Here we go taking something that is only slightly broke and fixin’ it all up. Look somebody has to do it. This blog may just hit the ground on April 1, 2008. Will it hold podcasts? Will it float? What do you want it to do? Shannon

Joel Hays flies for Colorado Lake Trout
I parked the Land Cruiser between a couple of pickups, and we made our way around a family sitting above drain pipes facing north just off a busy road north of Ray Roberts Lake. Pickups were streaming by signaling the end of the workday – tarps flapping and horns honking at their friends. “Y’all fly fishing?”, said one of their kids who was probably about fifteen. “Yup, you ought to try it. Once you start, you’ll be addicted”, I said – never missing a chance to petal this legal crack. He smiled, “I don’t think so” all in good humor. The wind was kicking in this afternoon at about 35 from the south, the water chocolate and that southern mix of flood debris and road trash. Yup, we really were headed for the skids.

I made my way around looking for a combination of shelter from the wind, a clear backcast and a clearing of sticks and debris in front. A little good water to cast into quickly became optional. I started bushwhacking my way northward along the creek, “through the briars & the brambles where a rabbit couldn’t go”.

Finally, I spotted some calm water and started making my way. I hit a dead end and decided to just drop a line in – literally. In lifting it to move on, the fly mailed itself neatly into a small limb about eight feet out. Pull and nothing. Take the tip to it and parry – nothing. Break off. It was so close that I had to reach for the limb and flex it into me.

The water looked shallow enough and I had just been puddle stomping moments earlier. One full weight step and – off into water up to my neck with no bottom to the touch. Ok, besides the content and texture of this water, it was also surprisingly cold. I flapped my arms onto the bank about a foot above the water and flexed my way out of the brine, all the time working the mental inventory of what was just tested for water tightness. Thank goodness there was no technology and no unsealed billfold. The only loss, realized later, was a new pair of magnifying glasses – you’re welcome Mr. Limpet.

I had a hearty laugh at my foolishness, and new look of a drowned lab animal. For all I know, there may be remnants of experiments gone wrong in that water.

Although I have chased Sandies on the lake proper, I have never witnessed the “Runs” that happen during the spring in these parts of Texas. They are legend though. Stories about boiling, roiling water with Sand Bass running thick as Salmon swimming to spawn, and that’s what they do – spawn – up the creeks that feed lakes in Texas. If they can’t make the swim, they can be found spawning off the shallow points of lakes near incoming water sources. Sand Bass are very interesting to me. They have all the attitude of a salt water fish – frenzied fighting and constant resistance until the very end. In short, they are a blast. They are a great fish to hook someone on fishing and they make for good eating. There never seems to be a shortage of Sand Bass. So, I considered the dunking to be my baptism, formally, into my first full Spring of Sand Bass. You only have to be baptized once for it to stick, right?

Stay tuned for more Spring Sandie action coming to a texasflycaster site near you soon!

OTHER NEWS
Patented inventor Lane Kregel may have done it again with a new take on the Flash Rack, a carousel meant to hold flashabou with a unique base tray to hold all those other microscopic items rolling around on your desk. We are sending a couple out in the next few weeks for field testing and then a final design. If you would like to test one, please feel free to ask.

The knife is being sharpened to start surgery on this site. It is a difficult project to even consider due to the fact that all facets of this site are maintained by yours truly. One question would be to ask readers if they believe there is a need for access to all the articles from the past (something like 50)? One thing certain, I know from feedback, that many readers will miss the unique appearance of the site. Wordpress is the 800 pound gorilla in this category, and it is impossible to deny the power of sites powered by Wordpress. I am currently working on a custom template that should make the visual transition less problematic. There will be … tradeoffs.

WORKING ON
I am about to load up the new Black Crowes, hit a dirt road for the proper setting for my listening pleasure, and hope to have a review for that disc this weekend.