TheOkieAngler.com

What a weekend…Took from work on Friday off so I could head down to Dallas with Reese and her parents to take part in the Red River Rivalry action (OU/TX game). We got in Thursday night and found out that our hotel room had been given away… awesome.

It had been a long day at work getting things squared away for Friday and road trips, even in the ~4hr range, are always tiring. The last thing I wanted to hear was “we don’t have a room for you,” but it turned out to be a good deal. They put us up in a different hotel for the night and then put us up in a “villa” when they brought us back the next day. Saved some $ and got a sick upgrade, not bad.

Woke up Friday to a beautiful day. Low 60’s, sunny, no wind… The ladies were going to spend the day doing some shopping, and considering that malls are probably my least favorite place on the planet, I figured it was a good opportunity to try and get in some time on the water.

I had scouted out some spots (God bless google maps), but after consulting with the King of rough fishing in the Lone Star State, I discovered the spots I had been thinking about were posted no-fishing. Whoops.

Would have probably ended up arrested (or at least heavily fined) if it wasn’t for Dave, but instead, he put me on a killer spot. It was silly how good this spot was, not kidding, silly.

Within the first half hour I missed two definite takes. Was borderline frustrated and mad that I had spooked a couple spots holding nice pods of fish, when I noticed a gulping mouth come out of the vegetation a few feet directly in front of me. It wasn’t even fair… a little dap dap dap, and the skunk was off my back.

No chance

I had developed a small gallery of on-lookers on their smoke break and not wanting to give anyone any ideas for after work activities, I moved downstream for a bit to check things out. Promptly botched a hookset and spooked another group of fish and hunted around unsuccessfully for a bit before heading back upstream.

Ran into a spotted gar parked in the middle of the creek and gave it a good effort, but couldn’t manage to get its attention. Literally dragged the fly across his nose at one point, and the only response was a little flick of the tail and a slight change of direction.

Look in the middle...

Tired of getting “the finger” from the gar I moved upstream some more and hit the jackpot. Carp were feeding everywhere I looked, and close. They were burying themselves in the junk and were going to town on whatever was inside. Stripping the fly in/around all the junk what impossible (at least for me), so I resorted to casting the fly on top of the junk, and then just vibrating the line to give the fly a bit of life. Did the trick. Saw a nose move up around the area I thought my fly was and set the hook…

Had a great time “trying” to steer him away from all the trouble around and managed to get him in pretty close. Tried to scoop him in the net when he gave the standard “you think I’m tired, but I’m not… I’m gonna go on another run” to me… and snapped my rod before I even knew what was going on.

####… Really??? Again?? Another broken rod? I feel like I JUST had it repaired. I ended up pulling him in by hand… just had to get a shot of the fish responsible for the breakage.

Sage, get ready for another warranty claim... sorry, really I am.

Had to call it a day… really wish I would have packed a spare rod, it was a crazy good spot. Definitely motivated to find something similar in my own backyard. If you’re trying to get into some rough fish in the DFW area, you’ve gotta book a trip with Dave Speer. Stand up guy… knows how to find ‘em and catch ‘em.

Closed out the Dallas trip with the game on Sat. I’m a lot more comfortable on the banks of a creek than in the chaos of the TX state fair on game day, but it was still a hell of a time.

Ocean of orange and red

The game was obviously disappointing, but it was definitely fun and exciting… I think I could make a strong argument for having the best seat in the house.

Literally on the 50, high enough where you can still see everything, but not too high that you miss out.

 Yeah, I may have been sitting next to TX fans, but they weren’t d-bags so it was all good. Woulda been nice to walk away with a W though.

Got home just in time on Sunday to make the drive to Norman… time to close out the weekend with some straight up entertainment!

Opened with the Black Eyed Peas

And closed with the one of the biggest of all time….

U2!

Broken rod, lost game… still don’t think the weekend could be beat. Hell of a time.

Makes Monday awfully rough though. Ward needs a nap. Bad.

I’ve decided that Monday’s aren’t so bad after all… In fact, I think I may look forward to free Monday afternoons more than any other time of the week. Monday means full access to my favorite ponds… gotta love and appreciate a closed golf course.

To make the Monday situation even better this week, we had a nice steady soaking rain throughout the day. I didn’t think I would get to fish yesterday, but I got the phone call from my fiance (still getting used to saying that, had to throw it in) that we all dream of during the commute home… “Ward, I’m going to go see a movie with my girlfriends and then out to dinner.” Booooooooom. Game time.

By the time I got out to the pond, things were starting to clear up. I had been worried I’d be handicapped with poor visibility, but it was no longer an issue… It was one of those days when you rush through rigging up and practically light jog it down to the water.

Didn’t see any sign of the local carp in the first couple spots. I’m convinced they’ve figured out where I can get to ‘em and have moved on to new haunts. But hey, no worries, it’s Monday and I can track ‘em down without fear of a Titleist knocking me out (or the security guards throwing a fit).

First one to hand was a small bass, not a bad way to start things off.

Haven't seen the big'uns since Spring

As I was releasing that guy, I heard a familiar sound to my right… Sounded an awful lot like a carp feeding on the grass on the bank. Sure enough, there were two of ‘em, side by side, sucking away at the bank. Snuck above them and hooked up with the larger of the two…

Awkward lighting...

I kept moving around the pond and ran into one cruising around. Made a few casts, but couldn’t distract/interest it in anything I had to offer. Kept moving and came up to a little feeder creek draining out some water from the pond above… looked very promising.

Endless Fish Hole

There were a handful of large dark fish piling up right below the “waterfall”… couldn’t quite make out what they were, but they definitely looked too dark to be carp. My first cast raced off for the middle of the pond before I knew it even hit the water. The consistent rolls were a give away… catfish, and a nice one.

Wasn't a fan of the photo op

The time it took me to land each fish would give the spot enough time to rest that the cats would come right back. An occasional juvenile would get into the mix, but for the most part it was nice fish after nice fish for probably an hour.

Pretty smile?

It was enough to wear out a forearm… and build up an appetite. But it’s hard, make that impossible,  to be too tired/hungry to pass up a shallow tailer on the walk back to the car.

Wavin' bye

Moral of the story:

1. Do some networking (friends/family/coworkers/groundscrew/etc)  and get access to private golf course ponds. You’ll have at least one day a week of unlimited access to some sick water.

2. Fish post summer rains hard. Yet to have a post rain day where inlets weren’t stacked with nice cats.

Tight Lines,

Ward