Planned Outings

Tuesday, February 2 through 4, Rendezvous at North Toledo Bend - Brooks Bouldin

The Piney Woods Fly Fishers Rendezvous is a gathering of fly tiers from Louisiana and Texas primarily who meet at a state park on the Louisiana side of Toledo bend Lake for two days every November to share ideas, tie and eat. An occasional libation is consumed, as well, and numerous yarns are spun. Everyone brings a covered dish and we all enjoy some wonderful Cajun cooking. This year Rendezvous was designated as our fly tying outing for the year. All SGFF members who are interest in learning to tie or are already tiers should make an effort to attend next February 2nd thru 4th in 2012.

You can get an idea of the activities at the Rendezvous at this report from to the most recent Rendezvous.

Reports on Past Outings and Events

Monday, December 19, 2011, Guadalupe River - Chris Johnson

Despite the rainy weather, the club met at Action Angler on the 19th of December for the Guadalupe River Outing. Trout are already cold and wet, so if anglers dress according to the fishing conditions, even foul weather days can yield fantastic catches. We had about a dozen people show up for the outing and to our advantage, the rain cleared up a few hours after we arrived. The rest of the day was about as perfect as you could order it -- Cloudy, Calm, and somewhere in the mid to upper 60’s for the high. Most of the people who attended the outing caught several trout and there were several people in the group that put quite a few in the net! The best results came on streamers and nymphs but there were a few dry fly caught fish in the total fish count. The fishing upstream of the 3rd crossing was a bit slow according to reports but below the crossing the fishing was fantastic! The most productive rig in the shallow, clear water was a size 16-18, cream, Elk Hair Caddis with a small, weighted mayfly nymph dropped about 14-18 inches below it. Some club members targeted the more aggressive fish with streamers, such as Wooly Buggers, and had good results. The catching below the 3rd crossing remained steady all day long and toward the afternoon/evening, we experienced several double and even a few triple hook ups! The total fish count for the trip was absolutely obscene so I will not mention it here to avoid envy and fish tale accusations hahaha! Thanks to all who came out, braved the elements, and made the outing a success!

Satrday, July 16, 2011 - Randy Johnson

On Saturday, July 16th, the club took a outing to the Narrows Recreation Area on the upper end of Lake Travis. Due to the low level of Lake Travis, this area has reverted to the Colorado River, as it was before any dams were in the Highland Lakes area. The lake level was 643 ft, which is similar (but lower) than February 2007 when we had a white bass outing. The weather was very good, with a light drizzle to start, and overcast skies most of the morning. Water temperature was 80 degrees, which is about 6 degrees cooler than the temperature in the main lake downstream (probably due to the release from Max Starcke dam being from the bottom of that lake).

The group consisted of myself, Don Johnson, Clint Barton, Jim Kettleman, Richard McIntyre, Paul Lampack, and Don Lusson. Several of us had flotation, and we chose to paddle upstream to the waterfall that is about 1.5 miles upstream from the put-in point. It took about 30 minutes of paddling to get upstream to the falls. I caught a 10” largemouth on my third cast, and caught fourteen total, including four crappie, and one Guadalupe bass. Can’t remember the last time I caught a crappie on a fly rod (and on an olive woolly bugger!!). Jim Kettleman caught the largest fish, several bass in the 3 lb. range. Even the small bass were very strong fighters in the running water. The area will be reasonably good fishing as long as the water level is this low, with lots of structure and depth change in many areas.

The group agreed that the easiest way to access the waterfall at this water level is from Shaffer Bend park (above the falls), since it is shorter and an easier paddle. The trip upstream was a real workout!!

Saturday, May 14th, 2011 - SGFF Annual 1-Fly

The outing was at Steve Doering’s lake.

Saturday April 23, 2011, Llano River at Long’s Camp

High winds made the fishing a little difficult, but everybody caught fish and had a good time.

Saturday April 9, 2011 - Cleanup of he San Gabriel River - Bruce Moring

See the Conservation page for a description of this outing.

Saturday March 12, 2011, White Bass

The crew met at Bob Pool’s house Saturday morning at 7am to fish the river for white bass. Unfortunately the fishing was poor, and no whites were caught.

February 18th, 19th & 20th, 2011, Troutfest -Bob Williams

Troufest 2011 was a great success for GRTU and also SGFF . The committee did a wonderful ob of presenting our club and Fly Fishing as true art form , and our club and it's community outreach , fellowship and mentoring efforts. I want to thank all the committee members, Fred, Mike, Mona, Brooks , Bruce, Lindy, Sherman, Clint, Tommy , Rolando , Matt and Richard for your time and for making the event an outstanding success for our club. I especially want to thank Peter for designing and making the wonderful display board about our club. It was one of the most professional at the event. I also want to thank Don for his work building our web page. Every person we showed it to was just blown away. It is truly something we should all be proud of and make use of and help Don by sending him info, pictures and reports for inclusion. I for one had a great time and encourage others to get involved next year.

