We would like to invite all of our customers to attend Fly-A-Thon hosted at Living Waters Fly Fishing this coming Saturday! Fly-A-Thon began in January and was designed to generate fly donations to Casting for Recovery and Reel Recovery.

These two fly fishing based charities both work with cancer patients and take a number of individuals to fish premier destinations to aid in their recovery.

Both of these charities need flies for the participants to fish with on their retreats and I am proud to announce that so far, through the generous donations of fly tiers in several different countries, more than 2,000 flies have already been donated!

Come and join us for the Fly-A-Thon Grand Finale this weekend as we tie up as many flies as possible for the last day of the event! Living Waters Fly Fishing will be donating over 1,000 hooks to the cause and all you have to do is bring your vise, tools, and some materials!

There will be fly tying demos held thoughout the day by many skilled fly tiers and we are sure that you will leave the event with more fly tying knowledge than you came with! We will see you this Saturday for this all-day event!

Anglers from novice to expert will gather at TFFC to celebrate the sport of fly-fishing. Learn the basics of fly-tying and casting, then fish for rainbow trout in our on-site ponds and streams. Attend seminars and demonstrations led by fly-fishing professionals. Visit with vendors of fly-fishing services and equipment.

Fly-fishing clubs from across Texas will be on hand to help anyone who wants to learn or improve existing skills. Equipment will be provided for casting classes, but participants are welcome to bring their own gear.

Fly-fishing clubs and vendors of fly-fishing equipment are invited to exhibit at this event. To reserve space, contact James Booker, Events Coordinator, or call 903/670-2266.

Brush a zebra mussel with a fly, and it could bite back! Photo by – Austin Anderson

In a case of what I’ll call “friendly fire” Channel 8 WFAA, Dallas, a Belo Corporation, did an story about the history of water from Texoma being transferred into Lake Lavon. “Friendly fire interviews” (my phrase), as opposed to an “ambush” interview, start as a friendly interview, then turns to take aim at the person they were at first friendly toward.

The friendly fire victim, TPWD biologist Bruce Hysmith, was interviewed and put on the defensive when Channel 8′s David Schechecter pressed Hysmith on why he didn’t get past the receptionist at the Texas Water Board with a warning about finding zebra mussels in Texoma, and used e mail to notify the North Texas Municipal Water District.

None of us thought our worst fishing nightmare would look like this. Photo by – Austin Anderson

As I recall, the issue really was / is water. The NTMWD wants to keep it flowing, and they would never take it onto themselves to stop pumping. The only they would have stopped pumping is if TPWD told the NTMWD to do so. I believe TPWD, if I recall, didn’t think they had the authority to stop the water transfers, and left it up to NTMWD. Get the picture? Hot potato. Channel 8 portrays the delay in stopping water flow as being like unleashing the hounds of hell, which is probably hardly the case when one zebra mussel is found on one boat dock cable.

This story ran on Channel 8 around Thanksgiving, and the most ominous thing about it is the comment from the biologist at UT Arlington zebra mussel expert, Robert McMahon, saying, “you don’t want to know what’s going to happen …” Ouch, this is going to leave a mark.

The questions I have are –
1) do zebra mussels transport via water transfer?
2) has anyone simply looked at the water below the Denison Dam? Are zebra mussels there?

Here is where you can find the Channel 8 story on zebra mussels from November 29,2011. I have interviewed Hysmith once or twice for Lone Star Outdoor News in the past, and he’s been nothing but helpful in my gathering of information.

I am left wondering just how the zebra mussel infestation on Texoma is going to turn out. Should we be doing all the fishing possible before Texoma becomes an inert wasteland for its fishery? I will go ahead and contact zebra mussel expert Robert McMahon at University of Texas Arlington to see if he can finish the nightmare for us.