Gunison Gorge: Pre-Trip

Many refer to the Gunnison Gorge as the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I suppose Black Canyon catches one's attention a little better than Gunnison Gorge. None the less the two parks are right next to each other. The Gunnison Gorge is one of Colorado's premier fly fishing destinations. This 14 miles section of gold medal waters has always caught my attention. With a legendary stonefly hatch, an abundance of large trout, a rugged double canyon of black granite and red sandstone walls, class III and IV white water and experiencing a billion year old canyon. The trip isn't necessarily remote or hard to get to it just takes a little bit of work and light packing. You have two options, pay an outfitter the bucks and have them put the trip together for you or as we did plan to do it yourself. The largest obstacle of the trip is getting all your gear down Chukar Trail. This 1 mile trail is thankfully all down hill but with a hundred pound pack on your back you better be in some decent shape. The bulk of the weight will be your white water raft. I have been researching raft for sometime as I want to start putting together remote wilderness float trips. I knew I wanted a frame-less raft, something that could handle class IV white water, could be packed and transported on a plane and most importantly stand up to any abuse it will be put through on demanding trips. I came across SOAR Canoes, after talking to several owners and the manufacturer I decided on the 14' Canyon model. Just so happens SOAR was running some great specials on some demo boats they had this spring. Weighing in at 62 lbs the rest of the packing had to be light and efficient. This isn't a trip that your going to have many amenities. You pack the essentials and do without the rest for the next 3 days. A few things the BLM does require each boat to carry is a patch/repair kit, first aid kit, extra life vest, extra paddle and wag bags to pack out your waste. I'll break up the other essentials I packed into categories.

Camping
Tent with rain fly, pillow, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, head lamp, multi tool/knife (leatherman), chap stick, camera, extra batteries, paracord, small roll of gorilla tape, dry bags to keep your gear from getting wet, have one bag that is designated for trash to pack everything out with you. Water proof sports watch to keep track of time.

Clothes
Its hot during the day and gets cool at night. I don't like sunscreen so I always wear sun protective clothes. Long pants, long sleeve shirts, sun gloves, buff and a hat. Since your gunna be in some white water and may take a swim leave the Costas at home and pick up a decent cheap pair of polarized sun glasses.

Food/Water
MRE's may not be for everyone but I think they are the easiest way to have a complete meal for the day without worrying about anything. Don't have to boil water to re hydrate the meal and they are sealed in a waterproof pack. They also come with matches, toilet paper and gum in each package. Canteen and filtration pump. I use a MSR filtration pump and make sure to bring some electrolyte mixes. The best is powdered pedialyte, most backpacking store like REI also sell electrolyte tablets in varying flavors. No fires allowed in the Gorge so  bring a jet boil if your going the dehydrated food route.  

Fishing
10' 4wt and a 9' 5wt are the rods I packed, 3x, 4x, and 5x flouro tippet, 7.5 and 9' 3x leaders, net, split shot, hemostats, dry fly floatant, indicators, and flies. PMDs, Caddis, Yellow Sallys and Hoppers are the primary hatch in July. Best patterns include the classics:  Stimulators, Parachute Adams, Bloom's Paracaddis, Parachute Hoppers, and a variety of PMD patterns for dry flies.  Pat's Rubber Legs, Pheasant Tails, the Mayhem, Juju PMD, Hogan's Red Headed Stepchild, soft hackle Hare's Ear, S.H. Pheasant Tail and the deadly LaFontaine's Caddis Emerger for nymphs.

Boat
Repair kit, life vest, pump, tie down straps, paddles, and rod tubes

The most helpful folks that I would like to put a shout out to would be Royal Gorge Anglers, Toads Guide Shop, Gunnison River Pleasure Park, and Black Canyon Anglers. Everyone helped out with flies, fly selection, timing of the trip, shuttle service, sharing knowledge and tips of the Gorge, campsites and information that helped put this trip together.

