Freshwater outing reports and general discussion about freshwater related topics.
Well known fishing guide Kevin Hutchison will be the guest speaker at our monthly meeting on September 26th at Trini Mendenhall. Kevin will be speaking on several topics including the TFF Colorado River float trip that he will be leading on October 28. Kevin’s presentations are always very informative, as well as entertaining, so this is a meeting that you should plan to attend.
Scott F. and I arrived around 1830, loaded a boat, and were on the water by 1900. We chose to fish “Duck” even though there were a lot of weeds showing through the surface of the water. The first LMB came to hand within minutes.
Scott chose to use a mini-gamechanger for a while while I used a green VIP. Both flies brought fish to hand.
As the sun went down, both of us changed to a Dalberg style frog. Scott was using a size 4, and I chose a size 2/0. In just a few minutes, I had lost 2 of those flies to LMB due to a degraded leader.
The plan was to fish until 0100 or so, but that plan was derailed when I broke the front seat of the boat. With no comfortable seat, but the fish still biting, we slowly made out way back to the vehicles, fishing the entire time.
Off the water by 2300, and a little over 30 LMB to hand with the biggest about three pounds.
From the Texas Council: “Understanding this is a hard but smart move on the part of the club. Wish you all the best and already looking forward to 2024!!”
The Pecos River is less travelled than the Devils River, in a similar landscape and offers great fishing opportunities. Looking for one or two angler/paddlers who would like to make the trip.
Highlights
For question or additional details contact Howard at: 3O4 61O 4227 or email at: fixerman1000@aol(dot)com
7 Bluff Cabins and RV Resort
4251 County Road 348
Concan, Texas 78838
https://7bluffcabins.com/location/
This week, May 23-25, TFF members Howard Finley, Robert Cowan, Paul Robertson, and myself traveled to 7 Bluff Cabins and RV Resort on the Frio River in Concan, Texas. This location is in the immediate area of Garner State Park. The primary purpose of the trip was to conduct a site visit for a possible Fresh Water Outing for the club in the Spring of next year. It goes without saying….part of this site visit was to also fish the Frio River!
7 Bluff Cabins and RV Resort is now under a professional management group, and many upgrades, additions, and landscaping have occurred over the last year. It would be very difficult to find a cleaner and more aesthetic resort right on the banks of the Frio River. We noted that the place was incredibly well maintained, and private access to the resort entry was secured by a single-entry gate system. We lodged in Cabin 18 which is a 9 bed/3 bath river front cabin and just steps away from the river. (Standard rate $489 per night). The cabin is bi-level with plenty of sleeping privacy. It has a large kitchen with two refrigerators, 2 coffee brewers, stove, and microwave.
The Frio River is currently at low water levels due to the extended drought of last year. We arrived with the river flowing at about 36 cfs, but by the time that we left, the river had dropped back to about 25 cfs. At these water flow levels; wading is the much-preferred manner of fishing. Robert Cowan and I did float a 5-mile section starting above the resort and taking out at the low water bridge on the resort property. It was a brutal float with lots of portaging, dragging through semi dry sections, over and under low water bridges, and roping down waterfalls. I would never do this float again unless the water flow was in the 45-50 cfs range. Paul and Howard went other directions from the resort, both wading and floating. I think that they had much more enjoyable day!
The Frio River is known for its cool and very clear waters. Fish species are primarily sunfish, bass, and Rio Cichlids, and all were in abundance with a great many of large size. The Rio Cichlids were not as prevalent, but they were some of the largest that any of us have encountered. All four of us caught fish in good numbers. Howard was the bass guru, and Paul was the Cichlid champ. The bass were a little stingy, though. Rod sizes were 3-6 wts with floating lines. A variety of poppers and streamers worked on all species with spiders and Rio Getter being big producers.
Our general opinion was that this resort/location would make a great club outing venue under two primary conditions; the water flows must be above 40 cfs, and the dates be in the early Spring and well before the start of the heavy tubing season on Memorial Day Weekend.
