

Fishing Report 3-13, 14, & 15, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:45:00 +0000

I don't want to sound like a broken record but floated from ROLF to Blair all 3 days (3 different groups of people) and all saw very good fishing including a couple of guys that had never fly fished.
Hands down the Psycho Prince is tearing them up this Spring and the regular Rubber Leg Stonefly with the Psycho Prince dropped off of it has been the ticket most days. But the suprise for all 3 of these days was a GREAT dry fly bite in the afternoon. BWO's and Caddis were coming off but it was the BWO that they were rising for, and rising often....and vicously! :) Best dry fly of the 3 days was a #14 Parachute Adams.

Did I mention we had a little fun?

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

Fishing Report March 6 & 7, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:21:00 +0000

I had the opportunity to take Keith, Nick, and Jimmy from Chicago on the North Fork for a couple of days. Water levels had been really good and the weather was more than cooperative.

We put the boat in at ROLF and decided to float to Blair on the first day. I could write a riffle-by-riffle report but it would be easier to say that every stop and drifting in the boat between those stops produced fish. Fishing was great. Didn't catch anything big but the numbers were through the roof!

A Psycho Prince being the number one fly for the day.

After having such a good time the day before we decided to take the same float and target some bigger fish. Although we didn't catch anything huge we did end up with a couple of 16" rainbows and a fat brown for the day. The fly of the day was a toss-up between the Psycho Prince and a Rubber-Legs.

Had a great time.....and fishing was fantastic!

Brian Wise
Head Guide
River of Life Farm

Fishing Report 2-21-09

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Before starting a crazy month of guiding coming up in March I had the opportunity to fish with a buddy. Matt Tucker came down from St. Louis after I sent him several emails about the incredibly nice water that we have now. It had also been a while since either one of us really had the opportunity to shoot some on-stream photos besides regular fish photos.
We started the day by putting the drift boat in at the dirt (read MUD) "ramp" at Kelly Ford which is always a fun experience in itself. But as soon as the boat hit the water it started snowing...big snowflakes. Turns out that was probably the warmest part of the day as the wind really blew later in the afternoon and it was a "too the bone" kind of wind.

Water levels were around 740 cfs. We rowed up to Lamb and nothing happening so we drifted through to Kelly--made 3 drifts at Kelly and landed as many fish. We hit another stack of fish below McKee Bridge and caught several, several fish in one spot.

Ok, so pretty much every stop and pretty much all riffles produced fish the rest of the day so lets get on to the photos. :)

Even caught a nice......sucker.....yeah, that is a look of pure excitement on my face.

Had a great time. And for a little more info on the river, it does look like the really, really nice water we have now will be holding on for a little while. The fall-out is really slow and with some rain coming later this week hopefully it will hold on that much longer. Don't be shy about fishing 700cfs and under, it can be some of the best water levels to fish the river. It doesn't make wading an already sketchy wading river any easier so watch your step and remember....most of the time you won't have to make a very long cast to catch these fish at higher levels so wading out real far and casting into the SUPER fast water really isn't necessary (you wouldn't stand in it so why would a fish hang out in it for very long) hit the seam.

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

kyle@longboatoutfitters.com (Longboat Outfitters) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:14:00 +0000

Presidents’ Day gave me and two of my good friends a free day to hit the river. Now there are lots of rivers to choose from here in the Ozarks, but I usually fall back on the old standby, the North Fork. Since I grew up on the North Fork’s banks I have a bit more confidence and that can make all the difference. It is also a real pleasure to work with River of Life Farm and have them shuttle my boat.

The river was over 1100 cfs. Which is a lot of water and probably the max anyone wanting to fish. If you are somewhat unfamiliar with the North Fork and want to fish at this level use EXTREME caution while wading, or try using a boat, experienced guide, and some caution while approaching a place to fish. This is not to say it can’t be done, the rewards can be great but there is a definite risk there.

Okay enough with the disclaimer, back to the fishing report right. Well, we landed some great fish. With the water up the fish were keying in on big meals. Any fly bigger than a number 6 or 8 they seemed to slam, none of this puny midge action or tiny nymphs. There were even blue wing olives flying all around but it was the streamers, stones, and buggers that made the meal ticket in this high water. Now it was tough to get down but when you did the fish slammed the fly without hesitation. Some of the browns were so gorged they had knots protruding from their stomach and still hammered a #6 bugger. Reading the water was as usual, seams, drop-offs, and eddies were where the fish were hanging just getting there was the problem. This is where the boat comes in very handy, and most of the fish we caught were from the boat.

At the end of the day we landed quality not quantity and had a great day. Only one person went for a swim and everyone caught good fish. O’ and the Longboat was back from its cold winter paint job and looking quite charming slipping through the 3ft standing waves;)

North Fork of the White at approximately 2000 cfs.

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:21:00 +0000

The combination of the Ice Storm melting and around 2.5 inches of rain brings us this....

This photo is literally hot off the press as of this morning (2-13-09) of The Falls at about 2000 cfs.

Sink-tip and a big nasty streamer anyone? :)

Brian

kyle@longboatoutfitters.com (Longboat Outfitters) — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:56:00 +0000

February 09, 2009 was a great day on the North Fork. Me, Randy Hanner, and Tommy McKee spent an entire day casting into eddy lines in hopes of large colorful hungry trout. Though there were more casts than fish it was a great 70 degree February day on the river.

