Lifer Trip - Deep in the Heart of Texas!

[Johnsfolly]

Made my last big lifer trip for the year last week. This is going to be one long report instead of a couple of shorter ones. If it is too wordy feel free to just look at the pictures (that means you @snagged in outlet 3😆).

I was down in Austin TX for a conference Sun to Tues. I had the rest of the week off and planned to fish a variety of locations chasing lifers in Texas. My first stop was to Onion Creek on Weds morning for a recon trip for possible guadalupe bass and a couple of new darters. The creek was really low and gin clear. I saw a few bass with a couple that were very green in coloration. I had one chase a trout magnet jig, but lost interest when the bait got into the weeds. I threw a few different microjigs that got little attention of the bass or spooked them out of the hole. I did end up with a single bluegill on a John Deere microjig in the alloted time prior to my departure for Houston (2.5 to 3 hour trip). I was using a Shakespeare 3 piece Ugly stick travel rod (5'6" L) with 2# Pline.

I picked up a couple of pecans that were falling in the park and saw a bunch of these Turk's caps wildflowers.

Prior to this trip I had been in communication with a gentleman from INAT about fish species and locations in his home town area of Houston. I relied heavily upon his recommendations and was successful mostly due to this information. The first location on Weds was the Ben's Branch of Lake Houston. The primary target was Texas (Rio Grande) cichlids. Secondary targets were possible Nile tilapia and plains longear sunfish. There was a large culvert outfall into the Ben's branch that was the spot to try. I saw lots of topminnows (very likely blackspotted) on the way out to this culvert. I had on a #16 hook with a splitshot for the cichlids but didn't try to catch those topminnows. I used small pieces of redworms for bait. I got to the spot and started fancasting the area. The first several fish were all bluegill. I made a closer cast just beyond some rocks and caught my first Texas cichlid (lifer #1)😁.

That was the spot. I caught several cichlids and also my first Nile tilapia (lifer #2).

I even caught a nice plains longear sunfish from that same spot.

As dusk was falling a young buck popped out about 70 yards from me and was feeding towards me. It saw me when it was about 45 to 50 yards and spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out what I was as I was still catching and releasing sunfish and cichlids on top of that culvert. Day one with two lifers and all three of the day's targets caught in Ben's Branch. My plans for Thurs was to fish the salty water down in Galveston.

In Galveston, I had four primary targets but knew that time was going to be a factor. Those targets were, gulf toadfish, hardhead and/or gafftopsail catfish, Molly Miller blennies, and longnose killifish. I picked up a few shrimp at a local Krogers (I find that buying shrimp at a grocery store allows me to get just a few at a cheaper price than at a bait store). The first stop was a small bridge where the water from the marsh flows out into the West Bay. The rocks and oysters housed gulf toadfish. I had expected more rocks than I found. I had on a #10 bait hook with shrimp and a large split shot. I got a solid thump in the first gap in the rocks, but did't get a good hookset. By the thump and the weight, I was certain I just lost a gulf toadfish. I fished a couple of other smaller gaps. I got a few small bites and even pulled a silvery fish out of the rocks but not in hand. I then put my bait down into a hole under a concrete slab that was encruted with oysters. I got another solid thump and pulled a large toadfish out of the hole. The hook pulled just as I got its head past most of the oysters. I tried several other smaller gaps and ledges but never got another bite. I had alloted about 45 mins for the toadfish and then headed to the Galveston Pier for catfish.

As I was paying for parking on Seawall Blvd, a couple of guys walked it along the pier and beached a 6 to 7 foot bull shark. So at least some folks were catching something at the pier. It was in between tides with little wave action.

I got my gear ready. Before I left I cut up one of the shrimp and put the pieces in a ziploc and into my tackle bag. The rest of the shrimp were in a small collapsable cooler bag that I use for our bait. I went into the pier store, paid for the day pass and headed out to fish. As I got to my spot I found that I no longer had my cooler bag with me. I still had the cut up shrimp and decided against heading back to the car to look for that bag and started fishing. I had two rods with me, a Tsunami telescoping rod (6'6" M) with 12# Trilene line and a Shakespeare 4 piece Ugly stick travel rod (6'6" MH) with a Ceymar baitrunning reel with 30# braid and 20# fluorocarbon leader. I normally use a two hook high/low rig when fishing piers or jetties but only used a single hook with a 1 or 2 oz bank sinker on each rod. I caught a couple of Atlantic croaker and after confirming that TX did not have a length limit kept a smaller one for cutbait.

That may have been the best decision of the day. The croaker got consistent hits all day. The smaller fish could peck off the shrimp, but the cut strips of croaker were harder to clean the hook. Even just the skin still caught fish. I still caught croaker with the cutbait. The surprise was catching and landing my first sand weakfish (lifer #3 - sand trout - @Devan S. I'm counting this as a TX trout catch for now😉).

These weakfish really loved that croaker since I caught eleven in about four hours. I also caught several southern kingfish that I kept hoping were a lifer gulf kingfish, but no. This was the most colored up southern kingfish that I have caught so far in my life.

I moved from the side of the pier to the end of the pier. I put out a larger cutbait on a circle hook and used my baitrunning reel in hopes of catching a larger predator possibly a redfish. I only ended up with three more sand weakfish. Since it was close to four pm I decided to pack up my gear. I was still soaking a small croaker piece as I packed the large rod and most of my tackle. The last fish of the day from the pier was my first hardhead catfish (lifer #4) 😁.

