Sabine River Sandbass'n

Had a great time down on the Sabine river this past weekend. Caught plenty of fish and had a great time with with everyone that was able to make the trip. For yall that didn't we will probably make this a yearly trip so mark your calendars for next spring. I'll let the pics do the talking, hope you enjoy the white bass porn. 

Not bad for the first fish of the trip.

An average fish for the Sabine.

One of the better fish at 17"

Lots of fat females.

Camp over looking the river.

Big fish on little rods.

Robert fighting a fish off one of many sandy beaches.

James hooked up.

Did I say these fish were fat.

Lotsa White Bass

James, Evan, Ben and I meet down at the creek today. The white bass are getting thicker in the creek. Not sure how many fish we caught but I think everyone would say we had a good day. White bass fishing is kinda like the dove hunting of fishing. Everyone can sit around in a hole BS'n and catch lots of fish. Its not overly sufficticated fishing and the intensity level is fairly low. When they are biting they will hit about any small baitfish pattern. Everyone gets in plenty of action and we get to watch each other hook up and play fish while giving each other shit about catching limbs on back cast, losing flies and missing fish.

I've always liked the dorsal fins of white bass.

Evan had fun with his 2wt glass rod today. 

Ross Reels

Ben playing a fish. 

One of Bens better white bass. 

James and I doubled up. 

The Whites are in the Creeks

First time this year hitting the creeks looking for sandies. They are there, the fishing is still going to be a little slow for a few more weeks. It will only get better and now is a good time to start zeroing in on them so when the run is in full swing you will have a couple spots nailed down.

They like the mini spinsters

There is nothing to special about tying flies for sand bass. they have small mouths so a size 6-8 hook, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches of bucktail and some flash. the fish do seem to like sparsely tied flies. But if the water is not clear you'll want more bucktail to push more water and produce a better profile.

My white bass fly box.

1. The top fly is a size 8 gama b10s that is all flash on the bottom and just a little bit of chartreuse bucktail on top.

2. I started tying on these 1/32 and 1/16 jig heads because they are cheap and you can tie on some bucktail and flash in just a few seconds. Plus you can find them anywhere and the sandies tear them up.

3. Is your standard clouser

4. New for this year and already working great is the mini spinster.

5. Always throw in a few indicators when the fish aren't super aggressive they can save the day. Just rig the fly to bounce just off the bottom and give it a few twitches now and then. 

Osa Peninsula Costa Rica

The wife and I just got back from a great trip on the Osa Peninsula in Costa Rica. We flew United to Houston and then onto San Jose, Costa Rica. From San Jose we hopped on a small Cessna and flew into Golfito, Costa Rica with Sansa Regional. Then we took about a 40 minute boat ride across the Gulf of Dulce to Port Jeminez. The trip was great with lots of scarlet macaws flying around all over the place, monkeys, tucans, sloths, all kinds of birds, butterflies and I was able to get a little bit of fishing in. We stayed at Iguana Lodge and would recommend it to anyone looking for a true rainforest vacation in southwest Costa Rica. I was able to fish one day and went offshore looking for sailfish. We raised 10 but couldn't get any fish to take a fly. They just weren't all that hot, the sails would come in the teasers and then just kinda fade away before we could get a fly in the water. I did catch a blue fin trevally while free lining some bait on a 30lb trolling rig. It is a cool fish that I've always wanted to catch on a flyrod, unfortunately it wasn't the best fight on the heavy trolling rod meant for much larger fish. Check out the pics below for the rest of the trip.

Ready for take off. 

Flying into Golfito.

Everyone recording the landing, which was into

a small runway in the middle of the jungle. 

Pacific Ocean, Clouds and Mountains. 

View from the room. 

Relaxing

 Beautiful Beaches 

The Wife and a monkey. 

This monkey would point out where she wanted to

be petted. 

Lots of scarlet macaws everywhere. 

This monkey took special liking to me. 

Lots of dolphins spotted. 

Bluefin Trevally on trolling gear.

Nothing caught on the flyrod :-(

 Hard to see but this water spout

formed on the ride in. 

 I caught this sail in January of 2007 on trolling gear
during my first trip to Costa Rica.

 

Baffin Bay

Some buddies and I went down to Baffin Bay and fished with Capt. Les Cobb. Les has been guiding on Baffin for over 20 years and knows the best fishing waters in the Baffin Bay complex. "The Back Bays of Baffin" which include Alazan Bay, Laguna Salada and Cayo Del Grullo. These back bays along with Baffin herself are known for producing the biggest trophy trout on the Texas coast hands down. These fabled waters are the prime target for most true trophy trout fisherman and many of Capt. Cobbs' customers have been rewarded with that trout of a lifetime. These big trout can be caught year round in Baffin, but they are at their heaviest weight during the winter months through early spring. During these months is when you want to really focus on catching the true trout of a lifetime the coveted double digit, a 10 pound plus trout, we call her "SUZY SOW ".

