Vagabond
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Posts posted by Vagabond
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I drive a Volvo Estate (good fishing wagon)
Distant relative (female, presumably trying to impress)
"Real men don't drive Volvos"
My reply "Real men drive what they bl**dy well please"
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I drive a Volvo Estate (good fishing wagon)
Distant relative (female, presumably trying to impress)
"Real men don't drive Volvos"
My reply "Real men drive what they bl**dy well please"
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quote:Originally posted by Dan:[QB Anyway hows vagabond gonna read our answers! I expect his back button is stuck down, someone tell him!dan[/QB]
Thanks dan
I read your answer as a result of the twentieth attempt being successful. Bone-headed persistence triumphs again !
Hitting the back button seems to work - thanks, its not something I would have thought of , but why has this problem suddenly cropped up?
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quote:Originally posted by Dan:[QB Anyway hows vagabond gonna read our answers! I expect his back button is stuck down, someone tell him!dan[/QB]
Thanks dan
I read your answer as a result of the twentieth attempt being successful. Bone-headed persistence triumphs again !
Hitting the back button seems to work - thanks, its not something I would have thought of , but why has this problem suddenly cropped up?
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Interesting comment re longnose gar Red Hillbilly.
A couple of days after the shennanigans on the Nueces, we were in South Llanos Park, and I had a go at spinning for Guadalupe Bass in the South Llanos River (very clear water, nothing like the Nuesces)
I got a few bass around the one pound mark, and as evening fell, spotted some small longnose gar lying along the margins where there were undercuts. They lay parallel to the bank, just a few inches out.
I had the same experience as you - no problem about the gar going for the lure (Size 2 Mepps Black Fury) but landing them proved not possible. I kept hooking and losing them until it was just about dark. Frustrating, but I had no other gear with me, and no time to walk back to the car for it.
We had to move on to Big Bend the next morning, else I would have tried again, either with a woollen tassel attached to the spinner, or else fly-fish with a big hairy streamer. Either way, that might have entangled the teeth long enough to get the fish to net.
Glad to hear you eventually got one though. Nice work
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Interesting comment re longnose gar Red Hillbilly.
A couple of days after the shennanigans on the Nueces, we were in South Llanos Park, and I had a go at spinning for Guadalupe Bass in the South Llanos River (very clear water, nothing like the Nuesces)
I got a few bass around the one pound mark, and as evening fell, spotted some small longnose gar lying along the margins where there were undercuts. They lay parallel to the bank, just a few inches out.
I had the same experience as you - no problem about the gar going for the lure (Size 2 Mepps Black Fury) but landing them proved not possible. I kept hooking and losing them until it was just about dark. Frustrating, but I had no other gear with me, and no time to walk back to the car for it.
We had to move on to Big Bend the next morning, else I would have tried again, either with a woollen tassel attached to the spinner, or else fly-fish with a big hairy streamer. Either way, that might have entangled the teeth long enough to get the fish to net.
Glad to hear you eventually got one though. Nice work
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When I choose a thread from a Forum, I get a quick view of the first post on the thread, then the page flips back to the main Forum menu after about 1.5 seconds.
This happens about nineteen attempts out of twenty.
Where does the problem lie, and what can I do about it?
My PC ? We came back from USA to find we couldn't turn it on. Our PC vet diagnosed a faulty modem, which he replaced, and a faulty keyboard, also replaced.
The vet claimed there was a lightning strike in the town while we were away, which probably clobbered the modem (and No, I don't belive it either)
Problems at AN end ? Is it happening to others?
A function of the system ?
The silly thing is, there is no difficulty in posting new topics - I just can't get to read the replies!
Its like the perfect set-up for political discussion - bullhorn and ear-muffs!
I hope I can access any replies - if not will ask for an E-mail
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When I choose a thread from a Forum, I get a quick view of the first post on the thread, then the page flips back to the main Forum menu after about 1.5 seconds.
This happens about nineteen attempts out of twenty.
Where does the problem lie, and what can I do about it?
My PC ? We came back from USA to find we couldn't turn it on. Our PC vet diagnosed a faulty modem, which he replaced, and a faulty keyboard, also replaced.
The vet claimed there was a lightning strike in the town while we were away, which probably clobbered the modem (and No, I don't belive it either)
Problems at AN end ? Is it happening to others?
A function of the system ?
The silly thing is, there is no difficulty in posting new topics - I just can't get to read the replies!
Its like the perfect set-up for political discussion - bullhorn and ear-muffs!
I hope I can access any replies - if not will ask for an E-mail
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"You are not fly-fishing the Colorado High Country streams tomorrow" said Norma.
"What ?"
"No, it's your birthday, and you are having a day after Mackinaws on Lake Blue Mesa - I've booked a boat and a guide - no arguments"
"Who's arguing?"
So there we were, Big Game fishing in miniature - not aboard a Bertram 33, but perched on a pontoon boat, trailing lead-core lines with enormous plugs attached , cold beer in the eskie, Tex-Mex pickled sausages in the lunch box, a glorious blue-bird day (as the Americans call it), and brown trout of a pound or so hitting the lures every so often. These fish were not what we were after, however, so back they all went. Most were standard browns, but Norma had one of the Scottish Loch Leven strain - no red spots, but silvery with black star-shaped spots on the sides. Loch Levens were amongst the first trout imported into North America and I was told this form was now quite rare, as stocking is now done mainly with standard browns.
