Being a typical sophomore in college, I found myself one Friday afternoon not really wanting to write a huge annual report for arguably my hardest business class. Thus, instead of proceeding to do the typical “kick back and turn on the Netflix” that many of my peers tend to do, I decided to set up my 8 weight Sage XI3 and go do some “Research and Development” in the Trinity River next to campus.

Having run on the trails by the Trinity for more than a year now, I had seen a couple of those “fishy” spots during my workouts, and decided to give it a try. Knowing for a fact that I had seen some MONSTER carp and some decent sized bass in this river, I thought that it could either be a total win, or a total skunk.

Luckily to my advantage, nature was on my side. Throwing my secret bonefish or “cotton egg” fly to cruising and tailing carp, I have landed several fish over 10 pounds, with a couple probably being in the higher teens. I have now been making weekly trips down to the river, and although the weather conditions need to be spot on, I have had a high success rate.  I have seen some 20+ (potentially even 30+) fish in this river, and it is only a matter of time before I can fool one of these highly intelligent fish. wi

I have also caught some good sized bass (1-3 lbs.) in the river, which is always a blast when pulling a big flashy streamer through murky water! Can’t wait to see what comes next.