MONDAY MORNING FREEZE OUT
Texas fly fishing #flyfishing texas
Good morning everybody! This is truly a morning where, locally, I hope you arrived safely to your destinations.
We had a blue norther come through North Texas last night, and as someone who was on the roads last night, all I can say is, WHEW! Have you noticed how many SUV’s end up in ditches when the weather turns bad? I’m convinced these folks are way too confident just because of the car they’re driving. Last night I saw multiple accidents, SUV’s upside down in ditches all along a minor highway route leading toward the Texas Panhandle from the DFW area. There’s nothing like seeing a brand new pickup running up behind you just as you reach an overpass: His headlights getting bigger, and the next thing you see is his taillights as he spins 90-degrees and off into the grass and ice median. At least he didn’t flip.
So, it’s so cold … that I decided to forego the video report from the Fly Bar, as the ground, roof and trees have a bit of ice on them, and your mouth begins to freeze after a couple of minutes (I bet you like that in my behalf!).
THE NORTH TEXAS FLY FISHING SCENE MOVES FURTHER NORTH
Here in North Texas, the exodus begins to Southern Oklahoma – Beaver’s Bend and the Blue River. It’s the only game “in town” for those of us landlocked away from the Texas Gulf Coast. This cold, overcast and wet weather is prime for the Blue River, and works well trout fishing in Beaver’s Bend as well.
Why does it work so well? We’re convinced a large part of it is that these trout feel a lot safer not coming out in the light of day. Obviously, this weather has other aspects to its silver lining. Crowds definitely disappear and the water is definitely trout temperature. Whether or not we catch more fish, they are blatantly more active in the present conditions. Unfortunately, if you’re not there already, you will be taking your life into your hands to try and navigate the roads from here to those destinations.
THE SALT
This cold snap is the one we didn’t get last year! It’s the one that has the potential timing to trigger the best of flounder runs along the Texas Gulf Coast. And you already know from past years just how fun catching flounder on fly can be. It’s so good that the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department kicks in special regulations this time of year just to protect these southern flounder from over-harvesting. Take that plus the lack of a dense run last year, and we have the makings of a run that could be legendary.
Whether next Friday, Black Friday, will be spent on flounder or redfish is still the big question, but it’s one we plan to answer – again in the detail you have come to expect – here in a couple of weeks.
SPLIT PERSONALITY
Going after coastal redfish or flounder while preparing for trout season in Oklahoma? Yeah, that is this fly fisher’s definition of split personality! Imagine the fineries of small flies on bronze wire hooks, thin tippets and small four-weight rods COUNTERED with getting the six to eight weights ready, heavy Clousers on stainless and Duratin hooks, tying fresh fluorocarbon leaders for the Texas Coast. At least this time the clothing for both locations may be much the same — to keep warm!
I’ll be sure to check the tides for the coast, and check with a couple of local fly fishing clubs, that have had successive trips to Beaver’s Bend last weekend and this coming weekend, on their success and Bend-Bow strategies for catching those rainbows on the Lower Mountain Fork River.
AROUND TEXAS
Keep your eyes on Capt. Eric Glass and Capt. Scott Null if you are looking at saltwater fly fishing through the Texas winter! It looks like (via their Facebook posts) they are still having great success in bringing redfish to the boat for their clients, and there are plenty of Texas Guides who migrate to Louisiana this time of year as well. I have found Louisiana guides to be just as cool and friendly as Texas guides, but if a guide you know is in the Louisiana system, you owe it to yourself to go if you never have done that!
It’s hard to tell what this cold will do to the rest of the State, but as of late last week I did see Alvin Dedeaux bringing very nice river run largemouth bass to his clients. We can expect to see a lot more trout from the Guadalupe River as the month progresses, and the focus shifts to that fly fishing opportunity for Central Texas.
It’s about time for the TPWD trout stocking schedule to be published. I haven’t looked today to see if it’s already out, but it will be reprinted here as soon as it’s available. It’s the only State-wide stocking program done by TPWD specifically to attract youth to the sport of fishing. And that means it’s your opportunity to expose kids to the fishing experience. I wouldn’t go so far as to say, “expose kids to fly fishing experience” because it certainly is not the best opportunity for a beginning (or any) fly fisher to catch stocked rainbow trout.
Thanks for reading again this freezing Monday morning! Once the weather gets back on track, we will obviously get back on track with more video and visual information about fly fishing in Texas, so STAY TUNED, and stay warm Texas.
Category: Backcasting, Central Texas, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, North Texas, Oklahoma Report, Texas Gulf Coast
