Info Please. Moving to Texas.

[Fitefirehuntfish]

Ladies and gents.

I've lived in Utah my entire life. Born and raised. I can tell you darned near
every place there is to hunt and fish in this state. Both on the map and off.

However, due to an unexpected job offer, I am moving to Fort Worth, Texas on
Thursday, Oct 16th. I've never been to Texas in my life. I've never bass fished
before, let alone on a fly!

I've received great information from ROFF in the past, and I hope and pray that
some of you can help me out here. What am I in for? Is there trout fishing in
Texas? How do I bass fish on a fly, where can I go... ETC.

As well, anyone who is also into ANY form of hunting in the Ft. Worth area who
would not mind talking via EMail, please, let me know.

Thanks for your help,
~Luke
Soon to be formerly of Lehi, UT

[FRANK CHURCH]

"Fitefirehuntfish" > wrote in message
...
> Ladies and gents.
>
> I've lived in Utah my entire life. Born and raised. I can tell you darned
near
> every place there is to hunt and fish in this state. Both on the map and
off.
>
> However, due to an unexpected job offer, I am moving to Fort Worth, Texas
on
> Thursday, Oct 16th. I've never been to Texas in my life. I've never bass
fished
> before, let alone on a fly!
>
> I've received great information from ROFF in the past, and I hope and pray
that
> some of you can help me out here. What am I in for? Is there trout fishing
in
> Texas? How do I bass fish on a fly, where can I go... ETC.
>
> As well, anyone who is also into ANY form of hunting in the Ft. Worth area
who
> would not mind talking via EMail, please, let me know.

........hang in there Luke, Brimbum should be along shortly.....

Frank Church
Cornfield county, IN

[Brimbum]

Luke wrote:>I am moving to Fort Worth, Texas on
>Thursday, Oct 16th. I've never been to Texas in my life. I've never bass
>fished
>before, let alone on a fly!

Welcome to a great adventure. Bass fishing and bluegill is great in this state.
There used to be a great trout fishery on the Guadelupe till last year when the
floods washed most of them out to sea. The idiots with the Texas Parks and
Wildlife continue to insist on stocking those anemic looking and acting little
factory trout in a bunch of cement ponds around the urban areas. They also
stock some in the Brazos below Possum Kingdom damn. I kind of like them there
as the stripers think of them as candy and when they get big, they are a bunch
of fun to catch. Don't give away your trout rods as they will be useful to
catch bluegill just about anywhere there is water.
Go to WWW.FEDFLYFISHERS.ORG and look up their closest clubs. Go to the Fort
Worth Flyfishers Club web site and also the Dallas Flyfishers web sites and
check out their newsletters. Both have excellent newsletters and welcome
newcomers and visitors to their club meetings and club outings. I suggest that
you go to a meeting at each of these clubs.Go on the outings and everyone will
show you the ropes on warmwater flyfishing. Also, I tie with The Roadkill
Roundtable each Saturday morning at Bass Pro out by DFW airport. We tie in
front of the fly shop, so bring your gear and join in the fun. I look forward
to meeting you the first chance you get. E-mail me anytime.

Big Dale

[Conan the Librarian]

(Brimbum) wrote in message >...

> Welcome to a great adventure. Bass fishing and bluegill is great in this state.
> There used to be a great trout fishery on the Guadelupe till last year when the
> floods washed most of them out to sea.

I know you're just kidding here, but just to clarify: Trout were
stocked below the dam because the water comes from the bottom of the
lake and is always cool even during the heat of summer. Originally
the fish were just done as put-and-take, but then folks start catching
some that had survived the summer. After that, TU worked with TPW to
try to establish a "real" trout fishery with some larger fish, and
some C&R and fly-only stretches.

When the big floods hit last year, the water rose in the lake until
it came *over* the dam. That turned the water over, mixing the cold
and warm and raising the temps enough that the local guides, TPW and
TU were saying that they think it killed most of the established fish.

