Guides
Monday Morning Sidewalk – Big Changes in the Local Fly Force
Woodruffs Blue Damsel Lodge Hollensed All Over the Globe
We have ourselves a THREE F day to start the week that leads us from April into the promised land of May this year. Fly Fishing Frustration rules the day, and according to the weatherman – most of the week ahead in North Texas. What else is new? If you watched last Friday’s Texas Fly Fishing Report, then you know I told it like it is when it comes to April 2018. It wasn’t pretty, and it wasn’t chamber of commerce either. I can’t wait for April to be OVER! PS – I will leave the simulcast on FakeBook the rest of today at Facebook Texas Fly Caster.
Rob & Jenny Woodruff Missoula Montana Bound
Speaking of chamber of commerce … I guess the power fly duo – Mr. & Mrs. Woodruff – are headed toward greener pastures than those of Beaver’s Bend, Oklahoma! Reports from BendBow, would have you would think they were catching big honey browns two at a time all winter long, but word is they are officially timesharing between BendBow and running a fly fishing lodge in Montana. The move makes perfect sense on every level.
They’ll be the new lodge managers at Blue Damsel on Rock Creek, not far from Missoula. There won’t be any more guiding for bass in East Texas according to Woodruff, BUT they will be in Oklahoma from November to February, then hitching up the wagons and heading for Missoula for March – October season. If you are a trout lover, this sounds like a dream come true. Rob’s experience with trout, some very difficult trout and conditions, instantly make him (and her of course) into a real force where fish and water flow freely – in my humble opinion. Add his entomological knowledge? I can’t wait to see the reports!
Flywater Angling Steve Hollensed
So, I would guess that the water that the Woodruffs leave behind is water that our other regional Orvis Guide Workforce – Steve Hollensed – picks up full-time. Steve, as you will recall, also has the fly striper business on Texoma. However, if you take a look at his website; it looks a lot like he’s heading for fishier pastures as well — fly fishing in Argentina, fly fishing in British Columbia and the well worn fly fishing from El Pescador Lodge in Belize. Somebody’s got to pick up that East Texas bass slack, don’t you think?
I will have another of the subscriber only video insiders coming out this week. I don’t even know what it will contain, but I know you are itching for some GOOD information, and I’m here to scratch.
END NOTE – If you know any of these three guides, Steve / Jenny / Rob, we would love to hear more about your experiences with them over the years. Feel free to COMMENT, if you, ANY OF you, would like to do so. Don’t worry, this isn’t Facebook, and this site does not harbor any of your information for simply commenting on a story – NOTHING – ZIP – ZILCH – NADA.
GOT NEWS? If you have any news, feel free to send it along. You know we’re more news than fluff, or chamber of commerce around here, right? I am also running still photographs you send in – on the Texas Fly Fishing Report whenever those hit the airwaves, so text me your photographs with – date / general location / names / descriptions.
Shutdown Monday Morning Couldn’t Be Any Better – PLUS Dealing With Devil’s
Check Your TP Before You Sit Down
Good Shutdown Monday Morning! Do you feel it? Did you have to get your own roll of toilet paper before diving into the stall in your Federal government building bathroom? Now that you’e seated and enjoying the view – of your screen – on a Monday where the sky is not falling, and we will all get along fine during this continuing debacle.
IT IS TIME for some good questions though. Do these antique politicians get paid to not do their jobs? When the government “shuts down” do these fat cats still get paid? Why should they?
Politics. Politics are the third rail of fly fishing (the one that electrocutes you into ash), but there are other sections of the third rail line that are equally deadly to peaceful fly fishing conversation. And that’s why I have tried, successfully in my opinion, to avoid the third rail all these years. Locally, there are plenty of red meat bomb throwers, who just throw out something to generate polarizing debates. I always call those guys out.
CONFESSED: RED MEAT BOMB-THROWER
This past weekend, mostly to see who is actually looking and following on Instagram, I threw out a red-meat-bomb. It was a simple photograph of an auto window sticker, reading, “Does Your TRUMP STICKER Make You Feel Stupid Yet?” and it lit a fuse that burned through a record (for me) 33 comments and paltry 26 likes. I wish there was a “dislike” for fairness. It enlightened me. My “takeaway” is that people actually LOOK at the images on Instagram feeds, and the folks that comment fall into two distinct categories – I Got Money, and Now I Got More Money, and two, the other side that realizes exactly what all this great income is actually costing the environment, the future and their children’s future.
For goodness sake, why can’t we all just Rodney King (for young readers that means “get along”)? The only politics I care about are those that have a direct effect on fly fishing. I know I am done and gone as an economic force – as long as no one cares about, and understands and supports the values of quality, creativity and integrity.
