Monday Morning Heat is On
Yes, it’s a balmy 40-degrees outside this morning, and a setback in my mind if not in actual fish reality.
Just about the time (how many time have I said that) I think it’s time? The North Texas weather steps in and steps on my thinking. It’s a lot more like early November this morning than the middle of March. But it does give all of us more time to prepare, as if we need it! for what comes next.
Around the Bend
Looking around at the massive numbers of Texas fly fishermen catching fish, many of them the Soggy Bottom Boys, we can safely say the sand bass are on the move. You can take the temperature of this action quite simply, from the comfort of your own keyboard here: Texas Sand Bass on Fly on TFF . What I see there is; the North Texas sand bass fly action is tepid at best, and the dominant trend is inconsistency this year.
Ahead of the Heat
Two thumbs up for North Central Texas and the rains that have us significantly ahead of the calendar year norms! Of course the calendar years, start in January and do not carry last year’s or the year before’s deficits. Convenient. Here at Fish Camp North, we have had 3.6-inches of rain this month, making it look more like May than March. Talkingweatherheads are so happy they have to hide behind their desks to cover their excitement.
Rain does make flow though, and if we can get some of that warm water flowing (forget about the Elm Fork of the Trinity from Ray Roberts to Lewisville AGAIN this year) from the northern drainages and the Trinity into Ray Roberts (way north), or some creeks up north, or some creek flows into Lewisville? There’s the money shots. You know me by now; I lost my Soggy Bottom Boy permit a long time ago. There’s something they call, “comfort” that I tend to enjoy when chasing fish as often as I do now. And a skiff? It’s pretty darn stable and mud-free. That Lewisville Lake option is weighing heavily right now. Lewisville’s H-Bombs are a fantastic fish on fly, and any fish that bites me, bites my finger? That is a fish I NEED to catch.
- Lake Lewisville/Dallas Current Lake Level Now – IN FLOOD POOL NOW –
- Lake Ray Roberts Lake Level Now – 99.1% FULL NOW –
Vises Become Habits
If you have been reading along, you know the fly tying vise has resurfaced as a major topic of conversation here in my shop. Finding a new vise has been a major education on inflation, quality, value and new relationships with companies. I have already started this long diagnosis in recent posts – and hope it helps those readers who are thinking about tying flies, or maybe ready to upgrade certain elements of their fly tying hardware experience. Some fly fishers are repulsed by fly tying, and even some fly shop owners are turned off by this facet of fly fishing – and have NEVER tied a fly (absolutely first-person truth). Yet others tie flies and never fly fish! Those are the extremes.
Fly tying has its place, or it doesn’t … once I sat back down at the bench, my brain did a shift that I found I needed and need at this time of the year. You and I will put it all away soon, as the mouth of a fish is where those flies go. It’s their manifest destiny.
Thanks for reading the longest running column on fly fishing in Texas! I sincerely appreciate your time, and hope I can provide information that best entertains and utilizes your valuable time – over all these years. NOW LET’S HIT IT!
Category: Adventure, Bass on Fly, Body-Mind-Soul, Fishing Reports, Fly Tying, Fly Tying Vises, Life Observed, North Texas, Soggy Bottom Boys
