Fun with friends!

Last Saturday the Red River Fly Fishers held their 10th Annual "Texoma on the Fly" event at Eisenhower State Park on beautiful Lake Texoma. Myself and a whole covey of my friends were there to assist with the fun.

Pictured are myself, Keira Quam, Al Hillman, Jere Anderson, TPWD Teddy, and a young participant.

We helped with teaching various fly fishing topics including fish habitat, freshwater fish identification, entomology, knot tying, TPWD rules & ethics, fly tying, fly casting, and many more.

After the event a bunch of us loaded up and went to Lake Pickens for an afternoon of kayak fly fishing.

Included in that trip were Keira, Les and Kay Jackson, Gene Canney and his son Clayton, and yours truly.

The fish were cooperative and we caught bass, bluegills, green sunfish, and one of us caught a big ole channel cat.

I was real excited to be able to test paddle my new Native Ultimate FX15 for the first time.

I paddled it in the solo mode and it handles like a dream. I even stood up in it and didn't fall in or out. :)

Nothing beats a fun day of fishing related "stuff" with good friends.

Tight lines,

The Rev

World Championship Bass on the Fly Tournament

The title pretty much sums it up. Last Saturday was the 5th Annual World Championship Bass on the Fly Tournament on beautiful lake Fork.

The festivities started on Friday with sign-ups and check-ins, casting distance and accuracy contests, buying additional flies, and maybe a lie or two being told.

 Sign-up & check-in

I "always" need more flies!!!

The mastermind behind this tournament is Ted Warren.

Friday night proved to be interesting as it stormed most of the night. At 6am on Saturday when we were allowed to make that  first cast it was still pouring rain so I decided that a few additional cups of coffee were in order. I finally left camp at 7:20am after pumping approximately 8 inches of water out of my Ultimate FX.

The winds were still somewhere in the 20 to 25 mph range and there was the typical huge amount of Lake Fork boat traffic on the lake. I took off armed with my new TFO 6/8 Mini Mag rod and a quiver full of new flies that I had tied up that week. I paddled to a cove approximately 1/2 mile from the campground and started working the grass-line with a top-water foam popper. After about 10 casts I saw a swirl next to my fly and then my line tightened. I strip set the hook and the fight was on. The fish, a beautiful bass in the 24 to 25 inch range was towing me around and made a couple of sweet jumps before snapping my 17 pound leader. When I finished wiping my tears I tied on another popper and continued the hunt. After making a number of unsuccessful casts with the popper I decided that it was light enough out to switch to something sub-surface.

As soon as I switched to a sub-surface fly I started catching fish.

 I caught a nice 16 1/2 inch bass.

A nice 9 inch bluegill.

Two catfish (not pictured). Seriously, catfish on a bass tournament day???

I fished that slough for a while longer and decided to move to the slough closer to my campground. I paddled around the point to that slough where I met the guy who was camping next to me. He was fishing from his yak but was not a tournament participant. He advised me that he had caught a bunch of fish and that he was going to take a break and "you want to fish right there". So, who am I to argue with someone who is giving me fishing advice. I cast my fly into the area he had pointed out and BAM caught a nice bass.

I brought it in, photographed it and put it back. I cast right back in to the same spot and BAM another bass.

This one was 21 inches and weighed in at a little over 5 pounds on my Boga Grip scale.

I cast a few more times into that spot with no luck. I then started working the vegetation line and went about 50 feet and hooked up with another bass.

I fished for about another hour after that with no luck. It was 1:00pm at that point so I decided to get an early start on the 2:00pm weigh-in. So in I go with only 4 of my 5 allowed fish.

Those 4 fish gave me a combined total length of 67.5 inches.

My big bass was 21 inches.

My big bluegill was 9 inches.

The winning flies!!!

When the final results were all in I wound up with 1st place in the non-boater (kayak) division and, big bass and bluegill in the same division. 

If you've never fished one of the tournaments I highly recommend you consider doing it next year.

Ted puts on a top-notch tournament and the comradery and fellowship is just excellent.

The proceeds from this tournament went to support the Texas Council IFFF and Reel Recovery.

Thanks to Shannon Drawe for many of the above photos.

Until next time, tight lines,

The Rev

The Fleet

Well, it was bound to happen and it did!!!
I fell so head over heels in love with the new Native Ultimate FX12 that I had to have the new FX15 Tandem as well. That makes me a 3 Native owner (as I sold the Slayer to buy the FX15T). The FX15T is going to be a great addition to the fleet for several reasons.

1. it give me the ability to paddle Patty around
2. it gives me the ability to paddle another fisherman around
3. it gives me the ability (as stated in #2) to paddle a client around should I decide to start guiding again
4. it adds a nice boat to the fleet for family outings
5. The FXT15 is capable of being a tandem or a solo boat so if I find myself on a large body of water I can use it in the solo position.

SO, I am excited about the options associated with the addition of this new boat.

Here's the whole fleet, on the trailer, ready to go!

Tight lines,

Rev TCF

TPWD Angler Education Area Chief Annual Gathering

This past weekend a number of TPWD Angler Education Area Chiefs converged upon the Junction Campus of Texas Tech for our annual gathering. An Area Chief is a fancy name for a person who "trains the trainer". We are volunteer educators who teach new Angler Education Instructors. It is a labor of love for those who had a dad or a grandpa or someone special who took the time to teach them how to fish at some point in their life. It's a way for us to "pay it forward".

We first met in Mountain Home, Texas at the Heart of the Hills Fisheries Science Center where we learned all about what they do and enjoyed a wonderful presentation 
on Alligator Gars in Texas. We toured the entire facility and also had a marine biologist
show us the procedure they use for aging of freshwater fishes.



