accomplished my New Year's resolution

Share your fishing adventures, especially ones using antique tackle!
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Ron Mc
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accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

I was catching dinks on dry flies last Sunday and that was a lot of fun,

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but I wanted to start the New year off with a bruiser.



I did.
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He came out of this little bitty pocket
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I caught several others, all in riffle water.
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Not much for hatches, but saw a few caddis, BWOs and our interminable size 40 midges. Everything I caught New Year's morning was on a swimming BWO.
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I was done in time to drop by my mom's house for ham, candied yams, blackeyed peas, and cornbread.

Happy New Year !
Don Champion
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Don Champion »

You start showing those photos again and Kelly will be down there to fish with you. Nice to see those this time of the year though. Nice fish Ron.
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john elder
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by john elder »

gorgeous, as usual, Ron! It's amazing to me...Mr. still water...to see what you can catch out of a riffle like that! Doesn't even seem that water would hold anything! I need to get out more!
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

if Kelly wants to join me, she's invited. There will be a group of Trout in the Classroom teachers driving down from Longview on Thursday to get trout eggs from me.
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Kelly L
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Kelly L »

Oh man, I am JEALOUS Ron. We don't get trout like that here. Thanks for the invite. That is today though. I'm swamped right now. (with stuff to do) Ron, one of these days, I'd like to go fishing with you. You can bring your wife, your girls, your cat. Just take me with y'all...rotfl. A little bird told me about this thread. Otherwise I wouldn't have known. I am on so many forums, it is hard to keep up with. I wish I had fishing here, like you do in your part of Texas. We do have the Sabine here, but it is not safe for me to go fishing by myself. There are some bad characters who go there. We have little stocked trout here. I do mean little. They are meant for the kids to fish for mostly, I believe. We do have some good sized bass in my neck of the woods though.
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by keebranch »

Very nice!

There are some big fish in the Guad. Is that male a hold-over?

Les
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

not to downplay catching dinks on dries last Sunday.
It's a drought phenomenon that just showed up with our low flows last year.
http://reeltalk.orcaonline.org/viewtopi ... =9&t=11768
But it seems to be back this year, same section of the river - in fact, the very same near-bank slicks.

On Sunday, I waded up to the first far bank slot and saw four little trout rising. They wouldn't take a wet fly, but caught one when I switched to a dry. This motivated me to head upriver and look for more risers.
I passed a dad with two young boys (one his) and they were shut out for the day. I told them what I had just done, where I was going and why. The boys, William and Will followed me upriver and got excited when they saw me catching fish. They were so gentlemanly and I had to talk them into fishing closer to me, talked them into switching to dries, size and color, and talked them into stepping over to reach the far bank slick.
Will ended up catching more than I did, but to me, that's more fun than catching...
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Hi Les, he has enough battle scars and came from the right area to be a holdover.
But I also know the hatchery sent us a higher percentage of brood fish than we requested.
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Capt. Kirk »

Really nice, and also nice to the kids, I'm sure you made their day!
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

Kelly, Jan 10 is when White Oak folks are heading this way. I'm meeting them (+ Austin and Houston folks) at Cabelas about noon. Divying up trout eggs and feed, then I'm delivering eggs to San Antonio schools.
I get 2000 eggs from a Washington state hatchery. It takes about half of those for my schools.
The next day, Friday 10th, Jimbo Roberts and volunteers will be planting Vibert boxes in the tailrace with the remaining 1000 eggs. It's a lot of work - they have to clean the gravel as well as a buck rainbow would.
https://www.grtu.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4195
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Jacob : salmonfisher03
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Jacob : salmonfisher03 »

Very nice pictures.
Now I'm counting days for the season to start here. I want out and fish again.

Best
Jacob
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Kelly L
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Kelly L »

Ron, that looks like a great project alright. I can't believe you can put trout eggs in the area, and they
make it in Texas. (well during the hot months anyway) I have been very busy with some projects here.
I can cast with my left, which is my usual. But my right shoulder has been messed up for several weeks.
I thought I injured it, but after x-rays, I found out it is arthritis. I see the rheumatologist Feb 12th. I
may end up getting a shot in the shoulder, not sure yet. (my right shoulder is the one bothering me) Mainly
I am backed up on flies, I have to do some for a large swap, and I haven't nailed down what I'm gonna do yet.
Then I have the Streamers 365 project that I have to do as well. All that sounds good, but I tie with my right
hand, which effects my shoulder. I am not going to be caught up during the time frame you mentioned, sadly.
In the future though, who knows when, I definitely want to go fishing with you. Your photos have made me
jealous, that's for sure...lol.
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

Kelly, here are fish spawning in the Guadalupe

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and I believe this to be a river-spawned trout
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Kelly L
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Kelly L »

Ron, that is amazing. None of our trout here last through the summer. Maybe you have deep cool holes that they can hide in? I am not far from the tri-state borders of LA, AR, OK. I didn't think our summers were any hotter than your summers were.
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

