TEXAS FLY FISHING NEWS & ADVENTURES

Flinging Some Spring Ideas for Fun and Entertainment on the Sidewalk

| April 23, 2018 | 1 Comment

Weather Keeps Fly Fishers Circling

Goodness gracious. Can we please get some weather pattern that sticks around for more than a day, please??

Today, probably by the time you read this, I am out there somewhere scouting the flats, and looking for those tell tail signs. But the reality is, even with a potential client in from South Carolina for a one-day-shot Wednesday, the odds are still bad. We have a cool front coming in on Wednesday and I don’t think the weather today is in any way similar to Wednesday’s weather.

So it’s time to look out for ourselves, as many of the millennials (I know) are so good at, and head elsewhere this week. You may recall that list of locations I threw down in anticipation of leaving fish to find fish? We literally – lit-rally as they say – have to get out of the way of the weather this week as we get another shakedown Wednesday.

Just like the hopelessly optimistic folks that brought you the Athens Fly Fishing Festivus too early in the year, there are some more local events that fall during this (taint) time of year that are worthy of note – not for their fly fishing, but for the cultural phenomenon you can only find in a college town like Denton, Texas. The most noteworthy is the Denton Arts & Jazz Fest, and the second is something of a “sleeper event,” called Aubrey Pasture Pickin in a beautiful pasture outside of Aubrey (much closer to the lake).

DENTON ARTS & JAZZ

Around here, we shorten the name of the Denton Arts & Jazz to Jazz Fest, and their musical lineup is something to behold. Saturday night, one of my all-time favorite bands Los Lobos takes the main stage, while Sunday night is considered the headliner spot, and that belongs to the legendary Michael Brecker. Their “Arts” have been trending down over the years mostly due to the heavy vig taken by the event to keep the music free, but there are still some fine artists that have this event on their calendar.

ANNUAL PASTURE PICKIN

The Pasture Pickin is the brainchild of a friend of ours and her husband. He’s now a widower, as she died quite unexpectedly and quickly last year. That makes it such a bittersweet event for so many of us who were lucky enough to know her – even if it was for the shortest of time as in our case. Our circles overlapped for less than a year, but the impact is still being felt. This is probably the last Pasture Pickin event after a nearly two decade run. You’ll find a wide range of stuff – horse trailers, tons of antiques, unique art, and a lot of pickings that come from barns, garages and storage. It’s almost impossible to walk away empty handed. If I have the time, I may be able to add some steel work to the mix.

Thanks for reading, and I am planning to do a simulcast of this week’s Texas Fly Fishing Report – either on Facebook (commies), or using Periscope. If you don’t already have the Periscope APP, you might think about going and getting that one. This is new ground no one on the fly scene has dared (I’m sooo brave!) to, or figured out how to, tread. The idea is to get some interaction – QUESTIONS – while doing the standard report. If you want to e mail me questions now, you can do that as well. If you have your own reporting, you can certainly send that as well. I will run your fish photos – if you send those in to me – on the report as well.

Monday Morning and We Survived

| April 16, 2018 | 0 Comments

Texas Fly Fishing and April Events in Texas

 

Good Monday Morning, and welcome to another Yo-Yo week of weather and fly fishing spring give-and-take. This weather … hailstorms, wind damage, sunny and cold. What next, pray tell?

I guess many of us residing at, or above, the I30 line got spoiled by two past years of mild winters and equally mild springs. What we have here is part of the new reality – unpredictability.

ON UNPREDICTABILITY

(aka. You Thought Trump was Bad? Try Texas in Springtime.)

These unpredictable days, coupled with a weekly window shortened by three days, mean chances will have to be taken to do the research we had in mind for other fly fishing locations – listed earlier in the year. We are just going to have to roll the dice, and try to keep the damage to a minimum.

AS PER Lake Ray Roberts, and fly fishing that fertile field? It was beautiful, and untouched by carp as of last week. The water is still cold, and if they are just offshore; they are well hidden by the wind CHURNED water. The flats are greening up nicely though. I am still searching for that snakehead I saw there a couple of years ago, but I bet that was a once-in-a-lifetime sighting.

PILING ON

April has its share of public events as well. Already halfway through the month, some of the best events are yet to come.