We then went to TTU for dinner and the welcome by Karen Marks of TPWD. After dinner
Jere Anderson and I taught fly tying and helped those who attended to tie several flies.

Saturday we began our meeting with a few breakout sessions and a presentation
by Tim Birdsong of TPWD Inland Fisheries and the Kerr County Game Warden.

 

Some things we learned were quite scary!

After lunch we loaded up the yaks and took off to the S Llano River for a little fishing.

After we fished it was dinner time. Dinner was a 50's themed meal based on the fact that

it is National Volunteer Month and they wanted to tell everyone that

"Our Volunteers Rock". The meal was an old fashioned burger and chips followed

by root beer floats in old fashioned glasses with the TPWD brand on them.

After dinner we had our award ceremony. 

Receiving my Silver Award for 2014

Then came the campfire and sing-along with the Stink Bait Band

We then retired for the night to get ready for our Sunday morning breakout sessions and wrap up before heading home.

I did a breakout session on "Fishing from the Kayak" which I will post pics of as soon as they become available.

I also became the foster parent for "Teddy" who is the unofficial/official mascot for 

Angler Ed. You will see lots of Teddy over the next 12 months. Be watching!!!

That's all for now. 

Tights Lines,

Rev TCF

Mariner Sails Kayak Fishing Club

In September of 2013 I joined forces with the awesome group of folks at Mariner Sails.
I am honored to have been chosen to be an Ambassador on their team.
While discussing my role as an Ambassador Aris and I discussed the idea of a kayak fishing club. He asked me what I thought a kayak fishing club would look like. I (having had the idea in mind for a couple of years) quickly explained to him what I thought would be a fun kayak fishing club concept. His face lit up like a Christmas tree!!! Thus, the MSKFC was conceived. We quickly put together a logo and some hat, decal, and shirt/jerzee ideas. We also created a mission statement that would closely describe the vision of the club.

MISSION STATEMENT

"The Mariner Sails Kayak Fishing Club exists to share a common love for kayaking, fishing and the outdoors in a fun and friendly atmosphere. We exchange information on safety, paddling experiences and other kayak fishing related subjects. We support outreach and fundraising efforts for worthy charitable organizations related to the sport of kayak fishing. Our club is open to all who would like to participate in this sport. We are active all year, both on the water and at our meetings with various programs and guest speakers."

In September we began signing up members. A membership was $5 and 100% of that money was donated directly to the DFW Chapter of Heroes on the Water. Membership came with many perks. A member gets a card which entitles them to a 15% discount on regular priced items throughout the store. Members also are eligible for pop-up discounts during meetings, get-togethers, etc. Another privilege of membership is the ability to participate in meetings and instructional camps throughout the year.

We had our first meeting in November at Mariner Sails on November 9th and it was an awesome time. We had approximately 30 folks. We discussed the goals and future plans of the club, catfish camp, outreach and education, and had a couple of great presentations. 

Next up was Catfish Camp 2013 on the 23rd at East Fork Park on Lake Lavon! 

We unanimously voted to raise the dues to a $10 donation to HOW effective January 1st.

We have since had a meeting in March with two great speakers teaching us about crappie fishing, and a Crappie Camp on March 15th at lake Bonham.

Plans are now in place for the Spring G2G for all DFW Kayakers which will be May 10th at East Fork Park on Lake Lavon. All proceeds from the G2G will go to support HOW DFW so mark those calendars and plan on attending.

I'll post more on that event as we get closer.

ALSO, mark your calendars for a meeting on July 8th and Hybrid/Sandbass Camp at Lake Cooper on July 11th & 12th.

Tight Lines for now,
Rev TCF

Proud new papa!!!

I am proud to announce the arrival of a new member to my fleet. Yesterday I picked up my new Native Ultimate 12FX from Mariner Sails. I had originally ordered the FX in the Copperhead Camo color and at the eleventh hour I was having buyers remorse and craving the Lizard Lick camo color. When the boat came in it was a Hunter camo color (the same as my Slayer 14.5). They also received a blue FX15 tandem and a Lizard Lick FX12. SO, I chose the LL FX12. 

The new FX series of the Ultimate is greatly improved over the classic Ultimates.  The Ultimate series of fishing kayaks have evolved to be even more comfortable, stable and angler friendly. The Ultimate FX 12 adds First Class High-Low seating, a wider standing platform, molded in rod stays and two anchor trolleys to the best hybrid kayak fishing platform. Plus touches like bungee over the bow and stern, a quick drain hole with Super Seal Plug, and extra padding in the footwells and on the rear thwart have been added as well. It is a more stable ride sitting or standing - Comfortable support for rear end and lower back - Ideal for flat water and up to Class II rivers.

I am looking forward to trying her out this weekend on the S Llano River in Junction as I will be there for our Annual TPWD Area Chief Conference & Training.

Moving around a bit!

Well, I slipped out last Friday and did a little yak fishing. I know I was supposed to wait until the 4th but I was going crazy so I loaded up the Cuda and headed for Pickens Lake. I got there about 3PM and it was around 66 degrees outside. I paddled around for about 3 hours dragging a couple of crappie jigs. I didn't have any luck but I sure enjoyed being back in the saddle after 4 months.

Saturday a group of us from the newly formed Texas Council of the International Federation of Fly Fishers headed down to Houston to the Dr. Rizzolo Fly Tying Festival put on by the Texas Fly Fishers. It was a great time. I got to meet a lot of new people and visit with a lot of old friends.