What we were after was the Mackinaw or Great Lake Trout, Salvelinus namaycush, which, as you can deduce from the Latin name, is really a charr. They run up to over 30 lb in Blue Mesa, but the big ones are uncommon. The morning's trailing produced only browns, so out came the jigging rods, and we set to in one of the deep flooded canyons in Blue Mesa.
Soon I had a tremendous pull - the rod arching and nodding furiously. I pumped the fish up, Eric, our guide, picked up the net. "It's a good 'un" he shouted (as if I needed telling) The clutch yielded line as the fish made redoubled efforts on seeing the net, but soon he stopped running, and again I pumped the fish nearer " there he is " said Eric, and I saw him reach down……..
"Gone !" Just as suddenly, nothing there. The hook-hold had given way - there followed the usual few seconds of numbed disbelief one always gets when a big fish comes off for no apparent reason. Fred J Taylor used to say, with a wry grin, "That fell orrf, mate" Too right it did………..
No good just sitting there - get jigging again ! Eric had had a good sighting of the fish in the clear water and estimated it as about fifteen pounds. As he had proved pretty knowledgeable in every other aspect, there is no reason to doubt that figure - behind Eric, I couldn't see the fish myself, but it certainly felt that sort of weight.
Jigging produced no further takes, so it was back to trailing again in the late afternoon. Another hit, and something better than a one-pound brownie this time. This fish fought savagely all the way to the boat, but stayed on the hook until Eric swung the net neatly aboard. My first Mackinaw - a beautiful deep sage green, marbled all over with roundish white blotches, and with the dark green lower fins having milky-white leading edges. A deeply forked tail at one end and a business-like set of jaws, reminiscent of Ferox trout, at the front. Not as big as the lost fish, but just under five pounds.
" The best size for eating" said Eric as he bundled the fish into a big cool box, " would you like me to flay him for you ?" We knew what he meant, but the word "flay" seemed strange - in English it means just to remove the skin. . On questioning, it seems he had said "fillay" ie the French pronunciation of "fillet" - fascinating. The two words obviously come from the same root. Bill Bryson is not the only one to take an interest in the origins of American English!
The two very large skinned fillets Eric produced we took to a local restaurant to have cooked for an evening meal - as is our usual practice when touring without cooking facilities. In fact we took them to two restaurants - at the first place the "manageress" had stuck her little nose in the air and said in her best "Jobsworth" voice "It's against regulations" "OK lady, have a nice day" (this was one of only two dud outfits we came across in the entire trip).
Better luck at the second eatery (and why shouldn't I tell y'all this was "The Trough" in Gunnison ? Good service deserves publicity) - "Certainly sir, how would you like it cooked?"
Consulted their menu - the chef's special was Salmon Almondine - baked with almonds and fresh herbs. That sounded good, so we opted for Mackinaw Almondine. An excellent meal, as much fish as we could eat, beautifully served and garnished, with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - followed by coffee as by then we could not eat another morsel.
A perfect end to a perfect day. A good toothsome fish caught and stowed under my belt. A better fish lost. A perfect excuse for going back again.
[ 27 May 2002, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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"You are not fly-fishing the Colorado High Country streams tomorrow" said Norma.
"What ?"
"No, it's your birthday, and you are having a day after Mackinaws on Lake Blue Mesa - I've booked a boat and a guide - no arguments"
"Who's arguing?"
So there we were, Big Game fishing in miniature - not aboard a Bertram 33, but perched on a pontoon boat, trailing lead-core lines with enormous plugs attached , cold beer in the eskie, Tex-Mex pickled sausages in the lunch box, a glorious blue-bird day (as the Americans call it), and brown trout of a pound or so hitting the lures every so often. These fish were not what we were after, however, so back they all went. Most were standard browns, but Norma had one of the Scottish Loch Leven strain - no red spots, but silvery with black star-shaped spots on the sides. Loch Levens were amongst the first trout imported into North America and I was told this form was now quite rare, as stocking is now done mainly with standard browns.
What we were after was the Mackinaw or Great Lake Trout, Salvelinus namaycush, which, as you can deduce from the Latin name, is really a charr. They run up to over 30 lb in Blue Mesa, but the big ones are uncommon. The morning's trailing produced only browns, so out came the jigging rods, and we set to in one of the deep flooded canyons in Blue Mesa.
Soon I had a tremendous pull - the rod arching and nodding furiously. I pumped the fish up, Eric, our guide, picked up the net. "It's a good 'un" he shouted (as if I needed telling) The clutch yielded line as the fish made redoubled efforts on seeing the net, but soon he stopped running, and again I pumped the fish nearer " there he is " said Eric, and I saw him reach down……..
"Gone !" Just as suddenly, nothing there. The hook-hold had given way - there followed the usual few seconds of numbed disbelief one always gets when a big fish comes off for no apparent reason. Fred J Taylor used to say, with a wry grin, "That fell orrf, mate" Too right it did………..
No good just sitting there - get jigging again ! Eric had had a good sighting of the fish in the clear water and estimated it as about fifteen pounds. As he had proved pretty knowledgeable in every other aspect, there is no reason to doubt that figure - behind Eric, I couldn't see the fish myself, but it certainly felt that sort of weight.
