Red River this week

A group of us went to the Red River this week and had a great time.
Only one of us caught fish and that one was "ME".

We could not have asked for a better day.

Here's the sunrise over the river with the fog rolling off of it.



Here's my bro fishing with his balloons.




Sally




Aaron and Jim



My first fish.



Both fish.



I hooked something that pulled me around for a while with my rod bent double and then got off. I never saw what it was. I suspect it was a big ole catfish.

It was a great trip with family and friends. Looking forward to doing it again soon. :-)

I've been a little busy. So...

Dance along until I post something new.

STRIPER MANIA !!!

Went to the Old Red River today and fished for stripers. It was a very productive day. I caught 50+ stripers with the two biggest being 22 and 24 inches. I also caught a 3+ pound drum that was a bronze color and a small catfish.

Here's the big'n



Maybe tomorrow will be better. LOL

Another week in the life of TCF

I was off all week for Thanksgiving (I know it's next week but that's how my schedule worked out). I was sick most of the week but managed to get a few things done anyway.

• I replaced our broken dishwasher (and Patty is very happy about that).
• I cleaned up my man cave. :-)
• I built a drying wheel so I can make epoxy flies.
• I tied a bunch of epoxy head clousers.
• I tied a couple of epoxy spoon flies.
• I went to the Red River and fished on Thursday and caught a big ole flathead catfish on the fly.
  
  
  
  
• I helped Patty rearrange the dining room and living room.
• I layed on the couch like a big dog with the two little dogs.

Now I'm back at work for 3 days, off 3 days, work 2 days, and off 7.
Wooooooohooooooooooo, what a rough life I live.

Latest TCF news...

Last week I went fishing at Lake Fork with my brother. When we got there he opened the back of his truck and showed me a fly tying desk. He asked what I thought of it and I replied that it was "very cool". He said "good because it's yours".



Oh, and he caught all the fish that morning.
I caught the proverbial



I recently went to the Red River to take a look at the water level. When I got there the level was GREAT and I observed a guide boat on the river wearing out the stripers. Well, I couldn't pass that up so I grabbed my fly rod, 2 clousers, and my vest and off I went. I waded out about knee deep and began casting. On my second cast I hooked up with a nice striper.


Please excuse the quality of the pic. This was an unplanned trip so the camera was home. I used my cell phone in a pinch.

This weekend I signed up for a jig swap so I had to get it in gear and tie 20 jigs. I got them all done and even made a custom jig/fly box to ship them back and forth in.



I'm off tuesday through Saturday of next week so stay tuned for more misadventures of Ole TCF.

Tying at the Van Alstyne Autumn Fest

Myself and Jeff Tomlinson setup a table and did a tying demo at the Van Alstyne Autumn Fest this last Saturday. We had quite a few folks come by and check out what we were up to. Jeff was tying his boogie board hoppers and I was tying my noodle bugs. We couldn't have done it without Patty's help setting up and tearing down everything. Of course, you know I'm crippled without her.

Post - Oktoberfisch 2008

It was grrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat. We had such a good time.

Here's our campsite



Mocha ready to go yakin'



Breakfast on Saturday



Patty-n-Mocha



Mocha loves momma :-)



Shots around the campground









Wildlife







Fishing Sunday. I forgot the camera Saturday.







Warming by the fire on Sunday morning with my honey.



Miss Mocha wore out and ready to be home.

Leaving tomorrow night for...

Oktoberfisch!!!

Next post will be post-Oktoberfisch!!!

3 days until...

Oktoberfisch 2008!!!

4 days until...

Oktoberfisch !!!

5 days until...

Oktoberfisch !!!

FALL GLASSIC 2008

Well another notch in the old fishing belt. I attended Glassic 2008, an event made up of folks from the Fiberglass Flyrodders Forum. We met on the Brazos River near Hillsboro for a weekend of fishing, eating, buying/selling/trading, and maybe even a little BSing. A good time was had by all. I was lucky enough to catch a few fish while there.







I also picked up a vintage fly rod that I am very excited about. It is a Garcia 2536 Conolon.

Now I'm really pumped about Oktoberfisch!!!

It's almost here...

I'm getting sooooo excited. This week I'll start getting all of our camping, fishing, and kayaking gear in order for our trip. Patty has never been to Junction and I cannot wait for her to see it. More details soon...

Great loss to our family this week...

This week one of the sweetest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing went to be with the Lord on Saturday morning. Patty's mom Margaret "Swamp Jumper" passed away at approximately 8:30 yesterday morning. I can honestly say I had the best mother-in-law in the whole world. I'm not sure why, but she loved me so much it wasn't funny.
Margaret, we will miss you but we also know that one day we will see you again. We are rejoicing in the fact that you are with Jesus and no longer are suffering. Keep an eye out for us and always remember "it's hard to be humble".
We will always remember and love you,
Hambone

Texoma striper fishin on the fly...

