No Generation on Denison Dam means fly tying time.

Even with all that rain, Denison Dam is still not generating. When the Generation begins the spey rod will be ready to go. Bring it on Stripers!

Jason Hartwick has been chasing the striper in Northern California since the steelhead aren't around. He has the right idea. Click on the link for his video.

Lake Emma and Her Surrounding Ponds

Fishing lakes and ponds that are named after great dogs and stocked full of chunky bass and bluegill on a nice spring day is the perfect a way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Throw in some sight casting and top-water action and you have the recipe on "how to ruin a man." The bass and bluegill were cooperating and hit anything that resembled a shad. It was a good day and somehow we avoided all the rain and thunderstorms (until the drive home). Pictured above is Don Hart's nice bass being released by Mr. Ron Gard. Don put on a lesson and fished for 10 minutes and caught about 6 nice bass and then went back to the truck to nap.

Denison Dam : Texas vs Oklahoma

In order to commemorate The Dallas Mavericks vs The Oklahoma City Thunder NBA playoffs game, Phil and I decided to hit the Red River. We chunked sinking lines and deep dredged several of the deep pools. I was skunked and Phil caught two 10+lb catfish. I'm not sure how this should be interpreted towards tonight's game but I hope the Mavericks do better than I did. The highlight of the trip was spotting a bald eagle. Such an awesome bird.

California Delta Rematch

Chasing pre-spawn Delta Striper with my dad and Mike Costello? You bet your ass. I felt that I had a score to settle with these fish (after the butt kicking I took last trip). We fished I-lines and sinking lines and it took a few hundred casts before I got used to chunking and dodging heavy lines again. Missed a few solid strikes (and by solid I mean how the F did the hook not find a home) but set in to some pigs. There is nothing like that solid whomp that comes in between strips as the fly drops or swings. The delta is beautiful in the spring, the ducks had paired up, the otters played happily, the trees and flowers had bloomed and the striper were fat and healthy and hit hard.

Dinner with April Vokey

I consider myself to be a pretty lucky guy but when Collins Illich called and asked if I wanted to join him and his wife, a few friends and April Vokey for dinner at Mi Cocina, I realized just how lucky I was to have such great people in my life. April is one of those people that has so much passion for what she does that it is pretty easy to get caught up in the excitement of her stories, adventures and plans. And whats not to get excited about? Steelhead, spey rods, Jack and ice, her upcoming trip to Belieze and her flyfishing guru/pinup status. Sounds pretty exciting to me. April, Happy birthday! I liked the high-wasted jeans. Lets go fishing when you get back.

Tierra Del Fuego

If you like big trout and like fishing with Spey rods then you should fish Tierra Del Fuego. This is no doubt a trip of a lifetime which every fly fisherman needs to do it at least once in their life (preferably once every year). The food is great, the wine is amazing and, well, Argentine women are...well...perfect, only topped by Texas women or Venezuelan women. In fact I am pretty sure that the only way to decide the winner would be by throwing all three into a jello pit to fight it all out in a scantily clad battle. But in all seriousness I am pretty sure that the most beautiful women in the world are from one of those three places. Back to the fishing...

22.5 on the Boga.

This monster came from the Villa Maria and weighed 33.5 lbs. It is just amazing how big the fish are and how many big fish there are.

Spring Tease, Active Bass

It seems that just yesterday we had temperatures in the single digits (I'm not sure if the temps ever got that low but I know for sure we made it into the teens) but here we are now in the 70s and the bass are moving into the shallows and they are aggressive. Hit a couple of local spots and found bass that were willing to hit the big fly. just about all the fish hung on the edge of the drop offs. Most of the takes were on the pause as the fly dropped or on the initial cast as the fly sank to the right depth. The fly has a slow sink and almost suspends. On the cast I would count down 4-5 seconds and long slow strip...pause...long slow strip. Many times on the initial strip it would just come tight.