Rain is coming down this morning, and it’s a pale shade of grey outside our new windows here in Denton.

TO DO LIST

If you were thinking about hitting Lake Fork For the Bass Fly Fishing World Championships, you never know – it could be a bright sunny day at kickoff tomorrow morning. Last year, we were pummeled by severe thunder,lightning and rain the night before we paddled out to do battle with largemouth bass, and found our quarry had retreated to locations unknown to us. Defeat was ours. Read all about it at “Lake Fork: The Devil You Don’t”,“The Devil You Know vs. The Devil You Don’t'”, and this year’s release on the tournament – “Bass Fly World Championships Lake Fork”.

When the weather goes this way, it really is a grand time for exploration and rediscovery. I’ve had ideas about Lewisville Lake, found launch points, and watched intently as the lake level seems to be remaining pretty constantly at conservation level. Looking out the window, I don’t think there was enough rain to alter that assessment, but who knows how much it rained elsewhere. The idea that interests me most, is

revisiting the cut in the old dam on Lewisville Lake

, a place where I caught plenty of largemouth bass, an occasional palmetto (wiper in northern-speak), crappie and sand bass (this spot is where I set waterbody record for small, but largest, hybrid). The levels were so low that it was easy to walk to and across the cut. Not any more. Factor in the snakes, in walking across the top of the dam, and it’s a kayak reach with huge benefits of speed and access. And that’s just one idea I have for Lewisville.

Lake Ray Roberts is a known entity, and the northern reaches have been on my list since the end of last season. The vegetation and structure and clarity is the best on the entire lake – up north, way, way up north.

Oklahoma is calling my name these days, and a glowing report on smallmouth and largemouth activity on the enigmatic Blue River has me working to complete my weekend projects in order to get there first. I have a complete report from Oklahoma Wildlife coming out Sunday.

THE WELCOME MAT

I know there are some new locals reading, and welcome to you – from Montana to Texas is a heck of an adjustment. To help you in you assimilation, you must start with what goes in, in this case what goes in your ears. Strangely enough, while you are here, my stepkid is in Bozeman, Montana, taking in the scene there, and according to him, “getting tattoos and watching movies.” I am still trying to forgive him for not knowing Bozeman is fly fishing mecca. He’s a Boulder, Coloradan, and we all know there’s no reason to know any other geography besides where Lyons and upper Boulder Creek are located.

Also, to you new locals, enjoy this weather because it really isn’t like this anymore. We had extraordinary heat that succumbed to this rain respite. North Texas is no place to be in a Texas summer, and now that Austin and the Hill Country, the capital of Texas fly fishing, are getting some precipitation, it won’t be long to pack the tent and head south. If you want accompaniment (flies, rods and knowledge) in going to the salt, I am good for that too – just not certified to guide on salt.

THE SENSES

For newcomers and those relocated to Texas and looking for fly fishing cultural integration, we should probably start with a direct connection to the brain – the ears. Tonight in Denton, Texas, you can get a sense of what the genre “Texas Music” really is, when Joe Ely takes the stage at Dan’s Silver Leaf in the vital and growing (but still quaint) scene that lies on the east side of Downtown Denton, Texas. Joe Ely is top shelf talent in the “Texas Music” scene, and the ambience, a no smoking show, all combine to make Dan’s the place to be tonight.

With sound comes taste, and Denton, Texas, has a couple of newer places to contend for your buds. Mellow Mushroom has fantastic Italian fare, and a huge beer selection that most likely even contains Moose Drool! There’s a new (food-less) beer garden that is located on the site, and inside an historic house formerly known as the the Shipley Manor – the Oak Street Draft House could, after a couple, make you think you are in Boulder, Colorado, before the Californication. For a quieter time with wine and small selection of cigars, as well as a smoking room, stop at the Cellar 22, which gets its name from license plate number 22 from … Teton County Wyoming. Full circle, almost.

CHORES

We all have our respective weekend lists. Thankfully, my lists run all week long, and I have the job that gives me a chance to; plow, fertilize, purchase and plant in the garden / remember Mother’s Day / stock the bar / and a paltry few other things.

The other “chores” are to install the kayak saddles on the roof rack so my kayak doesn’t go sliding all across those cheap and virtually worthless nylon covered insulation foam kayak pads – like the one’s sold at Mariner Sails (today’s DO NOT BUY) -

Do not purchase this style of pad from Mariner Sails, or anywhere, unless your kayak has a flat bottom.

Because of the dynamic shapes of the hulls of my boats, I decided to go with the Yakima Mako Saddles, and have a pair of these to install today -

Accurately measure the distance between your crossbars, and then measure the distance between the saddles while your kayak is upside down on the ground if you want to get close on the first try of positioning these. The great thing about these, besides the fact they aren’t Mariner Sails worthless pads, is they keep your kayak forward aligned – pointed straight into the wind.

The next chore is tying flies. I was distressed to open my fly box while fishing with this undisclosed person on an undisclosed lake (pictured below), and find that I was out of my increasingly famous and seasonally deadly double bunnies – and we’re not talking Playboy here. The one double bunny I had left was shriveled, lifeless and limp until moisture was added … undisclosed lake water that is. The double bunny comes to life once it gets soaked, and I will put it up, head-to-head, against a plastic worm anywhere, anytime.

