Well, for those of you that don't me here, it's been almost 7 years since I last visited Texas. While doing my fellowship at UTSW for a year, I managed to come across this site and after seeing all of the crazy size carp and buffalo that fellow TFFers were catching here, I met up with PapaWhiskey (Clayton) one evening at the Cliffs in Grapevine, and he taught me a lot, and I even managed to catch my first ever carp that night.. and was hooked ever since.

I later made some great friends here on TFF, especially over at White Rock Lake, and got to know Jesse (whiterockjesse), buffalomanchris (Chris), etc. I had some really great times and sessions with a great group of fellow TFFers, and I even managed to take a couple trips to the Holy Land which was Emma Long:

here are 2 of my really old reports:

1st time to Emma Long series of reports:
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ses#Post3394705
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394707
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394710
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394713
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394718
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394728
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394734
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...ion#Post3394741
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt..._lb#Post3395837

2nd time back to Emma Long report:
http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbt...s_l#Post4609997

anyhow, I moved back to Southern California since then and have settled down, married, and have a 2 year old son now. We finally had the chance to travel back to Dallas area a couple weeks ago, and of course, I had to reconnect with some of my good 'ol friends and maybe catch another carp or buffalo. I really haven't had much time to go fishing the past couple of years, so it was great to have the entire Saturday off to just relax and fish at WRL.

Evan's first flight:





thought we might have a rough flight to Dallas with Evan since it was his 1st time, but he managed to sleep for a couple hours of the flight.. so wasn't too bad!



Anyhow, we make it to Dallas just fine and a couple days later, met up at WRL on Saturday 10/29/16. Thank you Jesse (whiterockjesse) for prebaiting the swim, organizing the get together for me, and letting me use your setup/method. Thank you to those who showed up to spend the day out there.. including the man, the legend buffalomanchris (Chris), Steve, Brian, Derek, and Richard.

I got to WRL around 9:30am and the weather was just beautiful, sunny, with hardly any wind in the morning. Felt great to see this sign again after so many years:



made it to the spot, and everyone was there already with their gear setup and lines in the water:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhEN4pVp6_w

I always liked these types of shots:







and here's Steve casting out:



method and casting out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4DQFcVI5Ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkfRkZXwCDI

here's Chris casting out and his impressive collection of baits/etc.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_df-fIYaqn8



and well.. for most of the morning.. in fact until maybe around noon... no bites, no nothing! Steve caught a small catfish, but other than that... it was pretty quiet in terms of fishing.. but pretty loud in terms of the chit-chatting and BSing going around. The camaraderie amongst fellow carp fishermen is really what I miss most.. actually catching some carp/buffalo is just a bonus for me, although a 30+ lb carp or buffalo is what we all chase...

great to catch up and reminisce about the good 'ol days with Jesse, and our numerous sessions at WRL, Grapevine, and even a late night trip to Tawakoni with Chris/Jesse:



Jesse brought his grill and cooked up some nice hot dogs for a quick lunch for everyone.. thanks again for the lunch Jesse!:



we continued to rebait and cast out, and pretty much spent most of our time under the shade of that big 'ol tree you see in the background here:

I believe finally around noon or so, we hear a little run go off, and Steve lands the first buffalo of the day.. nothing big, but felt great to get the skunk off:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRo7psMfXtw





Nice one Steve:


and soon after that... the bites and little runs kept on coming.. actually they only really kept coming for Chris.. haha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D19wLG_i_z0



and finally I managed to hear one of my alarms go off on the setup Jesse brought for me, and landed the only carp for me that I hooked on my own:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrHumprN6QY



then pretty much like I said, it was the Chris show the rest of the afternoon, we were just his net man and cameraman..





Chris was having a great run that afternoon.. he probably hooked 10-15 carp/buffalo himself... I didn't take pics/vids of all of them.. and he was gracious enough to hand his rod off to me for a few of the carp/buffalo as well. The winds started to pick up and blew pretty consistently the rest of the day, but that didn't seem to shut down the bite at all:

wow! action really heated up in the afternoon for Chris, and of course got a little hungry towards the late afternoon... I brought some Korean kalbi bbq, rice, side-dishes, etc. for the guys, and I think the guys enjoyed their dinner!



Jesse enjoying some Korean galbi (short ribs):


Richard approves:



and lastly, towards 5pm or so, Chris has one last run, and he calls me over and hands me the final run of the day.. he says it feels like a good one.. and sure enough.. it turned out to be the biggest carp and run of the session.

here's a long 5 minute video or so of the final carp of the day:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNxWRIdqwKM

so how many people does it take to land one carp? haha

hung for 15#, not too bad for WRL:


a WRL beauty:








final video of the 15# common: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo7p8EQLtDE

so after that.. everyone packed up.. and one final group shot:



What a great day to be out fishing with a group of great guys.. I really had an awesome time, and it felt so good to pull on a few buffalo/carp again.. that last one kind of reminded me just a little of the powerful runs and bigger carp/buffalo at Emma Long.

thanks for reading everyone.. until next time.. not sure when that'll be...

As I always say. "It just don't get any better!




Side Note: Awesome Post!

Had a great time out at the rock and was glad to see you again Danny, I hope you can make it out again soon and don't wait another 7 yrs lol

It was a great time out there. It was also great seeing you again.

Great Post! Wish there was more of them in this section. Some good anglers used to always post here! Would love to see this section make a comeback.

Plus #1. I always love seeing good times and nice fish being caught form great anglers! Great seeing old faces again. Would love to see more post in a great section of the the TFF!

Awesome post, thx for sharing the info and pics.

great post great company. i remember reading your post a long time ago. do you fish in socal with anyone?