The heat is on

   There used to be a famous old saying amongst professional golfers...that Texans had a distinct advantage over other professional players, because of their noted ability to play well in the wind. If that's the case, the local contingent of fly fishermen may have to learn to be equally adept at casting in the wind, as this year has been BRUTAL.

  Texas always had a lot of wind in the spring season, but this year has been just unbelievable. It has blown an average of 20mph probably 90 out of the last 100 days. Couple that with the oppressive heat wave that we are currently in, and it has been downright miserable. The few fishing trips I have been able to take this spring/summer have been relegated to dawn patrol missions that are generally over by 11 am. Come to think of it, I don't think we've been to fish the salt in three months, simply because with gas at almost $5 a gallon, a 250-mile round trip becomes a complete waste of money when all you can do is sit on the dock, eat a taco and watch the wind blow.

  Thankfully we are possibly going to see some rain this week, and believe when I say we need it. Jack and I had big plans to sight fish carp out of the raft on the Guadalupe this year, but the fact is, there simply isn't enough water to float a raft over many of the shallower stretches we have to traverse to get back to a pickup point.

  The good thing is, that this is a fairly common and predictable occurrence down here. We do, after all, live right on the edge of a damn desert. And, as mother nature always does, she will at some point offset the heat and wind by dumping a ton of rain on the Texas Hill Country, and produce what the meteorologists like to refer to as a "hundred-year flood".

I never understood that terminology, especially from folks who are supposed to be trained scientists, because those supposed "hundred year floods" occur without fail about every 6 years down here.

Hope you all are having a great week,

Andy