Sept 2010 Devils River Outing - Ken Kahanek

A group of seven left Monday morning at 05:30 from Georgetown and made it to the Conservancy site at 10:30 with no incidents. After getting settled in, most of the group headed out for some midday fishing. The water levels where great and the day temps very warm. Tommy and myself of course headed up Dolan Creek to catch up with some of our old friends from the past years, while the Jim went up the Devils then into Dolan. After working over the Red ears, Blue gills, Rio's and small Smallies with the Sage 00wt, I headed back to camp for a cold beverage to calm the thirst. After a few Jim and I headed up the devils with kick boats in tow. We met up with Bob and Richard up in the large lake above the first riffles. All had success with bass and perch in the afternoon before we headed in to a fine rib dinner prepared by Brooks.

Morning found Tommy, Jim and Myself heading out before sunup to catch morning top water action while the rest of the ladies gent’s slept in and cooked themselves a hearty breakfast. Jim and I were working the first weed bed and Jim was pulling in nice black bass while all I was catching was bait, so I headed up stream fishing my way to the next set of riffles about 1 mile upstream. I caught a nice black bass that I was able to sight cast to along the back with the “pole dancer” and an 8wt. After making the upstream riffles, I headed back as the wind started to kick up and wanted to be sure my battery powered “paddle” had enough to get back. After lunch Tommy and I again worked Dolan Creek, this time I took two rods, the 00 and a 5wt to target the larger small mouth. The creek fished differently this year as a flood had changed some of the holes and runs a bit; however the fishing was still fantastic. Late in the afternoon I found myself on top of a large group of rocks in the center of the creek with water above head high on the three up sides casting for my hat that the wind decided it wanted. Once retrieved, I looked around the rocks to see whom might be home. Well, howdy duty! Several good sized bass along with a couple biguns where hiding out around the rocks in the shade. Only way to really work this was to jig, so with the 00 in hand, I proceeded to catch 3 bass in the 12” to 14” range; 1 black, 2 smallies. Tommy saw the action and waded out to join the fun. While he was rigging up, I caught another smaller on the 5wt, then change flies to a large lizard fly and coaxed out one of the bigger Small Mouth’s. She was 19”. After I released her, I sat back to catch my breath from the hooting and hollering and enjoyed a cheap cigar while Tommy tried to coax the larger Smallie out from under the rocks. We fished our way back to camp hitting the likely pockets and BSing about how wonderful this place is out in west Texas. Diner was prepared by Bob, Richard and Mike and was a great meal of Rib eyes, baked Potatoes and fine wine. The evenings seemed to die down quickly and lights out.

Wednesday morning came quickly and Jim, Tommy and myself made it out again before daybreak. This morning I was focused on getting some good photos and maybe a few more fish on the 00 in Dolans, which I succeeded. This trip came to an end again too soon and we found ourselves crossing over the Devils one last time around 10:30 that morning.

I have to give thanks to Brooks, Bob, Richard, Mike, Tommy and Jim, as they did all the meals, cleaning and daily duties as it seemed I always made it back ion from fishing after the work was done. So, to those members that still have not had a chance to make this trip, don’t worry, the story probably paints a better picture than it really is. The drive is long, the road is dusty, the food is only what you bring, the days are hot…really hot, the river is finicky and you sleep in sweat wet cots with only the humming sound of the nightly insects and the distant howl of a lone coyote.

Aransas Pass, Thrusday July 22 through Sunday July 25, 2010

A few club members fished Aransas Pass on July 22 (Thursday) through July 25 (Sunday. You can find an outing report on The San Gabriel Fly Fisher's Facebook page.

2010 Lydia Ann Fly Masters Tournament, Saturday July 17, 2010

Several members of the San Gabriel Fly Fishers partidcpated in the 2010 Lydia Ann Fly Masters Tournament.

Saturday June 5, 1-fly outing

This month’s outing was a 1-Fly Event took place at the Club’s lease lake. It consisted of fishing in the morning, 1 fly only, and a BBQ lunch, drinks and brags.

The tournament results were:
- 1st place Bob Brunner with 17 fish
- 2nd place Greg Welander with 16 fish
- 3rd place Jim Kettleman with 15 fish

12 contestants out of 21 ended the event with their original fly.

There was good bar-b-q and fun had by all.

