Ode to My Waders

For as long as I have been fishing, I have fished in pink waders.  Yes, they are a little different, but they aren't the ordinary, dull khaki or gray, and when fly fishers queue up along the bank like sardines in a can, you know where I am.  Cody likes it that I'm easy for him to spot.  So it was with great sadness that I had to put the pinkies aside.  The inseams along knees had worn thin, and my trademark waders leaked beyond repair.

I have been looking for a fanny pack.  I liked the older Simms version that came in orange, blue, lime, or gray, but now, no one has those, and everyone just offers an ugly, gray color.  When you're in a boat with a lot of other fly fishers, you want to be able to pick out your pack fairly easy.  I was discussing my conundrum with Sean at Orvis, and he told me about an on-line store called Recycled Waders, where they "turn leakers into keepers,  meaning they upcycle reclaimed breathable wader material to create fishing friendly products." 

I liked the website and the products they offered, but I still looked around for the fanny pack that I wanted.  With my search ending up null, I decided to give Recycled Waders a go, and I am glad I did.  Patrick was really easy to work with, from my shipping the waders to Patrick in Colorado, to my receiving the finished product was all of three weeks, and I love my new Big Fanny Pack.  I can tell what part of my waders were used where, and the pack is going to be greats for flats fishing, especially.  There was enough material left over, that I ordered their original 'Nook Sack for my fly boxes.  Louisiana Redfishing will be their debut.

Even if purchasing a product is not on the agenda, Recycled Waders glagdly accepts donations of anyone's retired, breathable waders, and they recommend Ecologic Designs for upcycling neoprene waders.

One zippered pocket on the outside



Handle, Shoulder Strap, and Waist Belt with three inserts per side

 

Roomy Interior with a small zippered pocket



     

Phish Your Fish Coming Soon

There are a lot of great blogs about fly fishing.  To help fly fishing bloggers find one another, I am creating a fly fishing blog hop titled Phish Your Fish beginning on Tuesday and occurring weekly.  To particiapte you will need to do three things:

1. Follow my blog, if you're not already. 
2. Link one of your archived stories that fits the week's topic to share. 

The purpose is to connect more fly fishers with one another, so share a little comment on a topic or two you like, go fish, and blog it.

Lake Fork in July

Cody and I made a trip to Lake Fork to visit friends, and while there, we fished, of course.  We stayed in the Little Caney Arm area, because traveling around this lake with all the exposed stumps is a little on the reckless side.  Cody and I fished the Fly Fishing Bass Tournament two months ago, and while the lake levels were down in May, they are really low, now.  I took a photo standing on Diane & Richard Blair's dock, which has no water under it, by the way.  Typically, both their dock and Annie & Ray's dock has 4 1/2 - 5 feet under it.  Well, the grass doth grow, and the shoreline begins about three feet from the end of each dock! 

Lake Fork is known for its trophy, share lunker Largemouth Bass, and Cody and I hoped we'd catch at least one, especially in the evening on poppers or using a good, sinking line.  We fished about three hours total, and caught three fish--two Channel Catfish and one Bluegill.  Cody's Channel Cat jumped completely out of the water, and until we netted it, we both thought it was a bass.  I caught my two on an amber Bonefish Bitter while wade fishing, and Cody caught his on a CodyBugger from the boat at dusk.  The lack of rain is not only affecting the humans, but the fish, too.  Oh, rain, rain please come, today!

Fishing with Fishhead, Kevin Hutchison

©Kevin Hutchison photo

The DFF hosted Kevin Hutchison in '09 and '11.  I hear Kevin's presentation every time I attend the Dr. Ed Rizzolo Fly Tying Festival in Houston.  For Cody's 50th birthday, I gave him an autographed copy of Hutchison's Fly Fishing the Texas Hill Country.  So at the Gulf Coast's Conclave Auction, it was a given that I was going to bid on Kevin's guided trip, and boy was I glad that Andy Niland decided to bow out when he did, because I had bid my limit.
 
