Josh, Will and I had to drive 140 mi today to find water, and we had a great trip, great exploring - even fish.
We explored the N. fork of the Llano, which I've never fished, and Josh said he's only made 3 trips this far over the last decade.
Since I came from the east, we drove separately, and met at the first crossing.
We also need Josh to add his photos and narrative to round this out.
After the last two days flooding, we found chocolate water.
We fished here 2 hours, all the gear worked great, but the fish weren't cooperating.
Decided to take our exploration farther upriver, hoping to find less-turbid water - less chert in the run-off.
We loaded up the boats, drove 5 miles up a dirt road. crossed the river 5 times -- two of those on the wet flagstone - and found a wide spot where we could see the structure.
This time it paid off. My first cast, right after Josh said, "first fish gets a dollar"
While I fished 2 of the rods I brought, the only one that mattered was the Smith SS/Plugger with inline keel spinner.
Everyone caught fish here, we paddled as far as we could, and got out to explore farther.
A native cichlid here made Josh's day.
With the long drive home, we were out of time and had to blast back at 1:30.
Josh didn't invite me until 7pm last night, so I only had time to load - no time for provisions.
Good thing Josh brought IPAs and jalapeno-cheese sausage to share.
Great group and great time.
A maiden voyage for my new truck. Got to use the 4WD, and the 10-sp transmission was a jewel climbing the divides on the interstate in cruise control.