Blue River

[texanfisherman]

Feb 9, 2018 9:30:06 GMT -6 darrelln09 said:

I hope we haven’t completely discouraged you from going to the Blue! Just plan on scouting around a little when you get there until you find a spot to your liking. And be prepared to hike a little. I’ve even considered packing my waders in and putting them on when I find a spot. I had that thought on a 90 degree day though.

I always do that at the C&R area.  I load up my backpack with my waders, boots, lunch, and extra warm clothes.  While I'm fishing I just hang the backpack on a tree nearby.  I've considered bringing a bicycle up there as well.  It's about a 2 mile walk.

[Texastroutfisher]

Just curious, when does the trout fishing slow down and stop on the BR. I see they stock until the end of March but how long do they last in the river past the last stocking?

[flyfishermann1955]

I think it's fair to say the trout fishing "slows down" as soon as they stop stocking. Remember, this is strictly a put-and-take trout fishery; there are no "wild trout". I have never fished there after the end of April, which can be a good month for caddis. The "special regulation section" is catch and release until the last day of Feb and people can start keeping fish on 1 Mar because the trout will not survive the high water temperature of summer.

I doubt you will find many trout by mid May.

Tight Lines- Ken

[Texastroutfisher]

Thanks. That’s what I was wondering about.

[troutbum54]

I managed to catch a trout mid May way upstream of the C&R! I was out fishing for bass and was amazed by what was on the end of my line! Needless to say they can survive but the conditions have to be just right (e.g. an extremely late heat wave and really mild temps)

[hankinsfly]

TB- how did you do on the bass that trip?

[troutbum54]

The land I have access to is 50% spots, 25% smallies, and 25% largemouths! The average fish is 2ish lbs and on good days I can get anywhere from 50-100. The less great days it’s hard to catch 5 but still all good size. So far the largest smallie I’ve caught was about 5lbs, spot-3.5 lbs, and largemouth-6lbs.

[darrelln09]

Has anyone been to the Blue River more recently? I'm thinking about making the trip over there this weekend.

[turfdawg]

Mar 21, 2018 18:37:50 GMT -6 darrelln09 said:

Has anyone been to the Blue River more recently? I'm thinking about making the trip over there this weekend.

Went Friday afternoon and caught several. Might make another trip next week.

[darrelln09]

Just had a nice weekend of fishing and camping at the Blue River. The fish are there if you can find them and, according to my Apple Watch, I walked 14.86 miles on Saturday trying to find them. As far as what I did find, in a word, I found “nibblers”. I totaled about two dozen for the weekend but had at least three times as many hits. I’d get the tiniest bumps on the strike indicators and minimal grabs on the streamers. They would bite and let go before I could react. That being said, here was my experience with flies on the ones I actually hooked:

Saturday
(1) Pheasant Tail PT Cruiser - Burnt Orange
(1) Navy Diver - Copper/Tan
(10) Krystal Bugger - Olive
(2) Slump Buster - Rust/Root Beer Braid

Sunday Morning
(5) Pheasant Tail PT Cruiser - Peacock
(5) Sexy Walt’s - Chartreuse
(0) Navy Diver - Blue

A couple were nice size - pushing 15”. The rest were in the 10-12 inch range of typical stockers.

Jonbo, you would have been proud of me with this one. He felt fairly big so I “got him on the reel”!

[darrelln09]

Fished the Blue River on Friday and what a difference a week made. Last weekend the water clarity was 2 to 3 feet and it was a bite per cast. The rains over the past week with the subsequent runoff turned the water dark brown and reduced the clarity to 2 to 3 inches. I saw only one fish being caught and it wasn’t by me. I didn’t get a bite all day. Not one. So I packed my gear and headed for the LMF.

[Smallfry]

Do better??? I got to fish LMFR all day Friday, it certainly was a Good Froday!

[darrelln09]

Saturday was okay. Caught a few anyway and bigger fish than I’m used to catching. Rained pretty hard on my tent Saturday night and the river got all stirred up. That wasn’t good. Tried Euro nymphing for the first time in Spillway Creek in the morning with no luck and then drove home through Winding Stair in a rain squall. That was a wild ride. All in all I learned a few things and definitely enjoyed the trip.

[darrelln09]

Made it back to the Blue River today in spite of the rainy weather. I didn’t see another soul on the river although I did see a few footprints and some turkey tracks.

Caught the biggest and smallest largemouth bass I’ve ever caught! Well, I’d never caught any before so the two I netted will check off both. One was nice size too; filled up my net pretty well. The other one wasn’t bad either.

Caught the smallest sunfish I’ve ever seen as well; had to be under 2 inches! I was adjusting my strike indicator with my nymph down in the water and felt a nibble. Set the hook with a little twitch of my left hand and just lifted him up. It was hilarious.

Caught 7 rainbows too; all were on Sexy Walt’s of various colors. Couldn’t get much action on anything else.

[slim]

Good report darrell, a mixed bag.

BTW, did you make it to Zone 2 at LMF ?

[darrelln09]

Thanks! No, I did not go to Zone 2. Spent my time in Spillway Creek. Finally had some success up there too!

[troutbum54]

Are you positive they were largemouths? 7/10 bass up there are spots, 2/10 are smallies, and 1/10 are actually largemouth. I think the only day I actually caught more than one or two lmb was when I found a hole where they were stacked up in there.

[darrelln09]

After looking at some pictures, you could be right. The mouth size led me to believe they were largemouth but the coloration makes me think now that they were spotted. That’s what I recall anyway but I’ve never seen either one live before. Too bad it was raining so hard or I would have gotten my camera out.