Publisher’s Note – I wish all the Mom-and-Pops had schedules like Living Waters located in Round Rock, Texas! Chris Johnson is building a base the right way, with knowledge, action and adventures.

“Things have been busy at the fly shop and we have been more than pleased with all of the fishing reports that have been coming in from our guide trips and customers alike. If you haven’t been out to Brushy Creek lately, then you are missing out on some of the best fishing it has to offer! We have been catching a variety of different species throughout the hill country, in fact in the last month we have brought over a dozen different species to hand with shots at many others. If you want to see a fishing report for a certain body of water that we guide, simply visit our website at www.livingwatersflyfishing.com, and click on the fishing reports in the bottom right corner of the homepage. Below is a listing of our upcoming events for the rest of April and all of May. As always, if you have any questions, just call the fly shop at (512) 828-FISH. Take care and God Bless! — Chris Johnson

May 2012

5/2, Wednesday — Fly Tying Night @ Living Waters Fly Fishing
We meet at Pok E Jo’s BBQ in Round Rock for dinner at 6pm and then meet back at LWFF at 7pm for tying.

5/9, Wednesday — Fly Tying Night @ Living Waters Fly Fishing
We meet at Pok E Jo’s BBQ in Round Rock for dinner at 6pm and then meet back at LWFF at 7pm for tying.

5/10, Thursday — Living Waters Afterhours (Workshop) — Targeting Rio Grande Cichlids
Living Waters Afterhours is a standing event that will be held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 6:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. — the event is completely free of charge. The 2nd Thursday of every month will be a fly fishing worshop where we will key in on one specific topic such as this month’s: Targeting Rio Grande Cichlids. We will cover fly selection, fish location, presentation, and more. We will will dicuss each topic in great detail and there will be plenty of time for questions during and following the presentation. If there are any questions, please call the shop at (512) 828-FISH.

5/12, Saturday — 10:00 A.M. — Alaska Presentation by Rus Schwausch of EPIC Angling & Adventure
Alaska Peninsula Fly Fishing Camps
Owner Rus Schwausch and head guide Ted Mendrek of EPIC Angling & Adventure will present two remote Alaska Peninsula operations. Alaska Wilderness SAFARI, the more sophisticated option, is written up in the book Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die as “arguably the most isolated coastal fishing camp in Alaska and one of the best places in the world to pursue chrome-bright, ocean-fresh salmon.” And there’s a lot more to do than just fish – daily wildlife viewing, hiking, waterfalls to see and tide pools to explore. Alaska Wilderness OUTPOST is a rustic, early season camp offering excellent small stream fishing for rainbow trout, grayling, king salmon and more. Short on frills, this program is for the die-hard fisherman focused on quality fishing rather than extraneous amenities.
You can find out more about these operations at www.epicanglingadventure.com.

5/12, Saturday — 2:00 P.M. — Beginning Fly Tying Class
Instructors: Chris Johnson and Matt Bennett
When: Saturday, April 12, 2012, 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M.
Where: Living Waters Fly Fishing
Skill Level: Beginner
Cost: $50
If you have ever wanted to begin fly tying but just needed someone to show you how, this is a class designed with you in mind. Matt and Chris will be teaching the elemental basics of fly tying and will help you build solid fly tying foundations that will last a lifetime! All vises, tools, and materials will be provided. Class size is limited to 6 students. Cost is $50 for the two hour class. Call (512) 828-3474 or email to reserve your spot today!

5/16, Wednesday — Fly Tying Night @ Living Waters Fly Fishing
We meet at Pok E Jo’s BBQ in Round Rock for dinner at 6pm and then meet back at LWFF at 7pm for tying.

5/19, Saturday — 10:00 A.M. — Fly Fishing Brushy Creek – Round Rock’s Home Water
Presenter: Chris Johnson
This presentation will cover access, techniques, fly selection, hatches, species availability and much more — and all as it pertains to Brushy Creek! This little creek is Round Rock’s premiere fly fishery and can be incredibly productive when fished correctly! Come and learn some of our guide secrets and get an eye-full of fish pictures — Bring a notepad/pen as there will be plenty of time for questions and answers!

5/23, Wednesday — Fly Tying Night @ Living Waters Fly Fishing
We meet at Pok E Jo’s BBQ in Round Rock for dinner at 6pm and then meet back at LWFF at 7pm for tying.