Saturday April May 1, Longs Camp on the Llano - Don Johnson

Ken, Clint, and I left Georgetown in Ken’s truck at about 7:15am. Just past Liberty Hill we passed Dick riding with Pete, they fell in behind, and we had a caravan. Greg arrived at Long’s about the time we were paying our day-use fee. I believe Roger arrived later and stayed only a short time. An unexpected plus for the trip was the profusion of wildflowers on Long’s ranch; there were vast fields of mixed flowers almost anywhere you looked. The weather was warm and overcast. The water appeared a little cloudy early in the day, but visibility improved quite a bit when the sky cleared and the sun came out. The river flow was 460cfs. The river is very wide at Long’s and able to accommodate this level of flow, and, though we sometimes had to carefully pick a path through the current threads, we didn’t have too much difficulty getting around in the river. At one spot I overestimated my wading ability and tried to cross a current thread that was deep enough and fast enough to sweep me off my feet and down stream for a few yards, but, apart from some barked knuckles and a wet shirt and dunked flybox, no harm was done. Ken took a fall on some slippery rocks, but I didn’t hear of any other mishaps. Ken caught a few small Guads, quite a few small sunfish, a Gaspergou, a carp, and a Gar. Greg landed a gar in addition to a few small Guads and sunfish. The rest of us had smaller numbers of bass and sunfish.

Monday, March 22, North San Gabriel River - Bob Williams

There were four of us this morning for fishing at Tejas. I think the weather over the last couple of days scared some folks off. And, it was cold when we met at 8:00 but warmed up nicely in about an hour. However the water was dark from run off and was high. I caught two white bass males over a couple of hours. Other than that nobody in our group or anybody else was catching a thing. In the group was Bob Bruner, George Kimmel, Fred Tscheulin and Myself. The run has definitely not started. Bruner, Fred and I went out Thurs. and caught four males in about an hour. There were a lot of fishermen both days with little to show for it. I plan to go out again on Wed. or Thurs.

Wednesday, March 10. Reimers Ranch Park, Greg Welander

Our club outing consisted of Kent, Al, Bruce, Pete, Clint and myself. We arrived at Reimers just after 9:00am. The day started out with partly cloudy skies, light south winds and air temps hovering the 70 degree mark. A north/north west wind arrived around 2:00pm with blue bird skies and temps remaining in the 70’s for the remainder of the day. The Pedernales was running at 440cf as recorded at the USGS gauge upstream in Johnson City. The water level at Lake Travis was 678 feet. The flows have been dropping off from an earlier rain just a few days prior to our trip. Pete caught his first ever white bass on the fly. Pete finished the day with a total of 3 White Bass. That was a great accomplishment for a saltwater veteran on his first white bass run. Kent, Al, and Clint finished the day with a total fish count of 7 fish. With the higher than normal water level this restricted access to the fish holding waters of the far bank. After lunch Bruce and myself made it across to the other side and headed up stream. Bruce and I finished the day with a total of 63 white bass all caught upstream. A size 8 sparsely tied clouser in natural colors with mini lead eyes produced the best catches. A 130 grain sinking line was required to get the clouser down in the strike zone due to the higher than normal flow rates.

Monday through Wednesday, September 21-23, 2009 - Devils River at Dolan Falls

Report from Don Johnson

We had a little bad luck with weather. It was cool and windy on most of Tuesdsay, and Wednesday had a slow drizzel most of the day. Fishing was pretty good on Monday afternoon, and for a little while late Tuesday. Nonetheless we caught enough fish to make a successful outing. The company and the food were great.

This photo gallery shows some photos taken by several participants.

Monday through Wednesday, September 14-16, 2009 - Devils River at Dolan Falls

Report from Clint Barton

We had a great trip to the Devil's River. I caught 5 small mouth bass, a couple of large mouths (only about 1/2 pound), bluegill, sunfish, and 10 or 12 Rio Grande perch. Flies that caught fish were olive wooly bugger, clouser minnow, and most of them on a natural pine squirrel slump buster (like Chris Johnson is teaching in Saturday's fly tying class). Most of them I caught sight fishing, letting the slump buster sink to the bottom and twitching it as the fish came to investigate. I could watch them pick it up and set the hook! The small mouths tended to hit it while stripping, but the Rio's mostly took it off the bottom. I hooked a couple of good sized bass but I must not have been paying attention to Bob Pool on the art of the hook set with big bass--they quickly spit the hook! The weather was good and Brooks did a great job with the ribs and steak!

This photo gallery shows some photos taken by several participants.

Saturday, July 25, 2009 - Joint float of the Brazos with the Texas Flyfishers of Houston - Bruce Wilks

Saturday, June 13 - Colorado River float, Webberville to Webberville

The Colorado River Float was canceled due to conditions.