Jigging produced no further takes, so it was back to trailing again in the late afternoon. Another hit, and something better than a one-pound brownie this time. This fish fought savagely all the way to the boat, but stayed on the hook until Eric swung the net neatly aboard. My first Mackinaw - a beautiful deep sage green, marbled all over with roundish white blotches, and with the dark green lower fins having milky-white leading edges. A deeply forked tail at one end and a business-like set of jaws, reminiscent of Ferox trout, at the front. Not as big as the lost fish, but just under five pounds.
" The best size for eating" said Eric as he bundled the fish into a big cool box, " would you like me to flay him for you ?" We knew what he meant, but the word "flay" seemed strange - in English it means just to remove the skin. . On questioning, it seems he had said "fillay" ie the French pronunciation of "fillet" - fascinating. The two words obviously come from the same root. Bill Bryson is not the only one to take an interest in the origins of American English!
The two very large skinned fillets Eric produced we took to a local restaurant to have cooked for an evening meal - as is our usual practice when touring without cooking facilities. In fact we took them to two restaurants - at the first place the "manageress" had stuck her little nose in the air and said in her best "Jobsworth" voice "It's against regulations" "OK lady, have a nice day" (this was one of only two dud outfits we came across in the entire trip).
Better luck at the second eatery (and why shouldn't I tell y'all this was "The Trough" in Gunnison ? Good service deserves publicity) - "Certainly sir, how would you like it cooked?"
Consulted their menu - the chef's special was Salmon Almondine - baked with almonds and fresh herbs. That sounded good, so we opted for Mackinaw Almondine. An excellent meal, as much fish as we could eat, beautifully served and garnished, with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc - followed by coffee as by then we could not eat another morsel.
A perfect end to a perfect day. A good toothsome fish caught and stowed under my belt. A better fish lost. A perfect excuse for going back again.
[ 27 May 2002, 08:33 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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.
As readers may remember, I had hoped to catch some freshwater gars on my trip to Texas, but before the long-awaited night-fishing trip after alligator gars we had had a gentle introduction to Texan freshwater fishing. My daughter's H.O.D, Steve and his wife, had invited us all to a barbecue at their property on the shores of Lake Travis. The deal seemed to be that Steve provided the charcoal , the hardware, and the rib-eye steaks, his colleagues provided the wine and beer, but Norma and I were expected to provide the fish.
Fortunately for the would be diners on fish, the shoreline included a low but steep rocky cliff with a good drop-off, which looked promising - and was. Float fishing with worms, Norma and I were soon pulling out pan-fish a-plenty. All sorts - Rio Grande cichlids, bluegill, pumpkinseed, green , spotted and red-breasted sunfish - even the odd small bass (returned). No shortage of fish. We might have had even more, but much time was spent identifying each new fish caught with the aid of our Peterson Guide.
We had kept about two-dozen pan-fish, which were soon cleaned, spitted and barbecued - then washed down with some Sauvignon Blanc, absolutely delicious, as were the steaks, the lubricant in this case being Budweiser. Texan hospitality at its best.
The quest for freshwater gar also got off to a good start, as Steve presented me with the skeleton of a small alligator gar he had found by the lake margin - The bones had been picked absolutely clean by fire ants, and the skull (with its diagnostic double-row of teeth) now sits on the top of my telly, flanked by two piranha skulls. For those interested in fish anatomy, the scales are of the primitive "ganoid" type, and form a rigid tube around the body - these fish are built like tanks!
After that initial success, we became a bit more ambitious, and had a few bass, cats and even accidental carp elsewhere on Lake Travis. Nothing monstrous, but our light rods were well bent - very pleasant casual fishing.
BTW The "Shades" restaurant in Lago Vista is set on a pontoon, and you eat in the open, overlooking the water - whilst hordes of carp and blue catfish , all in the five to fifteen pound range, are seething below, waiting for diners' tit-bits and jostling each other frantically when something is thrown to them. We thought this rather a pathetic sight - they looked like beggars in the Third World. Needless to say, no fishing is allowed from or near the pontoon.
The highlight of the Texas trip, a twenty-four hour session on the Nueces River, was set up by two contacts made via the Texas Fishing Forum. We had only corresponded by E-mail, but were soon chatting away like old friends. Bob had initially offered to take me out on Travis for alligator gar, but had met up with Tim recently, who had landed a whopping alligator gar ( 65 lbs) on light tackle on the Nueces recently, so it was decided an expedition down there to make use of Tim's family cabin, boat and jetty would be our best shot.
About a four hour drive brought us to the Nueces. A familiar appearance to Texans - but difficult to describe to a UK-based angler. The river is 40 to 50 yards wide, deep-looking, oiling slowly and smoothly along. The colour and texture resembled thick yellow-lentil soup, and overhanging willows lined both banks, their branches trailing in the water. Crumbling soft banks, undercut deeply in places. Placid looking, but with a faintly sinister aura. This is the hot and humid Deep South - like a scene from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof " and I half-expected a sultry Elizabeth Taylor to walk out of the next cabin. You could imagine the legend on De Salle's old maps "Here Be Monsters". Tim told us the river not only held huge alligator gar and big catfish, but real (ie reptilian) alligators as well - and showed us some photos to prove it!
