Pull Out the Wool and Put Away the Big Stuff
texas fly fishing #flyfishing oklahoma fiberglass fly rods tailwaters fly shop rod building
Monday Morning Continued …
Schedules are made to be changed, or so it seems. I thought this would get to you from out on the Shale, but I was called off it at the last minute Monday evening. And I am glad.
So I sat and watched the local talkingweatherheads talk about frost, freeze, and … hernias, as we struggle to bring out huge potted plants inside in time to keep them from getting nipped, or completely burned by the North Texas weather change.
I have to admit, I like the fact the cold will sweep all the way to the coast and maybe put a little sting on their redfish action. I am so jealous, even though I still share a load of the salt guide’s images on the Texas Fly Caster Facebook page, it just gets old seeing red, after red, after red, after red … right now, while we are having our North Texas butts kicked out of the fall doldrums, and right into the cold water season.
For a Valley boy I can take the cold of this part of Texas, but the fly fishing just becomes so one-dimensional that it starts to wear pretty quickly.
SPEAKING OF COLD WATER
It’s hard to admit, but we are going glass around here to start off the North Texas cold water season. It started today with the purchase of the TFO 3-4 three piece fly rod, and will continue with an ECHO glass rod as soon as I can get that purchase squared away. NOW, if you want to try some fresh glass on a guided trip in Beaver’s Bend or on the Blue River, I will have a new glass quiver in the process of being assembled. I think I am going to call this group of rods “Gump Glass” because fiberglass fly rods are always around, never went away and always somewhere in the background waiting their turn at the hand of those tired of the greatest generation of graphite rods in the history of the universe.
And as we go toward a new adventure in Gump, we are also going to add a new twist to the Texas Fly Caster experience – rod building. I figure if I am going to make a mess out of a rod blank, it may as well be a “cheap” glass rod blank, right? As Richard M. Nixon once said, “Now let me make this perfectly clear …” I don’t know jack about building a fly rod. So, it will be a learn as I go, and if you have any knowledge to pass along – I NEED IT!
WHY GUMP GLASS?
Here’s how I figure it; I (like most of you) have yet to be outgunned in Oklahoma rainbow trout fishing in Beaver’s Bend, or on the Blue River. I have caught 3-to-4-pounders on a two weight, and settled in to the BVK three weight as my main stick over the last two seasons – again never outgunned and able to rip off extraordinarily long casts. So why not push the downward envelope to the point of diminishing returns? I figure we will get very good presentations from glass, good roll casting and the advantage of new technology applied to good old Gump Glass. Tapers are better, and manufacturers are making this glass in realistic lengths for Oklahoma habitat.
For The Record – We will be evaluating each of these glass rods as soon as they get in hand. I have a distinct impression the fiberglass TFO 3-4 seven footer, and the TFO fiberglass 4-5 as well.
NEW STUFF
I made a run into the only local pure FLY SHOP in DFW today, and learned a couple of things while I was there. First, Taliwaters Fly Fishing located on McKinney Ave., is going to start having “mixers” on Thursdays starting next week. We are talking local craft beers and great camaraderie on a regular basis – to let off some of that retail steam that builds over the holiday season.
I saw some winter weight clothing from Howler Brothers at Tailwaters that looks like it will be perfect for those of us trapped on land, away from the tropics, away from the coast – we shivering inlanders.
Ask Sean Polk about the 2015 Permit line from Rio – he had a lot of good things to say about his impression of the line, and how it performed for him. You’ll have to get to him this week though, as he’s headed to Mexico between now and the mixer next week.
It also looks like Tailwaters has every single style (and price-point) in the Simms line of outerwear, which is another thing you want to think about as the weather gets bad, and fishing gets good. Layers, layers layers — and especially that top layer!
Category: Culture on the Skids, Equipment, Fly Rods