Winning the auction was the easy step; the difficult part was planning where to go fishing in the Texas Hill Country during one of the worst summer's since 1980.  The Blanco is dry.  The Pedernales is dry.  The Llano is dry, and the South Llano is so low, it would be a dry "wading" trip with hysterical whoops, because we caught a fish in the first four hours.  (The South Llano's drought conditions also have me worrying about Oktoberfisch!)  The San Marcos is spring-fed, so it has water, even though the levels are lower than usual for a Texas summer; so, the San Marcos River it was.

Cody and I checked out the redesign of the river at Rio Vista Park, and the water flows looked good.  We drove farther downstream to San Marcos Retreat (just down from Pecan Park RV).  The water level was down, but the water was clear and definitely moving.  Then, we drove to Shady Grove Campground at FM 1979 just outside Martindale, where we met up with Kevin.  After going over the day's plans, we hopped in the boat.  Kevin guided us in a 2-man Pontoon, that he rowed similar to a drift boat.

"The left is in play," meant we were fishing the left bank, "Now, the right is in play," meant we were changing banks.  The boat seats swivel 360 degrees, so it was easy to cast wherever we were supposed to cast.  We fished riffles for Guadalupe Bass, tree and foliage structure for Largemouth, Smallies, and Sunfish, and deeper, dead pools for Rio Grande Perch, and we had a blast!  Cody and I both used a 2# floating and 4# sinking.  Our fly selection range varied, and we fished Cody's GirlieBugger and CodyBugger, Kevin's Swamp Monster and Bass Candy, Mike Verduin's Cap Spider, and a chartreuse and white Clouser.  We fished deep in the water column to just under a foot, but nothing floating.

The day's trip lasted seven hours and began at FM 1979 and ended at FM 1977.  Only once did we have to pull the boat for about two feet, and that was because there were three people in the boat, which was steered far in to the shallow shore to avoid a low hanging tree.  We broke for a wonderful shoreside smorgasborg of sandwiches, chips, fruit, and delicious brownies.  Kevin has the neatest table service gadgets to make a shore lunch seem like a five-star, Top Chef restaurant.  The fishing was just as good after lunch as it was before.

©Kevin Hutchison photo

We caught 22 Bluegills, Longears, Redbreasts, one Guadalupe Bass, six Rio Grande Perch, and a dozen Laregmouth Bass.  The greatest catch of the day was Cody's 3 1/4 pound Largemouth on his 2# rod.  Casting a Swamp Monster to the shallow shore in moderate vegetation, Cody stripped a slow retrieve to keep the fly on the bottom, saw the fish and pulled the retrieve within its sight, and watched that Largemouth hammer the fly.  Fine fighting fun!

©Kevin Hutchison photo

For me, it was all about catching the Rio Grande Perch.  I love those fish absolutely.  I also learned about the sores they develop on their bodies.  As they mature, their mucus glands slow their production, and because the cichlids stay in slow-moving water, non-harmful bacteria attach themselves to the cichlids.  Also, the Rio Grande Perch mate for life.
 
Cody and I had a great day fishing with Kevin, and that was before he gave each of us the complimentary t-shirt and aluminum water bottles.  We learned a lot, caught many fish, and spent the evening reminiscing and eating ribs at Black's BBQ in Lockhart.  A fine day, indeed, and one that we will repeat.

Small Fry

Written for OBN's TU Contest, but I didn't get it in on time.

Trout Unlimited's topic:  Tell us about your favorite trout fishing trip, no matter where it was, who was there, or if you even caught a thing. Include in your blog post why you think coldwater trout and salmon habitat deserves to be protected and restored.

Little Blackfoot River

When friends learned I landed a summer job in Montana in 2009, the fish stories began to fly.  Cody and I were told about the big browns and rainbows thriving in western and southern Montana waters.  One of the guys at TailWaters fly shop gave us a map book and asked us to field test it.  Someone else handed us a list of fly shops we "must" visit.  The hubbub was contagious and everyone couldn't wait for us to snap photos of our 25" to 30" + fish we were to catch.  Mid-June finally arrived, so we packed up both our cars, our little travel trailer, and trekked 1,600 miles north to Deer Lodge, Montana, near home to the headwaters of the famed Clark Fork.

