Saturday, July 12, 2008

Living Waters Fly Fishing Shop


This morning I drove about 15 minutes from my house to a new fly shop in neighboring Round Rock to check out a new fly shop that opened up about three weeks ago. It is called Living Waters Fly Fishing and is located in a shopping center just past the intersection of Sam Bass Rd. and Hairy Man Rd. very close to Brushy Creek. I was eager to check it out since the next nearest fly shop is about an hour away and the next one (in Cabelas) even further than that.

It was fairly easy to find. There was a small sign outside that said the shop was now open. When I walked in, someone was just leaving and I was greeted by the owner, a young man by the name of
Chris Johnson, and we began to talk.

I knew Chris had worked at a chain sports store that had a "fly shop" in it. While that store originally had an OK supply of fly stuff, they never seemed to restock it well enough or stock it with items pertinent to our Texas location which should have included more items for the target species such as bass and redfish rather than the more traditional cold water trout. I was glad looking around that I did see photos of different species of fish other than just trout.

I asked Chris about the best spots to wade in the nearby creek for bass and carp and he was quite helpful. Before he opened the shop, he used to guide on the nearby creek as well as other rivers in the area. I was mainly interested in carp from the last encounter I had a few weeks back with a fly fisher I met on the San Gabriel. It turns out that Chris new the gentleman that I was speaking of and that man had come by the shop just the day before! Small world!

I picked up some materials for tying some olive and some black woolly buggers since it been a long time since I had any of these successful flies in my fly box and I need to get back to some basics. Chris suggested some slight variations from what I normally tie and after getting home and tying a dozen flies, I think I like the results.

We continued with our conversation and another gentlemen entered the store and we had a conversation with him about carp, gar, Rio Grandes, and other topics as well. My wife was waiting for me at home for us to go to an outlet store so I couldn't stay too long.

I got a good impression of the shop, small as it currently is, that it will likely be around for a while. While he does't carry a lot of items at the moment, Chris said he can place special orders for the brands he carries if what I am looking for isn't there. He also plans to at some point carry Winston and Sage rods to supplement the TFO and Ross rods he is carrying now. I really don't need any rods myself but that should round out the selection.

Chris also plans to have fly tying stations in the back of the store for customers and for hopefully monthly tying seminars.

All I can say is that I hope that this store is around for a long time. We've needed another fly shop for a long while in this part of Austin and there are plenty of fly fishers around that should be supporting the store. I'll be one them for sure.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Please share those Woolly Bugger variations with us. Maybe another blog entry?

texasflyfisher said...

Hi. Done!

texasjimgray said...

Hey Lucian. I think I'm the carp fly fisher you ran into on the San Gabriel. I went back to that same area a couple of times in the weeks that followed, and I caught carp off the surface and mudding. Since then, the water levels dropped to the point that the fishing wasn't the same. If we ever get any rain, I'll go back. If you are interested in carp on the fly, I'll be giving a presentation to the Austin Fly Fishers group in September. You can check their website for details.

texasflyfisher said...

Hey Jim,

I did remember your name I just didn't think I could post it publicly. Of course I would be interested in hearing a presentation on the subject! I enjoy fishing for and catching carp on the fly. I even have a label for blog entries related to carp http://texasflyfisher.blogspot.com/search/label/Carp that can bring up past successful and not so successful trips on the San Gabriel for the "golden ghost". Hope to see you on the water.

Mike said...

Like you, I discovered the stealthiness of fly fishing with a kayak. You can really get into some tight areas. Nice blog!

www.mikebazzo.com

Wild Ed said...

Great news. Since I am in Round Rock I will have to go check out the shop.
Wild Ed's Texas Outdoors