Kayak fishing in the waters of San Marcos River
Monday had not been a banner day. I was in the dentist chair all day. I needed to go fishing. I thought about hooking up the boat and fishing Bastrop the next morning. But I wanted a more peaceful setting. So I launched my Heritage Lite fisherman kayak into the San Marcos River early on Tuesday. It had been quite a while since I had fished the river. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We are really blessed to live beside one of the most beautiful little rivers in all the USA.
My goal was to catch enough big sunfish for a fish fry. Sunfish fillets to me are the top of all fish dining.
It was a beautiful, morning – sunny, scattered clouds, gentle breeze. With two lite fly rods in the kayak I was ready. One rod was rigged with a bream popper. The other one was tied to a little green-brown wooly bugger. With a surface bait and a sinking streamer I would be able to cover all the bases.
My first casts around some lily pads produced no strikes. Not even a tiny fish. I fished an area where I caught the fly rod state record redear sunfish two years ago. I let the wooly bugger drift deep in the current near some big rocks. I was hoping for a redear that would eclipse my record fish. No strikes.
I switched to the popper and began to slowly work upstream, casting to the bank and using my sculling paddle to keep the kayak in position. Soon I began to catch some big redbreast sunfish. The redbreast is as the predominant sunfish in the rover. They are abundant and grow to good size. They are beautiful fish with orange-yellow bellies. Males in full breeding colors will beam with some red.
Some days on the San Marcos River will yield huge numbers of sunfish – mostly small fish. But this morning was different. I caught very few small fish. Most were big, bright-colored redbreast keepers. I knew 7 fish of this good size would be enough for my fish fry.
The redbreast sunnies did not all bite in the same manner. Some slammed the popper like a bass – vicious strikes for such small fish. The largest fish simply came up behind the popper and quietly sucked it in.
Most of the sunfish did not want the popper moving or splashing. I simply cast it near the bank, rocks, brush or lily pad and let it lay still. Sometimes it was several seconds before they hit it.
Three of my biggest fish came on the wooly bugger streamer. I was fishing near a fast-moving rapid. By casting upstream near the bank I would watch my leader as the current drifted the streamer downstream. Then the leader began to move upstream. That would not happen unless a fish had eaten the streamer. A quick lift of the rod tip and I was into a nice battle with a big redbreast in the current. Fish always fight better in fast water. They know how to turn their wide bodies sideways in the current to put pressure on the line.
I caught a variety of the sunfish that swim in the waters of the San Marcos that morning. Besides the redbreast I caught a couple of bluegills. Bluegills are not abundant in the river and don’t grow large like bluegills in the Deep South. To real purist bream fishermen in Georgia, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and Louisiana a bull bluegill is the only true “bream”.
I caught only one longear. Longears are abundant, colorful, aggressive and misnamed. They don’t have a long ear flap. It’s the redbreast that has the long ear flap.
I also caught several small green sunfish. The green sunfish can grow large but most of them in the river are small. They are very beautiful with orange-yellow fins and a large mouth. Usually we catch then in shallow water near rocks.
I caught one orange-spotted sunfish. The spotted sunfish are always small but delicate and beautiful. They are rare in our river and I consider those little guys real trophies.
Probably the most beautiful sunfish that I landed was a hybrid. It was probably a cross between a bluegill and a redbreast. Characteristics of both were obvious in the hybrid. The largest beautiful hybrids that I have ever caught are in Lake Walter Long (Decker Lake) near Austin. Some of the hybrids in that lake are bluegill-redear crosses. They are big, colorful and strong.
Only one bass took my streamer. It was a little Guadalupe bass that was feeding in some gravel in a rapid. It’s always nice to catch our state fish.
As I paddled back toward my launch point, with visions of fried sunfish in my mind, I passed a dock with this sign attached. “If you are lucky enough to be on the river, you are lucky enough.
I fully agreed.
