NOTE
Not only is Joel Hays a prominent “golden bone” (aka. carp) guide here in North Texas, he is also my personal beer guide. The following is from his Power Point presentation on the Holiday Beer category of beers, and was a small part of his weeks long classes on the entire history of beer, all the way to present day. I attended almost every class this fall, yes at church, the tailgate tastings in the parking lot – wind, rain, blustery fronts coming in at full speed – were also attended by a few die hards like myself.

As always, thanks to reader Joel Hays for providing this valuable and timely information. If anyone else has anything pertinent to the goals of Texas Fly Caster, be it fishing, eating, drinking, music or “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids” feel free to send it in.

HOLIDAY ALES

WASSAIL
“Wassailing” is an ancient southern English tradition that is performed with the intention of ensuring a good crop of cider apples for the next year’s harvest.

It also refers to both the salute ‘Waes Hail’ ( a contraction of the Middle English phrase wæs hæil, meaning literally ‘good health’ or ‘be you healthy’) and to the drink of wassail traditionally drunk as an integral part of the ceremony.

While the beverage typically served as “wassail” at modern holiday feasts with a medieval theme most closely resembles mulled cider, historical wassail drinks were actually mulled strong ales or mead.

Ale, sugar, ginger, nutmeg and other spices were placed in a bowl and warmed to combine flavors. Brandy was often added to “stabilize” the mix and increase the level of alcohol.

WINTER WARMER ALES
These malty sweet offerings tend to be a favorite winter seasonal. Big malt presence, both in flavor and body. The color ranges from brownish reds to nearly pitch black. Hop bitterness is generally low, leveled and balanced, but hop character can be pronounced. Alcohol warmth is not uncommon.

Many English versions contain no spices, though some brewers of spiced winter seasonal ales will slap “Winter Warmer” on the label. Those that are spiced, tend to follow the “wassail” tradition of blending robust ales with mixed spices, before hops became the chief “spice” in beer. American varieties many have a larger presences of hops both in bitterness and flavor.

GERMAN HOLIDAY BEER
Most German Holiday releases are a type of Doppel bock or a Munich Dunkel lager. These often have higher alcohol contents while smooth, rich and complex, but without being heady or heavy. Holiday (or Advent) brews tend to be historically defined as using the best ingredients possible.

Both styles boast brilliant ruby hues from the large amounts of Munich malts used, and these malts also lend a fuller-bodied beer. The lagering process also lends much depth and richness.

Bitterness is often moderate, with just enough to balance out any sweetness. Hop varieties used tend to be of the German noble varieties, like: Tetnang and Hallertau.

AMERICAN HOLIDAY ALES
This is an ever-changing category with examples from English Strong Ales to Belgian Trippels. Some are spiced while others (like the EXCELLENT Rahr) stay true to historic styles.

- Joel Hays

POST NOTE

In case you are in shouting distance of Denton, Texas, there is a new light in town, the Mellow Mushroom, here in Denton, and they have without question, the greatest beer selection north of Dallas and Fort Worth. They even have a membership card that earns points for different beers – that goes toward “stuff.”

If you choose to drink, drink responsibly. Designate a driver. Cast carefully as well. Have a Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are. GO FISH BLACK FRIDAY and leave the shopping to those more responsible than ourselves.

NOTE – Readers are welcome to give back to Texas Fly Caster anytime. We welcome fresh writing from new sources, and as long as it conforms to being about “Fly Fishing Culture on the Skids,” I can safely say it will have a good chance it gets published. Photography is a plus. And you will be rewarded handsomely, at the same rates everyone is rewarded, for their efforts. (+-0.00)

I arrived in Galveston around 7-am, the early morning sun was doing its best to warm the chilly morning, but it wasn’t enough.

A friend had recommended several spots, the most scenic seemed to be the South Galveston Jetty accessed out of Apfel Park on the East end of the island. A sign demanding $8 to access the beach and threatening to tow my vehicle greeted me, but no one was at the park. I left a love note on my car asking any authorities to please call me and I would gladly pay the admittance fee.

Courtesy Photo – Immanuel Salas

As I tugged on my breathable waders and strapped into my fly fishing back pack a Galveston Parks employee drove by and I chased them down the beach as if they were a roosterfish in “Chasing Down the Man”. Instead of “combs” he had a gold toothed smile and politely told me the park was free at this time of year so I didn’t have to pay for admittance. I jokingly asked them if that is because there are no fish here right now. He literally laughed as he drove off …

Back to my gear and pre-fishing rituals (which includes rigging the fly rod while humming the soundtrack to Tron out loud) and soon I was on the rock jetty and headed south. It was awesome to look at, strong south winds bought crashing waves across the VW Bug-sized boulders. One gap in the jetty walk was easy to cross but another further down would require stepping off into the tide pools on the east side and circumventing the gap to get back on. Being short on time and with a camera girl I didn’t want to drown, we focused on the surf side before working over the tide pools.

Courtesy Photo – Immanuel Salas

Two flicks of glass minnows were all I saw in about 2 hours which was disappointing because the pools looked very fishy. Easy to see the sand bar that eventually joins the jetty and promised to hold fish in its many dark recesses. But it lied. No fish.

Moved to the east shoreline where visible depressions and dark areas yielded nothing. Very nice with the waves rolling as the tide slowly swung back towards a 1:55-pm low tide. I worked a variety of clousers and small baitfish patterns while the lady chunked a variety of GULP.

Our time was winding down and we had an 11am lunch date so we packed it in. The seagulls, terns and pelicans kept laughing at our inability to catch. Mocking. Hundreds of them, waiting for us to leave so they could begin feeding without showing us where the fish were.

