Tejas Waders
Waders? We don’t need no stinking waders.
Except for the span of about two weeks- that’s a true statement. I hear comments like leaky waders, and while I understand the premise, I just don’t get it. Waders are not really a requirement here in the lower southern states. Don’t get me wrong I actually own a pair- because I was visiting out-of-state for an extended period of time. Unfortunately, Sonic Pro waders were not on the market when I was in the market. I’m a gear junky and those are just cool. Moving on…
To be fair I’m actually going to do an honest write up on the topic. Cargo shorts are typically what I wear most. I have an old pair that I use for this because the nicer pairs I don’t want to ruin. So Pro grunt tip number one: Chose something expendable.
Swimming trunks may be better- but who likes built in under-roo’s? So rather than dealing with a wedgie I opt for the water absorbing cotton. Ideal? No, but does it have to be?
When the heat cranks up they work dual purpose redneck fashionable as well- both in and out of the water. Not some kind of neoprene shrink wrap “I’m a fly geek” statement. (No offense Matt.) But more of a functional and fashionable statement.
Lastly, pockets where you want them and you don’t have to worry about them leaking because you’re already wet. I say that’s a win all around. I will ask however you ignore my post yesterday about near hypothermia in May. Our weather can be crazy and like I said- I’m claiming a two week alibi on this. So I still have 13 days left.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Tejas Waders is a modified prompt of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
D-Day plus 26 (D+26)
Conservation shift fire! Shift fire! We’re shifting fire again from today’s Everyday in May topic prompt- standby for a Texas Hill Country Mixed Bag tourney battle tracking update.
Confirm or Deny was the name of the game today.
The weather forecast was 40% chance of rain.
-Deny. There was no chance of rain. It was guaranteed at 100%.
I was skunked on the Guadalupe River hunting trout, yet again.
-Confirm. No comment.
Shifting to the Blanco is a good plan b to avoid the skunk.
-Confirm. This worked a second time. Even in crummy conditions I still hooked up with good size fish. This river is quickly becoming my favorite. When you know what you know- it’s a good feeling. Confidence is always a game changer.
70 plus degree weather in Texas isn’t cold enough to make your hands go numb.
-Deny. I knew it was time to go and was keenly aware of hypothermia settling in when I started insistently laughing at the fact that fishing today was probably a dumb idea. Not ideal conditions to say the least.
You can troll flying cats and hook up with good sized fish.
-Confirm. This was the only method that caught me fish today. With a drop from recent temperatures, a rise in the water table from decent amounts of rain, and a dropping barometer meant the fishing techniques/tactics had to be switched up. I had no idea how to mitigate these conditions but I was determined.
At first I was trying to hit the banks to no avail. Then something odd thing happened. While transitioning from one spot to the next in my float tube I didn’t bother to strip in my line. Feeling lazy I threw a good cast out and let it drag as I flutter kicked away. But, that’s not what was odd. In route I felt a tug.
Its a good idea to get into a float tube the day after an Army Physical Fitness Test. You won’t be sore form head to toe from the day before.
-Deny. Everything hurt! The APFT isn’t that grueling- but when you give your best, as any good trooper will, you’re going to feel it the next day.
Crying in not authorized.
-Confirm. I’ll stop whining now.
After toolboxing around on the Blanco I hit my favorite pool. Tired of working the banks with no luck I decided to try trolling again. This worked! I lined up with the center of the river, cast out and kicked away. Repeatedly, I got hits on my fly. The best catch that up’ed my point standing was the Red Breast sunfish shown above.
Getting skunked on the Guad twice in a row indicated a big fail!
-Deny! I worked hard both times after having my fly reel handed back to me by the Guad. I am not done yet and will come back until I get it right. What it did do for me was make me push hard to figure something out- on both days in very different conditions. It made me exercise what I know and learn to rely on it. It was all about knowing what you know, and knowing what you don’t know. It was all about playing confirm or deny.
I can catch fish. I can win this contest.
-Confirm. I can. Win or lose I’ll do my best and I’m having fun doing it. What games do you play on the water? How do you push yourself when fishing?
Today’s topic of D-Day plus 26 (D+26) is a deviation of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
FishArt
Today I am stepping outside the Everyday in May topic prompt list to talk about FishArt. If fly fishing isn’t part art form and science combined, then I don’t know what is. I hate the term warrior poet so I won’t point to it here- but I did find some interesting information. I was researching the Outdoor Blogger Network (OBN) and going thru some FAQs. I ended up looking at the directory of outdoor blogs. Click fishing blogs and there is an interesting number- almost 50% more fly fishing blogs to just fishing blogs.
Why?
Because we think we are all warri, no I’m not saying it- we have a creative streak in us in addition to the outdoor drive. So we write about it, we draw the fish we catch and take pictures of them. I like this. I may not be any good at it- but it draws out something inside of me I almost once lost. As a kid there was nothing more I liked than to draw. In high school I was into photography. Somewhere along the road of life I let that go or thought I grew out of it. Maybe I thought it wasn’t any good or it wasn’t good enough. Now, I just don’t care. Now I pick up pen and paper, I shoot iPhone photos with iPad filters, and have this thing called a blog.
So with this Everyday in May challenge, I challenge you do do something creative and something expressive. Reach way back into your tool kit bag and find that piece of you that you may have hidden away. Then share it because I bet it’s something special.
Click the FlyArt/FishArt categories on the “In the Scope” in the side bar to see my work. Good or not I’m proud of it and had fun. Thanks.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of FishArt is a deviation of the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Hatch
Purists- earmuffs! I believe there is more to fly selection than just matching the hatch. Some streamers I throw look nothing like any one fish prey alive. In fact most of them look like all the fish prey alive if they were morphed together into one. The end result is they look like nothing at all. But I don’t care- they catch fish. So do you have to match the hatch?
