Sunday, July 11, 2004

Texas hill country is a vast highland of live oak trees and grasses punctuated with dinner-plate-sized cactus that are scattered among rocks and pale sandy soil. Through those inspiring hills, precious water trickles or roars as the season demands.

It is July now and though it has been a wet season according to local outdoor sports enthusiasts and fishermen, the flow placidly winds it way to the Gulf of Mexico. Overall Texas has 80,000 miles of streams, all rushing or meandering to mingle with the Gulf waters.

The hill country centered between San Antonio and Austin offers surprisingly good year-round fly fishing. The summer months are devoted to bass and panfish, while November to May adds the bonus of put-and-take trout much like the stocking programs in Kentucky just reversed seasonally.

Bob Turberville and family operate a sports store on the quaint and historic Main Street of Fredericksburg, Texas. Bob and wife Mary Ann are imports to this German-immigrant-founded community that dates back at least to the 1840s, but after eight years in residence and business they have become not only outfitters but an unofficial clearinghouse of information on local creeks and rivers.

One of the larger streams of the Guadeloupe River that gives its name to a Texas species of black bass similar in size and habit to our Kentucky bass. The Guadeloupe bass is a fierce fighter and adapts well to the variant water conditions through the annuals seasons. Average catches of Guadeloupe bass run around 10 to 12 inches, said Bob, but they can give a fly rod a workout.

Several waterways are available to the Fredricksburg residents and visitors. In fact the Baron Creek flows right through the town and the Pedernales River is within minutes. Slightly north and east, the Blanco and Llano rivers harbor good fishing holes and stretches of gentle floating in the summer months.

To the south and west, the San Marcos River has ample recreational opportunities but for most of these waterways you dont need a bass boat and lots of horsepower a pair of waders, a canoe or, better yet, a kayak.

Bob explained the that the popularity of the sit-on-top kayak has boomed for both recreational paddling and fishing. The rugged but light craft can draft a mere 4 inches of water and take a good bit of turbulence and even light surf.

Bob said that many variations of the Wilderness kayaks cruise skinny creeks and rivers and have become the craft of choice among more than a few anglers in the Gulf inlets and flats. To fish the summer creeks in the Hill Country the kayak is a must because of its shallow draft you can actually cover more water than a wader, which is an advantage to moving from hole to hole casting flies of poppers for bass and pan fish.

Popular flies for the summer angler are a couple of local patterns called the micro-jig and milar poppers that mimic small minnows. Five weight line with a light tippet on an 8 to 9 foot rod is the perfect combo to fish most waters. Sometimes close conditions might call for roll casting or even a shorter rod to work beneath overhanging brush.

Access to fishable waters is a concern in the hill country, just as it sometimes is in Kentucky. Distinctions between creeks and rivers becomes an important issue to anglers. In Texas, waters classified as navigable, which would include most major portions of anything called a river, you are welcome to fish as long as you keep your feet wet.

That means if you are in or on the water you are on public property but if you venture onto terra firma you are trespassing and Texans dont cotton to trespassers at all. Thats a good thing to know before striking out with your flyrod in an unfamiliar area.

Just outside of Fredricksburg runs a gentle creek called the Grape Creek, probably from the German vineyards that abound in the area. Feeding that into the Grape comes the Snail Creek which can rage for a while in a torrent but mostly just trickles and babbles through downtown Luckenbach, Texas.

The 10-acre townsite existing as a post office, trading post and store since 1849 has an interesting history made famous in a Waylan Jennings and Willie Nelson song.

Through the efforts of one man in particular, a character among characters, Hondo drew pickers and singers to Luckenbach to enjoy is tranquility which is present to even the most high strung visitor.

Luckenbach is the home site of Willie Nelsons famous Fourth of July party.  Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700