The boat was ideal for the job - outboard, aluminium hull, shallow draught, held four, had a deep live-bait well and plenty of room for fishing gear. The first trip was in the heat of the afternoon, to catch some bait with throw nets and set up a few trot-lines and fixed lines.
This alone was interesting enough. I had read the various threads about throw-nets before leaving the UK, and my first purchase after my Texas fishing licence was a small throw-net. Good value for money, but the instructions for throwing it appeared to have been written as a practical joke. There was an incredibly complicated formula to distribute various parts of the net between left hand, right hand, over left shoulder, across body and what was left was to be held between two clenched fists. Before meeting up with Tim we had all tried to throw it according to the instructions - each amusing the others by the complexity of the tangles that ensued.
I watched Tim throw his net and catch Gizzard Shad. It looked deceptively simple - nothing like the complicated scenario described above. I watched him very carefully - especially the final flick of the wrist to send the leads in the throwing hand out and away to open the net and land farthest away from the thrower - it still looked simple - Hell! It WAS simple - let me have a go! My first throw was not perfect, but the net was sufficiently well spread to catch a couple of shad - Whoopee! Although I still need more practice, I can say it is quite possible for anyone to learn to catch fish the first time out. I caught several more shad later and can't wait to try the net out on sand-smelt. Many thanks Tim ! Norma video-ed the net-casting, so we have access to a refresher course if necessary.
An unexpected bonus appeared in the shape of two spotted gar which turned up in the throw net - duly video-ed and photographed, at least I now had handled a live gar.
Set-lining (one or two hooks on a single line tied to a tree) and trot-lining (a long line tied between two trees, with up to twenty hooks attached on snoods at appropriate intervals) are very much a part of the Texas fishing scene, and "when in Rome"……..It took me back to night-lining for eels in Norfolk over fifty years ago. All strictly taboo in the UK these days, but quite legal (subject to a few sensible rules and restrictions) in Texas.
Having baited all our hooks, which were spread out over a couple of miles of river, we went back to base for a meal, then out again after a couple of hours to inspect all the trot/set lines. The bait had gone on most, but some blue catfish to six pounds and a freshwater drum of nearly seven were kicking away on some of the hooks. We netted a few more shad, baited up all the hooks again, then float-fished live-baits on rod and line in the area where Tim had taken his monster. Not a bite! We fished on in the hot steamy night, with only the mosquitoes for company, until midnight - without result.
Soon after midnight we set off through the night at about half-throttle for another roundup of the set/trot lines. More catfish, more cleaned-off hooks. Re-baited again. Norma , Bob and Tim decided to get their heads down for a few hours. Stubbornly, I fished on, from the jetty, until just after three - not much chance I had been told, but this was the only chance for gar I'm going to get for a while. About three a.m., Tim and Bob resurfaced, so we all went for another thrash up and down the river to inspect lines - a few more cats around four pounds, and again many hooks (these were mainly circle hooks equivalent to our size 8/0 - but circle hooks are numbered on a different system) were cleaned off "Gars for sure" said Tim. Again we re-baited all the empty hooks.
Again the others got their heads down, and this time I soon joined them - as the rods were still bite-less.
Dawn saw yet another round to inspect the set/trot lines, but only one or two cats this time. All the other hooks were cleaned off. Shad do not come off a circle hook easily - it must have been a real bunch of "toothy critturs" that cleaned off such large hooks . They were set too high in the water for the culprits to be crayfish.
Although nothing was caught by rod, and no alligator gars were seen, this was a great fishing experience - one day we hope once again to be afloat in the sub-tropical night on the Nueces - part and parcel of a boatload of rascals after the mighty alligator gar.
Since reaching home, I have had a E-mail from Tim, telling how last week his uncle hooked a mighty alligator gar, over a hundred pounds, but was unable to get it into the boat single-handed - the fish had broken one end of the trot line, and when he attempted to gaff it, broke away completely. This river has got to be worth another shot!
[ 27 May 2002, 06:54 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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.
As readers may remember, I had hoped to catch some freshwater gars on my trip to Texas, but before the long-awaited night-fishing trip after alligator gars we had had a gentle introduction to Texan freshwater fishing. My daughter's H.O.D, Steve and his wife, had invited us all to a barbecue at their property on the shores of Lake Travis. The deal seemed to be that Steve provided the charcoal , the hardware, and the rib-eye steaks, his colleagues provided the wine and beer, but Norma and I were expected to provide the fish.
Fortunately for the would be diners on fish, the shoreline included a low but steep rocky cliff with a good drop-off, which looked promising - and was. Float fishing with worms, Norma and I were soon pulling out pan-fish a-plenty. All sorts - Rio Grande cichlids, bluegill, pumpkinseed, green , spotted and red-breasted sunfish - even the odd small bass (returned). No shortage of fish. We might have had even more, but much time was spent identifying each new fish caught with the aid of our Peterson Guide.
We had kept about two-dozen pan-fish, which were soon cleaned, spitted and barbecued - then washed down with some Sauvignon Blanc, absolutely delicious, as were the steaks, the lubricant in this case being Budweiser. Texan hospitality at its best.
