« Strange Tales of Instant Karma
Crazy From the Heat »

Shallow Waters

Published July 29, 2011 Black Bass , Pedernales River 50 Comments

spacer

I’ve been dreading swinging by Pedernales State Park for the last month or so. Looking at the charts over the last month, showing flows of 0 CFS, was sort of like knowing that a good friend was in bad health. Long time readers will likely know this, but Pedernales State Park is my de facto Temple of Texas, something about the water and the land that butts against it makes me feel at home. Of course this home is haunted and full of creatures that stir the imagination, but that’s a different story.

With some time to kill i finally sucked up the courage to see my sick friend and was slightly relieved to see that the river was obviously hurting, but it wasn’t dead. Like many other bodies of water in Texas right now, there wasn’t enough water to keep the throngs happy, but there was JUST enough water to appease the hard core water seekers…me included.

spacer

Avoiding the first few pools that had more swimmers than fish, i eventually ended up splitting one of the larger pools with some Canadians that were dredging parts of the pool with a massive net. It was there that i tied on a tiny Pheasant Hair Nymph in search of Carp. It seemed bizarre to tie on such a small fly for such a big fish, but since i’ve tried to catch Carp for the last few years without any success i figured i had nothing to loose by trying something that seemed to small to succeed. Minutes later i was pulling in a 14″ Drum that actually took line off my reel, something i wasn’t really used to.

spacer

Minutes later i had another Drum repeat the preceding battle with only the slightest variation. The highlight of the day had to be when i found a school of huge Carp and let the fly do it’s magic. With my hands shaking, i slowly retrieved the Nymph while watching the Carps bodies stir up wakes on the waters surface, some of them even heading for my fly. Suddenly the water stirred as a Carp that was an easy 10lbs. bolted with my fly, line, and nerves in tow. After trying my best to put the breaks on the Rogue fish, i suddenly felt the tippett snap and reeled it in only to find a birds nest of 3X tippett tangled up in itself like a vain movie starlet.

It wasn’t the healthiest i’ve ever seen the river, not by a long shot, but it’s there and it’s till kicking. I’m pretty sure the river would’t mind if i asked you to do whatever you can to help bring rain. It’s not dead yet, but watching the tiniest trickle from pool to pool, it became obvious that if something does’t happen soon it could be. Pray for rain.

spacer

  • Share this:
  • Share

50 Responses to “Shallow Waters”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

  1. spacer 1 The Simple Life of a Country Man's Wife July 29, 2011 at 09:15

    That’s the opposite of what we’re experience along the Missouri River in South Dakota. Hope the rains come, too.

    Reply
  2. spacer 2 Mikalee Byerman July 29, 2011 at 09:16

    Rain prayers … sent!

    Really beautiful pictures, by the way…

    spacer

    Reply
  3. spacer 3 PCC Advantage July 29, 2011 at 09:31

    Yes, pray for rain, indeed.

    I do have to ask, though…carp?? Why, of all fish, would you want to catch carp? They’re the worst…haha.

    Congrats on being Freshly Pressed! spacer

    Reply
  4. spacer 4 abichica July 29, 2011 at 09:37

    one day id like to try fishing, its just that it has always looked so boring and tiresome to me..lol..

    Reply
  5. spacer 5 Alli July 29, 2011 at 09:38

    Congrats on freshly pressed and thank you! It is such a joy to hear a citizen speak of nature as a good friend and worry for her health. The fish images are beautiful. Thanks for this post. I will pray for rain.

    Reply
  6. spacer 6 Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide July 29, 2011 at 10:28

    Oh if only my fly fishing father-in-law had Internet access. Great post. Love the pictures.

    Reply
  7. spacer 7 islam786pakistan.tk July 29, 2011 at 11:12

    most beautiful post nature

    Reply
  8. spacer 8 songdongjin July 29, 2011 at 11:34

    hey, that fish seems like a popular fish in my hometown. People call it “bandeng”… spacer

    Reply
  9. spacer 9 fornormalstepfathers July 29, 2011 at 11:44

    I like how you think and talk about fish and rivers. Beautiful.

    Reply
  10. spacer 10 Eva McCane July 29, 2011 at 12:15

    their big eyes are kinda creepy. thanks for sharing!
    www.icouldntmakethisshitup.wordpress.com

    Reply
  11. spacer 11 Randy Lay July 29, 2011 at 13:01

    As a fellow fisherman I thoroughly enjoyed your post. Here is hoping the outflow from tropical storm Don will bring your river some much needed rain!

    Thanks,

    Randy

    Reply
  12. spacer 12 ournote2self July 29, 2011 at 14:56

    I love fishing! There is something so relaxing about it. Great post!

    Reply
  13. spacer 13 J. Townsend July 29, 2011 at 19:01

    I see that some showers may soon be headed your way soon. I hope that the strom moves some rain your way for you and the fish.

