So You’re Saying There’s a Chance?
Talking Weatherheads Tease
A soggy good Monday Morning to you the readers who note the week by starting here, with the longest running regular fly fishing column on the planet. Can you tell I have been watching the campaigns too much these days?
Temperatures and weather are variables that have an impact on our ambitions here in Texas, because they can be pretty darn extreme. As much as I love talking fly and fly fishing, weather gets in the way for days, sometimes even weeks adding up to months if we run them all together. In fact, it was only last year, in a fifteen-year-old fishing calendar, that I started keeping weather records to account for those days that are mysteriously blank of any fly fishing activity. Some of those dates are actually banners that run across days, even week, of my time on South Padre Island, Texas, and my time in the hot summer of 2023.
What’s the saying, “If it ain’t one thing, it’s another.”
Meanwhile Back at the Ranch
As a purveyor of “Wholistic Fly Fishing,” late last week I started feeling it … you know what I’m saying, that stiffness in the muscle and joint from lack of any use whatsoever. The weather did nothing to help, and everything to slow the return to nature, day after day.
But, last night the talking weatherheads put out a forecast that gives cause for those of us who are a little stir crazy to keep hope alive. Weather in the 60’s for the rest of this week, a slight breakdown for the weekend, and then back for more 60’s next week.
And these kinds of weather forecasts have consequences. The masses of sidelined fly fishers actually think the fish will flip their switch, and sand bass runs start NOW and hybrid action starts NOW and bass are biting topwaters NOW. The truth is, as I have observed in past decades, we’re still in the doldrums with no predictable bite, no runs, hardly any hits and plenty of errors in timing to go around. You’ll be seeing posts/photos elsewhere of sand bass, in some cases from last spring, saying “… this is it,” or “… it’s on!” and all that is? It’s mostly click bait for fly fishers – who are not watching the calendar – to bite.
I saw one dead giveaway earlier this month, a video, green trees and short sleeves, happy little sand bass hanging by a hook – and no reference to when it was done – whatsoever. This particular person is a believer in volume over substance, and the honest truth is: Fish Camp North is weeks, if not six weeks, away from patterning local substance or volume. It is what it is.
If you are wondering what we have to look forward to, and when we come out of the winter doldrums this year? Stick around. I have set about a new list of places to visit and revisit as we move away from Fish Camp North and hit the road for places that are way ahead of North Central Texas on the fish calendar. You may want to subscribe to the SEASONAL e mailing (on the right side column) to keep informed about that, and other things. These newsletters are rare, so don’t worry about getting blasted every week or even every month, but I DO HAVE ONE coming out later today.
Time to Tie
I have a fun story coming out this week. It’s about fly tying vises, and has a certain style to it that requires some “imagination” from the readers for it to make sense. But, if there’s anything I know, and as noted above, fly fishers have pretty great imaginations – especially about things like, sex, cars and fly tying vises, but not necessarily in that order of course!
In North Central Texas, we know THIS IS THE TIME to tie flies for the times to come. There are plenty of opportunities, and a lot of events are on the near horizon, so STAY TUNED!
Category: Adventure, Body-Mind-Soul, Fly Fisher Health and Wellness, Fly Tying, Life Observed, Science and Environmental, Technique