The quest for freshwater gar also got off to a good start, as Steve presented me with the skeleton of a small alligator gar he had found by the lake margin - The bones had been picked absolutely clean by fire ants, and the skull (with its diagnostic double-row of teeth) now sits on the top of my telly, flanked by two piranha skulls. For those interested in fish anatomy, the scales are of the primitive "ganoid" type, and form a rigid tube around the body - these fish are built like tanks!
After that initial success, we became a bit more ambitious, and had a few bass, cats and even accidental carp elsewhere on Lake Travis. Nothing monstrous, but our light rods were well bent - very pleasant casual fishing.
BTW The "Shades" restaurant in Lago Vista is set on a pontoon, and you eat in the open, overlooking the water - whilst hordes of carp and blue catfish , all in the five to fifteen pound range, are seething below, waiting for diners' tit-bits and jostling each other frantically when something is thrown to them. We thought this rather a pathetic sight - they looked like beggars in the Third World. Needless to say, no fishing is allowed from or near the pontoon.
The highlight of the Texas trip, a twenty-four hour session on the Nueces River, was set up by two contacts made via the Texas Fishing Forum. We had only corresponded by E-mail, but were soon chatting away like old friends. Bob had initially offered to take me out on Travis for alligator gar, but had met up with Tim recently, who had landed a whopping alligator gar ( 65 lbs) on light tackle on the Nueces recently, so it was decided an expedition down there to make use of Tim's family cabin, boat and jetty would be our best shot.
About a four hour drive brought us to the Nueces. A familiar appearance to Texans - but difficult to describe to a UK-based angler. The river is 40 to 50 yards wide, deep-looking, oiling slowly and smoothly along. The colour and texture resembled thick yellow-lentil soup, and overhanging willows lined both banks, their branches trailing in the water. Crumbling soft banks, undercut deeply in places. Placid looking, but with a faintly sinister aura. This is the hot and humid Deep South - like a scene from "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof " and I half-expected a sultry Elizabeth Taylor to walk out of the next cabin. You could imagine the legend on De Salle's old maps "Here Be Monsters". Tim told us the river not only held huge alligator gar and big catfish, but real (ie reptilian) alligators as well - and showed us some photos to prove it!
The boat was ideal for the job - outboard, aluminium hull, shallow draught, held four, had a deep live-bait well and plenty of room for fishing gear. The first trip was in the heat of the afternoon, to catch some bait with throw nets and set up a few trot-lines and fixed lines.
This alone was interesting enough. I had read the various threads about throw-nets before leaving the UK, and my first purchase after my Texas fishing licence was a small throw-net. Good value for money, but the instructions for throwing it appeared to have been written as a practical joke. There was an incredibly complicated formula to distribute various parts of the net between left hand, right hand, over left shoulder, across body and what was left was to be held between two clenched fists. Before meeting up with Tim we had all tried to throw it according to the instructions - each amusing the others by the complexity of the tangles that ensued.
I watched Tim throw his net and catch Gizzard Shad. It looked deceptively simple - nothing like the complicated scenario described above. I watched him very carefully - especially the final flick of the wrist to send the leads in the throwing hand out and away to open the net and land farthest away from the thrower - it still looked simple - Hell! It WAS simple - let me have a go! My first throw was not perfect, but the net was sufficiently well spread to catch a couple of shad - Whoopee! Although I still need more practice, I can say it is quite possible for anyone to learn to catch fish the first time out. I caught several more shad later and can't wait to try the net out on sand-smelt. Many thanks Tim ! Norma video-ed the net-casting, so we have access to a refresher course if necessary.
An unexpected bonus appeared in the shape of two spotted gar which turned up in the throw net - duly video-ed and photographed, at least I now had handled a live gar.
Set-lining (one or two hooks on a single line tied to a tree) and trot-lining (a long line tied between two trees, with up to twenty hooks attached on snoods at appropriate intervals) are very much a part of the Texas fishing scene, and "when in Rome"……..It took me back to night-lining for eels in Norfolk over fifty years ago. All strictly taboo in the UK these days, but quite legal (subject to a few sensible rules and restrictions) in Texas.
Having baited all our hooks, which were spread out over a couple of miles of river, we went back to base for a meal, then out again after a couple of hours to inspect all the trot/set lines. The bait had gone on most, but some blue catfish to six pounds and a freshwater drum of nearly seven were kicking away on some of the hooks. We netted a few more shad, baited up all the hooks again, then float-fished live-baits on rod and line in the area where Tim had taken his monster. Not a bite! We fished on in the hot steamy night, with only the mosquitoes for company, until midnight - without result.
Soon after midnight we set off through the night at about half-throttle for another roundup of the set/trot lines. More catfish, more cleaned-off hooks. Re-baited again. Norma , Bob and Tim decided to get their heads down for a few hours. Stubbornly, I fished on, from the jetty, until just after three - not much chance I had been told, but this was the only chance for gar I'm going to get for a while. About three a.m., Tim and Bob resurfaced, so we all went for another thrash up and down the river to inspect lines - a few more cats around four pounds, and again many hooks (these were mainly circle hooks equivalent to our size 8/0 - but circle hooks are numbered on a different system) were cleaned off "Gars for sure" said Tim. Again we re-baited all the empty hooks.
Again the others got their heads down, and this time I soon joined them - as the rods were still bite-less.
