Great White Buffalo

Strange events on yesterday's trip to the flats.

First of all, the lake is recovering nicely from the May rains. At this writing it is 9" high (@ 633.23' above sea level - normal pool is 632.5) and the Corps has maintained a steady release of 373 cfs from the dam since May 21st. Water clarity is improving daily and is now back to where it should be for this time of year.

The carp are finishing their post-spawn feeding frenzy and settling into a "normal" summer routine. We're wading the outside edges of shoreline vegetation to target fish tailing in calf-to-knee deep water. Large numbers of smaller carp can be seen along the flooded shorelines but they are impossible to cast to without hanging up. We probably saw 200 fish yesterday and had shots at about 50 (that we actually eating and not cruising). The "deep" version of the CoyoteCarp was the fly of the day - it could get down quickly in the 18" or so of water but still not land with too much SPLAT.

Smallmouth buffalo are all over the outer edges of the flats and we had several good opportunities. The more I target these fish, the more they live up to the analogy of the permit of the freshwater flats. They're SPOOKY, tough to hook, and when (or if) they eat is totally up to them. If the carp has a strike zone the size of a volleyball, then the buff has one the size of a golf ball! That fly has to be RIGHT in front of their face (actually a little under their face given the shape of their Hoover mouth). The fish pictured went just over 13.5 lbs.

Now for the "strangeness." The picture of the scale on my dear, old, trusty boga is the last image of it in my possession. I knew this was a LARGE fish - worthy of some kind of state or maybe IGFA record so I dug out the boga, weighed and measured the fish, and had a few pics snapped. At one point I had the boga in one hand (attached to fish) and held the fish with my other hand under its belly. One big FLOP and all those 13.5 pounds went on the lanyard which was around my wrist. The jaws must have pierced the skin because when the fish hit the water, he was still attached to the boga but the boga was not attached to ME! By the time I realized what had happened, the buff was swimming off the flat. I noticed that he stopped and tailed (as if rubbing something off his face). We searched for some time with no luck and clouded the water so I'm going back soon to search again. If you happen to catch a large buff with a 15# boga grip hanging off its head, please send it back - I'll reward your efforts with a box of flies!

July is almost booked but I still have several days open in June - call or email to reserve a date (940)391-9480