New to fishing / Central Texas / San Marcos

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creaturefeature
Posts: 1
Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2017 1:58 pm

New to fishing / Central Texas / San Marcos

Post by creaturefeature »

I moved to San Marcos a couple of months ago and decided I should start kayaking and fishing. Really enjoying the rivers so far, but I could use some fishing advice -- locations, seasons, weather, how to fish certain kinds of water, etc. I fished a little on the coast when I was a kid, but learning to fish the river has been a fun challenge. I feel like most of the books and videos I see are for lakes, so I thought I might just describe what I've been doing so far and see if anybody has suggestions:

I've mostly been fishing the San Marcos around San Marcos, Martindale and Staples and the Blanco just upriver from 5 Mile Dam. I've had good luck near where the San Marcos joins the Blanco, but I haven't found a good putin to get there. I'm usually by myself and just paddle / walk back to the car. Any suggestions for where to put in would be really appreciated.

I've had the best luck so far with Texas rigged soft plastics -- crawfish and brush hogs in watermelon. Caught a few 3-4lb bass on the crawfish. Was doing really well with the brush hogs for warmouth in the vegetation along the Blanco, but that's stopped working the past few weeks. Actually, I haven't caught much of anything for the past couple weeks. Otherwise, I've tried some random other lures -- caught a few bass on small spinners, some panfish and bass on little jigs.

One question I have is how to target panfish better. Do I have to use worms? I'd like to get enough panfish to eat occasionally, but every time I throw things I think will work for them I end up with bass instead.

Some other questions I'm hoping someone might have thoughts on:

What's the strategy for fishing moving water? So far, I've only had consistent luck casting into shore cover in pretty slow areas. I've also been learning to let soft plastics fall over the river rice in moving water -- but I have no idea what to do around faster water and riffles. Fish above them? Below them? In them? Cast upriver and retrieve down?

I've had no luck at all on days with wind or rain -- is this normal? Is there something different I need to do on those days?

Is there anything I should expect to change later in the summer and into the fall?

Thanks -- would really appreciate any thoughts.
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