Back to Back Trips

During this week of unbelievable weather Brady and I took back to back trips, one to Port Aransas and one back to the Medina River. On the Port A. trip Brady and I tried some near by rigs outside the jetties. Well, it didn’t take long for Brady to projectile vomit his two Whataburger bacon and egg tacos. Yummy! I trolled a lure on a spinning rod while circling two different rigs. No fish seen and no hits on the lure. The gulf was choppy and the current was rippin’. At the jetties there were bait fishermen doing well but our flies and lures were not near as productive. Plan C was to check out some shorelines on the back side of St. Joe Island and that turned out pretty well. Near Mud Island we found a wadable flat and we were on fish immediately. I was a little burned out by the failed plans A and B so I thought I’d just throw the spinning rod. That turned out well and a lot less effort than the fly rod. I can’t get over the versatility of this ultra-lite G. Loomis rod I’ve been using. It’s a 3 piece, 6’3’’, 2-6 pound line, 1/32-1/4 ounce lure weight, medium fast action, Escape series spinning rod. It normally retails for$310. A little pricy but its quality is hard to match.

This morning I had the idea that we were going to stick to walking/wading the riverbed and do a little exploring. This I've done on a lot of Texas rivers, with the headwaters of the Guadalupe near Hunt being my favorite and the upper Nueces a close second. The land owners on the lower Medina however keep their river under lock and key. You are likely to have your vehicle towed, be shot at, or have the local law waiting for you somewhere when you venture out this way. Brady and I had to abandon our plan A and revisit more familiar water on the river as a plan B. We still did pretty well but no new water tapped.

Cottontail Creek, Colorado

If it were not for my Simms clothing I would have been miserable! My only grief was ice forming on my guides, though how bad of a day can you be having if this is your only problem? A long pothole riddled dirt road took us to the meadows section of this creek. This stretch of water was out of a storybook, a trout storybook. In fact I may read the book Trout Magic, by John D. Voelker again, with these images in mind. Again we were fishing nymphs under indicators. Ben introduced me to a new type of indicator, The Thingamabobber! I was hesitant to try it but it is now my new indicator. Simply, it casts well, it floats well, readjusts well, and is easy to put on and take off. It comes in three sizes and a hand full of colors. What more could anyone ask?

Ben and I leapfrogged up stream from pool to run. Much of the fishing was working obvious trout lies, but Ben was sharp enough to spot a few that we sight casted to. The nice brown trout above was on a redd (bed) when I spotted it. On my second drift it was on. I was pretty excited to say the least, and you know the rest. It was hard to leave this place knowing that the next few days were going to be clear and that there was much productive water that we hadn’t covered. That was my first of what hopefully will be more visits here.
By the way, I mostly fished a stone fly nymph and a copper john, in case you were wondering.

Rio Bravo del Norte

Just when you think you have seen it all, there appears a more beautiful place with more beautiful fish to enjoy. Until now I had never made an effort to fish the Rockies, or the Midwest for that matter. Maybe it was because I felt that I started fly fishing late in life and I had less time to do it all. I needed to jump the middle and get to the end just in case I ran out of time, and that’s why I’ve spent so much time in Alaska. Well, New Mexico has proven me wrong. This was not the rat race I thought it might be. It was pristine, quiet, and peaceful. It reminded me that there is a link between spirituality and fly fishing.
Rio Bravo is the Mexican name for the first river Ben and I fished. From where we parked, the trail head took us down a steep and winding path to the river. There was fresh snow on the ground and the temperature started below freezing. Ben had set me up with a few nymph fly patterns and indicator. It was my job to recall the method of the drag free drift. For those of you who are not familiar with this technique, it is drifting your fly below the surface and mending your floating fly line on the surface in order not to affect the fly, or flies. You want your bug to be drifting in the current as if it is not connected to anything and its path only influenced by invisible eddies and the natural flow. This is not always easy, but always extremely important.

Also important is the fighting and landing of a wild and excited fish. Just remember, you are not in control. You just have to concentrate on the task and not think about getting the camera or carrying on a conversation with your fishing partner. Naturally, it is acceptable if he or she is giving you important information that increases the chance of you landing the fish. (above) My friend Ben Casarez fights a trophy fish that unfortunately he will not land. I can vouch for the size. The hook popped out as he was leveraging the fish away from the downstream chute. Ben was heartbroke but he will have another chance another day.

Ben is a fly fishing guide in northern New Mexico, and he frequents trout waters in neighboring states. Ben was living in Austin, Texas before following his true ambitions. If you need a good guide in that area, look him up!