But you can go to the dark side of the moon. And that is what Les and I did, as we went after bass on a Private Waters Bass Club site. We didn't catch very many bass, but we did catch some grillin size catfish, and les caught his 1st carp on a fly, so it was a very successful trip. The lake, amazingly enough, is called Dark Side of the Moon for some reason. Just to the west of Bowie, we headed out with much anticipation. The rough, rugged road down to the lake made us wonder how many deer may live out here, as the hillsides were covered with oak trees. We finally make our way down to the lake, and quickly launch the yaks, and get after it. Fish are moving everywhere, so it seemed. My 1st fish was a nice channel cat, caught on a swamp monster donated to me by Gary Lacy. Thanks Gary, that fly landed catfish after catfish, but few bass. But who's complaining? The land owner asks all fisherman to remove small bass, carp, and catfish. So I honored his request, and took a few home for tomorrow nights meal.

I am glad to being a member of this club again. I really love the properties they have to choose from. This was my 1st time, and I will be back, when cooler. If you are looking for secluded places to fish, with noone around, then the Private Waters Club is for you.

http://www.privatewaterfishing.com/

Here are some pics from the trip:

I always get what I want and I get it for free!!!
I'm not paying somebody to let me fish.
I'll pay a guide but that's where I draw the line.

I seem to pay a whole lot folks to let me fish, including the state of Texas, the state of Oklahoma, several other states at various times, boat ramp fees, park passes, and the list goes on and on....

I know you're being punny, but you get my point.

Not intensionally. It just seems like there is always an expense involved where ever you fish.

I fished 3 lakes today, caught around 30 fish, and paid nothing.
Yes, I'm license poor TX freshwater fishing, TX saltwater stamp, TX freshwater guide, OK annual non resident, Arkansas non resident, Arkansas trout stamp. But I fish public and private waters (55 last year) for just the cost of some park accesses, no annual or trip fees.

If folks just want to spend money to go fishing I'm available for a much smaller fee to put them on fish and then they can use what they learn and catch fish there year round. Just MHO!!!

I was once on a deer lease in Coleman County that had a couple of "spreader dams" on it. These dams backed up about twenty acre reservoirs, stocked with bass, crappie, catfish, and bream. We kept an old jon boat at the bigger of the two lakes, and I have to say we fished much more than we hunted. Believe it or not, some of those big old bass in those tanks were up to ten pounds. Roland Martin did a show in Coleman County one time on just such a reservoir. The fishing was absolutely spectacular. It was a pretty poor deer lease. but we kept it for a couple of years just for the fishing. I suppose that was pay-for-fish as well, but I sure miss that place.

here's a few more "looks"


a nice bass:

My first carp on a fly rod- I used a vintage glass Curt Gowdy Parametric

He put a good bend in the rod


Les

How'd you cook the carp?

I didn't know Abu Garcia made fly reels.

Dave; he smoked it on a plank. How else do you cook them?-p-

Yeah, what is with that? I wouldn't classify that as ultalight tackle

Pearow -- you only need to cook them long enough for the dog to eat it, that is where it will end up anyway.

Yeah, I was on a mission to plastic worm hook a bass-but that wasn't in the cards

Rev,
So its OK to pay a guide $500 to fish for one day, but its not OK to pay $500 for year round access to a variety of fisheries?

People pay much more than that to hunt 3 months out of the year.

If there was a private lake nearby I'd consider paying money if it offered things like solitude, a safe place to park, an uncrowded boat ramp, a managed fishery, and private facilities.