Little Blackfoot River

My work week was Monday - Friday, so Cody used the time to explore the area.  Cody visited Shawn Ward with the U.S. Forest Service, and she showed Cody map after map, giving advice on water levels, snowmelts, at what height fish did not thrive, terrain cars could travel and not travel, just all the ins and outs of the Pintler Loop area and back east towards Helena.  On Saturdays and Sundays we played.  We fished the Big Hole River. We talked with a wonderful gentleman at The Missoulian Angler and learned about Rock Creek, Belmont Creek, the Clark Fork, and the Little Blackfoot River, and even though some of those places were Blue Ribbon Streams, we were having trouble even hooking a fish, forget the big Browns and 'Bows over which we had salivated the previous months.  Cody and I thoroughly enjoyed spending quality time learning new streams and rivers, but we wanted some fish on the end of our line; thus, there was one Friday afternoon trip that still stirs precious memories.


Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout

We devised a new game plan and made the decision to go where everyone else did not.  Cody and I headed back east and took the Little Blackfoot River Road as far as it would go.  We donned our gear and hiked farther up river, which really at this point in its life is better described as a creek.  I took my 4# rod and tied a size 12 tan Elk Hair Caddis on my line--a completely ludicrous rig, I know.  Most of the time, my rod itself easily spanned the Little Blackfoot's width, but the many fallen trees and diverse bends created numerous, clear pools that looked fishy.  Those pools looked fishy, because they were fishy, abundantly fishy.  No, we didn't catch those fabled 30" + Montana Browns; we caught something more fun.  Most of our fish were literally the size of AA batteries, but they were healthy, vibrantly colored, wonderfully aggressive, naturally reproducing and thriving trout.  We easily sight-cast to these fish, who did not spook, which led us to believe that maybe, just maybe, Cody and I were the first people to ever catch these fish.  Truly, the colors of the Blackspotted Cutthroat Trout are nature's palette.

Since we drove to Montana, we saw a good part of the country up close-and-personal.  The pine beetle scourge was a sad sight to see as we passed through the Continental Divide near Butte, but an even more devastating sight occurred as we rounded I-90.  As Cody and I turned north to pass through Butte, staring at me full-in-the-face was the pathetic destruction of a mountain.  Literally, heavy equipment had clawed at its sides seeking a faster and safer way to extract the mountain's hidden and abundant natural resources, until it was an ugly, yellowish-tan scar on the land.  Unfortunately, Butte had several mountains that were only half a mountain, and soon to be no more.

In April 2010, Cody and I fished Ambergris Caye, Belize.  At the lodge where we stayed was a couple from Alaska who annually vacationed in Belize.  Sitting across from the man at dinner one evening, I asked about the Pebble Mine, indicating that I thought it would be disastrous to the salmon and trout fisheries.  Well, the Alaskan gentleman proceeded to let me know that the Pebble Mine threats to Bristol Bay's fishes was the most ludicrous, over-hyped piece of propaganda.  The man, a mining engineer, said it would take thousands of years to destroy one-third of the fish population in Bristol Bay.  I said no more.  Capitalism and a free society are the only way to live, in my opinion, but capitalism's downfall is unbridled greed.  As this man spouted his rhetoric about the Pebble Mine being no harm to nature, my mind flashed easily and quickly back to Butte and Anaconda, Montana.

Settlement Pond #3 Rainbow

I saw the mountains that were no more.  I saw Anaconda's huge, 150 feet high slag heap, a coal by-product which has no use and leeches in to the Clark Fork.  Upon our initial arrival to Montana, people told us about the huge trout in the Settlement Ponds north of Anaconda; then, quickly warned us not to keep or eat the fish.  I remember mosquitoes swarming everywhere around those ponds, but none on their waters, and I remember the fish.  Those Rainbows were big, but they didn't look, well, normal.  Then, I learned about the Osprey studies the U.S. Fish and Wildlife conduct to test the health of the Clark Fork's headwaters, and how happy they were that for the last four years (2006-2009), the waters had been pollution-free.  Anaconda's slag had been washing unabated in the Clark Fork for many years, killing the fish populations and affecting all the animals who dined on its fish from the headwaters to well past its confluence with the Little Blackfoot River; thus, the creation of the Settlement Ponds.  There are no fish in the first Settlement Pond, the one nearest the slag heap, by the way.  As that older gentleman who vacationed on income earned as an Alaskan mining engineer continued to espouse the farcity that was the anti-Pebble Mine campaign, I thought about those small trout at the near-headwaters of the Little Blackfoot River.  They provided me my greatest trout joy and my greatest lesson in moderation.

