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.

Blue Day on the Blue!

Chris Weatherly and I went to the Blue River this past Thursday to hit the catch and release water on a crowdless day. It was a great time for solitary fishing - mid-week, temps in the 30's and falling, a 12-20 mph north wind with gusts to 30 and rain/freezing rain/drizzle/sleet.

After the 30 minute hike in to the C&R area (far north end of the Blue River Wildlife area north of Hwy 7) we started nymphing holes and runs with the usual "Oklahoma rig"; a #14 BH Prince with a #18 pheasant tail dropped off on a foot and a half of 5X. The increasing winds made drag-free drifts difficult. After a few fish on the nymphs and several breaks to get out of the wind and warm up, we switched to streamers and spent the rest of the day catching rainbows deep.

We finally left around 4pm having not seen another soul, catching some NICE (for stockers) fish, and flirting with the symptoms of hypothermia (BTW - I'm a BIG fan of toe warmers!).

YIKES!

Here's a case where a picture really is worth a thousand words. Yes, that's a real human arm in that South Carolina alligator's mouth. Check out the story here.

I think I'll be a little more observant the next time I'm poaching golf course water hazards for redfish on Kiawah Island!

COLD!

Near record cold temps this week/weekend left little for the outdoor enthusiast to pursue around north Texas. Sure, you could brave the windchill and break ice to swing a nymph or two up at the Blue or Mountain Fork (which some friends did with little) or even get up at the crack of dawn and go duck hunting like I did. Not a wise decision.

We put on three or four more layers of clothing than usual and still could not get warm in the 2 degree wind chill. When we arrived at our little duck pond by head lamp we discovered something interesting and totally unexpected - the pond was completely frozen over. This is a unique sight to a Texas boy and at 6:30 am through a head lamp beam, groggy head and frozen eyelashes, gives one a moment of pause.

"Well, shit. Where are we going to put the decoys?"

(we decided to break the ice in the lee of the pond and put just four dekes in the open water - it actually worked!)

The two gadwalls I shot that morning did not quite make up for the frozen toes but will be the guests of honor at a great dinner in a day or two.

The thermometer in my study now reads 45 on this sunny Sunday afternoon so I'm about to pull all of the tying gear out on the front porch and be a heliotroph for an hour or so. Think warm thoughts, people. The earth is tilting as we know it and it will be Spring here in north Texas sooner than you think!

Duck Medallions with Red Currant Glaze
(this is how I prepare "good" ducks - mallards, gaddies, widgeon, teal and the alike. Check back later for recipes for "crap" ducks like scaup)

2 ducks "breasted out" with skin (FAT!) left intact over the breast
2 cloves garlic
2 cups red wine
tsp. red pepper flakes
tsp. salt
fresh rosemary
black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
sea salt
cracked black pepper
4 tbsp. red currant preserves
olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1) Place ducks in a marinade made from the first 7 ingredients. Marinate for at least 4 hours (over night is better)
2) Remove and dry ducks. Discard marinade
3) Rub duck with olive oil and season with dashes of sea salt and a little cracked pepper.
4) Grill for 4-6 minutes on each breast side (until the skin just starts to sear) and then 6-10 min. on the back to cook through. This varies with the size of the duck. When done, cover with loose foil and move to a warm oven.
5) While duck is grilling, saute green onion in a couple of table spoons of olive oil in a med. sauce pan to caramelized (you could add a seeded serrano pepper for heat if wanted).
6) Deglaze pan with balsamic vinegar and allow to reduce by half. Season with salt and pepper.
7) Add preserves and which until blended and reduce heat.
8) Carve 1" thick medallions off the duck breast and arrange on plate. Drizzle red currant sauce over the meat.
9) Serve with a warm spinach, walnut and gorgonzola salad, mashed sweet potato, and a GOOD Argentinian Malbec.

Norm

The constellation of north Texas fly fishing lost one of its biggest stars this past weekend - Norm Goheen. If you knew Norm, you know that words find a difficult time describing his larger-than-life character. I have one of his business cards which states:

Norm Goheen's Rod Repair & Alchemy

Lies told
Tales spun
Rumors verified

Youth sought

Age achieved

Secrets revealed

Dry flied sunk

Tailing loops made

Rivers waded

Waders filled

"Piscaro itaque dicet mendacium"

Norm did it all in the world of fly fishing; spey casting for Atlantic salmon to building fine rods. I have a little one wt. rod I use for small, alpine streams when backpacking that Norm made for me a few summers ago. Hopefully, Norm will be there with me next summer chasing cutthroats in the Weminuche.