We will try and reschedule for Fall 2009 or Spring 2010…

Friday through Sunday, May 15-17, 2009 - FFF Gulf Coast Council Expo - Bruce Wilks

Had a really great time in Lake Charles last week May 15th, 16th and 17th. The Gulf Coast Expo put on by the Gulf Coast Council of the Federation Of Fly Fishing was a very good time, with good Cajun food and good people… Many good to excellent fly tiers, with some real characters. Cast some new rods from TFO and a company new to me “Snowbee” rods and reels, along with David Ahn was there from ADG Titanium Rods…

All donations from our club members were sold at the auctions and will help the GCC continue to move forward and prosper

Brooks and I went fishing in the private marsh again and did well on Friday. I missed a lot of fish and Brooks lost a few himself, but we managed to land to hand 8 nice reds. See attached Pics and Fishing Report.

We attended Sat and Sun at the Expo. Brooks was also a guest fly tier all day Sat…

Gulf Coast EXPO 2009 Vendors:

• We had some kayak Vendors
• TFO, Snowbee and ADG were the fly rod suppliers attending
• Also had others representing fly tying materials etc… etc,,,

Lots of fly tiers attended so I thought I would point out just a few…

• Fred Hannie was showing and teaching a class on realistic fly tying. Fred’s flies look like the real thing for sure and many are fishable, but I am think most of his flies should be in a display plate…!!! Check it out www.realisticflytying.net
• John Carpenter and daughter Shelby were tying at the GCC conclave again… Had some beautiful realistic, but fishable crab and shrimp flies, really nice pencil poppers and very effective looking shrimp flies. His daughter was tying some foam caterpillar flies and spoons…
• Skip Shorb - Ozark, AR. Was tying his extended body, woven flies again. Watched him tie an extended body weaved mayfly with feather wings on a #32 hook.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 - Drake Fly Fishing Film Tour - Bruce Wilks

On April 22, 2009, The Drake Fly Fishing Film Tour will visit Austin. Please see the attached PDF for more info.

The Film Tour will showcase some of the best independent outdoor film makers. The goal of the T our is to energize the industry and inspire film makers to create new cutting edge films to both entertain and educate outdoor enthusiasts.

Their web site can be found at http://www.flyfishingfilmtour.com/ and online tickets are available. Any members who are interested should check out this event.

Monday, April 20, 2009 - Shaffer Bend white bass outing - Bruce Wilks

Here is the info on our White Bass Outing on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at Shaffer Bend Park on the Colorado River, at the upper end of Lake Travis above the Narrows Recreation area.

Time: Meet as a group at 7:30am at the parking lot of the HEB at FM 1431 & US 183 in Cedar Park, or at the CVS Pharmacy at Williams Drive and DB Wood (west side of their parking lot) in Georgetown, whichever is more convenient for you.

I will send out a separate email with contact list of attendees, so you can all plan your own car pools accordingly. We don’t have a set time that we will quit fishing, that will be up to you. You can still sign up to go (contact me to get on the list).

For directions to the park and recommendations on equipment, tackle, and flies see the description of our previous white bass outing on April 18.

Saturday, April 18 2009 - Shaffer Bend white bass outing - Bruce Wilks

This outing was canceled because of bad weather

Here is the info on our White Bass Outing on Saturday, April 18, 2009 at Shaffer Bend Park on the Colorado River, at the upper end of Lake Travis above the Narrows Recreation area.

Time: Meet as a group at 7:30am at the parking lot of the HEB at FM 1431 & US 183 in Cedar Park, or at the CVS Pharmacy at Williams Drive and DB Wood (west side of their parking lot) in Georgetown, whichever is more convenient for you.

I will send out a separate email with contact list of attendees, so you can all plan your own car pools accordingly. We don’t have a set time that we will quit fishing, that will be up to you. You can still sign up to go (contact me to get on the list).

In the event that you can’t meet up and carpool, here are the directions:

• From FM 1431 and US 183: Take 1431 about 25 miles to Smithwick, TX. Go another 2 miles on 1431, turn left on County Road 343A (Sign on the right). Follow CR 343a until you see the entrance to the Park on the right. Take the road until you see the river.
• From IH35 and TX 29: Take TX 29 to RR 1869 in Liberty Hill. Turn left on 1869 and proceed until it dead ends into RR 1174. Turn left and take 1174 until it dead ends into FM 1431. Turn right on 1431, go through Smithwick to CR 343a and proceed as above.

Note: There is a fee of $5.00 per car to use the park. There is parking and camping available, but no restrooms, so plan accordingly. The park is operated by the LCRA. Their phone is (800) 776-5272 x 3366.

