Bass Fishing in the Devil's River

We've been fishing our hearts out. The days would start out very foggy and we would get on the lake just as the fog would be lifting so it was a little damp until the sun burned it off. By late afternoon the fish would be jumping in every cove tempting us to try and catch them. It was interesting to see that even down here they have Mayfly hatches. The Mayflies hatch and die and lay on top of the water and the fish jump to eat them. When we would fish Mille Lacs the Mayfly hatches would be so huge that the bodies of Mayflies would form rivers in the water. Jim had the most luck and caught the most and biggest fish. I only caught a couple but we both were having a blast. It's such a different kind of fishing down here. You cast alongside the brush in the water, trying not to get caught in it while reeling in your fish. They talk about weed beds somewhere in this water but all we've seen is brush and trees. The fish we caught were largemouth bass although down here they call them blacks. Jim caught one white bass as well but it had a hunk missing out of his tail.

The canyon walls in the Devil's River are made of very soft rock and it is full of caves and holes. The hole in the picture is pretty close to the water line but the water is up a good 20 feet from normal so this hole is usually way out of the water. All of the holes and caves are protected -- you can't go in them -- most are too shallow anyway but the deeper ones are home to bats in the summer. The bats head farther southwest into Mexico during the "winter" because they like really nice and warm.

Del Rio had a celebration for all of us "winter Texans" that included a free breakfast and other goodies for all of us. Texas is very happy to have all of us snowbirds in the state for the winter -- its a nice boost to the economy. Our RV park has folks from all over including Alaska, Washington, New York, Colorado, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Missouri, Mississippi, Kansas, Michigan, Wyoming and surprisingly even from the northern part of Texas.