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Tailwaters fly fishing fly shop dallas #flyfishing

PARTY – Tailwaters celebrated their first anniversary today with a shindig that included music, casting contests, beer, food, camaraderie and deals galore. There were plenty of familiar faces besides the Tailwaters crew, and in the five hours I was there, I met many new people with that common thread – a fly line – weaving our conversations together. Everyone agreed they were very pleased with Tailwaters early success, and relieved to see a real fly shop make a go of it in Big D. Set all inventories aside, set all price comparisons aside, set all locations aside, and what you have remaining is a knowledgeable group of guys who seriously love the sport – all under one roof.

FOOD – Tailwaters threw out some great looking mudbugs, dogs, corn on the cob and potatoes (both of which were drenched in the crawfish seasoning), good beer out of a keg and other food of a milder sort. Afterwards, we (yes my wife had to come down for the party) were getting hungry and I took her to the Flying Fish for some good classic fried fish and shrimp. If you are in DFW and you haven’t eaten at the Flying Fish, it really is a must try, and an experience to be enjoyed by all ages and their menu is extensive and steeped in southern traditions.

BEER – Summertime means lighter wheat beers for this consumer and right now I am enjoying a Pyramid Crystal Wheat Beer, and it is a bit on the heavier side of wheat beers with a fuller body than most wheat beers, and therefore a little less refreshing than other wheats. Waiting in the wings is a wheat from the Midwestern USA brewery – Boulevard Brewing Co., in Kansas City Missouri, and one I have visited on occasion. They have been doing it right since 1969 and have many varietals – each well worth the sampling. It’s not Fort Collins’ New Belgium Brewery, but if you like beer and find yourself in KC MO, be sure and check it out. It just doesn’t seem that (locally anyway) Texas favorite Shiner Brewery has anything new to offer the summer connoisseur of wheat beers. Their beers seem to be either too dark or too light, with the famous Bock bringing an instant headache to this consumer. Bock may not mean bottom of the barrel, but when it comes to Shiner Bock, it tastes like it.

MUSIC – A huge month of releases and some that I have missed are coming to my ears, as I spin new releases by Mud Crutch, My Morning Jacket and Aimee Mann. Living as I do, in a vacuum of sound offerings by Dallas Radio, I completely missed the release by Texas’ Bob Dylan – James McMurtry. I will ask him if he’s offended by the comparison the next time I see him, but according to a recent article in the Dallas Morning News (since I don’t get to hear anything on Dallas radio), McMurtry has taken the gloves off and come out swinging against President Bush and a war that has McMurtry traceably increasingly disillusioned. I will wait to hear the McMurtry release before giving a full review of each, but rest assured there are classics laying in the 1’s and 0’s on these discs. If you like the vein of music that I like, go ahead and go to Amazon (unless you can patronize a local small box store), and buy the first three I mentioned – because from what I’ve already heard, these will define the fly summer of 2008.

Time to go to work on the edit for the Lefty Kreh video and tidbit interview I did last week. I am looking to roll that one out Monday while Leslie is in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and looking to get away from her conference and hit some of their local waters. That may not happen, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

Tags: #flyfishing, #tailwatersflyshop, beer, birthday bash tailwaters dallas, fly fishing, fly fishing music, food, james mcmurtry, Lefty Kreh, Music, tailwaters, tailwaters dallas, tailwaters fly shop, texas fly fishing

Category: Fly Shops, Industry, Life Observed, Music