First Guadalupe rainbow and more sunnies

The weather has been hot and with water temps hovering in the 70 deg range, the fish are in an uncomfortable range and the stress of being caught can be fatal, especially if kept out of the water for pictures. Yesterday, water temperature sat at 69 deg and I jumped into my kayak and fished the tail of the pool near my home.

It was my first serious attempt at "direct-contact" nymphing with my new rod; a 3 wt Grey's Streamflex XF2 plus designed especially for czech nymphing or dry fly fishing. You can have a 9 1/2 ft dry fly rod or by including a 6" piece hidden in the reel seat convert it to a 10' euro-nymphing rod. I managed 5 rainbows to the net and 9 hooked. I suspect my high loss ratio came from the way I had rigged my split shot and I'll try rigging the flies/split shot differently next time out.

I also took along the Steffen 3/4 wt and again had a blast with the sunfish. I caught a number of bluegills and redbreast sunfish within 50 feet of where I caught the rainbows.

Cabela's CGR 2 wt or I'm a convert now...

The US mail yesterday dropped off another package, ordered in a vain attempt to assuage my thirst for glass. This time the package contained 2 rods from Cabela's; a CGR 2 wt and a CGR 7/8 wt. What to do? I was already in the anticipatory phase of Happy Hour and the morning's attempt at finding some stripers was already just a bad memory. After some difficult deliberations about the possible effects of missing Happy Hour and the onerous task of launching my kayak from the muddy banks below our rental property I found myself on the water with the 2 CGR wt, a Redington Drift 2/3 reel, a Hook and Hackle 2 wt WF fly line and a #14 wet fly.

The rod. I had whipped the rod back and forth on land as fishermen often do and was a bit dubious about the way the rod flexed. Even a slight flick of the wrist sent the taper into a bow right down to the handle. And that was without a fly line tugging at the glass from the backstroke. I needn't have worried, after only a couple of casts to get used to the slower action required the rod performed beautifully. Despite being in my new, slightly tippy SOT kayak and floating backwards toward some fast water I was able to place the fly accurately to within a foot of shore at distances of what may have been up to 40 feet. A less generous observer would likely say it was only 35 feet but why quibble over a mere 5 feet.

The fish. Here is where the rod expressed it's true personality! I only managed two bluegills before the darkness forced me off the water but each had me wondering how tarpon had found their way into the river. At least that's how I remember it today. Suffice to say each fish put a tremendous bow into the rod while telegraphing each tail thrust and circular dive in it's attempt at freedom. I couldn't be happier about the rod and it will be my go to rod for all "small fish" waters. It doesn't have the power at the butt to handle the larger fish that my Redington CT graphite 2 wt has but does cast more accurately at short distances and telegraphs any action at the pointy end better. This rod gets 2 thumbs up!

We're back! And loving it already!

The Guadalupe flooded this year and damage all along the valley is evident. Clean-up crews are working at many sites and flows on the river are still very high, running at 634 cfs as I write this. Last year during my stay flows never breached the 100 cfs mark. But there is also some good good news in all this, the river is apparently full of stripers and I'll be looking for them in the coming days.

I've succumbed to a particularly virulent case of fiberglass fever and have ordered a number of rods in an effort to deal with my affliction. Yesterday the first rod arrived, a nice 7' 6" 3/4 wt Steffen built by Leiderman.



Where to check it out? The river fish are too big and the San Marcos and a few other rivers are running high and dirty so off I went to Fischer Park in New Braunfels. All told, I had a great day. I started catching onto the slower casting motion of glass and certainly had no trouble feeling the bites. I caught a couple dozen long-eared sunfish and what looked like a bluegill hybrid and sizes ran from tiny to smaller. Even the smallest sunnies put a bend into the rod and I must admit I now love glass after only one date. The one decent fish, about palm sized, missed the photo session when the camera operator failed to show up.

 

There is a downside to these sensitive rods. After hooking a big fish (and thinking I had on the Mother of all Sunnies) I let it run several times and after some close calls with some shoreline brush I finally spotted the fish. Ugggg, it was a channel cat and small to boot. The fiberglass rod had made it feel like a 2 lb. sunfish. On further reflection that might not be so bad after all.

Closing down for this winter...

