Fish Won This Round

 

Dallas is home to North America's largest urban forest, run through by the Trinity river. You can meet the stream close to downtown, from Oak Cliff. Go East on Davies, drive over I 35, go a little further and take a left at a machine shop next to Donato's Convenience.

The road soon degenerates into a potholed track, so count yourself lucky you've got a 4x4 truck, seriously, don't do this in a regular car in May or maybe any other rime. Ride over, disembark near the river and walk in under the DART and old Santa Fe trestle bridge.

This used to be a grand multimillion dollar experiment in turning the Trinity into a recreational fun park, complete with faux rapids, concrete walkways, signs telling you what to do and so on, Moore Park. Great plan, didn't go down so well. The faux rapids, which destroyed the banks of the river but provided great fishing, are gone. The signs scrawled over with gang graffiti and the paths overgrown, DART roars overhead.

But don't be dismayed, recce down to the muddy river and look East, into the primeval entrance to the forest. Scout the banks for likely looking spots and set up in shade to try your best against the piscine adversary. Worms, "crappie bites," topwater lures, no avail. And go figure, you don't know the water, still, fun trying.

Then, just beyond casting reach, behold schools of Gar thrash and leap in search of prey. I tried to get to them but failed, there was a mudflat in between, which I skidded across like a monkey. Well, next time. And there you have it, fishing the Trinity. This time the fish won, they won't be so lucky on the return match.

That aside, so good to get out in the country, even if it was in the middle of town.

Fish on,

LSP

Exploring McCommas Bluff

Not many people know that Dallas is home to America's largest urban hardwood forest, some 6000 acres of thick woodland and brush on either side of the meandering Trinity river. There's a number of access points in South East Dallas and we chose McCommas Bluff, clambering down the limestone, rods in hand.

There, on the banks of the Trinity, it's almost as though the city didn't exist and time had stood still since the area was first mapped. It hasn't, of course, and you have to ignore the occasional bit of trash left behind by poachers, fishermen and badly behaved canoe artists. That aside, it's pretty unspoiled and you get the sense of the mighty, mysterious forest weighing in on you from the opposite bank.

We cast off into midstream, hoping to lure some prehistorically large fish that were surging out of the water in search of dragonflies and wasps. But the fish weren't having it, best efforts of Tiny Torpedoes notwithstanding, so the team headed for home before everyone melted in the triple digit chill.

I'd say there's good fishing to be had at McCommas if you get there at the right time with the right bait. Word to the wise, if you're fixing to explore the bluffs, consider taking a gun. No fooling.

In other news, a crazed Muslim went machete Jihad in Belgium, shouting Alahu Akbar as he hacked at a policewomen. Authorities are desperately searching for a motive because it obviously didn't have anything to do with Islam.

God bless,

LSP

5 Mile Creek

Down in the Canyon

I'd always thought that the various creeks which flow into the Trinity river were either built over, inaccessible or not worth seeing in the first place. That's not entirely true, some are worth tracking down and scouting out; I'd include 5 mile Creek on the list. 

Clear and Cool

It meanders through parts of South Dallas, remarkably clear and cold. I got to it via Polk and 67 then followed it West. The creek is, I think, navigable on foot if you have a good set of waders, a machete or two and maybe a carbine and a pistol for close defense.

Many Fish

But seriously, the water's cut canyons over the centuries, which are off-putting to the crackheads, ne'er do wells and the assorted flotsam and jetsam that make up the scary part of the South Dallas demographic. It's also surrounded on either bank by thickish brush. Regardless, I didn't attempt to walk anything like its length and just checked out salient points after parking the truck.

Spot the Crane

The waters were as clear as advertised and pleasantly cool; the noise of the city is soaked up too and you have the place in silence. It's not hard to imagine the area as it was 150 years ago, wild and unsettled and I enjoyed watching the fish which are curiously iridescent because of the clarity of the water. They shoal and eddy in great numbers.

Intrepid Explorer

It's possible, I've read, to fish the creek and there's certainly no shortage of fish but they all seemed very small. There's doubtless good holes that'd reward the adventurous urban angler but I didn't have the time or patience to find them. I did find a wood crane though; it loomed up prehistorically from the brush.

5 Mile Creek? Well worth the visit.

LSP