South San Gabriel River 9-23-09

Went down to the in laws for the night because the wife had a meeting in Austin. A cold front was supposed to hit North Texas on Monday that was going to bring some storms. I weighed in the idea of going early Teal hunting or fishing the river. I chose fishing because of the recent rains and it is mainly wade fishing, before long it will be getting to cool. Monday night I watched the electrical storm from the back porch that was amazing. I new the front would hit here sometime in the early morning. Sure enough about 4AM it hit pretty hard and rained for over an hour. I got up at 6AM with a flashlight to see if the water was high and muddy. It seemed OK, but the radar was showing a good coverage of rain still. I made the call and had the wife drop me off about a mile and a quarter downstream. I hopped in and the air temp is about 63 degrees. Not that cold, but for this time of year in Texas, that is freezing and while still raining and wading, I was chilly. I did not expect to much, but couldn't help passing it up. I jump in and trekked up stream. I used a fluke exclusively on this trip, I have never stuck with one bait the whole time here. I noticed a few small fish chasing at the first hole and that made me feel positive. A few casts later I had a small Largemouth on. A couple casts later I caught a Big Ole Red Ear, never caught one on this river before. Headed to the next hole, this one has big fish potential. I catch a small Largemouth and on the next cast I feel a good thump and I miss it. I am mad because the rain was coming down pretty good and I thought that was my chance of the day. I scare off a nice bass wading through a nice section of ledges and spot another one about a pound or so and cast to him and he hits. Got him, but no more from this hole. The next hole is really shallow so I don't expect much. Second cast I pull in a small Guadalupe. Next cast, I stuck a real nice Guadalupe, lil over a pound. I head to the next hole and expect a couple of decent fish. Nothing at all from the good spots, the last flood changed the river some. I get to the end of the hole and the flow coming into the hole is kinda fast, but shallow. I make a cast into the riffles and stick a small Guadalupe, as I get him near the bank a 2# Largemouth came from the shadows and tries to eat him. It was cool to watch. So I watch where he goes, I release the small fish and here he comes again and dang near eats the Guadalupe. I pitch my Fluke out and he follows it, I stop it, let it fall to the bottom and he is watching it. I twitch it really fast and he nails it. Easy pic-kens, but a fun episode to witness. On the next hole I catch a few more Guads and a decent Largemouth. I reached the last hole and catch a Largemouth about 2.5# about 4 ft in front of me while wading. I am convinced fish are not really scared of you wading in the water and it is Gin clear. All in all, a much better day than expected and landed about 15 fish, it was 50/50 between Guads and Largemouth which was nice to see.