The Shag Carp-it!

Over 9 inches of snow last week and an unexpected 5 day weekend gave me some "forced" time-off with nowhere to go and little constructive to do. So, I got to spend some much needed time at the vise and started on the carp fly needs for the upcoming season. Small Clousers, bitters, wooly worms, and Coyote Carps (the hit fly last year) were cranked out between snowball fights and other duties related to being the parent of snow-bound kids.

After a few dozen "essentials" I started messing around at the vise, letting the frozen creative juices flow, and came up with something pretty cool. Like most flies I'm sure it's been "invented" a dozen times by a dozen people but it should do the trick nicely. I was looking for something that would land soft and have lots of action (from the palmered hen hackle), sink at a slow but decent rate (small non-toxic eyes) and not retain too much water when cast (no dubbing or other body material under the hackle).

I have versions in #6 and 8 in tan, orange, and olive. Again, I think we're on to something here - look for reports in a couple of months as to what the carp think!

(btw- you know what you do when Mother Nature gives you 9" of snow? Use it as a light box!)

July and Grassies

Sorry for the long dry spell of posts but July was kind of a blur. If I wasn't guiding I was in Colorado backpacking and chasing trout from the Weminuche Wilderness to Crested Butte. The carp fishing in July was fantasic with several memorable outings.

I guided Wilson Jaeggli and his friend, Frosty early in July and enjoyed a grand appearance from the grass carp. Usually, these MONSTERS give us just a passing shot and a Melville-esque glimpse at a large, silver-scaled fish in a foot or two of water. Wilson had done some research and came armed with milkfish tackle and tactics for just such an encounter. Around lunchtime, we saw a grassie tail at the edge of an old road bed. While moving into position, two more tails popped up (each tail easily 12-14 inches across). AND they stayed there - tailing and moving around the area for a good 10 minutes. Wilson made several presentations with a grass fly but no takers. Someday. Someday.

The photo shows Frosty with a nice common carp. Wilson is holding the rods in the background - one of which is a 9wt Sage rigged for grassies. The other is one of the coolest little rods I've ever seen. It's a little Scott 6 wt. from their Concepts line (I think) a few years ago. It's only 7 feet long and was designed by Chico Fernandez as a light snook and redfish rod for fishing the mangroves out of a canoe. NEAT!

Things are Looking UP!

I went up to Ray Roberts late this afternoon to get more of a handle on the current conditions. The lake is (at this writing) about 11 inches over normal conservation pool. Water is still up into the vegetation that was 20 yards from the shoreline a few weeks ago - and the fish are up there as well. Actually, they're all over the place.

The carp are all but finished with the spawn and on their post-sex feed. You can actually see a slight discoloration to the water a few yards out from the vegetation line; this is from the large numbers of carp (and buffalo) that are rooting in the bottom for food. The fish in the weeds/grass are nearly impossible to hook without hang-ups but fish further out will eat with abandon! You just have to find clearer water in which to spot fish and cast before wading up on top of them. I caught 8 or 9 in the two hours I was out and they all took the flies (both coyote carps and damsels) readily. The water clarity should improve in the next two weeks as the fish spread out into their summer pattern.

Gar are still spawning and I saw several pairs and groups thrashing around in the grass this afternoon. That should last another one or two weeks depending on rainfall. I caught two this afternoon. It's kind of cool - like fishing for dinosaurs - until you have to touch one of the things. I usually carry a glove just for that purpose (boga grips are kind of tricky with gar) and grab them just behind the head in a death-grip while I get the fly out with LONGnose pliers.

No glove. No pliers. Hmmmm.

I have to admit I actually thought about cracking the big one in the head a couple of times with the boga-grip but thought that might ruin my fish-kharma for the rest of the afternoon. So I just grabbed her and hoped for the best with the very small and VERY short pair of foreceps I had. fun. I've had a shower and washed my hands a few times since and can still smell that fish (did I mention they STINK?). But, they are a ball when hooked, cart-wheeling and jumping while changing direction every two seconds.

