Colorado River Camp Report
Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2009 3:21 pm
Me, Hirschhunter and the Garfield guys did the 13 mile trip. We put in at the FM973 bridge and went down to Garfield.
I'd never met Hirschhunter and was a pleasure to do the trip with him.
The LCRA has reduced the flow and I was afraid there would be alot of paddling on this trip, but the river was flowing just right to fish.
I mention this starting spot alot so here is what it looks like.
One of the road departments cleaned and fixed it up last year. Nice place to launch, a little muddy but not bad.
Cool air and warm water got the fog going.
The first few miles is shallow so we cruised down to the first good fishing areas.
My favorite fish to catch off the river is big Drum. At the beginning of the Austin Colony bend I got my wish. I felt a thump, set the hook and the drag started peeling off line. I was using my good bass rig, bait caster with braid and the drag real tight with a small jig and trailer so I knew this was a big fish.
It fought me for severial minutes and then surfaced. The biggest drum I've ever caught, matter of fact, the biggest drum I've ever seen. Judging from the ruler I had in my lap it was 28". While I was trying to figure out how to get it in my lap the hook finally bend enough for it to get off. Probably best, I didn't want to lose rods or hurt the fish.
A few cast latter and the familiar thump again. This one was not as big but nice. About 23"-24".
It turned out to be a beautiful day, no wind and a big blue sky. Normally a bluebird sky isn't good for fishing but on a river the fish don't care.
Hirschhunter getting ready to fish the up coming cover.
The Garfield guys; Jay and Kevin, fishing hard.
Fall and Winter when the water gos down are when the Large Mouths come out. They all had big guts. A nice one.
Hirschhunter got severial from this spot while we took a break.
The LMB just keep coming, I got 3 over 16" before we got to camp.
This guy was fat.
And the river is full of the Guad x Smallmouth. A tenacious fighter and beautiful markings, I love catching them.
My bait - a coulpe of years ago I discovered the jig and trailer for river use. I'd used them on the lakes but on one trip I tied one on a caught fish left and right. Not just bass like the jig, my biggest drum and catfish on the river came from a jig. I use a 1/8 to 1/4 oz depending on the flow. For trailers I like the Zoom Swimming Chunk or a red Yum Craw.
We get to the camp island around 4pm ready to kick back relax. This island is about 9.5-10 miles down from the put in. It's one of the best I've found any where on the Colorado. Big, acres, with a nice sandy area for camping, and lots of woods to explore.
My new home; not very big. I can't even change cloths in it, which should make for so interesting camp outs, but sleeps just fine.
It was getting time to eat and I had a special treat, venison backstrap. Along with veggies in foil.
Between dinner and a nice fire it was bed time.
We slept in untill 8am. No need to rush, all our equipment was covered in dew and need to dry out before we left.
Lots of coffe and some egg tacos got us going.
Oh Hirschhunter, the boys really enjoyed that coffe.
Back on the river and just past the island Jay yelled out "I got a catfish". I look over and Kevin is fighting something big, another catfish.
Hirschhunter said he needed something to take back to the wife and collected the fish.
Here's Kevin's-
Both were caught on Blue Fox inline spinners.
It was a short trip back to Garfield all catching a few more bass along the way.
The last surprise of the day was when Hirschhunter yelled over to somebody at Little Webberville Park as we went by, it was Beve.
We hung out and talked a while. Good to see you again Beve.
This was one of my favorite trips in a while, goods friends, a new friend, good fishing and weather - what can you say.
Really nice to meet you Hirschhunter, will do it again.
I'd never met Hirschhunter and was a pleasure to do the trip with him.
The LCRA has reduced the flow and I was afraid there would be alot of paddling on this trip, but the river was flowing just right to fish.
I mention this starting spot alot so here is what it looks like.
One of the road departments cleaned and fixed it up last year. Nice place to launch, a little muddy but not bad.
Cool air and warm water got the fog going.
The first few miles is shallow so we cruised down to the first good fishing areas.
My favorite fish to catch off the river is big Drum. At the beginning of the Austin Colony bend I got my wish. I felt a thump, set the hook and the drag started peeling off line. I was using my good bass rig, bait caster with braid and the drag real tight with a small jig and trailer so I knew this was a big fish.
It fought me for severial minutes and then surfaced. The biggest drum I've ever caught, matter of fact, the biggest drum I've ever seen. Judging from the ruler I had in my lap it was 28". While I was trying to figure out how to get it in my lap the hook finally bend enough for it to get off. Probably best, I didn't want to lose rods or hurt the fish.
A few cast latter and the familiar thump again. This one was not as big but nice. About 23"-24".
It turned out to be a beautiful day, no wind and a big blue sky. Normally a bluebird sky isn't good for fishing but on a river the fish don't care.
Hirschhunter getting ready to fish the up coming cover.
The Garfield guys; Jay and Kevin, fishing hard.
Fall and Winter when the water gos down are when the Large Mouths come out. They all had big guts. A nice one.
Hirschhunter got severial from this spot while we took a break.
The LMB just keep coming, I got 3 over 16" before we got to camp.
This guy was fat.
And the river is full of the Guad x Smallmouth. A tenacious fighter and beautiful markings, I love catching them.
My bait - a coulpe of years ago I discovered the jig and trailer for river use. I'd used them on the lakes but on one trip I tied one on a caught fish left and right. Not just bass like the jig, my biggest drum and catfish on the river came from a jig. I use a 1/8 to 1/4 oz depending on the flow. For trailers I like the Zoom Swimming Chunk or a red Yum Craw.
We get to the camp island around 4pm ready to kick back relax. This island is about 9.5-10 miles down from the put in. It's one of the best I've found any where on the Colorado. Big, acres, with a nice sandy area for camping, and lots of woods to explore.
My new home; not very big. I can't even change cloths in it, which should make for so interesting camp outs, but sleeps just fine.
It was getting time to eat and I had a special treat, venison backstrap. Along with veggies in foil.
Between dinner and a nice fire it was bed time.
We slept in untill 8am. No need to rush, all our equipment was covered in dew and need to dry out before we left.
Lots of coffe and some egg tacos got us going.
Oh Hirschhunter, the boys really enjoyed that coffe.
Back on the river and just past the island Jay yelled out "I got a catfish". I look over and Kevin is fighting something big, another catfish.
Hirschhunter said he needed something to take back to the wife and collected the fish.
Here's Kevin's-
Both were caught on Blue Fox inline spinners.
It was a short trip back to Garfield all catching a few more bass along the way.
The last surprise of the day was when Hirschhunter yelled over to somebody at Little Webberville Park as we went by, it was Beve.
We hung out and talked a while. Good to see you again Beve.
This was one of my favorite trips in a while, goods friends, a new friend, good fishing and weather - what can you say.
Really nice to meet you Hirschhunter, will do it again.