So the fishing was tough, which is what I expected. Chasing speckled trout in the winter months is not about going out and catching a bunch or fish. Its a big fish hunt and your gunna have to pay your dues to get an opportunity to land a big fish. Thats always been fine with me because I have found you learn so much more and become a better angler on the tough trips than you do when the fishing is catching. Day 1 the weather was perfect with light winds and warm temperatures. The fish were tough to sell a fly to though. I must have changed flies a dozen times trying to figure out what they would hit. Typically I'm not a big believer in a particular fly being the key to success. But in this instance I was desperate to get a bite. I finally picked up a few fish on a Charlies Airhead. (On a side note, here is at tip you can do with this fly. take a hot glue gun and glue a rattle inside the head of this fly to add some noise for fishing in stained or dark water. you can also add some split shot if you want the fly to sink a little faster.) All in all I ended the day with 3 trout to hand and a couple more hits but no hook ups. I guess it wasn't bad considering my 3 buddies throwing artificials only landed 5 trout between them. Day 2 we had a cold front blowing in mid morning. I was really hoping the fish were going to go on a feeding frenzy before the front hit. It never happened, at least not where we where fishing. I didn't get a bite and my buddies throwing artificials landed 2 fish. We ended up calling it a day when the wind started howling. It was a great trip and I always enjoy learning new things.

Great sunrise while wading in Baffin Bay. 

There just as pretty as any freshwater trout.

Fishing as the front passes over head. 

Some More Pics

Played around with photoshop the other night and put these 2 pics together of the big brown trout from the other weekend.

Christmas Comes Early In The Ozarks

Just returned from a great trip to the Ozarks. My main goal was to catch a big brown. This has been my goal for a number of years but every year a big fish has avoided me.

Under Water Release Shot 

Day 1 found me on the river bright and early, conditions were perfect with overcast skies and showers in the forecast along with water release from the dam in the forecast. It only took a few drifts before I was hooked up with the first fish. The morning was great as far as numbers were concerned, all the 12-16" browns you could handle but no big fish to speak of. The best fish was a nice 19-20" male. As the morning continued the water release from the dam had made its way down stream. I decided to stay put because this location made a perfect funnel for trout to move up into to feed. I picked up a few fish on high water but it was pretty slow overall. I decided to take a nap and eat lunch while the water dropped out. After the water dropped out I fished around some more before deciding to head down river to check some other water out. I found more of the same, loads of smaller browns but nothing of any size. Fun none the least, but almost to easy for my taste.

Best Fish From Day 1

Day 2 found me on the river at first light again. Deciding to fish the same run that I started at the day before hoping some big fish showed up over night. As it started getting light enough to make objects out in the water, luck would have it and I spotted a nice 25-27" brown. Unfortunately, moments before a spotted this fish I had just broke off on a smaller fish. Not sure if it was a faulty knot or the tippit got nicked. Either way by the time I was able to retie a fly the fish had disappeared. For the next hour I scanned the water like a hawk looking for any sign that the fish was still there. I decided to move upstream some to check that water out. Lots of fish in this section with some nice 16-18" class fish. The rains the day before put a nice green tint to the water. It's a color I like to refer to as "big fish green". In my experience it seems like big fish of all species like to come out and play when the water has this green tint to it. And so they did, I had the biggest brown I've ever seen in the wild sit in front of me for over 45 minutes. This fish was easily in the mid to high teens. I made drift after drift to this fish with no reaction. There was a pretty good ripple on the water from the current so it made it very difficult to see what the fish was doing and what I needed to do to entice a take. Needless to say the fish disappeared. I guess they don't get that big by being stupid. No ten minutes later I hear the guy above me reel start screaming and his flyline zipping down stream. I knew right then and there where that big fish went. I wasn't sure if this guy ate or was snagged because this guy was snagging quite a few fish. I know since I was about 30 yards down stream from him, I ended up netting several of his fish because he couldn't bring them back up river with them being tail hooked. That's all I'll say about that to keep from going into a rant. So that big fish ran straight down stream and off the shoal. The guy was hooked up with him for maybe a minute before the fish took him into a downed tree and broke off. The guy handled it pretty well, I'd still probably be in a depressed coma after losing a fish like that. That pretty much sums up day 2, finished the day with more average browns but no more big fish spotted.

I've always loved the adipose fin on browns

Foggy Morning Brown

One of the many beautiful browns

Day 3 found myself up at the dam. There typically isn't many big browns up there but there are some nice rainbows. I caught a few fish but not what I was after. So once the sun got up good enough to see well enough into the water I left for a section of the river I haven't fished in sometime but I knew it had a reputation of holding some good fish. I found a lot of fish and overall some better fish were holding in this run. I spotted a pretty good fish and after making several offerings to it he finally ate. I didn't realize how good of a fish he was until he rolled on the surface. Then when I got'em worn down and was about to net him is when I realized he was a really good fish. By far the best brown I have caught. I didn't get a measurement on him. My main concern was to get him netted and released with minimal stress. I got a few quick pics and released him to fight another day.

Couldn't be happier

I had a great time and always enjoy my trips to the Ozarks. Before I started my Blog I did a trip with Jamie Rouse of Jamie Rouse Fly Fishing Adventures. He taught me a lot about the river and defiantly shortened my learning curve and gave me several tips that have made me a better angler. He and his guides have made Orvis Endorsed Guide of the Year twice along with making the finals two more years. He's put a great team together and comes highly recommended in my book.  

Can't forget about the rainbows

I haven't used midges in forever.