I caught two buffalo as well and am beginning to think this fish COULD be dialed in at some point. They're still the permit of the flats - it's totally up to them whether or not they'll eat. If carp have a "strike zone" the size of a volleyball, a buff's is more like a tennis ball. It has to be RIGHT THERE, below the level of the their eyes (I've never seen one come up even an inch for a fly) but not hidden in the bottom. VERY tough. But very rewarding when you hook into a 14.2 pound monster that tears into your backing and thoroughly christens the new Lamson Konic 2 reel.

It''s just tough to take a picture of a big fish by yourself. You can go for the "lay it on the shore next to the rod" shot, BUT there's not much of a shoreline these days at Roberts. All I could do was wade into shallow water, hold the fish out with the boga, and shoot for the best with the camera in my phone. That's my TiCr"X" and new Konic just behind the fish for a size comparison (with the rod in a bush). It was a great fight - he took me all over the little cove and into the backing twice.

On another note, more rain is forecast for this weekend (at least they're not using terms like "Heavy Rain"). If we can dodge another precip bullet, and the lake level keeps dropping as it has the last few days, I believe that June is going to be PHENOMENAL! July is booking up quickly but I still have several days (both weekend and weekday) open in June. Call me and get in on some great sight-fishing!

(940)391-9480

Precipitation

Be careful what you wish for.

An age-old saw at best but very appropriate here. About a month ago I jotted down a post in which I stated that we could use more rain. I said that the lake was at a place in elevation were it would be great a foot lower or a foot higher.

Now we know which way we're going. Thanks, Lord, for the rain (did we have to get a month's worth in 12 hours?). Ray Roberts has gone up over three feet in just over 48 hours. Thunderstorms "trained" over Roberts and its drainage for the better part of 24 hours straight. This gives us a good news/bad news set-up.

Good news - the carp are going bananas right now; spawning at the edges of the flooded flats. You can hear them from 200 yards away as a half dozen males chase a female around in inches of water . . . it makes quite a racket! The ones that aren't actively spawning ARE feeding. Just like bones or reds on a rising tide, they're pushing into flooded grass after everything from ants to seeds. SD and I stopped by the the lake Friday afternoon and the carp were like pigs in slop; all caution thrown to the wind as they spawned or foraged. As I mentioned earlier, they're difficult to hook this time of year; spawners aren't interested in food, and the activity clouds the water so much that feeding fish can't see a fly (combine this with clouds and it's really tough). The trick is to forget all the commotion and focus on the edges of the flat where you'll find clearer water and maybe a large female or two on the feed. This was the case yesterday - I found a LARGE female tailing about 20 yards out from the shoreline (in about 2 feet of water). After a long battle I was finally able to land her; just under 10 pounds on Shannon's boga. Check out video of the spawning fish and the battle with the she-beast at Shannon's site, Texas Flycaster.

The lake is still below normal "pool" elevation (at this writing) and the fishing will be great as long as it doesn't get too high. The magic number is 632.5 (elevation in feet above sea level).

Bad news - with fully saturated soils, any additional precipitation will run-off straight into the lake. This is the same situation we had in 2007. Rain and then RAIN. That year we got over 4 inches in a day (on top of a previous rain that soaked everything) and Roberts went up 6 feet, effectively destroying the flats fishing. The fish were still there, tailing and feeding as always; but, who wants to catch them (or pay to catch them) bushwacking through flooded mesquite, honey locust, and floating balls of fire ants?

Needless to say, I'm watching the weather VERY closely but it doesn't look good - large storms are pushing south out of OK right now on the edge of a cool front. Hopefully they'll cross the Red to the east of the Roberts drainage!

Cross your fingers, folks!