5/24, Thursday — Living Waters Afterhours (Fishing) — April Location: Memorial Park in Round Rock (Brushy Creek)
Living Waters Afterhours is a standing event that will be held on the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month from 6:00 P.M.-8:00 P.M. — the event is completely free of charge. The 4th Thursday meeting is held on the water at a local fishery of our choosing that will be announced in advance. (once the time change in the fall shortens the days, instead of meeting on the water, we will meet in the shop for tying/fishing clinics until spring rolls back around with longer daylight hours). This time is designed to help increase your general knowledge base of certain fishing techniques and situations. In May, we will meet at Memorial Park in Round Rock (Brushy Creek) to fish at 6:00p.m. and will fish until dark-thirtyish. Matt and Chris will be available to help “guide” anyone who desires coaching in fly selection, presentation, and sight fishing. This is designed to be an on-the-water learning experience and we hope to see you there! If there are any questions, please call the shop at (512) 828-FISH.

5/26, Saturday — Rep Day with Eric Kraimer
Eric is our Simms, Scientific Angler, Ross Reels, BUFF, and Rainy’s factory rep. If you ever wanted to know all about the products we carry or learn the finer details of a certain product, then all you need to do is ask Eric — he knows his stuff and is very informative! We are looking forward to having him at the shop and hope to see all of you here. (Full event info will be posted on the website)

Work Gets In The Way … Thank Goodness

The month is crawling to a close, and it has been an interesting month from the confines of working out on the Shale, all night just about every night, and then hauling it back into town to work intensely for my photography clientele days. Sleep gets sandwiched in here and there – in four to six hour slices. The thing about working out on the Shale is that it’s the kind of work “you gotta’ get while the gettin’ is good,” and I am squeezing all the hours out of it to have a cushion for heading to the salt in May, and other climes the rest of the prime season.

From the shoreline of Lake Nocona, Texas, in April.

April Showers Bring May Flowers

As April winds down, it seems to have been one of the best spring weather months in memory. Rain, cool temperatures and patterns reminiscent of long ago, seem to give hope that the drought of 2010-2011 is ancient history for North Texas. There are pockets of severe damage and loss, and that’s a big deal, but an April without tornado outbreaks would be virtually unprecedented. IF there are any readers who suffered damage, comment, and we will see what we can do to help rebuilding (I do know people who can help as well). Now, if the rest of Texas finally gets a taste of our good rain fortunes …

Reading about Fishing and Fly Fishing

In order to bring readers of Texas Fly Caster a well rounded variety of informative articles, I do read plenty of supplemental publications on fly fishing and fishing in Texas. Of course there’s also the Texas Fly Reports website as a source of information as well as a behemoth of a busy site Texas Fishing Forum (TFF) that boasts traffic that reaches the level of profitable (a very hard thing to do). When it comes to the TFF, you will find more helpful people with better participation and better attitudes – OUTSIDE the fly fishing board categories.

One magazine that I have read for a very long time is “Texas Saltwater Fishing Magazine,” and in the last six months, that publication has gone through an amazing redesign – nearly from the ground up. Other fly fishers I have turned onto this magazine do regularly complain about vague content and amateur writing, but at least now it doesn’t look like a series of self serving fishing reports from guides up and down the Texas Gulf Coast. The further we get away from the Texas Gulf Coast, the more difficult this one is to find.

Another magazine that I recently swapped from paper to iPad versions is Fly Fishing in Salt Waters” – a magazine that is mostly Florida and east coast oriented and absolutely beautiful to read digitally. The great thing is that as long as I have my reader, I have all copies of the magazine with me. It sure beats the heck out of figuring out where to store old issues. The latest issue details megalops atlanticus, a fish that haunts and taunts every saltwater fly fisher who hasn’t had a shot at one, as well as those that have.

Lastly, just as a rule you’ll want to look at “Saltwater Sportsman” magazine, another I have converted to digital subscription. This one is predominately conventional tackle and also has offshore action, but just like reading the non-fly fishing discussion boards, it provides just as much (sometimes more) information as a fly oriented saltwater magazine.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

The weather has taken another unexpected turn in Texas, with record high temperatures out west – in the triple digits – and warm weather spreading very early to the rest of the State. Exceptionally strong south winds are feeding moisture from the coast all the way into the interior of the US, making for another volatile mix, and pushing fly fishing lakes to the limits. If int’s not windy, the water stays cloudy for days after (between blows), and even serves to push more water over the edges of the lake flats shorelines and into thick vegetation. Look for some amazing carp spawning action in the next few days. They may not eat, but I have caught them by hand this time of year – just to introduce myself.

I am hearing reports of healthy post-spawn largemouth bass action inland, and still some volatile weather along the coast. Looking ahead to next month in the Texas salt, we have a very good outlook for fishing just past the middle of the month – May 18-21.