Tom Strawther 05/26/2023
I plan to test out a couple of kick-boats Saturday afternoon, 2023-05-27 (~1400), and fish until dark. If you want to join in, there would be a guest fee, but the fishing should be great!
Contact “Puck” for any details.
Joe Nicklo and I headed the the Sowbug Roundup for a few days. We decided to tack on a few days of fly fishing on the Norfork River.
We drove to Mountain Home, AR, on Tuesday and arrived in time to get over to the Norfork River and check out a few places, including Dry Run Creek which is designated as fishing for youth only. We enjoyed helping a young man catch a few rainbows. Later, it was Thai food for dinner.
Wednesday was to be a wade fishing day. The flows on the Norfork were quite high and swift. The lake behind the dam was quite high, thus the overflow gates were open as they are trying to lower the level of the lake. Thus, we could only safely wade fish a small section of the river. The conditions were not too good for wade fishing, and as a result the catching was not too great. I caught two—one rainbow and one cutthroat. Joe was able to land a nice walleye. Interestingly, that day I ran into a guy that was a high school friend to my long time friend Tim Rayburn (he died in 2021). It’s a small world. That evening we joined other fly tiers at Sowbug Roundup fly tiers fellowship for a hamburger dinner. Joe enjoyed connecting with some long-time friends and I met a few folks.
The next day, Thursday, a friend, Kevin Daniel, arranged for a couple of boats so we could fish on the river. Joe and I went with Barry Analorra in one boat and Kevin fished with his friend Alan in a second boat. The temperature was mild. The overflow gates were still open so the water was again running quite fast. But with a boat we could manage it. We nymph fished. In terms of rigging, the first fly was down about 10’ below the indicator, with a second fly down about another 18” below that. We had to use three AA split shots to get the flys down to the fish. It felt like I was casting (or rather lobbing) a chain. But the good news is it worked. Joe and I caught over 50 fish that day. That evening we all met up with Barry’s wife (Kelly) and Kevin and Terri Hutchinson at Whispering Woods restaurant for a nice meal together.
A storm came through Thursday evening and dumped rain all night and all day Friday. But that worked out okay as that was the day we planned to spend at the Sowbug Roundup. Joe tied for about a half a day and I wandered around, checking out the fly tiers. I have no idea how many people were there. There were a lot! I’d guess in the hundreds. I heard that there are usually about 150 fly tiers. The fly fishing club there puts on quite an impressive fly tying festival. At times it was difficult to find an empty seat to sit down and watch. That evening we attended the Sowbug Roundup dinner for the fly tiers. It was a special evening. Several highlights included: a tribute to Dave Whitlock (he died in November 2022) given by Davy Wotten, a tribute to Tom and Ann Shumacker (they died about 3 weeks apart earlier this year) who owned WAPSI (a manufacturer of fly tying materials), and the auction. It was fun to watch our friend Kevin Daniel bid for and win a framed Dave Whitlock painting. He was all smiles. My friend from the Texas Fly Fishers of Houston club, Ron Mayfield, won tying awards for best bass fly and best streamer in the show.
Saturday was another day of fishing. There was some uncertainty at the beginning of the day. At first, the overflow gates were closed and there was no generator on, so there was not enough water to get the boats in the river. But they turned on one generator about 7:00 and the water rose enough to launch and run the boat. Again, Joe and I went with Barry. Kevin and Alan were in the other boat. We were not sure what to expect after all the rain. The river was full of boats! It was like navigating bumper cars. And in fact a few boats did bump! But the fishing was phenomenal. Joe and I hooked up 70+ fish that day. The fish were bigger this day—we caught quite a few in the 17”-19” range. Joe caught three species: a rainbow, a brookie, and a cutthroat. I hooked, but lost a large brown trout. If we had gotten it in, we would have had the Arkansas boat slam. For dinner, we met Kevin and Terri at Colton’s for another delightful evening sharing stories and food.
Sunday morning it was time to make the long drive home.
We arrive tired, but happy. What a memorable trip. The quote below captures some of my feelings about fly fishing on a river.
