Monday Morning Sidewalk
Another Bloody Monday
Is there any other kind? That Saturday night time change was a massacre. Saturday itself, was a day to remember — so far in this grey bleak year. I heard one of the talkingweatherheads say that we had two – that’s TWO – days of sunshine in February. Everybody I know has had just about enough.
There is finally a new episode of Fox Sports Southwest Fishing Show that came out (on YouTube) over the weekend, so at least they are optimistic! It’s an episode on sand bass, and a pretty good one at that. It was shot on Canyon Lake, and the host did a great job of honestly assessing that lake’s fish population and size. Rare.
My recon Thursday and Sunday was a long way from fish and a long way from patterning sand bass on the lake or in the Trinity River. Not a sight, not a bite. I have to believe we are still a bit early except for the deep slabbing of sand bass schools gathering for the spawn migration. It means I will be expediting my reinstall of my fish finder electronics – replacing the portable suction cup mounting with hard mounting on the hull. I hope that will keep me from losing another transducer, AND keep the transducer where it needs to be without a huge rooster tail.
I keep thinking I will get the kinks worked out by Florida, but with the tiny window of time my schedule allows, and the weather totally wrecking that time … the stress builds.
It does help to sit down at the vise and tie some flies I have never tied before – lots of small shrimp patterns, tarpon toads, and cockroaches. Headed straight into crab patterns using EP fibers, which is pretty complex work for my simple taste. I haven’t tied this big in years, and one big benefit is the UV glues I use — now I use the LOON brand of UV and really like it a lot. It doesn’t have that out-of-control industrial feel / smell that CCG had, and it’s a lot easier to get in hand. I have heard that CCG is out of business, but do not know that for sure. It does look like the name “Clear Cure” does appear in search, and Amazon. It also looks like the Chinese may have taken over that name? I have discovered; lots of things can happen when one falls off the radar for years, most of them on the negative side of the ledger.
FLY TYING VIDEOS
If you are brave enough to be here (family members, I discovered, are afraid of the internet outside Facebook – I don’t bother to explain anymore), and looking for some fly tying fodder as our extended indoor stays stretch well into March — remember that I have saved some of my favorites to a “category” on my YouTube Channel called “Fly Tying Videos,” and I have begun gathering videos from creators OTHER THAN MYSELF. The videos include flies that I tie, and I watch several before adding the best version to my YouTube Fly Tying Videos section. Check it out.
Category: Body-Mind-Soul, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Fly Tying, North Texas
