Soggy Bottom Boys
Monday Morning Sidewalk – April’s Fool
Yes, I am an April fool when it comes to expecting different weather from the same month of April in North Texas.
GONE FISHING
Good Monday Morning along the Sidewalk. I hope your Sunday Morning Sidewalk took you through a field of easter eggs yesterday morning … and maybe some of those eggs were filled with your favorite fishing fly! If not, I hope none of you were made April Fools by this freaky weather we are having.
It’s a gloomy morning here in North Texas, and everyone I talk to says they’ve had just about enough of this taint weather for this, our winter-spring taint. We tilted to winter yesterday afternoon as the winds did a 180 turn and came barreling out of the north with a blast of cool air.
We’re left with seriously gloomy skies and a nip in the air – as I rush through this to get out and GO SEE what’s happening on the fringes of a local lake and maybe even tackle a pond in town on the return leg of today’s outing.
Of course, there’s photography clients to satisfy first, a fritzing internet connection and a plethora of other problems that wait impatiently for resolution – just the everyday run of the mill Monday. You know what I’m talking about.
Days and days are passing away without a wetted line – just because of this weather, and it’s to the point where we just have to buck-up against the elements and give it our best shot. Today is one of those days.
Last week wasn’t a total washout though. The CCA Fort Worth Chapter hosted a crawfish boil that was something to behold. We all know Fort Worth has a strict male dress code of high waisted nut-busting Wrangler jeans and huge earth-shadowing 100-X brimmed felts, but the combination of that and a fishing shirt? It was something to behold, but unfortunately is hard to clear from my mind.
It wasn’t a total washout in the fly selling business either. PoP sold a dozen of the Clousers he’s so popular for – jig-hooked in colors that excite – to a couple of guys headed to the 16 Bridge below Possum Kingdom Lake, and the brothers were apparently happy with their results, as another order for flies will probably be taken this week. We’re getting short on all supplies now, and for you who tie flies: Remember to shop Barlow’s Tackle on I75 in Dallas, and buy local with eyes from Allen Fly Fishing at their warehouse in Southlake, TX.
For subscribers to the YouTube Channel’s Private Video Network – I am going to break down two local spots with GPS numbers and I will also take a Google Earth satellite image of a local public pond and break it down with an overlay that shows where the fish are on that pond, and how to get to them. This is the good stuff backed by years of research, and presented in a short personal video to you who subscribe ONLY. You won’t be elbow-to-elbow with anyone because of these private subscriber videos, and nobody’s spots will be overrun.
IF YOU ARE NEW
If you are new to the fly fishing scene in Texas, you’re hardly alone! The beginning of every month, all across Texas, there’s a flurry of fly fishing club meetings. And they actually start tonight in Dallas with the Dallas Fly Fishers, and there are tons more – something within your range no matter (well almost no matter) where you are in this huge State. I will be tweeting out those meetings (as I can and remember to do so).
If you’re strictly a watcher? There is always the Texas Fly Caster YouTube Channel which is still the most consistent and longest running Channel about fly fishing in Texas.
Thanks for tuning in this dreary morning! This week holds little hope of good weather, so it’ll just have to be good enough, and that’s it.
Texas Fly Fishing Report 030918 – Spring Has Sprung as Dams Draw Down
TEXAS FLY FISHING REPORT 030918
The Texas Fly Fishing Report is back from the winter break, rightfully so and ready to go! We have plenty of fishing, fly fishing action, to report today. The report’s home base is in North Texas, so in such a large state conditions will vary wildly.
What we are experiencing in this part of Texas is a fantastic pattern for fly fishers that starts below a lot of the lake dams. Numerous lakes are beyond conservation pool as this report goes out, and authorities are releasing water to bring those lake levels down. I have documented those releases, and the fish caught during those releases, over several years (beginning in 2010).
This phenomenon never happened during the drought years (about 4 years) as you may recall, and I expected us to continue along the downward drought spiral going into the Texas fishing season in 2018. But we have had surprisingly good slow rains that have saturated the ground, pushed back the drought map (away from North Texas), filled the lakes and now come the lake releases in advance of the real rain during the “rainy months.”
