With the oppressive temperatures in Texas this time of year, my fishing window has shrunk to mornings between 7:00a and about 10:00a. This morning, I ran out to Reimers Ranch to see just how bad this drought affected my new homewater river.
I just couldn’t get out of bed before 8:30 so I didn’t get on the water until around 9:30a. It was already getting very hot. My poor Saab 9-3 wasn’t at home driving on the dusty and dirty roads leading to the river. I avoided bottoming it out multiple times by driving uncomfortably slowly which is so hard to do when you know you will be fishing soon and the only thing gating it is a road.
I got to the parking spot when the temperature was approaching 90. With another 13 degrees to go for the high for the day, I quickly geared up (which now just involves putting my Water Walker Custom Lanyard around my neck and grabbing my Sage rod and Ross reel).
As I peeked over the hill down to the river, I was shocked to see no sign of water – dry.
That couldn’t be. The entire river wouldn’t dry up. I got a better panoramic look and did in fact see the nice blue green water I was accustomed to, albeit very low.
As I expected, nobody was on the water. It was just me and the buzzards which seem to always be nearby when I’m at Reimers Ranch. A little ominous, but I’ve learned to ignore them.
The deeper waters were still deep but the banks were shrinking. The river was turning into a series of ponds. I started fishing the deepest longest pond. I didn’t see many fish beyond some carp-like fish that I still haven’t been able to identify. They weren’t interested in any fly I tried even my goto fly, a mutant white clouser that I created with material that seemed right but not matching any particular recipe. I got a lot of bass and perch following the fly, but to this point, nada.
A family showed up to mess up the peace and quiet I was enjoying (wow, that makes me sound like an old fart) so I went exploring. The river pond I was on terminated so I went to the next one. It was dramatically smaller and very shallow.
If you look closely, you can see fish in this pic.
So, I came across probably the laziest fly fisher’s dream spot (if you dream of small bass on the fly). Sight fishing for doomed fish…. their home was shrinking to the point of inevitable disappearance in the next few weeks.
I caught lots of small fish on my clouser, though nothing over 12 inches.
My first Striper on a fly!
I thoroughly enjoyed my quick trip. The cool water and open casting areas was just what I needed to ride out the unbearable Austin heat.
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