Spring has sprung within the Dallas Fly Fishers and so have the springtime outings. We held our first White Bass Run Outing last week, and this week we decided to fish the ponds and Brazos River access at Latham Springs Baptist encampment.
The Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush were in early bloom full and thick, and the fish ate hungrily and often in spite of the quite cool temperatures. River and lake fishing were healthy and robust. If we had kept the number of Crappie we caught, what a fish fry we could have had and the numbers they would have fed! Amongst the successes were field testing flies and catching my 96th species on the fly, an Orangespotted Sunfish. In addition, I think I now have caught all of the Sunfish species swimming in Texas' waters. They are such fun, particularly due in part to the aggressive nature with which they attack a fly.
The club outings are fun to enjoy with fellow fishy folk, and rather sadly, this was Cody's and my first foray into an event and fishing this year. Though late on wetting a line, at least we started with a bang!
Life has been busy, and Cody and I have just not had the opportunity to fish. I had to visit a fellow DFF Board Member, and he graciously provided us with rigged rods and allowed us to fish his ponds. We only had about 30 minutes, but we were guided to just the right spots. Thankful for good, fishy people and to finally get to fish! We do have an outing tomorrow where we will get to devote the day to fishing, so all will be well.
The Dallas Fly Fishers held a Basic Fly Fishing Education class today at the Lake Lewisville Environmental Learning Area. I brought my fishing rig to target those carp and buffalo that abound in the Lake Lewisville Tailrace. I had targeted these species in the Spring after our entomology day but came up empty handed.
These species are everywhere, take just a bit to spook, and I don't think it was possible for me to catch one after the fiasco in the spring.
I fished for two-and-a-half hours before giving up and calling last cast. I had hooked several, spooked dozens several times over, but I just wasn't feeling the love. I used a brass conehead CodyBugger, cast one last time where I began my casting that day and yielded nothing for my efforts.
I don't know why now or what the combination was, but it was FIshOn! Several others watched who had also fished for these oh so picky fish and hollered congratulations form the shore.
I netted it and took a weak selfie and added my 96th species to the list!
I had hopes that my hand would have been healed by now; it is healing, slowly and steadily with more steps forward and fewer backwards, so I'll take that. One difficulty I'm still experiencing is the ability to grab a fly line and retrieve a fighting fish, regardless if it's a small or large fish, that strong pincher movement is just not happening. However, TenkaraUSA keeps me on the water, my rod tip bent, fish in the net, and provides me with happy days. I'm now up to three species on the rod--Sunfish, Largemouth Bass (I know they are in the Sunfish family, but it's an IGFA species, so I'm counting it!), and Nolan River White Bass.
2020's summer has not been kind to our family. One instance was me breaking my dominant arm while fly fishing in Pass Creek near South Fork, Colorado my first day on vacation! The following week, I had surgery to repair both my radius and ulna. Wanting to be able to still enjoy fly fishing, I began seriously investigating Tenkara Fly Fishing, since that can be accomplished with one arm. While researching, my uncle called to talk, check on me, and wish me a speedy recovery, and during our conversation, I enthusiastically told my uncle all about Tenkara Fly Fishing in great detail. A few weeks later and with the help of my cousins, my uncle gifted me with a Tenkara USA Rhodo Rod and Tenkara Rod Co. Crossbreed fly line. Our postman, Rance, had no idea the joy he delivered when he brought that rod and fly line to our doorstep!
Still incapable of quite a lot, I couldn't rig the rod myself, so Cody had to also learn about Tenkara lines. Having watched several videos himself, Cody set to tying knots, adjoining lines, and tying my fly (a CodyBugger christened my rod), and we headed to a very small pond in our town. Neither of us had fished the pond, but we figured there just had to be fish in it.
Finding a shady spot near a downed branch, I made my first cast and was rewarded with several hits. Talk about excitement! I continued to adjust to the Tenkara-style of fly fishing, though not in the traditional sense, as I was fishing warm water that wasn't moving! Finding another shady spot with overhanging branches and switching to a topwater grasshopper, I had fishing slurping, hitting, and aggressively slamming that fly, which now has little bite marks in the foam body and one less antenna and leg. Still though, I had no hook-ups. Cody selected a wet fly pattern with a size 16 hook, and it was FishOn! I hooked a Green Sunfish first, but I failed to execute the hookset correctly, so I had an LDR (long-distance release). I did manage to land my first fish--a small but aggressive Bluegill. Then, at dusk, I told Cody "Five more casts," and on the first of the five, Bam! FishOn! A bigger, hungrier Bluegill grabbed my fly on the second twitch. I thought I'd exercise my winged hand by trying to hold the line in it and the rod in my good hand, but that didn't work too well. However, Cody patiently helped me get the fish and the rod situated and then snapped my photo. My fish weren't World Record fish, but they brought me great joy and taught me a thing or two.