Equipment:

• Chest waders, wading boots with felt or felt w/studs. Polarized sun glasses with brown or amber lens. Extra set of dry clothes, water is cold, March is windy, so if you get wet you need to get dry and get warm.
• Bottled water, Food and snacks, First Aid kit, cell phone, sunscreen
• Floatation: Canoe, Kayak, Kick Boat or Float Tube if you want to. Flotation is not necessary since Shaffer Bend has good wade-in access, but if you want to get away for more solitude or to reach places where you may not be able to cast to, then you should bring floatation.
• Rod: 5wt or 6wt medium to fast action fly rod

Fly Line:

• Full sinking line like SA Mastery Series Uniform sink plus in 5wt or 6wt type 4 or 5 is my favorite. You want 4 to 6 inches per second sink rate or you can use the type 5 which will give you 6 to 9 inches per second sink rate. Type 5 is better if you are going to be fishing mostly in deeper water due to it will get down to the next fish faster.
• Another really good line choice is Teeny sinking line (24ft of sink tip shooting head) like T-130 or T-200. This line does not hinge, cast good, sinks fast and does good in cold water.
• If you don’t have a full sinking line, a sink tip will be better than a floating line. If you only have a floating line, use heavier flies to get them down, or add split shot. Also a 9-14 foot leader will help get the fly down if you use a floating line.
• Leader / Tippet: A short leader of 3ft to 4ft of 1X (10 to 15lb) with 1ft of tippet 6lb to 10lb will work fine. Tippet can be mono or fluorocarbon line, but does not have to be tapered tippet material. White bass are aggressive and are not leader shy.

Flies:

• Clousers in sizes 6-12, in Grey, Grey/white, Chartreuse/white, Olive, Olive/white.
• Bead head Woolly buggers in the same sizes and colors, plus black.
• Other good minnow imitations such as gummy and cypert minnows.
• Crazy Charlies in same colors and sizes.

If you have questions, I have missed something, or you need more information, call me at my office at 512-868-2545. Hope to see all of you out there!!

Saturday, March 7, white bass outing at Shaffer Bend on Lake Travis

At Lake Travis’s current low level (653 ft), the running water of the Colorado river meets the slack water Lake Travis on the boundary of LCRA’s Shaffer Bend Recreational Area. There is a large pool where the river flows into the lake, and, for the most part, we fished by spreading out on the edges of this pool on both sides of the river. The were a few other fishermen on the water, including some kayak fishermen and a family with three young boys minnow fishing, but there was plenty of uncrowded water. Most of our participants caught some small whites, mostly in the 10 to 11 inch range, and an assortment of other species, including crappie, LMB, and a gar. The kids, with theirr minnows, consistently outfished the fly fishermen, but their whites were also small.

Here are reports from some individual outing participants:

Clint Barton: I caught 7 whites and 1 gar. Aaron caught 8 whites. The photo is one of the biggest one we caught.

Doug Cornwell: On Saturday, I ended up with a total of six or seven and it was a mix between blacks and whites. All caught on clousers fished down river from the large sand bar. On Sunday, I ended up with 10 whites, 6 blacks and 1 guad on clousers from the same location. None of the whites were over 12". I fished from 7:45 to 10:00. FYI, it appears that they released water from the dam overnight because on Sunday morning the banks were wet and the footprints from Saturday were gone.

Don Johnson: I caught six whites, all about 10 inches, and one smnall LMB. All came on #8 clousers in various shades and mixtures of grey, black and chartreuse.

Web administrator‘s note: If other participants send along outing reports I will add them to this page as I receive them

Saturday, December 13, Guadalupe River Trout Outing - Bruce Wilks

Web administrator‘s note: This outing was canceled because of high winds. I have left the original outing description intact because it provides useful information about where and how to fish the lower Guadalupe for trout.

The plan is to meet at Rio Raft at 8:30AM. Rio Raft is a stocking site for GRTU and Texas Parks & Wildlife and both will have stocked by the time we start fishing on the 13th.

Here are the directions to Rio Raft (Telephone: 1 - 877 - 746 – 7238 and 1 - 830 - 964 - 3613), where we will meet and put in to fish: Take I-35 South to the Hwy 306 exit (Mile Marker 191). This is the first New Braunfels exit, just north of town. Turn right (West) on Hwy 306 about 12 miles to FM 2673. Turn left (south) on 2673 into Sattler (about 2 miles). Turn left again on The River Road, and go about .5 miles to Rio Raft turn left into resort. (on the left before you cross the Fourth Crossing Bridge). It takes about an hour and a half to get there from Georgetown, with light traffic.

Make sure and stop at the Office on the left and pay. The fee for fishing and river access is $5.00 per person, whether you are wading or putting in a kayak, canoe or kick boat. Rio Raft opens at 9:00AM. There is a honor system drop box by the front door if you want to enter the water before 9:00am. Parking is to the right of the office behind the bathrooms.

Bruce Wilks will update weather forecast as we get closer to Decmber 13th. You should plan to contact each other about car pooling. We plan to meet at Rio Raft on the river at 9:00 AM.

