11/8/09 Flyfishing Salado at Jame's Park

I really wanted to hit the creek this past weekend and give my 7' Horrocks Ibbotson and fly reel another shot at catching a fish (reel is basically a Medalist clone). This is a nice rod that even though it is short, it can cast to the backing on a good day. I thought that it was a little rough on presentations but I found it was just likely my poor casting that was to blame. Once I relaxed and didn't rush the cast, the fly landed nicely on the water.

Fishing under the Rittimin Road bridge yielded a few small bites, there used to be several Rios and Red Ear perch in this pool but maybe the recent rains had displaced them. Moving downstream I saw a nice foot long bass and decided to get in the creek near that point. Well of course in moving up I spooked a nice 3-4 pound bass and a slightly smaller one, then it started to rain. I guess it just wasn't my day. The creek looked great and the water is at a nice level and was gin clear, I'm hoping I can get another day or 2 of fishing in there before it starts getting cold and I'll turn to fishing for Trout.

11/07/09 Walk at Eisenhower Park

I had reserved a spot on a nature walk at Eisenhower park this past Saturday, it was supposed to start at 9AM. Well no one showed so I went ahead and walked the perimeter trail around the park and an additional trail for about a 3 mile hike that day. I was hoping to maybe learn about a few native plants in the area and some other interesting information but it wasn't to be I guess. Note to self, next time I reserve a spot I'll make sure I call the day before to ensure they are going to have the walk. It was a shame because Saturday morning was such a great day for a flyfishing trip.

The walk was enjoyable and reminded me I'm still out of shape but I'm working on it. There were a few ripe prickly pears so I went ahead and tried one and found it wasn't as sweet as it looked. Eisenhower park is a nice place to go for a hike but is was more crowded then I cared for.

10/25/09 Cibolo Creek

Hello again, this morning I hit the Cibolo Nature Center to try and hookup with some Guadalupe bass. My local creek is still muddy and I was figuring the Cibolo would be a little clearer and luckily it was. Taking my Southfork #5 flyrod I hit the creek with some waders on, first time using them this fall. Luckly, for some cheap $25 waders, they are still holding up (Albright has amazing sales sometimes and pretty good equipment as well).

The Guadalupe Bass eluded me but there were plenty of nice red bellied perch willing to hit on a Muddler Minnow and later they hit on a black leech pattern. I got a little bit of Trout practice mending some line and floating a dry fly down a few riffles to catch a few perch as well. One thing is for sure, with all this rain and lack of fishing, my casting has reverted back to being really poor- guess I'll just have work on it.

10/9/09 Lost Maple Primitive Camping

Hello again, this is a late entry but the weekend of the 9th I had reserved a primitive campsite at Lost Maples State Natural Area. With all the rain we had I was afraid that the park would be closed so I called an hour before I planned to leave. Luckily the park was not flooded so I headed out there.

This trip taught me a lot about hiking in camping, namely to pack as light as possible. I had brought moving dolly, stapped my ice chest, tent, backpack, fishing rod, and other items to it and had to haul it in about 2 miles to the camp site- that really sucked. Other backpackers had nothing but their packs and this intrigued me so I asked one young lady from a local college that was there for a backpacking class (what an awesome course to be able to take in college, lol). Other people were simply just using water filtration and getting their water from one of the several creeks in the park- this negated the need for the ice chest. They also packed in dehydrated food- I was living off of beef jerky, mixed nuts, cereal bars, and coffee, lol, but I'm not too hard to please I guess.

I had brought my fly-rod and a packable ultralight spinning reel. That area in the pick was like a wind-tunnel so it was really hard to cast the fly-rod and I didn't have any luck catching fish. Using the ultralight spinning reel with some bait got some bites and the next morning I hooked and broke off what looked to be a nice catfish of about 5 pounds. There were many nice chunky small bass in that water as well but they were not biting.

Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I hope to do it again soon. The next time I'll use the lessons I learned to pack lighter and have an easier time getting into my camping spot.

9/26/09 Trip to Fredericksburg

Sorry for the late post, been a little lazy the past week or so. That weekend my wife and I met up with her sister her husband to check out Enchanted Rock and enjoy a kid free weekend. I had hoped to get some fishing in but driving into town I saw the Perdanales River was looking like chocolate milk and I had hoped the creek in Ladybird park would be a little nicer. Well I was wrong, the creek was very muddy also and I only managed to catch a small perch.

