Equipment
Monday Afternoon Sidewalk
Good Monday afternoon! Welcome to the Sidewalk of life.
This is the day and place where any and all topics are fair game, but the fairest of all if fly fishing. If you are only here on Mondays, you may have missed the fact I got blown off the water last week, and also got sent home with my tail between – from Lake Texoma. So much rejection in a single week … makes me wonder … what the heck is the deal!
I always relish the excuses when out fly fishing with someone else, or even the excuses I make to myself when no one else is there to tell. It’s too hot, cold, early, late, windy, calm, clear, cloudy, wrong fly, wrong line … the list is as extravagant as needed to put my spin on missing the target completely with a shotgun.
Yes, we got to put eyes on some carp Thursday before being blown completely off the lake, BUT, we couldn’t get them interested. The VARIABLES were too great, and the actual number of fish too few – I was back on the trailer by 1-pm. The day before on Texoma? I had all kinds of proof positive that Texoma was in the FULL-ON position, including a small armada of boats sitting just off the riverbed … sitting and sitting … with a bunch of perfectly straight rods on board. I was (here comes the excuse) too late perhaps, as that armada was staked out when I got there just as the 7-am chime rang.
TEXOMA WAS so slow in fact, I decided to pound some rocks for smallmouth bass, but again (here comes the excuse) the water was pretty warm for that kind of action. Once I realized the clock had struck and I was a fat pumpkin, I headed for the park on the Oklahoma side, and low-and-behold there were hundreds and hundreds of buffalo, drum, common and grass carp (huge) up shallow rooting around, and scaring out in huge groups pushing huge wakes. Not a fly was eaten, I assume (here comes the excuse) because they were in some kind of spawn mode — at least that’s what all the play looked like. IF YOU want to go after them, contact me and I will give the exact coordinates for that location. Texoma is a big lake.
RAY ROBERTS was harder to believe. All I can honestly say is; where there was recently water, there is no more. It APPEARS THAT the lake is dropping quickly – due to heat evaporation or consumption. And the water that’s left? Boiling temperature can’t be far off. We had two storms that went right over the lake – early Wednesday and later Thursday, but really? Winds are a problem once again this week, but if I can get out early enough, I will do that OR hit the road for some small pond action somewhere.
I FEEL THE NEED, THE NEED FOR TUG! And I want to get that story on my new Axiom II TFO Fly Rod done and in the queue as well.
Thanks for reading. I am driving straight toward major changes in my schedule coming in July, changes you will appreciate as opportunities and avenues for information will be blown wide open. More on that news as the countdown begins on about the fifteenth of this month. Needless to say, life changing events forthcoming (once again). Let me predict: I’ll be bothering you more than ever!!
Friday Texas Fly Fishing Report
Weather a Big Variable This Week
Folks in Dallas are still picking up the pieces after a severe storm pelted the area with huge hail and damaging winds early Wednesday morning. I believe they estimated the damage at $400-million, with 25-thousand cars and 40-thousand homes taking the brunt of golf ball to baseball sized hail.
The strangeness doesn’t end there. Following my own advice, I skipped past the edge of that Wednesday storm that rained on Lake Ray Roberts, and went on to Texoma to try and find the striper action. All I found was an armada of boats, tightly packed, and from what I could tell – a lot of straight rods. And all my electronics showed was a vast underwater nothingness, from the dam outward. I was doing a submarine dodging zig-zag to try and locate fish wherever they were, but their hide-and-seek was better than me. Water temperatures were hovering around 80-degrees, so there wasn’t much that I could find along the rocky shores either. It was just plain slow. I did find a huge school of buffalo grazing on the Oklahoma side in a strange mode I have never seen before – shallow on the shore much like common carp do during spawn. In fact, they had every characteristic of spawning carp – especially the NOT EATING characteristic.
Thursday on Lake Ray Roberts, I wasn’t even allowed to take out my frustration on carp. All my searching on the west side only showed me that the lake has been dropping like a rock. And that is the only explanation I can come up with for the lack of carp – at least on the west side. The wind kicked up huge, so we were not even able to run to the east side, and by the end of Thursday? Another damaging storm cell made its way right down the middle of Denton, Texas, and on south to Dallas once again. Strange days indeed. Fortunately we had given up the ghost around 1-pm, so that serious weather was never a factor on the water. Otherwise, there would be a much different story to tell …
There’s no time for a YouTube video report today, and with all the construction noise around the house, it would be next to impossible to create the show – without major interruptions. So we will come back at you next week, with a full report, and maybe finally a chance to get the TFO Axiom II on the water and onto fish. That is a taller order than I ever expected!
FLY FISHING ACROSS TEXAS
From what I can glean, the saltwater picture is becoming more dispersed, and difficult since the heat kicked in with force along the coast. The main idea is now to know your tides and tidal movements. Fish the usual areas on the incoming, and hit the constrictions (guts and drainages) on the outgoing. Tides are running at night, so that’s your main problem now.
It seems like Falcon Lake is right on track with plenty of big fish being caught, and tons of sand bass as well. The other highlight is over in Southeast Texas (near Houston), and that is a lake I have heard a lot about for awhile – Somerville near Brenham, Texas. I have not heard anyone stop talking about that lake for several months now. It MUST BE on. Generally, you are looking at a summer pattern locking in on Texas lakes.