I went fishing today with Scott Bridges, a Texoma striper guide. We were fly fishing and hoping to break my current record (15 inch) striper. We got on the water early and the fish were being very evasive. They were not surfacing anywhere. Scott began scouting his favorite spots and soon found some deep schooling fish. He began "calling" (don't ask, you have to see it to believe it) the fish while I began casting and stripping with his TFO 6wt a clouser and a sinking tip line. I had never cast with sinking tip line so it was quite an experience for me. After about six casts I was stripping the line in and got a bump. I did a strip hookset and nothing so I kept stripping. On the second strip I hooked up and the fight was on. It was a strong fish and I could tell it had some size to it. I continued to fight the fish and soon got it near the boat so Scott could net it. It was a fat fish that measured around 18 inches. We caught several other stripers and sand bass. It was a very fun and educational trip. Thanks Scott for a great trip.

Weekend on the Brazos River

We loaded up Friday and headed to Rainbow, Texas for a weekend of camping, fishing, and yaking on the Brazos River.









We stayed at Camp & Fish a primative little campground right on the river. We got there around 9 o'clock Friday night and setup the tent in the dark. The sky was full of stars and the only noises were the crickets and the sound of a pump on a gas well in the area. We sat and looked across the river and the beautiful night sky for quite some time. Knowing that we had to get on the river early to avoid the heat we started around 6:15 Saturday morning. I prepared the breakfast, instant coffee and chocolate donuts or a cereal bar (I ate the donuts).
Here's our camp:





















The paddle was very eventful. We started out paddling upriver so we could float back with the current. We paddled for several hours stopping and fishing and Patty searching in the shallow flowing water for rocks. She even found a blood red heart shaped rock.

On the return trip the fun began. We paddled against a 15 to 17 mph wind (so much for using the current). We crossed several shallow areas. Patty floated right across one so I tried it too. NOT!!! So, I get out and drag to an area deep enough to get back in. When I went to get back in I stepped into the yak, slipped, and SPLASH I was in the river. Oh well, off again. We paddled for a while went through some light rapids and then came to a swift running spot. I went through first and got sideways and almost went under a tree. Then Patty came through and wound up under the tree. Her rods were in the rodholders sticking up and got hung in the tree. She immediately tried to turn around and untangle them. I saw her doing that and started to tell her don't do it when KERPLUNK she flipped the yak and went in the drink. She popped up, flipped her yak back over and grabbed hold of it. I immediately paddled to her to help. I got over there and was holding onto her yak and sitting sidesaddle in mine with my stakeout pole holding us. THEN my stakeout pole came out and we were moving quickly with the current. And then it happened (since I was sidesaddle and floating backwards I didn't see it happening). Remember George of the Jungle "look out for that TREE" it hit me in the back of the head and KERPLUNK I was in the drink with Patty. Fortunately it was only about 4 1/2 feet deep. We grabbed our yaks and waded to the sand bar to take inventory.
Items lost:

1. digital camera


2. rod holder


3. seat pad


4. cereal bars


5. fishing pliers and holster


6. and we later realized Patty's hat

We paddled a little further down river and there was Patty's hat. It had floated up into a tree so I went over and rescued it. Then I attempted to catch up with "Speedy". She had paddled way down river. I caught her and gave her hat to her. Then she took off again. After paddling for about two miles I told Patty none of the things we were seeing looked familiar. I asked a guy on the river which direction to Camp & Fish and shonuff we had passed it. During most of our trip back we had a buzzard flying over us. Patty blamed him for not helping us find our takeout point. On the return he landed and began walking around on shore at the takeout place.
Here he is:

After getting back to camp we put on dry clothes, packed up, and headed to the Loco Coyote for some lunch/dinner and then headed home. In spite of the loss of the camera we had a great time on the river. Now we're looking forward to Oktoberfisch on the Llano next month.

Big Bream Action

I decided to do something different today so I took the yak and the fly rod and went to Loy Lake. The lake was full of grass so I didn't know how good I was going to do but I was there and on the water so I said "what the heck I'll try it". I paddled to the west side of the lake and cast my hopper up next to a lilly pad and BAM caught a nice bream. Well, first cast catches a fish, that's always a good sign. I continued to catch a few little bream on that side and then the wind picked up. I decided to paddle south toward the dam. As I'm fishing my way down the rip rap of the dam I caught a few more small bream and a few little green sunfish. I made a cast and the water exploded and my line took off. After playing it for a while I brought this big boy up to the yak.



I cast right back in the same spot and here's the result.



The next cast was productive but the end result was not as good. maybe even a little embarrasing.



One more.



I caught probably 8 to 10 more before it got hot and I decided to leave.
It turned out to be a nice fishing day after all.

GREAT Texas Fly Fishing video...

Fly Fishing Texas: We Fish Here Too

Yeah Baby !!!

HIS-n-HERS

Negotiated a deal today and the end result was



Soon, Patty and I will be ready to go in our matching yaks.