Dawn saw yet another round to inspect the set/trot lines, but only one or two cats this time. All the other hooks were cleaned off. Shad do not come off a circle hook easily - it must have been a real bunch of "toothy critturs" that cleaned off such large hooks . They were set too high in the water for the culprits to be crayfish.
Although nothing was caught by rod, and no alligator gars were seen, this was a great fishing experience - one day we hope once again to be afloat in the sub-tropical night on the Nueces - part and parcel of a boatload of rascals after the mighty alligator gar.
Since reaching home, I have had a E-mail from Tim, telling how last week his uncle hooked a mighty alligator gar, over a hundred pounds, but was unable to get it into the boat single-handed - the fish had broken one end of the trot line, and when he attempted to gaff it, broke away completely. This river has got to be worth another shot!
[ 27 May 2002, 06:54 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Fly Fishing in Colorado.
Back in the mid-eighties, I had come across a little book, "Fly Fishing the High Country" written by someone little-known in the UK at that time - John Geirach. Now of course his books have an enormous following - practically cult status.
This book struck a chord with me - I had spent much of my formative years after the wild trout of the High Weald headwaters (I know others have written about "Trout of the Upper Medway" but where I'm talking about is a further ten miles upstream) Places where trout of over a pound are scarce, but are there for those that can catch them, and the brooks can be crossed with a single stride. Further experience with Scottish and North Country burns and becks had developed my love of tiny streams to the point of obsession.
It seems a far cry from the Rockies of Colorado to the brooks of the High Weald, but the fact that I could relate John's accounts of trout fishing and trout behaviour to my own experiences shows what deep insight lies behind his writings.
John has a degree in philosophy - and that shows too in his writings - like :-
"Let me try out an idea on you - perhaps the stature of a fly fisher depends not on how big a trout he has caught, but on how SMALL a trout he can catch without feeling disappointed"
The more I thought about that, the better I liked it. The rainbow I was most proud of catching was not the twenty-one pound triploid from a small still-water, nor yet the seven-pound grown-on stockie from the reservoir. No, it was the pound-and-a-half natural-spawned fish from the upper reaches of the Windrush - tucked away in a small pocket of smooth water with a swirly current protecting it. Only my very best cast was good enough to present a drag-free fly well enough to catch that trout - I can still picture it now, forty years on.
So a trip to the Rockies has long been on my agenda - but May is a bit early in the season - fewer anglers, but fewer hatches too, and the chance of late snowstorms stranding one high in the mountains. Conditions there in May are similar to those in the Scottish Highlands in March.
However, I decided to risk it - after all, Geirach had caught fish there in all months of the year. Briefly, the scenario is that non-native browns and native rainbows are found in the main streams, and as you go higher and the streams get steeper and narrower, the native cut-throat trout are found, and if you come across beaver ponds or "mountain meadows" (flattish places where presumably there was once a glacial lake) non-native brook trout are to be found where there are undercut banks. Rainbows and cut-throats are the only true native trouts, but there has been, in the past, indiscriminate stocking of browns, brook trout, and strains of rainbows from elsewhere. The new policy is to try to recreate a scenario with only the native fish present.
I started on the Eastern side of the mountains in the headwaters of the Rio Grande and its tributary the Conejos. Picture a steep rocky stream , floored with slippery boulders, fringed with stout willow bushes. These bushes are stout because they are continually nibbled by various species of deer and by beaver - in effect this is continuous pollarding and coppicing - so the shoots are tough and numerous - lethal to a careless back-cast. In fact the only way to make an overhead cast is to wade up the narrow stream between the willow fringes and cast straight upstream. If the water is too deep or too rough to wade, then you need to Spey cast (don't leave home without this skill or you will be struggling). The water is gin clear, so the trout spook easily - every bit of your stalking skill is required - and even then, as Dick Walker once wrote " You will scare more fish than you will ever know about"
Just to add to your difficulties, in spring there is often a severe westerly gale screaming its way over the Continental Divide and straight downstream. Its one thing punching a narrow loop into the wind on an open reservoir , quite another to deal with the intermittent swirls and gusts in a narrow canyon. At one point, called Windy Gap (I should have known) I had just laid a cast on the water when a gust swirled, lifted the surface off the water, and dumped my line, cast, fly and a couple of pints of water straight in my face - not nice, and was I glad to be using barbless hooks.
Another problem is related to the beavers - if you fish the recommended sinking nymphs which are needed when there is no hatch of fly, you discover what untidy builders beavers are - many sticks are wedged vertically in the stream - not visible from where you cast, but waiting to entangle your nymph. If you fished the stream regularly, of course, you could remove some sticks, and remember where at least some of the immovable ones were. A newcomer has to learn the hard way!
Ah ! Forgot to mention the altitude. Fished up to about 9,000 ft on these rivers and reached 11,000 ft further north. Scrambling up steep rocky streams at this altitude has reduced many strong young men to gasping wrecks, so I suppose an old boy of 68 is entitled to puff a bit ……..
