Monday Morning Sidewalk Heats Up

Great Monday Morning to you, people I know and don’t know, who love to read! Reading has apparently boxed this website in when it comes to a new design for the site. My initial purchase of a premium redesign is in the process of being refunded this morning after the people who implement the installation (in India) were too afraid to take on the task on a site with more than 2-thousand entries, and probably a million words archived inside it. I don’t blame them, I am afraid to do it myself and thought hiring pros would make the facelift happen. Apparently not …

So life on this site goes on as it has since 2007. Sure it looks different from that startup, but has looked the same for most of those years since. Having no idea what to do with the wrapper all this work is sealed inside of, I continue on in hopes you could care less about the look and MORE about what it says in black type.

BOAT BARN BLUES

I was out at the storage unit yesterday, in the 44-degree cold mist, to record some videos for the upcoming Atlanta Fly Fishing Show, and it was AS COLD inside as out in the open air. Needless to say, that session was postponed until today. Maybe my nose will stop running, and I will start to gain feeling in my fingers again. As for the Atlanta Fly Fishing Show, Sawgrass will be there – Sawgrass New Moon fly rods, and owner Captain Collins Illich will man his booth. Here is a Exhibitor Map of vendors for the Atlanta Fly Fishing Show and SCROLL DOWN. GET YOUR HANDS ON these rods if you are in range! Collins pulls no punches on his fishing and fly rods! Visit the Sawgrass YouTube Channel and watch a few videos if you doubt me.

Captain Illich will also have a DISCOUNT CODE from me to you for showing up at the booth! With that code, you can receive a surprise discount on YOUR Fly Mat Purchase that is good for February 2025! All you have to do is ask, and then run the purchase through the PayPal button on the left column of this site.

RUMORS and RUMORS of RUMORS

This is the time, every single year, when the stir crazies take over. The thrill of stocker trout fades, as does the supply of anemic stockers … and in another six weeks? their little brains begin to boil. It’s their right of passage … into the afterlife.

But the Chevy half-ton Truck coil spring, hope of spring, still has recoil in it. And every year that hope springs to life, and always way before it should be released here in NORTH CENTRAL Texas. Rumors of sand bass runs begin now, crappie runs, staging and bites (some crappie actually true) get magnified, blown out of proportion and yet? I still go out there holding close my rapidly aging credo: Trust, but Verify. Trust friends. But verify.

Wrong is Wrong

If you forgot to read one post in Spring of 2024, I laid out the story for those who chase the stir crazies all the way to the Dam at Ray Roberts Lake. There were heavy releases that went well with the timing in the old days. That timing for hybrid and sand bass runs all the way up from Lewisville Lake to the bottom of the Dam at Ray Roberts. It used to be nearly an annual event. The log jams which have no end in sight, ended that … or so I thought.

I ran into a conventional fisherman, a complete stranger, who was, like the dwindling few there at the dam, having no luck at all. Every single rod stood straight. There was no smell. There was no blood on the ground. I struck up a fish conversation with him and said, “I would be surprised if you catch anything here,” because of the log jams. He gave me a double-take … “You’re that guy on YouTube?” Uh-Oh, this could either be good, or bad.

The water was roaring out of the Dam, nearly double-digit CFS. “We caught lots of fish last week. I even caught hybrids,” he said. His baitcasting rod stood straight. To which I replied with common fish sense, “HERE!?” He went on to identify, perfectly, the behavior of the fish, behavior I had seen in years past. Yes, some of the conditions are always mandatory – timing and flow. But the new condition, the log jams? Apparently the jams are breaking enough to let what he called, “small” hybrids through to make their ill fated run of about 11-miles to the Dam. I was speechless of course. Not only was I wrong, more importantly – I MISSED IT!

As much as an instinctive fish run is instinct, in this case it is also manmade. That dam has to be open to generate flow, and not just flow, but enough flow (NOW) to overcome the log jam filters. Will it happen again this year on the Elm Fork of the Trinity River? Time, rain and MAN will tell. But as for me? I will be checking a lot closer this year.

PUT ON YOUR BOOTS

SHOP LOCAL if you can my friends. Check out Tailwaters Fly Fishing in Dallas, Texas, to get your feet into a good pair of wading boots. Don’t shortchange ORVIS in SouthLake, Texas, either. I don’t have any partnerships with Orvis, and that company is in no economic position to speculate on my influence, BUT DAMN, they have some real good boots as well. (Orvis could well be running some discounts to generate company cash right now.) I also have no crossover endorsements with Tailwaters in Dallas. Seasonal style changes are in full force now, so older styles in brands that actually can afford to do updates are FULL-ON right now. Be sure to visit my Amazon Boot Shop if you are in no position geographically, or have no desire to fight the insane Dallas traffic – SHOP AMAZON WADING BOOTS HERE.

And REMEMBER:

• Trim Toenails
• Trying On? Wear liner sock / socks / booties or waders – it ALL has to fit!
• If you are still growing, leave a LITTLE room
• My Experience: More room can be cinched down by tightening laces! Wading boots do not grow!
• For goodness sake, WATCH THE VIDEO Folks!

Category: Adventure, Backcasting, Clothing, Denton Trinity River Greenbelt Corridor, Fishing Reports, Industry, North Texas, Soggy Bottom Boys