Marching on the Monday Morning Sidewalk – Smooth Sailing
Good Monday Morning, and first day of March, to you all! I trust you have recovered from the Fourth Annual Texas Fly Fishing & Brewfest held last Friday and Saturday? I know I am recovering, not from the Fest – that I did not attend – but from the weather that once again prevented the idea of getting out and throwing a line from even happening. What is the result? More planning of course, and that is such a dangerous thing, isn’t it?
We’re now staring straight into the eyes of March, but we must still beware of things like freak snowstorms, fake spring and false reports. It is another of those months where we chomp at the bit … another taint month. It taint spring, and now it taint winter either. On the calendar? The first day of spring, March 20, is so close we can smell it. We’re actually looking for other signs though, other than a calendar number warped by global warming. Signs like our redbuds popping or water temperatures rising to that magic number of 60-degrees.
We sometimes fail to grasp that spring has already sprung further south in the huge State of Texas. In an effort to be more “inclusive” of the rest of Texas’ fly fishing opportunities, I will refer you back to the first paragraph’s mention of “plans,” and start to drop hints on spring planning for our Texas ventures. First, and running on parallel tracks with about three other substantial projects, is the organization of our look at lakes to fly fish in other areas of Texas. I reached out to try and “Pattern” the first batch of lakes – Fayette, Bastrop, Sommerville and Stillhouse – by “Calendar Patterning” in a public forum post – Calendar Patterns – on the one-time huge Texas Fishing Forum (remember when forums were popular?).
Our setup for spring is happening right now, as I write this sentence. It’s raining in a way that will help bring the lakes – most near and dear to us – UP from levels dropped by a dry winter. Lake drops in winter are actually good, especially in places we found choked by vegetation for almost all of last year. This winter pattern fits well within what makes a pattern for a spectacular spring and summer of fly fishing around here in 2021. Of course, it could all still go horribly wrong. I could really use the knowledge of you, the readers who show up here at an alarming rate (numbers are good!) – – to help with the “Calendar Patterning” of those first Texas lakes, and for the record – not the LAST Texas lakes we plan to crease this year. The end result of this effort will be to bring you more information you can use to catch fish on fly – potentially a LOT CLOSER to you than they are to me!
One of the Texas water veins that has had little coverage from me is our vast, fertile, exciting and adventurous Texas River Systems. If you think lakes depend on weather? you haven’t seen anything yet. Texas River’s dependence on “FLOWS” is what makes and breaks those opportunities – one river at a time, and one region at a time. As Texas spring break approaches, you can bet the conversations about rivers will ramp up. Texas university students remain completely ignorant (the vast majority) of their impact on the virus, and the virus’ impact on them and the collective population. This generation, the tail end of the MMI (Me, Myself and I) generation, seems to be hellbent mostly to … go viral one way or another.
So get off my lawn you punks! Get off my lawn, get loosened up and go cast a fly. Go cast a fly and tell us all about it! I am perfectly happy to publish your adventures here, and I know for sure that some of you are going to be hitting Texas Rivers, like the Brazos, in the next seven to ten days, so don’t let us down. Thanks for reading this Monday Morning Sidewalk and please subscribe for notifications about new posts showing up here!
LOOK AHEAD THIS WEEK
- Skiff Talk
- River Talk
- Waltzing Talk
- Results of Calendar Patterning Updated
- Latest Available on Texas Gulf Coast Freeze
Category: Adventure, Body-Mind-Soul, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Science and Environmental