I had the honor of taking him on one of his last fishing trips; stalking carp on the flats of Ray Roberts. Norm had resisted for years - saying that he'd "rather catch a brick in the backyard" or "I'll go - but you'll have to hook, fight, and take the fish off - and clean my rod when you're done!" I was so happy when Norm agreed to go and commented on his choice of rods - an 8 foot 6 wt. bamboo (of course) that he made years ago. His reply was classic Norm . . . "I hate this rod. I was hoping one of the ugly bastards would break it."

So, in fine Celtic tradition, here's an Irish wake poem for Norm:

God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be.

So He put his arms around you and whispered "come to me."

With tearful eyes we watched you, and saw you pass away.

Although we loved you dearly, we could not make you stay.

A golden heart stopped beating, hard working hands at rest.

God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best.

Broken Bow Beauty!

Here's a series of photos shot at Broken Bow and sent last week from Dusty Montgomery. If you have fished much in Oklahoma (or any stocked areas for that matter), you recognize the fish on the top - your typical "right-out-of-the-truck" stocked Rainbow (and even that one has better color than usual). The fish in the bottom two shots, however, is a fish of a different color! A vividly colored male that looks like it came from some well managed stream in Colorado or even the rainbow's native habitat in California. And look what he fell for - a little black midge-type fly. My favorite dropper off the back of a heavy PT or Prince.

GREAT shots, Dusty!

By the way, Dusty's report said that Spillway Creek got pretty crowded as the weekend progressed; to the point where they just packed up and came home after witnessing "4-5 guys in every good hole." Dusty supposed that maybe colder weather would thin the crowds a bit (and - he's right). With zones 2 and 3 unfishable (or "uncatchable"?) until repairs on the dam(n) turbines are finished, everyone up there is crowding onto the only accessible water.

Well, a check of the forecast indicates that winter is arriving TOMORROW . . . low's in the 30's, wind, rain - look's like a good time to hit the Mountain Fork or Blue!

Lower Mtn. Fork (Beaver's Bend) Update

I made a trip to SE Oklahoma this past Thursday to check the Lower Mountain Fork through Beaver's Bend State Resort. The buzz has been fairly heavy about the area - message boards were filled with dread about the proposed repair to the turbines and the associated flood of water that was to be released through the spillway to moderate the lake level. Evidently "Plan B" - a solution involving repair of the turbines one at a time while allowing flow through the dam directly into the park water - is a happy compromise and will allow angling in Zone 1 for the next few months.

G. Tolle and I left Denton EARLY Thursday morning and were on the water before 9 am. There were only three cars at the lower nature trail bridge parking area when we got there - one was a hiker that headed off through the woods and another was two guys from the Okla. Fish and Game Dept. waiting on the stocking truck. The truck pulled up a few minutes later and we witnessed the transfer of trout to the pickup. It kind of like sausage . . . if you like it, you probably don't want to see it made! The stocking process is much less precise than one would think given the frail nature of trout. The OWD guys said they were adjusting their stocking placement because they could not cross the stream with the water level. So, they were going to put a few more fish upstream. If you have ever waded upstream from Cold Hole to the lower trail bridge, you might have noticed a 10" diameter blue PVC pipe on the right side of the stream. This is a stocking pipe. They back the truckdown to the other end of the pipe, attach a large hose and let'em slide. The trout get what has to be (for them) a terrifying 100' water park slide that ends with a dump into the stream.

Thursday was bright and sunny and as long as the sun was directly on the water, fishing was tough. All the fish we hooked before lunch (at 2:00pm) were holding DEEP. The water level was perfect for Spillway Creek - enough water for lots of fish cover but not too deep/fast to make wading difficult. We did not catch many fish in larger pools and, if we did, they were holding in pockets at the tails of the pools. Most trout caught were holding in smaller, deep pockets in sections with boulders or other "hydraulic" producing structure. The area downstream of the upper bridge was especially productive in the afternoon.

An interesting fact is that all of the fish we caught were large - we didn't catch a fish less than 14" and most were around 16. They were pretty beat up stockers with the usual blunt fins and less than magazine quality coloration but some of them fought very well. Glenn caught one just upstream of Cold Hole that jumped several times and took of upstream, leaping the whole way.

All fish were caught on some variation of the usual "Oklahoma rig" - an 8 foot 4X leader with a #14 heavy BH Prince and a #18 little black or olive midge as a dropper on 6X.

On another note, I fished my new 7'9" TFO Finesse 4 wt. and LOVED IT for the type of short range, "weave-through-the-woods" fishing we do at Beavers Bend (and especially on the Blue). It was just long enough to allow a good drift and was SO easy to maneuver through the tight cover along the stream. It had enough backbone to cast the nymph rig and fight the larger trout we caught (my biggest of the day was a 17" that just about "maxed out" the little rod).