Follow The Bouncing Ball

No, it’s not a sing-along, but in looking back at the spotty time I publish here, it does look like a pretty rando and underfed slug. Not that I wanted to light the Medium world on fire, but it would be nice if …

On The Fly Fishing Side of Life

The Texas fly fisherman & woman, if you like, is dealing with seven days in the hole. Seven days lost to ice that hit the ground and stuck, starting seven days ago … and it’s still stuck in driveways of North Central Texas and the shady spots afforded those who actually have trees.

Tie Flies

There really is only the indoor side of the fly fishing sport, and I have thousands of flies to back up that statement. That indoor side, other than reading the fantastic new book, “Fly Fishing Pressured Waters …,” by two friends of mine*, is to hop off this chair and onto a cushy more casual office chair at the fly tying bench, some call them desks, or nooks or desks. I prefer bench, because that’s how I feel, like being benched in a blowout basketball game.

In my little slice of Texas, currently being swallowed by Dallas and Fort Worth, and north thereof, we have an affinity for carp fly fishing. While “carp on the fly” has had its heyday, with manufacturers and companies dedicated to this precise pursuit with marketing and sales, the carp wave has hit shore. There is nothing left of the flat-brimmed-beardos making their social media mark with this beautiful and intelligent fish.

No, the only fly fishers left in full skiff and footchase of the common carp? They are hardcore, still mostly obsessed with the oversize fish, and could care less about social media, mud on their boots, chiggers, sliding down slick embankments … you get what I am saying.

This is when the Texas carp fly fisher practices the equivalent of a hunter loading his own rounds. We tie flies. We tie flies for all kinds of fish in off season, and our pursuits get to live to talk about it. We catch and release.

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The Coyote Carp Fly is one of those flies, a fly that falls into the carp category of a “Go To” fly. If you are befuddled by a carp’s fickleness, this is a fly to “go to” when nothing else is working.

It’s also simple. Just as a carp is considered a “simple” fish (I would debate that with anyone), a simple fly with few ingredients, is more in line with the common carp’s social standing. Plus! I like simple.

Follow The Bouncing Ball — Filling in The Blanks

In the interveneing months, I have also been riding a wild bull. That wild bull is YouTube, with its everchanging gurus guidance, it turns out, based in theory and rumor more than fact. Facts are starting to come out, thanks to the CEO who does his annual blessing, before the running of the bulls-hit. And this year was no different. What was it Joe Peschi said, “The situation is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma.” Never so true. There’s more to this story.

Texas Blue Dots

Another channel my attention ball bounces in-and-out of is Texas Blue Dots, a YouTube Channel dedicated to survival in this Red State. And survival is what it is.

Imagine your State being a place where the Republican primary campaigns have already kicked off with, “A vote for xyz is a vote for Sharia Law,” or, “MAGA Mike supports Donald Trump’s agenda, and xyz doesn’t! He even voted for transgender bathrooms!” This is the sorry state of this State.

Pile on the Minnesota tragedies, obvious insanity, add Epstein icing (bad choice of words) on top, and a President for no one but his own MAGA wing nuts, and it was obvious to me from where I sit, Trump is an Antichrist, a true manifestation of evil here and now.

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What Comes Next?

I don’t know what comes next. The US’s balance is obviously off, almost as if the poles are reversing. It happens.

*Book Review — Fly Fishing Pressured Waters: Tactics, Techniques, and Strategies for Popular Western Rivers and Beyond” by Capt. Collins Illich and Nick Conklin — will be posted here soon!