Somehow, I am hoping the folks at the other Texas fly fishing related festivuses have learned their lessons this year. Your events are TOO EARLY in the year – in this part of the United States of America. That goes for the Athens Fly Fishing Festivus as well. Mid-April should be a minimum, with May-June being the right time for this Country. Question is; will they ever learn?

Putting Pilot Point on the Map – Friday The 13th. Fly Fishing and More

| April 13, 2018 | 0 Comments

Putting Pilot Point Texas on the map as a Fly Fishing Family Destination

Texas Fly Fishing Report

Got your black cat bone, and your salt over the shoulder while walking under a ladder? It’s pushing 9am CST, and still dark here in North Texas. Yes, the weather is beating us down once again as she has pretty much all week.

The wind we’ve been having this week isn’t a novelty, charming or wild-west romantic. It’s a physical beating that even went on through last night. Our lakes and ponds have been churned like the entire contents have been run through a ronco bass-o-matic. Even if the wind stops this very minute, it will be a couple of days before the color is back to normal (used to take a lot longer before the zeebs).

I did get on the water this week for just a little time before the wind kicked on, and I can say the water temperatures are still cold enough to be slowing the spring bite. Of course, you who fly fish further south are probably having a better time of it already – at least as far as temperatures go.

This spring is unique, and I don’t remember one to compare this to. It may not have been cold enough this winter to kill our yard bugs, but it was intensely cold enough to cool the water down. I measured it  at 58-degrees on Tuesday on Lake Ray Roberts. And the wind …

CAN’T FISH? CAN PLAY!

For those readers who can’t fish due to the weather, but are looking to get out and play? I have been assembling a promotional on things to do, see and experience in Pilot Point, Texas, as well as all around Lake Ray Roberts, Texas. I ran into five – THAT’S FIVE – University of North Texas students fishing out on a neighborhood pond earlier this week, and NONE, ZERO had ever heard of Lake Ray Roberts. Talk about PISS POOR TPWD PROMOTION? This is it. I am betting the number of students that don’t know about Ray Roberts is in the 95-percent range, and when they heard it is $7-dollars a head to get in? a complete shutdown. There’s something wrong with that picture.

Lone Star Lodge Pilot Point Texas

This new thinking came about after Conway Bowman and friends stayed at the (relatively) newly named Lone Star Lodge and Marina last September. (Okay, the “Marina” is more like a dock actually.) I was so impressed with the improvements at the Lone Star Lodge – that it seemed like the most lively and viable it has been in many years. That’s not easy for a motel – lodge inside a State park! The restaurant business will always be hobbled by the fact that alcohol is outlawed, and public consumption is also an offense.

Pilot Point Texas Downtown

However, there have been improvements, and Pilot Point has made great progress in general. Maybe it’s a good thing the tollway was rerouted through Prosper and Celina instead of Pilot Point. You won’t hear any complaints from the locals – THAT MUCH IS FOR SURE.

WWI Dog Tags on the Square Gazebo

The “TO DO” list for Pilot Point has actually gotten so good, I am assembling a family package of information so anyone who wants to drive barely an hour to escape the Dallas Messtroplex, can book themselves into the Lodge, and hit the deck of the skiff, and not worry about their family having their own time away from the hustle-bustle. Nowadays, staying in Pilot Point, and booking a skiff outing with me for one of your weekend days? It really is a win-win proposition. Sometimes the best of things are right under your nose, you just have to get it out of the air.

Downtown Pilot Point Texas Destination

Fly Fishing: DESTINATION PILOT POINT TEXAS

The new list of activities and events to be found in Pilot Point is actually so long, that it is going to take a couple of weeks to get it done! Let me leave you with a preliminary list of TO DO links for Pilot Point though:

Thanks for reading this Friday, and we will be ready to crank out another of those Texas Fly Fishing Reports on the YouTube Channel next week – if the weather allows (it’s an outdoor recording in case you’ve never seen it).

