Guide Speak

Good Morning All

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:11:04 -0500

Good morning all. I have been very busy. On top of my regular job, chasing folks around the city of San Antonio, I am guiding two to three times a week, chasing fish all around the Texas Hill Country. My regular job is stressful, somewhat dangerous, and it keeps me out in the slimy city to the wee hours in the morning. I have figured out that nothing good happens after midnight. There have been several occasions where I get home from work only to load up my canoe and gear and drive a hundred or so miles to meet clients and take them fishing. I am enjoying my hectic schedule. I am in a constant hunting mode and I have been having great success in the streets and on the rivers I explore. Where I find that nothing good happens after midnight, I am also finding that there is pure goodness and beauty in the early mornings and throughout the day on the rivers in Texas Hill Country.
In recent weeks, I have met and come to befriend several folks from around the state and around the country. My clients have been from Texas, Colorado, Alabama, Ohio, Mississippi, Virginia, Maine, and several other states. I am very pleased with this. I do have this website and blog, but it appears that most of the people I have taken trips with me due to word of mouth referrals. This makes me very happy. By nature, I am a quiet guy and I do not like to call a lot of attention to myself. I like being in the shadows or the man working his butt off behind the scenes. I think it is my shy, but hard working nature that has made me the guide I am. It makes me proud that when people from all around think of fishing rivers in Texas, they think of calling me. To those who have passed my name around, I honestly appreciate it.
Right now, many of our rivers are running beautifully. The Llano River was starting to get very warm around Mason, Texas, but recent flooding should have cooled the water down. The fishing should be very good for the next month or so. The Medina River is fishing very well. The San Marcos River is on fire. I take clients were the other guides do not go and let me just say the fishing is awesome. I think as the summer wears on, I am going to focus most of my guiding on the San Marcos River. Honestly, a trip on the San Marcos River will not only give an angler tons of action, but due to the hard flows and challenging cast…it will make a person a better all around angler. Anybody who wants to get some practice before a snook trip or trip to the jungle should consider a trip down the San Marcos. If an angler is successful on the San Marcos, he or she can be successful anywhere.
I am not very big on taking pictures, but here are a few pictures taken by me, clients, and fellow guides from the past couple of weeks.

Peace-
Marcus

Hill Country Tour

Thu, 3 Jun 2010 14:25:24 -0500

It was Tuesday morning, May 25th, day one of fishing with Bob Steenrod. I had driven all morning to get to South Llano State Park to meet Bob. When I arrived, Bob stepped out of his beautiful Airstream trailer to greet me with surprising news.
“The park ranger came by and said it had rained 12 inches overnight just South of here. The road in and out of the state park will be closed soon. What should we do?”
I drove over to the ranger station to get the latest news on the very rapidly developing drama.
“The river is 18 feet high in Telegraph” the park ranger said, “that’s only 15 miles upstream. The flood will be here soon! You can stay but the road will be uncrossable for a least a couple of days.”

Wow! This sounds serious! And it’s all happening so quickly!

I drove back to discuss with Bob. There was no telling when they were to close the road, only that it would be very soon. We decided to leave the trailer behind and just get out of the park. We safely made it across the road.
I had only met Bob 45 minutes ago, it had been a reveting morning...
Two days later, we came back to pick up the trailer.

Opportunity knocks

Thu, 20 May 2010 21:01:39 -0500

The recent rains brought flooding rivers. However, most of our Texas Hill Country rivers will rise and fall fairly quickly. This extra water creates opportunities to float stretches of river that are normally to low to float.
So, being that I was already out in the area and had two extra days unbooked, I decided to send out a few emails and make a few phone calls to find someone who was willing to jump on this opportunity.
It took half a day to find a taker...
It was none other than Ken Prehoditch.

TGOT has been fortunate enough to have Ken as a client for over 7 years now. Ken is a pretty easy going fellow who loves bass fishing and Texas rivers. Together we have fished and explored many Texas Hill Country rivers. Over the years we’ve found which small town motels are best to stay at... Together we’ve run many miles on our trucks and usually have outrages gas bills.
Yeah... we’ve fished many miles with Ken.
And have hooked a bunch of big fish...
(Join our TGOT fishing club if your interested in up coming trips...)

