Fun day on the creek.

Fun time on the creek today. The little one was with grandma so the wife and I got to spend a few hours on the water. The fishing was a little slow, likely do to the post cold front conditions. The water was also lower and this creek in particular the fish seem to run in and out of it as the flows increase and decrease with recent rains.   

Hillbilly Cohos

Made a quick run to a local creek this afternoon to chase some white bass, commonly called sand bass or sandies around here. The rains this week have brought them into the creeks pretty good. Walked down to the creek and found a hole to my self and proceeded to catch 50-60 fish in an hour and a half to two hours. The fish showed no mercury to small chartreuse clousers. Most times hitting it within seconds of the fly landing in the water. These fish are a lot of fun and should be in the creeks for the next 4-6 weeks. 

   

Monday Movie; NOLA

Crazy good fishing my buddy Justin and I had fishing for bull reds in Louisiana. Capt. Greg Moon and Capt. Greg Dini are some good guys that know that area and can put you on fish. 20-30 lb bull reds feeding in the shallows and eagerly eating flies. Justin has been back several times. Easily one of the best fly fishing trips within an hour and a half flight from Dallas.   

Creek Bass'n

You never know unless you go. Been meaning to get back and fish this creek again. Last time I fished it was 2012 and that was during the white bass run. Didn't really know what to expect since the lakes have been so flooded and its been several years since the last time I was here. Right off the bat the first hole was loaded with small largemouth and gills. As I hiked further down the creek I found more bass, most 1-2 lbs. Never did find any sandies and was surprised I didn't hook into any crappie. I am going to have to try to hit this creek this summer with a small popper as these bass should be all over it.

February Frenzy

Its been a fairly warm winter so far here in Texas. Today was warm, sunny and a perfect day to go see if the fish would be biting. And that they were. Probably one of the best February days I've had bass fishing. I fished a new fly I tied up a few weeks ago. If you do any conventional bass fishing you are probably aware of Gary Yamamoto's Senko. The Senko took the bass fishing world by storm a few years ago and is a highly effective soft plastic bait. I tie this fly on a Gamakatsu finesse wide gap hook. I use three shanks(10, 15 and 20 mm) of the fish spine shanks. The body is tied with Arizona Semi-seal dubbing. This particular fly was tied in the black/blue color. As you can see if very closely resembles a Senko. The fly has a slow 1.5"-2.5" per second sink rate. I fished it on a floating line, but if I had to do differently I would fish it on a 15' intermediate tip to get the fly down a little quicker and keep it down through the retrieve. The water is still fairly cold and the bass aren't overly active yet. Small strips with long pauses and they would really smack this fly on the pause. Several fish nearly jerked the rod out of my hand. Really looking forward to fishing this fly some more and getting it fine tuned.

Really like this Gammy hook.

Lots of nice healthy fish today.

Fish of the day.

Monday Movie; Devils River

Will be posting some throw back movies/clips I've put together over the years. This first one is the Devils River from March on 2010. An incredible river and one I really need to make happen again in the next few years. I really have no excuse why I haven't been back.

Dressing For The Cold

Fishing in the winter can be great if you can tolerate the cold. Dressing properly can go a long ways to making your day comfortable.

Starting with your feet. First cotton socks will not adequately protect your feet. Merino wool is good but your best option is a possum/merino blend. These are the warmest socks that I have been able to find. Unfortunately for whatever reason I have been unable to find them in the states. Google will bring up plenty of suppliers in New Zealand that will ship them to you. Warm feet are worth the price you will pay for these socks. Possum fur is hollow and will trap air and retain heat. Polar bears, wolves and many other arctic species have hollow hair follicles if you doubt the effectiveness of the insulating factor it provides. For added warmth I will wear a second pair of 100% merino wool socks. Next you'll want to make sure your boots now fit properly with a pair or two of thick socks. A couple pairs of socks, stocking foot waders and its easy for you to now need a boot 2 or 3 sizes larger. The last thing you want is a boot that is really tight, retaining heat is all about creating air pockets, tightness around your feet will also slow blood circulations and will result in your feet getting cold quickly. Again don't over tighten your boots when lacing them up, get them snug but not tight.

Pants you'll want to layer accordingly. I like to layer with the heaviest weight stuff I can find. I found some Polartec Thermal Pro's from Cabelas that I really like. First Lite also makes some good 100% merino base layers that I use for the second layer. There is a balance of how much you can layer in relation to mobility. Once you start hitting 3 layers your mobility really starts taking a hit. Personally I like to stay around 2 layers under my waders. First layer being a skin tight layer like the Polartec Thermal Pros, Under Armour also makes a similar base layer. The second layer I like to be a bit looser, again creating air pockets that will trap and hold warmth.

For your upper body I do pretty much the same. First layer is a Polartex Thermal Pro. Next I like a heavy wool vest like the First Lite Springer vest. The reason I like a vest over another long sleeve top is to increase my range of motion so my casting stroke doesn't start getting restricted. Also I haven't had much of a problem with my arms getting cold. The vest does a good job of keeping your core warm. For extreme cold I will put on either a heavy weight hoodie sweetshirt. Under armor makes one that is waterproof and has an infrared liner to reflect and retain heat. This is a good option if you will be wearing a quality wading jacket that will block the wind. If not you will want to replace the hoodie with a high quality fleece wind blocker. Nothing robs the warmth from you like wind cutting through your layers.

Gloves, wish I could tell you of a pair that will keep your hands warm and dry and still maintain feel of the fly line but there isn't a pair that I am away of. Avery makes these neoprene decoy gloves that come up to your upper forearms. I take these gloves and cut the fingers and thumbs off and have been happy with them. Your fingers aren't going to be warm but you should be able to manage. For extreme cold take some hand warmers and use medical tape to secure the hand warmers to the top of your hand and then slip the gloves on. Some of the toe warmers already have a built in adhesive. Take a look at the top of your hand, you'll notice how thin the skin is and how many veins are exposed. The added heat from the hand warmers will aid in keeping the blood flowing in and out of your fingers and hands warmer. I read an article once about how the veins that supply blood to a ducks feet are inter-webbed with many other veins to maximize the warmth of the blood flowing in and out of the ducks legs so they resist frost bite while in extreme cold and wet conditions.

For your head and face a beanie's will retain heat 10x what a hat will. If you still need a hat to cut down on glare, make sure to have a hat large enough to be warn over the beanie. A neck gator will also help retain a lot of heat. Last for your face Avery makes a good neoprene face mask. I really like that the mouth area is really vented so when you breathe your glasses don't get fogged up.

Hopefully you can take a few of these tips and use them on your next trip this winter.