Tour of Texas; Comal River

At just 2.5 miles the Comal River is the shortest river in Texas. Located in New Braunfels Texas; the Comal begins at Comal Springs in Landa Park and flows 2.5 miles until its joins with the Guadalupe. The River is primarily surrounded by private land. With Landa Park offering the best access to the river. The Comal is gin clear and is like fishing in an aquarium. With that come some difficulties in fooling fish but non the less its a great experience. The river is full of bass, many of them approaching 4-5 lbs, red breasted sunfish, rio grande cichlids, blugill and exotics like tilipia and  big plecos. The river is also one of only two rivers to host the fountain darter, a fish now in danger of extinction. The only other river inhabited by the darter is the nearby San Marcos River.

I rigged up the 3 weight this morning with a hopper dropper and made my way down to the edge of the river. As the sun was coming up the water started coming to life with a variety of different fish swimming every which direction. With ultra clear water the fish weren't easy to fool with even the most perfect presentations being rejected. The fish just knew what was real and what wasn't but it is always educational watching how the fish react to different fly patterns and presentations. After a few changes I started getting some looks by adding a heavy enough dropper to sink the hopper pattern I was working. As the hopper was sinking in the water column I would twitch it just enough to draw a few hits from some redbreasted sunfish. The bass had absolutely no interest in it so I switched overto a weight crawfish pattern and fished it directly on the bottom. One thing about clear water bass is they are extremely finicky and not easily fooled. I have found though that they respond to a fly that is crawled and hopped along the bottom. Another benefit of fishing a fly in clear water along the bottom is you can get away with heavier tippet. I believe this is because the tippet does not get silhouetted like it does when you are fishing in the upper portion of the water column where the fish is looking up at the fly.

The best part of the day was watching this huge snapping turtle come swimming by with a bass right on it tail. Literally this  spunky 1.5-2 lb bass was taking swipes at this turtles tail. I've seen a lot of snapping turtles while out fishing but never seen a bass following and biting their tail.

For a great source of flies for the Texas Hill Country, check out Matt Bennett Flies.

Big pleco laying on a rock. 

Big snapper came swimming by.

A nice Comal River bass. 

Check out this gem, a red spotted sunfish.

Pretty cool little fish.

A nice red breasted sunfish.

Tour of Texas: Cooper Hybrids

Man has it really been this long since my last post. Several trips have had to be postponed, rescheduled and cancelled due to the excessive rains and water levels on area lakes and rivers. I'll get more into that with another post probably at an end of the year.

Cooper lake is located in north east Texas. Some would deem it as the the best hybrid lake in Texas. The only problem is for the last several years the lake has been so low the boat ramps have been unusable. Fortunately that all changed this spring as the lake has risen close to 15 feet in the past few months. Just in the last 5 years the state has stocked over 500,000 thousand hybrids into Cooper. For whatever reasons unlike other area lakes Cooper does not get a lot of fishing pressure. When you can get on the lake the fishing can be great. I fished with Tony Parker several years ago on Lake Tawakoni who also guides on Lake Cooper.

This morning started at the Lake Cooper South Sulfur boat ramp. Per Tony the morning bite is normally not as consistent as the afternoon bite so we meet up a little later in the morning. After a short run from the ramp we stopped at an underwater hump. On the first drift across the hump I was hooked up with the first hybrid of the trip. Fish were boiling shad around the boat and the next few drifts resulted in several hits but no hook ups. We decided to give that spot a rest and went and checked out several more humps through out the lake. The fishing today ended up being pretty tough. Tony worked hard to put some fish in the boat, the fish just either weren't where they were suppose to be or the fish would show up on the graph and then be gone in a flash. I don't know if fish like consistency or not, but I know fishing guides do. This spring has been anything but consistent. With lake levels raising exceptionally fast then falling as the Corp Of Engineers bring the lakes back to pool every day has brought changing conditions.

