netboy

The "powers to be" ran water this morning and shut off at noon. I arrived at the access at 1pm and my friend Scott was already there and suited up. He said the horn just blew... WTH, I said, the water just went down so they must have seen me coming. Well we waited for a while and no water came. He went out and I got ready only to hear the horn go off again?? Ten minutes and no additional water. So off I go. Then Mike shows up at 1:30 pm and he gets ready and while he is walking down to the river the horn goes off again. Well I move back to the bank and again no water comes. I got there at 1pm and they blew that darn horn 6 times (about once every 40 minutes) before I left at 4 and no water ever came. I told Mike maybe they were training a new guy how to push the horn button. With that said the fishing was pretty good. Seeing more caddis and lots of midges on top. Caught some nice rainbows and saw a huge rainbow swim within 10 feet of me. He was at least 30" and I would estimate around 8 or 9 pounds. Never saw him again. Best flies today were pink egg patterns and a size 18 crackleback. Here's a couple of the better rainbows...

The tiger trout were acquired from Wyoming in a trade for crappie and catfish. They are triploids so they should grow pretty fast.

The powers to be at the dam decided to run lots of water this morning and then cut it back to 2 generators around 10 am. I decided to try Three Chutes and got there around noon. Water was still falling out and the fishing was a bit slow. Then around 1:30 the water stabilized and the fish got more aggressive. Ended up with lots of rainbows, 1 cutthroat, 1 tiger and a pretty nice brown. Once again the Y2K was the best fly but I did catch a couple on an elk hair caddis. There were a few caddis hatching starting around 3 pm. Here's the usual pics...

In another week or two it will be nothing but caddis dry flies, than sulphurs in June/July.😁

I waded Roundhouse Shoals this morning and had a good day. They turned the water on at the dam around 6am for the first time in a week. I knew the water would come up around 11am so I planned accordingly. Caught a golden rainbow, 1 nice cutthroat, a decent brown along with lots of stocker rainbows and a couple of better rainbows. Best flies were ruby midges and a Y2K. Around 10am fish started coming up to what looked like small mayflies along with a few caddis. I caught a few on dry flies, but had to exit as I knew the water was coming. Here's a few pics...

There are PLENTY of other dead ones to feed the ecosystem outside of the residential canals. Back in the big freeze and fish kill in 1983 the rotting fish caused an algae bloom known as brown tide that lasted for 5 years in the Laguna Madre. Water was a brownish color and the fishing was terrible.

That is good to hear. That area north of the causeway has a deep area known as the Boat Hole that is 25 feet deep in places. That deep water provides shelter from the cold. Most of the area south of the causeway is shallow flats 2 to 3 feet deep.

The city supplied the dumpsters and then hauled them off. I guess they went to the landfill.

It sounds pretty bad. We were planning a trip down there in May but I guess we may have to cancel based on what I am seeing. What a shame to see all those trophy trout floating dead or rotting on the shorelines. Also here is summary of the cleanup that occurred this past Saturday in the Padre Isles canals...

The recent artic blast caused a significant fish kill on the middle and lower Texas coast. My friend that lives on the Laguna Madre in Corpus Christi sent me this picture from the canals. Most of the fish were mullet and skipjacks but he said there were quite a few speckled trout in the mix and some redfish. Needless to say the smell is pretty disgusting. Also it appears that lots of big speckled trout were killed south of the Corpus area per this report and pictures. Mother nature gives and takes... Corpusfishing.com :: View topic - PINS/THE GRAVEYARD/MURDOCKS FISH KILL, FEBRUARY 2021

Glad AGFC started stocking the area above Dam 3 again. They quit stocking the entire area in 2015 after the IPN (Infectious pancreatic necrosis) outbreak in the hatchery. They were afraid that fish stocked upstream of Dam 3 could recontaminate the hatchery with the disease. They were able to purchase trout that were certified IPN free and started stocking the area again in May 2020.

Size 16 ruby midges.

Yeah I see it too. And then when they catch one you hear the live well top slam shut and no release. Glad they are starting to patrol it more.

SWPA ran a little water this morning but shut it down at 9:00 am. I headed to the dam C&R area and got there at 9:30. Water was already down and fishing was good with some nice size rainbows and a couple of cutthroats. Surprisingly I have yet to catch a brown up there since it reopened Feb 1. Now for the first... I was wading in the middle of the river and a guy in a kayak comes straight towards me. I am thinking WTH is he doing? Then I hear, Hi, State Game Warden. So I said cool, what do you want to see? He says license and wants to see my fly. I say great... glad to see you out here. Well I had a bit of trouble digging my wallet out of my back pocket in waist deep water, but finally got to it. I have a 65+ lifetime license for fishing and hunting and all the stamps. Fly was barbless and all went well. He did say he was checking the entire C&R area and said he saw some flies/lures with barbs😒. That is the first time I have seen a GW on the water since I started fishing up here 7 years ago. Glad to see them out there as I have picked up quite a few spinning lures with barbed treble hooks from the root wads up there. Also some heavy duty bait rigs with big hooks with barbs. Here's a couple of the nicer rainbows...

Just 1 guide boat up by the powerhouse.

They shut the water off around noon today so I went to the C&R zone at the dam. Caught some nice rainbows, 1 cutthroat about 16" and a Tiger trout that was about 13". They stocked the tigers last fall and the ones I caught in the fall were all around 8 inches so it looks like they are growing pretty fast. They were all triploids so I guess that's why. Here's a couple pictures of the better rainbows. One on a Y2K and the other on a Ruby midge.

Opps, forgot to add the picture...

Got my first Pfizer shot this afternoon by BRMC at the Baxter county fairgrounds. Very well organized and no problems. In and out in about 10 minutes. Next one is 3/5.

Gonna be pretty cold down south also. Just talked to my friend in Corpus and they are expecting some really cold weather. Possible fish kills from the cold and low tides.

That is a bull red for sure.... The smaller ones are fun on a fly rod but I imagine there was some chasing going on with that guy.

Well we finally got on a list. My wife called around today and found the best lead yet. She talked to Walmart and Walgreens and they said it was coming but they had no real plan or list at this time. They said load their App to get on the list. We did that but both their App's took our info and then said the vaccine wasn't available in our location at this time. She then called the Mom and Pop pharmacy in Viola and they put us both on the list and said they had many cancellations due to the big push by Baxter Regional today and we were about number 200 on the list and they are doing 40 per day. Looking better. Our neighbor just got released from the hospital after 2 weeks of some serious Covid respiratory issues. Thank you China for this masterfully planned plandemic. 👿

Neither can I.

A few more from the good old days in Texas before they removed the oil rigs... 1. Cobia (aka Ling) 2. Grouper 3, Nice Kingfish my daughter caught, it was as long as she was tall.. 4. A few flounder from Galveston bay

A few pics of Red Snapper trips from the old days on the Texas coast...

Thanks Ham. I don't listen to the radio very often so I missed the announcement.