Part Two – Rob Woodruff Entomology Classes on the Texas Guadalupe River

Chris Baumbach, who operates Red Fly Guides in New Braunfels, Texas, said, “I haven’t taken this class from Rob before, but I have sat through a long entomology seminar with a Professor. What a drag that was! I like how Rob refers to the arthropods in hook sizes instead of millimeters. I feel like his class fills in the spots where entomologists usually speak way over everyone’s heads, and fly-fishermen (who teach) don’t give enough information.  It is great that he puts a guide’s twist on the class.  I myself thought that the class had good flow and clear explanations.”

On day two the class moves to the water, and the learning experience takes on a whole new perspective. Woodruff demonstrates several ways to collect both airborne terrestrials, and waterborne organisms that are part of a fish’s diet. To him, it’s about taking the time before you begin to fish, to observe what nature is telling you as a fisherman, understand what you are seeing, and then convert that information into proper fly selections.

That knowledge becomes more detailed as the class moves downstream, since the types of waterborne food sources change significantly as participants move to different locations downstream. Woodruff advises that just because a particular fly works up by the dam, don’t take for granted the same thing will work further downstream.

“I was amazed how much of a difference there was in insect life from location to location.  I have already thought of how I am going to change my fly selection, hook size, and presentation.  I now see that in a few locations I have been using too big of a hook size, and after seeing and collecting samples, my flies are about two shades too dark in color too. I will definitely be lightening the colors up,” Baumbach said.   

The overarching goal of this learning process is not merely to catch more of the easy “stockers”, but to have a chance at hooking older, larger more experienced trout that, on the Guadalupe, may have held over from the previous year’s stockings.

Woodruff considers the fertile waters of Lake Fork in East Texas his home waters, although he also guides on the waters of Oklahoma’s Lower Mountain Fork in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. One of the more valuable aspects of Woodruff’s entomology lessons is they apply, in general terms, to all fresh waters, whether you are fishing the Guadalupe, Lower Mountain Fork, or a stock tank on the back forty.

For more information about Rob Woodruff, you can find his website at www.flyfishingfork.com or at 903-967-2665.

Now is the time to put the summer heat out of our minds, even if we are unable to put it out of our Texas reality. Apparently, this story on Rob Woodruff and his entomology class on the Guadalupe either fell out of publication here, or was not published after being pitched to the rags. I have slept once or twice since this was written, so there’s no telling why it doesn’t come up in the archives. It was written in late 2008.

For those of you who have considered taking your bug skills to the next level, I highly recommend Woodruff’s classes for their ease of learning, the hands-on experience and knowledge you can gain for (in Woodruff’s classes) the Lower Mountain Fork in Oklahoma, and the Guadalupe River in the Texas Hill Country.

There are two things about this story as presented here; 1 – it’s divided into two parts, and 2 – I am trying out the new magazine flip thing. The magazine flip may be small but, this may be a better way to view images at a more personal pace.

ROB WOODRUFF ENTOMOLOGY CLASS GUADALUPE RIVER 2008

When you first meet Rob Woodruff, he strikes you as the guy who always sat at the front of your science class, was first to raise his hand, and had all the right answers.

Woodruff, is an Orvis endorsed guide whose specialty is entomology – bugs – and catching trout in Beavers Bend and the Texas Hill Country. He teaches two day (in 2008) seminars on recognizing, collecting and matching the diet of finicky trout to an accurate fly representation that, with luck, resides in your fly box.

Woodruff, who graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in entomology, has a wealth of knowledge that goes well beyond simply identifying bugs.

His audience is riveted to every word as Mr. Woodruff works the overhead projector, points to specific characteristics on insect illustrations and pours out facts in rapid-fire progression. His seminars are divided into two days, the first being a classroom day – with two illustrated booklets on Crustaceans and Aquatic Insects, and Terrestrial Insects. The second session is used to apply what is learned from the first day, and adding water. In this case the water is the Guadalupe River just below Canyon Lake Dam.

Woodruff’s goal is simple, and just what the assembled fly fishers were hoping to hear, “I always thought texts were either too simplistic, or too complex. I try to morph everything into fly science,” but he adds, “There’s still no substitute for proper (fly) presentation.”

The classroom day consists of practical information about particular insects, identification, collection methods, life cycle, and the ultimate payoff – what flies to use to try and fool more and better fish. To aid in the process, Mr. Woodruff also has an extensive collection of sample vials containing the preserved carcasses of everything from the smallest nymph to large examples of frightening looking, but apparently tasty Helgramites.

However, it really isn’t as simple as matching the dominant insects you see and identify at the particular location you are fishing that particular day. “If you can identify second or third tier insects it really starts to pay off. Trout get conditioned really fast to what catches them, and they don’t want to repeat that experience”, Woodruff said.

And, if you think about it for more than just a minute he’s right. If a fly fisher arrives at some unfamiliar location, one of the first things they do is check in at their nearest fly shop to see what’s “working”. It could be any thing from a size 26 nymph to a size 12 Golden Stone Fly with a virtually unlimited number of variations in between. “Chances are the most popular flies have been seen by the fish”, and they are already wise to the fly or had a real bad experience when they tried to eat something that looked a lot like your fly that just drifted by their snouts. He gives a fly fisher the knowledge that can lead to the next level of success, by suggesting variations of tried and true flies when conditions warrant a change in fly fishing strategy.

- Part 2 on Friday -