San Gabriel below Georgetown

[limbwalker]

Thought I'd post up a quick report on our trip to the San Gabriel River on Saturday.

I couldn't locate a shuttle in the area, so my wife and I decided to put in at the old county road crossing below Hwy 29, a few miles East of Georgetown. We put in about 10:30 and headed upstream. There were a few guys under the bridge with flyrods - I think they had been up earlier that morning and were finished for the day. Unloading and parking was easy at that hour of the day even on a Saturday. We put in on the West side of the old CR crossing. There's even a handy concrete step there to get into your kayak without having to step into the muddy bank. My wife really appreciated that.

There is a pool above that crossing roughly 1/2 mi. long, and we paddled straight up through that to get away from the road noise. At the head of that pool, there is a nice little gravel bar with some faster water around the East bank. I fished it before we portaged that small island, and caught a nice spotted bass in the faster water, and a few sunfish immediately above the island. They were easy to see in the shallows and easily fell to my flyrod with a small popper.

From there we paddled and fished our way up through the 2nd pool - also about 1/2 mile in length - and weren't catching that much. It was mid-day after all, so we weren't expecting to catch that many fish anyway. I broke out my flyrod again and easily caught 4-5 sunfish on the way up.

At the head of that second pool was a real surprise - a very large run of whitewater that we could hear the entire length of that pool. It made for a nice background to our paddling and fishing. Portaging those falls was a little tough, but not too bad. We carried the kayaks up approximately 50 yards or so. The size and arrangement of the rocks gave us the most trouble, but we managed okay.

Above those rapids, the river was shallow and wide with a large rock slab bottom until we got to the "slide" about 1/4 mile above where the first houses were on the left bank (heading upstream). We could paddle most of it, but ended up walking the kayaks up a few hundred yards into that next pool.

The final pool for us began at the houses and went up about 3/4 mi. above them. That pool was the deepest and there were only 2-3 houses at the lower end. Within a few hundred yards, we left the houses behind and it was peaceful with plenty of solitude above that. We paddled and fished until the head of that pool, where the best fishing water was found. A good long swift area of water held several spotted bass that we pulled out using spinning rods and our favorite stream lures - fire tiger floating Rapalas. The best fish was about 12-13" and fought plenty hard.

Above that gravel bar was a long riffle pool and more rapids/gravel bars as far as I could see upstream. That area would be fun to paddle down, but we weren't willing to go upstream through it. It would have been way too much work for the benefit.

From there we leisurely paddled down and fished a bit on the way. We could paddle down most of the riffles and smaller rapids, but we chose to walk the boats down the large set of rapids and I'm glad we did. I contemplated shooting those but after scouting carefully, it just didn't seem worth it to me. Someone more adventurous (or more willing to swim) could probably have had a ball going down that run.

All in all, we were on the water for 5 hours (in the hottest part of the day) but still had a great time. Despite somewhat slow fishing, it was a great paddle. Excellent scenery, very little trash, not many houses and we actually didn't see a single person after leaving the hwy 29 bridge, which was a pleasant surprise especially for a Saturday in the summertime.

[limbwalker]

[limbwalker]

[Ron Mc]

nice photos - thanks for posting - when I lived in Austin, loved to fish the cypress tunnels on the county road crossings east of Georgetown.

[Welderdude]

I did that same trip a few weekends ago. Did not go past the deep pool where the houses were though. Did lots better fish wise the weekend before...the water had become stained the second trip. Am told that with the water moving, you can put it at the park in G-town and make the trip down to the crossing in 5 to 6 hours. I know there are some nicer bass in there than the 3 pounders that i caught and the ones that i missed.

[kickingback]

Nice quiet area to fish. Great photos. Thanks for sharing!

[limbwalker]

I know there are some nicer bass in there than the 3 pounders that i caught and the ones that i missed.

You're right. I forgot to mention the VERY large bass that I hooked and lost. He was only in about shin-deep water and came out of a crack in the rocks where I didn't expect him at all. But he took one giant leap and sounded like a slab of concrete being dropped in the water as my lure came out. My wife saw the whole thing and was so mad at me for getting a hook in a bass that big. LOL

I don't doubt you could put in at one of the crossings in town and paddle down to that takeout. That's what I had intended to do when I asked about a shuttle. I think it would make for a great trip and I plan to bring a small group of 4 of us there next time, with two vehicles.

I'll probably do that in the fall when the temperatures are cooler though. The bass usually bite a little better in late Sept-October anyway.

[limbwalker]

Nice quiet area to fish. Great photos. Thanks for sharing!

You're welcome! There was so little information to be found on this reach that I thought I'd post the results. I think this is a very overlooked trip. Nice to know it's only 2 hours from my house.

I was calling it the "Llano lite" all day because it reminded me a little of my favorite kayak fishing river, but on a smaller scale, closer to home and with about 1/2 the fish (or less) but still definitely worth it.

[aroundthebend]

Nice trip.
Where you put in at looks similar to near Jonah. There's some good sunfish catches there.

[limbwalker]

My best day numbers-wise was with my daughter on the S. San Gabriel between the 183 and Ronald Reagan Blvd. bridges. We absolutely wore them out with our flyrods. And it was hot. 4th of July three years ago and it was over 100 that day. That stretch was remarkably quiet and scenic. Much more than I expected it to be.

[aroundthebend]

That's a pretty stretch. Can be quite shallow in places though and has a wastewater treatment plant that has had wastewater spills.

[limbwalker]

Now that you mention it, I noticed the effluent coming in from the North side of the stream about 3/4 way down IIRC. Wasn't thrilled about it, but fact is all our rivers and streams have effluent in them. Some of it's even treated. LOL

[aroundthebend]

My best day numbers-wise was with my daughter on the S. San Gabriel between the 183 and Ronald Reagan Blvd. bridges. We absolutely wore them out with our flyrods. And it was hot. 4th of July three years ago and it was over 100 that day. That stretch was remarkably quiet and scenic. Much more than I expected it to be.

Thought about getting a flyrod. Saw one at Academy or Dicks, may give it a try.

[Ron Mc]

I've fished the San Gabriel N fork above L. Georgetown when it was so hot there was no oxygen in the water, and huge carp were sucking the dying minnows, along with slow, bottom-bounced cats whiskers.

But on days like that, it's always 15 degrees cooler in the cypress tunnels (here the Guadalupe at Waring)