TBT - 11-30-05

Incredible hunt, 62 geese with 2 bands.

November.......To Warm

11-11-15

Unfortunately the fishing has been slow and not much to report. Its mid November and was 80 degrees today, Crazy. The fishing has been slow the past few outings, but was able to get this decent striper today. I have been hoping for better fishing but I think the unusually warm weather so far this fall has been slowing the fall bite. It should be picking up once we receive a couple hard cold fronts. 

TBT: Winter of 99

Fun hunt with two limits of green wing teal. 

Crawdadding for fall bass

I've always liked throwing a crawdad pattern in the fall for bass. The fish really seem to key in on them. I was throwing a pattern I picked up at Orvis the other day. I really like it, I would probably trade out the silver/nickel dumbbell eyes for gold or copper colored ones. The fish didn't seem to mind.

  

Harvest Moon Carp

9-17-16

The moon was big and bright this morning with a of blue wing teal flying around at first light. I started the morning off throwing a crease fly for bass along the edges of the flats. Caught a couple decent largemouths. Once the sun got up enough to spot some carp I switched out the crease fly for a carp pattern. It was an extremely still morning and there wasn't a ripple on the water. I saw plenty of fish today but they were extremely spooky. The wind never really picked up and the fish stayed cautious all morning. I was able to trick a few of them but not gunna lie would have liked to have had a few more eats.    

Carpsucker

8-21-2015

Yep that's what their called. They are an interesting looking fish. For several years I have seen them in this creek near the house, tossed a few flies at them but never spent much time messing with them as I was always chasing bass and the variety of sunfish found in the creek. Today started like most days I had bass and sunfish on the brain. After seeing numerous River Carpsuckers swimming around I decided it was time to finally catch one of these guys. Just like their name they are very similar in appearance to a carp but have a sucker like mouth and a sucker like lack of interest in chasing a fly.  Literally you better get the fly within a 3" circle of their mouth. After to many attempts to count I came tight with one. They don't fight like a carp or any of the redhorse suckers that I have caught. So I can say I caught one and added it to the list of species I've caught on a fly. Personally don't see to much of a reason to every specifically target them again as they just didn't do to much on the end of the line. But as always its great being on the water and getting a few fish to put a bend in your rod. I also caught a little bull head which is also a new species for me on the fly.

POC

Had a great 2 day trip in Port O'Connor Texas. We fished offshore with Capt. Steve Barnes like we do every year. Had two great days of flat seas. Day one we caught kings, red snapper, amber jack, barracuda to 24lbs, and cobia to 44lbs. Day two we caught kings, red snapper, and sharks. Yes all fly fishing. And yes you can catch red snapper and amber jack on a fly road out of 100-150' of water. It takes specialized sink tip lines and heavily weighted flies but is very doable. We hooked into a number of big fish that we could not turn and ended up getting broken off in the wrecks. These were big fish that heavy rods like the TFO bluewater series got doubled over on. We had some great king action on day two were we had fish chummed up right behind the boat. must have caught a dozen good kings in the 15-20lb range in a short amount of time.

Good Day On The Flats

7-16-16

Its been to long since I've been able to chase come carp. The lake has finally dropped to a fish-able level. Hit the water with my buddy Justin. The day started off slow as we had some cloud cover that put to much glare on the water to really be able to see any fish. The sun burned the cloud cover off a little after 8am. Once the sun allowed us to see, the fish had no problem showing themselves. There were also of hex's in the trees along the waters edge. I was fish a hex nymph and Justin was fishing a bonefish bitter. I think we each landed around 6 fish before heading to the house by lunch time. I did get to test out the new rig I recently picked up; a TFO 7wt Axiom and put the new Orvis Hydros on it. Overall I was very happy with the the way the rod cast and the Hydros drag got to be tested out a little bit. Its a very light rig and will likely be one of my new favorites.

Beat The Heat

6-28-15

Its summer time and with that comes the Texas heat. The fish only seem to be active the first few hours of daylight and the last few hours of the day. If you can't make it out to your local haunts during those time windows it can be tough fishing. Some of the best mid day summer time fishing can be found in small creeks that have plenty of shade trees cutting out the intense heat and sun. Generally speaking the hotter it gets through out the day the better the fishing. Grasshoppers, beetles and ants become more active and find their cumbersome way into the water. The fish may not be huge but there should be a variety of sunfish and bass that will keep an ultra light fly rod bent with action. Short 1, 2, and 3 weight fly rods throwing a size 14 or 16 ant or beetle will have a gang of pesky sunfish on the attack.

