Monday Afternoon – Did You Read Friday’s Killer Story on Carp?

| June 27, 2016

fly fishing sand bass carp lake ray roberts texas fly fishing

Good afternoon and welcome to the sidewalk! I intentionally let the controversial story, my opinion piece on bow killing carp, to linger awhile this morning so that the bulge of readers that show up Monday would have a chance to read it before it slips from consciousness – and down the page. Monday is the most popular read day at Texas Fly Caster. Enough of the backcast … let her fly.

AROUND HERE

There’s a serious amount of change going on on the water around here. The drop on Lake Ray Roberts has put the carp into a tailspin, and conditions have brought out the huge schools of sand bass to play on the lake. Fish who don’t run as shallow, specifically buffalo, are all over the flats flaunting their ability to ignore flies of any flavor. How frustrating they are!

Largemouth bass are everywhere to be found, and schools of schoolies are becoming common place on points and roving around in coves. It doesn’t take long to distinguish sand bass breaking topwater from schools of bass doing the same thing – it just looks different. Maybe this has been commonplace in the past on Ray Roberts, and maybe being on a boat has allowed me to finally witness it, but this is the first time I’ve seen it on this lake, and it’s becoming commonplace.

This sand bass action is early and late, and the birds have not yet tuned into the surface action, so looking for birds is not the sign of fish – yet. The schools of small sand bass greatly outnumber the large sand bass — in school sizes and numbers in the schools. That said, I did find a school of “trophy” size sand bass Saturday evening, and we followed them for about a half-mile.

If you are a fishing dad /mom, and looking to get a son or daughter into fishing, or even better, fly fishing, I am going to do some sundowners that run from 5-pm to darkish for a very special rate – conventional or fly, starting this week. We will be specifically targeting these sand bass. Call me at 9four0-3eight0-0four0eight for details today!

If you were thinking about booking a carp trip, please take another look at the “GUIDE” page to check calendar dates. The available dates have changed considerably.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week, but remember to check back here during the week for new content, videos and information on fly fishing in Texas.

AND YOUR HOTSPOT IS!

If you just want to go chase sand bass whack-a-mole style, your point of contact is [ppw id=”136094811″ description=”Local Sand Bass HOTSPOT” price=”.10″]at the Ray Roberts Dam. The action there has been turning on about 6-pm, and just keeps cranking from there. It would be a long haul via kayak, but with a creative launch point (just ask me), you can get to them. They are biting on tiny shiners by the thousands, and any fly that is bright, and / white with a touch of red is absolutely guaranteed. Use a jig hooked Clouser and you’re in the money. Be prepared to get spiked by their fins unless you are prepared. These fish are at max energy output right now, and catching two-at-a-time is no problem! I am looking for someone who knows how / when to dispatch these fish to eliminate the red streak in the meat. Anybody?[/ppw]

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Category: Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing For Carp, Fly Fishing for Largemouth Bass, Hot Spot, North Texas, Paid Reading Content

About the Author ()

https://www.shannondrawe.com is where to find my other day job. I write and photograph fish stories professionally, and for free here! Journalist by training. This site is for telling true fishing news stories, unless otherwise noted.

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