I was planning on meeting up with Chuck (banker-always-fishing) and Hunter this morning but duty called and I found myself in Marble Falls for work. I remembered to "be prepared" from my boy scout days a million years ago, so I had my fly rod and a change of clothes with me. Finished work with plenty of daylight left to fish.


That first glimpse of the river always gets me going.

I'm still after my elusive first Rio Grande Cichlid, and so far this year I would guess that about 90% of the fish I've caught have been Redbreasts. Today was no exception, even after tying on a "Rio Getter" fly. My first three fish were pretty much clones of this one:


The Rio Getter was being a Redbreast Getter, so I switched to a black wooly bugger. I did manage to catch a few other fish...



...before hooking up with the Redbreasts again.


Although I'm still looking forward to landing my first Rio I'm not complaining. It was a great few hours on the river.



I stopped counting after my 6th or 7th Redbreast. I'm definitely fishing more this past year than I have in a long, long time, so I'm not sure if the Redbreasts are out in record numbers, or if it's just business as usual.

Awesome post 1960texan.



Side Note: I have been catching a lot of Redbreast on the Guadalupe River. Mainly on Mcqueeney!

It didn't take long to get the camera going! Photos are great. Redbreast around me are seldom, the closest place I catch them regularly is near Glen Rose.

Never been to MF but it looks great for FF'ing. Are there Guad bass in it?

Thanks Laker One and Fitz for the replies.

Fitz, I didn't actually fish in Marble Falls, just ended the work day there. Fished the Llano river and it definitely has guads in it, though.

I need to check out the Llano as much time as I'm spending in Austin these days.

Great pics. I'm always too intent on fishing to remember to take pictures. I guess it is a function of so little time. Thanks for the report.

Good times Will. Love that Redbreast action. Me and Alan did pretty good fishing a new spot. Left my camera at home. Hopefully Alan will post a story.



Side Note: Added the spot to my list of places to go. You never have enough places to fish.

Thanks jnd59 and Chuck for the replies.

Chuck, are the numbers of Redbreast I'm seeing this year normal for the area?

Hard to say. I usually catch most of my Redbreast during late March and April. This year I have been catching a lot since March up until now. Seems I catch four or five nice Redbreast each time I go out. Maybe they had a great spawn the past couple of years?



Side Note: I catch more Bluegill than anything else. It has also been a good Rio year.

Great post and pictures

Looks like you are having a blast with fly rod. Well done.

I too have caught like 50 times more bluegill than anything this year. The Lake Somerville / Yegua watershed doesn't have any redbreast, rios or talapia. Very few red ear as well. Somerville is becoming a very good bluegill lake though. I have caught about 10 times more 9 inch bluegill already this year than the last 2 years combined. The past 2 years of flooding may have really screwed up the river systems but the lakes are in incredible shape.

Thanks Chuck and Jaime for the replies. Unlike ya'll I've probably only caught a handful of bluegill this year since switching to the fly rod, so I'm sure that my learning curve has something to do with it.



I am! I've got a long, long way to go before I'm as proficient on the fly rod as I am with a spinning rig, but I'm having a great time learning. It's amazing to me how much more enjoyable it is to hook a fish on the fly versus a spinning rod.

Love your post and pictures!

Thanks Gitter! I've been in the Hill Country for almost 10 years now, and I still haven't gotten used to how much prettier the waters are here compared to where I came from in Southeast Texas. It makes taking pictures a real pleasure.

Here's a photo of a colorful bluegill I caught at a local pond yesterday:


If digital cameras had been around when I was a kid growing up near Beaumont, all of my fishing photos would have had oil slicks in the background!

lol