Last fish of 2009

I've been on vacation for just over a week and a half now. Time seems to have gone by pretty quickly with family visiting through Christmas and right before the new year. The wife said I should get out and do some fishing so I did.

Since I had not fished around my favorite section of Lake Travis in some time, I headed to Arkansas Bend to see how things looked. When I got there I noticed the boat ramp was still closed and even though we are finishing December with a 2" surplus of rain, the lake still looks awfully low. I drove down along the shoreline which is typically several feet underwater and launched my kayak.

The coves I usually fish felt much smaller as I paddled around. I fished a few points, large coves and finger coves for a while with not much luck. I spotted what looked like a carp rooting but then noticed it swimming rapidly into deeper water while still on top and proceeded to follow it.

Normally, if you get close to a carp and it spots you, it will high tail it out of there but this carp must have been sick or injured because I was able to paddle right next to it and it didn't submerge or try to evade me.

I should have known better than to down some coffee before heading off to paddle around and fish as I had to find a suitable beach to land on that had no homes around to relieve myself as I was about to burst! Whew!

After I paddled off again, I saw a splash that gave away the location of a bass and that turned out to be the only fish I was able to catch. It also turned out to be the last fish I caught for 2009. It was a spunky little bass though.

I hope 2010 brings more fishing time and better catches and I hope it does as well for anyone else reading this. Happy New Year!

Smells great to me

I took a vacation day today from work in order to go fishing. It has seemed like ages since I have been fishing. Since we had gotten some decent rain last weekend I decided to see what the San Gabriel river looked like.

I got to the low water crossing just before 8am and noticed a little algae and the smell of, well, zoo water. You know the smell from the man made streams at the zoos. That smell. No matter, it smells like the outdoors; take it in!

I headed upstream and found some muddying carp and spent what seemed like twenty minutes trying to get a take. Nothing. I moved on further up the river.

I fished above some rapids and eventually landed a small bass. He looked like he had some sort of skin problem as it had red sores on the body and tail. I spent some more time at the pool but nothing. I moved on further up the river.

Traveling upstream I could see lots of silt on the limestone bottom. It seems that the river keeps getting nastier and nastier every year. I recall when the river looked so pristine (and didn't smell like zoo water).

On some flats I found a tailing carp and started stalking it low to the water. I took a shot and my leader touch it. Spooked the carp. :-(

I found a couple other carp in the shallows but kept alerting them and so they would just swim off out of range.

Continuing on I ran into schools of spotted gar. Most less than a couple of feet long though as I paddled quietly I spooked one that was at least three feet long and looked like a fat torpedo. Whoa!

I finally made it to a narrowing in the river and beached the kayak. This area has always been great for bass and catfish. After a few casts I had a bass. For the next hour it was brim and bass at a good pace. I caught more than a dozen bass with a couple over 2 pounds. One of the bass regurgitated a baitfish when I started removing the fly. Smelled good!

That ain't no tongue with eyes mister!

It started getting pretty hot around noon and knowing I had a long paddle and wade back to the low water crossing I headed back out. As I paddled back under the shade of the huge trees along the shore, I would hear the loud buzzing of swarms of bees working the flowering plants. I also saw a large deer dash into the thicket ahead of me. Cool!

Too bad y'all can't smell me now (especially after pulling the kayak out through that nutrient rich black river mud). It smells like I've been fishing!

Might do some tying this weekend

I'm waiting for some of my in-laws to come in town for a family get together. One of my youngest nieces is getting baptized tomorrow. I'll be preparing some of the fish I caught at the coast for dinner tonight. So no fishing this weekend but that's OK since a cold front came through last night and it's pretty windy to be on the lake. Also, tonight we are expected to get our first real taste of winter with temperatures dropping near freezing.

So, I think I may do a little fly tying today. I was looking at a really cool carp fly called Mike's Carp Candy (I linked a photo of it from the http://www.freestateflyfishers.org web site to the this post) that I think I will try tying for whenever I get a chance to go after carp again. I also picked up some Gamakatsu B10S stinger fly hooks for tying some bass flies with. I haven't quite decide what sort of bass flies but will likely be some sort of top water fly.

