Pedernales River 5/24

Took a drive out to the Pedernales for a change in scenery and hoping to get away from the Memorial Day crowds that infest the Guadalupe. Other than a few families out and about, I had the river to myself.

There were a bunch of small carp feeding away in the running water.  They were acting like hungry redfish - actually chasing down flies.  Something I've heard about but never been able to witness.  It was quite a sight and great fun.

Who said carp live in ugly places?

Upstream

Saw a whole lotta this

After catching a few small carp I was thinking I made a mistake bringing my 8 wt out here.  On my usual Guadalupe haunt, there are not many carp, but when you do finally see one they average around the 10 pound mark, which makes the 8 wt a perfect match.  Just as I was thinking the 8 was overkill, a darker tail popped up.

Could it be the elusive buffalo?

I edged as close as I dared, and managed an (ugly) cast upstream of the feeding fish. the fly was moving fast on the far side of the fish, which meant he either was going to have to pounce on it or my leader would hit him and he'd spook, crushing my chance.

He pounced.

Buffalo on.

After taking me deep into the backing I was happy the 8 came along with me after all.  The fish would take multiple runs, but get closer to hand after every one...

Closer...

Got him.

Buff defeat.

Release.

Glad to finally scratch that fish off of the list, and looking forward to exploring this river more.


Brandon

After being couped up at work and school for the past few months, an opportunity to make a quick solo trip down to the coast came that I couldn't pass up. Weather looked favorable so I made the drive down from San Antonio at 3:00 A.M.

The first stop was a flat I had high hopes of this coming winter. Sure enough, the fish were active and hoarding mullet along the shoreline. Here is a fish that fell victim to the 7 wt.

Soon after groups of black drum would intervene in the madness.

Most of the redfish were slot sized, with a couple bulls in the mix. After catching and releasing a few I opted to head in, grab lunch, and regroup with Austin of salt396. A local chinese buffet would suffice, and while gearing up to head out for the afternoon I cracked open my furtune cookie.

Could this be an omen from the fish gods?

Wading the same mud flats proved to be difficult after the winds kicked up. Had a couple of shots at fish but ended up blowing them all (no surprise for me) But I did catch and release this crab after a tense battle.

Nightfall was soon coming, and we retreated to a location which held potential.

BAM

Ah, Austin connects with another red.

My turn. Cast, strip, strip, strip... Skipjack... Wait, fat skipjack... WAIT.

Juvenile Texan tarpon.

The omen had held true.

And then Austin landed another juvi...

I have long held the tarpon on fly on my bucket list. Tarpon, of any size, possess the potential to keep you up at night, wake you up in cold sweats, and curse words that have not ever been cursed.    Juvenile tarpon are perfect in every way shape and form.  Being in the presence of these fish was simply amazing, and I am glad to see Texas becoming home to more and more of these guys.

Sister Waters

Woke up on a whim this morning longing for something new.  Exploring is a huge part of fishing for me.  Fishing the same waters over and over again can get fairly routine and while catching fish is never boring, something about searching new water full of unknown is quite enticing.

After a quick tip from my buddy Austin Orr (Check him out... Salt 396 ) I decided on fishing the Guadalupe's sister river, the Medina River.  After a half hour drive to the bustling big city of Medina, I found a promising low water crossing.  A mile or two of wading past all of the swimmers and the river was mine.

The carp were playing hard to get, a couple of tailers were spotted but these Medina fish were much more skittish than my home water Guadalupe carp.  I have a lot to learn here.

The bass were the complete opposite.  This fish was about two and a half pounds, though the picture does it no justice.  She would not eat, but loved my company.  Weird stuff.

The Rio Grande Cichlids were schooling bigtime.  There are some of the largest Rios I have ever seen in this stretch.  Many of them were about this size with one or two considerably larger - state record contending fish.

Searching new water is always fun but sometimes risky.  Leaving fish to find fish sometimes doesn't pay off, but when it does it makes for a fantastic outing.

Sometimes you cant win.

Carp are funny creatures if you haven't figured this out by now.  Tailers everywhere this afternoon - spotted over two dozen.  The only guys willing to play were the bass following in close pursuit, picking up whatever the carp missed and left in the trail of silt.  Not the species of choice, but any fish is an appreciated fish!

Grass carp? Nahhh

Headed to the Guadalupe River despite winds over 25+. Couldn't see a dang thing all morning. Once noon came around a faint shadow finally rolled into visibility. The rojo bug fly was called into action and to my surprise the fish nailed it as soon as it hit the water. To add even more surprise, once I set the hook this grass carp cleared the water. This particular section of the river is littered with tree stumps, which I can usually steer the commons clear of... However this fish was having none of it! I had to swim around the deeper stumps where I couldn't touch bottom. Finally she tired and I had her in a position to land. Went to get the GoPro. GoPro keeps freezing. Great. Of all the fish! I had to make due with an iPhone, which ended up coming out OK but not great.

Brandon

4/14/13

Hit the water around 10 this morning in a last minute effort to get on some fish before work.  There was a slight drizzle coming down so sightfishing was basically a no go.  Tried for some surfacing gar that weren't in the mood and finally around 12 the clouds broke free and the sun started shining.  Its like a light switch for the carp... Within minutes dozens started storming the flat kicking up mud trails.  This fella fell victim to the Rojo Bug fly - slammed it before it had time to hit the bottom.

Brandon

Spring Time Gold

Ah yes, warm weather is finally upon us after a mostly fish less winter.  The fish seem to be just as happy as I was, as they were cruising around on the shallow flat getting really skinny.  Active, but not too eager to eat.  This guy fell for a rojo bug tied by my buddy Austin Orr over at www.salt396.com

The rojo-

Hopefully this is just a slice of what is to come this summer.

Brandon