National Carp Day

I am hereby proposing a new national holiday - Carp Day. This will occur on April 10th and to celebrate, all one has to do is catch a carp on a fly. Simple.
No cards. No last minute guilt stops by the florist. Nada. Just catch a carp, shake fins with it, snap a pic and send it on its merry way.
We'll even have some fun with this . . . if anyone can figure out why I chose April 10th, you'll receive a carp fly selection tied by yours truly. Just post a comment to this post and first correct answer gets the flies!

The New and Improved Coyote Carp Fly

After a month or so of tinkering, I finally had the chance to put the latest version of the Coyote Carp in front of an actual carp . . . and MAN, does it work!

It took awhile to find the right combination of hook, eyes, and material to get the correct action out of the fly. I knew I wanted to use a medium bead chain eye so that I could get a decent sink rate without too much SPLAT on the water. Most of my fishing is in about a foot of water so I am more interested in stealthy presentations than a rapid sink rate. The problem came in finding a hook that was light enough to ride inverted ("hook-up") while in a #8 being stout enough not to straighten as a 8+ lb. fish is pulling on a 2X leader. With the help of a handy dandy analytical balance, I came up with a rough ratio of eye/hook mass needed to invert a fly. Turns out the eye needs to be about 2.5X heavier than the hook. Obviously, this also depends on materials and where they are placed on the shank.

Anyway, I spent a bit of time in March with an aquarium and some prototypes. The winning combination turned out to be a Gamakatsu SC-15 #6 with medium bead chain eyes (the SC-15 seem to be sized a little big - their #6 is the same size as a Mustad 3407 #8). This is an AWESOME shallow water fly; it hits soft, inverts easily, and hooks fish in the upper lip every time. A "deep" version (for fish in 18-36" of water) is tied with the SC-15 #4 and mini lead eyes. The minis don't hit too hard and get the fly down fairly quick. This should also be a KILLER redfish and bonefish fly; as a matter of fact, a handful of these are currently in the Seychelles with Brent and David from Tailwaters. I'm interested in their report - if nothing, that one of my flies is stuck in a coral head somewhere in the Indian Ocean!

I LOVE the SC-15's! At first, their thin diameter gave me caution - I've had clients straighten hooks on carp before - but, in actual "fish-testing" today they performed perfectly. I caught 7 carp on the same fly, the last two were over seven pounds each and I leaned on them pretty hard; trying to straighten the hook. Nothing except a perfect hook set right in the upper lip.

They're Back!

The Spring bite is ON! My son and I took a little hike around the lake yesterday and saw dozens of carp - all cruising in inches of water and feeding. This is a limited time thing as they are gorging on the first "real" food (craneflies, dragonflies, tree seeds, etc.) before they begin the spawn. Once the spawn starts in a couple of weeks, they lose interest in food and muddy the water with their randy antics. They can still be caught but it gets tough. A good side note is that gar will join them in the shallow spawning fest and they WILL eat. Catching a 10 pound gar in a fooot of water makes for an excellent April diversion while we wait for the carp to go on their "summer" pattern (usually the first of May).

Anyway, I caught four fish in quick succession yesterday. The low level and clear water made for long, tough presentations but they ate - and two where 6+ pounds! (and how about those photos . . . not bad for a 6 year old!) Give me a call if you want to get in on it - (940)391-9480.

Obviously, as you can tell by the photos, the lake is very LOW (just over 3 feet to be exact). Some flats have disappeared and others are emerging. If you fished with me last season, you might remember the "hog pen" from the above photo. It's now 20 yards from the shoreline. We need RAIN! The precipitation we recieved last week just soaked right in with very little run-off. The lake went up a whopping 1.5 INCHES after two straight days of rain. We also need more flow to kick off our sand bass/hybrid run. It was a BLAST last year and we could all use some bent stick this time of year!