Rivers of Texas Rally

This weekend brings probably over 50,000 motorcycle enthusiasts to the Republic of Texas (ROT) Rally here in Austin. While all those bikers were heading into town, I headed to the San Gabriel river instead with my kayak and 6wt and it turned into a rally of sorts there as well.

I got to the low water crossing at Highway 29 and CR100 around 8am and found three fisherman there. Two were loading up kayaks and the third was wading and casting with a fly rod. I went up to the first two to say good morning and then put together my stuff and started paddling towards the third angler.

I greeted him and started talking with him for a bit. As it turned out he belonged to the Austin Fly Fishers club. It turns out we both knew some of the same folks. One name I mentioned was a fishing pal of one of the guys that had launched their kayak before me. It also turned out that they all worked for IBM. Wow, small world since so do I. I wished him well and paddled upriver.

I came upon the second fly fisher in the kayak and told him I knew, actually worked in the same department with, his best pal. Apparently the guy we mutually knew moved to Boston not long ago but he still keeps in touch. After chatting for a while I headed upstream passing a couple of guys fishing from shore.

At the pool above the rapids I encountered a man and his son bowfishing for carp. For those not familiar with this sport, one uses a regular bow but with an arrow with a special tip that folds back when it penetrates the fish and opens back up after it goes through. The arrow has a line attached that is wound on a spool with a reel that is attached to the bow. The carp is reeled in sort of like when using a rod and reel. The only obvious difference is there is never such a thing as "catch and release" with this method. Although you can eat carp, typically they are ground up for fertilizer.

I continued paddling upstream avoiding to get near the bow fishing duo. After reaching my destination a half mile upstream, I cast a sort of wooly bugger looking fly that is really meant for redfish and caught the bass pictured above on that first cast. I caught several more small bass and lost one that was really nice and was putting a nice bend in my 6wt. After a while I noticed a couple of kayaks downstream so I put my gear up and started paddling back downstream.

It turns out that in one of those kayaks was an angler that frequents the forums at texaskayakfisherman.com so I stopped by and said hello and chatted with him and his wife for a short while. We talked about how nice and peaceful it was fishing in that section of the river. I mentioned to his wife that I had seen a large raccoon on the paddle upstream before it retreated into the woods. After a while I bid them good luck and kept going back downstream.

I fished the next pool for a while catching yet more bass and other sunfish and then I saw one of the fly fishers approaching. I went over and he was stalking carp. He had caught one below the rapids and was looking for another in the pool. We tied on a damselfly nymph and while I was making my way through the rapids he caught another carp! I need to tie up some of those flies!

On the way out at the low water crossing, I found the first fly fisher that had been wading earlier in the morning and he was waiting for his buddies. They weren't all that far behind me and while I was loading up my gear in the truck we talked for a bit and he invited me for a cold beer after they loaded up. I told him I had to pass. Can you imagine if I get home and my wife smells beer on my breath? Oh no boy!

I haven't had so much social interaction on the river like this in a long while. It was kind of nice. However, I am glad that I didn't find 50,000 anglers in the river this morning. I would still be there saying hello to everyone.

I gotta work on my hookset

I left mid-morning today to fish the San Gabriel river. Most of this week had been cold and drizzly and today was turning out to be a nice day with highs expected in the 60s.

The intention of this outing was to catch some carp on the fly. The water was cold but I did find lots of carp along the shoreline of a large pool that looked to be feeding. I had three takes and couldn't get a good hookset. Maybe the month away from the fly rod was to blame. My casts were also horrible. Still, I was finally able to get a good hookset on a carp, fought him for a bit and my leader broke at the knot to the fly. Sheesh!

I traveled up to the shallow flats and stood there for a bit until the carp got comfortable and did a few drifts with one pick up and again I screwed up the hookset!

Eventually, I headed back out and paddled the pool with the kayak to sneak up on a whole school of carp feeding and dropped my fly in front of them and got a solid hookup! Once I got the carp on the reel and tightened up drag it took me for a sleigh ride around the pool. After he gave up and I released him, I paddled back and left.