Deer along the Little Blackfoot River trail

Fishing Without a Fly Rod!

In the April 2011 GRTU Newsletter, Shannon Drawe wrote an article about trout hunting in McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  That is a great trip!  In March 2008, Cody and I embarked on this exact hunt and enjoyed it thoroughly.  At the time, I was the newsletter editor of The Leader, the Dallas Fly Fishers' newsletter and published an article on our sojourn.  Seeing that school is now out for the summer, it would be a great trip for any fly fisher.  For more pictures from our fish hunt, visit McKittrick Canyon Photos beginning with picture 173. 

REPRINTED FROM THE LEADER, APRIL 2008:

Being a school teacher one common, yearly question asked amongst co-workers this time of year is, “What did you do for spring break?”  Traipsing throughout West Texas, the search for fish was one of this year’s quests. Much to the disbelief of my co-workers, this journey was done without a fly-rod. Yes, you read correctly, I was gone for 10 days and did not even take any one of my fly-rods with me. So, what was the purpose of this “fish hunt?”

In addition to running or tubing the river, I know that the fly-fisher can visit the Guadalupe River to fish for trout—stocked, maintained, and monitored by Trout Unlimited and the Texas Parks and Wildlife. I have the TPWD’s Freshwater Fishes of Texas print framed and hung on a wall at the office, and in the third column at the bottom, they portray the rainbow trout. I have often pondered how that fish can be portrayed and it not be an oxymoron. This fish is a stocked fish; it is not naturally reproducing and surviving the Texas summers. Therefore, this adventure sought to answer the question, in true Mythbuster’s style, does Texas have trout that live and reproduce naturally?

To learn the answer to this question, one must hike 1.4 miles and 5,100 feet high in to the heart of McKittrick Canyon, located in the northeast corner of the Guadalupe Mountains National Park where maples and Texas madrones (a rainforest tree) thrive. Once a part of the Permian Sea (250 million years ago), McKittrick Canyon (and Carlsbad Caverns) formed from the exposed reef of the sea. While fascinating, fossil hunting was not the end result of this particular trip.  Crossing the creek, Cody and I saw our first rainbow (for the GPS fanatic: N31° 59’ 06.1” W104° 45’ 57.6”), but seeing one trout does not satisfy the question. Fortunately, .2 of mile farther in to the canyon, we saw our second rainbow at N31° 59’ 09.2” W104° 46’ 10.2”.  This little fellow was having a bit of a difficult go, as the creek was forcing him downstream along the rocky bed, against his wishes, but he found a nice little, reeded pool in which to rest and hide. Do two fish constitute an answer to the question? Not really, so ever onward we trekked searching for the answer. 

Stopping at McKittrick Canyon Trail’s 2.4 mile mark, we found Park Ranger Hal Cottingham giving tours of Wallace E. Pratt’s 1930s stone cabin. It was from Ranger Cottingham that we learned two things—first, the creek did disappear randomly below the creek bed into unseen depths of the canyon, and secondly, our answer lay just a little farther up the trail.  Having already seen sunfish, the other two fish species naturally occurring in the park (the Green Ear Sunfish and the Long-ear Sunfish, but one species we saw was a mutated cousin of the two), we sought that beautiful, pink stripe of the rainbow trout.  Hiking alongside but high above McKittrick Creek, a sweet, little honey hole opened before us teeming with four to eight inch rainbow trout. 

How, you might ask?  In 1930, two ranchers, Judge J.C. Hunter, whose 70,000 acre ranch encompassed part of McKittrick Canyon, and Wallace E. Pratt, whose 5,632 acre ranch covered another area of the canyon, introduced two new species to the crystal clear, cool creek waters.  Judge Hunter brought in rainbow trout, and Wallace Pratt introduced black bass.  Unfortunately, the creek flooded soon afterwards, destroying Pratt’s black bass, but Hunter’s rainbow trout survived, and they lived to produce the offspring seen today.