And politics – State of Texas politics – leads US to what will be the longest discussion about, arguably, the most political geography in Texas – THE DEVIL’S RIVER! I was talking to family at a recent gathering and a couple of cousins have boys that are the right age for a Devil’s River trip, and are familiar with that area from behind a rifle scope (hunting leases in the region). The time may well be right …
THE DEVILS RIVER
So taking on the last great wild ride in Texas is a bit daunting to me. In my mind, I see it as my own personal “health statement” about just how well I have healed, and as I see age 60 off in the distance … the time seems right.
Let the gathering of information begin! If YOU KNOW ANYTHING about the Devil’s River, if you have done the Devil’s River, I would sure like to know about it. I know the situation on the ground there – has changed in recent years. But I don’t really know exactly how it has changed. I am going to reach out to people I have seen have done the Devil’s – people like Alvin Dedeaux (check out that Devil’s YETI video), and Thomas Flemons at Diablo Paddlesports. I know there are more people than that, but I will start there (and try to jog my memory at the same time).
I am cautiously optimistic that I can make this trip happen, and if you are interested in making this trip – let me know. This is starting from scratch though … the Devil’s is in the details.
Texas Fly Fisherman Gift Idea 2017-1
Got a guy, or chick that is into fly fishing?
There’s a way you can give them a day to remember, and help support the Texas Gulf Coast fly fishing community that was hit by the destruction of Hurricane Harvey. It’s simple gift giving, and you get as much as you give! How cool is that?
BOOK A TEXAS GULF COAST GUIDE
Book a fly fishing trip for your significant FFO (Fly Fishing Other) this Christmas. The guide’s area most deeply affected by Harvey is actually not that vast. You would independently look for a guide in Rockport or Port Aransas, Texas. Or, let me recommend three guides I had personal contact with just after Hurricane Harvey.
- KenJo Fly Fishing Captain Ken Jones at www.kenjofly.com
- Captain Chuck Naiser at www.chucknaiser.com
- Captain William Townsend at www.lightandfly.com
[ppw id=”183910614″ description=”Christmas Idea GET A GUIDE!” price=”.25″]This part of the Texas Gulf Coast is still suffering greatly – from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey, and the aftermath they all live in and with right NOW. The three names above are only a few of the names you could find for guided fly fishing trips in that part of Texas. Any serious fly fisher would be extremely happy to get a gift like this, and this kind of giving has a direct and TRICKLE DOWN effect on their economy. Trust me, I know what I am talking about. Contact me at nine-four-0-three-80-zero-four-08 if you need a pep rally for this present.[/ppw]
Monday Morning Sidewalk
Fly Fishing Isn’t Depressing
Good morning wherever you happen to be this Monday morning! I actually wonder where each of you are this morning, and how you’re actually doing – believe it or not.
Last week was one to mark on the calendar. My wife and I, in that order, were stunned by the passing of a new friend who we’d come to know only a short time ago. My wife and her had become quick friends, and she was perfectly healthy going-and-doing. They made a trip together back in May, and she hadn’t been feeling good, so off to the doctor. Diagnosis; terminal pancreatic cancer (terminal is all I have ever heard of when it comes to pancreatic). Fifty-seven-years-old and so much more to do … it’s a time when we struggle to make sense out of the loss. I know you young whippersnappers probably think 57 is old, but let me tell you; you’ll be there in the blink of an eye, and it’s not old.
Now that I have cheered you up for the week! There is a small window to fish this week as the windows do get smaller. It actually looks like today is the best day to be on the water, and Wednesday could be a good day to be at the water somewhere river fishing (and testing your rain gear).
I am starting to see a lot more real fly fishing information being broadcast using Instagram feeds these days, and from folks who were dragged into the whole “social networking” thing against their will. You’d think they invented Instagram by their followings. And some of them have (smartly) taken those loyalists from their Texas Hill Country guiding adventures to … their new guiding adventures on the Texas Gulf Coast. Heck of a deal, if I do say so myself. I like to think I can see a lot of things coming, but I never saw this uprising of the Hipster Fly Movement, much less that I was an early part of it. Thankfully, this tide raises all boats – even if it is possibly just a new generation of “sports.” Time will tell … ADD tends to knock a bunch of these guys off the branches before they wear out their first fly line … and out goes the tide.
Finishing on the bright side: My Grandmother down in the Borderlands turns 98-years-old this week. Now that is a life of length and girth. She’s been a bit ornery lately, but the Greatest Generation has a right to be that way, don’t they?
That time change had me up early this morning, confused by it all, and taking advantage of the opportunity – to get this out, and to maybe hitch up the boat, waiting for a weather break, in the driveway since Thursday. I was determined to add some fly fishing records to the boat this year, but learned my lesson. I started too late in the year, and stayed way too close to home. The fall bite is a lot tougher, but lays the waypoints for next spring.
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