Greetings to everyone and belated Fathers Day wishes all you dads out there on behalf of River Run Guide Service.
Speaking of Dad. I'll be dedicating this report to mine as well as all fathers out there who take the time and effort to get family out on the water and enjoying the outdoors. I'm happy to say, at 60 plus years of age, my father is still just as mad at those river fish as ever.
What started out at an early age for me as weather defying aventures onto the Skykomish River chasing winter run steelhead in Northwest Washington, turned into a passion. That passion has created a tradition of river outings that have enriched our family with priceless memories that will last forever.
On a recent journey to the Devil's River about a month ago, my brother Travis and I couldn't help but notice how inviting and fishy the Llano River looked as we crossed over it.
We both made a mental note to return one day. In fact, not having paddled it before made that mental note turn into a burr in our perverbial "paddle saddle".
Not 3 weeks later, I get the call from... You guessed it, Travis.
"Hey man. How bout suprising Dad and the boys with a Llano overnight run for Fathers Day weekend?"
My 10 year old son and I are always looking for another Texas River to scratch off the paddling adventure list. We needed no futher coaxing.
Our journey begins pre dawn the Saturday morning before Fathers Day.
Dad, my son aka RiverViking and I head to Northwest Austin from the Metroplex to meet my brother and his 13 year old son. We would then caravan to the river, meandering through scenic Hill Country along the way.
This 12 mile section of the Llano River is a spring fed, limestone gem tucked inconspiculously away in South Texas Hill Country located near Mason County.
During my initial planning and preparation for this trip, I couldn't help feel that if well executed, this had the makings of a perfect family friendly paddlecraft overnighter.
Having never had the privledge of personally catching a Guadalupe Bass, I was eagerly anticipating a long overdue tailwalk dance with the designated State Fish of Texas.
In the days leading up to our trip, visions of these bronze river warriors slashing at our baits bounced through my mind like some antagonistic game of mental hopscotch.
Speaking of Guadalupe Bass...
We arrive at our riverside shuttle destination around mid morning Saturday and find the Llano to be a secluded, crystal clear flowing river that would make us all eager to get our plastic armada under way.
RiverViking and I manned the Ocean Kayak Malibu II XL while Dad and my nephew paddled the standby workhorse Old Town Discovery. Travis would round out the fleet paddling a Ocean Kayak Scrambler XT.
The first fish was this chunky cpr'd guad just shy of 14". The irony was it would wind up being a personal best guad and the largest specimen of the trip. This Guadalupe Bass made good account of itself in a mid river hijacking of my buzzbait as it gurgled seductively across current shrouded boulder fields.
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