Saturday - August 28

Wow! No updates here for a while, eh?

It's been kind of a wild month though. Seems it's been one event after another - not the least of which was Sandy having to go to the ER and stay in the hospital for three days! Work related stress moslty, but seemingly OK and getting back to work this week!

Here, the generation patterns have gone on the increase and we've been getting high water most of the day from 1 PM to dark! So, there hasn't been as much fishing going on the last couple or three weeks. Not to mention the ridiculous heat for the last month! Since the last week of July we've had 9 days of 100° or higher - up to 105° - and plenty of days of 98° and 99°!

The last two months we've had no wind and lots of sun! Yep, there were days that we had afternoon thunderstorms, but not before we had had blinding sun till about 3:00 each day!

But all the while the water coming off of the lake has been awesome! We didn't have the high water issues in the early summer as we did the last couple of years so we kept a lot of really cold water deep in the lake! The minimum flow temperatures for the last month have been holding around 56° to 58°! This time last year we were seeing minimum flows at 62° to 64°! Pretty significant difference.

I did get to fish a bit in the last couple of weeks though. Last week I met with Gordon Spencer (Round Rock, TX) as he took his first look at the Skinny Water work, just to see what it was like. We strolled around it and enjoyed the flowing water on a hot, hot day and then worked ou way back down into the Flat where we did get quite a bit of action, but few fish on! It was tough and the fish are being weird again.

<<<<<   Gordon Spencer hefts a nice chunk of a fish - about 13" I believe!

We did produce quite a few takes with that new little dry, but the hook-ups were hard to come by! The fish that Gordon did land was worth the effort once again, though! They are so strong and will fight you as hard as any fish you can imagine!

Larry Mayo, from around Tyler, TX as I recall, came up last Friday - man that seems like a long time ago! It was, as he put it, a scouting trip for him, looking towards later in the season. But we did get in a lot of casting work and had an enjoyable morning. Again, not a lot of fish on, but enough to keep you interested! It's just that time of year when the conditions have to be right!

I know conditions were very nice for Mike "Hen" Ingram and Jim Simpson - I think it was last Monday - both of them got into some really nice fish on that first "cooler" morning! You can find a picture or two on the Meassage Board Fishing Reporst!

One's thing's for certain - there are some very, VERY nice fish around the C&R area right now. I think we have seen a significantly greater number of fish over 15 inches this summer than all the years I've been fishing here put together! And they are in great shape - every now and then you'll run into one that's a little bit "lean" but for the most part they are quite stout!

As evidenced by the first fish that Luis Henao (Shreveport, LA, by way of Columbia - the country that is!) landed yesterday! It was a solid 13 incher that ran him about 15-18 yards on separate runs! Luis did a great job of hanging on with this one through several knuckle busters.

Luis Henao gets seriously tested by his first fish on! >>>>>

He had already had several takes (1:4:4 ratio was holding true) and a couple fish tighten up the line, but this one was stuck right in the jaw and was not coming off! And it had several opportunities to do that 40 feet away and around a boulder!

As you may have seen on the Message Board I've been trying a new quasi-dry pattern and I've been very pleased with the results! Maybe I'll let it out - maybe not... We'll see... It may have to be one of those reserves Mike was mentioning.

I'm glad no one wanted to fish on Wednesday! Despite the awesome conditions - strong north winds and 58° that morning - the fish were totally shut down! I don't think I've ever seen that little activity except when the water was about 36°! They weren't moving, or even much in sight - not to mention no feeding activity whatsoever!

Yep, being weird again!

At least we're at the end of August and the weather is actually back to normal! Let's hope for some more of that cool stuff that we had the middle of this week! It's certainly been a dry and comfortable few days here! I'm SO ready!

<<<<<   Luis gets that fish in hand! Notice the nice broad tail - you just don't see that on the fresh stocker fish!

The generation schedule for this coming FIRST week of September (that's right - just 12 days until the Saints start their return to the Super Bowl!!!) hasn't changed though, and it's not lending itself to any great Prime Time fishing! Still 1 PM to 9 PM on Monday and Tuesday and 1 PM to 8 PM Wednesday through Friday with nothing down for the weekend. Don't know for certain what they'll do on Labor Day Monday - usually they are shut down on the Federal holidays.

It's about to be Light Cahill season! Big fish, dry flies, cool water and comfortable mornings! Hard to beat for the next eight weeks or so!

 Back Cast

Friday - August 6

Kind of a quiet week around here - except for the ridiculous heat that settled in around us like a wet, heated, wool Army blanket! Heat indexes around here were in the 110° to 115° range! Real temperatures were around 105°! Most ridicuous weather we've had since the summer of '98 I think!

Until yesterday afternoon - when storms came down out of the mountains, cooled things down quite a bit, moved some air finally and left a nice thick overcast and drizzle around here this morning! What a difference from 24 hours ago!

