Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Share your fishing adventures, especially ones using antique tackle!
Post Reply
User avatar
Ron Mc
Star Board Poster
Posts: 3384
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:49 am
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Contact:

Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Ron Mc »

I have a couple of places in my back pocket.
Private access to amazing water you never want to abuse, so maybe once a year, maybe every other year, make the phone call and gain access.
Last time was two years ago, when I played this trump card for filming a tv show - it was great.
Yesterday, I took three best friends back to this place - the hill country retreat of a tv preacher. My friend who gets us in produces his video, but couldn't make it, though he made the right calls and gave us the gate code - must make it up to him...


It's an impoundment on an aquifer recharge creek - the water percolates in and out of the limestone for many miles, and downstream from here it completely disappears, until it re-emerges in the coastal plain.
It's stocked with big, educated bass, and is some of the best sight-fishing I know of anywhere.
The top end of the impoundment is wadable on the flagstone, after you get through the quicksand around the banks.
Image
Alex was fishing XUL, extreme ultralight spinning gear built on a 3-wt. fly blank, and he was the first into big bass.
Image
Image
Image
The pod bass here are big - 3 to 5 lbs, and it's the little ones that are solitary. I guess I photographed my first fish of the day, but leaving a pair in the wading water and hiking down to the lower dam with Jimbo, I got into my first pod bass (along with several others), and my best fish of the day.
Image
I was fishing my canon for the long casts, a Japanese glass inshore para 6/7 with a Teeny sinking line.
When I hook up one of these pod bass, I always say "this one's got shoulders"
Image
she left with plenty of fight
Image
I think Jimbo had the toughest day and later would bust the far bank to finally find his pod bass - sorry I didn't get photos of it...
This place is a spiritual retreat - holy ground. Later in the morning, a gang of kids hiking the lower creek with one of the moms came up to watch us fish, just in time to see Ewell with a nice catfish.
Image
(I guess I did get Jimbo taking Ewell's photo)
and this was from Ewell's perspective
Image
And me doing what I do best - fishing with an audience
Image
never to disappoint - we let the kids release all the fish
Image
Ewell was fishing a gorgeous venerable Phillipson fiberglass rod, and, while it wouldn't have been my choice for this water, he made great use of it with long casts and big fish.
Image
Leaving Jimbo in the bushes, we headed back up to check on Alex's progress. Intrepid wading had put him in the spot Jimbo really wanted, and we watched Alex catch 9 big pod bass in a row, making him the star of the day.
Image
Image
After this we hiked back to the lower dam to extricate Jimbo from his brush bust on the far bank, so we could go to lunch - we were all hearing the chicken fried steak call. Jimbo wanted just 5 more casts from the dam. He doesn't count fish the same way he counts casts, but that's OK, we all caught a few more before we left.
Ewell with his last fish of the day, sporting a smile big enough for all of us
Image

Jimbo finally found the pod bass on the far bank
Image

and a photo Jimbo took of me, Alex and Ewell enjoying our iced tea while we wait for our CFS at Old Spanish Trail in Bandera
Image

A great day on holy ground.
User avatar
john elder
Star Board Poster
Posts: 8541
Joined: Mon Sep 22, 2003 2:44 pm

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by john elder »

Looks like yet another fun for all, Ron! I'm still amazed when you guyz report catching catfish on a fly rod with artificial bait...all the cats i ever caught required stnking and bottom-dragging stuff!
User avatar
Ron Mc
Star Board Poster
Posts: 3384
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:49 am
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Contact:

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Ron Mc »

clear water and channel cats, John.
We can sight-fish them. They also usually feed near the top. When flows are rising and the water goes turbid, we catch them right up against the bank on top.
Image
Don Champion
Ultra Board Poster
Posts: 1637
Joined: Thu Oct 09, 2003 2:22 pm
Location: Salisbury, NC

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Don Champion »

Nice photos Ron. John, I've caught them on crank baits fishing for bass.
Reel Geezer
Ultra Board Poster
Posts: 2313
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2003 11:06 pm
Location: On the Snake River or Lake Lowell
Contact:

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Reel Geezer »

John, I caught a 28" channel cat yesterday on a plastic worm. I see them all summer feeding on top.
Capt. Kirk
Advanced Board Poster
Posts: 104
Joined: Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:55 am
Location: taylorville illinois

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Capt. Kirk »

Great pictures and story Thanks. Looks like good Kayak water also. Channel cats are great predator fish and hunt at all levels of the water column. I catch a lot of them Crappie fishing with jigs and minnows.
User avatar
Ron Mc
Star Board Poster
Posts: 3384
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:49 am
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Contact:

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Ron Mc »

We had kind of a beating wind on Sunday - all the bass fishers were posting it was a good day to stay home. I kayak a lot, but to me it's a taxi - I'm a wade fisherman, and not really fond of fishing from boats.
The wind was not a real problem for our fishing, since it was coming right up the creek canyon and loading our casts out to the deep.
I understand about channel cats feeding the whole column, but to differentiate them from yellows and mudcats, they are moving water fish in the rivers.
Image
Fishinintexas
Frequent Board Poster
Posts: 41
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:59 pm

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Fishinintexas »

Hey Ron i just saw this post and though i would comment on the two keepers
at the table behind yall lol. Seriously nice fish. Hmm close to Bandera. Im gonna have to keep my eyes open. Amazing water, there are a couple of places on the llano like that but, a lot warmer water I'm sure.
mountaingirl
Frequent Board Poster
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun May 05, 2013 7:44 pm

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by mountaingirl »

WOW! What a Retreat! I was thinking the same thing that John was when I read that you were catching Catfish on a fly rod. My dad caught most of his on set poles with worms and grasshopper. You know the old Sappa Creek fishin'! Amazing! Where they strike and drag like John said. We lived right on the Sappa Creek so it was a daily for him. Put food on the table too! :)
User avatar
Midway Tommy D
Star Board Poster
Posts: 3135
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:23 pm
Location: Eastern NE

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Midway Tommy D »

It doesn't surprise me, although I've never actually gone after cats with fly gear. In the NE & IA area a similar scenario exists with what ole' timers call "diddy poles". A willow pole, basically the same thing that some call a bank line but with a hook only, no weight, so that the bait rides on top in the current. 6-8' long, stick them in the bank and the catfish come to the top to get it. Very high hooking percentage since the cats are coming up and then usually heading back down. The willow pole spring tension gets them just about every time.

I have caught numerous catfish on frog, and other, colored lazy ikes while fishing cattail/reed edges for bass. :D
User avatar
Ron Mc
Star Board Poster
Posts: 3384
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2004 7:49 am
Location: downtown Bulverde, Texas
Contact:

Re: Hill Country Trump Card (long and photo-rich)

Post by Ron Mc »

previous time I fished there, we filmed part of an episode of KT Diaries
It was a good show, with sight-fishing and even a shot of the fish taking a bottom-bounced fly.
These of course are Jimbo's camera videos while we were filming the show
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
We had fished the previous day on Seidensticker's Ranch for Guadalupe bass, but had to get some bigger fish on camera and we got everything they needed in 90 minutes.

Big fish do live here
Image
Image

But in the trip in the opening post, I was really glad I got to take Alex- he had heard us talking about this place too many times.
Post Reply