Enchanted Rock was as pretty and scenic as I remembered it to be and it made the trip all worth while. It sucks getting older, I remember climbing the rock in my late teens and early 20's with little effort but here in my later 30's I was shown how out of shape I've become. Sitting behind a desk these past 2 years at work has taken it's toll, lol. I had hoped to get in more fishing this past weekend (10/03/09) but the rain had the rivers and creeks too high, not that I'm complaining about the rain though.

Hopefully I'll have another update this weekend.

9/20/09 Flyfishing the Creek

Today I got a late start but wanted to go for a walk along the creek and get in a little fly-fishing while I was at it. The mosquitoes were out in full force again and even after a healthy coating of Skintastic these guys kept coming. This time I was more prepared and put on some Deep Woods Off lotion I had in my smaller pack to keep them at bay. Fishing wasn't all that great with my late start but I did catch a few greenies and a few red-bellied perch on a hopper pattern.

It was great to see the creek up at a nice volume of water, I was beginning to get afraid that the fish would die off with the drought. My mind was set at ease when I saw a pair of 4-5lb bass together in the shallows, it isn't a great picture but you can see them circled in the picture above. A nice channel catfish around 5lbs was also seen along with a few of his smaller siblings, it was a great morning walk and I'm glad I got out.

9/19/09 A little more about the creek

I thought I'd add a little more information about Salado creek here. This creek has some history, besides being used by the local native population, some battles for Texas's independence were fought along it's banks- many of which are just a mile or so from my home. Along the creek are 2 markers at the bridge on Austin HWY detailing a massacre of Texas troops by the Mexican army, they were awaiting reinforcements before suffering the attack and only a small few Texans were able to escape with their lives. Posted above here is a marker found along Holbrook Road, the marker details that the last battle to repel a Mexican invasion was fought there. Apparently after the Mexican army had defeated the Texas army upstream they had ran into the men who were set to reinforce the Texans. Luckily the Texans won and were able to stop the advance of the Mexican army that was on it's way to Austin.

This creek is also home to many different fish, there are all kinds of perch (red bellies, long ears, rock bass, greenies, etc...), channel catfish, carp, gar, largemouth bass, Kentucky bass, and Rio Grande perch also roam the stream. Rio Grandes are a fish mostly native to Texas although some are also found in Louisiana as well, they have a pretty color to them and look grey in the water. I have a good picture of a RIO posted above by the other picture of the marker, these are some fiesty fish on the end of the rod but can be very finicky on taking a lure or fly. The creek's geology varies along it's path as well. Along Holbrook road and in some spots upstream it has a limestone bottom but further down it changes to mud or gravel. Well, I guess that's it for now, I'll try to post more soon.

9/19/09 Starting the blog

Hello, I decided to give this blogging a try if for nothing else to log my time spent fishing or outdoors in general. I picked Salado Creek Fisherman as the title as it is a nice little creek close to the house that I frequent. This creek is where I caught my first fish and where I learned how to fish. It has luckily lasted the years and not suffered through the development that it could have being located in a large city. In fact, many of the areas my father and I used to walk and fish have now been turned into parks with some walking trails. This is a little bitter-sweet, as while I like that others may get to enjoy this area as I have, I do sometimes miss having it almost to ourselves. With others having such easy access to the areas though it makes it more likely for people to leave their trash and other debris around.

Well I wanted to add that this morning I had planned to do some wade fly-fishing at the creek in the area of the picture posted above. Rain was the furthest thing from my mind today until I saw that it was coming down this morning and after verifying there was no flash-flood risk I went anyways. A great lesson was learned today though, one I had learned previously but always seem to forget- always have bug spray with you. Now I had bug spray in my other fishing bag but today I brought my vest so I could fit my old camera in it and neglected to bring the bug spray. Well these nasty critters were buzz bombing me big time in a way that Texas mosquitoes seem to be great at and between them and the rain not letting up I was run off of the creek. The rain I could live with, but I'm not going to stand there all morning being a meal to mosquitoes. The good thing about it is I got home and started the page, I hope to have weekly or more frequent updates and will discuss fishing along this creek, Cibolo Creek, and a few other places. The discussion here may not all be fishing related, I may talk about my walk along the creek or other outdoor related things going on. Thank you for looking.