Monday Morning Between The Raindrops Wind Storms Flash Floods
Texas fly fishing fly fish texas fishfest fort worth #flyfishing
Welcome here from wherever you are this late Monday morning. If are in the DFW area, and you arrived safely, count your blessings. TXDOT and the contractors working in North Texas are sacrificing lives almost daily now – for the sake of Interstate progress – around here. I find it strange that no news organizations are covering that story …
For those of you I planned on seeing at last Saturday’s Fly Fish Texas event, I must apologize for bailing and hitting the Fort Worth event instead. As you can tell, I have a “risk aversion” to driving these days, when the deck is so stacked against safety. However, it was great to see an incredible turnout at the FlyFest event on the Trinity Saturday! There were hundreds in attendance, and manufacturers like Sage and TFO were there in support of the event.
And I did run into a lot of friends at this event, like Chris Johnson of Living Waters in Round Rock, Stephen Woodcock of Backwoods Fort Worth, Rick Pope TFO, Don Nichols of Reel Recovery and several other friends and future skiff carping clients (who knew me before I knew them!). It’s certainly good to be back in “circulation” again!
TODAY’S SPOTLIGHT on Fly Geek
One person / business I really want to highlight today is a guy named Matt Bennett, owner of Fly Geek, from down Austin way (I still call Austin the “Texas Epicenter”), who was good enough not to remind me that we had met before – somewhere sometime (I am guessing at Living Waters Fly Shop Round Rock). I have to preface my gushing about his fly tying with the old adage; “Some flies catch fish, and some flies catch fly fishermen.” I have caught and been caught before, but Matt Bennett is a guy that is tying flies that not only look good, they also lack something too …
I looked at his flies, and think about those I’ve tied to try and emulate the same fish/patterns. Mine are always too bulky, and too opaque. I looked at his flies, and then held one in my hand. Not only are the big bait patterns translucent, they are extremely lightweight. That lacking of weight is key to casting these flies successfully. How many times have we abandoned big flies as they gain water weight? True, they will gain weight, like just about every fly that gets wet, but to pull one out of the box, as light as a feather? I bit. Now, once I have a few of these in hand, we’ll see if I get bit. Check out Matt’s beautiful work and awesome website at www.flygeek.net, and be sure to tell him how you got there!
THE WEEK AHEAD
Spring break. Need I say anything more?
The weather window is cracked today and tomorrow, with a high of 87 predicted today. For the record, that’s CRAZY for this time of year in North Texas. However, tomorrow is really the day to GO SEE what’s happening on Lake Ray Roberts. The wind is doing her best to squelch the bright sun and swarms of crane flies, but the shoreline is no place to be, or walk either.
Speaking of shoreline, it’s painfully obvious that Lake Lewisville is in trouble. They shut the flow on the Trinity from Ray Roberts to Lewisville last week, virtually shutting off the bite that was happening there as well (of course). Why is it shut? There is significant drainage BELOW Ray Roberts into the Trinity as well as direct flows into Lewisville from surrounding creeks. These flows are “epic,” but not “biblical” in nature, but you get the picture. If you need to know where to go to find these flows, post the question! Otherwise, I assume you know where to find this information.
The week ahead does contain more rain according to the talking weather-heads. This pattern is truly a problem if it continues. So our window is small – today through Wednesday if we’re extremely lucky, but we may as well subtract one day for wind. Narrow, very narrow.
Here at the TFC website, I have catching up to do! There are several stories on the South Padre Island experience from January, stories that are just waiting for the local action to let up. This may be the week! Actually, there are only a few stories, but very detailed and on the long side – for paid subscribers only. We’ll probably drop some video this week as well.
FUTURE STORY – Yeah, I bet you are wondering about some of those Sage Fly Rods I casted at the event? Whoa. That’s all I will say right now, whoa.
Category: Culture on the Skids, Equipment, Events, Fishing Reports, Fly Art, Fly Rods, Fly Shops, Fly Tying, Industry, North Texas, Reviews