I didn't take my camera today due to the fact that the battery was dead. I wanted to do some night fishing tonight but am too tired. Instead, I'm going to rest up and fish for bass tomorrow on Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin.

Bass in the carp hole

This morning I got up late and got together my kayak and fly gear to try and fish the San Gabriel river for a couple of hours. My hope was to find some carp wanting my flies.

The paddle upriver from Mankin's Crossing wasn't bad at all. The water was flowing but nowhere as fast as the last time I was there. I could see the water was fairly clear in some places and a little bit greener in others.

After passing the first rapids which were very traversable, I started looking for signs of carp feeding. I saw lots of them cruising thanks to the high sun and I thought I saw some bass as well. I did see one beautifully spotted gar on the paddle towards the rapids that was around three feet long.

I had first tied on my favorite carp fly of mine which is a crawfish orange Gotcha type fly. I had one carp pick it up and spit it out. I waded around for a bit and crossed to the other side of the pool to try my luck there.

On one side of the pool below some trees I could see shadows moving out of the shade. They were carp and after a few casts I had one pickup the fly and spook as I tried to set the hook.

I decided to switch flies and moved to a large fly I got in a fly swap. I think it was meant for bass because on my second cast, a bass hit it hard. I was a chunky little bass around a pound and half and fought well. I brought it into shallow water, photographed and released it. I would end up with two more in less than 45 minutes after catching the first one that were the same size.

I continued trying to hook a carp but it was not to be. On my way out I briefly spoke with a angler in kayak heading past me about the carp/bass hole ahead. As I was taking my kayak out at the put-in point, I spoke with another angler that asked me several questions about the river.

I forgot to mention that I donned waders though the water wasn't as chilly as I figured. Better safe than cold and miserable.

Paddling up the ol' San Gabriel river

I love having a kayak. It is the ideal pack-up-and-go watercraft for river fishing. Last night, I told my wife I was going to try the San Gabriel again and see if it was more fishable than the previous time I tried a month or so ago.

I headed out to Mankin's Crossing outside of Georgetown around 7:30am and was in the water paddling against the upstream current by 8am. It wasn't too difficult and while I was glad there was no wind to make me work harder, it was pretty warm already since this is, after all, August and it is Texas.

My first obstacle to get to my first carp hole was a set of rapids that are normally walkable but this time they were really roaring. I had to try a couple times to follow between the inner seam of the two sides of the rapids so I could land in a patch of dirt then walk up through it without getting in the heavy stuff. I took a short video clip of it with my camera so you could get a feel for the rush of water but the video is no comparison to the real thing.



Once I got past this section I paddled across the pool I normally find carp in and beached the kayak and did some wet wading in knee deep water. Did I mention the water was cold? It was cold at first but refreshing after getting hot from paddling against the current. I found a few carp but spooked them with my misplaced casts.

I then moved upstream a bit to some limestone humps sticking out of the river through which rapids and chutes were and found a cool "wave" caused by a sudden drop then rise in a chute. It was so cool, it must have been three feet high and you could see clearly though it and the swirling bubbles within.



I did find some mudding carp and had one pick up my fly but it quickly spit it out as I tried to set the hook.

I also saw about six people paddling kayaks down the river. They probably putin at San Gabriel City Park upstream earlier in the morning. I bet it was a fun float though I can't see being in my kayak without a fishing rod.

I noticed there were lots of dragonflies and damsel flies around. They kept landing on my fly rod which I hear is good luck. I found a stone that had what looked like emerging damsel flies and nymphs on it so I took a photo of them. I had some of my carp flies with me but the damsel nymphs were in a different fly box.

I also noticed the water was full of spotted gar. I was able to hook one of about 19" but it jumped and broke my line. It's always iffy taking the fly out of their toothy mouths anyway.

I started my way back downstream which was way easier than paddling upstream and stopped at the first carp hole to try my luck before heading out. Within a few minutes I spotted a mudding carp and dropped my crawfish fly about 6 inches from the side of its head. I let it fall to the bottom and then twitched and it went for it. Fish on!