Carp in the News

Generating quite a bit of buzz in the carp angling community was a front page article in the Wall Street Journal describing the benefits of "brownlining" - searching for less than desirable species in WAY less than desirable spots. The story focused on the S. Platte River through Downtown Denver and some guys from Discount Fishing Tackle that have set themselves up as carp fishing experts (they're even doing $50 seminars in which you too could become an "urban expert").
I have no beef with anyone making a buck off of the maligned C. carpio (it would be awfully hypocritical if I did) but this is just another in a long sequence of stories that paints carp as a tertiary species only found in sewage infested, urban waterways. Even that hallowed tome of flyfishing, The Drake, recently ran a bit about fishing for carp in the Los Angeles River.
I've caught carp in these places and, while I caught some BIG fish, it gets old fast. These fish usually just dive for the cover of depth when hooked and don't give the long runs I'm used to. Odors, traffic noises, dodging shopping carts and discarded batteries - YUCK! If you get a chance to chase carp in a clean, shallow environment (hey, like Ray Roberts!) they are a totally different animal. They spooky, cautious, picky and know what food should look like. They act just like reds on the coast and will streak across a flat when hooked, exposing backing in seconds.
I guess my point is this: before you make up your mind and file carp away as "trash", let me take you to the flats of Ray Roberts and show you my version of carp fishing. I think you'll be amazed!

The Coyote Carp Fly

North Texas in January is a rough place for fly-fishermen. An unfortunate amount of our time is spent indoors and when we can get out, the fishing is marginal at best (usually). We pacify ourselves with trips to the Blue River or the Mountain Fork in Oklahoma for trout or maybe a desparate trip out to the Brazos below PK to see if any of the big fish are moving around. Unless you're into ducks (and the hunting has not been that great this year), our sporting chances get kind of slim in this dark corner of the year.

One thing that sustains me when I can't get on the water is fly tying. Between the utilitarian business of re-stocking various boxes that have been depleted by a busy season on the flats (and the streams of Colorado) and filling a few orders for boxes of flies for clients, I try to leave a little time at the vise to get creative with the bugs. Usually nothing comes from this except a few minutes of fun and then I razor off the hideous creation to save the hook. When I started tying I always kept a box of "maybe" flies. These were mostly goofy, hybrid creatures whose only positive virtue was "maybe a bluegill would hit it." I've learned over the years that I never used those damn things and they just sat there until they would get dumped into a raffle bin or trash can somewhere.

A few creations have stuck - my "Little Black Fly" being one (a subject for a later post - I promise), and a variation of the Clouser that REALLY fishes well is another. Well, here's another that I think might just work - the Coyote Carp Fly.

This thing just looks FISHY! The original inspiration came from a West Coast surf perch fly. It has two tan rubber legs and several strands of Krystal Flash forming a tail (or antenae if it were a retreating crawfish), a body consisting of a pinch of coyote fur, and a tan hen saddle feather palmered to the eyes for "legs." The example pictured above is on a stainless #6 with large silver bead chain eyes and should be a redfish/bonefish KILLER. I have since tied some on a #8 scud/pupa hook with small gold eyes that looks like a serious carp fly. We'll see - a handful of them are headed to the Brazos in a few days for some R & D!

Golden Fall Colors

Fishing Report - Fall 2008







Well, another season on the flats has come and gone - and this one was GREAT! Excellent water levels, big fish, and quite a few guide trips (not to mention a new baby) made for a busy summer. Thanks to all my new and repeat clients . . . I hope you had a great time and I look forward to hearing from you again next spring.

Now it's time to settle in for the winter; hit Oklahoma a few times for trout, the dam at Texoma for Stripers, shoot a few ducks - we'll post some adventures as they come. Remember to support your local flyshops this holiday season when purchasing gifts; they provide us with a great service and EVERYBODY needs a new rod (or waders) in their stocking!

Here's a photo of my last trip of the season. Michael Gillman (holding carp) and his friend, Buddy booked a trip in early October - right before the strong cool front. A beautiful early fall day with clear water, no wind and super spooky fish. Fall carp are a real challenge as many of the food sources that are easy to imitate with a fly (like damsel and dragonfly nymphs or immature crayfish) have become fairly sparse. A fly really needs to be presented well with a long, fine leader.