Caught brownies up to a pound or so from Rio Grande and Conejos, but no rainbows. There were notices up everywhere reminding you that the bag limit for browns was two fish. That meant two fish of 16" or MORE on some parts of the catchment and two fish of 12" or LESS on other parts - obviously part of a carefully thought out management policy. (as in so much fishery management, "carefully thought out" is not the same as "correct", but I don't know the background to this, so am merely reporting it, not defending or criticising it) More ominous were instructions to return all rainbows IMMEDIATELY. Presumably that means rainbow populations are in trouble - the "Whirling Disease" must have bitten hard, as these notices were on every river I fished, and the pattern was the same - brownies present - I caught some from each river fished, but not a single rainbow did I catch from a river.
In order to catch rainbows I had to go up to some small mountain lakes, at about 9500 feet - anything higher than that was still iced. No surface activity was seen, but I got several small rainbows on a high density sinking line and weighted nymph - it was necessary to wait 20 seconds after the cast before retrieve because the fish were really deep. These were the smallest rainbows I have ever caught - and remembering Geirach's thoughts, No, I was NOT disappointed.
We crossed the Divide to fish the Gunnison catchment ( a tributary of the Colorado - flowing west) - more browns, up to a couple of pounds, but still no rainbows. Even fifteen miles up Soap Creek of the Gunnison it was still brown trout from the tiniest trickle. Once out of the main rivers into the creeks, you can forget about overhead casting - the willows meet overhead. All casting needs to be roll, switch or Spey - you will find this terrain sharpens up your casting skills considerably ! Forget about distance too, up there, accuracy is everything.
We turned north to fish the Upper Colorado. More brown trout. By now we were approaching the headwaters in Rocky Mountain National Park. Here there were plenty of mountain meadows, but the brookies were not rising, nor taking my nymphs.
As a diversion, Norma got charged by a moose here - she was bird-watching whilst I was fishing, and became aware of a large animal "sounding like a carthorse" crashing through the willows towards her.
She stepped behind the largest rock she could see, and watched this moose go blundering past before remembering she had the video over her shoulder. It wasn't really charging her of course, but just for a moment she thought it was. That was the only animal incident of note. We saw coyotes in both Texas and Colorado, several sorts of deer, chipmunks and squirrel by the hundred, but no bear. Colorado fishing lore is a bit heavy on bear, but we encountered none apart from tracks and droppings.
"You are entering bear country, please read the special regulations"
1/ Do not approach bears. (I wouldn't dream of doing so without a formal introduction)
2/ Do not feed bears (I have no intention whatsoever of providing or becoming a bear's lunch)
3/ If a bear approaches you, scare it away. (Now this must take the prize - I don't know any bears, but I guess one approaching you is unlikely to be of a nervous disposition. - any suggestions anyone?)
Next day it started to snow, just as we found another mountain lake with small rainbows - nothing large, but at least I can now say I have fished at over 10, 000 feet in a snow blizzard AND caught fish.
During the snowstorm we drove back over the Divide to Este Park and the St Vrain catchment - this system flows east, via the Platte River to join the Missouri below Omaha. St Vrain is John Geirach's stamping ground, and we went to the famous fly-fishing shop in Lyons to pick up some flies tied by A K Best (John's buddy, and a first-rate fly tier, fly fisher and writer) AK only fishes with flies he has tied himself. I can identify with that - my favourite flies are ones I have tied myself from feathers from birds I have shot myself, but I am not averse to using other peoples well-tied flies - and AK's were superb.
How very appropriate it seemed, then, next day, to fish the headwaters of the North St Vrain Creek, spot a likely Brook Trout lie, float a dry Size 16 Adams (tied by AK) perfectly (no drag -for once) past the lie, and hook and land my first American Brook Trout. These, like the Great Lake Trout, are also charr - Dark green backs with light orange mottling, crimson bellies, and the tell-tale milky-white leading edge to the lower fins. Really handsome.
My final target was the St Vrain strain of greenback cut-throat trout - Colorado's State Fish. We located them all right in a high lake, but they were spawning. Although there is no close season in Colorado, I did not wish to fish for known spawners - there is no chance they will deliberately eat your fly and every chance one might get foul-hooked if you cast anywhere near them. Not my style. So we contented ourselves with video pictures of this beautiful little fish - green backs, orange-red bellies, and the vivid red slash under the gills for which they are named.
Finally, if you are just idly thinking of going to flyfish Colorado, DO IT - its well worth it.. Make sure you are adequately prepared, skillwise, because it is definitely not easy, but the personal rewards of catching fish (of any size!) in this difficult and challenging terrain are immense, and the scenery is something you will never forget.
Accounts re fishing in Texas and for Mackinaws on Lake Blue Mesa will appear on the coarse thread
[ 27 May 2002, 06:36 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Just out of interest, does anyone else own and USE greenheart rods. I have a few greenheart fly rods - my favourite being a 9 ft single handed eight-weight grilse rod.
It is amusing, this obsession with lightness in rods - at 68, I can still cast all day with my greenheart rods (are we men or mice?). As someone has said, its not the rod, its the angler behind it.
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Just out of interest, does anyone else own and USE greenheart rods. I have a few greenheart fly rods - my favourite being a 9 ft single handed eight-weight grilse rod.
It is amusing, this obsession with lightness in rods - at 68, I can still cast all day with my greenheart rods (are we men or mice?). As someone has said, its not the rod, its the angler behind it.
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Back in '88 (and that's NINETEEN-eightyeight before Newt and others have their little joke) we spent a night in The Towers - fascinating former mining town with the appropriate out-back flavour - lovely place.andrews:I am in the North Queensland Australia, a town called Charters Towers about an hour inland from Townsville.
