I have a couple of places in my back pocket.
Private access to amazing water you never want to abuse, so maybe once a year, maybe every other year, make the phone call and gain access.
Last time was two years ago, when I played this trump card for filming a tv show - it was great.
Yesterday, I took three best friends back to this place - the hill country retreat of a tv preacher. My friend who gets us in produces his video, but couldn't make it, though he made the right calls and gave us the gate code - must make it up to him...
It's an impoundment on an aquifer recharge creek - the water percolates in and out of the limestone for many miles, and downstream from here it completely disappears, until it re-emerges in the coastal plain.
It's stocked with big, educated bass, and is some of the best sight-fishing I know of anywhere.
The top end of the impoundment is wadable on the flagstone, after you get through the quicksand around the banks.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210006.jpg)
Alex was fishing XUL, extreme ultralight spinning gear built on a 3-wt. fly blank, and he was the first into big bass.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210001.jpg)
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210004.jpg)
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210005.jpg)
The pod bass here are big - 3 to 5 lbs, and it's the little ones that are solitary. I guess I photographed my first fish of the day, but leaving a pair in the wading water and hiking down to the lower dam with Jimbo, I got into my first pod bass (along with several others), and my best fish of the day.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210011.jpg)
I was fishing my canon for the long casts, a Japanese inshore fly rod with a sinking line.
When I hook up one of these pod bass, I always say "this one's got shoulders"
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210012.jpg)
she left with plenty of fight
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210013.jpg)
I think Jimbo had the toughest day and later would bust the far bank to finally find his pod bass - sorry I didn't get photos of it...
This place is a spiritual retreat - holy ground. Later in the morning, a gang of kids hiking the lower creek with one of the moms came up to watch us fish, just in time to see Ewell with a nice catfish.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210018.jpg)
(I guess I did get Jimbo taking Ewell's photo)
and this was from Ewell's perspective
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aIMGP4689.jpg)
And me doing what I do best - fishing with an audience
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aIMGP4690.jpg)
never to disappoint - we let the kids release all the fish
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aIMGP4692.jpg)
Ewell was fishing a gorgeous venerable Phillipson fiberglass rod, and, while it wouldn't have been my choice for this water, he made great use of it with long casts and big fish.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210024.jpg)
Leaving Jimbo in the bushes, we headed back up to check on Alex's progress. Intrepid wading had put him in the spot Jimbo really wanted, and we watched Alex catch 9 big pod bass in a row, making him the star of the day.
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210031.jpg)
![Image](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v728/bulldog1935/decoy/fish8/aPA210034.jpg)
After this we hiked back to the lower dam to extricate Jimbo from his brush bust on the far bank, so we could go to lunch - we were all hearing the chicken fried steak call. Jimbo wanted just 5 more casts from the dam. He doesn't count fish the same way he counts casts, but that's OK, we all caught a few more before we left.
oops, I didn't upload that best photo of Ewell with his last (great) fish of the day, sporting a smile big enough for all of us - maybe I'll get it uploaded tonight.
A great day on holy ground.
Anway, Ewell and I talked leverguns. He has his grandfather's '92 in .44-40, and has been shooting it. We're planning a trip to his cousin's ranch on the Frio Sendero next spring for fishing, shooting and maybe even hog hunting.