Canyon dam is a tailwater - the water comes out of the bottom of the lake.
Plus there are cold springs.
But in a year with 200 cfs flows through the summer, we holdover 12-16 miles of trout.
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Kelly L
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Kelly L »

Wow, that is amazing. Thanks for the info.
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by stonefly »

That is absolutely gorgeous pocket water.What hatches does the river have?
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by stonefly »

Kelly L
Sorry this is off topic but if you haven't already done it try putting ice packs on your shoulder.It helps take out the inflammation.
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

we have size 6 yellow hex, size 10 slate drake, size 12 mayfly, size 14 PMD, caddis ranging from 14 to 20, baetis around 18, tricos at 20 or less, and 70% of the biomass (measured) is midges, seriously down to size 40.
Hatches can be very complicated.
I go out of my way to fish BWO and caddis, because I like swinging wet flies.
April starts damsels (probably 40 species) and dragons, but it also starts the rubber hatch of tubers, so tailrace fishing moves into maybe a monthly crack of dawn explore.
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by stonefly »

When that slate drake comes off do the rainbows key on them and ignore everything else?I've seen them on the river here totally ignoring cahills and just pounding every slate drake that comes by.I've endured the rubber hatch as well.The aluminum hatch is even worse.
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Ron Mc
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For Kelly - trout headed to Longview

Post by Ron Mc »

oh wait, this was something different - last Sunday before the ramped-up flow release and chert made it downriver
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here we go, here is the basic set-up for Trout in the Classroom
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55 gallon aquarium with canister filter
A submersible pump sends water through a 1/3-hp chiller, which keeps the water at 52/53 degrees F.
The net basket holds the eggs until the smolt swim out
Excited helpers unloading a set-up at a middle school
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the tank up and running
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Eggs arrived from Trout Lodge this morning
We have people coming from a long way for these - White Oak outside of Longview is a 6-hour drive, and several hours for our folks from Katy.
We also have tanks in Austin, Round Rock, and San Antonio.
Luckily, you can always count on trout fishermen to meet you at Calebas.
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It was nice of Cabelas to let me set up in the shade.
This is a different kind of tailgating, with trout eggs, trout food in 3 sizes, and stress enzymes for the tank
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the egg box first opened
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you can see their eyes - you could also see the embryos moving inside the eggs
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trout doctor at work
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There really isn't that much to it - thanks so much all the helpers, including Chris Johnson of Living Waters Fly Shop.
We got our jet-lagged embryos packaged up and ready for their drives to their new homes.
I also delivered eggs to San Antonio schools, but class was in session, so no more cool photos.
well, eggs in an aquarium
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The rest of the eggs are going to Jimbo tomorrow morning to be planted in Vibert boxes in the river.

All the fry raised by the schools will be driven again and released in the Guadalupe tailrace.
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Brian F. »

Great photos, Ron. Thanks for sharing.
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

stonefly wrote:When that slate drake comes off do the rainbows key on them and ignore everything else?I've seen them on the river here totally ignoring cahills and just pounding every slate drake that comes by.I've endured the rubber hatch as well.The aluminum hatch is even worse.
the slate drake will pretty much turn off the fish to everything else - their hatches tend to be at the end of the day and somewhat widespread.
The hexes on the other hand, come only from deep, slow pools, and fishing the dry with a #22 midge dropper is the rig that works best, and you split fish evenly between the extreme offerings.

thanks Brian.
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Kelly L
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Kelly L »

Ron, that is simply amazing. You are sure doing work for a great cause. Thank you for sharing the work here, for us to enjoy. You get to reap the rewards later with some great fish. Bravo!
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

btw, the eggs in the aquariums just started hatching yesterday - should take 3-4 days for all of them to hatch (both here and in the river) and they should be free-swimming in about a week.
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Kelly, if you're interested, the thread on GRTU also shows Jimbo and crew planting the balance of about 900 eggs into the Vibert boxes in the river.
https://www.grtu.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4212
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Ron Mc
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Re: accomplished my New Year's resolution

Post by Ron Mc »

so far, our TIC program has put about 600 trout fry in the river this spring.
Here was 150 from last weekend
here's our group from Katy who drove 4 hours to relase 150 3" trout fry into the river (and of course turned around and drove right back...)
We met up at the BBQ stand
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and released the trout in the riffle at Whitewater
When we got there, the kids transferred trout from the big cooler without wheels to the smaller coolers with wheels
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Here's the group at the riffle (including my daughter who gets to go on all these...)
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After we poured river water into the cooler and let the fish acclimate,
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we netted them and released them into the eddys at the edge of the river
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these fish sure are photogenic
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new kids on the block
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and the river is still fishing well - off color here after runoff from a needed rain
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Rod is a Heddon #17 Black Beauty and the reel a Heddon Little Rivers
Last edited by Ron Mc on Tue May 21, 2013 12:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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