I don’t like getting mocked, though it happens often. So I charged them.Fly rod in hand, running like one of William Wallace’s boys. I charged.

Courtesy Photo – Immanuel Salas

And they flew away.

Met our friend for lunch (La Tortuga – touristy, but the flavor and service made it well worth it. Affordable, too.) Mike the waiter and I got to talking about, guess what: fishing. He said the jetties don’t have any fish right now and if I wanted to get into flounder I should try the shoreline east of the road leading to Seawolf Park. White or salt and pepper GULP, Mike said. And pack extra jigheads, because you are going to lose some on the snags.

So off I went to Pelican Island, waited on the drawbridge which seemed to take forever. I’m pretty sure people on their way to fish are supposed to have the right of way in all instances.

Around 1:30-pm I arrived at the road, stopped before all the NO PARKING signs and saw dozens of cars parked on the shoulder. I was afraid I was too late.

Luckily many people were leaving. Mostly because they had their landing nets slung over their shoulder full of doormat sized flounder. Holy Crap! As I slammed it into park and threw my door open to fast load into my rig I saw at least six people walking back to their cars with their two fish limit and big ole smiles.

I thought “Even I should be able to get on fish in here.” I walked a short trail through the brush and hit the shoreline. It was busy, but there was plenty of space between anglers so I started stripping fly line and headed in. Red and white clouser and intermediate line and I went to work. And it was work. Wind full on in the face was killing my cast, dumping it about 25 feet in front of me. Worked all angles, paralleling the shore, towards the shore, out deeper, behind the back. All I got was funny looks from spincasters chunking various colored GULPs and plastics. Then they’d hook up.

Enough of that. I grudgingly stowed the flyrod (you can stop reading at this point if you want to) and brought out my camera girl’s “Lady Pflueger” pink spincaster and went to town with a white GULP. It was my self-imposed punishment.

Weather had changed at some point, was actually warm out, and the tide shifted too. Working a slow retrieve back towards the shore and got that THUMP. Lowered the rod tip, breathed a long calming breath and began my ten second count… Then I set that hook. I felt the flounder slide towards me on the hookset and, more concerned with dinner than sportsmanship, I reeled that little 14incher in.

Slid him onto shore and strung him up (BEFORE unhooking him. I’ve played that little game with Mr. Flounder before. And lost.). On the belt stringer and I waded back in. This time with the fly rod, determined to make it happen.

But I didn’t. Went the rest of the day without another hook up. I witnessed other fisherman taking fish so I know the bite hadn’t stopped. Nope, it was just me.

Most people took on GULPs or swimbaits, brighter colors, including tandem rigs. The water wasn’t very clear, but it was green and you could make out the rocks and rubble underneath. Plenty of sand and soft stuff for the flounder to play in. Not sure on water temp, though it was warmer than the air. An old timer that had been out there every day this week (jealous) said he thought the run was really just getting started.

After seeing everyone walking out with limits and size I was a little disappointed to only have the one fish. And he wasn’t on the fly (forgive me). I did talk to others who didn’t get any, and ran into more people while getting ice that had been skunked for weeks, so in the end I felt good and knew I had a nice pan fried dinner in store. So it was a good day.

Breathable waders, wool socks, fishing shirt and pants kept me warm and dry throughout the day. Drove home that eve, 8 hours roundtrip for 6 hours of fishing and one flounder. Don ‘t doubt my addiction.

An interesting aspect of fly fishermen is their ability and need to read conditions, the bite and their own instincts to be able to adapt on the water. That includes changing retrieves, flies, tactics, etc… I think it also means being versatile enough to know when to store the fly rod and hook them with a white GULP on a pink spincaster.

Be versatile,

Immanuel

THANKS goes out to Steve Hollensed, for his detailed report on Lake Texoma.

Lake Texoma: about 6 ft. low; 64 degrees; Most of the lake has good to very good visibility; Fishing pressure and lake traffic is very low

Striper fishing remains excellent with fish very active, aggressively feeding, and working in multiple schools most of the day. Almost all areas of the lake are holding some fish, especially the mid and lower lake areas.

Currently, large schools of stripers are running in the deeper water of the main lake. The schools are usually about 30-40 ft thick, beginning at about 5-10 ft. from the surface. The better fish are coming from the deeper parts of the school; smaller schoolies from the top. These schools are moving very fast. Often, they are running across a point, along a bluff, or into a cove. When this happens, the depth finder “blacks out” with fish and the fishing goes up another notch.

Other schools at times are running on the mid-lake flats in about 10-25 ft. of water. Points and drop offs are good targets early and late in the mid lake areas.

In almost all cases fish are active under “working gulls”. This fall, the gulls are very abundant and very helpful in locating active schools of stripers.

Because most fish are running a little deeper now, your best chances come with fishing fast sinking lines. I like 350 or 400 grain Orvis Depth Charge lines on 9 weight rods.

Smallmouth Bass fishing has been excellent as well. Lots of bronzebacks can be found oriented near the shoreline on rocky points and rocky shorelines adjacent to deeper water.

This is a great time to fish all day and target both stripers and smallmouth. Because the water temps are in the mid 60′s we are seeing very active fish and because of the abundance of threadfin shad, both stripers and smallmouth are in excellent shape and fighting hard.

It has been a great fall season, and perhaps the best part is that it is not over yet. This fishing should continue for some time and we are having some of the best fishing of the season now.

If you would like to book a trip before hard winter sets in, then now is the time. I offer both half and full day trips. I also offer instructional guide trips with an emphasis placed on learning more about fly fishing for stripers, warmwater fly fishing, or just fly fishing in general.

FLYWATER ANGLING ADVENTURES
Captain Steve Hollensed
Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guide
FFF Master Certified Casting Instructor
903.546.6237
flywaterangling.com