You Wreck Me Baby

| June 13, 2008

fly fishing for north texas carp

Ok, so careful what you wish for because …. three Carp was better than the usual first timer on the flats at Ray Roberts. By the time Leslie counted seven notches I had quit taking pictures and moved a safe distance away from her “action.” At least I know when to say when.

I told her, as duty-bound husbands do, “Hey if you want to spend more time together, maybe you should take up fly fishing”. Little did I freakin’ know, she would be listening at that particular moment.

A fly rod was purchased, and handed over with loving care and the knowledge that I didn’t have a 3, and just in case … this would fit into the quiver nicely. The reel, well she should be “invested” too, so that was her purchase with the obligatory guidance from my not so vast experience.

Lessons ensued. The casting ability was neither great nor small, but a spark was apparently struck. Talk afterward was about the pertinent things I remember talking about after my first lesson – windage, elevation, frustration, rod size and when can we practice again. There appeared a tinge of “what if she really likes this”? That’s good right? More time together right? What if she’s better than me? OK, I can be her pit crew. I’ll wear the hat with all the pins of all the places we go fish, err she fishes, and smile all the while. Hey, I’m enlightened, not “metro” perhaps, but enlightened. She definitely has “skills”.

Now, she’s prowling the flats with Carp Empresario Joel Hays, of DFW Fly Fishing fame, and apparently he’s done a fish whisperer trip on her that results in spooky carp settling at her toes, attached to a Bitters, attached to a borrowed five weight, and firmly attached to her. One Carp is cool. Two Carp is “amazing”. Three Carp is “wow”. Four Carp, and I am switching flies and forgetting about Bass to play keep up. OK, I think my card on my camera is getting full – at five Carp, I’ll be around the corner in the next cove glancing over my shoulder for the Carp Killer on the loose. This is when you put the third string quarterback in to “take some snaps””, play the third string to “rest the starters” – insert your worn out sports analogy here.

I take some solace in an extreme case of sunburn which I could have warned her about except that I was confident she would not listen to the safety advice from someone who’s yet to have carcinoma. A fair skinned German I am not. The video pretty much says in all. All I could do, was hide and watch.

This weekend, she’s taking a casting lesson (sponsored by Dallas Fly Fishers – yes she joined) and taught by none other than Lefty Kreh. It’s all good. Yeah, it’s all good. Next month she’ll be at altitude in Colorado, at sea level in the Laguna Madre, and I am guessing at some altitudes in between.

You break me in two
But you move me, honey
Yes, you do
Now and again I get the feeling
Well if I don’t win, I’m
a gonna break even
Rescue me, should I go wrong
If I dig too deep, if I stay too long”
TOM PETTY – Wildflowers

It’s all good, and as Jackie Gleason would say, “And away we go!”

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Category: Culture on the Skids, Life Observed

About the Author ()

https://www.shannondrawe.com is where to find my other day job. I write and photograph fish stories professionally, and for free here! Journalist by training. This site is for telling true fishing news stories, unless otherwise noted.

Comments (2)

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  1. Cindy says:

    Well is it any wonder? Leslie’s just awesome.

  2. Joel Hays says:

    EXCELLENT – a fish whisperer is born! And, I believe, setting the “first-timer” record with 7 carp in one day (and that was only a half day)!

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