Lake Austin Drawdown

I fished Lake Austin today by myself until noon, and then met up with Lance Hale. The day started off slow, but the bite picked up in the afternoon. There's a big buzz on the lake about the new lake record that was caught this week... 16.03lbs!!!! Lake Austin can be a greedy lake, but when she gives, she can give generously!!!

Today, we started off catching little ones, and they just kept getting bigger as we moved into deeper water. All our fish came on GrandeBass Rattlesnakes on shaky heads. These two were 6.0 and 6.2 lbs. 10 hours in the jonboat is a long day!! Goin' back tomorrow for more jonboat punishment!!! The last pic is a shot of how a typical dock looks right now. The lake is about 12 feet low.

15' CTS Fly Rod

This is a 15' (yes, fifteen foot!) 3 piece CTS spey rod. It has been a long time coming, but it's finally on its way to Ontatrio, Canada. It has several firsts for me... My first fly rod, first turned fly seat, and first feather inlays! The butt, seat, and grip transition are "Original Cactus Blank" from Turn-Tex woodworks. The reel seat is a Batson, it has a Recoil tear drop style hook keeper, and peacock and hackle feather inlays. The thread is Gudebrod dark blue and metallic gunmetal, and the guides are Fuji titanium TVLSG's.

I spoke to Paul today, and he's pretty much buried in snow and it's -20 degrees up there! He'll be using this rod for winter steelhead fishing, and I have a feeling the cold is not going to keep him off his water for very long... can't wait to see some pics of those cold Canadian silver bullets laying on the shoreline!!

Another for the ladies...

Here's a Phenix 700L blank that was a Christmas present for Lauren Foster. The colors are electra turquoise and purple. It has black pearl Recoil guides, and a Recoil snake guide hook keeper. Lauren is a heck of a fisherwoman down in South Texas, so I'm looking forward to seeing some big flounder & speck pics with this rod!

Pink RN rod

This rod was a gift for a recent nursing school grad. The blank is a Phenix 700M, it has a Fuji soft touch seat, a cactus butt, and an inlaid RN cadeuceus. The guides are Recoils. The colors are Prowrap Pink and light green. Congrats Nurse Guillot!