by Larry Ydens
An email is all it took. I needed a reason to go fishing.
I had been busy at work, and I had even worked 2 of the previous 3 Saturdays. So Pat’s email about the Salmon Flies on the Guadalupe was all it took.
So I loaded up the car with my gear and headed to work (some habits are hard to completely break I guess). I planned to head for the Guadalupe for the afternoon. It was midweek (Thursday) just before a holiday (Labor Day), so I figured it would not be crowded. Although there were several others fishing, no one was close to the stretches further from the road that I prefer. The river was bustling with activity… bug activity. There were caddis, mayflies, some midges, and those delightfully clumsy Salmon Flies. They were large enough to make you duck when they “flew” overhead. Both sets of wings were easily seen when they were airborne. And the fish knew they were there. For 2 hours the fish were fed eagerly. A size 10, then 8 and the 6 orange bodied, hair and hackled anything was all it took. Some rainbows, and lots of browns were caught and released. And when the frenzy quieted down, an orange and partridge wet fly brought lots of juveniles up, and a black murderer fooled several other mature fish. Then, a large hard bodied ant fooled a large (17″) brown from under a log. It was a memorable day. And an email was all it took.
Here’s a shot of one of the “veterans” of that day.