“Sitting on an embankment above the Colorado River, I had none [answers]. Only the glow of a flower, the warmth of the sun, and the invigoration of the river’s energy and strength. I had only mystery and awe. And peace. For once there was no compulsion to explain, or clarify, or analyze. Which meant that I was lost in the moment—what Jean-Pierre de Caussade (18th Century) called the Sacrament of the Present Moment—seeing each ‘present moment’ as diffused with the sacred. It reminded me of Susanna Wesley’s immortal prayer, ‘Help me, Lord, to remember that religion is not to be confined to the church, or closet, nor exercised only in prayer and meditation but that everywhere I am in Thy presence.’”
—Terry Hershey
by Paul Robertson
I spent Monday (3/13) fly fishing with good friends Tom Strawther and Kevin Hutchinson. Kevin is the guide and owner of Hill Country Flyfishers. He is one of the most well known and respected guides in the Texas Hill Country. He is also a long-time friend and support of our local Texas Flyfishers of Houston club.
We decided to do a float trip down a section of the San Marcos River. The temperature was a little cool in the morning, along with a stiff breeze. But the temperature warmed up and the day turned out to be just beautiful. As usual, Kevin provided a wonderful stream-side lunch.
We caught bass and sunfish throughout the day. The bluegill photo below is of one caught by Tom. It was one of the largest bluegill I have seen in the Texas Hill Country.
One of the more exciting moments happened in the afternoon. We were slowing floating past a cliff on our right side. Tom hooked a small bass. As he was pulling it in, another large bass came up from the bottom and inhaled it. It took off. Tom was overheard saying, “This is going to be a tough one.” Tom struggled to slow it down. He had a fight on his hands with his light 4wt rod—as they say, “just not enough backbone in that rod.” Our eyes were all as big as saucers. After a while, the larger bass slowed down and then let go of the one Tom had caught. Only to come back and take it again! This happened at least four times. After several back and forth encounters of the large bass inhaling it and spitting it out, Tom had the smaller bass close to the raft. We thought the battle was over, but the larger bass made one last effort—he took it … and spit it out again. This time the bass looked our way, saw us and our raft. With an angry look in his eyes, it swam off to pursue other baitfish for its afternoon meal. During that battle, as the two fish got closer to the boat and the larger bass would let got of the smaller one, I tried to cast a streamer fly in the area, hoping he would inhale my fly. No luck. When Tom finally got the small bass in the boat, it looked beat up, wide-eyed, and quite stunned. Miraculously, however, it had lived through it all and was released and very slowly swam away. It was bruised, but at least it wasn’t belly up! All three of us got a good look at the larger bass and all three of us estimated it to be over five pounds. It took awhile for Tom’s heart rate to level out.
I found it quite interesting to watch Kevin get the raft down a dam at one point. He talked about riding it down, but in the end he chose to rope it down. I think that was a wise decision.
It was another great day to be alive and “inhaling” the Great Outdoors.
“Fishing is a contest between humans and nature, a drama that has been playing out for hundreds of thousands of years. Fly fishing to my way of thinking, is the most beautiful way to play a role in that drama—sometimes tragedy, sometimes farce, but always riveting.” — Peter Kaminsky
Paul E. Robertson
Ph.D., M.Div., ACPE Certified Educator
“Retired from work, but not from life.”
Well, it’s time for another season of fishing on the Guadalupe River to end. Last year (2021-22) I joined the Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited lease access program. Once you are in the river, you are okay, legally. But getting to the river usually means crossing private property, which requires permission. The lease access program provides permission at about a dozen places. In last year’s season, I spent 22 days on the Guadalupe River. I had a blast and learned a lot. So, I joined the lease access program again this year. This year I was able to be there 24 days. On most of the trips I was able to fish with friends, which made the trips even more memorable.
This past Monday (March 6) I headed over to the river with my friend Steve Edwards. This time the weather was conducive for us to tent camp, which is my preferred way to go. After some medical appointments in the morning we headed over. We arrived in time to set up camp and enjoy a nice meal of homemade chicken noodle soup. After that it was time to sit and watch the river, talk about fishing and life, and enjoy the stars and full moon. This was pretty much our routine each evening. We didn’t solve all the world’s problems, but we tried.