Being in a national park that does not permit fishing of any kind, this trout is not available to fishermen, even those many who practice catch and release, so the only way to capture these beauties is through the camera lens. While the population may be few in number and small in size, rainbow trout have become native to the creek, (Cody and I saw a total of 13 rainbows averaging 7”-8”), and thus answers the question: yes, DFFers, at 5, 238 feet and N31°58’ 43.6” W104° 46’ 58.2”, rainbow trout do reproduce and occur naturally in Texas!

2011 World Championship Bass on the Fly Tournament

The 2nd Annual World Championship Bass on the Fly Tournament is in the books, and congratulations go out to our friends Sheryl Farrell and Johnny Walker for taking 1st place.  Benson Fowler and his Dad (who turned 77 today) took 2nd place and Big Fish prize money, and White & Olsen took 3rd place.  31 entrants participated in the tournament vying for Total Weight, Big Fish, Big Bluegill, and two casting games--Accuracy and Distance.

Friday played host to check-in and the casting games.  What a swag bag we received at check-in, especially, if you entered early (before 1 May)!  We received our choice of Buff from Buff, two flies of our choice from Brothers Flies and Lake Fork Marina, a choice of vendor's hat or visor--TFO, Sage, Redington, and a Skeeter t-shirt.  After check-in, Cody Bell had to defend his Distance Casting title from last year, but this year all contestants had to tie on a deer hair Dahlberg Diver.  With a side-wind and a big fly, everyone was having trouble getting the distances to which they were accustomed.  With about 30 feet less than last year, Cody took home top honors again with 82', this time bringing home a TFO 6-8# Mini-Mag, Prism Reel w/line, and a rod case!  I'm proud of my man!  Benson Fowler tied with Diane Blair accumulating 300 points in the Accuracy Contest.  Benson was also defending his title from last year.  Today, after all weigh-ins, they had a cast off that went three-rounds with Diane winning and conceding her TFO 5# to Benson.  Pretty good deal for all, including the joke Brian Nims played on me.

I did not compete in the Distance Casting game, but I enjoyed watching.  Behind where the contestants stood was a pond, and I kept noticing a fish or two hitting the surface pretty hard.  Well, Brian Nims and Diane Blair had decided to use the TFO BVK instructor's rod for their turns, and Cody used his own rod.  Diane decided she wanted to try casting Cody's rod and then Brian wanted to, as well.  So, the BVK was sitting there.  (Now, just as soon as Mr. Pope gets those BVK blanks in at Sovereign Row, I will be building my new 8#.)  I just couldn't stand it any more, so I asked if I could cast the rod to see if I could catch one of those fish.  Brian didn't care and handed me the rod.  We all had the same Dahlberg Diver pattern tied on our rods for the Accuracy and Distance competitions, so I gave not one thought to that fly had tied on the line.  Second cast, nice, mouth-open hard hit, but a miss.  Adrenalin was flowing, casting recommenced, and fifth cast--aggressive, hard hitting action, slight tug with a tight line, boing--slack line, fish off.  (Having a difficult learning curve for three years on Lake Limestone, I am not a topwater fan, and only recently have I begun to care enough to try topwater again.)  I'm thinking what in the world is wrong with me?  I really began casting, working on hitting spots, double-hauling, quick stops, everything, but no fish.  Finally, I just decide this is the trickster pond.  No one can resist the temptations to throw at the fish in this pond, so they are wise fish who just toy with fishermen; they can't be caught.  I reel in all the line and go to stow the rod, just like I do mine, but I can't hook the fly on the guide, because the fly doesn't have a hook!  I give it back to Brian and asked him what the deal was, and he thought I was just wanting to work on my casting in a life-like situation and honestly didn't know why I was casting to fish.  Thanks alot, Brian!

The Dallas Fly Fishers had six members attending the tournament, three teams, two non-boaters (kayakers and bank fishers), and Ted Warren hosting the tournament.  Since they were the only "club" present, we took home this year's team trophy.  The Fort Worth Fly Fishers had one team, Sheryl & Johnny, and Diane is a member of both the DFF and FWFF.  With a little more discussion maybe next year, more area clubs will enter for a little friendly club competition.

