Adventures in "trad" fishing.

[SwampRabbit]

Added smallmouth and spotted bass to my species list. Story and pics later.

[Bluegoose]

:-)

[SwampRabbit]

Add guadalupe bass and rio grande cichlid as well...

[SwampRabbit]

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[SwampRabbit]

Saw bits and peices of crayfish in one of those bass... need to tie some crayfish patterns for next time.

[BowBuddy]

Good stuff nice pics

[Loreva13]

Nice additions Swamprabbit!!!

[SwampRabbit]

Thanks! I had a blast. Here's a quick write up.

I had missed all of the work weekends on at our lease during the offseason because the dates folks agreed on where Scout campouts, events, memorial day weekend family plans, etc. So I sort of got to pick this weekend so that I could make it out there. With it being the last weekend of summer, I had decided that I was going to take my 9yr old with me and go out a day earlier to do some fly fishing on the Guad and then head over to the lease and get some work done. Well, that plan fell through a little when we found out that he had a Tae Kwon Do test that Saturday and faced with a choice, he decided he wanted to test; which meant I'd be flying solo.

I decided that I'd stick with the plan an camp out at Guadalupe River State Park and fish the evening and morning and at least check it out so for the next time, I'd be able to take him and not have to also be trying to figure out where to fish, etc. After picking up a fly combo I purchased here on TBH that Rob was holding on for me, I drove up to the park. The water in the park was shutoff during the week due to low river flow, so I had no idea of what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with several deep pools and some light riffles in some places. The flow was definately lacking, and it was odd watching the flies float upstream because of the wind.

Being my first time fly fishing a river, I started out with a clouser minnow. I fished it around the boulders, etc and didn't have much luck. Then again, it was 2pm in the afternoon and I was trying to cover as much water trying to find some good spots. There were not that many people down at the river so I was fortunate that I really didn't have to work around too many swimmers, etc. After about an hour, I swapped out to a mini hopper and started getting takes by small gills along the banks under the shade of the trees. It took some work but I finally landed one.... and then two, and then three. The breem in the river aren't all that big and even thought I was fishing with a size 12 hook, they just were not taking it whole.

Now throughout this process, I started losing flies. I probably lost about 6 or so flies over the two days by getting them caught up in trees on the other side of the bank. The deeper pools prevented me from recovering them. Luckily, I can just tie some more, but it did start to get old after a while.

I worked my way down stream working the far side (shaded) side of the river. I cought my first bass doing this and had a couple good little fighters. I eventually made it down to a ideal spot where two deeper pools were pinched off by a very large boulder and some downed trees. Perfect structure! I fished the downstream side in the slack water and while I had a few pops, I got nothing. Disappointed I worked further down stream a bit but decided to come back to that spot and tie on a clouser to see if that would help. Sure enough, the spotted bass started hitting it hard and I cought about half a dozen of them in the span of 15 minutes in the funnel right by the branches.

As the sun started setting, I worked my way back upstream to where I had started and then after 6 hours of being on the water, I called it quits so I could go setup camp.

The next morning I was SORE!!! I mean my back started cramping sore! I pushed through and went fishing at 8am so I could loosen up I decided to explore more down stream so I hit a few riffles and cought my first bass on the mini hopper. A few more gills later I walked back up to the boulder/tree and tried out a clouser with nothing biting that morning. Figuring they were in the shallows for the morning feed, I walked back down stream and started throwing the mini hopper again. That is when I found the Guadalupe/Spotted Bass hideout. I was 15 yards upstream of a spot that was getting a few hesitant takes when I shot the line farther than I had expected and the water exploded! Stripped in a good deeper colored spotted bass (that I assume is a Guadalupe bass) and decided to try that spot again, Bam.. cast after cast the water exploded when the fly hit or on the first strip. After about 15 minutes, they figured it out and stopped hitting the hopper. I worked my way over to the other side and another promising spot and hit a few more bass, including one that had fresh crayfish limbs in it's mouth.

I was already packed up and I called it quits at 11 am. I had put nearly 9 hours on the river in my short 21 hour stay at the park, and I definately learned alot. Did some drifting, mending, etc. Caught several new species including a Rio Grande Perch and spotted bass and what I *think* were Guadalupe Bass (vs regular spotted bass.)

Besides the fishing, the river was amazing. I saw deer grazing in the morning. The squirrels barking at me as I worked the flies down stream. The birds chasing each other around. That morning the only sign of human presence the first hour was the pair of Air Force jets that did an occasional fly by in wingman formation.

The rest of the weekend was spent tending to ground blinds, feeder repair (timers, solar panel, etc.) Filling feeders, erecting tripods, etc. Sunday morning I was beat. I was going to do the Bullis shoot, but without my son, I wasn't as motivated and was tired and needed to get back home to the family.

[SwampRabbit]

So now I'm trying to tie some crayfish patterns. I've tied a couple and like how they look, but not so much how they "swim." Wondering if anybody who follows this thread has tied a few and what has worked. I like to keep 'em simple. I'll post my first stabs

[Chunky]

Good write up, I am going to do some river fishing this weekend.

[SwampRabbit]

Good write up, I am going to do some river fishing this weekend.

Trinity?

[Chunky]

No, going to Uvalde to hunt birds. Going to camp on the river.

[SwampRabbit]

Good luck. Fish Tacos and Dove poppers in the same weekend is a recipe for fun!

[Draco]

So now I'm trying to tie some crayfish patterns. I've tied a couple and like how they look, but not so much how they "swim." Wondering if anybody who follows this thread has tied a few and what has worked. I like to keep 'em simple. I'll post my first stabs

The only one that I really like is very hard to tie and takes a while too. I mainly like it because it has a shell and would feel like a crawfish in a fish's mouth.

[Draco]

I also like this one that is made from Ultra Suede but it doesn't have a shell. The look is perfect though and it is very easy to tie.