Here is my second last fish on the Guadalupe; a nice feisty specimen that fell to a San Marcos River Nymph fished with my 2 wt. The last fish was my "teacher" fish of this trip. The 12" rainbow kindly pointed out that 2 wt rod tips, although having enough backbone to tame some heavy fish, still require a delicate touch and proper technique when netting a fish. A warning would have been sufficient but the fishing muses can be cruel.

This year I ended up fishing 3 rivers; the Guadalupe, the San Marcos and the Pedernales; all treasures that will hopefully be preserved for generations to come. Here is my home river, looking from my back yard on the day I returned. A casual glance will reveal that an ice auger might be a better fishing tool than a fly rod. But that will change in only a few short days. That's it for this year. Next year, if circumstance permit, will be spent in Texas or Florida.

Pedernales River sampling...

Sample? Yes it was and unfortunately, it only lasted about an hour. A special afternoon with new friends at their riverside home, a great meal, a dry Reisling, a 3 (or was it 4?) berry desert and the topper...an hour of fishing from the backyard. I managed 5 hook-ups and 3 came to the net. Of course the biggest and baddest fish was instantly lost but I still brought in those 3...one of which was a new species for me.

 The new specie was a red eared sunfish which put up a credible fight on the 2 wt.

My second fish was what we decided must have been a spotted bass. Toothy tongue, 10 dorsal spines, mouth ending near mid eye and spots below the lateral line.

The last was a little bluegill.







Our hostess landed a generic sunfish on a top-water fly, an event that capped one of those wonderful days we sometimes run into. She also introduced me to a 1 wt Sage SPLCA center axis rod that I instantly fell in love with. After viewing some discussions on the UL forum and being allowed to handle the above Sage I can see a 00 wt Sage of some sort joining my arsenal in the coming year.

A little 2 wt action...

Seems like we've been in a deep freeze situation for a while and today offered little different. Temperatures hovered in the low 40s and a slight drizzle helped put a cold, wet coating on everything exposed, glasses, hands, face and fly rod handle. Yeah, I know...I'm whining far too much and pretty well anyone reading this post at this time has colder temps where they are. So quit being so negative and get out fishing. Wanting to do something different, I tried tying a half dozen different boobies but none of them floated long term. That's another experiment of a supposedly very effective fly pattern that will have to wait for my material bin at home. I contemplated reading some more but suddenly the thought of fishing my 2 wt put a half baked smile on my face. I've been fishing my 5 wt exclusively lately while trying for larger trout. I tied on a San Marcos nymph, my attempt at duplicating an effective local pattern with my meager materials box. It worked!

The first was a 16 inch rainbow that had revealed itself with what may have been a splashy rise to a floating insect. A cast centering on the diminishing rings resulted in a solid take and a 5 minute fight brought a nice rainbow to net.

The next fish was an inch shorter and came to the net much quicker. I'm glad I pulled out the 2 wt and thank the local angler who revealed the effective pattern to me. That 2 wt is mathematically proven to be 2.5 times more fun than the average 5 wt.

Proof: (5/2 = 2.5)

Addendum: After yesterday's UL success, I took the 2 wt out again this afternoon and may have caught the same two fish again. One 16" and the other 15"...and the smaller one took a dry. It wasn't really a challenge, this little gal came out of the water to get every mayfly. When I saw the splashy rises I tied on the only dry with me and she smashed it on the second drift.

Still fishing...still catching

I've entered a stage where trout fishing has been somewhat diminished; where the anticipation is reduced but the strike is still somewhat anticipated. Complex times for this simple fisherman. I only fish a short time in the morning and perhaps a few casts in the evening if my book has failed to fully capture my interest. This has never happened before but I suppose can be understood when I reflect that I've fished almost daily for rainbows for over 3 months. And never had to drive to my destination. I'm still catching a few rainbows most days and nearing the end of my stay here so we decided to keep the next legal trout I caught.

This is the fellow who drew the short straw; and would become an experiment in baking a full fish. My experiments with cooking rainbows as a youngster had failed to awe my palette and I had turned to smoking any trout I kept. No complaints...they were awesome and the complements always exceeded expectations. Anyway, fast forward to today and a 450 degree oven, the rainbow in foil stuffed with dill and lemon slices and spiced with salt and pepper and baked for 35 minutes...had turned into gastronomical nirvana. Had I any idea these fish could taste this great; the Guadalupe River would have been short a half dozen more rainbows.

