(This kid was one of the best fly casters for his age (7). I was amazed at all he knew and all I had to do is tell him where to cast and he put it right on the mark.)

Forgot to take pics from the AM trip. Caught lots of fish till 11am and then it started to pour down rain and the fish quit. So we also quit and paddeled back. One Crappie was 14 inches this AM w/ the rest a 12 inch average. A previous client was down there and pulled 3-4 keepers out while weeding through the dinks. Hit the water again at 1pm and they picked up a bit with the fly rods. Then in the bottom picture, you can see the foam rim and leaves coming from rising water. Then the water turned merky after 3pm and the fish quit as well. Big ones should be closer to coming in anytime now.

I would say that I have caught 4 in the 10 range and 2 in the eleven range. All were at Lake Fork (over a 6 year period)

Don't get me wrong, big bass are great. It was a blast to catch them, but I was at that time using heavy action rods and way too high test line. It was just like hauling in anchor rode.

I knew that they were hooked well and unless they somehow managed to get wrapped around the the trolling motor or prop, they were mine. I played one to long and despite efforts to revive her, she ended up dying and that kinda changed my outlook on heavy tackle fishing.

i am a 98% catch and relase guy. I love crappie and we just kill em out at Lavon but honestly, it gets boring (to me) now, making 300 casts, just chunk after chunk after chunk.

If I was a tourney guy, sure it would all be about the black bass. I would fish as if my life depended on it.

But man i'm 35 divorced with no kids and 80% retired.

Paid for 2008 bass tracker 17.5 ft about 5 min from the shop to CT's bait and to East Fork launch.

I spent my twenties trying to be the next Kevin VanDam.
I soon realized that I WAS NOT going to be a BassMasters champ because of
A. Face it... I was just not that great. good but not great.
B. The wifey just LOVES it when I pretty much disapeared during the spring and fall. and most of the summer, and most of the winter. One time she told me she wished I was cheating on her INSTEAD of fishing all the time.
C. The pressure of HAVING to pull big weight to try and at least win my entry fee back, plus maybe gas and lodging if I was real lucky, got REALLY old REALLY fast. I have to give it to those guys that try and make that grind. I really do. But bass fishing ruined my marriage (she thought fishing was a cruel sport), so now I fish just for sport only. And I have just as much fun with ultra-lite than I did with the big bass rigs.

D. I was a Boy Scout as a kid and I now enjoy chasing little fish up and down the creeks of Garland that we rode our bikes on and played BB Gun wars with each other. Walking and wading a creek is like natural Prozac to me. No better feeling in the world. Almost.

Sorry that this is so long but to summarize, I have done the big bass thing and had a blast. Alot of triumph and tears went with it. I just associate bass fishing with the loss of my wife (that is on me) and ultra-lite brought me back to the sport that I have loved as a kid.

I in no way meant to slant the bass guys. That was not my intent.
God Speed and Luck to them.

The moral of the story (in my case alone) was that I chose bass fishing over my family and it caused me ALOT of grief over it.

Now with the pressure off and a new fly rod in hand, I now just fish for fun and that in turn makes fishing fun to me again.

I don't care anymore about what I catch, where I catch it and if I have to cull it (if I was so lucky to have to cull one)

All that matters is feeling that tug on the line and feeling five years old again every time.

I apologize if I have offended any bass guys, that was Never my intent.

thanks
Kyle

Thanks Kyle

If you are having fun then you are doing it right.

Testify, brother.

Kyle, I think you'll find a group of like minded people here.

You are a Lavon denizen, that's an underutilized lake fly fishing wise. I know that CCabal hits it on a regular basis. Not too great for bank access although tubing the shore by the East Fork ramp can be good.

I have had great luck just off of the point of east fork on the port side as you come out of the no wake zone. A little south wind with stong sunshine on that first point has turned out to be some of the best fishing sometimes. You could hit it from the bank via the "group area" with success as well.

yellow and white jigs, with or without red eyes and small beetle-spins were just crushing sandies and a few crappie that had followed the baitfish into the shallow sunshine. Most hit in 2-5 feet of water and twice I tied on a totally new bait that I have never tried and caught sandies on the first cast. My dad was throwing a Rapala Silver Shad Rap and got TWO double hookups on both trebles. That is a BLAST on 4 lb!!

Instead of our usual wager of a dollar on the most fish we totally lost count after about 40 each of so.

All catch and release except three Slab black crappies that we kept for "crappie and chips" that night.

Great fishing on 1/8 gallon of gas.

Ususally we scoot over to the island and work it pretty good.

Mostly good fishing if the wind and pressure holds.

thanks
KYLE