The principle at work is that they look close enough to resemble a food source- or even better, look “near-enough” to multiple food sources. Is being close enough to all fish food really matching the hatch though? It doesn’t matter- because what does matter is that it incites in fish a need to strike. Winning. That is the whole intent in match the hatch anyways.
We call this maneuver a feint in the Airborne. We pose or use deception to indicate one movement and when the enemy strikes- we have a different surprise waiting. In this case its a hook. But the point end of that barb is we have reached a decisive point in the fish fight. The hook is set! (Please crush your barbs.)
One thing that I do care about is preserving the art and skill of fly fishing and fly tying. I’m not taking the purist route here, but there is no significant skill in tying an egg pattern. But egg patterns you must admit do match the hatch. Fly fishing and fly tying is my chosen pursuit I hope I never perfect least it become boring. So I like to try new and or complex patterns. If I wanted to drop a worm on a hook I would do that and not a fly. Accept a challenge, tie a fly, stalk a fish, match a hatch (or not), and have some fun.
When out on the water I like to use what works balanced with something I made. Those are the most rewarding catches to me regardless if I matched the hatch or not. So it’s not all about matching the hatch. It’s about doing what makes you feel accomplished. That’s what I do, that’s why I fly.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Hatch is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Working
In the television memory reel of your mind flip back a channel and rewind to the show “Married with Children“. Remember the theme song? “Love and marriage, love and marriage.”
This is what my mind races to when I think about work and fly fishing. What/how? Try this, instead replay the song like this, “Work and fishing, work and fishing.” I know the knee jerk reflex is to say that the two don’t fit together like a horse and carriage. But, this I tell you brother, you can’t have one without the other.
Consider this, don’t they mutually support the need for the other? I mean nothing I do in the sport- even if it is cheap (relatively speaking) is really cheap after all. We say we tie our own flies to save money, and maybe we do. But is spending less money really saving? So how do we fund this sport? We take it out of hide and flip the bill to feed the additiction provided by our jobs. It’s ok, laugh anytime you agree.
Secondly, consider your work. Your foxhole in the office, job site, whatever. We may lie and say I love my job. But we’re fisherman which makes us liars by default.
“It was the biggest fish I had ever seen.”
“Man, that fish must have been this big.”
“I don’t care if I get skunked, I just like being on the water.”
“Honey, I won’t be out long.”
Need I go on? Look, not to say there aren’t any honest men among us (or ladies), but we can all easily admit- I’d rather be fishing. So save the I love my job speech for the boss. It’s not needed here. But if my job was as pleasant, scenic, and stress reliving as fly fishing- I probably wouldn’t need to fish to decompress. And how sick is it that fly fishing is decompression? I mean really?
Standby for run in sentence.
Ok, I’m going to spend hours at a vice to tie flies of which I will mostly lose, wake up before any living thing on earth, throw on waders to be in freezing waters, wave a stick in the air to fight the wind, in hopes of tricking a fish that my dead animal hair is really his favorite bug of choice/next meal, and then toss him back to do it again. Seriously?!
I mean seriously!?!
We do it to show the guys at work. The two need each other and feed off each other; they are mutally supportive. They are for me anyways- AirborneAngler. Need I say more?
If you display symptoms described in my run on sentence above, you really are sick. It’s called Terminal Angler Syndrome (TAS). It’s reel and effects lots of people. Seek help at any local fly shop, the doctor is in. How do you feel?
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Working is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Praying
I found this on multiple websites but cannot find the author. If you have information on the source please advise so in the comments below. However, this is too good not to share.
The Fly Fisherman’s Prayer
God grant that I may live to fish until my dying day
And when it comes to my last catch I then most humbly pray
When in the Lord’s safe landing net I’m peacefully asleep
That in his mercy I be judged as good enough to keep
Today’s topic of Praying is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Fish
Today’s topic of Fish is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Tying
I like tying a fly for the first time. Maybe the second time or two after that trying to figure out how to get it right. The validation for doing it right comes when you get a fish to hand. After that-I hate having to reload. Somehow I want each fly to last forever. I mean there is a personal investment in time spent at that vise. It drives me monkey/cheetah flip crazy to lose a fly in less time than it took me to tie it. Every submerged branch or limb in the air stealing hours of my life- its just not right. It’s just not right. Of all the fish I tie for- I despise you only you tree fish. Only you.
Today’s topic of Tying is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Current
Current is something you feel, the water that moves you. The current moves me- its where I feel home, where I feel I was meant to be.
All the Way! (ATW)
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Current is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
Home Waters
Home waters says or implies a lot. When I interpret the term it says to me- this is where I grew up, this is where I was born. However looking deeper into the meaning I ask, so what? What does that mean?
It means to me more than a physical association between your house and and the closest river, creek, or stream. Home waters are where we learn part of our life lessons- part of where we learn who we are. It’s an emotional connection too. It’s where we get the phrase home is where the heart is and why people say the water is in their blood.
I’m lucky enough to call the Texas Hill Country rivers my home waters. They are not the closest body of water to me and where I live. But it’s a special place that has my heart where solitude and reflection combine to sanctuary. A hidden place where I can speak to God as he intended.
Plus, the fishing is great.
See you on the high ground,
AirborneAngler
Today’s topic of Home Waters is prompted by the Everyday in May challenge. For more info click here. For all AirborneAngler Everyday in May posts click here.
The AirborneAngler 