Required Gear:

• 4 or 5 weight medium to fast action rod is great, with a 6 weight as the upper limit.
• Leaders 4X, 5X, or 6X if the water is really clear and the trout are spooky
• Tippet 4X 5X or 6X
• Felt bottom wading boots, if you have studded with felt even better.
• Wading Staff would also be good.

Fly Choices For The Guadalupe River Trout Fishing(You might try using a 12" to 18" inch Attractor/Dropper setup with two types of flies):

• Attractors (sizes 12-16) Top Fly
  • Egg (Various egg patterns including sucker eggs and Pom-Pom)
  • Prince
  • San Juan Worm
  • Hare's Ear
• Dropper (sizes 18-22): Bottom Fly
  • RS2
  • WD40
  • Caddis pupa
  • Little Brown Bug (* This is a local pattern, I can't find it on the internet)

Other productive flies on the Guadalupe River:

• Copper Johns 16-22
• Zebra Midges (16-22)
• Weighted bead head and non-weighted woolly buggers in olive, black and brown (sizes 8-14)
• Use pheasant tail nymphs to imitate blue-winged olive (#18-20) and slate-winged drake (#12-14) nymphs
• The brassie is a very effective imitation for caddis pupae (#16-#18) and midge pupae (#18-#22).
• Blue-Winged Olive hatches (#18-20)
• Gold ribbed hare's ears (#16-20)
• WD40s 14-22,
• Sparkle Caddis Pupa (14-16)

You can fish any of these flies as single fly setup under a strike indicator can be productive, but the Attractor/Dropper setup with two types of flies is the most productive setup. Attractor/Dropper setup can also be fished under a strike indicator, but can get difficult to cast depending on overall setup… You need to get the fly down on,or near the bottom, and if possible, in the ruts and deeper pools in the river bottom. In other words if you are not hanging up at least some of the time, then you are not in the best strike zone… You will lose a few flies, but catch more fish… Also fish behind rocks, boulders, logs, other cover and along the edges and current seams.

Important Suggestion! Remember to bring a change of warm cloths in case you slip or trip and get wet. The bottom is slippery, very uneven and rough with holes that look shallow, but are much deeper than you think... Hey, I have taken a full dunking more than once on this river and others. This is not a problem in warmer temps, but can be a serious problem in cold temps... Hypothermia is no fun at all and can happen quicker that one may think... Water temp is 54 deg and if air temps with wind chill factored in, once you are wet and cold, it will be hard to get dry and warm again... Your day of fishing could be over. It can be a long way back to the car wading down the river from some of the holes.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, June 20 thru 22 - Devils River at Dolan Falls

Bruce Wilks contributed a trip report, and several members contributed photographs. You can find Bruce’s report at: Outing report. You can find a subsets of the photos at: Pictures of people , Pictures of fish, Pictures of Devil’s River.

Gulf Coast Council, Federation of Fly Fishers 2nd Annual FFF Gulf Coast Expo - Bruce Wilks

Had lots of fun in Lake Charles last week. The Gulf Coast Expo put on by the Gulf Coast Council of the Federation Of Fly Fishing was a very good time, with good Cajun food and good people… Many good to excellent fly tiers, with some real characters. Cast some new rods from SAGE & TFO. David Ahan was there from ADG Titanium Rods…

Spent Friday and Sat at the Expo. Spent some time talking to Stacy Trimble who is now a Rep for Hobie Kayaks.. Me and Brooks both attended a casting analysis class put on by Bruce Richards who is Product Specialist for Scientific Anglers http://www.gulfcoastfff.org/expo08/GCC_2008_Program_Handout.pdf There were only 5 people in attendance and the class was two hours long… He watched us all cast and had us make corrections from his critique, then practice, cast and critique again, Then he had a rod that had a angular gyro sensor connected to a Palm Pilot and software that plotted and graphed that showed your forward cast, stop, rebound, speed and acceleration, then your back cast, stop, rebound, speed and acceleration among many other things it told you… I am now a better casted for it… Hmm… Wished I would have done it before the trip into the marsh, maybe would have landed at least a few more Reds…. Also had Al Crise by request form Brooks helped me some more with my Double Haul for about 20 min of his own time, which I can do a double haul much better now thanks to Al, Brooks and Bruce Richards…! Brooks was also a guest fly tier all day Friday… See attached pics…!

