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: