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