February
So now it's that goofy time of waiting in north Texas angling we call February. There's still trout trips to Beavers Bend and the Blue River to be had but schedules are getting tight. And those spots are really only enjoyable (for me) when there's no crowd - that means mid-week and/or fishing in crappy weather. Our last Frostfest to the Blue was a wonderful experiment with wind chill and now I'm just wishing for sunshine and a gentle, WARM south breeze. Today is to be our first day of sun and 50 degree temps in recent memory - of course, it's all getting shut down tomorrow with more clouds and rain and then another Arctic front Monday. JEEZ.
This is the time of year that I start worrying about the level of Ray Roberts. The lake is about 18" high right now with more rain in the forecast. I'm always conflicted about situations like this. We'll be begging for water in five months but I'm probably the only person that is happy when the lake is less than full. The majority of the flats I fish for carp are best when the water level is about 1-2 feet low. If we get our "big shot" of rain in April as we seem to get every 3-4 years, a lake that's already a foot and a half high will be TOAST for carp fishing. The fish will still be there, tailing happily under mesquite thorns and willows but they'll be impossible to fish.
Remember the flood in 2007? Same set up as we're experiencing right now - a wet late winter that lead into an April monsoon. The lake was closed for several weeks as it rose over 7 feet. Several ramps were closed all summer and/or damaged by water level (we did, however, have an EXCELLENT late summer sand bass season that year).
The good news about these water levels is that stream flows will be wonderful for the sand bass spawn in a few weeks. With the next warm-up, they should start migrating to the "staging areas" - transition points were rivers and creeks flow into reservoirs. They'll hold there until some unknown calculus of water temp./flow/moon phase/sunlight/etc. (in my experience, it seems to coincide with the appearance of craneflies and budding redbud trees) tells them to head upstream. Some years it's fantastic - other's it's forgettable.
Keep an eye on your local redbud tree and we'll see.
This is the time of year that I start worrying about the level of Ray Roberts. The lake is about 18" high right now with more rain in the forecast. I'm always conflicted about situations like this. We'll be begging for water in five months but I'm probably the only person that is happy when the lake is less than full. The majority of the flats I fish for carp are best when the water level is about 1-2 feet low. If we get our "big shot" of rain in April as we seem to get every 3-4 years, a lake that's already a foot and a half high will be TOAST for carp fishing. The fish will still be there, tailing happily under mesquite thorns and willows but they'll be impossible to fish.
Remember the flood in 2007? Same set up as we're experiencing right now - a wet late winter that lead into an April monsoon. The lake was closed for several weeks as it rose over 7 feet. Several ramps were closed all summer and/or damaged by water level (we did, however, have an EXCELLENT late summer sand bass season that year).
The good news about these water levels is that stream flows will be wonderful for the sand bass spawn in a few weeks. With the next warm-up, they should start migrating to the "staging areas" - transition points were rivers and creeks flow into reservoirs. They'll hold there until some unknown calculus of water temp./flow/moon phase/sunlight/etc. (in my experience, it seems to coincide with the appearance of craneflies and budding redbud trees) tells them to head upstream. Some years it's fantastic - other's it's forgettable.
Keep an eye on your local redbud tree and we'll see.
posted by Joel Hays at
7:10 AM
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