Have another great weekend! And we will see you bright and early Monday Morning on the Sidewalk of Fly Life.
Texas Fly Fishing Report 060118
Where to Fly Fish in Texas Axiom 2 Fly Rod Tease
Hello to those of you who still read! I am glad you read, and hope you also watch this new Texas Fly Fishing Report that covers Texas – once over lightly. That is really all we need isn’t it?
Anyway, have a watch, and if you have anything to add for next week you can text or e mail that information to me. My deadline for including your fish photos and / or words is 1-pm Fridays.
At ten years and counting, I also count the blessings brought by the Texas Fly Caster Website effort. I have met a lot of people and done a lot of things that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. We still tell stories, even fly fishing stories, just like they happened. It must be the journalist in me that has finally emerged after hundreds of thousands of words … looking back that’s true.
There’s never a shortage of fly fishing stories, true stories, stories that are as good as any fiction … for the most part. I have plenty of stories in the can, and no way to do so many more in this life of need. But if you have a manageable story that doesn’t require plane tickets, guide bills, housing and all the trappings – I am here to listen, and RESPOND.
Thanks for watching and reading. I hope this weekend is better than the last.
Your Skin Is In This Monday’s Game
Save Your Own Skin Game Skin Protection For Fly Fishing
What’s the two letter word I’m looking for this morning? Funny, there’s never a shortage of words … reminds me of a line in the fantastic film “The Post,” when Tom Hanks says, “Write like a poet, not a novelist.” Oh yeah, I remember the two letters: O and N, it is ON. The game is afoot.
Good Monday morning and welcome to the sidewalk. This is the day we leave our front porches, stagger like the 1960’s Kris Kristofferson version – to the sidewalk, and put one foot in front of another, staring down to make sure we really are walking with both feet forward. Forward, always forward.
My Mondays have evolved in the last year to be a day of simple physical recovery from weekly three-day epic workouts – going on nearly a year now. Nietzsche said, “That which does not kill us makes us stronger,” and if you believe that …
BODY – MIND – SOUL
Today is the official melanoma Monday, and time to recall the ways we can take care of our skin – and our eyes as well!
I have written many stories over the years on how to take care of different body parts by protecting them from the sun. Rather than send you to those stories, let me take a minute and do a brief rundown.
- Wear a wide brim hat. I like the hats offered at a company called, Sun Body Hats out of Houston, Texas. They are importers, not actual makers of straw hats. Don’t get too sentimental over your hat. Pull out a can of black paint, stuff the crown area with paper and paint the underside of the brim black.
- Wear polarized UV blocking sunglasses to protect your eyes from UV light.
- Buff neckwear may look funny, and it may be unappealing to some, but it will protect your neck, and pull it up to go around your face / ears / jawline and mouth. Consider buying a straw big enough sized to actually allow your Buff to go under the hat! Neckwear also does a fantastic job of regulating body temps as well.
- Long sleeves and long pants with UV ratings are a must for our tropical exposure.
- If you choose to expose anything to the sun, I firmly believe in Smart Shield products, which are proven to be effective and do not harm fly lines or live bait! I was introduced to Smart Shield on a photography trip to Tulum, Mexico, in 2006 – by a Smart Shield executive, used it on that trip, and never ever considered any other sunscreen since then.
- COVER YOUR FEET too, or be willing to slather them with sunscreen. Feet are as sensitive as any part of your body that never sees the sun (know what I mean?).
Consider post exposure maintenance with your own formula of oils. Sun or no sun, because of my cancer experience, I use a concoction that includes a base of coconut oil with helichrysum, frankincense, CBD rich cannabis oil (no THC) and a dose of vitamin E just for good measure. This stuff is pretty easy to find, with the exception of the most vital ingredient in my personal formula – helichrysum. That one is expensive and not easy to find. Here’s the deal: In the long run, considering insurance deductibles, missing work, and the cost of formulated moisturizers – YOU WILL SAVE MONEY!
ON – Winds are a paltry 5-10 today, so make sure you get some sunset action at the very least, and if you are looking to pull the trigger on a guided skiff outing – time to start working on YOUR calendar. Be sure to request the new Guide Pricing brochure today. The format has changed this year – after years, to make more numerical sense of how and when we fly fish for carp.
Fly Fishing Texas Report 032318 – Weather Says Spring Fish Say Wait a Minute
Texas Fly Fishing Report
This is your fresh Texas Fly Fishing Report for the weekend. Remember that you can find more words here than on these videos — I know, that’s a scary thought!
Things are aligning nicely for next week, if we don’t get too much of a good thing (rain forecast). Alas, it is Texas, so bigger, more and too much is probably what we’re in store for. Watch the video, and I will break down the effect massive spring rains have on our fly fishing opportunities – specifically for lakes and ponds. Of course we all know our rivers eventually lead to the Gulf of Mexico, and I will tell you what I have been seeing down on the coast at Port Aransas lately (seeing online).
TEXAS SKIFF LIFE
I finished up wiring in the head unit for the skiff today, and for no good reason, I recorded the video of that final install, and firing up of the tunes. It sounds very good, and does not rattle the boat (if you are worried about crushing bass or too much power to the speakers). When the people who know me best, and who have been on my skiff, say, “YOU NEED! a STEREO!” I was happy to oblige. If it ever gets too loud, let me know!
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