OT - other kind of piggie

[bdhold]

took 4 friends on a wade trip to the 3 least-abused miles of river in the Texas hill country yesterday, and won't bore you with all the details

but fish live here

pretty nice fish

have you ever seen a shellcracker with a head as big as your fist?

now you have

[octagon]

Hard to beat fishing in the shade, nice photos, I feel cooler just looking!

[JerryB]

Great looking hideaway, did you blindfold them when you took them in there?

[bdhold]

It's rock-throwing distance from an often crowded road crossing in a Texas vacation town. It's a near-chest-deep wade to get to the first tailout, and I've known the way most of my life.

Once you get down there, the landowners are open to fishermen - even though they have no trespassing signs posted on every tree. They treat the hike-able bank as a neighborhood common, and it looks like a summer camp. They also know we pick up trash instead of leave it. When we were leaving and got back to the crossing, families were there with their bbq grills, and our parking was valuable real estate.
Off to the left of my buddy here is a 100-year old dam, but you can't tell it, because it's all trees now

We traveled a long way for this, one 120 miles to meet us, and the rest of us 80, but we knew what to expect and were not disappointed.
There is so much good water on this wade, you can't fish it all. You skim over it because you want to see what's next.

We fished 5 people and 3 kayaks came down, and there was room for everybody.

here's my buddy's best lily pad bass

And yes, fish want to be here for the same reason we want to.

and finish it all up with a chile relleno at Mamacitas

[Blaine]

Living the life

Once, at a summer camp, in the 60s, (with no way out) I caught a HUGE bluegill that my little Zebco scale said exceeded the Ohio state record of 4lbs and some oz.....I put it back. One of best fights on an ultra light with 2lb test EVER.

[RIHMFIRE]

wish i was doing that!

[GonnePhishin]

Yeah, looks might invitin.' Thanks for sharing.

[cshold]

Awesome

[Griff]

I'm a terrible fisherman... actually hate going... but that looks inviting!

[bdhold]

grew up fishing with my dad in an aluminum boat in the middle of a reservoir - the heat was deadly by 9:30 am

That's probably why I love wade-fishing cypress tunnels in the Texas hill country - it's always 15 degrees cooler in there.


I've long since passed the point of counting fish and all that. Any fish are gravy. What's important is the fishing, the day, the water, and especially the friends.

[Streetstar]

I've long since passed the point of counting fish and all that. Any fish are gravy. What's important is the fishing, the day, the water, and especially the ]

That sounds like the essence of life

[RustyJr]

What kind of flies were you using? I've fished for panfish using a fly rod and rubber spiders as well as live crickets. When in the mountains fishing for trout its usually some type of nymph (usually ask the locals whats working at the time that I go).


RustyJr

[bdhold]

http://www.warmfly.com/smf/index.php?to ... 38#msg1638
(I normally tie this fly now with a gray tail, and tan/sandy brown with a rust wing is my next favorite)

Hi Rusty, been fly fishing 40 years now, and my fly boxes are much leaner than when I was young.
Though it's always the first question asked, success is never about The fly.
It's about imitating the food, enticing the fish, how you like to fish, how you present, and especially stealth.
According to Gary Borger, fish have an IQ of 6(trout) to 12(carp) - big fish aren't smart, big fish are cowards.

Virtually 100% of the time in warmwater, I'm fishing a Teeny sinking line, BS100 or T130 and a cats whisker.
Asking me what fly I'm using is a joke with all my friends.
I tie 3 flies for warmwater, and will occasionally go to a floating line and fish a slider when I'm fishing back to shelves and I'm wading deeper than the fish
.
Most of the time in the TX hill country, I'm fishing clear limestone creeks, moving water, and imitating nickel-size crayfish and dime-sized minnows.


In saltwater, I tie 3 flies also, though when I tie larger cats whiskers for stripers on saltwater hooks, those flies will travel to the coast with me, too.


But like my little crayfish above, what I fish most often inshore is my variation on Allie's shrimp, which doesn't look like much unless you happen to be imitating an evading shrimp (I thought about this fly for years before I discovered Allie's shrimp)



Kind of the same in coldwater. I love it when dry flies are productive, but most of the time I'm fishing 2 flies subsurface



If I had to, I could live on 3 flies - cats whisker for warmwater, Allie's shrimp for salt, and swimming BWO for coldwater
Love to fish BWO hatches and I search them out


Back to the cat's whisker. Size 8 - if it can't swallow it, I'm not fishing for it, but most sunfish are aggressive enough to swallow it.


Now you've cornered yourself into a fish story.

In an oxbow on the upper Pedernales, I was sight-fishing the bass on the right.

The big bass was creeping along inspecting my cats whisker. Just when it was about to bite, the big yellow belly (ok, huge) darted from the bank and swallowed my cats whisker.
The whole time I was fighting the yellow belly, the bass was fighting it, too.
When I was handling the fish, the bass sat down at my feet.
I released the yellow belly, and daubed the fly in front of me - the bass snagged it.
First time I ever had fish line up to get their picture with me.

Something about fishing clear water - there are stealth disadvantages since the fish can see you, but that makes it really good stealth school.
You also learn a lot about fish behavior. I've caught some big red-ears, and instead of scurrying away, each of them sat at my feet to watch me closely until I left their territory.
And you learn to overcome buck fever, and make stealthy, leading presentations when sight-fishing cruising 28" bass