Tight lines until next time!

A Change of Seasons

What happened to summer?!?!? Three weeks ago it was "situation normal" for late August in Texas. Football in the heat, getting ready for dove hunting in the heat, FISHING in the heat - and then BAM! I left the house yesterday morning for a run and made it to the end of the street before I realized the strange sensation in my arms and face; I was COLD! I cannot remember a cooler early September (even without the hurricane).

Ike did not turn out to be the rain producer they thought it would be, we were about 50 miles west of major downpours. Obviously, you've heard the reports from the coast. Those folks need help (please contact your local Red Cross for Salvation Army to assist). A lot of guides and commercial fishermen lost EVERYTHING - many without the means to recover losses. Flats guides that make a living off of understanding the nuances of inches of water will find their playing fields completely erased. Trash and petrochemical waste will litter the flats for years - it's going to be a mess for sometime.

As for our fishing, the cool weather has slowed some aspects but in NO WAY is it over yet. Carp are still cruising the flats and the water clarity is as good as it gets. Water levels are holding at about 10" low (http://ahps.srh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=fwd&gage=rrlt2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 )With water this clear, a long fine leader is needed for consistant hook-ups (especially if there is no wind). Hoppers can usually be used this time of year but really need a hot, dry SW wind to get going. Not much of that lately!

The sand bass are really confused. They're still around and "schooled up", but not surfacing as much as they should in September. This is usually the time of year when we fill the freezer with the evening sand bass bite. They can be caught deep - holding off structure - with slab spoons and jigs. Not what you would call fly rod fodder.

Tales of Tailwaters

Fishing Report - 6/18

I had an opportunity for a "guide's day off" and went fishing Sunday with David, Bart, and Travis from the Tailwaters Fly Shop in Dallas. Great guys, good times, and FISH! The meadow we cross to get to the south side of the flats is currently ablaze with color (Coreopsis and Brown-Eyed Susans - I think) - it's amazing to watch it change from the bluebonnet and paintbrush colors of April to the brillant yellow of mid-June.

As for the fishing, the east flats are beginning to show signs of stress/pattern change as we saw about half the number of fish I've seen in the past few weeks. By the end of June, it will be time to hit the westside areas as hydrilla will make most of the currently fishable flats almost impossible. Presentations and retrieves have to be spot on . . . they are not giving any "freebies."

Getting Close to the Ultimate Carp Rod

Product Review

Temple Fork Outifitters TiCrX 7'6" 6 wt.

Flats fishing for carp at Lake Ray Roberts is a game of dichotomies; flies need to sink but cannot hit the surface too hard, leaders need to be strong enough to resist abrasion and land big fish but thin so as to not spook them, and rods need to have the backbone to control a six pound fish headed for timber but also be able to hit a teacup at 20 feet. Catching these fish can require standing on some pretty thin "ledges" when it comes to your equipment.

I've been searching for the Ultimate Carp Rod (UCR) for sometime - really since I first started fishing for them in the late 90's. At first I used a 9 foot, 6 wt. Sage RPL because it was the same rod I used for light redfishing on the coast and for small bonefish in the Yucatan. This rod definately had the backbone to handle any cast/wind and when combined with a Lamson LP-3 (one of my favorite reels of all time), it could stop a small freight train. Problems arose when I had to cast it short (<25>

And that's what the majority of carp fishing at Ray Roberts is . . . short range. Most of our casts are 20-25 ft. Subtract 9 feet for a leader and you don't have much flyline past the tip of the rod. Many of today's "fast" action flyrods do not begin to load (and therefore become accurate) until you have 30-35 feet of FLYLINE past the tip. What usually happens when you try to cast one of these rods at short range is you crash the butt of the leader and/or last few feet of flyline into the water on top of your target. Carp REALLY don't like this and will respond with a boil of mud and a wake streaking across the flat.

