Fishing (Every Day In May)

On the 5th day of May the topic of the day is Fishing....
If you were like me you might have grown up fishing. Thank's Dad, it has to be the best thing that you ever taught me.
What I truly enjoy about the sport of fishing is the fact that you can be rich or poor, healthy or disabled and it doesn't matter. If you desire to fish, you CAN. Another joy is introducing fishing into someone's life who never got to experience it growing up. It's a lot of fun to see them grow with the sport.
I grew up fishing the Bayou's of Louisiana for bass and the Marsh for redfish and trout. Now that I am in Texas most of my time is spent on the rivers of the area where I live but a few times a year are spent down South chasing tail.

Traditionally I have always fished with artificial lures and a baitcaster but the last year the fly bug has taken over and I would say that 80% of my fishing time is with a fly rod.

I guess the reason that fly fishing is so enjoyable is that it is pretty complicated which produces a challenge, and who doesn't like a challenge. The other thing would be the whole new set of friends made over the last year and the fun fishing trips that we have shared.

Thank you for reading my ramblings and when you get the chance, take someone Fishing........

Tying (Every Day In May)

Day four.
The topic for todays Every Day In May challenge is Tying............

Upon taking up the sport of fly fishing it became apparent that the vast assortment of flies on the market was amazing and mind boggling. I had no idea where to start when it came to targeting a specific species of fish. Having built custom rods for years people always assume that I would make my own flies. Truth be told it is something that I often think about doing but don't really know when time would allow me to do it. Between work and trying to fish it's really hard to take on a new hobby.
This is the closest that i've gotten to joining the insanity.....

It was a gift from my oldest daughter upon my returning from a trip out of town. If you look closely you will see that it is unopened. Still to this day I have not found the time to check it out.

I have quite a few friends that tie and the one that keeps me supplied with the flies that I use for warm water fishing is John Wood, the owner of DragonFly Angler custom flies out of Cody, Wyoming. It seems that although he is in Wyoming, John really enjoys tying flies for warm water and I have been fortunate enough to be his test subject for his endeavor.
When I recieved my first set of flies from him it was easy to notice the difference between these and some of the store bought flies that i'd been using. The attention to detail was amazing and they were holding up fish after fish.

To this day I still have and use most of these flies except for a few that belong to the tree gods.
I really respect the thought that a fly tyer puts into his art and will continue to support them. Unless, I finally open that box..........................................................

Current (Every day in May)

Day three of blogger challenge has to do with Current.
As many of you know, I am a river fisherman. So current plays a major role in how the river fishes as well as how you would approach the river. Current is usually created naturally on a river or from a man made dam as water is released from a resevoir creating flow as it heads downstream. Different times of the year usually determine the amount of water to be released. On the two rivers that I primarily fish, one has more flow during the spring when water is needed downstream for irrigation purposes to supply farmes growing crops and the other has more flow during the summer months in order to supply flow for recreational purposes that many local businesses depend on.

What I have learned through the years is to study what i'm doing when the first few fish of the day are caught, this will help you establish a pattern and make for an enjoyable day. Flow on the river is important to me when the trip begins, a slow current will usually scatter fish while a faster current will stack the fish making the pattern easy to work. In a strong current you will usually have better luck casting as close to the bank as possible, and really work any eddy that you come to thoroughly.
I generally paddle upstream against the current, casting whenever possible before approaching the area when the journey begins back downstream. Going downstream is where i'm spending the majority of my time fishing using a drag chain to slow my drift as well as dropping it completely to stop me in the current where I feel there might be some fish present. Try to work your lure downstream with the current as most fish being predators are facing upstream waiting on an easy meal to float by.

Hope I was able to explain how current effects the way a river fishes..............

Home Waters (Every Day In May)

Let me start off by saying....I am a transplanted Texan!!! If you've seen me eat crawfish then you would know where my journey to Texas started.
Since day two of every day in may is about Home Waters, I chose to focus this subject on what I have called home for over twenty years. Living next door to the Guadalupe river can be a blessing as well as a curse. It's a blessing because I can be on the river in twenty minutes and a curse when you drive across it everyday on the way to work.

The thing that I like the best about the Guad is the ability to catch so many different species of fish. There are different species of Perch, Bass, Carp, Gar, and Drum Roll please..........TROUT!!!!!!!!!.

It is such a diverse area with it's ever changing terrain that you are able to wade many sections of it, or float it. The fishing is consistent year round and patterns are controlled by the flow. Once you establish a pattern it is usually there for a length of time.

There are only two pitfalls that effect this river...... tubers who don't understand that if you took it to the water you can surely take it out when you leave, and the ever present drought.
If you get the chance to fish my home waters, have fun and respect it.....it's yours too.......

That's what friends are for

Friends are earned, they are not given to you......A true friend is like a brother, there when you need them and the same returned by you.....
So when you call a friend up and ask him to ditch work and hit the river with you, what's he to do......

We spent the day on the Guadalupe river fishing a stretch that I am very familiar with. I started out with a Wooly Booger tied on to my custom 4wt with Solitude reel, the fish were hitting it on about the third strip if not on the initial fall. After catching and releasing both bass and perch my friend pointed out the occasional fish strike on the surface so I took the Booger off and tied on a Popper. I was amazed at how well the popper was working, time and time again it would dissapear as it hit the surface.

We explored new areas of the river, advancing one set of rapids further than I ventured last trip. With each exploration, fresh water is exposed and more fish are caught. As we paddled our way back to the takeout, discussions and the planning stages were made to do a three day float and camp among the trees in the river bed this summer.
Looking forward to it my friend................................................

Every Day in May

Today is May 1,2012. Why is that important you might ask...... well I don't know.What I do know is that there was a challenge put out to see if I could blog about different topics once a day, every day in May.
Today's topic is May Day, whatever that means. I figured that since a good portion of my week is spent living out of a hotel room from one city to the next that this challenge fit me well as their is a lot of free time at night when the hard hotel room bed wont allow you to fall asleep.
I have seen the topics for each day and this one to me seemed to be the lamest er...hardest to conquer.
Please don't get bored but join me on this journey as I try to pull off this challenge.

Here is a list of topics to look forward to as well as my thoughts on each.
1. May Day- probably the hardest
2. home waters- ahhhh, something I know very well
3. current- not sure if they mean the news or the flow of my favorite river, i'll make it up
4. tying- all I know how to tie is knots, and i'm still learning
5. fishing- this should be easy
6. praying- not to offend any religions I will think hard on this one
7. working- is fishing work?
8. hatching-hmmmm
9. grinning and laughing- the best medicine
10. conservation- I obey it
11. waders- well, I only have one pair... maybe someone will read this and sponsor me :)
12. something completely different- okay, doable
13. Mother’s Day- will make you cry
14. rod- love talking about this subject
15. line- I've only used two brands
16. leader- got ideas for this
17. fly- still learning, but okay
18. fish, fish, fish- like it
19. more fish- getting easier
20. greenery- I like foilage
21. bugs- one word OFF
22. runoff- what happens when you spray on too much OFF
23. safety first- always preach it
24. memory- gets worse every day
25. shoreline- something you hope to see soon when your friend takes you 68 miles out in the Gulf
26. lessons learned- this could get embarrasing
27. bucket list- everybody has one of these
28. news- there's always something going on
29. inspiration/aspiration- good one
30. fish philosophy- I like
31. achievement- This will be good too