The carp fought well although it was likely only 3 or 4 pounds. After about 5 minutes I brought it to hand and released it and headed back to the putin which again was much easier than the paddle upstream.

All in all, it was a memorable trip even though there were not a lot of fish caught. I hope to get back on the SG later when the temperature starts dropping just a bit and see how it looks then.

I see upcoming fishing opportunities

I had a call from my cousin this week that there are big trout in the surf now. So, it looks as if I'll be heading down for some saltwater fishing within the next few weeks! Cool!

Also, the rain we've had the past few months is really bringing up the levels in the nearby lakes. Lake Travis is now almost 2 feet above the historical May average. Cool. The surface water temperature is now somewhere around 77 F degrees which means there will be some shallow swimming largemouth bass.

My 6 weight is itching to hookup with a 2lb bass that wants to dive deep. Then again, it also wants to hookup with a 6lb carp in the river that takes the line into the backing. Man, a 26" speckled trout sounds good though with its big mustard colored mouth and head thrashing back and forth.

This time of year decisions on where to fish start to get more complicated. Fish the rivers? Fish the surf? Fish the bays? Fish the lakes? Carp? Brim? Bass? Trout? Reds? I love this time of year! Sweet!

A day at the zoo

The family and I went to San Antonio today because my wife had put together a baby shower for my sister-in-law who lives there. I decided to take the youngest two kids to the San Antonio Zoo rather than just hangout at my inlaws house.

One thing about a zoo like this one is they have man made ponds and streams throughout it full of fish. In the case of this zoo, they have catfish and lots of tilapia and carp/koi everywhere.

What I wouldn't do to be able to bring a 6' 6" 3wt and some pellet flies! This place would be a blast but alas I would probably get booted out the front gate or arrested. I had a great time with the kids though. Lucky fishes!

Golden Ghost

Carp are sometimes referred to as the "golden ghost". I call them heckuva a lot of fun and a challenge on the fly. I felt like finding some on the San Gabriel river today after such a miserable time a couple of weeks ago.

This time I brought along a new fly pattern I tied that I came up with. I'll post some details on the patten in a separate post. Suffice it to say the pattern is based on the bonefish Gotcha fly with the exception that the body is composed of crawfish orange dubbing and the wing is composed of orange EP 3D Fibers that match the body color. It was the first fly I tied on in the morning.

The weather was cloudy with winds around 10 to 15 mph from the South to Southeast. The water was a bit silty but still fairly clear. I paddled upstream past some rapids and had to position myself in the shallowest parts of the pool to see in the water well enough to sightfish.

After a few casting attempts I finally hooked a 5lb carp. It made some impressive runs. It had the new fly firmly in it's bottom lip. I removed the fly and released the carp.

After repositioning I was able to hookup with a second carp. This one was a jumper! When I finally landed it, it had the fly firmly hooked in the upper lip which is normally how I expect to hook fish with flies in which the hook rides with the point up.

I went up to the flats and found carp all over the place though they were quite spooky and was not able to hookup with any even after switching flies a couple of times. After several showers came through and reduced visibility I headed out.

I was quite happy with the few hours I spent on the river. Particularly with the fact I caught a couple of nice fish and didn't slip and fall on my back.

Had Better Days

This morning my wife wanted me out of the house and told me to go fishing before the wind picked up. By the time I got to the lake, the gusts were over 26mph. I spent 15 minutes there and went home to pickup my waders to fish the San Gabriel instead.

Sometimes, things just don't go your way. I put in and the water was higher with a higher flow than usual and as I paddled upriver, gusts of wind would hit me and it was real work making any headway.

I made it to the rapids and pulled the yak through it to the large pool I usually find carp but the wind on the surface made it difficult to see them. There was also a lot of floating silt or maybe tiny bits of algae that also inhibited sight casting. I stayed there for a while and then decided to head upriver to the flats.

