Monday Morning Sidewalk – See the Fish Be the Fish Catch the Fish
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Good morning and welcome to wherever you are watching and reading from today! I am already on the road, fighting traffic this morning, as a weekend of work gives way to a week of work, which is an extraordinarily good thing. – The video is uploading to the TexasFlyCaster channel on YouTube right now, and will be dropped in here later.
Many of us are on our summer holiday now, and the evidence mounts that Colorado is still a fly fishing playground for Texas fly casters. I am not immune to the pull of Colorado’s beauty, climate and fantastic fly fishing. In fact there’s a trip coming in September to the Conejos River area, a fantastic Southern Colorado location that I absolutely love. Here are some old stories on fly fishing the CONEJOS RIVER area of Colorado.
Last week was pretty wild here in North Texas. We had twelve inches of water concentrated in and around Valley View, Texas. And that concentration apparently covered Lake Ray Roberts as well. Thursday, on Lake Ray Roberts, the level of the lake went up two (yes TWO) feet. Now, this amazing rain event had it’s own unique characteristics. If we watch the lake levels, it is apparent that the rain actually fell in close proximity to the lake. It went up all at once, and by the next day (two days after the rain), the lake was already falling again. So we subtract a positive 2 from a negative 9, and we get a negative 7. Regardless of all the negatives, the fly fishing last Friday was a clear POSITIVE! Check out the video – FISH FLASH July 19 if you want to see how last Friday came off. I probably don’t have to remind you of the excitement of stalking tailing carp in clear Ray Roberts waters, Friday’s video pretty much says it all.
I mentioned earlier that we will be fly fishing the Conejos again, after a few years absence, but there’s also a little salt in the recipe – for those of us who love salt on our fly fishing. I am headed for Houston this coming weekend, and hope to finish the Urban Fly story (with catching fish), and will make the hop-skip and jump to the coast for a day. It’s a limited window, so we’ll take our chances with tides and moon phases.
Texas Saltwater Fishing magazine has always had those great charts as part of their monthly publication, and I recently subscribed to their digital version which is a HUGE disappointment; it’s not a digital or “E” magazine in any sense of the magazines that you may be used to seeing and reading from “Apps” in iBooks or the “Newsstand.” Stick to the paper version of this magazine, and get it for one specific use – THE CHARTS.
Then, later in August, it’s a redeye trip to what I think is the premiere spot on the Texas Gulf Coast – Port O’Connor, Texas. I am going to try and plug myself into a couple days on the boat with CK and friends at that beautiful site, where there’s a renewed focus on hitting the jetties for jack crevalle … which is all fine and great, but if I see tarpon … I may just dive in and try to wrestle one to the boat. Texas tarpon, the words just roll off the tongue …
TEXAS GULF COAST REPORT
The Texas gulf coast has had consistent redfish seasonal action for years. The speckled trout season is a little more spotty, as specks are more sensitive to their conditions than the hearty reds. Reports from the coast are now showing good catches of speckled trout, and in shallow water. As fly fishers know, shallow water means we have a shot at these fine fish ourselves. Shallower water situations are more susceptible to “tide events” and there aren’t any showing on the TPWD site right now.
I suppose it’s safe to say there’s no huge secret about tarpon showing at many of the major passes in Texas. Catching tarpon from shore, off jetties, has always been what I consider a feat of great fly fishing ability. This doesn’t look anything like flats fishing in the Florida Keys. These are rolling tarpon in deep water, and if you actually hook one, they’re more likely to sound than jump. Let’s just say there aren’t a lot of tarpon caught in Texas on fly right now, because of the situations we find these fish in – deep water passes. If we find them in massive amounts in Texas passes, how long will it be before we find them in other parts of the Texas Gulf Coast saltwater ecosystem?
END NOTE –
If you are a fly fishing guide working anywhere in Texas, we want to hear from you here at Texas Fly Caster. I am glad to present any weekly information you have for readers and watchers of Texas Fly Caster. The plan is to dedicate part of the Monday Morning Sidewalk to your reports from where you guide and fish in Texas. It doesn’t cost a thing, and your information will be included with any report used on the Texas Fly Report.
This kind of reporting is not about “where,” or “how to” catch fish in your area! It’s about your services, and why it’s time to book you, a professional guide, to catch the fish you love to see your clients catch. Be sure to contact me about how to submit these reports. You’ll be reaching at least 600 people a day, for the first day of your report, and these reports are accessible forever – just like all the information on Texas Fly Caster.
Category: Backcasting, Culture on the Skids, Destination Fly Fishing, Equipment, Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing For Carp, Fly Fishing for Redfish, Fly Fishing for Trout, Guides, North Texas, TECHNICAL, Technique, Texas Gulf Coast
Texas Guide? Watch the video.