There is just a tiny bit left to make into a fish salad...just add a bit of mayo and mustard. Next I MUST go and catch me a Rio Grande Cichlid. Hopefully the temperatures will escape from the 30s and head into more temperate zones.

Epicurean Addendum:

Canyon lake fly fishing

After several late starts and shorter morning and evening fishing sessions it dawned on me that after 3 months of almost daily trout fishing my interest in catching rainbows is dwindling. Now don't get me wrong, that bent rod and screaming reel is still very much desired but I'd like some other species to provide the action; for a while at least. In recognition of that, yesterday found me on an exploratory trip on the shores of Canyon Lake, the impoundment that feeds the lower Guadalupe River. A gorgeous body of water, and although different, just as unique and beautiful as the river it feeds.

The water is crystal clear and by that I mean tap-water clarity. As I first walked along the shore, I could spot several fish cruising the shorelines in search of food. After spotting the second fish, I dropped my stuff and began casting a leech pattern to the fish on a floating line with my 5 wt. He looked at it but fled for deeper water when I gave the leech a slight twitch. After numerous flies, many follows and different techniques I finally caught a small bass...best guess is that it's a guadalupe but it could also be a spotted. Edit: After reading a number of articles on this ID problem, I'll guess this bass is a guadalupe/smallmouth hybrid. Apparently there are no pure guadalupe bass in Canyon Lake.

 

The pattern that worked was a light olive leech that was almost invisible in the clear water on an intermediate sinking line that was allowed to sink to a count of 25 on a long cast. I also had one other strike but lost it when I tried to set the hook with my rod, not the stripping hand. Fifty years of  habit is hard to counter and when instinct sets in it really doesn't matter that in your mind you were determined to strip-set the hook.

San Marcos River outing...

 

 The weather forecast was trying to eclipse 80, my wife wanted to head out to the Outlet Mall and the trout weren't active so what was a poor fly fisher to do. Head off to the San Marcos River of course. I had heard loads about the river, the neat fish, the steady 72 degree spring water and the solitude. A hard combo to resist so long but I succumbed to the lure today. I wasn't disappointed.

First fish caught was a nice redbreast sunfish, and the first that looked like this. Feisty little guys, and all the 2 wt could handle with scattered brush so close by. I ended catching over a dozen of these fish and not one disappointed. They fight with a vigor that comes from trying to avoid the fry pan...I could have told them I was into catch-and-release but why lessen that aggression. 

It's been suggested the above fish is a bluegill/redbreast hybrid sunfish and I suppose that might make more sense than explaining the difference between this photo and the one below of a bluegill  as sexual variations. Both fish were caught minutes apart in the same back eddy.

All in all a great day and I'll certainly be back to try for those Rio Grande cichlids; a fish that's on the top of my bucket list right now. But first I'll have to figure out how to catch them. Today's trip was short...we arrived early afternoon and my wife had to make her Spanish lessons in Canyon Lake by 6:00. The next trip will be longer but not necessarily better.

Another nice Guadalupe bow...

We've been on the Guadalupe River now for almost 3 months...three weeks of which have been at the new place. Although the river near the Ponderosa Bridge yielded more fish to me, the fish here have been much bigger on average. Fish at the old location likely averaged 16" to 17" with none over 20". Here the fish are averaging about 18" with at least 1/2 dozen over 20". Fishing Nirvana for a fishing nut!

This mornings outing netted me the toughest fighter to date...a nice 20 incher. As a side note, all the large fish I've hooked here have come to my 5 wt TVO. All the fish were handled well and none were fought to exhaustion. Makes me wonder though if the lake rainbows back home are stronger; the last 22" rainbow there took me into my backing twice. Not complaining though. :)

Streamer fishing techniques

I've been told by several of the local guides that once February rolls around the fish in this river become too sophisticated for streamers and that only a good replication of the natural foods trout are feeding on will work. This generally means indicator fishing with small mayfly nymphs, caddis emergers or chironomid pupae. These small flies do work and if indicator fishing puts a smile on your face, what is there to even consider?

