Monday Makes My Day

Okay, I have to admit it; I’m starting to look forward to Mondays, and the morning exercise (or exorcise) that happens when I sit down at the keys with a short hard deadline of 10-am Central time. Challenge with a good old fashion deadline. Who could ask for anything more?

HINTS AND ALLEGATIONS

Comments are rolling in now, and yes, I am an idiot. I had no idea the holdup for you to actually interact with the writing and information here was being squelched by the comment process – having to register and log in to comment. That process is no longer necessary, and you simply click comment – fill out a couple of things (that will not be shared), and THAT SHOULD make it easy to talk back from wherever you are this morning. I apologize for past difficulties, and you can feel free to UNLOAD on me for some previous error, omission etc … – in a present day (as in today) comment. Feel free to bring up things past, and make me beg for forgiveness.

Going forward, the weight of reading and approving comments comes back to me, and if your comment does not appear immediately, it is because comments now have to be “approved” before they publish. And contrary to what some may think, I don’t sit here on a computer all day – thank God. So there can be some delay as comments wait for me to return to the computer from wherever I am.

Wherever Am I

Well, we’re not in the Keys this morning – that much is certain. The Keys look to be clear sunny with a chance of more sun for the next week or so. That adventure was postponed (delayed and still on the books) due to the tropical storm that hit there late last week.

So the next few adventures are closer to home. On June 20-23 ‘ish, we will be headed to Port O’Connor, Texas, with CK for some time on the boat with Scott Sommerlatte. We will be turning the camera on Scott, CK and whoever else is on board, as we pursue whatever the saltwater fly fishing action brings us around Port O.

PORT O is one of the few spots on the Texas Gulf Coast I have not fished, and by most accounts it is the best fly fishing the Texas Gulf Coast has to offer – quality, variety and quantity of saltwater game fish. My bias is toward home (South Padre Island / Lower Laguna Madre) but I can be convinced otherwise – with a couple days of show-and-tell.

Yesterday, I hooked the largest freshwater fish I have ever had the luck to get ahold of, and it was on Lake Ray Roberts. JH, his son of five, and I were out kayaking along the rocky shoreline points of Ray Roberts (launched from Isle du Bois Unit), and I was able to get multiple drops on a huge buffalo that was foraging in the rocks. The take was forgettable, but the kayak ride into deep water wasn’t. With a seven weight, I knew I probably wouldn’t be winning this one because the sun was sinking and we were trying to get back in. It was a ride much like that bull red took us on in Louisiana – just a tow job with not much headshake or drama, but once this one got to the bottom the buffalo must have rubbed me off on the bottom … because after fifteen minutes of straight down fighting, the fly popped up. It wasn’t that I was planning to lose this fish, now I know where to find them and know I need a buffalo gun to catch them … but, my odds were very bad on a seven weight, eight pound leader, a bronze hook, a tiring five-year-old and a 20-plus pound buffalo that showed no intention of being landed. To have shots like this at fish this size … pretty exciting stuff.

The kayak is still on the Toyota, the late afternoon sun shows them well, and if we get more calm like Sunday … you know where to find me.

THE HEAT IS ON

If you were out yesterday, you know the heat is officially ON for North Texas now. Along with the heat, make no mistake, it’s time to cover yourself from the sun’s deadly rays. Take all your precautions when it comes to sun protection, and take plenty of homemade water too.

Thanks for reading this morning wherever you are, and stay tuned as things start to heat up here in Texas. New doors are opening up all over the place, and we will just have to go through them and see what’s behind. Comments are, they really are, welcome here – any time, and all the time.

Tags: fly fishing for buffalo, fly fishing port o'connor, lake ray roberts, Port O'Connor

Category: Adventure, Culture on the Skids, kayaking, TECHNICAL, Technique