What is needed in a UCR is a rod that is not so fast in the upper third of the blank but that has enough stiffness in the lower third to give you fish-fighting "backbone."

Length is another consideration. A nine foot flyrod is not going to load at short range as fast as a shorter rod. A seven and a half foot rod will give you another foot and a half of flyline out there to help straighten a leader - and we've all read our Lefty and know that a straight leader is a good thing. This reduction can only be carried so far - accuracy at distance drops dramatically when a rod gets shorter than 7 feet. As I said, MOST of our casts are at short range. Every trip, however, gives us an opportunity to throw a "Hail Mary" at a departing drum or large bass on the edge of a flat. All of a sudden, an angler needs to throw 50 or 60 feet of line . . . NOW . . . with a minimum of false casts. Shorter, slower rods are not very good at this; a UCR needs to be between 7.5 and 8 feet long.

One last criteria - it helps if the rod has a "saltwater" setup. A full wells grip and fighting butt to battle large fish and larger stripping and snake guides to clear line quickly and get fish on the reel.

Well, I have found a happy middle ground. It is the Temple Fork Oufitters TiCrX 7'6" 6 wt. This rod is fast, like the rest of the "X's", but not. It has a softer tip and will throw a nice loop and straighten a leader at 18 feet (yes, I measured it!). The rod still has enough backbone in the butt to lean on BIG fish. I caught a 9.5 lb. carp with it about a month ago and had no problem getting the fish in. Luckily, I was fishing a new, 12 lb. bass leader and could really pull on the fish - the rod bent deep into the butt section but I could tell it was no where near "stressed". That same butt section strength will enable this rod to throw a quick 70 footer with 2 false casts.

The rod has a full wells grip and large guides. The fighting butt is my only real "gripe" with the rod - it's too big. Unlike Sir Mix-a-Lot, I don't like big butts and the folks at TFO put the same size fighting butt on all the TiCrX models (I understand this - it saves them $$ and enables you to purchase a great rod at $250). I'm a fanatic about rod/reel balance and want that rod to balance right under my thumb - about an inch back from the edge of the grip. The standard butt balances just fine on the 9' models but puts too much weight on the back of the little 7.5 footer. With my venerable LP-3, the balance point was two inches up from the back of the grip. So, my rod received a much needed "buttectomy." I removed the fighting butt and about the last1/3" of threaded reel seat (after measuring the fit of the largest reel foot I would use) then attached a smaller, one inch fighting butt. This moved the balance point to the middle of the handle - acceptable, for now. The addition of a light, modern, large arbor reel like a Lamson Litespeed or Ross Evolution will make it PERFECT! Check out the photo above - you can tell the difference between my "semi-custom" 6wt. and a standard TiCrX (you can also see this rod in action in the video further down the blog).

This same outfit will be great for redfish (I'll let you know in three weeks when I get back from South Carolina) and as a canoe rod for bass. It's a quick, ACCURATE little fish fighter that would make a great addition to your warmwater arsenal!

Clearly Better Fishing!

Many people ask me if the fishing at Ray Roberts is as good as I make it out to be (this is BEFORE they go on a trip). People find it hard to believe that there are miles of clear flats just an hour from Dallas or Ft. Worth. "Is it REALLY like fishing on the the coast?", they will ask, adding "I've seen Ray Hubbard (or Lewisville, Lavon, Lake Worth, etc.) and you can't see a thing in it."

Well, sorry for the cliche, but we'll let this picture say a thousand words. I took this two years ago on one of the west-side flats (the camera had a UV filter but NOT a polarizing filter). I was standing in about a foot of water, the angler is in 5-6 inches - the shoreline is 75-80 yards past him. This flat extends about a quarter mile down the shoreline and takes us two to three hours to fish. On a good day we'll easily spot 150 fish on this flat - "SPOT" being the key word.