The pics I took today was with the new phone, I cropped them up some but other than that no editing. Turned out pretty good. Caught a bunch of brightly colored longears, got one nice bull bluegill towards the end of the day.

Tip of the trip, always carry a pair of hemostats with you when chasing sunfish. Small mouths, small flies and fat fingers do not mesh.

Bass Thumb

6-13-15

If the cows are laying down the fish aren't biting. If the wind is out of the east the fish bite the least. Wind out of the west fish bite the best. What about if the flies are biting the fish are biting. That was the correlation with today's fishing. Makes sense to me, flies have a tendency to bite as rain approaches and the barometric pressure was likely dropping with the approaching rain. The fishing was fantastic this morning. No huge fish but lots of solid 2-3 lb fish. The fish are fat and healthy and look as good as they have in several years. It seems that the past two years the pond has been on an upswing with the bluegill on the rebound the bass have been fattening up. It should continue to get better over the next few years.

First fish of the morning. 

Last fish of the morning. 

And lots of fish in between.
Bass Thumb

Thump In The Night

5-13-15

Big Bullgills go thump in the night. The best tips I can give will be to go scout the area out during the day so you have a general idea of how you need to fish it during the night. The best night spots are open and don't give you any back cast issues like snagging your fly on brush or trees. I like to use larger flies generally during the night then I do during the day. Like a size 8-12 fly, my favorite rig is a size 8-10 black bugger and then about 12-18" behind that I will trail a size 10-12 black bugger. I like to use webby hackle on these buggers so the flies  push more water which I believe to be critical to getting the attention of the fish. As far as the technique, one that I have found to be extremely effective is to cast your flies out, with your rod tip down near the water slowly raise you rod tip to the 12 o'clock position. When I say slow I am referring to this process from 8-12 o'clock should take 20 to 30 seconds. If you don't get a bite just roll cast your flies back out there and start the process over again. Tight lines

Frankenstein foreheads on these guys. 

Bass on Everything

5-15-16

The fishing was pretty good today. First cast with a game changer chatterbait yielded a nice bass. Caught several other fish on it as well but with the over cast skies I knew the bass would be looking up. Switched over to a Cohens frog leg diver and caught several more fish on it as well. Finished the day off with my Senko fly and caught several fish on that as well.  

TBT - 4-2-05

Nice tom with the bow. Archer City, TX

Just Gill'n

4-2-16

The morning started off a little slow as we had a cold front blow in the day before. Once the sun got up a little bit the action picked up. This particular pond is loaded with big blue gill and they are a blast on the 3wt. The action and fishing will only get better as we move closer to summer. 

Average fish for this pond. 

Fish of the day

Gill

LMB

3-27-16

Not a whole lot to report from today. The fishing was a little tough do to a 20-25 mph north wind. The water was muddy and the bass had a little bit of lock jaw going on. But it was a good Easter with the family and enough fish cooperated to make my efforts worthwhile. This little Senko fly I've been fishing continues to be a hot pattern for the LMB. 

Stewards Of The Land

3-13-16

Headed to a local creek this afternoon to chase some white bass. There was a father there with his son and one of his sons friends fishing. They where having a good time and catching some fish. Was small talking with the father and he was telling me how he has fished this creek for 25 years and every year he comes down as often as he can to load up a cooler of fish to take home. He added how he was surprised the white bass continue to come back to this creek to spawn year after year and their numbers have not been depleted from all the fish he has taken out as well as what others have taken. The father and two young boys continued to fish and throw every fish they caught into the cooler. They probably had 20-25 fish between the three of them, but continued to talk about having to get to 75 before the day was over. I'm not against keeping some fish for a meal. But personally I'm not sure why one would need 75 fish, but that is their legal limit. Granted white bass are prolific spawners with the limit in Texas 25 per day per person. I moved on to another hole to finish the day. I wondered what the father and the boys would be doing if the white bass population wasn't as prolific as it was. Would he have had the foresight to realize keeping all those spawning fish over the years contributed to the decline.

"We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."

