Fishing at Paniolo Ranch June 24th - 26th

June 24th was my 10th wedding anniversary, so Kelly and I took the day off from work and headed off to Paniolo Ranch for a weekend of relaxation and a little fishing. I'll talk about the ranch first and then the fishing.



The Ranch

Great little place out in the Texas hill country about 15 miles from Boerne. It's a beautiful 100 acre ranch including a private lake that's stocked with spotted bass. The accommodations were nicer than any hotel I've stayed in my personal and business travels. The onsite spa treatments make the experience something you'll never forget soon. I can't say enough about how great this place was really. Kelly and I had a great time despite a few minor issues, but I would recommend it to anyone wanting to spoil themselves to a weekend of pampering.

The Fishing

The fishing at the private lake on the ranch is what I think is a fly fisherman's dream. There is plenty of room for casting from the shore, the water is very clear, the bottom has a little grass that holds a healthy fish population. Kelly and I caught some of the largest Redear and Longear sun fish I've ever seen. We caught the sun fish on 1/2 oz chartreuse rat-l-traps and Lucky Craft Sammy's. We also quickly discovered this lake is stocked with spotted bass. In my opinion, it's a bit on the over stocked side because in the three days of fishing we caught somewhere around 30 bass in a total of four hours worth of fishing and none of them were over a pound and half. While walking the banks, I didn't see any large bass either. Not to take away from the fact they were on the small side, those little spotted bass fought like mad once you had them on the hook. Some jumped several times or fought hard enough to pull out the hook. Kelly was frustrated after loosing several fish during the retrieve and she accused me of having dull hooks on the lure. She didn't realize the bass were just fighting hard enough to pull the hooks out. We caught the majority of the bass on the Sammy in shad and a 1/4 oz Mann's Little George in chrome.

Trip in Review:

We had a great time, thoroughly enjoyed our massages, the food was great, and accommodations were nice. The added bonus to the whole trip was that we enjoyed a few hours of great bass fishing together resulting in around 30 bass and a few very large sun fish. If you're planning on taking a trip, I would recommend brining along fly tackle or light spinning rod for a great fishing experience while you are there. Bring pliers or some type of hook retriever, because it’s difficult to get treble hooks out of the mouth of those sun fish. The hook barely fits in their mouth to begin with so getting it back out is tricky.


Kelly with one of those little fighters. This wasn't the largest bass, just happened to be the only picture I took when we were fishing.