Tag: fly fishing skiff
Spring Fly Fishing Sounds Abound – All Aboard the Sound Train
What is Fly Fishing Music?
It’s way past time for one of those famous Texas Fly Caster Musical Interludes! Just like the buzz I get from spring fly fishing, music seems to piggyback the excitement – like a freshman on South Padre spring break. This spring (GOD let it be spring NOW please) I am more loaded for musical bear than ever in the past.
ROLLING THUNDER DRIVING HURRICANE of SOUND
Okay, that was a sensational headline, but I finally got everything lined up on the skiff at the END of last season – for music on-board. There’s video of the cutting of holes into a perfectly good boat, and there’s the running of the marine grade speaker wire (correct gauge for Ohm needs), and now all that is left is to mount the head unit and wire it up.
I really don’t know why any technical poling skiff owner would roll silent. I mean, just being on the skiff and moving is beyond joyous and a custom sound track to go with? Icing on the proverbial cake, in my book. Of course, the most difficult part of the install is what’s left to go, and that’s why it seemed like a good stopping point when the season closed me out last year. Continue Reading
MY Father’s Day Fly Fishing List
fathers day fly fishing gifts for dad
by Shannon Drawe
Getting started early on your Dad’s Day gift? Well, I can only tell you what I would’ve wanted, and it’s all good.
First, I would want me! How about a Guided trip on Lake Ray Roberts for carp? Simply get me a gift certificate for me to guide me to the carp season of all seasons!
[ppw id=”133774852″ description=”Father’s Day Fly Fishing Gifts” price=”.10″]
Next, how about a new pair of sunglasses? I have crush-killed-and-destroyed two pair in the last month and Daddy can’t see in low light! I am completely enamored with the new generation of Smith Optics Sunglasses, and especially want to look through a pair of the new Chroma-Pop Ignitor Polarchromatic lenses. Which frame for my skinny, once fat, face? The Guide’s Choice just seems like a natural fit already. I promise I will use the integrated lanyard, and not stomp on these.
PaPa needs a brand new reel too! Heading for salt this summer, multiple times, means nothing but a new HATCH 7 PLUS. The reels of a lifetime for a lifetime. I would love to think of my gift-giver every time I turn that sweet crank.
How about some new threads? I would have to start with some pants that fit, since at 5’11” and 138lbs, I only have two pair of pants that actually fit. I’ve been all around the fly-trouser world, and come back home to the best made, best fitting, most thoughtful pants that come off the store rack – Mountain Khakis. And for my favorite this summer on the poling platform? It would have to be the ultralight Men’s Equatorial Pant Relaxed Fit. Any color works for me.
Shirts? Mine are a bit big too, but my long arms still need Size L. Bulky, generally generic fishing shirts by companies like Columbia never really fit me, and now it’s even worse. And although Under Armour has some fantastic fabrics, they cut their shirts “generically USA fat,” and don’t fit either. About the best I can do in a technical fly shirt is the Simms Guide (LS), and any, ANY color will do.
For Daddy’s skiff? As long as you’re breaking the bank, how about a complete skinning of the decks with SeaDek? I could use a little, or a lot. A little would be just for the poling platform deck, and a lot … well it would be a LOT. There’s really not much else the skiff needs! I mean, if you are in a really good mood, I think a Power Pole of some kind could stop me (me guiding me – see first choice at top) from running over all those carp in the wind.
And then there’s the obvious. How about tickets to see James McMurtry tomorrow night (Friday May 27, 2016) at Dan’s Silver Leaf in Denton, Texas? From Amazon there’s the new Mudcrutch, Eric Clapton, Lucinda Williams, Bob Dylan … the list goes on forever, and the party never ends.
[/ppw]No alcohol. No cigars (that one hurts).
What do you want for Father’s Day?
Monday Morning Rundown
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Good morning everyone! I trust that you have arrived to your destinations, wherever they may be this morning, and if you arrived on time – there’s a bonus (not) waiting for you at the front desk.
Seriously, with the trips to Fort Worth’s medical district happening multiple times every week, I am blown away by what’s considered normal for the Dallas and Fort Worth main arteries. I35E through Dallas is a dangerous gauntlet without an escape path should things go bad, and now Fort Worth’s main north-south I35W is just as bad (on a smaller scale). There is no longer a “good way to go” to get anywhere. North Texas roads are a nightmare that the media doesn’t seem to cover.
