Happy President’s Monday!
Good Monday Morning to you wherever you may be this President’s Day! Many of you may be on the last day of a three-day weekend bender, and skipping showers or not brushing your teeth. Snap out of it! If you bared down, you could maybe tie six or seven dozen flies today!
I know you are probably suffering from the disconnect caused by bad weather across Texas, and even getting out for the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Fly Fish Texas event may have been a stretch too far when you imagined the extra effort needed to attend what used to be an outdoor oriented event. It IS BEYOND MY UNDERSTANDING why Texas Parks & Wildlife has moved this event even earlier in the year – virtually guaranteeing lower attendance. At this point they may as well schedule it for Christmas Day. Strange days indeed.
FLY TYING
Tying flies really amounts to a very good connection to the future weeks of fantastic (yes, that’s not “chamber of commerce” talk) fly fishing across Texas to the Gulf Coast. As I have been tying for this season, I continue to take multiple angles for keeping the supplies topped off.
First – I tie flies for bass that are varied based on different depths. Second – I tie flies based on colors that work, and then a few experimental new colors. There’s one assortment for unique runs – hybrids. There’s assortment for smallmouth bass and striper – Texoma. There’s attention paid to NATURAL colors in typical patterns for high clarity lakes. Then we move on to salt with a box of patterns just for the Keys in April. The Texas Saltwater flies are actually much like what I have found for Florida saltwater patterns, although the Texas patterns seem a little more “evolved.” Is it bias? Maybe, but I wan to test Texas flies against Florida fish, for about five minutes anyway, until Florida fish give me the definitive SNUB. (EGO EATS BRAIN?) Have no doubt, just to be safe, I am watching a lot of Florida Fly Tying videos, and tying their flies.
One thing we fly tying folks suffer from, at least I do, is pride. I’ve tied many thousands of flies, and sometimes I see something I believe know will work, and I keep pounding and pounding with it. Finally, I give up and go back to a tried-and-true fly … bang, bang the fish bite. I eat my humble pie, and toss the test fly on the junk pile, proving once again; EGO EATS BRAIN.
NO MATTER
No matter how it went at the Saturday event, I hope more recruits were found, and found the event a shot in the fly fishing arm! Maybe getting grumpy about the weather and when events are held is just an old man attitude creeping in? Needless to say, most of us “old” on the outside fly fishers have PLENTY of gear to keep warm in the worst conditions, and should be putting everything to the test all the time – EVERYTHING.
The only problem with that is … the fish. They were nowhere to be found in my realm yesterday, but I am very optimistic that flows and water clarity will lead to one of the better spring runs of sand bass and H-Bombs in North Texas this year.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Culture on the Skids, Events, Fly Tying
