No, it's not a steelhead, but out here on the arid plains, you take your piscatorial sport where and when you can find it, and when the white bass ("sandbass" in our regional slang) start running upstream to spawn, the banks of a slow, shallow, turbid prairie river is the closest this poor, water-challenged bastard is ever likely to get to chasing chrome.
But you know what? I don't mind, because the sandbass is a helluva fish in its own right, one of my favorites.They're not large ( most average one to two pounds), they're not found in postcard country, they're not revered and fetishized as totemic symbols of wildness and personal meaning, and they will never be trendy and cool and hip. They are, like the channel cat, a glamourless, working-class prole's fish, caught by people sitting in lawn chairs casting bubble-pack spincasters, then taken home and eaten. The carp, the goddamned common carp, has more cachet (at least with the flyfishing crowd) than the white bass ever will. And yes, I like carp, too. But I like white bass more. They're plentiful, pugnacious, unsophisticated, delicious, and strong fighters, especially on a fly rod. What's not to like about that? Not a damn thing.
Excellent!! Nice piece of glass too. Whites are amongst my favorites. They are great fun, especially on the fly.
ReplyDeleteI'm really liking the CGR, it's my first glass rod.
DeleteThis shallow, silt-filled (until the next good flood), rocky creek they call the Nueces River has Guadalupe bass, which aren't all that big, and not even all that violent when hooked... at least in my limited experience, but that's what I get to fish for these days. I guess I take some solace in the fact that you won't catch these anywhere else... but as an un-recovered bluewater fisherman, it isn't the dream I dream. But I chase them and catch them anyway.
ReplyDeleteYou take what you've got, and make the best of it. Isn't that really the widely known secret to happiness?
Yep, that's pretty much what I do, to. Make do with what I've got. But damn, I really miss the fishing I used to do...and I'm actually really wanting to catch a Guadalupe bass, it's on my list.
DeleteWell, Chad, I would say, "come on down," but unless you can make it in the next two and a half weeks, my days in the Nueces Canyon are done. Next stop, North Carolina... full circle... and I'll be back on the ocean PDQ in search of spanish and king mackerel, and whatever else I can get after without breaking the piggy bank.
DeleteWhat weight is that CGR?
ReplyDeletePhil, it's the 5/6 weight. Liking it so far. Now I've got my eye on one of the one-piece Prime rods...
DeleteNeat rods. I almost succumbed to one of the short 3wts when they first came out; cute little thing! I thought it would be a hoot on bluegills, but I got too many rods already. Those Prime rods do sound interesting...
DeleteHey, just checked and those Primes are on sale right now, FYI.
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