Right now, the fly fishing is absolutely fantastic on these releases – for the most part. All we have to do is find a releases, like the one at Ray Roberts Dam, and go throw a few good tight loops. Sure, these places (especially the Ray Roberts Dam) are overrun with conventional fishermen who finally found their pot of gold, and you will see them there day-after-day, in the same spot, slaughtering fish day-after-day. And they leave behind a mountain of trash and submerged lines in the water to tangle and lose flies on, but if you can handle the crowds and the carnage? Well, like you see in the video; these releases can be one big box of chocolates. The big bass are coming in, the sand bass are up and full-on running, and if you sprinkle in some hybrid action … what’s so hard about that?
DETAILS
You will want a 7 or 8 weight rod to be able to fight these fish in huge current, and be able to turn them toward you.
I like a reel I can count on – with good drag and a big enough spool to manage line to ALWAYS go to reel. Going to the reel is very important in these situations, and that is because line gets caught on everything in riprap fly fishing – rocks, fences, bushes and everything else we find in these dirty situations.
I am using a fluorocarbon leader with either an 8 or 10 pound tip – remember you can control depth by what your tip is – bigger is shallower.
Year after year, the red over white Clouser catches these fish. But your hook needs to be something extreme, like a Tiemco 600SP, or a circle hook, which I have gone to to allow fish to hook themselves on a slack drift. The circle hooks are great, and do exactly what they are designed to do – and cost a fraction of what super-sharp normal hooks cost.
Where I am fishing, the fish are in very tight bunches, so you will have to search and fan cast until you find them. Once you find them, don’t go looking elsewhere – keep going back to the spot you found. The spot you see in the video, for example, was about 10 feet across!
Fly Fishing Across The Tracks and Down South of Cowtown With Some Soggy Bottom Boys
Anybody looking for their lost pitbull? A source told me that it used to have a pink collar around the head that was detached and thrown over to the side of the tracks (a clean cut).
Monday Morning Sidewalk Looking Back at Sunday and Beyond
This YouTube fly fishing video reminded me of the second video I ever uploaded to YouTube way back in 2008.
SOGGY BOTTOM BOYS
Good morning! It’s another Monday morning sidewalk, and I am dragging! I forgot just what a workout it was to walk-and-wade the flats, but was reminded – by the windy walk we took yesterday on Lake Ray Roberts. The skiff would’ve been futile on a day with winds that strong, so the only way for my guru to get a much needed carp fix was to go for a fish walk.
It was windy, about 20-miles-per-hour sustained, and the south wind was pushing clouds overhead, which “turned the lights on-and-off” in a matter of seconds as we sight casted for carp.
There were carp aplenty, but they were well protected by the stirred waters, the intermittent clouds and heightened senses. We had plenty of opportunities, and finally (I think as the water hit the right temp) scored a few fish.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The big question of course; is this the weather we will have tomorrow, or Friday? The patterns seem to be less drastic, but it also seems like the talking weatherheads are still hedging their bets a bit. If this wind drops, conditions improve drastically. It may be time to seek a creek, or river!
Thanks for reading! Let me know what you know, and what you want to know. No matter what, travel safely to-and-from wherever you go in the Messtroplex these days. It’s getting a lot better on the North Texas highways, but distracted drivers can still write your name in stone … you’ll never see it coming.
Friday Fly Fishing Report Plus New Subscriber Information!
March 16 Texas Fly Fishing Report and weekly Statewide fishing report by TPWD.
THE ORIGINAL
TEXAS FLY FISHING REPORT
This is the first Texas Fly Fishing Report in a long while! I hope you enjoy it and find it useful. I constantly try and tweak the format for your benefit, and this time that includes the weekly TPWD fishing reports at the end credits. They roll like old school end credits, so you fan fast-forward and pause when you see a water body you are interested in fishing this weekend! REMEMBER – standard fishing reports translate easily into your fly fishing plans. And if you don’t know how, just read more articles in Texas Fly Caster.
NEW FOR TFC SUBSCRIBERS!
For Texas Fly Caster subscribers; there are a bunch of new benefits that far, far outweigh the $30-dollar yearly subscription. Now, you get private YouTube videos sent to you, and viewable only by subscribers. You also get a 10-percent discount on my guided trips, and 10-percent discount on all purchases at www.popsflyshop.com. Not enough, you say? How about invitations to private Texas Fly Caster subscriber parties at the FLY BAR during the season, with me at the grill and a Denton Micro at the tap? It’ll be anything but a “club” type of gathering, that much is for sure!
+Shannon Drawe
+Texas Fly Caster
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