Well, today was a fishing day and after dipping my toes into Onion Creek on the East side of Austin earlier in the week I figured a more thorough exploration was in order.
Happily, last night was "whiskey with the wife" night (between her travel to client sites and my work on the boat and the kids it's sometimes hard to find an hour to sit down and catch up on everything), which resulted in a much later start than I had anticipated.
I got to Barkely Meadows County Park a bit after 2 p.m. and followed the paved (sidewalk-like) trail to the far end of the greenway and the water. Access was, again, superior, and I saw cruising bass right off the bat.
Middle of the summer, middle of the hottest part of the day, the smart money is on going deep to cooler water, right? On the other hand, I had just tied-up a bunch of small versions of the "master splinter mouse" pattern and I just *knew* it would catch some bass.
I started with this size 8 version in gray and micro pine squirrel. I stuck with it until I lost it in a tree about 45 minutes in.
Bowing to the inevitable, I looked through my box for something that I could fish lower in the water column and tied-on a purple (!) beadhead bugger. One bass liked it right away.
I didn't, though, and as I was digging through my fly box for something else I looked down and noticed a pair of Rios about eight feet in front of me. Naturally I tied-on a Rio Getter and tossed it to them. A bass charged in and ate the fly.
The Rios disappeared, and I almost stepped across the sunken tree branch that was lying on the bottom near them when I realized it was actually a spotted gar of prodigious proportions.
The creek here is in transition from the limestone hill country to the west to the blackland prairie where it meets the Colorado River. Water was a bit cloudy with some floating algae but not the dense matts that have developed on some other reaches of a few local waters. The bottom was mostly small gravel with some mud and silt banks. Pools ranged from knee-deep to chest-deep (and deeper).
After missing the Rios, I tied-on another mini-mouse, this one in black rabbit tied on a size 6 SC-15 ... I don't think I could effectively cast it on the TFO Signature Series II 2 wt. any larger than that.
Another half dozen bass and a few redbreast (yellowbelly) sunfish fell for it as I completed the wade to State Highway 130, just under half a mile.
The fish below is a good candidate for a pure strain Guadalupe bass. Interestingly, it was followed by another about the same size and a gorgeously spotted girl more than twice its size.
I was off the water at 5:30 and I'm already planning the next trip. There is still an intriguing upstream portion to explore at this location as well as two retention ponds with standing brush. I'm seriously considering taking the kayak for the next section.
Posted: Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:35 am • 
