Unless you are new to Texas Fly Caster, you already know the soft spot here for one of the hardest fighting southern freshwater fish – the hybrid or palmetto bass.

I fielded text messages, e mails and phone calls through last month, all with one common theme; WHERE ARE THE HYBRIDS?!!

I think it’s deeply documented through the history of Texas Fly Caster posts on hybrids, or as I believe they should be named “H Bombs,” that it takes certain circumstances to turn on the action in certain places off the deep lakes. It takes temperature, season and most critically – FLOW – to trigger H Bomb action in rivers and creeks. Their run up from Lewisville to the dam at Ray Roberts is especially dependent on flow as hybrids have a obstacle course to navigate, and it is only navigable with high water.

Armed with the text that the “dam was open” earlier in the week, I managed to get over to my favorite fly fishing spot for hybrids, and was immediately schooled on what makes them so great.

A vicious bite that nearly yanked the line out of my strip hand, and as I pulled tight the line sang out like a ukulele string, and this I don’t remember seeing; a mist trail behind the line as the fish ran for current. In this H Bomb’s case, resistance was not futile because I had not tied on one of my deep penetrating Tiemco Clousers, and after about a five minute tug-of-war, one last head shake and it was loose. I changed flies, and did manage to land one in the three to four pound range before I had to leave. Hybrid action is so furious that it still gives me a heck of a rush, and losing one is intensified by the rush.

There was plenty of bait rolling by, dead and alive, so before I went back yesterday, I matched a new Clouser white/white on a killer hook – the only hook for hybrids – the Tiemco 600SP, and let it fly.

I caught two of these youngsters, almost identical, before I had to do a research trip to the flats for carp midday. Feel free to ask if you would like more detail on catching these guys at the Ray Roberts Dam because believe me, there are more details. The Tiemco Clouser never let a single fish go, until I removed it from the two hybrid and two huge sand bass’ mouths.

There isn’t much time left to get a shot at a creek running hybrid, and you don’t want to waste too much time trying to zero this one in. Time is now a factor for this bite as the stars begin to decline and the calendar is against it. It certainly doesn’t stack up to previous year’s runs of H Bombs, but one is better than none when it comes to these beasts!

Talk about a sleepless night! North Texas was caught in the middle of a “train effect” line of storms (south to north) that brought the most amazing rumbles of thunder I have ever heard. It also brought nearly four inches of rain to the immediate area, and more or less to the region. And I guess the train is going to pass over again tonight and tomorrow, with confident predictions for more rain from the talking weatherheads.

I let the second anniversary of “the one that got away but didn’t” pass with little fanfare on the 15th., but amazingly we could be in line for a repeat if the lake keeps rising, and they open the gates. Looking back, I guess the story about “the one that god away, but didn’t” hurt enough that I hardly spoke of it, or maybe I just forgot where I spoke of it – time can blur sharp memories. Believe me, everyone is watching the data, and the e mails have already started flying.

Hybrid bass in close are hard to beat, and it doesn’t happen often enough to get used to, or anywhere near predictable. The elements are lining up though, and with the intervention of man – open those damn dam gates! – we are looking at a spring event.

In case you are new to the hybrid bass, or palmetto if you prefer, here’s what you could be in for:
2010 Hybrid Bass Action
HYBRIDS ON

ONE LAST CHANCE

The fish gods shone on me on the next to last day of 2011, and I was able to put one new waterbody record, recognized by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, in the books for Lewisville Lake, Texas, for a palmetto bass on fly rod.

I found a nice spot with a natural wadeable area where the old Lewisville Dam was cut long ago back in early November, and drove down to hit that a few times when the wind surprisingly switched out of the north to the south. It created a natural funnel that tightened the bait run, and every evening, just before dark. it was on. And it yielded just about every fish under the sun; active and fat largemouth, sand bass, crappie, and on one trip a nice hybrid. One of my guests to that spot scored her personal best largemouth bass, and whenever it warmed (way above averages), the action was downright good.

I decided to take the time on December 30 to go back and just see if the hybrid was a fluke. The weather has to be just so, and by now this “wadeable” spot is three or four feet deep (that could be even better). It was a bit cooler than usual, but I tied on a shallow black/black jig-hook Clouser and let it fly.

Big enough to be worth recording, a 5.25 pound palmetto bass caught on Lewisville Lake, Texas.

A hybrid take is much like a striper’s take … only better. Hybrids, or palmetto bass, have a “never-say-die” attitude that can include finger biting to the point of leaving a mark. Now that’s a fish. When they get close enough to see you, get ready for chapter two, because it’s on again. That’s just in their jumbled DNA.

I was only after one fish, and after about thirty minutes, I felt that wall grab my fly. After a typical five minute tussle I was able to land the lake fly rod record for Lewisville Lake, Texas. Now, make no mistake, this is not a big hybrid by lake standards, and the ten pound hybrid I caught at Ray Roberts Lake Dam came out of Lewisville and swam all the way up the Trinity to the Dam. Now that was a fish! That ten pound hybrid would have been a Texas State fly rod record, but went undocumented for reasons out of my control. As I recall, that fish had a 17″ girth!

This is one record I will spend some time trying to get closer to a double digit – if that opportunity comes around again. Can you tell I like palmettos?