Gulf Coast EXPO 2008 Vendors:

• We had some kayak Vendors including Stacy Trimble who is a Rep for Hobie Kayaks. S tacy was showing and demoing the new line of Mirage Drive hovie kayaks…
• SAGE and TFO, and ADG were the fly rod suppliers attending…
• Also had others representing fly tying materials etc… etc,,,

Lots of fly tiers attended so I thought I would point out just a few…

John Carpenter and daughter - Some really nice people and John is getting his daughter into fly fishing and tying flies… What a great dad…! Had some beautiful crab flies, really nice poppers and a great very effective looking shrimp flies. His daughter was tying some foam crease flies and spoons…

Bio:

Santa Fe, TX. Saltwater fishing has always been a passion of mine, starting from the first time I went fishing with my father & mother some 37 years ago. After growing up on the coast of Matagorda Texas in the town of Sargent I learned the basics of saltwater fishing from a young age. I have taken those memories and skills and applied them to the art of fly tying, to try and create flys that are as close to the real thing as possible. I knew after purchasing my first fly rod, I was hooked on the sport. Once you learn to cast you are in trouble, because then your addicted and you have to buy a vice and begin to tie.

Skip Shorb - Ozark, AR. Skip was introduced to tying in late 1996, and learned how to weave in early 1997. He developed procedures to tie the extended body, woven flies in early 1999, for the Sowbug Roundup. See him tie an extended body weaved mayfly with feather wings on a #32 hook. I needed a magnifying glass to see the fly much less even think about tying one… WOW…!!!

Saturday, May 3, 2008 - Float down the San Gabriel

The club's planned float of the San Gabriel had to be canceled because of low flow in the river. Randy was able to arrange for the members who had signed up for the outing to fish a private lake east of town. The crew fished from about 7:30AM till around noon and caught lots of small bass and big sunfish.

Saturday, April 12, 2008 - Casting clinic by Al Crise

Al Crise, certified as a Master Casting Instructor by the Federation of Fly Fishers, came come to Georgetown to help SGFF members sharpen their casting skills. Al not only teaches people to cast, he also teaches other instructors how to improve their communication skills and, as one of the Master Casting Instructors, he conducts tests for those who want to become FFF Certified Casting Instructors, themselves.

Saturday, March 29th - TPWD Casting Certification Clinic - Randy Johnson

On Saturday, March 29th, several members of the San Gabriel Flyfishers attended the TPWD Casting and Instructor Certification Class held at McKinney Falls State Park. Members in attendance included Clint Barton, Kent Conner, Al Desjardin, Matt Rush, Tommy Judson, Pete Walker, and Randy Johnson. Clint's Son-in-law Ryan Jouett also attended.

Beginning in the morning, the class introduced basic fly casting, fly tying, and aquatic habitat to the group. The habitat segment included a trip down to nearby Onion Creek to sample the "critters" inhabiting the stream. TPWD employees and volunteers from the Fredericksburg Fly Fishers and Hill Country Fly Fishers assisted in the training.

Upon the conclusion of this training, all participants received a certificate of completion. Clint, Ryan, Kent, Al, Matt, and Randy then attended the Instructor Certification portion of the training. Each of them will become Certified Instructors upon approval of their applications.

This training will allow the Club members to volunteer to assist the TPWD in conducting classes in the future, and to document our certification when we conduct classes for local groups in the future.

Monday, February 25, 2008 - Randy Johnson

On Monday, February 25th, the Club had their first weekday outing, a white bass trip below Tejas Park on the North San Gabriel above Lake Georgetown. About ten members went on the trip. Bob Pool, whose property adjoins the Corp of Engineers property just below Tejas, allowed us to access the river from his land.

The weather was good, although a little windy and the water levels are low, due to the lack of recent rains. Even though the white bass have been running above Lake Granger for about three weeks, they are not running yet here. The cause is likely too little water flowing into the lake, since the water temperature was about 60 degrees.

We did catch a number of sunfish and small bass, both largemouth and Guadalupe, including one Guadalupe of 13”. We may try to set another date when we can verify that the white bass have started running at this location.

The location is ideal, with plenty of room to fish and minimal casting obstructions.

Saturday, January 19, 2008 - Randy Johnson

On Saturday, January 19th, the San Gabriel Flyfishers took a trip to Shonto Ranch outside Kerrville to go trout fishing. Those attending were Randy Johnson, Keith Lovin, Doug Cornwell, Al Desjardin, Bob Williams, Pete Walker, and Matt Rush.

The weather was not ideal (30 degree at 9:00 AM up to about 50 later, clear sky all day) but was workable. We caught a total of about 20 trout, the largest being caught by Pete Walker, a 24 incher. Doug Cornwell caught a large golden trout, and he also caught the most fish (9). Several people caught sunfish, even though the water was very cold. Most of the trout were caught on woolly buggers and streamers, in the shade of the cliffs/trees against the opposite bank of one section of the creek. We caught no fish whatsoever at the Canyon Lake, where we caught the majority of our fish on the last trip. The lack of cloud cover was the most likely reason.

Everyone either hooked or landed fish, and on the whole, the trip was a success. Everyone had a great time, it is a beautiful place.

For those of you wanting more info on Shonto, the website is http://www.shontoranch.com. You can also view this short promotional video.