We had an excellent float day one. Beautiful water along with gorgeous scenery made for a great day of hooking guadalupes. None of these fish was very large, however that was not what we were after on this trip.(see 17 inches for a large guad.) Quantity over quality was the game being played. We down sized our leaders, tippets, and flies and enjoyed the aggressive nature of the Guadalupe bass.

Day two brought a different twist. Early morning reports called for a quick moving thunderstorm to pass through the area around lunch time. We decided to go ahead and make the trip and figured that the storm, if it hit us, would pass by quickly. We brought our rain jackets along and began our float. After a nice morning of fishing, the storm came rolling in...
It hit us hard.
Reminiscent of my old Alaska days... Every minute seemed like and hour and after about ten minutes, we decided to seek shelter at a near by cabin. Many thanks to Rex Gore for letting two wet dogs in off the street into their cabana. After the storm, the water was a little bit higher, but still produce plenty of small-fly top water action... I normally wouldn’t show this video posted but what the hell... it’s quite entertaining... Enjoy!!!

TGOT

Contingency Plans

Wed, 19 May 2010 20:54:21 -0500

Well... David and Ted’s excellent adventure on the Devils River was once again postponed. (See Flash Flooding River.)Unfortunately severe weather was predicted for Del Rio, Tx during our planned trip to the Devils and the storms did eventually hit the area. (see below)We received one report of the Devils River rising 7 feet in 30 minutes. Very scary!
Luckily, we had already come up with contingency plans and we were off the Devils and on our way to the next river. Fortunately we did not get rained on however the over cast skies produced some excellent top water fishing. David and Ted ended up hooking into some really nice fish and I personally truly enjoyed the camaraderie that these guys brought. Despite ended up configuring Plan E (or maybe F, don’t remember...), David and Ted handled the adversity with class, fellowship, and a great spirit for the outdoors...
Thanks guys!
TGOT

17 inches

Fri, 7 May 2010 12:22:15 -0500

Any Texas Hill Country river fish that is 17 inches would be considered a nice fish. A 17 inch Guadalupe bass however, is considered a great fish. This 17 inch Guad was caught on a recent two day Hill Country trip by Ken Prehoditch. Ken is one of our more frequent clients and over the years he has hooked into some large fish. This Guadalupe bass is his biggest to date. Ken has already booked two days for June.

Bacon and Sausage

Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:41:26 -0500

It is funny that in life there are things that are different, but kind of the same. For example there are lions and tigers, smallmouth bass and largemouth bass, jelly and jam,...hell, even the two guides on this web page are different in several ways, but we have focused a lot of energy on a few things we love and created a business. Those few things we love are rivers, the fish that inhabit them, nice canoes, and fine fly rods.

This past week, Johnny and I hosted a three day trip on the wild and beautiful Devils River. Our guests on this river were our good clients, Harry Daley from Colorado and Matt Polster from Texas. These two men are different in several ways, but they came together with us with only a few things in mind; to explore a beautiful river, share some laughs and catch a few fish. This past week, the Devils River lived up to its reputation. The water was low, making many of the rapids more treacherous, due to more exposed boulders. The wind, especially on the second day was hellacious and the fish, though we saw many were lackadaisical in their feeding. We worked very hard however and were able to catch some really nice fish.

The whole of the trip was great, but I think some of the best times were at the end of the day when four wind and river beaten anglers sat around a stove, with a nice dinner and a cold beer, talking of the day, things to come and life in general. Do not get me wrong, the topics we spoke of were full of colorful language and the ribbing we gave each other was as relentless as the wind. We ribbed each other about missed fish, blown casts, and even a few bad paddle strokes. We teased each others philosophies and politics and many times our laughter could be heard over roaring rapids and bouncing off of canyon walls. It was also during this time that Harry and Matt received their new nicknames of Bacon and Sausage. I won't say how the nicknames came about, but trust me it was funny.

Four Days

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:23:18 -0500

Just finished four days of fishing with Ken and Ray. A cold front passing through made for tough conditions.

Two windy days with Ken made for tough casting and boat positioning. Ken is an excellent fisherman and together we were able to make the proper adjustments and land a few nice largemouth. All in all a good trip.

Ray’s two days were tough because of the lack of wind, clear skies and calm water.
Glass calm surface + gin clear water + sunny day = very spooky fish. With patience and perseverance, we were able to hook many fish including a nice 4lb plus largemouth.