One of my favorite trips. Did it in a canoe but the Yak is the way to go. How many days you gonna be on the river? Where are you putting in? If you take out at Rough Canyon, the last leg is tough due to flat water and head winds. I caught most of my smallys on green worms. My largest fish was 5# large mouth.

We are going to go for 3 days. I have no idea where we are putting in or taking out

I've never done the Devil's but I've done the Pecos.

The fishing was spectacular on the Pecos too, no smallies
but plenty of everything else.

Now I understand most landowners think you cannot step out of the water without trespassing, I'm a landowner myself, my deed goes to the middle of the river channel.

BUT isn't it law that if its a navigable stream as long as you stay in the stream bed (gravel bars, etc.) you can be out of the water and not be trespassing?

Bill

Yes it is.

I was under the impression you had up to the tree line or 50 feet. I do not remember where i heard that and have not told a land owner that, he might disagree. Is that true, or you can only be in the river/river bed itself? If people were not so disrespectful and trashy these guys would not be so strict.

Hey RTY, I believe you are the one I ran into at McGee Lane gas station last weekend (yellow Manta Ray on top of Silver Tacoma). just confirming this is your handle.

I've canoed this river 3 times. Tons of fun. put your gear in a five gallon bucket with a lid. It will float when you tip over. SUNSCREEN!!! HANDKERCHIEF or BANDANA!!! you can wear it under your hat and cover your neck with it to prevent sunburn and wet it when you get hot. Snorkel gear is a must. People are constantly losing gear at the bottom of rapids plus you can recover anything you lose. No shorts!!! wear light weight Magellan pants. They dry fast and cover legs, again prevent sunburn. Chap stick. lips will burn also. I tried sandals one year-BIG MISTAKE!!! Wear old shoes its easier. Sunglasses are also nice.

As far as fishing we did real well on brown (pumpkin seed) Berkley Power Grubs 2-3" on a small jig head and ulta light or spinning gear. Also mepps comet minnow and crawfish imitation baits.

We put in at Baker's crossing and paddled to Diablo East on Amistad. I would not suggest that last stretch in the lake. Take out at Rough Canyon The only thing you miss that way is a lot of paddling and wakes from boaters.

"...The banks of a stream or river are the water washed and relatively permanent elevations or acclivities at the outer lines of the river bed which separate the bed from the adjacent upland, whether valley or hill, and served to confine the waters within the bed and preserve the course of the river when they rise to the highest point at which they are still confined to a definite channel..."

Re: catching lots of largemouth, that all depends on where you throw and what you throw. I brought a buddy who spent a full day catching all largemouth while we caught mostly smallies until he broke himself of the habit of throwing largemouth lures into largemouth habitat and started chasing the smallies.

Gorgeous river, great trip.

OK, so Bakers to Rough Canyon is 47 miles? Is it feasable to expect to finish the trip in 3 days/2 nights and still get some fishing in? I want to be able to enjoy myself on this trip and do some fishing. I do not want to have to worry about making it a certain distance everyday in order to make it on time.

That would be very tough FishSlayer. We did Bakers to Blue Sage a couple years ago after some heavy rains ...flow at Bakers was over 900cfs and it still took us all day to get to the State Natural area with very little fishing. At normal flows I think there is a lot of drag time on that first leg. The state natural area to blue sage was another all day affair but did allow for some fishing. I can't address the stretch from blue sage to rough canyon but have heard stories and slow water and a strong headwind.

Is there a place to get out at Blue Sage or park a vehicle there for pickup?

I would be interested to know if you were running the river via kayak or canoe?

For our group of kayak anglers, I'm anticipating 1.5 mph of paddling as an average between Bakers and Blue Sage over the span of a three day trip.

In the event excessive headwinds are forecasted, The SNA could be considered as a viable put in to maximize fishing time, IMO.

2 days notice for reservations at the SNA.

BTW - We have been known to get our share of big river smalljaws here on the Middle/Upper Brazos River.

We used Gerald Bailey to run a shuttle both times and his take out is at Blue Sage ...I'm not aware of any public takeouts.

We were in canoes. The first time we did it we put in at the state natural area and canoed upriver a ways (technically I think you can only put in at the state natural area if you are being shuttled) and then came back to the state natural area and camped (which you only allowed to do if you are coming downriver ...which technically we were ...ok ...maybe we stretched it a little). Anyway that gave us a good day fishing up river and all the way down to dolan falls. The next day we canoed down to Gerald's place ...didn't fish as much as we would have liked and we passed up a lot of nice looking water. We just weren't sure how long it was going to take ...most of your portages are in that stretch.

I need to book a trip with you Yak ...just moved to Granbury about a year ago and we are living on the lake. Just purchased a used kayak and looking forward to getting out. I fly fish the majority of the time ...but I bet you can still put on fish!!