Monday Morning Sidewalk – Beyond The Weekend To Forget

| April 9, 2018 | 0 Comments

Putting Out The Fire With Gasoline

What a weekend to forget, wasn’t it? My sympathy goes out for those who got themselves ramped up and ready for the Lake Athens Fly Fishing Festivus, only to have the day blasted by cold weather and high winds. I haven’t heard anything from Johnny on the Lake, but I was out in it (not fishing) and the strength and intensity of this cool front qualifies as “freakish” to my way of thinking about early April. And thanks to environmental regulatory rollbacks, we are headed toward worse extremes, more unpredictable seasons and, really, who knows what else?

Good Monday Morning! I appreciate your staying off the weed(s), off the grass and on the weekly Monday Morning Sidewalk column. It is still the most popular day for fly fishers to land here, and so it’s the one column I make sure to try and get DONE and IN on time.

I was wide awake Saturday night (as opposed to being half conscious at the recording time) when I cued up the first episode of the new season of “Texas Insider Fishing Report” to see Brie’s baby bump and a few other subtle changes to that show. They ARE making improvements, and if you are an offshore person – you should NEVER miss this show. I did have a hard time telling whether their reporting has taken a turn toward over hype, or if the coast is really as HOT as they say it is. The reports divide the state in wide horizontal swaths for the most part, and that’s no favor to the fishermen doing the reporting; Texas is a wide state! There’s a balance of freshwater fishing reported as well, and things are apparently just as HOT inland as they are on the Texas Gulf Coast. Regardless of whether the reports are true or hyped, the show did nothing but pour gasoline on the fire around here. Once we get warmer mornings, and the wind stays down? NOTE – There’s a delay before these episodes show up on YouTube, but subscribe and get notified when they are posted.

THE WEEK AHEAD

Wanna go round in circles? The weather isn’t done with us just yet, but if you are a paid YouTube Subscriber – you got access to two detailed fly fishing hotspots that are a short drive from Dallas or Fort Worth, Texas.

If you were looking for a Texas Fly Fishing Report on the YouTube Channel, I have decided not to do those unless there are changes in the reporting. There was very little measurable difference between the last week of March 2018 and the first week of April … and so it goes.

The SPRING WINDOW is getting smaller with every passing day of bad conditions, so that means a few things; FIRST – Our mascot Mr. Finn – has yet to step aboard the boat. SECOND – We are going to have to blow right past fly fishing what we know (Lake Ray Roberts), and GO to that list of other nearby lakes RIGHT AWAY. And the timing for rising gas prices? Could it be more perfect?

Fly Fishing Report Friday Festivus

| April 6, 2018 | 0 Comments

Fishing Report Texas Fly Fishers Festivus Now

Today’s Texas Fly Fishing Report will be in writing instead of appearing on YouTube. I don’t see any reason to beat the same drum with only slightly different conditions than we had in the past two to three weeks.

CONDITIONS

Weather. Weather. Weather. About the time I shout “Spring Has Sprung!” … old man winter tries to exhale one last time, and blow away our optimism over the weather we have been experiencing (on-and-off) these last few weeks. Locally, there’s apparently a battle royale brewing – between advancing cold air and the warm southern breezes (yeah I know, 40-mph isn’t exactly a breeze) – and tonight or tomorrow it will all come to a smackdown in this region. Latest word is the warm air is mounting a firm resistance.

LOCAL

I hit Ray Roberts yesterday, and the details of that are available to subscribers on my “Private” list of Texas Fly Caster YouTube watchers. Hint to you subscribers – I am sending these videos to you to view, so please do. Otherwise, we need to make room (in the 200 person limit) for others. Not only will you paid subscribers get details on carp on Ray Roberts right now, but there’s a HIGHLY detailed map for kayak fishing a local park pond in the City of Denton, Texas. CONTACT ME to subscribe. You’ll be glad you did!

FESTIVUS

We have another of those dreadfully named fly fishing “Festivals” this weekend. Have you noticed; that word has gotten under my skin? I am renaming all fly fishing festivals (which they are not) to “Festivus” in honor of George’s Dad.

THIS WEEKEND’s FESTIVUS is in Athens, Texas, and is either going to be a boom or a bust – based on which weather pattern wins the day. In my humble opinion, most if not all of these North Texas tournaments occur way too early in the year. School is still in session, and prime weather, prime fly fishing is still weeks and sometimes months away.

Athens Fly Fishing Festivus

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