We each caught our share of rainbows and Tommy seemed to catch the sickness that is fly fishing. At the end of the day Tommy fished longer than the two seasoned guides and when I say sickness I mean the passion of hunting for that next perfect rock that has a feeding trout behind it. Tommy scoped out the far rocks of the rock garden and was the first to cross the river flowing at 1000 cfs, Determined that the big one was behind that nice sycamore root wad on the far bank. It was great to see that fresh determination in his eye and eager anticipation of a strike at each drift, that is what makes guiding so great.

The river began to rise on Saturday night and continued throughout Sunday. This I’m guessing was from the groundwater influence of the show and ice melt, because there was no rain that night. The fishing was best the first half of the day when we all landed the majority of our catch. Caddis larva was the ticket this day and scored the majority of the fish. The stonefly and mayfly nymphs coming in a close second on catch rate. As Brian Wise always stresses “DEEP” was the ticket and in the high water it was difficult.

At the end of the day we had landed 10 between us and performed long distance releases to that many more. Though any day on the river is always much more than how many fish you catch, it is about the time just hanging out, laughing, and enjoying the freedom of the outdoors.

2009 Spring Fishing Outlook

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 05:06:00 +0000

With the temperatures hitting 70+ today (February 7) I thought it was time to take a look at what to expect for spring fishing on the North Fork of the White River.
As most of us remember last year epic floods moved through the area and at one point an Ark was handling the river better than my drift boat. All we can do is hope that this year those floods don't have as much of an impact as they did last year.

Gear-wise, your standard 9' 5wt is going to cover a lot of different scenarios on the NFOW. But those of us who enjoy using some lighter tackle Spring is a great time to break out a 3wt for swinging wet flies or tossing some dries. I have a tendency to use a long leader but 9' 3-5x leaders will cover all your bases there, while 4-6x tippet will do you well.

Spring-time is, of course, a great time for hatches. From Blue Winged Olives, Caddis, Mays, Stones, and on and on the hatches on the NFOW are solid. To match these hatches make sure to bring #14-18 Adams, #14-18 Blue Winged Olives, #12-16 Elk Hair Caddis, #12-16 Cracklebacks, and #14-10 Stimulators. A lot of the time you may run into one of these hatches and not see a single rise (or very few anyway) so also have in your arsenal some soft hackles, some general wet flies, and emergers to get the fish that are eating those bugs before they get to the surface...which is a super fun bite as well.

Nymphing is without a doubt the best way to fish the river any given day. When nymphing make sure you are deep, DEEP. I can't say it enough, if you are nymphing make sure you are deep enough that you are going to lose some flies--or at least come close. :) Probably the best rig for nymphing the NFOW is going to be a heavy stonefly with a smaller nymph as a dropper. The dropper can be one of an array of different flies like Princes, Hares Ears, Psycho Princes, Red Fox Squirrel Nymphs, San Juan Worms, and so on.

Fish Hard, Nymph Deep, and Tight Lines,

Brian Wise

Head Guide

River of Life Farm

kyle@longboatoutfitters.com (Longboat Outfitters) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:25:00 +0000

When traveling to fly fish the North Fork of the White River in Missouri:

Set aside a few days to get to know the river. This stream can humble the best fishermen. With out a guide or a week to learn how the stream and the fish work you may go home without a trophy picture. The second reason to stay a few days is that the weather is sure to change and that can make all the difference. Thirdly, it takes days to completely let the wild river wash away that entire residue of civilization locked up inside from work and real life.

A weather example: I fished three days in a row the first days of 2009. Day one, I fished with a national fly fishing tournament member and we both were skunked. Day two, Fished with my little brother in law and caught two bows but had to work for them. Day three, I was fishing by myself and caught ten fish in about two hours. Now, on the third day the weather was changing. The fish went bonkers. I’m not sure if it was the weather but in past experience this has been that case.

An example of being freed by the river: In October I planned a trip for seven of my good friends and family. We spent 3 days fishing the North Fork and 3 days fishing the Eleven Point River. When our time was up I forgot where I was in life. I felt like I was on drugs for a week and was on cloud nine. Now I have been on the river a lot! But never have I had such a great time as a week long trip with my friends and forgot every care in the world. I can’t wait to do that trip again!

So next time your down at the North Fork take some time, enjoy your surroundings, and never rate a trip by the number of fish you catch you will always be disappointed. Remember if you don’t have the time that is where the guide steps in to tell you what pattern the river is in that day, help you notice the singing wood thrush in the trees, and make your trip the best ever.

Have a good time on the water and say hi, if you see a longboat floating down steam.

Ice Storm '09

noreply@blogger.com (Brian Wise) — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 14:42:00 +0000

Although the ice storm that swept through the mid-west was devistating to some, there is no denying it's beauty.

Their sons voted it was the best vacation

noreply@blogger.com (River Of Life Farm) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Anne & Myron, I just wanted to let you know how much my family enjoyed their time at ROLF. Everyone was quite satisfied with the accommodations and my little sister’s two boys voted their time there the best vacation they ever had—even beating out Disneyland. There is something to be said for reconnecting with nature and family in such a beautiful setting. The family already wants to go back for our next Thanksgiving. I guess I’ll start working on setting that up soon. Hopefully this time, we will have the whole family in attendance. Thank you again for the wonderful hospitality and we look forward to seeing you in the future.Stephanie