Hybrids being half striper and and half white bass fight hard and do exceptionally well in the warmer waters in Texas. In fact typically the action heats up through out the day. A 7 weight with a 250 grain weight shooting head is perfect for these fish. Hybrids like any color that is chartreuse. Clousers, deceivers, and other bait fish patterns 3-4 inches. Hybrids have relatively small mouths so don't go to large on the fly or hook size. When the fish are schooling and feeding they will pretty much hit anything that crosses their path. When they are not actively feeding and laying on the bottom they can be difficult to catch with the long rod. One technique is to let your fly and sinking line sink to the bottom and drag your fly across the bottom occasionally striping it. Theis technique will result in a lot of lost flies to snags on the bottom and the bites will be very light so strip set on anything you think might be a fish.

Tour of Texas; Bullgills

The sunfish family is probably the single most species of fish responsible for getting new anglers started in fishing. Sunfish, bream or panfish is a common collective name to refer to the many species that make up the sunfish family. Sunfish refers to a whole group of small fish that are pretty, plentiful and pugnacious. They aren’t the biggest fish but as they say it’s not the size of the fish in the fight that counts; it’s the size of the fight in the fish. Fishing for these guys is a ball on a slow fly rod like a TFO 3wt Finesse or your favorite glass rod. Sunfish are deep-bodied, which gives them a lot of surface area to leverage against the water during a fight and with their flat, slender bodies and fins they can accelerate and change direction quickly. The best thing about fishing for sunfish is you only need the most basic equipment. A 2, 3 or 4 weight fly rod is ideal, a click pawl reel and a standard weight forward floating line. Fly rods can be 6-9 foot because rarely will you be casting pass a few rod lengths. A medium to slow rod will be the most sporting and will allow these feisty fish to put a good bend into the cork of the rod. A very basic eight foot leader in 4x tipped with the most popular fly in the world a wooly bugger. Olive, black or brown wooly buggers in size 10-14 will catch gills all day long. Very rarely are these fish picky on flies and when you find a few dozen of them on their classic honey comb beds; it’s a rear occasion to not get a hit after two or three strips. Sunfish are found everywhere, from small creeks, neighborhood ponds, lakes, rivers and don’t pass up some of the small landscaping ponds found around shopping malls, banks and other suburban areas. Spawning from late spring to early fall these fish will populate any body of water they live in rather quickly. The best time to find the biggest females is the days leading up to the full moon. This is when they move up to spawn and can be target quiet easily on a fly rod. Typically these bigger fish will only be up in the shallows at night and at grey light. You’ll catch fish all day long on the beds but if you are looking for Bullgills, it is best to come back during the night to target these fish. Bullgills are the biggest of the bluegills and will break 10” and weigh over a pond. The current Texas state record bluegill is just over 2lbs and was caught in the Lampasas River in 1999. There are many private bass ponds where these fish are fed high protein pellets several times a day and for the private water record in Texas the current record is over 3lbs. I’m sure many have been caught even bigger but the bluegill in these ponds are meant to grow big bass and probably don’t get much consideration for anything else.

Loving to chase big Bullgills on the flyrod found myself this morning well before daylight at some of my local haunts. Making a quick recon trip earlier in the week to locate some beds and check water clarity from the almost daily rains I had located some fish and a plan was set. The simplicity of showing up to the waters edge and catching fish without having to think about what fly to use, what depth the fish are at and what presentation are the fish going to key in on today is what makes sunfish such a great change of pace. It wasn’t long before I had the first fish to hand, and for the remainder of the day the action never really let up. Sunfish and their various relatives are the gateway species that lead me into this great world of sport fishing; which at times could probably be referred to as more of an addiction than a hobby. And for that they I will always love these simply fish. 

How many fish do you see?

Night time is the right time for Bullgills.

Longears are easily the prettiest of the 

Sunfish family. 