Have a great weekend!

Publisher’s Note – Reminder that anywhere I am invited to fish, is on the record, unless we agreed to keep dirty little secrets in advance. That’s how this site started, and that’s how it will always be. I have kept your spots quiet a few times, but mostly because they would never have been hit anyway. The only exception comes when being formally guided, and I will defer to a guide’s preferences every time. I trust that those of you scheduled to go out with me will do the same.

This begins a series of posts about fly fishing lakes west-northwest of the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex. We will be starting from Montague County and branch out from there. I’M SURE SOME LATE BREAKING fly fishing opportunities will show up between posts, so keep checking back to complete the picture of this part of Texas.

FLY FISHING IN AND AROUND MONTAGUE COUNTY TEXAS

You’ve heard the song that goes, “The stars at night are big and bright – deep in the heart of Texas” before. Funny thing is, if you think you are in the heart of Texas, you aren’t alone. Texas is a big state and big states have big hearts, or at least widespread claims on the heart of their state. Hearts do come in all sizes and shapes after all.

Chances are, if you are in the vicinity of the heart of Texas, the stars aren’t bright very much anymore. Texas, along with all its other types of pollution, has an epidemic of light pollution. Growth once again inserts and twists a double-edged knife.

In North Central Texas, we are flush with water. Lakes are full and frothing like a warm beer in a cold glass. Creeks are calming and clearing, but still running, and the ground is saturated. However, you would be surprised to go just slightly west of the Metroplex along highway 287 that runs toward the panhandle. As you head northwest, you will hit Montague County, a county experiencing a modern boom that makes those Spindletop photographs make sense.

You will also find some interesting lakes that are far enough away from large population concentrations to be healthy and populated with fish that haven’t seen many flies pass their way. Lakes I have fished out here include Amon G. Carter and Lake Nocona. While there’s no shortage of Texas crude in Montague County, there is still a serious drought hanging so close to DFW’s abundance that it’s absolutely amazing. Lakes on the list to seriously fish include Arrowhead and Moss Lake (not in Montague County).

I documented some of my lake explorations last summer, July 2011, the summer from hell – a time when drought was widespread, and no matter where you went that’s what you expected to find. Now, due to the good fortunes of being back in the oil fields, I have a chance to explore those lakes again under much more favorable calendar and weather conditions.

I am hopeful that you will enjoy and benefit from these upcoming posts, and find them more rounded – with information and ideas for non fly fishers as well as up-to-date technical information on where and how to catch fish on the fly in these lakes. There is plenty of history to be found in this part of Texas – Native American culture, the Chisolm Trail and so much more. If you have any more ideas on search and fish opportunities, feel free to suggest. If you want to go fish with me on these lakes, let me know while this unique opportunity still exists.

I love the shallow depth of field on this image, virtually out of focus, and the back has the fish identified as a trout. If that’s the case, it’s a Texas trout.

As a professional photographer and loco fly fisher, I love when photography and fly fishing blend together in some new and unexpected ways. A lot of what is happening these days in fly fishing photography is dependent on exotic locations and exotic equipment, and often times not much else. That said, there’s some very creative work being done in the fly fishing industry that relies on the photographer more than the gear or location – and that’s what I like.

A while back, I was browsing a store in Dallas and came across some old fishing photographs. My first thought was, “Wouldn’t these be fun to collect? They’re everywhere, and they can be had for a reasonable cost.” I filed that away under “not another diversion,” and pretty much forgot about it until I was back at that same store recently, and found some very affordable pictures … and something else.

It looks like she’s used to cleaning fish, and carrying that new outboard motor. How much more American does it get?

I began to not just look at the photographs casually, as a picture, but as a time piece, a document, and most critically – a study of the psychology of fishing. These images are timeless in a way that pride, happiness and satisfaction have been with man since time began. We know exactly how these people feel, don’t we?

We / they may have caught a “big one” a “stringer full” a “limit.” Maybe the lady in that photograph caught those fish, and maybe the man did, and had her hold them up for the camera. All I know is she has great biceps! And that’s just it; as I look at these, I always see something different – a reel, a location, a bicep or a misidentified fish name on the back of a print written with an old fountain pen.

Someday the images we make of our fish will be old, flat and two-dimensional. They will be replaced by popup holograms, and 3D images that have a camera going right into a largemouth bass’ mouth. That’s coming sooner rather than later, and our old digital images will look … old, just like these images do. However, one thing that doesn’t change is the look on a person’s face when they hold that fish. Pride, conquest, or victory … all could apply, and many more descriptions can apply.

It looks like a great stringer of sand bass. Then you look at the roots of the tree and wonder if there’s a drought, or is the shoreline always like this? Deeper looks at these old pictures can reveal all kinds of details.

I have just started this “collection,” so I hope you enjoy the finds, and if you find any old fish photography – feel free to share.

NOTE – These were all purchased, and I don’t know any of these people. If there was additional information on the back, I scanned that and included it as well. With the reach of the internet, maybe you found these antique fishing photos, and know someone here.