Perch Poppin on the Fly

After watching the Cowboy's play like the Cowgirl's, I had to get out of the house to get rid of some frustration. Nothing will calm you down like a good wade trip with the fly rod so I loaded up my gear and headed out for a section of the Guadalupe river that I cross often but haven't fished yet.
Not knowing what the depth was going to be I packed light with a small backpack with some gear and made sure to put on my waist inflatable PFD from Onyx because better safe than sorry.
After walking to the waters edge I decided to put a small popper on and target some perch and guadalupe bass. With the water flowing and a lot of grass being pulled downstream I made my way in knee deep water hitting any pocket of slack water I could find. It didn't take long before a small guadalupe bass took the popper and delighted me with a nice air show before landing and releasing it to fight another day. There were a lot of fish cruising around the shallow weed line but they were very spooky and not interested in my offerings. After catching a few perch I noticed some grasshoppers along the bank hanging on to the grass so it was time to change to a hopper. The change made a difference as the fish were more receptive and I released many and lost quite a few trying to play them down before bringing them in.The water was nice and cool and I was able to wade wherever I wanted with a few spots being chest deep. The rod I used today was a custom Matthews fly rod in 4wt paired with a Solitude reel. The more I use this set up the more I like it.The rod is fast and casts well and the reel is very smooth.
Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading.
See you on the river...........