Fall Distractions

Not much to report over the last month except precipitation - LOTS of precipitation. Many locales in north Texas received 10 - 15" of rain in the past month, with most of the Ray Roberts drainage coming in at 12-13". The last round of rain early last week put the lake up to 3 feet over conservation pool (632.5 ft. above sea-level) and, as of today, it has dropped a few inches down to 635.26".
The season on the flats was wrapped up anyway but this has pretty much killed all fishing on the lake unless you want to jig deep structure for sand bass. If you draw a line from the Quail Run camping area at Isle duBois north to Wolf Island, it will cross 3 or 4 good holding spots for sand bass. These could be anywhere from 25 to 40 feet deep. It takes good electronics, patience, and a sensitive rod but it's one of the few ways to catch consistent fish in the cool months.
Water levels will be great for the upcoming waterfowl season. I'm looking forward to touching up the decoys and breaking out the camo. A friend has a new chocolate lab that is ready for her first season and we're going to start her easy on some ponds and sloughs just off the lake. It's my favorite kind of duck hunting; small water, maybe a dozen "dekes", two guns and a dog. Simple. No public boat ramps, trailers/outboards (I've had a bad run of luck with outboards lately), bags of tangled decoys, "sky-busters" ruining you good planning - nothing. A good day is three or four birds, we don't have to get up at 3am and the clean-up's easy.
Finally, if you have not had a chance to check out the new TFO website, give it test drive. Great graphics and two new lines of fly rods to check out. Expect a review of the Fly Rod Chronicle series of trout rods shortly!