Flying Through the Fog
LOOKING TO WARMER DAYS
Wow! Did we miss the Wild Art Wednesday, and just about fall off the digital map, or what?
I finally surfaced today, and braved the Dallas Messtroplex to go to Barlow’s Tackle in far North Dallas – Richardson, if I am not mistaken. The trips out of Denton move a lot faster since the ugliest stretch of Texas highways – I35E – is now moving more rapidly than any time in this decade. We won’t talk about what happens to I35 once you get to Denton. The reason for the Barlow’s trip was to top off my supplies for the long haul of tying some patterns for Islamorada.
Barlow’s was close enough to stop in at Plano Orvis and shoot the breeze a little bit there – with the CarpNado survivors – who are needing a carp fix as SOON AS they are back in play again. I did glean a bit of Texas Carp Tournament news while there …
I was also glad to see some fantastic fly tying materials at ORVIS, including those new Dragon Tails. I think these things could well be as interesting as the Game Changer fly was when it arrived on the scene. I will be using these to make tail sections for some toads, and some of my old snake patterns — making them new again — for topwater bass flies. Remember the copperhead fly?
FOUR TEXAS CARP TOURNAMENTS & COUNTING
Can you believe it? Really? There are four formally established carp fly fishing tournaments in Texas now – FOUR!
- ESCARPMENT – Hill Country
- CARPNADO – Dallas
- HOLY CARP – Houston
- COWTOWN CARP CLASSIC – Fort Worth
I have a “sense” of the dates for these, but have not yet checked in with their respective organizers to see what those dates are. There are some rule tweaks coming. I certainly would like to attract the Carpnado folks to locate their event out of Pilot Point, but might have a hard time selling that one! It does look like the dates they were dropping for the Carpnado are PRIME carp time. I will be detailing these tournaments as I comb through the information, and as I promised; I’ll do a lot better job of promoting and keeping up with the Carpnado event this year! We’ll be stacking the info deep and selling it cheap – RIGHT HERE in coming weeks.
IT IS UNIVERSAL – in the LOCAL UNIVERSE ANYWAY
We’re all just about beaten completely down by this weather and it’s about to get worse – a lot worse. Maybe this is the weather that makes us appreciate the good days, the warm sun, warm water … the heat. Whatever the reason, we are about to be deeply frozen. SO, be sure to check out YouTube videos while you’re frozen in (Silver Kings has another episode coming out this weekend). Check back in on Monday for the always on, always predictable Monday Morning Sidewalk. I’m sure the sidewalk will once again be frozen.
Category: Adventure, Body-Mind-Soul, Fly Tying, Wild Art Wednesday
SO, the flies you noticed are correct, but you can’t go wrong with classic Clouser flies either. Tying them for salt means Stainless hooks and I use brass barbell eyes and gold flash on virtually all my saltwater clousers. I think you can launch and enjoy GISP (Galveston Island State Park) as a kayak launch point and the clarity is pretty awesome there. There are also a lot of stingray all over Galveston bayside. A LOT!
Feel free to ask more questions!
My wife and I are heading down to Galveston Island in mid-April. We are going to be fishing most days and looking for some beta. We are from Colorado and don’t have any experience flyfishing that area. I’ve read your articles on the area. It seems like the best time is when the tide is going out? Crab imitation flies and the reyram fly seems to be your preference? Any specific spots we should be checking out? We are going to rent kayaks and check out the bay side. Great articles. I appreciate the info. I wish other areas we travel and fish had better info for the diy like your website. Thanks! P.s. I have a ton more questions but didn’t want to push my luck