Fellow practitioners of the higher art of angling,
i had recently moved to abilene from NC to go to grad school, and i've discovered a few neat places to fish around here. A few days ago, i took a friend over to PK tailwater to introduce him to fly fishing. we were nymphing with size 18 and 20 BH pheasant tails and zebra midges, but with not much luck. I caught an 8" and had one other bite. There were people with power bait who seemed to be having much better results, and we ran into a couple of guys from the FW fly fishers club who said that they were catching lots of sandies closer to the dam.
I know it's been a while since they've stocked over there, but considering how many fish were still there, i was expecting some better results. So, i'm going to pay a visit sometime after a few days after the next stocking and was hoping that somebody here could help me out with some advice on what flies to use.
It really is a very scenic place to fish. I do miss the mountains, but it seems that texas has something to offer in its own way.
thanks, all

Yeah, if you can make the transition, you will still occasionally miss the mountains, but Texas has about 50,000 times more to offer fishing wise than any location in the Rocky Mountains. And believe me, I have nothing against the Rockies, I grew up in them, and fishing and backpacking and camping in them.

Welcome to the board vader. There ought to be someone along here shortly who fishes that tailrace. Never made it myself. But if you have a sinktip or sink line bring it along next time. A light rod and sandbass equal a great time just as much as trout.

Yup, what rrhyne56 said! Our white bass run(spawn) is just aroud the corner. Loads of fun for about 3-4 weeks if you don't mind driving to different rivers/creeks. White bass are great fighters. They may not jump out of the water like rainbows or tailwalk like largmouth bass, but they will run up stream and back down stream dive into deep holes. I only have two spring runs under my belt fly fishing and hooked for life.

Went out today for the Ft Worth Fly Fishers monthly outing and had a great time catching sandings and dink stripers. Only one other club member caught a trout, but by all account the beautiful weather made up for a lack of fly caught trout.
I started with midges under a stimulator, later I switched to white woolies for the sandies.

Are those big stripers still up under that dam? That might be as much fun as anything.

Yes the elusive trout live another day. Hey Dave, I don't think the Rockies are in North Carolina!!! Robin, ahve not seen any big stripers below the dam, but millions of little sand bass. A FWFF member did catch a possbile Brazos River record sandie. Pics posted later.

I'm out, troutbum

well.... i just couldn't be patient enough to wait until the next stocking, and decided to take advantage of another gorgeous day.
second time around I figured things out pretty quick. once i saw a rise to my yarn indicator, i knew exactly what they wanted. some would say that fishing egg patterns in winter is something like cheating, but if it's the only thing that works - why not?



after i caught about a dozen, i turned back to the car, when somebody coming upstream in a canoe flagged me down. this guy seemed really excited, and once he got closer, i could see why



he said he caught this hybrid in one of the pools further downstream, and that it could be a new Brazos record. although he wasn't caught on a fly rod that's still more than impressive. i think that i may have to go back up there to look for his cousin.

thanks for your replies - sand bass in the spring looks like lots of fun, i've read an earlier post about it. NC has something like that as well - redeye bass that are native to some of the rivers. they're also smaller than largemouth, but with a lot of fight in them. i think that all river bass are more fun to catch than ones in a lake or pond.

tight lines everyone!

egg patterns are not proscribed in wintertime, if they are keying on a particular presentation then.....holy sweet mother of all stripers!!

I might be telling lies out of school but that doesn't look like a hybrid at all but full blown striped bass. W0W that fellow had a fight. He looks like he's been working hard. By now he's home and getting over the shakes. Congrats to him whoever he may be and vader, thank you for sharing that image.

That is impressive.

beech and I were down there on Friday. No trout caught, but I did manage a largemouth upriver from Hwy 16. A word of advice...it's a tough paddle upriver from Hwy 16 when they aren't generating.

Nice bass!

that hybrid is fantastic. makes me want to go to the river

That hybrid is why the trout are gone...He probably ate his share.
We've been using beaded GR hares ears in #10-12. Tan, dark gray or olive, I with an indicator, my brother dead drifting a weightless one. Both are good. Also, when they come up, I've been using a #12 Klingheimer dry because it rides lower in the water.
Also olive buggers stripped back has been producing.
That was 10 days ago.

hmmm, here's something they might be keying in on:

Heh, them hatchery fishes sure do love them some smelly stuff.