I still had about 45 mins on my parking pass and decided to hit the jetties in search of the Molly Miller blenny. I was told that the blennies live in the cracks and gaps along the jetties. As I got back to the car I could not find my cooler bag. I packed all my gear in the car and went back into the store to see if someone found it. I ended up finding it on the newspaper rack next to the register. The bait was still cool and fresh (I used a package of frozen sliced carrots as an ice pack). 

I went back to a #20 hook and split shot for the blennies. I put on a small piece of shrimp and started fishing the cracks and gaps once could see that there was algal growth and deeper water. I lost two quick bites and then pulled out my first Molly Miller blenny (Lifer #5).

Unlike the crested and feather blennies by us that have an elongated cirri above each eye, these blennies have crew cut looking cirri. Very easy to identify😉. After that fish I headed back to the hotel in Humble TX for the night.

The next morning would be my last in the Houston area. I planned on going to fish a small pond that has both golden and western starhead topminnows then head back to Austin for my last day and a half before heading home. I was told that there was a weedy and swampy edge to the pond. Knowing that the fish may be further out beyond the weedy edges, I put my microfishing reel on the Tsunami rod. I put on a Tanago #26 hook with a tiny split shot and used a tiny bit of redworm. I saw schools of fish right away and thought that many of them were likely western mosquitofish. I fished a couple of pockets in the weeds and caught a small fish that I thought was a mosquitofish (had a wider mouth). I walked the bank and found a pile of a couple of tree branches right at the distance that I could reach with an extended arm. I lost a couple of fish then landed my first golden topminnow (lifer #6). This fish had a couple of major lesions and got quickly released after a photo or two.

I could easily tell the adult starhead TM due to a dot and line of fluorescence from the head to dorsal fin. I also figured out the coloration of the golden TM. That helped me land a few starheads (Lifer #7) and another though lesion free golden TM. Looking back at that first caught fish was likely a juvenile starhead and not a mosquitofish.

I headed back to Austin. I decided against a night trip Friday night once I got back in Austin. Saturday morning I ended up at Barton Creek at an access south west of Downtown Austin. This creek had INAT obs of guadalupe bass, Largemouth bass, TX logperch, greenthroat darters, etc.

I started with #18 hook and caught some bluegill and plains longear sunfish in the pool area above the faster flowing creek section.

I then spent a fair amount of time bouncing a tiny piece of worm on a #26 Tanago hook around those rocks searching for darters. Never found a one in about 45 to 60 mins of fishing. I did a catch a couple of western mosquitofish then headed further downstream and found a quick water pool with lots of silverey flashes. I dropped the bait and quickly caught six western blacktail shiners.

I kept seeing larger fish near the bottom of the pool and decided to try for them on my trip back upstream. I got to the first big pool and swtiched to a trout magnet jig setup.

I fished it with a black back/green belly plastic body. Spooked a bunch of small bass and sunfish. Caught only one bluegill with that set up. At the tail of that pool I put on a small worm piece and fished the bait under a float.

With the bait near the bigger underwater rocks I got a hard pull and landed the first TX cichlid from this creek.

I kept heading downstream and came to a much bigger pool below an impressive bluff similar to those I used to fish under in MO.

In this bigger pool I would hook on a whole redworm in the middle of the worm and let the front and rear of the worm to dangle freely. With this setup using a float and not I caught a lot of fish. The first was this bass that I had hoped was a Guadalupe bass due to its coloration, but it was just a largemouth.

Some other catches included redbreast sunfish, bluegill, cichlids, bass, etc.

Nicest redbreast sunfish of the day.

Largest TX cichlid so far.

I lost another very green bass earlier, but landed another small largemouth.

I went back upstream and put on a #18 hook to fish that fast water pool and caught another 4 W blacktail shiners for ten on the day. I ended up with 41 fish caught in Barton Crk. I probably could have pushed that number up to fifty if I went back to the pool by the road but I packed up and headed 35 mins to a spot on Onion creek to go all in for Guadalupe bass.

The spot was slow moving water and more like a pond. I only caught redbreast sunfish.

I did see some small possible largemouth bass, topminnows and maybe a darter or two. But I wanted to catch a Guadalupe. I spent 25 mins bushwhacking to get to the head waters of the pond/pool. I caught another redbreast and ran out of time. I never saw another bass. I ended the trip with seven lifers and had chances at others. This was a great trip and now I have to figure out how to get back (my license doesn't expire until Aug 31st😉).

[FishnDave]

Excellent!  Great trip!

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

If it is too wordy feel free to just look at the pictures (that means you @snagged in outlet 3😆).

I read every report.   Even @FishnDaves rough fish adventures😁.    Pictures add a certain panache to a report.  IMO😆

[Devan S.]

If you go back to Austin....its only ~1 hour to Canyon Lake Dam.....there you can catch real "trout"

[Johnsfolly]

@Devan S. I will likely go after the freshwater trout on another occasion. I still want a Guadalupe bass and one or more of the darters in the Hill country.

[Quillback]

Wow, that's a lot of species, congrats!

[Maverickpro201]

12 hours ago, Devan S. said:

If you go back to Austin....its only ~1 hour to Canyon Lake Dam.....there you can catch real "trout"

Those trout are released into the Guadalupe and come from Missouri. I know the area well.

[BilletHead]

Great report, nice photos. Thanks a bunch John for taking us along on the trip. 

[gotmuddy]

Awesome report, thanks for taking the time to post it up!

[Ham]

Good Job Buddy. You put the time in before the trip and it paid off.