I have much to learn about Tenkara, but it was a great christening! My Dad, who passed away suddenly in June, put my first fly rod in my hand to help me heal from breast cancer. My uncle put my first Tenkara rod in my hand to help me heal from a broken arm. Fly fishing truly is a powerful gift!
When I was in the third grade at C.C. Duff Elementary, Miss Winkles' lesson on countries allowed us to select a country other than the USA about which we would learn. I chose Mongolia. I have no idea why, but I knew I wanted Mongolia. I was the nerdy little kid that when the National Geographic magazines arrived, the adults handed me the maps, and off I would go to my room, pouring endless hours into studying that edition's map. So when we were given the opportunity, I did not need to study a map or a globe, I just raised my hand and asked for Mongolia. Fast-forward to my college days where I studied for a Bachelor of Arts in History, specializing in Military History. In 1988, I took a Russian history class where I had to write a paper about the Russian Communism 1930s purge years, and in that paper, I discussed the decimation of the Dayan Derkh Buddhist Monastery, which was located in northern Mongolia. Fast-forward again to September 2018, when Cody booked us a trip to fly fish the Eg-Uur River Watershed and attend the Golden Eagle festival in Mongolia. I can't say when, but for decades I have wanted to catch a Lenok, being that this salmonoid has been around since the Glacial Epoch period, and a Taimen, the largest salmonid species on the planet, both ofwhose populations only seem healthy in Mongolia and Russia's Lake Baikal region, which once belonged to Mongolia. We chose to book with Sweetwater Travel due to its conservation efforts along the Eg-Uur fishery protecting 110 river miles. What I learned while there: Mongolia is both rugged and beautiful. Its people love color and are hospitable, kind, and resourceful. There are nine animals for every one person in the entire country. Mongolia has the second largest coal reserves and a significantly large plutonium reserve had just been newly discovered earlier that summer in Mongolia and thought to be a part of the Kazakhstan mine; the people were very nervous about both Russia's and China's reactions to the discovery. The biggest surprise for me, I learned Sweetwater also rebuilt the Dayan Derkh Monastery, which we were allowed to visit. It was an epic trip for us. Cody caught his 100th species on the fly, a Lenok, photographed the Golden Eagle festival in Bayan-Olgii aimag, learned about the What 3 Words app as we drove across Mongolia where there were no roads, and ate new-to-him meats. I also added to my species list, saw ancient Deerstones, petted a yak, enjoyed a camel, saw so many amazing birds, and celebrated our 8th anniversary there. There are still more places to tick on our Bucket Lists, but to have visited the #1 choice? Satisfaction, glorious reverie and satisfaction, indeed.
Chenggis Khan Memorial statue outside Ulaanbaatar
Camp Gers
A person was paid to come add coal and stoke our fire; we were not supposed to handle any of the coal or keep the fire going. By 4 am, it was cold.
Wool rugs kept everything warm and were hand woven
Camp Kitchen and Entertaining Area
Camp Bathhouse and Toilets
September Full Moon
Cody's 1st Taimen, Day 1
Cody's 2nd Taimen, Day 2
Day 4's Taimen
Taimen Release
Telltale white mouth
Julia's 1st Taimen, Day 4
Final Taimen, Day 6
Last day: Julia's IGFA World Record, 6kg/12lb Tippet class, Taimen weighed 7 lb, 12 oz.
Celebrating successes
Last day: Cody's 1st Lenok and 100th species on the fly
Last Day: Julia's 1st Lenok
Dayan Derkh Monastery
Last night's entertainment was a musical performance from nearby villagers (2 hours away)
I was taught Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and the opening to We Wish You a Merry Christmas
On Thursday, we took a break from fishing and rode the train from Chama, NM to Antonito, CO. It was a great adventure! We returned to fishing on Friday. We headed back to The Meadows to try and fish some areas we didn't hit on Wednesday; Cody fished it well, while I only had one species, but I got to add to the species list with my catch. After enjoying our packed lunch, we headed up above Platoro Reservoir and fished the headwaters. We were amazed at how well hidden the fish were in the faster moving headwaters, and how close to us they were--9 feet or closer. Interestingly, we caught no Rainbows.
One of Cody's Several Browns--Love the Sparkles
Another Brownie for Cody
Conejos River between The Meadows and The Pocket Water
