Texas Light Tackle Adventures

I ended the year guiding on the San Marcos River.  After my trip, I was chomping at the bit to get on a nearby river and try to catch my first fish of the year.  On January 2, 2009 my good friend Gerardo Huerta gave me a call.  He said that he and his father were going to fish a local river and I was welcome to tag along.  I could not decide if I wanted to chunk the old fly rod or a spinning rod.  I packed both.  I also threw a kick boat in my truck.  I could not wait until the morning. 

As I was leaving my neighborhood, I received a call from Gerardo.  He said that his dad was not able to go fishing.  My heart froze, I thought he was going to cancel the trip.  He stated that he was going fishing and he would be happy for me to have the empty seat in his canoe.  I told him to save my seat and I would be at his home within the hour. 

We made plans to be on the river by 10 AM.  It has been cool here in Central Texas, so we decided that we would let the river warm up.  We also had a limited amount of time to fish, due to the fact that my wife wanted me home at a decent hour and Gerardo had plans with his wife as well.  We decided that we would spin fish as we did not have the time to ply the depths with our fly rods.  We both loaded a fly rod just in case an opportnity for a good fish presented itself. 

We found ourselves on the river slightly after 10 AM. 

Looking upstream

The weather was beautiful.  I did fish with my Sage Smallmouth Fly Rod and a fly that I tied.  The fly was a black rabbit zonker/black schlappen, lite brite, and dumbell eyes.   I did get a small bass to strike the fly, but I soon switched to the spinning rod to cover more water.  I was using a small bass colored Bass Assassin.  Gerardo had a small brown and white jig.  We decided that we would have most of the water column covered with our choices of lure. 

As soon as I started fishing with the spinning rod, I got a hit from a nice Guadalupe Bass.  I missed the fish, but was happy as it was a great sign for the rest of the day.  I told Gerardo that I wanted to get a picture of our first fish of the year, no matter how small they might happen to be.  Gerardo agreed.  Gerardo continued to paddle me downstream.  We came to a nice run that flowed alongside a beautiful cliff.  I made a cast to the deepest part of the run.  My lure was immediately attacked by another very nice Guadalupe Bass.  I missed the fish again.  I made a few more casts and was hit by a different fish on every cast.  I missed every fish.  Gerardo said that if I missed another fish, he was going to make a cast over me with his fly rod.  I told him to make a cast, since I was sucking.  Gerardo made a cast with his 4 weight rod (TFO?)  He was using a small fly that consisted of a tan zonker and lead eyes.  The fly was smashed immediately, by the smallest fish in the hole.  I asked to get a photo.  Gerardo was happy to oblige. 

 I could not catch a fish, so I decided to paddle Geardo downstream.  Gerardo fished, but he told me to keep my spinning rod handy just in case we saw a fish.  We came to a very nice run that was about 3-4 feet deep and strewn with boulders, river willow, and some wood laydowns.  Gerardo stated that he wanted to use a Bass Assassin.  I picked up my rod and started to hand it to him.  He told me that he wanted me to take a few casts.  I made a  cast to a laydown of wood.  A nice Smallmouth Bass shot out of the wood and grabbed the lure.  The fish did not take the lure fully into its mouth.  I saw the lure hanging out of the fishes mouth, but I set the hook just in case.  I pulled the lure right out of the fishes mouth.  As I reeled in the line, I noticed that I had a loop and a knot in my fishing line.  I was using Spiderwire.  I normally use monofilament.  I could not get the knot out.  I pulled the line and the loop cinched down on the main line.  I wondered if a knot in Spiderwire would cause a break in the line like monofilament.  I decided that I would fish with the knot in order to test my theory.  Immediately after I decided to test my theory, I saw a large Smallmouth Bass cruising the bank towards a large boulder that was half in and half out of the water.  I made a cast to the fish.  The Bass Assassin landed a couple of feet in front of the fish.  I twitched the lure and I saw a large bronze shadow rise up under the lure.  The bass sucked in the lure, like it was blowing a kiss to the air.  I set the hook.  The big bass shook its head trying to throw the lure.  The fish jumped and we both knew it was large.  I got the fish close to the canoe.  I told Gerardo that the fish did not know she was hooked.  As soon as I got the fish close to the boat the fish took off like a bat out of hell.  I kept telling myself that I hoped my line held.  A little less than two minutes, I boated the fish.  I think Gerardo was more excited than me.  I lifted the fish.  “First fish of the year,” I exclaimed.  Gerardo stated that he loved this particular river and that my fishing was going to go down hill for the rest of the day.  I told Gerardo that I did not care, as I would not fish for the rest of the day. 

20 inch smallmouth bass.

I paddled Gerardo for the rest of the day.  We looked for a nice fish, but could not find one immediately. Gerardo only had one small hit from what looked like a White Bass.  We continued fishing.  I then saw a bream and a nice bass sitting under it.  I whispered, “Jerry nice fish at the rock!”  Gerardo made a perfect cast.  Gerardo was using my rod and Bass Assasin.  He twitched the lure and the bass exploded on the surface.  Gerardo fought the fish perfectly.  “Damn dude,”  I said “not bad for the second fish of the year.”  

“Yeah” Gerardo replied, “I am ready to go home.”  I took a picture of the fish.  Gerardo released the fish and we ended our day early.   I am looking forward to the rest of 2009.