Summertime Carp on Ray Roberts

Casey and I made took a morning to find some carp. The first fish was a crawler that had more of himself out of the water than in. Casey made some great cast to cruising fish  and was hooking up all around me. Finally started spanking some fish when I found them buried up in the weeds. Their tail would give them away and they would appear out of nowhere. The good thing about this type of fishing was that you could almost walk on top of them before they would spook. I was basically high sticking them, dangling the fly in front of them until they saw or felt the fly, followed but a gentle sip and then an explosion from the grass. We did pretty good for the day considering the clouds and wind were our constant companions.

The Blue Herons were very busy feeding their very demanding babies

Casey releases another carp in front of me (sporting the Redfish Tail Shirt).

The water levels on all the lakes are very low. The shoreline is covered with all sorts of tracks and trails. This one was the coolest and the one that I had no desire to follow. 

Life Cycle of the Swallowtail Butterfly

The fennel is covered with swallowtail caterpillars, cocoons and freshly emerged butterflies. 

Texoma Bass

Phil and I made a quick trip to Texoma to see if we could find some bass. We weren't disappointed. There was no rush to get out early and we just eased into the fishing day. Within a few minutes on the bank we were into the bass. The bass seemed to really like 3 inch Clousers in all colors as we worked our way down the rocks and the shoreline. The water level was so low that we were fishing new drop offs and the bass were hanging right on them. 50 foot cast would get you to the drop off and the line would come tight many times as you let the fly sink. The smallmouth were very happy.

3rd Batch Of Bluebirds In Texas Calls For The Super Heat Shield

Momma Bluebird decided to go for a third batch and layed egg number one today. It is June in Texas which means it will be getting hot so I had to step up the original heat shield. After researching the Bluebird Nut Cafe archives we decided that styrofoam could be the best solution to this heat problem. We zip tied the shields to the current, thin shields. Hopefully the styrofoam will hold up well and that the doldrums of summer can hold off for a little while longer. 

Lighthouse Lakes Sketch

A quick sketch of the Lighthouse in Aransas Pass, TX. It is such a great place to paddle and fish. Every lake is something new and floating through the channels that connect the lakes is like looking into an aquarium. 

Lighthouse Lakes / Aransas Pass

Jen and I headed down to the Lighthouse Lakes to see if we could find some reds to harass. Jen is a trooper and was a paddling machine. All in all,  I believe we paddled approximately 12 miles hunting fish. The schools we found were sitting on the outside of the lakes waiting for the tide to start moving onto the flats. Once the tide began moving, the fish flooded the flats. First we found big schools of big ladyfish flying across the clear water. They were like blue/green streaks of lightning that would appear out of nowhere. We caught a few ladyfish and then the reds began showing up. Jen cleaned house and hammered the reds and I picked off the fish that were swimming next to her hooked fish. It was a fantastic trip.