A few tips on locating beds is to look for them around old road beds, bridges and in corners of ponds. The fish typically like to spawn on gravel or rock. Flies can be as simply as a wooly bugger or as extreme as an articulated damsel fly nymph. A very simply and effective fly for sunfish is a wooly bugger without the hackle. Just take a size 10 or 12 hook, tie in a marabou tail and wrap the hook shank with chenille. The fish will generally be spawning in 1-2 feet of water so a slow sinking fly works best. If the fish aren't overly aggressive you can suspend the fly under an indicator and slowly twitch the fly to draw a strike. Another effective technique is to use a trailer fly. I like to use a small soft hackle fly in size 12-14 trailed a foot or so behind my primary fly.   

Tour of Texas: Tanks

Whats normally called a pond is called a tank in Texas. Your average cow will drink roughly 25 gallons of water a day during our scorching summers. To provide water for their livestock ranchers started building tanks by bull dozing a dirt dam across a gully to collect runoff. Today many of these tanks are supplemented by wells that pump cool fresh ground water keeping these tanks full of water. They started getting stocked by sportsman and ranchers with bass and other game fish and frankly some just got fish in them from unknown sources. These tanks can be located in some of the most water barren parts of the state, but somehow they hold fish and other amphibians like bullfrogs and red ear sliders. They are a great fishing opportunity that shouldn't be over looked. The fishing is normally pretty easy due to the lack of fishing pressure and the small size of these water impediments. No matter what the conditions are like, (high pressure, cold front or clear windless days) you can almost always find a few fish that are willing to add a smile to your day.

Today Robert and I hit a stock tank he has access to. The fishing was good and we caught a lot of nice fish. It appears most the bass had already spawned  and are currently in post spawn mode. Robert caught an absolute pig of a crappie and I caught nice post spawn female that I would have liked to have seen when she was still full of eggs. Over all it was a great half day of fishing. One of the best things about tank fishing is you can fish them thoroughly in a few hours from the bank, small boat, or a float tube then get back to your other responsibilities for the day. A quick mid week fishing fix on a spring day is hard to beat.

Robert with a 2.5lb crappie

Average fish for the day

Nice post spawn female

Tour of Texas; Baffin Bay Speckled Trout

The Baffin complex, which includes Alazan Bay, Cayo del Grullo and Laguna Salada is the most remote bay system on the Texas Gulf Coast. It reaches west of the Laguna Madre, about midway between Corpus Christi and Port Mansfield, isolated from the open Gulf by Padre Island. This large bay complex is unique in many ways. Due to its lack of any major freshwater drains and any open passes leading to the Gulf of Mexico, Baffin Bay has a higher salinity level then any other bay in the area. Its is believed that the high salinity levels help the trout grow larger because the fish are not stressed by constantly having to adjust to varying salinity levels. It is also believed that since the bay is protected from the Gulf of Mexico that sharks, dolphin and other large predatory fish typically do not move into the bay to prey on the trout. Serpulid reefs are found no where else on the Texas coast and are unique to Baffin. Living and growing serpulid reefs occur in only a few other areas of the world. These reefs are dated from 300 to 3,000 years old. Serpulid worms (after the family of tube-building worms, Serpulidae) and much like coral reef-building animals, making their tube homes out of calcium carbonate. Over time, these tubes build up into very large rock-like reef structures. While there are some living worms still found on these reefs, there are no reports the reefs are building or enlarging at this time.