Anyway, last Tuesday I hooked up for a little session with Patrick Ludolph and his daughter, Victoria, (San Antonio, TX). Mostly it was a chance to get some instruction in casting and then Victoria got into a few fish at the Sycamore Run.

She drifted a little Cahill emerger that I was experimenting with and got several hits and a couple of fish on in the time we had left. One of them was really quite a nice fish! We had been keeping an eye on that particular one for some time and finally got the right drift that made him happy!

I think it surprised the heck out of Victoria when, after a strong run, the very dark fish caught about two feet of air out of the shallow water and finally threw the fly. But for about half a minute all hell was breaking loose in the Run!

Sadly, I got no pictures, but Patrick did and I hope they can send me some when they get a chance!

I fished Prime Time Wednesday evening and had a pretty decent time of it - not to mention that my thermometer hanging at my side was reading about a 72° air temperature over the water! Way better than the 100° we had up in the parking lot!

Roger Breedlove begins to disappear in the mid-day mist!. >>>>>

A Smidge did just fine for most all of the evening and I finally had to get out when the last one was hooked too deep for me to see the fly in the oncoming dark. Cut that off and didn't feel like trying to tie on another one!

I had made my way up to the Skinny Water as the water fell and fished my way back down to the Park - getting numerous fish on and about half a dozen in hand in an hour and a half! Not too bad...

Today, Roger Breedlove (Pineville, LA) returned and got a refresher casting session in! That made a real quick difference in what he was doing when I got there! Worth the time, eh, Roger?

the dilemma with today though was the still unstable weather around us. Actually the morning started off nicely with quite a bit of southerly breeze and good chop on the water. But then things settled and the air started to come off of some dark skies on the norhtern horizon. Then it went dead calm! And dark...

The fish reflected the un-settled conditions by barely doing anything. And then the drizle came back and they did even less. A few would show themselves here and there and you could generate a strike or two, but they were pretty subdued all around.

It was time for lunch and we enjoyed Los Agaves! Man, that's some seriously good true Mexican food! Ya'll check them out next time you're here if you haven't already!

It's August! Which means September is that much closer! Light Cahills hatching and fewer yahoo's playing around the river! And the water is still hanging around the upper 50's! It was 57° at 11:00 this morning! We've gotten past the mid-summer point and still have cold water in the lake and the Skinny Water Project is having its effect as well! I'm looking forward to a great late summer / early fall of fishing!

 Back Cast

Friday - July 30

David Crider (Shreveport, LA) made it out this evening to make heads and tails out of his casting and maybe see a fish on the line! We started with his casting "renovation" while the water was still high at 5:00 this afternoon and by shut down at 6 PM David was starting to get a grip on his new methods.

Before we knew it the water was nearly down all the way and fish were starting to get active under the increasing fog of the Riverside Flat. I tied on a Prime Time Smidge and got David to working the fly with the thumb twist retrieve!

<<<<<   David gets a deep bend in his little cane rod - in the gathering gloom!

David was still trying to get a groove on the casting and fishing wasn't quite the issue for most of the evening, but he did get a couple of strikes and landed one later in the evening. Just about 7:45 or so the fish started to really show themselves finally and I saw a few Light Cahills and a couple of Sulphurs come off as Prime Time got cranked up!

It wasn't furious, but there were enough fish rising to be able to feel like something was going to happen. It was also amazing how much the water temperature dropped once the water was close to normal minimum! Every now and then a little air would move and "freshen" things noticeably and in the dry air it felt almost chilly! Hard to believe for a 100° day!

I finished the evening out throwing an R&A Sulphur at rises that I could reach and had some pretty decent action for a little while! One extreme to the other - a couple of fish took the fly quite confidently and one just hammered it - on the other hand there was another fish that flashed under the fly no less than ten times before finally taking it! I told David, who was nearby, that this fish had lost its mind - just about the time it finally decided to take it!

<<<<<   Prime Time at Riverside! What can you say?

So, we're at that time of year where just about anything goes and the only pattern you can expect is unpredictability!

Again, get ready for some big heat this weekend and try hard not to be fishing after about 2 PM on Saturday and Sunday. The water will reach its highest temperatures around 3:00 or 4:00 so just take a little siesta and come back out about 6 PM for Prime Time and let the fish rest.

While they will remain active and feeding with water temperatures up above 70° you don't want to have them on a line stressing them out any more than they should be! Take your thermometers out there with you and keep tabs on the water in the afternoon. If it stays below 67° or so you should be able to keep fishing up to that point and the fish will be fine!

And keep an eye out for those weekend outlaw types for me!

 Back Cast

Thursday - July 29

Well, the cloudy weather pattern is gone! And long live the mid-summer sun! I think we're getting into that hot and dry period - the historic "Dog Days" of summer! Six straight days forecast for 100° or higher here with hardly a sniff at clouds!

