Monday Morning Sidewalk
texas fly fishing fly tying tailwaters fly shop fishing clubs
Welcome to a Monday Morning Sidewalk, like so many sidewalks before. I hope you continue to arrive wherever you are safe and sound, and remember to check out what’s happening in fly fishing this week – EVERY Monday morning at Texas Fly Caster. Here’s where we get our game faces on for the week, no matter the games we play. Speaking of games, how about that Denver defense? I’ll leave it at that.
Sunday, yesterday, was an exceptional day where I met no less than five new fishermen, two of the fly persuasion and three of the euro-carp persuasion, all at my neighborhood pond Northlakes Park here in Denton, TX. That just goes to show you that you never know where or when you’ll find comrades in fishing! One of these fishers is becoming legend, in my neighborhood anyway, for all the freaky fish he’s catching in the dark bottoms of my little neighborhood pond – see the photographs and comments HERE. Talk about an underwater freak show! If you’re still jonesin’ for a fly fishing opportunity this week (rather than taking up winter euro-carping), be sure to REVISIT the FISH FLASH I did last week, and wait for the wind to fall and the crowds to clear (I heard that spot was jam packed on this past weekend) and fresh fish to show up (translation: Thursday).
READ MORE
The week ahead in North Texas includes a warm day around Thursday, with a couple of reasonable days leading up to Thursday. It seems like a great time to check out some reliable spots for staging momma bass, and maybe a little more of that sand bass and hybrid action. It certainly is a pleasant surprise to find a fish on the end of my leader in February, but when there doesn’t seem to be a “normal” anymore, I guess I should act like nothing surprises me. We live in strange days, “strange days indeed.” Most of the State actually seems to be in the grips of mild weather this week, so you have no excuses!
Last week was quietly an exceptional week for fly fishing activities in Texas. There was the annual Fly Tying Expo in Houston, and there was the Grand Reopening of Tailwaters Dallas last Saturday. In fact many of the mom-and-pop fly shops are cranking things up for spring, and those down around Central Texas are enjoying some weather stability that helps things right now on the Guadalupe River fishery. A little consistent weather goes a long way right now.
I’ve come across a whole new crop of people fresh to the fly scene, and tried to clue them in to things they are asking about (on other sites) by letting them know about the library of writing done on those things – right here at Texas Fly Caster.
Whether you are interested in the Blue River in Oklahoma, or the Galveston Bay System, or the Guadalupe … fly tying, skiffs or kayaking spots; GO TO the Google Powered “search this site” box on the right side of this page and key in your search terms. That will produce a list of stories related to your search. If I’ve done it, you’ll find it there.
One thing I typically recommend to new fly fishers is considering “The Club Life” by visiting a fly fishing club, get a feeling for the organization, and if it seems like a fit, join the club! There really are two types of people; those who are club types, and those who aren’t. It really is that simple. You won’t find everything you’re looking for through the club life, but if you’re just starting out, the conversations you can get into will flood you with new information you need when starting out. Make no mistake, there are fly fishing clubs caught in high octane politics, and if you get too close to that fire, you can get burned. FAIR WARNING.
Speaking of clubs, I am still amazed by the lack of connection between fly fishing clubs to local small business fly shops, like Tailwaters in Dallas. A quick check of the Fort Worth Fly Fishers site, and the Dallas Fly Fishers site show no mention of the Grand Reopening of Tailwaters, or this weekend’s visit by Lefty Kreh and Ed Jaworowski to Tailwaters to roll out their seminal DVD (reviewed here) The Complete Cast. Maybe a reader can tell me why there’s a disconnect? I’ll keep you anonymous (e mail me) if that helps with honest commentary. By the way, the Texas Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers (by the way did I tell you I built their site?) did mention both the Tailwaters Grand Reopening and the Complete Cast Tour coming to Tailwaters – with two lines of information, and no links to more information.
Category: Backcasting, Complimentary Reading, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Fly Shops, North Texas