At the flats I did find a depression holding carp and eventually hooked one on a nymph but he spit it out. The flats are nothing but shallow water running over smooth limestone bottom. I was having difficulty keeping my footing as there was about an 1/8" of silty algae on the limestone. Even with my felt bottom it was still slippery because it wasn't getting through the algae to the rock underneath. In places where it was thickest, it was like walking on ice. I ended up slipping and falling flat on my back. Water entered my waders through my back. Crap!

Something told me I should go home but I stuck it out and let the winds dry out my sleeves and shirt. I ended up paddling up a bit and found lots of carp but the winds made it difficult to stay in one spot. I stepped out of the kayak and tethered it to my wading belt. The winds kept moving my kayak around. There were times when carp would get into casting range and then my kayak would swing around and spook them. Doh!

I paddled up further and tethered my kayak to my belt again and then a big gust pulled the rope from my belt and there goes my kayak floating downriver! I tried to follow it but I kept slipping on the slime. I fell in the water again and hit my elbow on the rock floor. Ouch!

After what seemed like half an hour, I finally made it to my yak that had luckily floated to a very shallow section. I kept fishing for a while longer, lost some more flies and didn't catch anything. I ended up going home wet and frustrated.

There is a saying, "A bad day fishing beats a good day at work". You know, I really question that saying right now. I hope the Alleve I took will last through the night.

Some post-Thanksgiving river fishing

After a month away from fishing freshwater, I contacted my friend preast to see if he wanted to join me on the San Gabriel river on Saturday morning to pursue some carp on the fly. He said he may be a little late.

The morning turned out to be beautiful. It was still and crisp but it was really foggy. It was so foggy I could barely make out the outline of the 18-wheeler that was parked across the two lanes of the road! I got around it safely though.

I got to the low water crossing around 8am and paddled upstream. It was a gorgeous morning on the water with the cool air, fog, calm water and the changing fall colors in the trees lining the river.

Fishing was slow, by the time preast showed around mid-morning, I had only caught two carp in the shallow limestone flats. So preast and I returned to a pool downstream where I have usually had better luck. preast indicated he never has much luck there. As it turned out, that would change.

I ended up catching one more carp at the pool and preast immediately hooked up with one that was mudding near him. He kept fishing and caught a couple more nice ones including the one he's holding in the photo here (sorry, but all I had was my camera phone which explains the low quality). I really need to ask for a better digital camera for Christmas that I can use for fishing trips.

So, we kept fishing and continued downstream with no additional luck and called it a day. We discussed getting together again in December to fish the Guadalupe river for rainbow trout which is a fish I have very little experience going after but enjoyed catching last year.

More carp fishing on the SG

Sunday morning I went to the same stretch of the river as the previous weekend targeting carp. There was a glowing report from a friend of mine regarding the same stretch of river that made me decide to go again. In his report for Saturday, he mentioned catching his first mirror carp which I didn't know were in the river amongst the common carp. Here is the mirror carp he caught.

So, with those images, I made plans to bring my Sage XP 691-4 6wt with the fighting butt and some new patterns to try.

To make a long story short, I did pretty good that morning with seven carp coming from the same pool above the rapids that I caught carp from the previous weekend. I also caught one more on the shallow "flats" just upriver from there.

All the fish fell for a fly created by a master tier in Tyler, Texas Jim Green called his "Texas Charlie" which is a variation of a Gotcha or Crazy Charlie tied with a chenille body. The carp seemed to prefer the reddish brown and orange variations probably because they likely resembled fleeing crawfish.

Here is a photo of one of Jim Green's creations (originally intended for redfish though) that was not destroyed by the carp.

Cool River Fishing

Due to the plenty of recent rains, I decided to try fishing the San Gabriel river east of Georgetown at the intersection of Highway 29 and CR100, a.k.a. Mankin's Crossing. The only thing was that a cold front came through and so the north wind was blowing 15-20mph and the morning temps started in the upper 40s so I set my expectations kind of low. Fishing a cold morning right after a front usually have not been too productive in the past. This was the first since the start of the year that I donned breathable waders and it was good thing I did.

I got to the low water crossing to launch my kayak at around 9am. The water was suprisingly slightly above average and clear with no signs of floating algae/scum anywhere. The water was moving well also.