I don't really know whether it was the water temps or the fact that
they were being swept into treetops/people's houses/the Gulf of
Mexico, but there seems to be some debate. (Ironically, the reports
I've read say that there was decent trout-fishing on the river this
past winter/spring.)

While I can't disagree that many sites state-wide that are stocked
are little more than concrete ponds, I do hope that the Guadalupe
comes back. While stocked fish are obviously not everyone's
cup-of-tea, the setting is gorgeous, and it gives some of us a bit of
practice casting, line-handling and even catching a few fish between
trips to real trout waters.


Chuck Vance (who just tied up a bunch of "Purina'n'egg" flies
for the coming season)

[Brimbum]

Conan the librarian wrote:snip> I know you're just kidding here, but just to
clarify:

I was hoping you would bring some info to the table we could believe.Ii have a
lot of trouble with the propaganda the Texas Parks and Wildlife puts out at
times. I know that it was an excellent fishery and that the largest TU Chapter
in the world is not about to abandon it. It is amazing how streams recover from
floods and I am sure that it will come back with a lot of work from all. I also
know that those stripers down there also love their trout candy...last I heard
the last three state record stripers came from that fishery. Besides where can
trout be killed by fire ants?

Just the same, I prefer to fish for bluegill andGuadelupes upstream.

Brimbum

[Conan the Librarian]

(Brimbum) wrote in message >...

> I was hoping you would bring some info to the table we could believe.Ii have a
> lot of trouble with the propaganda the Texas Parks and Wildlife puts out at
> times.

Yeah, they have quite a bit invested in this. Ironically, so do
all the guides and TU, but at least I feel like I can get a straight
answer from some of them. I talked with a guy who guides the river
year-round earlier this year, and he said that he expects it to be a
couple of years before it's back to where it was. (And he said this
after mentioning that he had caught fish up to 18" the week before.)

> I know that it was an excellent fishery and that the largest TU Chapter
> in the world is not about to abandon it. It is amazing how streams recover from
> floods and I am sure that it will come back with a lot of work from all.

This flood has really changed the river in that stretch. Besides
leaving parts of houses up in the trees, it scoured the bottom and
created new channels and holding water. The folks I trust on the
matter say that it will eventually be better than ever because of the
changes.

> I also
> know that those stripers down there also love their trout candy...last I heard
> the last three state record stripers came from that fishery. Besides where can
> trout be killed by fire ants?

Heh. Only in Taxsuss. :-) FWIW, I've seen those suckers on
floating logs in high water conditions, and it's a scary thing.
They're bad enough when they stick to the ground, but when they get
their own boats ...

> Just the same, I prefer to fish for bluegill andGuadelupes upstream.

I can't argue that. I admit to having fished both the upper and
lower on the same day during the "winter". I guess the local version
of a grand slam would be trout, bass, sunnies and catfish on the same
day.


Chuck Vance (who's caught bass and trout on the same day)

[Brimbum]

Chuch wrote snip:> Heh. Only in Taxsuss. :-) FWIW, I've seen those suckers
on
>floating logs in high water conditions, and it's a scary thing.
>They're bad enough when they stick to the ground, but when they get
>their own boats

If you use a float tube in tanks be careful as I have seen those fire ants form
rafts up to 6 feet in diameter of millions of ants and you can paddle yourself
backwards into them and it would be most uncomfortable.

On the other subject, remember that it was only a few years after the '88
Yellowstone fire that the rivers there recovered and out on the Colorado in
Arizona they sometimes realese bunches of water to scour the bottom of the
river and it helps. A lot of those trout are still in the Guadelupe, and I
can;t figure out where they hide in a flood, but they do and they don't get
bigger it they don't eat.

You guys also get to fish for some strange kind of "brim" down there that come
from south america or other exoitcs don't you?

