Stocked bows

I've only been to one meeting and one trip so far. Just joined the
Dallas Flyfishers in December. Heard about the Brazos in general but
not the tailwaters in particular. Going to start tying my own flies in
March and chasing mostly largemouth bass and the occassional striped
bass at Texoma with my fly rods. :-) Headed to Texoma in the morning
and taking the 8wt. Will post some pictures on the ABFP forum if we do
any good. I suspect I need a full sinking line to catch the stripers
this time of year not the floating lines I have now. Might have to
drege them up with slab spoons.

Don


Cyli wrote:



Have they told you about the tailwater on the Brazos just below the
Possum Kingdom Dam? I saw some good sized stockers caught there when
I canoed starting about a mile below there. Sort of combat fishing,
but looked like fun. That was early in the year (March), but I
suspect that nearer the dam it's probably good all summer.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

I'm over in Mesquite...forget the stocked Rainbows... they're about as
interesting as goldfish. The native, wild fish are much more colorful and
interesting. Fishing is a little slow right now, but as the skies brighten
and the water warms it can get to be a lot of fun.

For now, beaded nymphs and wooly buggers with a strand or three of something
flashy just might work, but the fish are holding deep and feeding
infrequently right now.

In a little bit....damsel-fly nymphs and chartreuse attracturesin the same
depths will bring up handsome warmouths, pumpkinseeds and such to smile at
and tell "grow big" before releasing. A little later, they hit the spawning
beds and they become easy pickings, if that's what you want. Any ol'
rubber spider can work.

I give them a rest then. After the spawn.... Mosquitoes in between the
hatches and Muddlers if nothing else seems to work. McGinty's also work
pretty well for me well into Autumn. but I have this lingering sense that if
I could devise a pattern to match the more prevalent honey-bee convincingly
it would be killer...the trick seems to be making it look convincingly
struggling in the surface tension.

Somewhat counter-intuitevly...10 or 12 sized Royal Coachmen slipped under
willow leaves seem to draw a lot of attention. And itty-bitty ants or
beetle imitations or scuds can be deadly, except when they aren't interested
And that happens.

I have a real problem with TP&W stocking trout in North Texas ponds. Trout
are glamour fish and therefore popular to talk about. Trout are also
cold-water fish and what's the point in stocking them where the water will
likely get hot enough to kill them? Seems to me, the money would be better
spent stocking fish that would have a good chance of lasting several years
and pro-creating.

So the guys with the worms out fished you when it came to bringing in the
hatchery fish. Those were aquarium rainbows. I won't begrudge them their
fun, but it was kinda' like fishing for mutts by dragging a steak through a
dog pound. I can see that it works, but where's the challenge or the fun in
it.

There are wild fish, challenging, but takeable on a fly, real close to you.
Warm-water fish can be a lot of fun. There are good trout waters as close
as Oklahoma and the Arkansas Ozarks and if you can aim west....New Mexico
and Colorado aren't THAT far away if you are obsessed with Salmonids.
Nothing wrong with that...I just might bump into you back at the campsite it
you travel there.

But I have some serious problems with dumping little trout into a pond in
December, banking on them all being caught before the water temperature
kills them in June. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, if the game commission
spent a little more time and a little less money they might actually
contributed to the on-going health of the pond by planting fish that
belonged there.

Skip the planted rainbows. Discover the fish that belong in this neck of
the woods. They'll give you a better fight and learning how to catch them
will give you a better appreciation of the rivers, lakes, streams etc. you
have around you to explore. You're well located to sneak up to the upper
waters of the Trinity and the Brazos... They're fish rich all the way down
to the Gulf of Mexico.

There's an A.K. Best quote that seems to sum it all for me "The fishing is
always good, the catching...."

-Doc


"D Screen" wrote in message
...
I've only been to one meeting and one trip so far. Just joined the
Dallas Flyfishers in December. Heard about the Brazos in general but not
the tailwaters in particular. Going to start tying my own flies in March
and chasing mostly largemouth bass and the occassional striped bass at
Texoma with my fly rods. :-) Headed to Texoma in the morning and taking
the 8wt. Will post some pictures on the ABFP forum if we do any good. I
suspect I need a full sinking line to catch the stripers this time of year
not the floating lines I have now. Might have to drege them up with slab
spoons.

Don


Cyli wrote:



Have they told you about the tailwater on the Brazos just below the
Possum Kingdom Dam? I saw some good sized stockers caught there when
I canoed starting about a mile below there. Sort of combat fishing,
but looked like fun. That was early in the year (March), but I
suspect that nearer the dam it's probably good all summer.

Cyli
r.bc: vixen. Minnow goddess. Speaker to squirrels.
Often taunted by trout. Almost entirely harmless.

http://www.visi.com/~cyli
email: lid (strip the .invalid to email)

Doc Elder wrote:
I have a real problem with TP&W stocking trout in North Texas ponds.
Trout
are glamour fish and therefore popular to talk about. Trout are also

cold-water fish and what's the point in stocking them where the water
will
likely get hot enough to kill them? Seems to me, the money would be
better
spent stocking fish that would have a good chance of lasting several
years
and pro-creating.

Doc: You sure hit the nail on the head with the above statement as far
as I am concerned. This has been one of my main problems with the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department for years and now with the license
changes they made last year, you cna't be licensed to fish in this
state without supporting this program. I damn near decided to not buy a
license this year for that very reason. I can still fish for wild trout
by merely driving a few days either east or west.

