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.
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