Next day we went down the Gregory Development Road to Cleremont - nearly 200 miles of (mostly) dirt road. Only saw one other vehicle all day - that was at the Belyando river crossing ( about halfway) We stopped at the tiny gas station there to replenish with petrol and beer (I guess they sold about equal volumes of those two liquids) There was a guy coming the other way who came over to say g'dday. "There's a lot of bulldust back there" he said, jerking his head "how is it your end?"
We had been in Oz a whole week, so had picked up a bit of the lingo " A bit corrugated for about ten kilometres," I said, "but after that, there's a stretch of bitumen"
"Good on ya!" he said, clapping me on the shoulder as if I had laid the bitumen personally for his benefit. Happy days - wonderful country - wonderful people.
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Back in '88 (and that's NINETEEN-eightyeight before Newt and others have their little joke) we spent a night in The Towers - fascinating former mining town with the appropriate out-back flavour - lovely place.andrews:I am in the North Queensland Australia, a town called Charters Towers about an hour inland from Townsville.
Next day we went down the Gregory Development Road to Cleremont - nearly 200 miles of (mostly) dirt road. Only saw one other vehicle all day - that was at the Belyando river crossing ( about halfway) We stopped at the tiny gas station there to replenish with petrol and beer (I guess they sold about equal volumes of those two liquids) There was a guy coming the other way who came over to say g'dday. "There's a lot of bulldust back there" he said, jerking his head "how is it your end?"
We had been in Oz a whole week, so had picked up a bit of the lingo " A bit corrugated for about ten kilometres," I said, "but after that, there's a stretch of bitumen"
"Good on ya!" he said, clapping me on the shoulder as if I had laid the bitumen personally for his benefit. Happy days - wonderful country - wonderful people.
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As others have said, Wingham is a fantastic place, for ambience as well as for the challenge of its fishing. I'm looking forward to having a go for the tench there in the next week or so, provided you lot don't teach them too much this weekend.
Hope you all have a good time, and get your strings well pulled
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As others have said, Wingham is a fantastic place, for ambience as well as for the challenge of its fishing. I'm looking forward to having a go for the tench there in the next week or so, provided you lot don't teach them too much this weekend.
Hope you all have a good time, and get your strings well pulled
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Never bought a pop record in my life!
Can think of many better things to spend money on - 1/ fishing, ie licences, club and syndicate fees, day tickets etc . 2/ travelling to new fishing places, 3/ good wine to go with a good meal to round off a good fishing day 4/ bait and tackle to go fishing with. 5/chartering boats to go fishing in (cheaper for an all-rounder than owning boats all over the place) 6/ books about fish and fishing 7/ a reliable fishing wagon 8/ a house in an area with good fishing handy 9/ a computer so I can chat on-line about fishing 10/ supporting organisations that promote and/or protect fishing.
Anything left over I might spend on a new fishing hat! :cool:
[ 24 May 2002, 09:27 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Never bought a pop record in my life!
Can think of many better things to spend money on - 1/ fishing, ie licences, club and syndicate fees, day tickets etc . 2/ travelling to new fishing places, 3/ good wine to go with a good meal to round off a good fishing day 4/ bait and tackle to go fishing with. 5/chartering boats to go fishing in (cheaper for an all-rounder than owning boats all over the place) 6/ books about fish and fishing 7/ a reliable fishing wagon 8/ a house in an area with good fishing handy 9/ a computer so I can chat on-line about fishing 10/ supporting organisations that promote and/or protect fishing.
Anything left over I might spend on a new fishing hat! :cool:
[ 24 May 2002, 09:27 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Hi Y'all
Had a fabulous time in Texas and in Colorado - will post a report or two over the weekend - plenty of fish, although no real lunkers.
Met some very hospitable people, saw some spectacular scenery in the Rockies, caught twenty different species of fish, and saw about 160 species of birds (40 of them new to us.)
Norma got chased by a moose, I reached the ripe old age of 68, and four would-be millionaire survivors had their hopes dashed - otherwise, the world continues to spin on its axis.
[ 24 May 2002, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Hi Y'all
Had a fabulous time in Texas and in Colorado - will post a report or two over the weekend - plenty of fish, although no real lunkers.
Met some very hospitable people, saw some spectacular scenery in the Rockies, caught twenty different species of fish, and saw about 160 species of birds (40 of them new to us.)
Norma got chased by a moose, I reached the ripe old age of 68, and four would-be millionaire survivors had their hopes dashed - otherwise, the world continues to spin on its axis.
[ 24 May 2002, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: Vagabond ]
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Amen - says it all.Peter Waller:To be honest, a well tied knot does not need gluing.
For You Puzzle Fans
in Non-Fishing Chat
Posted
Nice puzzle Newt, it took me about fifteen minutes to work through.
I think Einstein was being a bit elitist in claiming it solvable by only 2% - I would have thought anyone with an IQ of 115 or more could manage it - I used to use something similar (but with a matrix of only 16 items as opposed to Einsteins 25) to kick off first year university science students, just to get them introduced to logical deduction. Over 80% usually managed it.
I would expect a reasonably good chess, bridge or mah johngg player to have little trouble with it either.