Why Didn’t You Say So!
texas fly fishing for carp #fishing el nino drought carp habitat
NOTE – Among the plethora of doctors, nurses and dietician I saw yesterday (the long day), one of them said, “just go back to the routines you had before all this happened.” I almost slapped my head (like I could’ve had a V8), but thought better of it, and thought again … sounds good to me. My wife, who is my fantastic caregiver and second set of ears on the longer days said, ‘You gotta’ go fishing!” Of course, we are on the front end of the pain curve, so in another couple weeks I may crawl back under the bunker again, but for now I’m giving it a go.
HARK IT IS WATER WEDNESDAY
And All I can say is, IS IT RAINING where you are? It sure isn’t raining in North Texas, and the drought map tells the tale of history repeating itself. You will recall, I made this analogy to the great Texas drought of the 1950’s which was brought to my attention earlier this year because it is the drought that was “interrupted” twice by major rain/flooding events. Well, we may not have a twice yet, but we do have a once now. Regardless of our opinions on the topic, and regardless of Texas Climate History, regardless of El Nino´, the drought is on again here. What does that mean to fly fishing Texas lakes as some of us do, and especially those lakes hit hardest by the floods of 2015?
HEADS OR TAILS?
My experiences this summer on Lake Ray Roberts basically told me a tale of a lake bulging with fish that were … basically … confused. Finding hundreds of bass in the 1-to-2 year-old range was not a problem, and closed parks and ramps brought them out to play HARD. And there are millions of bass fry as well. Even the little six inch bass are taking swings at flies that are bigger than they are! However, we’re a bit more interested in gold than green, and carp are where the confusion starts. I believe these fish are and have been confused by the spring weather, and now they are equally confused as their habitat is so unstable due to the rapid draining of the lake sense the floods. Feel free to think.
Fly fishing is a game of inches in so many ways. And fly fishing for carp in shallow flats is one of those games of inches. Too high, and they may be there, but too deep to get the sink right (and seemingly more spooky). Too low, and they’re off the shallows. Well, what if the habitat is changing by inches over the course of a week? Carp may want to go somewhere, heck they may have been there, but now that flat is high and dry!
History tells me I have caught my last carp of the season, those last remaining individual sloven slackers who just want one more bite from my table, as late as the first week in November, and consistently into October – tailing off to November. The lake is stabilizing its level now, and others down the chain are opening up. Will we have a wet El Nino’, or will it be a dry one? We won’t know until all the shouting is done, but I am putting all my money on red, as in drought red, for this El Nino’ season and I so very much want to be wrong.
Thanks for reading! Thanks for all your personal messages of encouragement. I am sorry that I cannot keep with the YouTube Channel updates, but I may find some way to do YouTube content that really doesn’t include yours truly, therefore making it a bit more … pleasant.
Next time – rejuvenating my saltwater fly tying energy with new materials and a new (to me) book I am finally getting around to reading …
Category: Complimentary Reading, Fishing Reports, Fly Fishing For Carp, Fly Fishing for Largemouth Bass, North Texas, Science and Environmental, TECHNICAL
