Fly Fishing the Brazos River

The Brazos River is one of my favorite rivers to fish. During the annual spawning run or when water is being released I have had incredible days catching white bass and striped bass, along with everything else. During periods when there is little or no flow being released it becomes a typical river that you paddle for 1/4 mile, then drag the yak for 50 yards. And of course my honey hole is about 3 miles downstream, so that makes for 6 miles of torture in the 100 degree heat. But it was, as normal, well worth it this weekend.

I fished the entire day and caught 40 plus bluegill, 30 plus redbreast, a few red ear, a catfish, and 18 bass. The bluegill and redbreast are extremely healthy with plenty of 9.5 inch / 0.75 lb. fish. The bass were mainly large mouth with a couple small mouth or small mouth hybrids mixed in.

The 2 biggest bass of the day were 20.5 inch / 4lb. and a 21.5 inch / 4.7 lb. They took the same fly I was catching all the bluegill on. A size 10 nymph pattern I call the Craw-Nymph.

Awesome post Jamie! Nice Bluegill also. Good job Sir!

Outstanding trip. Nice fish.



Side Note: What weight flyrod were you using?

What a trip ! Great report & pics. I bet the water feels good when you take a dip to cool off

Thanks Chuck, Laker One and Vogey

Yes Vogey, I poured some of that cool water over my head. But not until heat exhaustion set it

Laker One, I was using a 4 weight fly rod to throw the bead chain nymph. I also carry a 5 weight with me set up with a popper dropper (Llano bug / briminator). If the fish are deep I'll use the 5 weight to throw 1/64 ounce jig head flies or a sinking line.

Nice post J-Moe and cool looking fly

Good job on the fly. Nice post and fish.

Awesome!!

Great looking fish brother, glad to see you had a great day and wonderful pics!!

those are great

Lots of fun on the fly!

Thanks for the comments everyone. Always fun on the fly!!

Thanks J-Moe. I love using the 3wt for the sunfish. I can see using the 4 and 5wt rods for throwing certain flies and deeper fish. Again nice post!

Thanks again. I do have a 3 weight but have only used it twice. All I do is fly fish. Sunfish in the summer and white bass in the winter. I also must be the world's leader in breaking fly rods I have three 4 weight and three 5 weight rods and one of them is always broken. I've found that I can easily cast weighted briminators and lightly weighted clousers with my 4 weight and still be able to feel the lightest of bites. I've been able to handle 14 lb. buffalo, 5.5 lb. hybrids, etc. with my 4 weight so it really is a universal choice for me.

14 lb Buff on a 4w. How long was the fight?