Friday, January 4, 2008

On Friday, January 4th, the Sun City Hunting and Fishing Club sponsored their annual “Fly Fishing Only” trout fishing outing at Berry Creek Lake in Sun City. The Sun City Club invited all members of the San Gabriel Flyfishers to attend. They stocked 600 pounds of rainbow trout in the lake, most between 1 and 3 pounds.

Friday through Sunday, October 12-14 - Brooks Bouldin

Eleven of SGFF's finest made a trip to Port Aransas to fish out of Kayaks the second weekend in October. When we arrived, we discovered that tides were running 2 feet high making it impossible to see redfish until it was too late to get a cast to them. Water was over the road into Wilson's Cut, Forcing us to redirect our efforts to the Lighthouse Lakes. Seven hours of fishing resulted in 0 reds and 0 trout. The top fish I saw all day was this scrappy skip jack. We'll check the tide levels before we make our next trip to the coast.

Friday through Sunday, October 19-21

The Fredericksburg Fly Fishers 4th annual Octoberfisch

Saturday August 25

Randy Johnson arranged for the club to fish a private lake near Rowe Valley. Randy and Bob Pool did a great job of organizing the outing, and we had a good group of participants. A lot of fish were caught; among the eleven participants we landed a total of over eighty fish.

Saturday May 26

The planned outing to the Kingsland slab on the LLano was canceled because of flooding and the threat of more flash flooding.

Friday April 13 through Sunday April 15, 2007

Devil's River outing report

Sunday Feb 25, 2007 - report by Bruce Wilks

Me and Randy Johnson are the only ones that showed up on the Outing last Sunday at The Narrows Recreation Area. It is about 55 miles from Round Rock

Randy caught at least 12 white bass and two Guadalupe bass (Randy correct me if I am wrong on your fish count). I caught 22 whites and 1 Guadalupe... All were 11" to 15.5"...! These whites were all fat healthy fish and good to eat.

I also invited three of my fishing friends that do not belong to the club. Blake caught 35 whites and four Guadalupe's, Bryan caught 18 whites and 23 crappies and Bob caught 18 whites and a 26" carp that actually took a clouser minnow for a lip hook set...

Best way to fish for whites at this place is with kayak, canoe or float tube, waders, your 5wt or 6wt fly rod with full fast sink sinking line on your reel. There is a very long area of bank down river at the launch site if you to not have a boat or float tube and you just want to wade fish... You will need to get sinking line at Sportsman's Finest or some other source... Sportsman's Warehouse sells Wet Cell, but the sink rate is to slow... You need a minimum sink rate of at least 4" to 9" per second. Uniform sink is good, or Streamer Express fast sink is good and even more so if they release water upstream from Lake LBJ, which they did at about 3:30 PM... Clousers in #8 to #10 ( white/gray, white/chartreuse, along with other colors including the blue and purple ones...) I used my 5 weight Sage XP with "Uniform Sink rate of 4.5" to 6" per second. My sinking line is dark colored, but many people use the clear sinking lines... It was a beautiful day, and really is a beautiful place to see, do some kayaking and fishing. Catching some nice whites is a real bonus, then eating some is good also...

With the warm weather this week it should really turn them on harder and trigger a bigger run from Lake Travis up the Narrows...!!! The white bass run and spawn will be over and done by end of March or early in April. I am going this weekend again if anyone is interested...

Saturday, Feb 10, 2007

The planned outing to the lower Guadalupe was canceled because of forcasted bad weather.

Saturday, Feb 10, 2007

The planned outing to Shanto Ranch was canceled because of forecasted bad weather.

Saturday, Jan 27, 2007

This was an outing to the lower Guadalupe at Rio Raft. Randy Johnson has provided a fishing report for this outing.

Saturday, Jan 13, 2007

The planned outing to Shonto Ranch was canceled because of bad weather.

Monday and Wednesday, Jan 8 and Jan 10, 2007

The Sun City Hunting and Fishing Club, Texas Parks and Wildlife, and the Corps of Engineers sponsored a project to place 200 juniper trees in Lake Georgetown to form brush piles as habitat for fish. Trees were cut in Russell Park and transported to the boat ramp; then concrete blocks were attached to bunches of trees and which were dropped into the lake from a barge provided by the Corps of Engineers.

Our thanks to the Sun City group, the Corps and Texas Parks and Wildlife for their contributions to this effort.

Friday, Jan 5, 2007

The Sun City Hunting and Fishing Clup put trout into the lake on Dell Webb Blvd., and invited us to participate in their trout derby.

September 23, 2006

Kayak demo in San Gabriel Park September 23, 2006

August 5, 2006

Cleanup of a portion of the San Gabriel's North Fork August 5, 2006

April 8, 2007

Electrofishing population survey April 8, 2006