When have you ever desired to catch fish under 16"?  When you're targeting fish outside the slot!  The rules for counting fish were different for the Boaters and Non-boaters.  For the Boaters, the slot was 16"-24", and so any fish measured in that category could not count and had to be put back.  All fish turned in had to be under/over the slot.  I found it hard rooting for fish to be under 16" (I am always wanting fish over 24"), but I was at times hoping that the rod's bend meant a keeper.  We only turned in one Largemouth Bass, a 10 ouncer, but Cody caught several fish in the slot, and that was a lot of fun--nice size fish, fighting hard, jumping aerobatically--including the Channel Catfish--with most caught on some type of white popper in shallow, shallow waters, and before 9 a.m.  I even hooked up with my personal best Largemouth Bass on a deer hair frog popper.  Cody's jumping catfish was caught on a CodyBugger, and so were the two Bluegill.   

The Non-boaters had a different set of rules.  Non-boaters were those bank fishing and kayak fishing, and they didn't have to follow the slot.  Their rules were to catch, photo with documentation of length, and release.  Since they weren't actually in possession of the fish, they could submit every catch they caught.  The winner was from Oklahoma, and his first two fish were 23", but he thought he couldn't count the slot, so Mr. Calley didn't even photograph those catches.  He was fishing from the bank, and someone advised him of the rules, so he was able to count the next three he caught, including a 20 incher!  Nice job, especially from the shore line.

After awarding the prizes and money, and yes, Cody Bell took home a few dollars for 2nd place in the Big Bluegill contest, a 70/30% split of the pot--the 70% went to Diane Blair for her 13oz piggy, the raffle drawings began.  First raffle of the day was for the early entrant participants who were up for the Sage's 290 Grain Bass Rod, which was won by Mr. Richard Blair. Fly lines, shades, Umpqua flies, tippets, shirts, kayaking life vest, the tourney raffled off a nice collection of toys.  I won a nice Rio line, and I am a Rio/Orvis girl, when it comes to lines.  We had a good day and ended it by eating together with great friends, who were already talking about next year's tournament.

Lake Amistad, Martin Mars Coulson Air Tankers

NOTICE

Aircraft Landing & Taking Off from Lake Amistad

     "The Martin Mars, a water air tanker, will be operating at Lake Amistad in support of wildfire suppression efforts. It will be taking off, landing, and will be moored in the Castle Canyon cove. For your safety, as well as the safety of the air tanker's crew, the cove north of Castle Canyon buoy D is closed to all boaters while the tanker is at Amistad.

      The tanker will be scooping water for firefighting efforts on the Mexican side of Lake Amistad. It is supported by a Sikorsky helicopter. If you see the tanker or helicopter approaching you, move towards the nearest shoreline within a safe distance and stop your vessel. Once the tanker has safely landed or taken-off, you may then resume activity. Stay safe and enjoy seeing this unique piece of firefighting equipment."

"Aircraft Landing & Taking Off from Lake Amistad." Amistad. 28 Apr. 2011. http://www.nps.gov/amis/index.htm 14 May 2011.

So this is what we saw when we were at Amistad.  We regretted not getting a picture as the tanker dropped its water load, but it was really a neat sight to watch, especially since the water looked more like smoke.  This plane dates back to 1938, has a 200 ft. wingspan, can take on 6,485 gallons of water (Phillippine Mars can take on 13,200 gallons), and was originally commissioned for the U.S. Navy.  Originally, there were seven built, but today, only two remain, the Phillippine Mars and the Hawaii Mars, which is the one we saw at Amistad.  We saw the helicopter, but it wasn't in the area of immediate support, and it was long after we saw the air tanker that we saw the helicopter.

For further reading:  Martin Mars Coulson Air Tankers

For the Birds

We live in the sticks, so we get to see an abundance of birds, especially when we walk over to my parents' home.  Dad has many bird feeders for many species of birds, so it's kind of like O'Hare Airport for aves.  I really like birds and enjoy watching them.  In 2009, I was very fortunate to be present when two U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists briefly removed Osprey chicks from their nest for their annual study of the Clark Fork River.  They explained how birds and fish go hand-in-hand (for something besides tying flies).  So, I guess that it is quite natural for someone who loves fish, to love live birds, too. 



