Angler Wannabe » Pedernales

Reimers in the Summer

Anglerwannabe — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:36:25 +0000

After a tough week at work, I needed to get out of the house and spend some time on the water. Although I don’t have much to report regarding the fishing, some people might be interested in the water level on the Pedernales. Needless to say, with multiple 100+ days in a row, the water was very low and the fish weren’t active. I did see a couple of hits on the surface, likely attacking dragonflies, but I didn’t land any.

So, here are some pics..

Reimers Ranch in March

Anglerwannabe — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 03:52:47 +0000

Although I had a ton of stuff to do today at work, against my better judgement, I took off early and went out to Reimers Ranch to pick up an annual pass and see if there were any white bass that were hungry for a fly. The $10 a visit admission fee has been adding up lately. I’ve enjoyed every visit out there so what the hell, I brought my $100 check and now can go to the Pedernales any time I want.

I only had about 2 hours before the park closed so I spastically put on my wader pants (the ones I bought from Orvis a while back when I went back to Utah) in the front seat of the Saab. That brings up a point, I really need a 4 wheel drive trout bum-type of vehicle. The Saab just doesn’t fit the bill. I wonder if people in Sweden even go fly fishing in a Saab. I’ll have to check that out some day.

I ran down the hill and saw a frickin Jetski fly by on the river. What? Why would somebody take a Jetski to the Pedernales? Regardless, they only made one pass by so hopefully the fishing wasn’t too ruined.

The water was very still compared to last week but it was still pretty clear. I found a nice spot to enter the river and started fishing. I started with a green Cypert Minnow I tied a few weeks back. Nada. I switched to a white clouser, nothing. A mayfly hatch was starting to come off so I tried a dry fly. That didn’t work though some top water activity was starting to occur. I also tied a white Cypert Minnow in my last tying session so I tied that on. First cast, fish on – my first white bass on the fly. He was a pretty good fighter for a little fish. I had a hard time managing the net, the rod, the fish and the 3GS so the picture below sucks. I need a better solo photo strategy….

After letting the fish go and overhearing a bait caster exclaim “look, the fly fishing guy caught one”, I cast again. Fish on. Another 9″ ish white bass. This is getting fun.

Another cast and I snagged the fly. I ended up breaking off the white Cypert fly and losing it. I took that as a sign to leave. Mission accomplished.

Poor quality pictures follow:

Too much water???!

Anglerwannabe — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:43:17 +0000

On Saturday, I had a little extra time to fill while my son was at a birthday party. So I did some chores around the house. Well, that’s what my wife would have preferred. As you probably guessed, I went fishing.

I decided to run over to Reimers Ranch to check out the Pedernales River. We’ve received a fair amount of rain in Central Texas over the last few months so I was really hoping that conditions would improve from my last visit. Take a look at the pictures in previous posts… the river was almost dry.

Although I didn’t get a fish to even wink at my flies, I enjoyed getting out on the water and casting some flies I tied a few months back. Here are some pictures which illustrate the change in the river. Dramatic…

Pedernales River water level and fishing report

Anglerwannabe — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:35:26 +0000

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.

Reimers Ranch visit – Family Time

Anglerwannabe — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:47:56 +0000

Purpose of the trip today was to start teaching my son, Parker how to fish with a fly rod and flies instead of frozen hot dogs which was his primary bait up to now. Although he’s only 6 (almost 7) he is extremely interested in fly fishing and watching me tie flies so with my crazy passion for this rod waving sport, he’s bound to be an Anglerwannabe Jr soon.

After church, we packed up the Pacifica (or ugly boat as my 18 yr old calls it) and drove the 15 minutes over to Reimer Ranch to practice on the Pedernales River. The weather was sunny, a bit windy and in the high 70′s. Absolutely beautiful Sunday for spending time outdoors.

Parker did great learning to rollcast. It won’t take him long. We used a 5′ 3wt rod that I picked up in VA years back. It’s not the easiest rod to cast but the length was ideal for his height. Here are some pictures of the lessons (taken by my lovely wife, Brittany).

He lasted about 15 to 20 minutes. After that, he was a bit more interested in finding things in and around the water.

Brittany gave it a shot a few times, but with the mismatch of the conehead wooly bugger I tied on after Parker’s lessons, and the gusty wind, she had a difficult time casting it more than about 15 feet. Although I tried to help, she’s a bit stubborn and claimed she already knew how. Best to let her think that and go get my Headwaters Bamboo rod and my newly arrived classic reel and have fun myself.

Did I mention it was sunny?

Brittany took some pictures of me casting the rod, but the loop / casting form is soooo bad that I’m embarrassed to post them. Here is the result of one of the casts…….

A complete and total, um, windknot.

We had a good time and I’m so thrilled that Parker and I can share this sport and obsession. BTW, if any of you have little ones who are interested in fishing or better yet, fly fishing, check out the new site for kids by Trout Unlimited. I just signed him up for TU Stream Explorers membership. I think he’s going to love it.

I have lot’s to blog about coming up in the near future as I’m almost finished with At the River’s Edge book and I also picked up “The Drift” last week and have watched it 3 times already. Reviews are coming soon. I also went in to Sportsman’s Finest on Saturday and picked up “The Fly” which is a book about fly fishing history. I’m a sucker for fly fishing history.

Have a great time on the water this week.