For the first time I went to the Brazos below PK. Found the dam tailrace but didn't feel like doing my mountain goat imitation. So, I went back to Rochell's, put my $2 in the mailbox and drove down to the river. It looked great. But I got skunked!

Not only did I not catch a fish, I never saw one fish rise, strike, bite, or anything. I tried everything I had from above the bridge down to the bend.

I know I am a novice, but could I be that bad? Where are the fish?

Thanks.

Alright, trout are tricky. If you want to catch one, you've got to know where to find them, which is really what you are asking.

I'm not trying to patronize you in anyway or condescend, if you know what I'm speaking of on any of this, to make that clear. But a lot of people do not.

What you need to do is "read the water", this is the process of finding riffles, pockets, and areas in a current or even a slow-moving pool that would most likely hold trout, if you cannot see them that is. Of course, once you know where to look, you are much more likely to spot the trout, instead of having to cast blindly at areas(though this can be just fine, if you are casting to the RIGHT areas).


You've also got to understand that trout are very picky in how they get food. They always feed pointing upstream, in that they can best get food in this manner, or in other words, it comes to them so that they do not have to chase it. It floats on by, and they eat it. Most people know this basic thing, but few really practice it.

Another basic rule of how trout feed is that they are basically(with some exceptions) very lazy fish in feeding, and like to be where they can sit away from the strains of the current, yet still grab the food from the current. This brings us several situations, most involving rocks or obstacles(such as a shelf in the river floor).

If there is a boulder, small or large, and it creates a riffle or foam of divergence of the current right behind it or a little ways behind it, cast to both sides of the rock. If you can only cast to one side, i.e. if there are a series of boulders blocking the current on one side of the river, then almost certainly a trout will be behind it if there is one.

If there is any general riffle in the current, where foam from the water or a meeting of two currents in the river occurs, float a fly there, too. This usually creates a sort of "dead spot" in the river where trout can sit and, as in the last example, get their food from the current without doing all the work.

A final example I'll give that seems to be particularly relevant for trout in Texas rivers is the "pocket" or "ridge". It seems like trout enjoy hanging out in the deeper ridges in a river. I'm speaking from the Guadalupe sense of mind, but PK tailrace must be similar. Check any visibly deeper pockets, particularly on a warm day like we had down here(in East Texas) today(high around 70).

An instructor in Colorado told me once to "follow the foam" in a river to look for trout. This means the same things as above(with exception of a ridge), just look for where the river seems to cut its current, mend currents, diverge, come together, etc. Current deviataions are where the trout lie.

If you already know this stuff, then my apologies, but if it helps anyone, then great.


Perhaps the real reason for your inability to catch trout is that they've only stocked it ONCE! Therefore there are perhaps only 1000 of the little guys in the big ole' river.

Give it two more stockings, or even one more(is it the 15th, 14th, they want to stock again?) and let us know if you've caught anything.

PK Tailrace unlike Canyon tailrace is completely put and take, in that no trout survive over the summer(supposedly, but some would argue that), so that if there aren't many stocked trout there, then they will be tough to find. They're stocking the tailrace with some 9000 fish this year, and diving it up accordingly, well into March they are stocking! So have fun and remember that there aren't many trout swimming around.


Good luck and tight lines!

TXFly.

*bump*

Has this helped anyone at all?

i went today ti the ol' guadalup and had the same problem a couple of other guys i talked didnt catch a thing the last couple of times they went out ..... i was nyphing a prince nymph..... it was really my first time trout fishing with nymphs

I just moved back to Dallas from the coast after 5 years so I haven't fished PK in way too long but back in the day they put the fish in between the dam and the low water bridge ( don't remember the road). Rochelles would be too far especially after one stocking. Carey, it sounds to me like you turned right and drove right up to the gate at the damn. If you stay straight there you will come to the low water bridge and park and have a really easy walk either up river or down river to find fish. Again, the last time I was there was over 5 years ago but I'm sure not much as changed. Once you get there employ TXfly advice. good luck.

First, I think there is a alot more grass in the river this year than in years past, whether that means something on how they will react I do not know.

My friend and I went out this past weekend, and he had caught twenty to my zero. He was using light spinning tackle with small spoon and absolutely cleaned house. I was using a fly rod and the same type of fly I caught them all on last year and had one hit, did'nt have time to react before he spit it out. I decided that he needed to let me borrow his pole and so I can get some kind of action. It took some time to find these deep pockets, but that is where they were. Each cast seemed like it would produce a catch or multiple hits...

My guess is give them time and they will come around to the fly. Sunday afternoon was alot better in the aspect of them rising. Alot of fly fisherman I spoke to were finding them on the bottom...

My .02 cents...

hmmmm, deep holes. Sounds like a weighted fly and/or a sink tip or sinking line might be needed to get down to them.

Those spoon flies might work well if they are hitting flashy stuff.

I'm pulling this out of the air but it seems to make sense anyway.

Another interesting possibility would be to use an attractor fly with a larger nymph trailing, or even use a clouser minnow as a nymph!

I've never tried that before, "pulling it out of the air" as rrhyne is, but it would be an interesting strategy for getting to deeper trout hitting flashy hard lures...

Thanks one and all.

TxFly your stuff was most helpful. I have decided the real problem is I need a new fly rod and what with the 15th being my birthday...

Seriously I will take everyone's advice in.

Thanks again and Merry Christmas.

Carey,Think of this one too,go to the bridge and try it again for the trout but,keep in mind the striper are feedind on the bite size trout that are stocked so if you get tired of the trout fishing go prepared for striper too.Clousers and trout colored streamers are good.Especially when they release water.Good luck.

Happy Birthday Carey

Thanks copperhead.

It does sound like the trout make it down to Rochells, right?

My expierience has been near the dam, the futher you go from it, the less fish, if any.

I have a question for you PK veterans, wasn't there once a Trout Unlimited chapter for the tailrace up there? Wasn't there supposed to be an effort to make a year-round fishery like the Guadalupe has traditionally been, with fish surviving to the next year?

Or do they survive currently?

Trout fascinate me, though I wish I knew more about them. It's easy to know where to find trout, where to see trout, and what trout are privvy to responding to as far as the environment is concerned.

Anyway, PK tailrace TU, year round, what?

There used to be one, but for whatever reasons it folded in. Me and a few people looked into this a year ago, and got alot of feedback from the GRTU chapter who was more than willing to help reinstate the idea of it all. There were alot of ideas being shot down, and not enough people to get it started again.... I grew up on the river at PK and know alot about the fishing there (at least whats left of it)The winter stocking program could be a little longer up here since the water doesn't really get lethal to the trout until mid summer gets underway, at that point it would be a little "iffy". Trout can survive succesfully from the coldest temps to 75 degres for rainbows, and 80 for browns. (which due to my studies they should have a funding program going towards the rearing and releasing of browns here at PK)I have done stream biology for years and alot of the confusion about trout in the south is that alot of people just don't know a whole lot about the Salmonoid family of fish, other than that they need cold water to exist, just not that cold. If you have anymore questions about trout feel free to ask .