Killdeer shaking her tail feathers to lure me away from her nest

 Our little house sits on an acre-and-a-half of former pasture land--cotton, corn (feed, not sweet), milo, and wheat have been grown on it throughout the years before the house was built in 2001.  I moved in 14 May 2004, and there used to be an abundance of Killdeer and nests.  Their nest numbers began to dwindle, even though I was careful to walk the areas looking for their nests prior to cutting the weeds.  (Killdeer build their nests on the ground, using small rocks to create a bed or using a small indention in which to lay their eggs).  Even though the Killdeer would return each spring, I stopped seeing pairs and nests in 2009. 

Well, this evening (on my 7th anniversary of home ownership, by the way), as I was mowing, I noticed a Killdeer pair in quite a dither.  Each adult was fanning their tail feathers at me, false brooding, and cackling up a racket.  I searched for rock clumps and couldn't find any, but the pair was going nuts.  So I watched them, and frantically began searching the area where they hovered in the unmown section, but I still couldn't find anything.  Then, briefly, the momma gave away her nest, and I was crushed, because I had already mown over her nest.  In 2005, I found a nest I had mown over cracking both the eggs in the nest; I felt horrible!)  When I got to the nest, which was built in a little indention in the ground--no rocks, I was thrilled to find three beautifully speckled, unharmed eggs in the "nest."  Whew, what a relief!  Now, we'll monitor and observe from afar and work hard to keep the chicken snakes away.

2011 Gulf Coast Council Conclave

San Antonio, Texas hosted this year's Gulf Coast Council Conclave, and since Thursday was windier than Wednesday, we didn't go fishing but headed to San Antonio, instead.  While traveling, we passed a beautiful sunflower field just east of Castroville.  When we arrived in San Antonio, we drove around downtown pulling the Mitzi behind us, receiving lots of stares along the way.  With the best boat parking, we lodged at the Holiday Day Inn just down from the Crowne Plaza where the Conclave was being held.  The Internet connection was non-existent, so I could only write and save in Word.

Cody took tying lessons from Bob Popovics, learning how to tie the Surf Candy Minnow, and I learned to spin deer hair from Bill Sargent.  We, along with Jason, learned how to tie the Blind Chicken and Foxy Chicken from Billy Trimble.  We loved the class sizes, frequently 2 students to 1 teacher--talk about quality time.  Gary Davison taught us Spey Casting, and after finishing my 9# rod, I will build a Spey Rod for the pancake flats, Mongolia, southern Chile, or just for fun. It was my first time to pick up a Spey Rod, and I loved it!  We enjoyed watching Bud Rowland tie some of his top go-to flies, flies that set IGFA records, and talk about fishing the Lower Laguna Madre for Speckled Trout.  Cody attended Bob Popovics' False Albacore, Striped Bass, and Bluefish lecture and bought the Pop Fleyes book afterwards, where Bob signed it.  I listened to Bob Pool teach how to read waters and tie flies to catch big--7-10lb. big--bass.  Dawn worked on casting, receiving 1-on-1 instruction, and Jason attended the Bud Rowland and Bob Pool lectures, too.  Diane Blair won the Ross Momentum Reel and TFO Rod combination.  Cody and I won the live auction's Kevin Hutchison guided trip, so now we have a trip with A. Ray Sims and one with Kevin Hutchison; my freshwater fishing life in Texas is pretty set.

Of course, being San Antonio, we could not leave the beautifully historic city without a tour.  We visited the Alamo and the River Walk, taking the boat ride, too, Saturday after we finished with the Conclave.  The Conclave was great with excellent presenters, tiers--some of the DFF's finest tied:  Diane & Richard Blair; Fred DuPre'; Mary & Jack Janco; Bill Sargent, vendors, and lecturers.  I guess the price of gas kept folks away, which made it all the better for those of us who attended.  I hope Texas is the host site for the 2012 GCCC, too!