For me indicator fishing in small doses is tolerable and once a nice trout is on the line, who cares about the method that got him to bite. But unless the action is non-stop or nothing else will work, indicator fishing just doesn't ring my bell. The takes are subtle and even if aggressive, the trout seldom know they've been hooked until you telegraph that fact to them with a bent rod.

For the stretch of river I'm fishing these days I'm enjoying streamers... both the active and direct nature of the presentation and the jolt on my rod when a fish hits does it for me. I'm not sure if I'm catching more fish or bigger fish than my indicator-using friends but I know I like my method better. Enough opinions and drama...how do you fish streamers effectively on the Guadalupe?

Crayfish

First of all the flies...I'm down to two or three patterns. They are an egg-sucking leech , a streamer loosely emulating a wooly bugger but with bead chain eyes, and a simi seal body along with the obligatory marabou tail, and lastly are several versions and colors of crayfish patterns.

Egg-sucking leech

Bead chain leech

Usually I'll fish according to what the water conditions dictate. Fast water, slow water, eddies, cover, stream obstructions, foam lines, current breaks, holes, slack spots, deep water, shallow water...really all the conditions encountered in the typical stream. Add to that water conditions, temperatures, barometric pressure, water color, cloud cover or bright sunlight, frontal systems...well you know what I mean. Each parameter might affect where trout will lie, whether they will feed aggressively or passively, and what will make them strike.

Given that I understand how trout will react to any of the above in only a cursory manner, I usually attack the problem of how to fish my streamers in the following way.

1. I start by fishing slack water of the pool with several patterns, usually a light and a dark leech, in a fan casting pattern. I'll fish the close areas first and then extend my casts further out. This usually nets me a fish or two in the morning and evening in this area. I'll vary my retrieves from steady, to twitchy, to stop and go until something works. All on a floating line since the water in this area is no more than 4 feet deep.

2. Next I'll move to the head of the pool where I'll employ a number of different techniques. The best one so far has been a direct cast into the upstream current with a fast retrieve to match, or slightly exceed, current speeds. This has been quite successful and has netted me a number of nice fish. The next method is to swing the fly and I'll do this starting with casts directly perpendicular to the bank and working my way to casts almost parallel to current flows. Different degrees of mending are required to compensate for current flows as well as exploring different depths of water. This second method has netted me a few fish but hasn't performed as well as expected.

3. Next I'll fish the tail of the upstream pool. Here swinging the fly across the current works quite well and generally results in a few fish before all the activity puts them down. From this point I can also "Bang the Bank" on the opposite shore and this has resulted in a few nice fish. This means casting the streamer to within inches of the shore, executing a few fast strips and recasting, unless of course a fish gets in the way. These hits are particularly explosive.

4. The water in the tail of my home pool is quite fast and the methods used in (3) don't work well. Here I've caught fish by high-sticking small nymphs and by swinging a fly in the current. I've hooked a couple of fish by swinging but they immediately headed downstream and were lost. I've tried an upstream cast but the current moved too fast to effectively retrieve the line under control.

I believe these methods will work on any part of the Guadalupe with only small adjustments for local conditions like water depth or current speeds.

Renewed aquaintences...

Today I hooked up with an old friend and it was really nice to see him. During the recent cool spell I've been heading out mornings and late afternoons to try for one of the larger trout that seem to call the pool behind my place home. This morning was no different and I landed a nice 17" trout that was one of the spunkiest fish I've caught to date. He went aerial a few times and almost had me into my backing twice. Had I not seen him early I would have thought he might be one of the larger trout in the pool. Before heading up to the house I usually cast a few times at the back gate before heading into the warmth of the house. On my second cast a heavy fish took and although pretty big, he fought more like a walleye than a trout. He wasn't long before I netted him and he looked and fought exactly like a 21" trout I had caught before. A quick measure confirmed he was the same fish.

The gratifying thing was that the first time I caught him I thought he might die after the release. At that time, after measuring him and taking a picture he floated belly up when I returned him to the water. I spend quite a bit of time reviving him but when he did eventually swim away he slowly finned a few feet and just lay on the bottom. This time I quickly returned him to the water and he swam away with authority. This suggests to me that the mortality rate of released fish might be lower than some think.

