Fly Fishing in Texas Reaching the Masses
Since the beginning, we who fly fish in Texas get the same question, “you can fly fish in Texas!?” We always roll out the answers we’ve canned in advance, scratch our heads from inside, and celebrate our knowledge while lamenting our lone wolf status. As documented in the statistical feast of yesterday’s post, we know fly fishing is enjoying an upswing after some dark days (which I think were all economy driven).
In the broadest sense of people interested in fishing, or even fly fishing, that hasn’t really changed much. However, for those of us who take the pulse of talk and publishing, it’s quite apparent that Texas is becoming a fly fishing destination in its own right.
Perhaps the best evidence of Texas’ surging popularity is the magazine “Southwest Fly Fishing,” which has representation from Texas in virtually every issue. In fact, this article was inspired by the substantial article on Lake Fork and Rob Woodruff fly fishing for those monster largemouth bass. The timing may be a little off for the spring bedding phenomenon, but read and remember this for next spring. I know I will! It’s good to see Rob Woodruff in the pages of such a great magazine, but I would’ve gladly volunteered my photography services for Lynn Burkhead’s article! No offense there fellow Mean Green-er (I know photos are a significant part of magazine income for writers).
For those of us who are tuned in to Lake Fork, and Orvis endorsed guide Rob Woodruff, the article may be preaching to the choir, but you can bet that not only will Rob see a spike in phone calls (wanting to do the spring thing right now unfortunately), you can bet the DIY’ers are giving Lake Fork a long hard look for a fly fishing trip – maybe for the first time, or a second helping. You can find (a bad) website (I’ve offered to create – pro bono – last year) for Rob Woodruff’s Lake Fork fly fishing by clicking what you just read, and more importantly (more current and readable) Rob Woodruff’s Orvis report page by clicking on that. Lake Fork report is not showing there right now, I assume because there’s no new report? Regardless, if you want Lake Fork reporting from Rob Woodruff, you need to find his Orvis posts (that include Broken Bow), and not his personal guide page.
By Shannon Drawe
Category: Destination Fly Fishing, East Texas, Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing for Largemouth Bass, Industry, Writing