Brimbum

[John Lindsey]

"Conan the Librarian" > wrote in message

<snipped stuff>
> Chuck Vance (who's caught bass and trout on the same day)

Uh Chuck what's fun for me but very rare is to catch a bass AND a trout on
the same cast. I use my big white popper and an improved Rainy's hopper as
a dropper which floats in the meniscus. Four places come to mind where I
got lucky: Crane Prairie in Oregon where man illegally introduced bass into
trout water. Sacramento River Delta in California where the bass was a
native smallmouth and the trout was probably a steelhead. Shadow Cliffs in
California where both bass and trout were stocked in abandoned gravel pits
and an unnamed river in Arkansas where trout were stocked in bass water.
The secret is to fish droppers where both co-exist and the trout are willing
takers. Seems to me that other bass, bluegill and bream are more willing
dropper takers than trout.

Sadly to me the places where they co-exist is increasing with man "Helping"
mother nature by dumping bass into trout waters and by fish and game
departments yielding to politics and dumping hatchery trout into native and
created bass waters.

Yep droppers are a pain and double the ear hookups LOL but the fun of two
fish out of the water at the same time is really really fun.

Good luck!
John

[Conan the Librarian]

(Brimbum) wrote in message >...

> On the other subject, remember that it was only a few years after the '88
> Yellowstone fire that the rivers there recovered and out on the Colorado in
> Arizona they sometimes realese bunches of water to scour the bottom of the
> river and it helps. A lot of those trout are still in the Guadelupe, and I
> can;t figure out where they hide in a flood, but they do and they don't get
> bigger it they don't eat.

Yeah, I can't figure out how they can survive a flood that's bad
enough to get over the top of that dam, but there are still some fish
in there from previous years.

> You guys also get to fish for some strange kind of "brim" down there that come
> from south america or other exoitcs don't you?

I'm guessing you're referring to tilapia. They are in Canyon Lake
and some other waters around here. They're supposed to be good
eating, but I've never tried them. We also have a lake near San
Antonio (Braunig?) that is stocked with redfish (?!). And there are
pike (not just pickerel) in Town Lake. Supposedly they were put there
by the TPW people after they conducted some breeding experiments, and
some have managed to survive.

Of the native fish, the Rio Grande "perch" (cichlid) is an ugly
dude, but would be fun to fish for on a fly rod. But the
strangest-looking thing I've ever caught has to be a bowfin. It was
after dark and I thought I had a snake or eel on the line.


Chuck Vance (diversity'r'us)

[Conan the Librarian]

"John Lindsey" > wrote in message >...

> Uh Chuck what's fun for me but very rare is to catch a bass AND a trout on
> the same cast.

OK, I give up ... that's definitely got me beat. :-)

> I use my big white popper and an improved Rainy's hopper as
> a dropper which floats in the meniscus. Four places come to mind where I
> got lucky: Crane Prairie in Oregon where man illegally introduced bass into
> trout water. Sacramento River Delta in California where the bass was a
> native smallmouth and the trout was probably a steelhead. Shadow Cliffs in
> California where both bass and trout were stocked in abandoned gravel pits
> and an unnamed river in Arkansas where trout were stocked in bass water.
> The secret is to fish droppers where both co-exist and the trout are willing
> takers. Seems to me that other bass, bluegill and bream are more willing
> dropper takers than trout.
>
> Sadly to me the places where they co-exist is increasing with man "Helping"
> mother nature by dumping bass into trout waters and by fish and game
> departments yielding to politics and dumping hatchery trout into native and
> created bass waters.

I can't imagine why anyone would do the former (bass into trout
waters), but certainly the latter is done all the time here. But,
from what BD says, the little trout become food for the stripers,
which can't be all bad. :-)

> Yep droppers are a pain and double the ear hookups LOL but the fun of two
> fish out of the water at the same time is really really fun.