Here's some collateral information for you (from Universe Today):

"The Alpha star of Canis Major, Sirius, is the brightest object in the sky (besides the Sun, Moon, Jupiter, and Venus) as seen from Earth. It is also one of the nearest. The star's name means scorching, since the summer heat occurred just after Sirius' helical rising. The Ancient Greeks referred to such times in the summer as dog days, as only dogs would be mad enough to go out in the heat, leading to the star being known as the Dog Star. Consequently, the constellation was named after it, as a Big Dog."

Michael Martin deals with his first Little Mo' trout at the top of The Trough. >>>>>

The coming weekend will NOT be the one to be here! In fact ya'll may want to leave the fish alone - particularly after about noon! No need to stress them any more than they are going to be. I'm not going to be here...

But first, some fishing... Michael Martin (Greenwood, AR) came down to get some serious casting renovation going and maybe a few fish! The breezes actually kicked up early again and by 9:30 the air was moving noticeably! It just wouldn't stay up consistently, but we did have significant chop here and there throughout the morning.

Michael discovered, as so many have before they arrive at the water, reading the books and watching the videos can really mess up your casting! It still amazes me the "bad stuff" that people want to perpetuate as far as casting instruction!

And Michael was just trying to do what the books and videos say to do! He realized inherently, though, that what the videos say doesn't seem to work - so there must be some explanation!

And gets a nice 11-12 incher in hand. >>>>>

We took care of all that, however, and then started to focus in on fish. Michael was surprised to see just how many fish were cruising about after a while of peering into the water!

But once again, the fish were in mid-summer cruel mode... We had the obligatory looks and swirls and several takes with the Royal & Ancient Sulphur. They still seem willing to take the Sulphurs even though the hatch is pretty much done. It is still the most recent bug of interest...

Poor Michael seemed to get a take just about every time he looked at something other than his fly drifting about - no matter how long his eyes were off of the bug! The fish just seem to know when you're checking out something else!

But he was having fun, enjoying the cooling breeze and cooler water - it was still 59° when I checked it about 10:30 or so! And the fish didn't disappoint entirely - he did have a bent rod on occasion and landed his first trout on a fly as well!

All in all, a successful and informative morning!

 Back Cast

Wednesday - July 28

Tuesday - Got together with David Baranowski (Richardson, TX) who had only fished here during other times of the year. He wanted to get some serious casting in and see what July fishing might be like!

We got a good taste of both!

I had David re-thinking his casting concepts after a while and he started to take to it nicely! On the other hand, the fish were sticking with what they knew best - aggravating the humans!

David Baranowski having fun at the Sycamore Run! >>>>>

But as David's casting got cleaner and he developed a better grasp of the true physics of casting, we tried to see if we could get some fish to cooperate! The weather wasn't really helping at all - no wind, glass slick water, slight overcast for the most part, and no real bug activity...

It was another brutal day! But David was getting looks and a few rises, but more refusals than anything. We tried R&A dries and Sulphur flavored A&W's and even the Long Creek Light! There was only feigned interest in each.

We spent half of our attention on casting, which is what David came for primarily, and half on spotting and casting to fish! Much of the time we were at the top of the Wall Hole letting fish cruise through the cut in the bed-rock since we were the only ones there for a while. If you let them - they will come! It's pretty cool watching fish just a few feet away from you.

Eventually, we decided to look at something different and spent the rest of David's session down at the Sycamore Run. There were plenty of fish hanging around down there and feeding casually in the shallows.

We worked our way down to them slowly and got some action with the A & W including one confident take from a nice fish that David wasn't quite ready for I'm afraid.

And tries to keep this one from going back over the ledge! >>>>>

After tying on another fly we were back at it and getting really nice drifts and sufficient interest. But the action came once we got a little deeper into the hole with a Long Creek Light. And that's how we finished out the morning!

David definitely got a taste of summer fishing on this river! A whole different ball game from the winter and spring gang!

This Evening - I went out after generation and hit the Skinny Water while there was still quite a bit of water falling out! What a different world up there!

It actually takes the fish a while to move into the prime spots following generation, but there are definitely more fish hanging around the upper end of the Flat post generation! As anticipated, there is refuge up there on high water and they stick closer by as the water falls. They aren't hanging around in the Skinny Water section on high water, but they are using the back-eddies below it!

That's just fine!

<<<<<   Made for a nice evening!

I'll be very interested to see what they do as we go into the fall when there's a lot less or no generation! They are getting in there on low water already.

I fished my way down the Flat as thunderstorms developed and collapsed to the south. That put a nice breeze on the water, but I think the weather actually had the fish a little weirded out. I did get several fish on an R&A Sulphur, but there were almost as many refusals and boils as takes!

It was really hard to come off the water on such a nice July evening though! August is almost here, and that means the end of summer isn't far behind! Cooler, drier mornings and breezy afternoons, and the Light Cahills getting cranked up!!!

 Back Cast

Always On The Water - Jeff