Texas Fly Fishing’s Monday Morning Sidewalk
TEXAS FLY FISHING MONDAY MORNING RECOVERY
Welcome. It is Monday, and time once again for the Monday Morning Sidewalk. The weather is what it is – here in North Texas. Just slightly north of us is ice, and just south a bit? it’s cutoff shorts time.
We had a thick grey broth across the region Sunday, that gave way in the evening to thunder, lightning and dogs shaking like leaves. Note to self: It is January, you know? None of the weather has any effect on the fact that when you are going through withdrawals from the fly … you too can shake like a leaf.
Even in this weather, even in this weather, I did catch a ride with a conventional friend on Lewisville Lake yesterday morning. It did little more than chill me to the bone (even if it was 50-degrees) in the fish count, but HOLY MOLY, yesterday did show me a few potential hot spots for carp this spring as well as a great ramp for boat launch.
I have always known of legendary talk about carp in the 20-pound range roving through the boat marinas on Lewisville, but I never had a launch spot that would put me in reasonable range for their pursuit. That is no longer the case. Although significant parts of the lake remain closed after flood damages, I was shown a ramp I had never seen, and it is good to go.
What is it that makes the marina life so attractive to carp on Lewisville Lake? It’s simple really. There is a sizable number of fishers who use the marinas to attract and fish for crappie. So much so that it is almost a subculture cult on these marinas. The residual payout is a lot of significant manmade habitat, and a lot of fish feeding going on (for the sake of catching bait with a cast net). And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT.
It is that “fish feeding,” the fish food that attracts carpe. I have seen them in years past, and they cruise through much like smart torpedoes … so huge that your game changes substantially.
So that is our setup for the spring adventures on a local lake that I am becoming more familiar with on every trip out. There’s a lot you won’t find on Lewisville Lake, like the flats of Ray Roberts, but some very large carp obviously have been had there ( the lake record was – caught by a guy I taught to catch carp – at 16+ pounds). That fish was caught … on a marina store dock. There’s a hint for you. You won’t find Lewisville to be a clean lake, quite the opposite, it will be crowded and notoriously dangerous.
Tune in tomorrow, as I search for art of the fly fishing variety. If you are off today because of MLK Day – have a fantastic time recovering from yesterday’s football, put your pom-poms away and get out your fly tying regalia. I am toying with the idea of a live YouTube broadcast from the fly bench sometime very soon. IF YOU SUBSCRIBE to the Texas Fly Caster YouTube channel, you will get notifications about scheduled live events, as well as the normal notifications of new video uploads. Live Texas Fly Caster events have the extra benefit of audience participation – so you can slam, bam and malign the broadcaster any way you want! Feel free to bring it on. I did live broadcasts years ago, before YouTube was ready for them. We will soon see if the platform is now ready for primetime!
Category: Complimentary Reading, Culture on the Skids, Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing For Carp, Hot Spot, North Texas, Science and Environmental, TECHNICAL, Technique
