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August 9, 2019
LoneOStar Outdoor News
LSONews.com
FISHING Flybrary Project gaining momentum
Longtime TIFT angler realizes dream of winning
Fly-anglers share flies, photos and ideas at the Flybrary Project boards at many fly shops. Photo from Scott Jones.
Fly-fishing community shares flies, ideas By Nate Skinner
For Lone Star Outdoor News Sportsmen and women have a way of connecting with one another through shared interests and passions. The fly-fishing community is no different. This band of brothers and sisters is so enthralled with the art of fooling and landing fish with hand-tied flies and light tackle that they are constantly yearning for opportunities to fellowship with others who share their obsession. A grassroots movement, coined the Flybrary Project, is taking fly shops, sporting goods stores, and other locations where fly-anglers gather by storm. The idea behind the trend is simple. Locations for fly-fishermen to trade flies, knowledge, tips, tricks and intel are being established in public areas. The foundation of the Flybrary Project started as a “take a fly, leave a fly” concept among a group of fly-anglers in Florida. They began sticking pieces of foam in common areas so that anglers could leave flies behind for others to try, and then take a fly for themselves. The movement has now gained a fairly large national following on social media with its Instagram page called “The Flybrary Project,” and little foam pads are beginning to pop up on signs, benches and anything else with a solid surface all over the state and country. Beside sharing flies, the deeper intent of the Flybrary Project is to bring the fly-fishing community closer together on a more personal level, and it seems to be working. The fishing manager for the Orvis store in Plano, Steven Palmer, said the foam Flybrary Project patch placed on the wall in the fly-tying section of their location has become a hub for regular interaction between customers. “The foam piece is the center of our bragging board where we have photos of our customers showing off fish that they have caught on the fly around the world,” Palmer Please turn to page 11
TIFT dock crew member carries a sailfish to the weigh-in on the second day of the 80th Texas International Fishing Tournament in Port Isabel. Photo from Eryn Reddell Wingert.
By Tony Vindell
For Lone Star Outdoor News A Port Isabel man who has been participating in the Texas International Fishing Tournament since he was a child has finally seen his dream come true. “I have been fishing TIFT since I can remember,” John Barrera said. “I have placed numerous times but this year I took the number one spot.” He was referring to TIFT’s big kahuna in the bay waters divi-
sion, or the Bay Grand Champion spot. In anglers’ parlance, it’s known as the Texas Grand Slam, a combination of speckled trout, redfish and flounder. Barrera said he caught all three fish species on Friday and Saturday, resulting in a total combined weight of 28.4 pounds. He said he has been fishing TIFT since he was 4 years old while his father, Victor, has fished the tournament for more
than 50 years. “I have fished for a long time,” the younger Barrera, a guide for the last four years, said. “But winning the grand champion spot is a dream come true for me.” Besides Barrera, there were scores of winners in each category. TIFT, which just completed its 80th year, is one of Texas’ largest and oldest fishing tournaments, with up to 1,000 anglers competing in the bay and offshore divisions.
Deep sea anglers brought in a number of wahoo, dorado, amberjack, tuna and several sailfish. Anglers also have the option to release their catches of large fish, according to Matt Klostermann, president of the TIFT board of directors. Proceeds from the tournament are used to award scholarships to area college students. Last year, 21 scholarships of $2,000 each were awarded.
Her first fish By Darlene McCormick Sanchez For Lone Star Outdoor News
Lindsey Baumgartner learned all about the ups and downs of deep sea fishing this summer off the Texas Coast. The downside of the 18-yearold’s first fishing trip ever was seasickness. With 3-foot waves rocking Captain Murphy’s charter boat, she found herself too queasy to fish. But the upside was soon realized when Baumgartner hooked her only catch of the trip — a hefty 24-inch red snapper — in federal waters off of South Padre Island in late July. The recent Rockwall High School grad was surprised and thrilled to catch what turned out to be one of the best fish on the boat that day. “I didn’t realize the fish were going to be big. I thought they were going to be really small. I definitely thought fishing was going to be a lot easier than it was,” she said. Baumgartner, who took the
fishing trip with her boyfriend, Berto Sanchez, figured she only got in about 20 minutes fishing during the all-day trip. Feeling a little better after an extra dose of Dramamine, Baumgartner dropped her line into the Gulf waters after Sanchez helped her bait it with squid. “I was standing there, and I started getting pulled toward the edge of the boat. I thought I had something. I was reeling frantically. I’d never reeled anything in my life,” she said. Sanchez helped her hold the rod as she reeled. The line hissed and her rod flexed into a C-shape. “They thought it got caught on another line, it was so big,” she said. She stopped reeling until a crewman cleared the other angler’s line. That’s when she knew she had a fish and the adrenaline kicked in. “It felt heavy like lifting a 15-pound weight,” Sanchez said, adding the fish put up Please turn to page 19
Lindsey Baumgartner landed a red snapper and surf-fished on her first fishing trip to South Padre. Photo by Bobby Sanchez, for Lone Star Outdoor News.