I paddled upstream to before the first rapids and saw carp "puffs" (sediment stirred up by carp I was spooking) but other than that no brim or bass and I did see small baitfish and the occassional schools of juvenile carp.

Just as I was about 80 feet from the rapids something jumped onto the boulders and a log strewn across the rapids. It was an adult bobcat about the size of a medium-sized dog! First time I've ever seen a wild one. That was cool! He jumped to the other side of the bank and disappeared in the trees before I could snap a photo of it.

Looking around the section below the rapids looked somewhat different. There was evidence of flood waters that had receded and reshaped this section a little to where a new pool below the rapids existed and the sand bar moved downriver about 50 feet from where it used to be.

On the other side of the rapids the pool there also looked a little different and I could see plenty of carp roaming. Here the occassional wind could be felt in the more open area. I decided to stalk my first carp.

I ended upwith my first carp along a hump near the center of the pool. It gave some great runs and I was wishing that my 5wt had a fighting butt and a foregrip so I just loosened the drag a bit so I didn't put too much pressure on it. The fight lasted a good 10 to 15 minutes and I removed the fly from the carp's mouth without ever taking the fish from the water. The fish likely weighed about 5 pounds.



About 20 minutes later I hooked up with the second carp which was a bit smaller, likely around 3 1/2 or 4lbs, and also removed the hook without taking it out of the water. I then waded closer below a riffle that came to the pool that held several carp. I waded slowly and stood still and occassionally had carp school less than 3 feet from me before getting spooked. I wasn't able to hook any more from the pool so I headed upstream.

Upstream from the pool had the river turn and face right into the north wind so it felt colder and I was getting chapped from the wind constantly in my face. I found plenty of carp suspending in the current along the shoreline like rainbow trout waiting to pickoff morsels brought to them downstream by the current. I kept trying different flies and drifting it to them but they would just reposition and ignore me. After about 30 futile minutes and getting a headache from the cold wind, I headed back to the first pool.

I spooked several carp back at the pool but saw two that had not seen me that were right along the bank below a tree. I overshot my cast and the fly landed on the grass on the shore and was snagged a bit. When I pulled the fly and it plopped into the water, it got the attention of one of the carp and it inhaled the fly and carp #3 gave some good runs for about 10 minutes.

There were so many carp in the pool active, it really surprised me but I didn't get any further hookups except for a foul hooking of one on the back which I won't count.

I proceeded back below the rapids and found some carp below it so I cast into them. I think I almost foul hooked one because they all exploded and the fly flew back at me on the hookset.

On my way almost out, I saw a large carp below a tree to which I cast to and the fly sunk out of sight and so did the carp. I thought I spooked it but seconds later I felt the pressure of it and strip-striked and it exploded out of the water and broke my tippet right at the knot. Man! That carp was likely around 10lbs and would have been a real test on the 5wt.

BTW, the fly that caught all of the carp was a #10 Flashback Tri-Tail nymph in black with a gold beadhead that I got from an Orvis trout fly sampler. Since it was my only one, I need to learn how to tie one since it turned out to be a pretty productive carp fly.

I ended up leaving at 12:30pm feeling pretty good but I may likely bring the 6wt with the fighting butt next time if all I target is carp.

Granite Shoals on a full moon

I went fishing with Preast last night at a cove in Granite Shoals about 6 mile west of Marble Falls. It's always a challenge finding the park where we launch.

The cove had about a dozen underwater green lights and the night had a slight breeze but not too bad. The full moon started rising pretty much after sunset. It was a nice night. The bugs were out in force around any light so when I turned on my headlamp to retie a fly, it had to be fairly quick or I'ld have bugs on my glasses.

Once the lights were on for a bit, we could see plenty of baitfish in the water yet not many larger fish. Eventually I found one of the lights had a couple of large carp sipping something off the top; maybe some of the bugs attracted to the lights. They refused my flies and spooked easily.

At that light I finally hooked a decent fish which I think had to have been a white bass, it came unhooked when I put too much pressure on it near the kayak.

