When the daybreak action on the hybrid stripers and whitebass down in the spillway is lacking we go looking for sunnies feeding on dive bombing Kamikaze crickets. When the no-shows miss the pool party it is good to know where to look for a little fishy fix to hold us over until the next big wave.

The Lake Somerville dam spillway continues to be tough fishing even in the early morning hours despite a dozen or so fishermen along with J-Moe and I who keep trying our luck.

I know the drill by heart now so when the hybrids and whitebass no-show in the tailrace we just jump over to the lake side and fish for sunnies. J-Moe and I both are working on tying up a good cricket fly imitation and getting close to having something that will actually stick a few of the many attempts by the feisty bluegills.

FishTales: Independence Day the 4th of July

Got up extra early on the Monday holiday to catch a few fish before our 4th of July lunch celebration. I was surprised to find that only one other fisherman was fishing the hot spot in the spillway. The boys were on their way but before arriving I found the fish "on the fly". Over the course of the morning we caught several nice whitebass, goo, crappie and a couple of hybrids. The freedom to do this in a safe and secure country is what the holiday means to me..

Nice report and a nice catch too.
You are so right about freedom and your ability to fish safely. Where I came from you are constantly having to look over your shoulder and always wonder whether your car will still be where you left it.
We all need to be thankful, more so to protect the freedom we have.

The 4th of July went so well that J-Moe and I returned to the spillway on the 5th to do it again "on the fly"! The morning was pretty much a repeat of the morning before with us finding several whitebass willing to take our offerings. J-Moe put on a show this time as I had trouble hooking up as often as he did on his fly the "magical clouser" .. The hybrid stripers were a no show this trip to the spillway but we are always looking to pick a fight with the bruiser of the bass world be it "on the fly" or any other way!

Fly choice is always a challenge whether it be size, shape, color or weight all of these matter to one degree or another. J-Moe and I go back and forth tweaking the clouser trying to find the best fly for the job and lately that seems to change every time we go.. I've been experimenting with flash and buck tail in many different colors and the latest creation off the vice are these Flash Dancers... very little white buck tail with strands of flash in pink, gold, blue/green translucent tied with chartreuse thread and bead chain eyes. These are intended to look like the shad the whitebass and hybrid stripers are feeding on..

The thread-fin shad in the Somerville spillway have either a blueish/green or a golden/yellow tint but we seem to do best on simple sparse white clouser type flys. These new versions of mostly flash should take the color of the water and the sky better and change with the amount of light. Well that's my theory anyway but we will see Thursday morning..

Our morning run to the dam didn't quite meet the fishy expectations we had for the day. I suspect we needed more time as the whitebass seem to be feeding later in the morning as the moon goes dark.

Once again J-Moe out-fished me on the whitebass but we were pretty even on the number of fish overall for the two hours we flung the fly. I don't believe this was the morning to test the newest flys so another trip is in order to complete my research!

>>))) ;>

Not one to accept defeat easily J-Moe and I returned to the spillway in the heat of Thursday to fish out the evening. Should have stayed home.. Gar and Goo... no whites or hybrids on the fly for me and only one for J-Moe. Tried a few different things but the fish would not cooperate (except the gar!) Early mornings are better simply because we leave when the temperature begins to rise...

Right on time Tuesday morning.. We arrived early and were ready when the fish came for breakfast.. 20 minutes of fast action before the whitebass and hybrid stripers moved out again.. A four hour investment for 20 minutes of catching a dozen fish if we are lucky..

Lake Whitney is finally getting back to near normal level following several weeks of releasing water from the Memorial day flooding that overfilled the lake. This is good news to all us fishermen who have waited for the Brazos river below the dam to recede so we can kayak and fish safely.

Seems like we hit the fishy jackpot about every third trip to the spillway and this morning wasn't one of them..

Another wonderful Brazos river run is in the books..

Thanks for organizing the outing Ben. It was a great day of fishing. The Brazos never disappoints. The fishery is so diverse. I ended up catching 9 drum, 8 catfish, 7 white bass, 2 huge bluegill, 2 huge redbreast, 3 largemouth, a golden shiner, and about 35 crappie. I just used a 1/32 ounce white jig on my fly rod and kept catching fish. Nothing big, other than the bluegill and redbreast, but it sure was fun. Only regret was not catching a striper. I had one break me off, but that was it.

What a great trip! Great job J-Moe!

And great video Ben!