We fished morning and evenings Tuesday and Wednesday, and a few hours Thursday morning. Our routine was to get up, have our coffee (me) and hot tea (Steve), eat a light breakfast, then head out to fish. Around mid-day we would head back to the camp, have lunch, and rest a few hours. The temperature was getting up on the mid-80s in the afternoon. Water temperatures in the morning were about 66 degrees and rose to 68 degrees in the afternoons. Around 3:00 we would fish another spot until about 6:00 or so.
We caught trout most outings. Because of the warm weather, the sunfish were also active and we caught more of them than I had ever caught there during trout season.
Thursday morning was actually my best outing this year. I went to a run in the river where I had caught some fish before.
I headed down to the bottom of the run. I started with a nymph rig under an indicator. I used a Y2K for an attractor and a red zebra midge on the bottom. I worked my way up the run. I got six fish hooked and missed that many more. Two got off quickly; one broke my line on a rock; two got off after a good fight (early releases); one ended up in the net. I worked my way up to and around some larger trees that hang low over the water. It is just not possible to get an indicator under them with a good drift. But I kept thinking that there must be some fish under those trees.
So, I decided to pull out my other rod which I rigged with a Thin Mint attractor and a soft hackle fly with a little red in the body as a trailer (since I had been catching them with a red zebra midge). I began to work my way back down the same run, only this time swinging the streamers. With this rig I was able to side arm cast under the trees. I caught five as I worked my way down the run and three were under the trees where I couldn’t get to with an indicator rig. I had one additional good take. I really liked the way those trout took the soft hackles. No questions about a take. And I think I did fairly well at strip setting. I chased several down stream to wear them out and finally get them upstream from me so I could net them above me rather than below me—heads up and coming downstream into the net. I’m learning! I had taken a seminar at Troutfest on how to land them and I tried applying what I had learned. All this was 8:00-10:30. Twelve trout on and six in the net. In addition, I caught a few sunfish. I’ll take that just about any day!
It was then time to pack up camp and head home.
So ended my Guadalupe River 2022-23 trout season. I am so grateful: to have been able to spend 24 days on the river, to have caught many fish, that I was not hurt, for a supportive wife, to be alive and in reasonably for good health, and for friends with which to share the experiences and have good conversation.
Being in the water fly fishing benefits my mental and spiritual well-being in a number of ways. In the water I feel a sense of awe. I experience a sense of being connected to something greater than myself. I had many experiences of deep feelings of worship as I stood in the river, connected with the Creator.
Being in the water fishing also provides soothing sensory experiences. The sounds, the smells and sight of a body of water is relaxing. They help me to stay centered and find a calming, positive state of mind.
Being in the water fishing also facilitates mindfulness and reflection. Water in a flowing river is dynamic. It has different colors. It has different shapes. It has different sounds. It is moving. While standing in the river, my my attention is on those things rather than all the noise of the world.
There is something rhythmic about fly fishing. The back and forth rhythmic cadence of casting helps me to take all my troubles and cast them far away, even if just for a little while. The catching of a fish and releasing it reminds me that there can be new beginnings for me as well.
Steve Ramirez said it well: “Fly fishing reminds me to slow down, live now, let go. I cast as I breath. I retrieve line to the rhythm of my heart beating. And so, I stand in the river casting back and forth, trying to lose that feeling of being alone. It is then that the rainbow rises and takes my offering. I raise my rod, and all at once, I am no longer alone. I am connected to his powerful runs, facing into the current. Silver line connects us, both fighting to live—two beating hearts. He comes to my net. I hold him gently, rocking him back and forth in the cold rushing water. ‘Gain your strength, dear warrior,’ I say. Am I speaking to him or to myself? With a kick of his tail, he returns to the river—and I go with him.”
I am a blessed man.
Paul E. Robertson
Ph.D., M.Div., ACPE Certified Educator
“Retired from work, but not from life.”
