So my wife surprised me with my first fly outfit last week and so naturally I went to the closest fly shop and spent a couple hundred bucks (backwoods). I have been fishing all of my life but never on the fly, and im excited about it to say the least. I live in Willow park (just east of weatherford) and know of a couple of spots that look like great fly fishing holes. I look forward to joining the fly community around here, but I just have to share my first experience today. Most of you from the area are probably familiar with the bridge at 580 and 30 west of fort worth that crosses marys creek. I pulled off there today armed and ready with my new rig. I got out of the truck and slowly wandered down the steep concrete embankment under the bridge to try and see some fish. The water was surprisingly clear and I could see quite a few small panfish and a few largemouth so I clambered up and rigged up with a chartreuse foam spider. The area is really kinda creepy, lots of trash and even a rotting dog carcass to keep me company, looked pretty snakey to me. I was thinking about this as i approached the water and a big moccasin cruised past right off the bank about 6 feet away from me. Let me preface by saying ive fished plenty in texas and seen plenty of snakes but for some reason this made me uneasy. I got a little closer and began trying to cast. I didnt have enough room but the little perch bumped my fly quite a bit which is pretty fun for a brand new fly fisherman. I decided to step closer to the edge onto a slab of broken concrete, so i kicked it a little before i stepped and noticed some movement next to my boot. There lay two foot long snakes I hadn't seen....... and I bailed and went home. I feel like a wuss but I had to share it as I 'm laughing about it now. Hope to see some of you guys out there.

Welcome to the addiction. I also am a little creeped out by snakes (and rotting dog carcases). Hook up with the Ft Worth Fly Fishers and you'll find yourself with lots of opportunities to fish and lots of learning opportunities as well.

http://www.fortworthflyfishers.org/wb/pages/home.php

Their May 7 meeting is at the Trinity River for casting instruction.

GREAT story to start your new adventure with

As Jerry mentioned, Ft Worth's annual casting clinic is tonight. Free casting help is available to anyone that shows up and asks for help.

If you can make it to Caddo State Park on May 18 for the Caddo Conclave, there will be some casting and fly tying going on as well a lot of great guys to talk and learn from.

great story ! Keep em coming.

I had a big snake slide into the wader about 3 feet in front of me on the Brazos earlier today. I caught a ton of sunfish but only one small sand bass on my fly rod. I would suggest that you try Sunshine Lake just west of town but so far it has been slow out there.

I was fishing at Bardwell once and went to step off a bank to wade fish tripped and knocked a rock into the water. Bam right where I was going to step I see a 2ft snake swim away. One time my clumsiness saved me from getting hurt instead of caused it. I left immediately. I would have left too.

I have been down in a creek once and when I was putting a new fly on I was searching through my box and before I knew it had about 2 1/2 ft snake swim between my legs. my reaction was to run on water to the bank but my body was frozen ha. thankfully he was just passing through and wasn't a moccasin. I was probably in his fishing hole so he high holed me ha.

Whoa into the wader is way worse than into the water!!!!
Where is sunshine lake??

I think the snakes are pretty frisky this time of year. I put my snake boots in the truck just in case. To be honest I wish I could carry my .410 but that kinda upsets the authorities when your fishing in town.

Hahaha, don't think I can blame auto-correct for that one. The snake slide into the water in front of me. If it had slide into my waders you would have heard me all the way from PK! Sunshine lake is just just west of town off fm920 (Peaster Hwy) near Cartwright park. It's a nicely maintained small city lake. I've caught a few decent sized bass out there and lots of sunfish.

Who says Fly Fishin' is not an exciting endeavor?

I was fishing the creek last year, wading up the middle, when I saw a red and black mud snake about a foot and a half long cruising the right bank. A few minutes later, I see his twin about 25 feet further up. Not the same one, because I had watched it cruise on down stream. A few minutes later, it was triplets. The third member of the posse was a little more curious, and wanted to see what I was doing out there in the middle of the water. A few gentle nudges with my rod tip convinced him there was nothing to see here. (I didn't want to get to... rambunctious with him, because I wanted him on TOP of the water, where I could see him.)
I didn't see any more, but I did keep a close eye out on my way back downstream.

Kirk

Tried out sunshine lake Saturday. No dice..... But the carp were hitting the top like crazy. I fished on the west side of the lake near the creek ( less people). But of course this is all new to me.