Mrmyke709
1,000+ Posts
Spent the afternoon on the San Marcos River Saturday. It's one of my favorite spots to chill out and relax. As I loaded the kayak with "provisions", there was a group of about 25-30 guys preparing to run down river. Talk about a Plastic Navy...they had no idea what they were doing, and one guy said, "The guy who knows the river didn't make it"...I imagine they're still out near Staples somewhere, running out of water and beer, with banjo music strumming in the background.
I paddled up towards the headwaters at Spring Lake. You can get as far as the diversion dam, after that, the University prohibits access to Aquarena Springs.
Pity..there are some hawgs in there.
[David Attenborough]The springs pump about 225 milllllion gallons of water out of the Edwards Aquifer every day. The cold clear current provides habitat for the endangered Texas Wild Rice. It grows here, and nowhere else.[/David Attenborough]
I parked the yak and started off with a chartreuse woolly booger. The river is full of sunfish, Largemouth and Guadalupe Bass, and Rio Grande perch. The sunfish are very aggressive this time of year. I was nailing them left and right.
But pound for pound, the bass were what I was after. I've seen 6-7 pounders in that river that look like gilled torpedoes. The fast current makes it difficult to get the fly down to them. And, if you go too deep, it snags in the duckweed.
After catching a few sunfish, I changed tactics and put on a surface popper. If you work it across a bed with a fishy in it, it usually pisses 'em off.
Sewell Park was "interesting" as usual.
I floated down to my regular spot and worked the south bank. There's a nice undercut by the tree line. After a few more perch, I saw a flash of silver, and the rod bowed under the load.
Crikey. 4 pound test tippet will snap like spiderweb, so I let her run into the grass. She felt big, but it's hard to tell. I try not to play them too much, the big bass tire quickly. She finally came to the boat. As I lipped her, the popper came right out. After a quick pic, I resuscitated her and let her go to fight another day.
Not too shabby for the first bass of the year.
I floated downriver a bit, just to relax afterwards. A couple was telling me to avoid a weed raft, they said, "There's a water moccasin over there". I was skeptical..that water is too cold. But, there was a good sized rat snake sunning itself. I thought it was dead until I splashed water on it...he lifted his head and tasted the air. I moved away and let him finish his nappy. Best to let sleeping snakes lie.
I usually stop fishing and enjoy the view farther down, since there are people floating in that stretch. The bird watching was nice.
This is a Yellow Crowned Night heron, or as I call him.."Mr. Pimpadelic"...the male is quite flamboyant when he does a mating display.
All in all, it was a perfect day on the river.
I paddled up towards the headwaters at Spring Lake. You can get as far as the diversion dam, after that, the University prohibits access to Aquarena Springs.
Pity..there are some hawgs in there.
[David Attenborough]The springs pump about 225 milllllion gallons of water out of the Edwards Aquifer every day. The cold clear current provides habitat for the endangered Texas Wild Rice. It grows here, and nowhere else.[/David Attenborough]
I parked the yak and started off with a chartreuse woolly booger. The river is full of sunfish, Largemouth and Guadalupe Bass, and Rio Grande perch. The sunfish are very aggressive this time of year. I was nailing them left and right.
But pound for pound, the bass were what I was after. I've seen 6-7 pounders in that river that look like gilled torpedoes. The fast current makes it difficult to get the fly down to them. And, if you go too deep, it snags in the duckweed.
After catching a few sunfish, I changed tactics and put on a surface popper. If you work it across a bed with a fishy in it, it usually pisses 'em off.
Sewell Park was "interesting" as usual.
I floated down to my regular spot and worked the south bank. There's a nice undercut by the tree line. After a few more perch, I saw a flash of silver, and the rod bowed under the load.
Crikey. 4 pound test tippet will snap like spiderweb, so I let her run into the grass. She felt big, but it's hard to tell. I try not to play them too much, the big bass tire quickly. She finally came to the boat. As I lipped her, the popper came right out. After a quick pic, I resuscitated her and let her go to fight another day.
Not too shabby for the first bass of the year.
I floated downriver a bit, just to relax afterwards. A couple was telling me to avoid a weed raft, they said, "There's a water moccasin over there". I was skeptical..that water is too cold. But, there was a good sized rat snake sunning itself. I thought it was dead until I splashed water on it...he lifted his head and tasted the air. I moved away and let him finish his nappy. Best to let sleeping snakes lie.
I usually stop fishing and enjoy the view farther down, since there are people floating in that stretch. The bird watching was nice.
This is a Yellow Crowned Night heron, or as I call him.."Mr. Pimpadelic"...the male is quite flamboyant when he does a mating display.
All in all, it was a perfect day on the river.