North Central Texas lakes and reservoirs are still full and letting off some surplus here and there. The last I heard Denison Dam is still bringing down Lake Texoma, Ray Roberts has toned down their release and Lewisville Lake is still filled to the brim.

The Central Texas lakes that lead to the rivers that lead to the Texas Gulf Coast bay system may not be faring as well, but I haven’t checked the data on that. Fresh water in the bays would probably be a good (normal) thing this time of year – under normal conditions.

The Texas Gulf Coast continues to generate glowing “chamber of commerce” reports on quality and quantity of redfish and speckled trout being caught there. Plans are to report directly from the coast once a month for the next few months, yes, even with gas prices where they are nowadays. We have another episode of Kayak Fishing Journal scheduled for the coast in May, and this will bring the total episode count to two in the past thirteen months (not exactly blazing trails, but fun nonetheless). God willing, I will live long enough to see the Kayak Fishing Journal succeed. That clock is ticking.

In South Texas, I guess the late nights watching bass pros run around Amistad and Falcon have warped my brain into thinking I need to fly fish those legendary lakes. Every time I mention doing the Devil’s River and put the feelers out – I get more negative than positive information coming back in. That trip, like most, goes better with an open wallet.

If the opportunity arises I will also be headed to the Houston area during this prime time of year – to take a look at Conroe again, and see if I can get into some ponds, or some trouble in Galveston.

LOCAL ADVENTURES

This weekend is the Denton Arts & Jazz festival in Denton, Texas. There will be lots of art vendors, food, dance troops and music, lots and lots of music. If you haven’t heard of Los Lonely Boys (what’s wrong with you), they are the headline act Saturday night on the main stage. The event is jazz oriented, so Lee Rittenour headlines Friday night, and traditional closer Brave Combo closes things out Sunday night. The entire venue has been upgraded, expanded and rearranged. Get there early so you can reorient yourself to the new layout.

This weekend is the Muenster Fest in Muenster, Texas, and it’s an event I have heard a lot about but never attended. Suffice it to say, there will be German food, beer and vendors of all kinds there as well. It’s a small town along highway 82 west of Gainesville, and is very conducive to motorcycle riding attendees. Don’t drink and drive.

I am sure that there are many more festivals all over Texas at this time of year, but my horrible internet connection does not allow me to do much searching these nights. If you subscribe to my twitter feed @texasflycaster, I will tweet other opportunities and always fishing hotspots of course – via twitter.

CINCO de FLY-O

I will be having a fly tying party at the Fly Bar on May 5, so put that one on your calendar. These events are notoriously unsuccessful for some unknown reason (must be my sweet disposition), so if anyone is interested in current information on this event, check out the thread on www.texasflyreports.com. BYOB and BYOFTM (bring your own fly tying materials).

TPWD is having a fishing booth at the Mayfest event in Fort Worth’s Trinity River Park (I believe that’s correct), and TPWD Master Angler volunteers are needed for that event. It runs the 5th. and 6th. of May, and I have already volunteered for that Sunday slot. They may already have all the volunteers they need, but I won’t know before this goes into digital print. I visited this event last year, and it’s very small and definitely not a place to find a wide assortment of original art booths.

No matter what, you can find something to do if the wind or weather does not allow for the usual fly fishing adventures. With the great number of readers, I would hope a few nearby fly tiers can make the Cinco de Fly-O, but understand the economy and gas costs these days make peripheral fun an extreme luxury.

NOTE – Time is getting away this week, so look for a report on Lake Nocona fly fishing, and Spanish Fort, Texas, this weekend or the beginning of next week as internet connections allow.

NOTE – Hey fellow fly fishers! I am finally back from the patch, and checking e mails, pasting new stories into posts, sizing and putting images into the posts to com out in the next week and more …

Here’s an informational e mail from Rob Woodruff that just came in:

TROUT LAB
Cimarron River, New Mexico
June 2 & 3, 2012

This unique class examines trout physiology, meteorology, fluviology, entomology and other natural sciences from a fly fishing point of view.

The objective of the class is to teach fly fishers to analyze the natural variables presented in the course of a typical day on the water and to adjust fly selection, presentation and tactics in order to maximize success.

The course consists of a Saturday classroom session and a Sunday on-the-water session.

The Cimarron River and the towering Sangre de Christo Mountains provide the perfect venue for this class.
Early June is a great time to fish the Cimarron and the lower section of the Rio Costilla.

Eagle Nest, NM
Tuition- $225.00
Registration deadline May 23. Class size is limited and previous classes have sold out.

Contact me for questions or registration information,

Rob Woodruff & Doc Thompson
Orvis Endorsed Fly Fishing Guides