    Reply
  14. spacer 14 Winston July 29, 2011 at 20:07

    Rain dancing! Carp are awsome. I’ve heard (never had one one for more than a second) they pull like frieght trains. Saw a couple today in your hole. BIG ones too.

    Reply
    • spacer 15 yuki741 July 29, 2011 at 20:32

      wut?

      Reply
  15. spacer 16 yuki741 July 29, 2011 at 20:31

    i think that that fish is a catfish

    Reply
  16. spacer 17 bucketsofrandom July 29, 2011 at 20:36

    I love the picture of the fish! O3O

    Reply
  17. spacer 18 sarahnsh July 29, 2011 at 21:37

    I love the pictures of the fish! I love to go fishing myself and find it so fun, I’ve been doing it since I was 5 years old as a little girl. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you for some rain! Or, send you some of ours, we’ve had a storm that has lasted a week it feels like.

    Reply
  18. spacer 19 吵吵 July 29, 2011 at 23:13

    clear pictures!

    Reply
  19. spacer 20 J Roycroft July 29, 2011 at 23:15

    I hate Carp with a damn passion. It all goes back to that bottom feeder thing. Congrats on FP

    Reply
  20. spacer 21 bailey3joy11 July 30, 2011 at 00:04

    Prayers for the rain ! spacer hope the river gets full

    Reply
  21. spacer 22 Modern Manila July 30, 2011 at 05:54

    I used to go fishing all the time until I got busy, It’s been more than a year since the last time I was out fishing. Prayer also sent.

    Reply
  22. spacer 23 creativeconfessions July 30, 2011 at 06:32

    Yup, prayers sent… Lovely pictures by the way! I used to love fishing and keeping fish as a girl. Now I have cats instead. spacer

    Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  23. spacer 24 admin July 30, 2011 at 07:06

    I enjoyed reading this post… Great report.

    Reply
  24. spacer 25 Aneka NEWS Informasi Online July 30, 2011 at 11:26

    My frequent visits to the fishing village in Indonesia, we often find unique fish by arrest is also unique. This article reminds me

    Reply
  25. spacer 26 MysteriousWater July 30, 2011 at 11:46

    If you get some rainfall anywhere near resembling the flood of random comments this post generated, central Texas should be fine.

    I’m hoping to get back down to Texas in late October as I have friends getting married on back-to-back weekends. It’d be cool to do some fishing with you while I’m there as I missed out while I was living there.

    p.s. I can still send you the map link to get to the nice little Blanco River hole. It’s a deep pool and should still hold some water.

    Reply
    • spacer 27 die fische July 30, 2011 at 23:24

      Thanks MW,

      I’d love to head out in October, even it’s just Barton Creek. Let’s make it happen, anywhere you want to go.

      I’d definitely appreciate the link to the Blanco spot.

      Thanks for being there all along,
      die Fische

      Reply
  26. spacer 28 Luna Kadampa July 30, 2011 at 14:06

    Not sure why you find pictures of dead fish with painful hooks in their mouths beautiful, but I guess it takes all sorts.

    Reply
  27. spacer 29 jhn3 July 30, 2011 at 16:44

    nice photos and I hope some rain will head your way

    Reply
  28. spacer 30 Will July 30, 2011 at 19:51

    I’m with Luna Kadampa on this post. [Though I'm not totally sure about the verity of such an unusual name! ] : WHAT do you people find so attractive about the painful capture, and presumed death, of innocent creatures who have just as much right to life and liberty as YOU ??
    There’s nothing “sporting” about the torture and murder of wildlife. Unless you’re a member of a subsistence aboriginal group, who hunt/fish to live, what gives you the right to play predator?. THIS is your idea of care and stewardship of your troubled river? “Catch all the fish and kill ‘em, Cletus!”
    How about “Live and Let Live?”
    Red-necked killer!

    Reply
    • spacer 31 die fische July 31, 2011 at 20:38

      Will, you seem to be a very unhappy/angry person. If i felt like it would make any difference, i would try to explain to you, like i did to Luna who was obviously coming from a caring place and so deserved to be listened to, how your assumptions about me and your labels that you want to throw on me are wildly incorrect. The only reason that i’m leaving this on here is to show others behavior that should be avoided externally and internally. Intolerance and stereotyping are signs of inflexible person, sometimes lacking a nimble mind. What you obviously think of as “Red Necks” would be a good example of this, you my friend would be another.

      Reply
  29. spacer 32 Karya hari ini July 30, 2011 at 20:07

    The fish looks soo cute spacer

    Nice share.

    Reply
  30. spacer 33 leadinglight July 30, 2011 at 21:13

    I went fishing once at Freycinet National Park and we were using frozen calamari for bait because the bait shop had burnt down in a fire. Unfortunately I only fed the fish and didn’t catch any. That’s a very detailed photo!

    Reply
gipoco.com is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its contents. This is a safe-cache copy of the original web site.