Largemouth bass

Report: South Llano River Float trip, 2024

"Puck" 2 Comments

6 Anglers caught hundreds of fish.

The weather was cool on Saturday, but warmed up nicely

Four Kayaks, one, 1-man, inflatable, and one 2-man inflatable all made the 4 mile trek between the crossing and our takeout.

If you want to read more, see below……

Two of our anglers arrived early enough on Friday to fish between the second and first crossing. The wind was brutal for that 2 mile stretch they caught a few fish, but positioning their watercraft made casting difficult.

The rest of us came in slowly until the last man arrived about 5:00 PM , 

Dinner the first night was veggie lasagna with all kinds of sides. Sitting around the campfire that night we decided that we were just going to do from the first crossing down here to our takeout.

46° Saturday morning with very little wind. All kayaks/rafts in the water by 8:50, first fish of the day by 8:55. The water levels were a little lower than they were last year. This caused us to drag through a few places that we would normally just float through.

Within minutes, in in site of the launch we were already catching fish.

The weather warmed up nicely on Saturday afternoon and we came out of our windbreakers.

Hundreds of fish were caught between six people.  LMB, long-ear sunfish, bluegill, Rio Grande Perch, and Guadalupe bass were the species caught.

The FOTD (Fly of the day) was the yellow spider but many other flies also caught fish, I need to ask the group, which one they also used. Even though alternative gear (spinning rods) were used, the fly rods produced more, if not bigger, fish.

Tom got the best fish of the trip A very nice bass.

Puck caught a Rio Grande perch after identifying the conditions and pointing out the fish to a fellow angler. Hare-E was the fly it wanted.

We had the river almost to ourselves. We saw 2 rafts and 2 kayaks that weren’t in our group, but nobody else, all day. All anglers were off the water by 5:00pm. This made for a full 8 hour day of fishing.

We had one individual that decided that the weather was just perfect for swimming, as he went swimming 2 1/2 times. If he wants to confess to how it wound up being 2 1/2, you’ll have to ask him.

Howard broke a spinning rod on a huge LMB 

There was a flipper lost from the DS pontoon boat.

Tom had an interesting day. First he broke a fly rod, then he lost his phone, told his wife about it. He had convinced himself that it had just slipped out of his pocket. Later, while recovering from fishing that day he had found it did indeed slip out of his pocket and go down into the foot of his waders. The phone was fine and Tom was happy. 

Saturday night dinner, again way too much food. Saturday meal was Tom’s Sausage Peas and Mexican Cornbread.  Recipe is available for a small fee. We ate well and then we went and sat around the campfire till about 10 o’clock.

Sunday morning we all got up and had coffee about 7 o’clock. Two of us left to go home right after coffee, as they had things to do. Another deciding factor was that the wind was expected to be high, making fishing difficult.

Three of us took a chance, walked down to the river, and fished the water below the CR150 bridge. The wind picked up so we didn’t use watercraft, so we just waded and walked the shoreline. We immediately started catching fish.

General notes:

  • Laughing was as abundant as the amount of fish caught 
  • Someone got in trouble by returning home with a wife-made lasagna untouched. That man will be eating lasagna till next Christmas 
  • We have already coordinated with Nol for next year’s camping/lodging. Details to follow.

Fishing pictures:

River pictures:

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Group photos:

Wildflowers photos:

Misc. photos:

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OUTING: John Scarborough Sunfish Spectacular, 2024-04-13-0700 (Updated 2024-03-17)

"Puck" 5 Comments

This is THE family friendly event of the year!

Join us for our annual fun family fishing event and lunch on Saturday, 13th of April, at Damon Seven Lakes. If you’re lucky, you can earn the chance to capture the John Scarborough Sunfish Spectacular Trophy!

Fishing from the shore, but kickboat, canoe, and/or kayak are quite successful.

Contrary to the name there are now nine different, unique lakes of good size that hold largemouth bass, tiger bass, catfish, black crappie, and bluegill. Catching bass in the three to five pound range is a normal occurrence. Twelve pound bass, decent channel cats, and twelve inch bream have been caught in the last four years.

When: April 13th, 2024 (2024-04-13-0700) Add this to your calendar:

You may camp out the night before arriving on 4/12 but no earlier than 5 pm to stay the night.  On 4/13, people may arrive and register no earlier than 7 am. The venue will close by 10 pm CDT.

