TR: Some days everything falls into place

Nice trip report; sounds like a day I once had in a small stream north of
D.C. How did you keep the rod n' reel you weren't using on your person,
since you were traveling light? Did you just set one down on the bank?

----- Original Message -----
From: "Conan The Librarian"
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing.fly
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 9:59 AM
Subject: TR: Some days everything falls into place


I decided to do a bit of exploring Saturday on my favorite local river
(Pedernales). Went to the park and hiked down to the river to a spot
that is known as a swimming area. Got there at just after 8:00, and
there were a couple of folks already there. That wasn't a problem
though as I didn't plan to hang around that area anyway. I had never
fished that stretch before, but in the river's current state, it
looked very promising. (Water is holding at a decent level and very
clear.)

I stopped for a couple of minutes to fish near the roots of one of
the cypress trees along the bank and was immediately rewarded with a
hit from a small channel cat. He nailed a peacock/black/grizzly
woolly bugger that I had tied onto a 1/16 oz. jig head the night
before. (FWIW, I was carrying both my ultralight spinning rig and my
TFO 5-wt., and I alternated using them throughout the day, depending
on wind conditions, room for a backcast, etc.) I made a couple more
casts and got another cat that was almost exactly the same size.

OK, a good start, but it was time to get moving, because that area
would be overrun with people later in the day. I hiked upriver,
mainly scoping out likely-looking spots to return to later. I stopped
to fish a couple and had the same results; each likely-looking spot
had at least one channel cat in the 10-12" range who was eager to
attack a wolly bugger (fly or jig).

I sometimes fall prey to the "around-the-next-bend" syndrome when
exploring, and I was trying to temper it a bit on Saturday, but the
water in that stretch all looked pretty much the same. It looked like
decent fish-holding water, but there wasn't a lot of structure; it was
mostly right off current seams and an occasional deeper pool that held
fish. So I kept hiking in the hope that I would find a stretch that
was markedly different.

After a couple of miles I hit a stretch where the river changed
character. Instead of an occasional boulder or limestone ledge in the
water, this stretch had an abundance of small/medium rocks and gravel
bars that created a series of riffles and shallow runs. It really
looked more like trout water than anything else. At the same time the
vegetation on the north bank changed. Instead mostly scrub cedar like
in the rest of the park, there was a mix of large oaks and cypress,
and there appeared to be a lot of moss, ferns and other greenery
growing on the hillside. It looked totally out of place for the Texas
hill country.

It was a gorgeous stretch of river, but not very fishy-looking, as
most of the warmwater fish we have down don't hang in the
faster/shallow water. So I kept on going, just enjoying the scenery.
Finally I came around a bend and saw what I'd been looking for. A
half-submerged gravel/rock bar jutted out about halfway across the
river. Next to it were two large boulders that formed a shallow "V"
with a couple of feet of gap between them. About 10' below them was
an underwater rock ledge. The combination of the river flowing
between and around the big boulders (the biggest was about VW-sized)
created a double whirlpool with three seams below them, and the water
was fairly deep there. It looked like absolutely perfect fish-holding
water.

Best of all, it was easy wading over the gravel/rock bar to get
into position, and I had a good-sized rock I could position myself
behind for cover. It took me a few casts to get a feel for what the
current was doing to my line and fly, but I was rewarded with a feisty
Guadalupe bass of about 10" in length. Over the next 45 minutes I
took a half-dozen channel cats (from 12-15") and three more Guadalupes
(the largest of which was about 14" long; I also LDR'ed one that
looked to be about that big) from an area no bigger than 15' x 25'.

I don't know of these fish had never been fished over before, but
if I could get the fly/lure in the proper spot in the current, I had a
chance at a fish, and the fact that I had just pulled one out of the
hole didn't seem to hurt my chances on the next cast.

It was quite possibly the most fun I've ever had fishing any of the
local rivers. I've caught plenty of bigger fish before, but these
guys were fiesty in the current, and the setting was absolutely
spectacular. I had planned to take a digicam with me, but SWMBO'ette
had borrowed it, so I'll have to get some photos the next time I'm
there. (And Murphy's Law being what it is, it's probably better that
I didn't have the camera with me on Staurday. I probably wouldn't
have caught a thing.)

A few final random ramblings:

I didn't see another soul the whole time I was in that stretch of
the river, but I did see wild turkey, deer, a huge water moccasin, and
a couple of big carp and gar.

My Aquastealths worked just great. The support and treads were
welcome for the extended hike, and the studs worked well the few times
I waded there. Unlike the problems I had with the algae and scum on
the Guadalupe, they worked well on a pebble/gravel/sand bottom.

My little homemade lanyard was also a welcome addition to my gear.
I had everything I needed at arm's length and it forced my to travel a
lot lighter than I would with a vest of a pack. Just a couple of
Altoids tins for flies, forceps, tippet, nipper and some splitshot.

I think the fish actually put up a more spirited fight on my
ultralight rod than my fly rig. Of course, that could be because I
caught bigger fish on the spinning rig. (And a pumpkin/pepper Mr.
Twister on a 1/16 oz. jig was the most productive lure. A #8
peacock-bodied black and grizzly wooly bugger was the most productive
fly.)

It was very encouraging to see such a healthy population of channel
cats and bass in that stretch of river. Between periodic floods and
droughts, some sections of the river I used to fish are almost devoid
of any decent fish. This area holds hope for the future.

I'm going back there the next chance I get. This time I'm going to
make a beeline for that spot.


Chuck Vance