Roberts is a VERY clear lake by North Texas standards. It is a newer lake so it doesn't have 50-60 years of silt and sediment to get stirred up. It also has a limited upstream drainage and large areas of rocky shorline. All this adds up to a lake with amazing clarity. We even spearfish in parts of it!

So, the answer to the question is "YES, it's really like saltwater flats fishing." Big fish tailing in clear water, tricky presentations and reel-clearing runs. Give me a call and I'll show you . . . (940)391-9480!

A Great Afternoon

Fishing Report - 5/25


I took Bart from Tailwaters out Sunday afternoon. Great day, beautiful weather, excellent casting, and picky, PICKY fish. The carp are definately on their post-spawn pattern - rooting in the shallows and grass, tailing up clams and crayfish, even taking a few damsels from the surface. Bart (an expert dry fly trout angler) pointed out a flying ant hatch and I'm sure some of those have found their way into some carp gullets.

Bart showed up with one of the new Winston Boron IImx 6 wts. Balanced perfectly by a Waterworks Force reel, it is one of the best light saltwater rods I've ever cast - it had no problem shooting a quick 70 footer and then loading up SHORT to hit a tea cup at 25 feet. WHAT A ROD! I've cast several of the "new - light" 6 wts (helios, Loomis, Sage) and this one is the top of the bunch.

Water temps are rising nicely and the lake is currently* a few inches below pool (conservation pool of Ray Roberts is 632.5 feet above sea level). The "east" flats are holding a GOOD number of fish - we easily saw over 200 carp in the four hours we fished. Clarity is VERY good for this time in May and this combined with the Memorial Day traffic led to some selective, skittish carp (more so than normal) - they wanted everything perfect. Presentation, retrieve, pattern, leader . . . it all had to be ON. We were able to stick several along with a few gar. Interesting side notes include a VERY large drum that refused all offerings, a new bird species for the "Ray Roberts list" (an Eastern Kingbird - Tyrannus tyrannus), and some absolutely MONSTER fish tailing at the deep edge of one of the flats. On later inspection of a photo, these had to be large channel cats; nothing else has a deeply forked, pointed, gray tail (and these tails were easily ten inches across). I don't know if they'll take anything (catfish can be tricky with a fly), but I'm going back soon with a 9wt. to try. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that they were tailing in well over three feet of water. I'll let you figure out how long they had to be!


[* I say "currently" because as of this writing (Tues. evening), Ray Roberts is now over two inches high. We have dodged the bullet with the rain this spring but not this morning - the Denton airport recorded 2.88" of rain in two hours. Luckily, the Trinity River in Gainesville crested at about 2pm and is coming down - much of the water was absorbed by the relatively dry soils. The lake will be off-color for a few days with the west arm taking a little longer to clear.]

A New Season

Greetings All!

A new season of flats fishing at Ray Roberts has begun! After the literal "wash-out" that was last season, this summer looks to be shaping up nicely.

For those of you that don't know, we had the flood of the century last Spring. Ray Roberts went up about 8 feet in two weeks - effectively killing the carp fishing last summer. The fish were still there, doing their thing, but it just wasn't fun trying to catch fish in the flooded vegetation. The bright side is that the flats received a needed scrubbing and look great. I scouted one of my "afternoon" flats this past Sunday and counted over 200 happy carp - and caught 6 in about 30 minutes.

The carp have finished their spawn and are started to feed in a usual pattern. Gar are in the middle of their spawn and are sharing the flats with the carp. They will take a fly now and go absolutly NUTS when hooked - and nothing's more fun than trying to get your fly back from an upset gar! I began to get the black buffalo dialed in last August and will be on them again as soon as they show a predictable pattern. Water temps are warming nicely and the fighting ability of the fish is increasing proportionately. At this writing, Ray Roberts is about an inch above normal conservation pool.

We have dodged some bullets with the last few rounds of thunderstorms/rain. Everything has either gone just north and fallen in the Red River drainage or into the Brazos/Trinity to the south.

Keep your fingers crossed, folks. This could be one to remember.