Spring is one of the best times of the year here in Texas. The weather is great, and the fishing can be great as well. As our local waters warm, the fish get much more active. Bass fishing on the Colorado, San Marcos, Llano and the Guadalupe Rivers are starting to turn on. Early spring is a good time to catch some of the bigger spawning bass. As the water gets warmer later in the spring the top-water bite will get going. Nothing better than watching a bass attack a popper on the surface!
Well now that the boss is back from Vail I think it’s a good time to update the fishing report.
Mid day Gwad from the LCR
The dog days are upon us here in Central Texas and the fishing has been tough. With the summer heat comes warmer water, lower Do2 (dissolved oxygen) and lots and lots of vegetation. The fish get lazy. As it goes when its this hot we tend to do a little more fishing and less guiding. We’ve been sticking (or trying to at least) to half days having the best fishing right at sunrise. That said, it’s been really inconsistent as to when the fishing is good. I recently spent the afternoon with a friend for what was going to be more of a boat ride than a fishing trip as we both were locked in to other stuff till about 11 o’clock. What we thought was the absolute worst time to be fishing turned out to be a pretty productive mid day fishing trip instead of just a boat ride.
We’ve been spending our time on the San Marcos River and the Lower Colorado River as well as some of the local lakes. The Lakes have been productive for us and are a great “plan b”, when the LCR doesn’t look all that great because of the wonky flows and water clarity that is seen this time of year.
Family fun on the San Marcos
Family Fun on the beautiful beautiful San Marcos River
Bull Creek, Lake Austin
Fly fishing Bull Creek, Lake Austin. Austin, Texas.
Bull Creek, Lake Austin.
Fly fishing Bull Creek, Lake Austin. Austin, texas
Perch Jerk'n the San Marcos
State Record Rio
Mid Day LCR G'wad
Fly fishing for Guadalupe Bass on the Lower Colorado River. Austin, Texas.
Lower Colorado River Large Mouth
Fly fishing for Large mouth bass on the Lower Colorado river in Austin, Texas
A "didn't expect that" White bass
Fly fishing for White Bass from the Lower Colorado River.
Matching the hatch LCR style
We’ve also been all over the map on what’s been working. Surface and subsurface have both paid off without rhyme or reason. Needless to say we’re all looking forward to what’s just around the corner. We had an unbelievable fall last year and we don’t see any reason why this fall should be any different so book a trip now as were already filling up November.
So, in a nut shell, It’s tough out there but we’re still catching fish.
As I sit here writing this report it’s raining—AGAIN! It’s rained more this October than any October I can remember. Not complaining — all this rain is a blessing and the entire Texas Hill Country needs lots more rain. Our rain to date has given the aquifer a good shot and the flows on area rivers are slowly coming up. This in combination with cooler temperatures — water and air — have got the big bass eating top-water flies like there was no tomorrow. I have been hitting the San Marcos and Colorado Rivers — in between torrential rains — and the fishing has been excellent.
I began the month with a father and son outing on the lower San Marcos River with Brent Davis (father) and Nate Davis (son) of Liberty Hill Texas. I knew the 9.5 mile trip would be long and with a flash flood a week prior to the trip there would be plenty of new river hazards to add to our adventure. The latter was to hold true as the flash flood had downed plenty of old growth pecan trees that offered up some exciting rafting. The fish must have not had good meal in several days — courtesy of the flash flood — because we started hooking bass right from the get-go. I can’t recall a recent trip where we caught the quantity and quality of bass as on this trip. Nate ended the day with a personal best — a monster large-mouth that was fooled by a well-presented diver-frog pattern on a Mystic 5wt rod. Having two very accomplish fly-fisherman on board and a river full of eager bass is my idea of Utopia.
Well, the rain has been consistent, which means guiding has been a little less frequent. With water clarity just a few days away we should put together some epic bass trips before all attention turns to rainbow trout on the Guadalupe River. Looking forward to just a few more monster bass on poppers before the holiday season closes out our bass fishing until spring.
Happy Halloween everyone and please remember to go through your kid’s candy and taste test them all just to be safe. Here's a tasty treat for your eyes that I like to call "bass-candy-corn".
