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A little bit about me... #12037327 01/13/17 02:49 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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Not many of you will recognize me. I havent been on the forum long, nor have I been on trips with any of you. I havent had the time to get out to the more popular spots, so we havent run into each other on the water.
I figured you guys might be interested in my story though.
My son and I decided we'd give fishing a try. It got us out of doing chores my wife had planned for us, and allowed us some 1 on 1 time to bond.
We started out in one of the ponds near our neighborhood equipped with some nightcrawlers and a "Cars" kiddie rod.


We had more luck catching pesky turtles than fish, so I turned to GoogleMaps to help find other spots to try.
I found a small drainage creek that was wide, held at least a few inches of water (even in in the dead heat of summer) and had a tree that provided shade in the late afternoons.


We had a lot of luck there! Bluegil, Tilapia, Texas Cichlids. As soon as the worm hit the water, there was a frenzy of fish trying to get it.
The experiences we had at our spot led me to my first post on this forum. I needed to know how to keep the micro-bluegil off the hook so we could find larger ones.
Also, reeling some of the larger Cichlids and tilapia up to us from the height we were fishing from seemed to wear out my son's rod. I needed advice.

As my son and I started enjoying fishing more and more, we discovered some friends of ours also fished locally. There's another group of ponds near us that reportedly had bass!
We bought new rods, and moved out.

When we werent catching, my son found other ways to entertain himself, haha.


Eventually we caught our first bass.


Talk about a confidence booster! It was exponentially larger than any of the bluegil or other fish we had caught to date (as expected)

Day in and day out, we fished these two ponds. Eventually my son caught his first, and held his first bass too.




We racked up some "personal bests" and kept on fishing. ***Sorry for all the conventional tackle talk***




We spent as much time in the tackle aisle at Wal Mart and fishing sections at Academy as we did on the lake. We were constantly hunting for the right lures for our spot.

After enough GoogleMaps searching, I found a potential honey hole. I had driven past the creek enough times that I knew my son and I would have to explore.
I found the spot was full of long nose gar!
I began scouring the web for what tackle to use. Everything said to use fabric lures. None of these tactics interested me, as they seemed like too much work having to unthread the lure out of the gar's teeth.
One afternoon, my son and I decided to explore a little bit more.
We "hiked" along the creek, and found a jackpot.

The creek runs across a bit of rubble (likely left over from highway construction) and opens into a large pool. Estimated at about 6-8 foot deep, 20 foot wide, and at least 40 foot long.
The current flows fastest along the banks, and eddies in the middle.


We had IMMEDIATE success fishing here.


Similar to the previously described creek, as soon as the worm and bobber landed, there were bites.

Parallel to this story is the one about my interest in fly fishing (Finally, I know. Enough about bobbers, lures, and reels!)
I watched a video on YouTube about catching large bass at golf courses. There is a golf course nearby, so I sent the course superintendent an email asking permission to fish the course during off hours. I promised to CPR, leave no trace of my visit, and to be respectful at all times.
He said he couldnt officially give me permission, but said he wouldnt run me off. (Score!)

I threw every lure you can think of in the ponds on the course. Crank baits, buzzbaits, texas rigged worms/lizards/creatures. I threw frogs, Pop-r's, spinbaits, and jerk baits.
I had ZERO bites. Not a big deal, right? Probably no fish in the ponds.
Wrong.
Nothing in my short fishing career has caused more heartburn than these ponds.
Cast my Pop-r to the far side of the pond, and begin retrieving... only to see a bass try to catch a low-flying dragonfly 3-4 foot from my lure.
This happened dozens of times.
Fish jumping clean out of the water... sometimes landing 3-4 foot away from the launch zone.
Fish smashing top water just feet from the bank where I am standing.

It drives me crazy to this day thinking about those ponds.

Anyways, back to my story. I figured I'd need to throw a lure that looked like a dragonfly if I had any chance of catching one of these fish.
Being the early-30 millennial that I am, I took to the internet.

Fly fishing. That would do it.

I bought a highly rated, yet ridiculously affordable fly fishing package on Amazon. I stopped by the Orvis Woodlands store on my way to class, and grabbed a Gibson's Dragon Fly.


To quickly wrap up this chapter of the story, I have yet to catch a fish at these ponds. But these ponds are what started my addiction to fly fishing, so I dont hate them too much.

Back to my honey hole.
My son and I would visit our creek every chance I could get him to agree to it.
I found that as long as he hooked a bass, he would be willing to stay till sundown. (The bluegil no longer interested him, Ha!)


During veteran's day, I received an incredible gift from another fly fisher, of a full box of flies intended for bass and panfish. At some point, I returned my Amazon special, and bought a TFO NXT 4/5wt.
Talk about night and day!
The TFO set up has secured my future in fly fishing for life. I love it.