Baffin Bay arguably produces more speckled trout measuring 30 inches or longer and it certainly accounts for plenty of double-digit trout every year.  Baffin is generally not a bay where you'll catch a lot of trout. But there's something about the combination of the bay's hypersaline water, rocks and reefs that grows big speckled trout. Targeting these larger trout you will need a lot of patience in learning the habits of these big girls. Watch and look for bait fish near shorelines and/or birds working the area.  Oil slicks that smell like watermelon or a sweet smell means trout are feeding. Oyster and serpulid reefs provide fish attracting habitat for these speckled trout and provide a sense of protection. During spring days with high barometric pressure, clear skies and cool temperature, focus on areas with deeper water and some sort of structure. On days with low pressure, cloud cover and warmer temperature, move shallow, hitting the grassy flats, paying particular attention to rocks in less than about 3 feet of water. The big sows usually are loners and cruise the shallows to feed on baitfish. Wading allows an angler to work close without worrying about hull slap and other unnatural noises spooking weary fish. Wading also provides the elemental of one-on-one pursuit of trophy trout.

Speckled trout (Cynoscion nebulosus) are also known as spotted trout, specks, and mustard mouths. Surprisingly they are not part of the trout family at all, but part of the croaker family and first cousin to the drum family.The Harte Institute located at TAMCC (Texas A@M of Corpus Christi) performed a study to determine the mortality of speckled trout after they had been caught and released.  Harte Institute inserted a tracking device into several mature speckled trout to learn more about there habits and study this popular species. Please practice CPR (Catch, Photo & Release) with trophy sized trout.

Tagging Speckled Trout Harte Research Institute

The current state record Speckled Trout did not come from Baffin bay. Carl "Bud" Rowland While flyfishing the lower Laguna Madre on May 23, 2002 caught and released a trout that measured 37 ¼ inches and weighed 15 pounds, 6 ounces. Their is a lot of controversy regarding this record. Texas Parks and Wildlife for unknown reasons decided to bypass their requirement that all State Record fish must be inspected by state officials. This fish was released without being inspected by anyone other than Rowland. Never the less, fish larger than the state record have ghosted across the desolate flats and treacherous rocks of Baffin Bay.

On to the fishing. I guess you could say this weekend was just about making the best of it. Thursday night I started to come down with a head cold. Friday night I may have got 3 hours of sleep with my pounding head/sinus keeping me up most the night. Saturday morning we got up and ready for a day of fishing with Capt Les Cobb. Conditions weren't looking so good, we had a system moving in that was going to hit us with a lot of rain and high winds. We toughed it out and were able to pick up a couple nice fish but the high winds limited us to only being able to fish a few spots.

I ran into town Saturday night to pick up some cold medicine which helped a little but by the end of the night I started running a fever. I was beat from fishing all day Saturday and knew Sunday was going to be even tougher. I decided to wuss out for Sundays fishing. Knowing if I fished it was going to be a 20 hour day from the time we got up to head out fishing to the time I was able to lay my head down for the night. With the head cold I just didn't have the energy for that kind of day. I took an early flight back home Sunday and slept most the day. My buddies still went out Sunday and they didn't tear the fish up, but they did catch the below fish. This is a fish that brings one to Baffin, just under 32" and right at 10lbs.  

Capt. Les Cobbs Double Digit

Baffin Bay Trout. 

Tour of Texas: Sabine River White Bass

The only body of water in Texas that was known to hold white bass prior to 1932 was Caddo Lake. Texas Parks and Wildlife teamed up with the Oyster Commission and transplanted 13 brood fish from Caddo Lake into old Lake Dallas which is now Lake Lewisville. By 1938 the following lakes were stocked with white bass: Kemp, Buchanan, Medina, Eagle Mountain, Waco and Wichita. Today there hardly isn't a body of water across Texas that doesn't have white bass found in it.

The Sabine River has a reputation for producing one of the best runs of white bass the state can offer. You see beginning in late winter and early spring white bass leave Toledo Bend and run up the Sabine to spawn. Toledo Bend Reservoir is 185,000 acre and is the fifth largest man made reservoir in the United States. Toledo Bend is pretty much an inland sea and has an incredible amount of biomass that helps these fish grow to Texas size proportions. White bass also known as sandbass or sandies can grow to 10 inches or better in one growing season within Toledo Bend. The current state record white bass on a fly rod is 3.36lbs and I can guarantee there are plenty of white bass that will break this record in the Sabine River.  