Fishing was pretty slow. Not much fish swarming the lights or attacking the baitfish. The full moon lit up the water nicely though. Preast had about the same luck I did and caught a couple of bass that gave themselves away when they passed through the lights.

I found one light that seemed to generate most of my fish for the night and landed a medium size white bass, a couple of small largemouth and some really big bluegills. One of those bluegills was caught on a #2 zonker strip fly which was amazing. It had to have been larger than my hand at about 8 1/2" and fought impressively on the 6wt.

By about 10:30pm it didn't look like the action would pickup so we headed back to the putin and loaded up and left around 11pm. I was a great night to be fishing the lights though some more action would have been nice. I bet in the early spring the place is hopping with white bass so I'll be back then.

Lake Travis sunday morning fishing

I went out to fish one of my favorite areas of Lake Travis around Arkansas Bend park for a couple of hours in the kayak with my 6wt. As I was paddling out of the shallow flat I putin at around 8:30am, I saw one very decent carp cruising in the clear water and then to my right I saw one of the biggest carp I've ever seen pass me. It had to have been at least 40 inches long! This carp would rival a bull red. It was huge!

This morning out was the first real fishing trial for the XP 691-4. First fly I tied was the yellow and orange #2 gurgler I tied the night before. I was easily able to cast that fly over 45ft. The XP generates amazing speed and even with my poor casting abilities I am able to get the fly an inch off the shoreline from a considerable distance when I concentrate enough.

The water was smooth as glass and so that gurgler just seemed a logical choice. Coming around one of the first points I put the gurgler to the test on a drop off and caught my first small bass. Very nice! The rod tip bends well and the backbone in the rod is amazing. I caught three more fish that morning and left around 10:30am as the temperature rose.

I truly like the XPs. I think the combination of backbone and soft tip. There is also a feeling that if I were a better caster I could really tap into the full performance of that rod. One thing I like today that even with some of my sloppy casts I never once produced a bad enough tailing loop that it caused a windknot in my leader. That may be a first for me.

Yesterday I played around with my new XP 486 and that little rod is a rocket. Same characteristics as the bigger brothers but smaller and leaner. Even the cork handle is smaller than that on the 5wt. I'm not sure I like that much but I will get used to it.

I hope we get a lot more rain so I can do some river fishing soon. I'ld like to catch a nice carp with the 6wt and see if it can tame one. I think it can.

Adventures on the San Gabriel River

Yesterday I intended to fly fish a new section of the San Gabriel river on the north fork below the Georgetown Lake dam. I met up with my friend Andy at 7am and he had been there 30 minutes before me with no luck. We found no flow so he asked about other spots to try. I told him that the San Gabriel City Park put-in may have more of a flow and was near. So we went there.

The water seemed to be flowing so we waded. Right off, I noticed the water looked less clean than usually and there seemed to be more slime and silt on the bedrock. We caught a few bass and I caught a very nice Rio Grande Perch and we waded down to the first long pool before a small dam below a railroad bridge. On the way, I also ran across a 3ft long snapping turtle pictured here. I wouldn't want to step on one of those suckers in waist deep water!

Without kayaks the tidal pool would be kind of difficult to pass. Luckily, we saw one of the kids whose dad owns the property around there and got permission and where led over the railroad bridge and some paths to fish the other side.

The water was algae green and not like it usually looks plus there was a smell of sewage. We fished there for a while and caught several small bass and kept going past the small dam. The farther we went the worse the algae and scum got and the water smelled like a pig pen.

We spent close to 6 hours wading and while we caught fish, I was glad to go home and shower. I'm sure Andy went to sleep since he was really worn out.

This morning, I met up with another friend, Richard, at the original spot below Georgetown Lake and proceeded down the trail to a low water crossing. There was a decent pool above the crossing we tried first with no luck. The water though looked much better than where I was yesterday.

We then proceeded downstream and found a some pools with a couple of carp. Eventually, we determined that the brim wanted any fly in size #10 to #12. With a size #12 zug bug, I'ld catch one bluegill, red breast sunfish, green sunfish and rio grande perch after another on almost every cast. We probably caught at least 50 or more each. This was definitely a spot for my 4wt.