Cost:

  • $10  for Texas FlyFishers members with paid up dues that have signed up ahead of time. 
  • $15 for those that do not sign up early but are in good standing with the club.
  • Special pricing for family members 16 and younger, students, and non-fishing spouses who will not be fishing during the event.  They may take free casting lessons.  Contact “Trip Leader” for details.’ 
  • We will be using a list from the membership secretary to verify up-to-date membership. The list may be a week or 2 old by the time the event is held.
  • Cost for non-club members fishing at Damon 7 Lakes is currently $90/person/day, (but can be reduced from $90 to $45 by joining Texas FlyFishers at the event [$15 event fee + $30 dues] )

The following content is accessible for members only, please sign in.

Report: Night fishing at Damon 7 Lakes, 2023-08-24

"Puck" 1 Comment

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.

Meeting: July 25th, 2023 speaker is Robert McConnell

"Puck" 1 Comment

JULY 25th MONTHLY MEETING: 5:30-8:00 pm

Trini Mendenhall Comm Center

CONTACT US via email: texasflyfishers@gmail.com

Featured Speaker for the July meeting is author and avid fly fisherman Robert McConnell.  Rob will be presenting on his area of expertise, that is fishing the Sam Houston National Forest as well as Houston and Southeast Texas.  He will also have for purchase copies of his two published books, “Fly Fishing the Sam” and “Fly Fishing Houston and Southeast Texas.”  Mark your calendars to attend this presentation as it should be very informative and entertaining.

Report: D7Ls night fishing, 2023-06-17

"Puck" 1 Comment

Three of us made it to Damon 7 Lakes about 6 PM. The plan was to fish, in the dark, until about 1 o’clock in the morning. This is what actually happened:

Scott was on the Flatstalker(R) at first.

Q was in the boat with a trolling motor. Scott later joined him.

Puck was in his kickboat, hoping that it wouldn’t leak, this time.

Scott fished another lake right after dinner with a one weight, fly rod and a yellow spider. He was successful as these pictures show.

After the darkness fell fishing got tough. Scott and Q hooked up, but didn’t land very many. Puck only landed four with the largest being 5 pounds

We decided to call it a night about 2300, as the fishing had slowed down, and the Texas Vampires had made their appearance.

Fishing in the dark is always a challenge as we typically try to reach for a flashlight. I’ve learned over the years that a flashlight is not your friend. When you turn one on, you loose whatever night vision you had, and any fish in the area have now vacated. If you actually want to catch fish, leave the flashlight off while you are in the the area you want to fish.

I pride myself on being able to thread the hook and tie my knot in the dark without the use of a flashlight. I pulled out fresh fly and was trying to tie it on after having my fly my break off. Only to find that I just did not have the skill needed to do so. After struggling for way more time than I should have, I made my way to the shoreline, turned on my flashlight, which I hate to do when I’m fishing, and went to tie my new fly on the end of my tippet. That’s when I found out that somehow I had glued the eyes shut. The second fly I went to tie on, with similar difficulties, turned out to be a chunk of old tippet still tied in place.

The fly for that worked for me was a size 2 diving frog by Umqua. I lost two of them from break offs.

Outing: FW, Unplanned, night fishing

"Puck" Leave a comment

I need to get out onto the water, but the temperature is to high for comfort during the day.

Here is my current plan: Damon 7 Lakes from 1800 Saturday to 0100 Sunday, fishing from a watercraft, the type depending on how many of us feel the need to be on the water.

There would be a guest fee for anybody willing to join in.

Report: Fishing the San Marcos

"Puck" 1 Comment

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.”

Shore lunch provided by Kevin
Raft sliding down the wall
Kevin’s contact information
Tom’s bluegill
Kevin, Tom, and Paul

CANCELLED OUTING: West Fork San Jacinto: Sat, Jan 28; Wading for Bass/sunfish

johneldred03 Leave a comment

Tuesday’s storm did a number on the river. Flows are still very high…expect we will need to give the river a couple weeks to “stabilize. Outing is cancelled.

Wading down the West Fork of the San Jacinto River, hitting deep pools, log jams etc. with a target on bass and sunfish.  River bottom can be sandy, muddy, and you will need to traverse brush.  This wade is characterized as “moderate”.
My thoughts are to wade downstream for a couple hrs, then turn around and head back up to the car park. 
This is “Wade #4 ” out of Robert McConnell’s new book Fly Fishing Houston and Southeastern Texas, which is available on Feb 7
I will bring and potentially wear waders; water not deep, but potentially wearing them for warmth.
No EVITE will be set up….call or email the trip leader.

When:  CANCELLED:
Where: I-45 Bridge across West Fork San Jacinto 30.24577, -95.45791 
Trip Leader:   John Eldred
Phone: 9O7(minus)3O1(dash)3595  e-mail: john(dot)eldred03 (AT) gmail (dot) com