Just south of Carthage Texas there is a campground that offers access to the Sabine. River Ridge Fishing and Camping ran by Jane and her husband Tom who is a Texas Game Warden. They offer camping, RV hook ups, cabin rentals, guided fishing trips and hog hunting during the off season. There is a boat ramp on the property for you to launch your boat from our you can just launch kayaks and canoes from the sandy beach your camped on.

So a group of us where headed out to the Sabine for our yearly trip this weekend. One of my buddies wife went into labor a little earlier than expected so that put a end to his weekend fishing plans. My other buddy wussed out because the weather man said there was some rain in the forecast. The run would be over before I had another weekend to make it down to the Sabine so I went ahead with the plan and made a quick solo trip. I arrived at the river midday Friday and immediately hit some of the sandbars that we caught fish on last year. With no bites and things just not feeling right after a few hours and no fish to show for my efforts I decided to move on. As I was making my way up river to a creek I was flagged over by a bank fisherman in a kayak. Low and behold it was an old buddy that I haven't seen in years. Its a small world some times. Needless to say he wasn't having much luck either and everyone we had talk to on the river was reporting the same slow conditions. I continued my run up the river to the mouth of a creek. I set up anchor and fished the water color change where the clearer water from the creek mixes with the turbidity of the Sabine. With only a little light left I was able to pick up several small males and a couple fat females in short order. Light was fading fast and I had to make a 5 mile run to get back to camp so I pulled up anchor. On the ride back to camp I formulated my game plan for the next morning. There are a number of creeks that run into the Sabine South of camp so at first light in the morning I was going to head that way.

Getting on the water and heading down river around 6:30am I was passed by several boats heading the same direction. I felt confident I made the right choice relying on the assumption that these other boats had fish located.  As I neared these creeks I saw what I didn't want to see, half a dozen boats in a few hundred yards of the river. They were anchored up casting to sandbars picking up a fish here and there. After a slow 30 minutes and no fish for me and another 3 boats showing up I decided this isn't going to work for me. I don't mind fishing with a few people, but one of the reasons I go fishing is to get away from the crowds. Defiantly to many boats for my liking so I pulled the anchor and headed back up river to the creek I finished at the nightbefore. After getting anchored up and my line stripped out it wasn't long before I started catching fish. The fishing was never really on today but I was catching 5-6 fish per hour. Defiantly not the back to back red hot fishing that sandbass fishing can be. Picking through some small males I was still able to pick up a good 20 or so big females. I did catch a 2lb 9 oz female and then on the next cast I caught a 2lb 12 oz fish, then a small male came on the third cast. And I didn't have any other fisherman around me all day. Overall it was a good day fishing and look forward to doing it again next year.

Fish of the trip; 

2lb 12 oz White Bass

Average size female from the Sabine River is

typically going to run 15-16".

These Sabine River fish are fatties.

Once you catch some Sabine River Sandies it will be hard not to turn into a Sand Bass Snob and expect all your sand bass to average close to 2lbs. This is the average size fish in the DFW creeks. Fun but not a Sabine Sandy.

Rods, Leaders, and Flies
Rods: 3wt, 4wt and 5wt fly rods will make for some fun white bass fishing.
Leaders : The water is muddy in the sabine. I use 4ft of 15-20lb fluorocarbon for the sole purpose of being able to pull free flies that have found a snag on the bottom of the river. The fish aren't line shy and the water is to muddy for them to see the line. It sure save some flies at the end of the day by using the heavier leaders/tippit.  
Flies: Chartreuse, chartreuse, chartreuse is the color for white bass. 2" clousers will keep you hooked up all day.

Conservation Tip: The limit on white bass is 25 fish per day with a 10" minimum. Just because the limit is 25 doesn't mean you have to keep 25. Please only keep what you will eat and release the rest to continue spawning.