THE MEDS
The medical ball is finally starting to roll, and as of this writing I am on the tail end of the throat surgery from last Wednesday. More about all that here – http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/shannondrawe/journal/view/id/55d20a884db92127380475c2. If anyone in Fort Worth knows anyone who might have an “off house” – a second small backyard cottage for rent in Fort Worth, I am looking for something before I start the five-days-a-week treatments very soon. I also need to know about some easy waters to hit between appointments – that are close enough to the medical district as to not get me in a drive-time-bind.
SKIFF LIFE
Pieces and parts arrived last week, all to patch problems that happened while doing multiple shakedown cruises. First, there’s the sleeve for taking the two-piece Stiffy Pushpole and making it a one piece again. It won’t break there ever again! Next, there’s the new set of pushpole holders, which I will use one to lessen the bend in the pole along the gunnel. A new pair of hub dust covers made by Posi-Lube for the Ez Lube Axles (and stainless). One of those was lost somewhere down the road, and you can’t just have water running into the hub every time you launch! And last, there’s the box from Lagoon Boats with a mechanical water pressure meter to replace the hour meter, and a simpler hour meter that goes on the motor. We’re still waiting on the tiller extension handle from Strongarm in Florida. The boat kicked the first time I tapped the starter last Monday, and it was a good dust-off ride last Monday, but way too choppy to do any serious fish hunting. I just made sure KoKo ran, and took her back in after about an hour.
RERUNS
I’ve been active enough to enjoy the mornings we’ve been having lately – downright pleasant – and getting fresh air down my throat that has a little moisture content (compared to the relentless A/C) has been fantastic (before the pollution kicks in). Almost anything outside beats anything inside doesn’t it? I mean, the World Fishing Network for example; the quality overall of that network has improved, but there are some real duds on there every day. And regular TV is running through the season of reruns for what? another month? It got me to thinking … with something like 1400 stories (posts) here, maybe we could throw out some GOOD reruns to tread water while I am on the mend? I think that combined with that fantastic information coming in from a few guides and shops could keep this boat afloat through a rather difficult sea. We’ll give that a try this week.
Say Goodbye to Epic and Hello to Biblical
texas floods beavers bend flooding fly fishing skiff #flyfishing BOGO
See how drier conditions still exist out west? That is one direction you can go for some relief, this time from the rain!
WORN OUT WORDS
Are we tired of the word “epic” yet? I think it’s time to retire that word related to this spring, and roll out the word “biblical” in its stead.
From South Central Texas all the way north through the rest of Texas and in to Oklahoma, we can stop the rain dances, put a lid on the rain barrels and patiently wait with our lawnmowers … and wait, and wait and wait.
The most recent drought map tells the story, while it doesn’t list the missing and dead still to be found.
And I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about all these stories on the drought I have written the last five years, and a simple shell I photographed last year – a few dozen yards dry, on a flat that used to produce a bounty of carp. I imagined that shell, now under fifteen feet of water, being sniffed by curious fish.
Meet the Depressed – Mainstream Media That Is
Fun times watching the old mainstream media squirm as Jeff Bezos steps in to purchase the Washington Post, and begin the final turn from paper to digital – free online content, to paid. Make no mistake, good online content, at some point will cost YOU money to read online only. Or perhaps you will get a paragraph for free, followed by a click to the paid content (automatically debited a nickel or dime at a time. Let’s see … average 500 unique dimes a day here … awww, what would I do with an additional $20-thousand usd a year … take readers further, faster perhaps? Sounds like a good idea to me!
As a re-forming journalist (as in; I am changing my shape and stripes), I have been caught up in the death of newspapers for about 23 years now, and the death throes of paper news continue, with most of the smaller spasms (from small dailies) just about done.
With the beginning of change to large dailies the big TV networks take notice, examine their own navels and wonder if they are next to be bought by some internet mogul, some Mark Cuban type. Maybe so, but I think it will take a while longer.
CONTINUING TO STRIVE
Where this site appears to have made its mark is by striving to bring you along for experiences, and leaving you with the knowledge that you need to do these fly fishing things we want to do. After about six years of providing unique content – images, words and video, there’s not another website that specifically talks about fly fishing in Texas that provides a greater volume of content, or ranks higher than Texas Fly Caster. I hope you all still enjoy the free content, continue reading, continue commenting and continue providing ideas about stories on Texas fly fishing.
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