Drum'n Kind of Day

2-28-16

We'll today was pretty slow, pretty much expected that with the water still being pretty cold and the lack of generation. Caught some small channel cats, a small striper and sandbass. Some how managed to catch a large gizard shad in the mouth with a micro clouser. And caught a handful of small drum, which are normally pretty hard fighters but with the cold water they were fairly lethargic. I've really been slacking off with pictures, of course it helps to catch some fish worth taking a picture of. This Drum was the best fish of he day. Good news is in 3-4 weeks it should be game on.

Senko Slay'n

2-13-16

The Senko fly is still catching a lot of fish. Its always fun catching fish in clear water as not only do you feel them fighting but also able to see them as well. Generally speaking in clear water you will want to get your flies deeper. For two reasons; 1. Especially on bright days the bass stay a little deeper to be out of the direct sun light. 2. Bass know they are vulnerable to predators in clear water and are more at ease when they are deeper in the water column. As you look into the water, fish areas that have darker bottoms. The darker bottom typically means grass/hydrilla or other forms of vegetation and will hold fish.

Knots; Needle Knot

The needle knot is my go to knot for attaching my leader to fly line on my trout setups. This is a very strong connection and most importantly a very smooth connection that slides through your fly rod guides without catching. I like this knot over a loop to loop or the nail knot because I have never had this knot hang up on a guide. I fish a lot of long leaders(11-13') on my trout rods, when landing fish I normally have to reel the flyline/leader connection several feet into the rod guides. When using light tippet(5x/6x) if the fish makes a last minute run and the flyline/leader connect hangs on a guide the fish will likely break you off. May not be a big deal if it wasn't a big fish, but if it was... This video does a really good job describing this knot.

Knots; Non Slip Loop Knot

The non slip loop knot is my go to knot for when I want a loop knot. On my warm water leaders this is how I attach two different tippet strengths. By creating a loop to loop connection I can easily change out tippets for varies applications. This knot does use a lot of tippet/material to tie but I like it more than the perfection loop, especially on lighter tippets under 12lbs. I have had no problems with this knot breaking prematurely or failing me. It is a good knot for mono, flouro and wire and I like that the tag end points towards the loop. This prevents the knot from catching on grass and moss and other debris fouling up the presentation/fly.

Knots; Perfection Loop

I like the perfection loop with heavy tippet of 20 lb or more. I have found, especially with fluorocarbon, that this knot will break relatively easily with lighter tippet. I think it has something to do with the way the knot tightens down causing a pinch in the line that creates a weak point. One thing that is very important is the tag end needs to be at 90 degrees when the knot is completed, if not it did not set properly and will fail. It's not the easiest knot to control the loop size, especially when used with a fly. A little adjusting as you tighten the knot will be needed to make sure the loop is not to large. However it is a popular knot for your leader butt while creating a loop to loop connection to your fly line. I also like using this knot on wire bite tippet, since wire is fairly expensive and this knot doesn't have a lot of waste.

Knots; Improved Clinch Knot

Likely the first knot you learned as a fisherman, This is a great knot and still one I use often; likely because I have tied it so many times I could do it with my eyes closed. Generally use this knot with lighter tippet, trout stuff in the 4x, 5x, and 6x and smaller flies. Be careful as I have had this knot slip on me if I use it with light tippet and larger size flies, for example 6x and a size 8 wooly bugger. This is a very fast, effective knot that uses minimal tippet to tie. Since this is a friction knot make sure you lubricate the knot with spit or dunking in the water before tightening it down. While clinching this knot down do so in a slow steady fashion or you risk heating the line up and causing a weaker knot that might cost you a good fish.

Knots: San Diego Jam

Going to go over a few knots that I use frequently. First is the San Diego Jam. I started using this knot when I switched over to fluorocarbon. Fluorocarbon weakens significantly when it heats up from friction knots like the clinch knot. I have also noticed it seems to weaken with knots that pinch down on the line like the perfection loop. I primarily use the San Diego Jam on 8lb-20lb leaders. I have had nearly zero failure with this knot. It also is a great knot for the attaching a trailer fly to the bend of the hook of your lead fly. With a little bit of wiggling you can loosen this knot up and slid it off bend of the hook if you want to remove the trailer fly.  Only complaint is it does use up more leader than some of your other knots. Give it a try I think it will quickly become one of your favorite knots.