Another Guadalupe rainbow personal best...

This morning was another of those stellar days that will live in my memory to relive on those fishless days that are sure to come. Early morning temps were mid-sixties and it didn't take much to get me out on the water. After a couple of cups of coffee and some raisin toast for energy, I hiked down to the pool. A half dozen casts at the tail yielded nothing so I moved up to the head. I've been after a BIG fish that resides in this pool and am now fishing exclusively with big streamers. First cast I chucked the size 8 egg sucking leech into the current and started a fast retrieve. My heart thumped as a nice trout slashed at the fly but missed (or this trigger happy fisherman pulled it away). Two or three casts later he took and rocketed into the air. Two sizzling runs and about five jumps later the line went slack...I had lost him. I was still pretty happy since I had gotten a good look at him and estimated him to be a 20" fish. I started casting into other current lanes and before long another trout nailed the fly...this one even bigger than the last.

After a decent fight that didn't quite compare to the previous fish, I netted a nice rainbow; 22.5" long. A quick picture and he was returned to the water. After that fish, I had to take a few deep breaths to lower the adrenaline levels in my body. Man, do I ever like fishing.

Head of pool that the trout shared with some geese

A PB Guadalupe Rainbow

Two days ago I lost a nice fish; one I had to the net twice but who still had one run left each time. The third time I brought him close he jumped and shook the hook. I estimated him to be about 24 inches and he was quite the fighter. It turned out today that I had another shot at a "best" Guadalupe rainbow. After catching only one fish, a nice 16" bow, after a few hours of fishing I was ready to head into the house to warm up. I'm sure glad I made that final cast because a fish hammered the fly moments after it hit the water. Although it was a fairly strong fish, it tired out quickly and came to the net without making any big runs.

My wife braved the cold to run down for a quick picture before the 21 inch rainbow was returned to the pool.

18" rainbow with my 2 wt...on a dry

Today provided one of those moments that I live for, the kind that makes me grateful for what I've been given...the kind that has me wanting to relive it, again and again. People who fish might understand, those that don't might think I'm crazy.

I had met a fellow fly fisher for lunch and therefore entered the river much later than I normally do. It was warm, I was lazy and there was no surface activity so I grabbed the streamer rod and started halfheartedly fan casting the pool behind my place. Suddenly it happened again...a crippled hexagina floated by and was soon replaced by a very subtle ring of ripples, not 10 feet from where I was standing. Not a sound accompanied the disappearance and had I not witnessed it I would have been totally unaware that the rise had started. I ran for my 2 wt and tried in succession a small elk hair caddis, a large hexagina dry and a smaller mayfly dry but nothing would stir the trout. I eventually looked through several of my old "floater" boxes dating from the 70s or 80s and found a rather ratty looking hexagina dry with a woven body, moose hair tails and an elk hair wing. I cast it into the lane the trout seemed to be feeding in and my heart almost stopped when a rainbow came up and , without inspection or preamble, took the fly. The fight was shorter than expected and added another layer of confidence onto the 2 wt. I can see this becoming my go-to rod for small streams or rivers.

So here I sit, still reliving the thrill of an 18" rainbow on a 2 wt rod and a dry fly. It just doesn't get any better than that.

New spot on the Guad with my 2 wt.

We moved to a different location on the Guadalupe today and after unpacking the fishing gear I thought I'd give the location a quick, hands-on appraisal. Several sets of riffles, good wading water but no fisherfolk gave my guarded optimism a twist of doubt. I first took the 4 wt out, set up with a #20 rainbow warrior and a # 20 zebra midge dropper. An hour of fishing made me wonder why I was again braving the cold to torment some fish. A last resort, I pulled out the new 2 wt and hit the riffles again.

After a couple of fly changes, a #16 pheasant tail suddenly stopped in the current and a gentle rod revealed a slight head shake. I set the hook a bit harder and the fish rocketed upstream. After what turned out to be a fairly short fight, I landed my nicest rainbow on the 2 wt to date. Man do I like this rod.

After posing for the picture, the bow was of course released. Still feisty, he rocketed from the shallows back into the riffles. But not before helping me with another first, an underwater picture. Somewhat muted colours but we're always more relaxed when photos are taken in our home.