Don: If you want to learn how to catch those stocked little pale
imitations of trout you might want to travel to Arkansas to check out
the Little Missouri Fishing Festival and mine Jeff Gurin's mind on how
to catch them. Jeff is The guide on Arkansas's closest trout fishing
water and realy knows his stuff. Learn more at
WWW.Littlemissouriflyfishing.com This will be my first year to miss
this event. You will also see several of the Dallas Flyfishers at this
event. Besides this poor little town can use every dollar you drop
while there.

Big Dale

On 17 Feb 2005 03:53:25 -0800, "Big Dale" wrote:


Doc Elder wrote:
I have a real problem with TP&W stocking trout in North Texas ponds.
Trout
are glamour fish and therefore popular to talk about. Trout are also

cold-water fish and what's the point in stocking them where the water
will
likely get hot enough to kill them? Seems to me, the money would be
better
spent stocking fish that would have a good chance of lasting several
years
and pro-creating.

Doc: You sure hit the nail on the head with the above statement as far
as I am concerned. This has been one of my main problems with the Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department for years and now with the license
changes they made last year, you cna't be licensed to fish in this
state without supporting this program. I damn near decided to not buy a
license this year for that very reason.

You selfish, self-centered *******! What are silly-assed, zero-lot-line
North Dallas McMansionites supposed to do with all the trendy FFing gear
they went out and bought? Seriously, though, if stocking at Gruene,
etc., was iffy, what in the hell were they thinking with THIS stocking?
It can only be for the yuppies, no? Or did John Wildly Gotaprice find a
Armani FFing dashiki with a matching UZI-made flyrod and start screaming
about "his people" not being able to have equal access to "trouts" or
something?

Don - get with one of these local guys and go fishing for bluegill,
sandies, or some other native or at least well-suited species and
boycott this horse**** program. You want farm-raised rainbow locally?
Kroger, right there next to the catfish nuggets and "Krab Leggs"...

HTH,
R

wrote:

[stocking factory trout in Texas]

You selfish, self-centered *******! What are silly-assed, zero-lot-line
North Dallas McMansionites supposed to do with all the trendy FFing gear
they went out and bought?

Er ... drive to the San Juan? :-)

Seriously, though, if stocking at Gruene,
etc., was iffy, what in the hell were they thinking with THIS stocking?
It can only be for the yuppies, no? Or did John Wildly Gotaprice find a
Armani FFing dashiki with a matching UZI-made flyrod and start screaming
about "his people" not being able to have equal access to "trouts" or
something?

In the years I've been keeping up with the stocking program (since
the mid-80's), it has evolved some. At first it was just Parks and
Wildlife stocking and it was really a "meat" program (which of course
makes sense). You were more likely to see Joe Sixpack lobbing niblets
and cheese for the fish than anyone in tweed smoking a pipe. Then
someone discovered that some trout overwintered below Canyon Dam, so
they had the "bright" idea of establishing a "permanent" fishery on the
Guadalupe. (Canyon is a deep lake and the water released comes from the
bottom, so it *usually* stays in a temp range that is borderline
comfortable for trout, even during the summer.)

Then gawd created the Guadalupe River chapter of Trout Unlimited ...
er, I mean, then TU got involved and established some ff'ing only areas,
length/size/bag limits, some private leases and supplemental stockings
(including some big sows).

Of course they forgot to check with Ma Nature, and what with
periodic flooding and drought, the "established fishery" has had to
start again from scratch several times. (Twice in the last three years,
for example. Once because severe flooding "turned the lake over",
causing warm water to be released downstream for long periods of time.
The second time because of an excessively wet year, which again caused
the water temps to rise higher than normal.)

But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense, so someone
decided it was a bright idea to keep the program going. This time
though, we needed to make sure that *all* anglers paid for it through
their license fees (where previously you bought a trout stamp if you
wanted to fish for them).

Don - get with one of these local guys and go fishing for bluegill,
sandies, or some other native or at least well-suited species and
boycott this horse**** program. You want farm-raised rainbow locally?
Kroger, right there next to the catfish nuggets and "Krab Leggs"...

While I don't totally boycott the trout program, I agree with the
sentiment about supporting the other native fish. There is too much
nice water with native fish (Guadalupe bass, for instance) to feel the
need to sustain "the southernmost trout fishery in the U.S." (as TU
touts it).


Chuck Vance (who prefers to fish on the Pedernales anyway; it's
less crowded and much more scenic)

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
...
wrote:


But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense,

They can get that much money picking up pop bottles for half a day.

"B J Conner" wrote in message
news:Av4Rd.32264$uc.9825@trnddc03...

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
...
wrote:


But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense,

They can get that much money picking up pop bottles for half a day.

Oh?

Wolfgang
who wouldn't have guessed they've got that much sense.

"B J Conner" wrote in message
news:Av4Rd.32264$uc.9825@trnddc03...

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
...
wrote:


But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense,

They can get that much money picking up pop bottles for half a day.

Oh?

Wolfgang
who wouldn't have guessed they've got that much sense.

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
...
wrote:


But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense,

They can get that much money picking up pop bottles for half a day.

"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
...
wrote:


But, Texans are famous for having more money than sense,

They can get that much money picking up pop bottles for half a day.