Texas Trout – Fly Fishing the Southernmost Trout Fishery in the U.S.
Trout fishing is about the last thing that comes to mind when most people think of Texas. More often, images of cactus, flashy bass boats, and John Wayne pop up when the Lone Star State is mentioned. Yet a Texas trout stream is exactly where we found ourselves a few weeks ago during spring break. The Texas Hill Country (and the state as a whole, for that matter) has long intrigued me, both for fishing opportunities and the character of the area. I’m not sure if it’s the pictures of obese, popper-crushing largemouths, or the thought of spring-fed rivers coursing through arid, desert-like terrain, or the starkly beautiful and majestic hills and bluffs, but for some reason the Hill Country and the rivers that flow through it have haunted my thoughts more than a few times. ——————– The wind burst through the giant cypress trees as I attempted to lob my…
Texas bass on the fly, spring break, and a few bugs
My fly box is a mess, the leader on my 6 wt. is shredded, and the waders are still damp in the garage. Over 2,000 miles in the truck, half a dozen states, and a few fish later, we’re back in the North country after a great spring break trip to the Texas Hill Country. Headquarters for the week were near the banks of massive Canyon Lake, the source of the southernmost trout fishery in the U.S. – the Guadalupe River. We’ll post a full report soon, but in the meantime here are a few pics from the trip… We didn’t bass fish nearly as much as we would’ve liked (does anyone ever do enough bass fishing in TX?), but Braden managed to stick this fat bucketmouth on a Meat Whistle during the first day of the trip. Besides the first two days when temps crept into the eighties, the…
Ice Flies and Hardwater Trout – 3 Brothers Flies ice fly review by Kevin Jones from Idaho Pursuit
Kevin Jones from the Idaho Pursuit blog recently did a review of our ‘Gill Shrimp and TUNGSTEN Slab Spike ice flies and caught some great trout in the process. Kevin also has some awesome ice fishing and hunting stuff on his blog, so head over there and check it out….3 Brothers Flies Ice Flies
Tying Ice Flies for Winter Panfish: The ‘Gill Shrimp and Triggers for Hardwater Slabs
Veteran ice fisherman have long known that scuds (or freshwater shrimp) are a favorite food for big panfish and trout under the ice. Over the past few seasons, I’ve been testing and tweaking a few patterns to match the hatch and create a good scud imitation. Crappies and bluegills under the ice have a much slower metabolism than their summer counterparts, so ice anglers need to utilize a few key triggers in their ice flies and lures to entice unaggressive, neutral fish into biting. These triggers hold true for not only ice flies, but all lures for hardwater panfish. The ‘Gill Shrimp The ‘Gill Shrimp (or “Bluegill Shrimp”) came about after refining a few patterns and adding materials and triggers to produce a convincing ice fly. I knew I wanted a bug that imitated the slightly curved position of a lethargic scud and had plenty of movement incorporated into the materials.…
Colorado Fly Fishing
In the middle of October the crew took a trip out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Yampa River, known for its big rainbows and browns, flowed right through town. Our first stop was Steamboat Flyfisher to grab a few flies and some gear. The guys in the shop were super helpful and pointed us toward some great spots on the river. If you’re ever in the area, definitely stop in and give them a visit, they run an awesome shop. We started fishing a stretch on the Yampa right in town. The water was a bit high and stained, so we rigged some nymphs and started hitting the pockets and runs behind the many boulders. Noah stuck a nice brown swinging a white conehead wooly bugger, but he popped off right at the net. After a few minutes of tossing flies without any results, we decided to move to a more…
Fly Fishing in Colorado
The crew just got back from a great week of fishing and hanging out in Steamboat Springs Colorado. The Yampa River flows right through town, and though the weather was a bit tough, we had lots of great opportunities to fish. I’ll post a full report soon, but meanwhile here are a few pics from the trip…..