So how long does it take to untangle the mess afterwards? :-)


Chuck Vance

[Brimbum]

Chuch wrote:snip>Of the native fish, the Rio Grande "perch" (cichlid) is an
ugly
>dude, but would be fun to fish for on a fly rod. But the
>strangest-looking thing I've ever caught has to be a bowfin. It was
>after dark and I thought I had a snake or eel on the line.
>

I guess it was the Rio Grande "perch" that I saw an article about in a magazine
a few years ago, and that is what I was talking about. I have caught bowfin,aka
grinnel when I was a kid and have a friend whose life long ambition is to catch
a 25 pound bowfin on a fly rod, but you know how weird some of those guys who
live in Baton Rouge are. I also have a friend who caught one that weighed 7.5
pounds on a cap spider on a two weight fly rod down in florida a few years ago.
We later learned that if it had been weighed on certified scales that it would
have been a state record. I think it was nice that his fishing partner warned
him not to lip it as he was landing it. (grin) I don't that would have been
anymore fun than lipping a flounder

I have never caught any pike in Town Lake, but it has some HUGE blugill. It is
a fantastic fishery.

Big Dale.

[Conan the Librarian]

(Brimbum) wrote in message >...

> I guess it was the Rio Grande "perch" that I saw an article about in a magazine
> a few years ago, and that is what I was talking about. I have caught bowfin,aka
> grinnel when I was a kid and have a friend whose life long ambition is to catch
> a 25 pound bowfin on a fly rod, but you know how weird some of those guys who
> live in Baton Rouge are.

Yeah, I hear they even fish for gators there.

> I also have a friend who caught one that weighed 7.5
> pounds on a cap spider on a two weight fly rod down in florida a few years ago.
> We later learned that if it had been weighed on certified scales that it would
> have been a state record. I think it was nice that his fishing partner warned
> him not to lip it as he was landing it. (grin) I don't that would have been
> anymore fun than lipping a flounder

Folks who are used to fishing for bass have to fight that reflex
sometimes. :-)

> I have never caught any pike in Town Lake, but it has some HUGE blugill. It is
> a fantastic fishery.

When I lived in Austin (early/mid-80's), I used to fish there about
once a week (or more). Among the fish I've caught there: All kinds
of sunfish (yep, including some *giant* bluegill), big bass (I've
caught largemouth and spotted, and the state record smallmouth was
taken out of there), catfish, gaspergou (freshwater drum), carp, gar,
rock bass, crappie and stripers (the former state record was taken
below Tom Miller dam, and then eclipsed by a fish taken below Longhorn
dam).

In particular, below Tom Miller dam was always good when they were
generating/releasing water, and the Fiesta Gardens "lagoon" was prime
bass and sunfish water. There also used to be schools of medium-sized
gar that would cruise along the north shore of the lagoon. I got a
kick out of sight-fishing to them to see if I could get them to strike
anything. It was kind of fun to go down there when they were having a
dance or concert, and you could listen to live tejano music while you
fished.

I did a lot of b**t-fishing back in those days; usually a light
spinning rig with #4 or #6 line and a n*ghtcr*wl*r with no weight at
all or just enough to get it to sink slowly. It wasn't that I was
fishing for meat (I rarely kept fish anyway), as much as I knew that
fishing that way could bring in almost anything that swam in that
area.

But probably the most fun I had was catching bluegill by tossing
small flyrod poppers up next to the shoreline weeds and under the
trees that line the shore. Lots of times there wasn't any room for a
backcast, so you'd be rollcasting or just lobbing the poppers out. I
imagine I could have had even better luck if I had known about soft
hackles back then. (See, your advice is finally starting to sink in.
:-)

This thread got me thinking about that area, and I decided to swing
by there on my way in to meet SWMBO for our Friday night "date night"
in Austin. I didn't have my gear with me, so I just walked around and
checked out all of my old spots. The area looked just as "fishy" as I
remember it; possibly a little more overgrown (which is a good thing).
But there were some subtle changes as well. There was more trash
than I remember, signs of folks living under the footbridge that
crosses the channel, and the folks I saw walking the footpath looked
different somehow. Little signs, but they made me realize that more
than anything, *I* have changed; my priorities aren't the same.

Oh well, the Guadalupe is closer to my house than Town Lake anyway.


Chuck Vance