Long story short, thanks to you guys here on TFF, an incredible gift, and some awesome internet searching, I am now a fly fishing die hard (I sold/gave away all my *un*conventional tackle that isnt used by my son)
I am addicted. I will fish any body of water. 3 foot wide drainage ditch behind your neighborhood? I've probably stopped and thrown a bugger. Size dont matter. The tug is the drug, and I am satisfied with any size and species.

I love it.

Last edited by KurtActual; 01/13/17 03:21 PM.
Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037329 01/13/17 02:49 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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A few more pics to close the book:








This one is for you FishyB





Thanks for reading my story. Sorry for any and all grammatical errors.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037356 01/13/17 03:03 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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Oh yeah...
Recently made a new investment, so the story will continue, but might run over into another forum.





Still figuring out how to store the beast, and better yet, how to transport it with a 2 door Jeep Wrangler with a soft top.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037412 01/13/17 03:36 PM
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FishyB Offline
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Kurt, let me be the first to tell you, "thank you for sharing your story!" You are building awesome memories for you and your son; not only the fishing but, exploring, one on one time, trips, etc.... This will be a great learning experience for the both of you. smile

Knuckles and I are going to take you up on a cichlid excursion one of these days.

Tight lines!

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037447 01/13/17 03:55 PM
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What an awesome post! Brings back a lot of good memories for me. When my boy was about your sons age I had a job in which I had some weekdays off. In the summertime, while my wife was at work, we would spend from sun up to sun down at our local lake. Wonderful times.
Glad to get to know you two better. I know this sounds cliche' but hold onto all the memories you can of right now. These are some great times you are living in right now. Take it frim a guy whose been there, your really going to miss these days someday.
Hope to see lots more post from you guys.


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Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037472 01/13/17 04:05 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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Capt. Mac, thanks. It is absolutely mind boggling how time seemed to crawl when I was in my teens, and now that I've got a family, I can't seem to figure out where all the time flies off to!

FishyB, thanks too! When did Knuckles get his first fly rod?

A buddy I served with in the Navy will be stationed in DFW this year, I look forward to hitting up all of the spots I see in your FlyFishTX videos.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037483 01/13/17 04:13 PM
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FishyB Offline
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Come on Kurt, let's go! Thank you for your service too.

Gosh, Knuckles got serious about fly fishing when he was 13 I guess. I had bought him a low end rod prior to that, which he dinked with off and on but, he got his TFO and Redington setup in May of 2015. Prior to that it was conventional fishing, while I fly fished.

I will probably do an article in the near future on how to fish with a kiddo.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037522 01/13/17 04:30 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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My pleasure! Wish I appreciated fishing when I was serving like I do now. I was in some awesome places to fish.

My son it pretty content with the spincast combo from Zebco, but someday I'd like let him experience fly fishing too. Thanks for the input.

I'd gladly read/watch an article from you about father/kid fishing!

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037529 01/13/17 04:36 PM
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Great stories and pictures...thanks for sharing.

Time for a 3 weight for those little bass and brim!

Welcome to the addiction.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037774 01/13/17 06:52 PM
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keebranch Offline
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Kurt,
All I can say is wow! what a nice post- fresh and full of great pics and information. And including your boy is what this sport is all about- passing it on.

Les


http://ultralightflyfishing.com
Lightliner & creek fisherman
Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12037810 01/13/17 07:15 PM
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I really enjoyed reading the story and seeing the pictures. thumb

I've fished some of those drainage ditches in Spring as well. Great place to catch sunfish, bluegill and Rios. The white bass run will be starting soon near you. Take your son out during the spawn. It will be the best fishing experience he ever had.

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12038013 01/13/17 09:49 PM
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coolpix9 Offline
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Maybe that young man would enjoy some Tenkara fishing. Same flies basically as dad's but no complicated reel for the young man to handle. Small pan fish and bass are a blast on a Tenkara rod. One other thing I might suggest is a well-fitting PFD for Superman. Those slippery rocks and funky currents could ruin a day. Enjoyed all the pics and have fun out there. JP

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12038600 01/14/17 05:05 AM
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RonL Offline
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Great story , really enjoyed reading it . As mentioned already your building a great bond with your son and you have found the secret to having fun , fishing !! Look forward to more stories and pictures .


RonL
Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12038759 01/14/17 01:44 PM
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KurtActual Offline OP
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Thanks a ton guys.

Coolpix9, I have been looking into Tenkara quite a bit recently. Even considered making an old spincast setup into one by tying a strip of fly line and leader to the end of it.
Superman was pretty excited when dad got the PFD in the mail. Wife and I have agreed that there will be no kiddos on kayaks until they can swim solo, so he has some time haha

Re: A little bit about me... [Re: KurtActual] #12038782 01/14/17 02:02 PM
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Laker One Offline
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Nice post. woot

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