Guadalupe Trout
Guadalupe Trout
Anybody with experience fishing the trout in the Guadalupe? I’m looking at some places to stay on the river and trying to pick a decent spot with fishing access… curious if anyone knows how far up the river the trout go, right up to the damn? I see there’s a zone 1 and zone 2 with different slot limits, does that mean it’s generally larger fish up river? Are there parts that are too deep or fast to wade? Am I likely to find success without a guide or would that be priceless experience? Thanks for any insight!
- Ron Mc
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Re: Guadalupe Trout
Many questions.
If you want to see the river, hire a float guide.
The Guadalupe tailwater is a river in rutted limestone strata with hill-country elevation change, weirs (dams) - it changes every few feet.
The state stocks at the dam, all the river crossing bridges, and down to Huaco Springs.
Huaco Springs is a good place to camp.
Rio Raft is a good place to rent a cabin.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releas ... =20211206a
The state also stocks trout for winter put-and-take at public parks across the state - https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/ma ... king.phtml
Check on the special regs for the river. You can consider the dam and Huaco springs to be put-and-take fisheries.
Note there is no public parking along River Road, except at the dam and state lease.
From FM306 to below Lazy L&L is a trophy trout fishery with holdover water.
TroutFest is coming up this month. https://grtu.org/troutfest/
If you want to see the river, hire a float guide.
The Guadalupe tailwater is a river in rutted limestone strata with hill-country elevation change, weirs (dams) - it changes every few feet.
The state stocks at the dam, all the river crossing bridges, and down to Huaco Springs.
Huaco Springs is a good place to camp.
Rio Raft is a good place to rent a cabin.
https://tpwd.texas.gov/newsmedia/releas ... =20211206a
The state also stocks trout for winter put-and-take at public parks across the state - https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/ma ... king.phtml
Check on the special regs for the river. You can consider the dam and Huaco springs to be put-and-take fisheries.
Note there is no public parking along River Road, except at the dam and state lease.
From FM306 to below Lazy L&L is a trophy trout fishery with holdover water.
TroutFest is coming up this month. https://grtu.org/troutfest/
Last edited by Ron Mc on Fri Feb 04, 2022 7:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Guadalupe Trout
Awesome, thanks for the tips… so you think prime trout fishing is from the horseshoe down to L&L? That’s zone 2 right? I saw that camp huaco springs was public access but it seemed way down the river, wasn’t sure if the best or most fish were closest to the dam or further downstream??
- Ron Mc
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Re: Guadalupe Trout
Welll, I've caught wild-spawned rainbows there, but I won't tell you where.
spawning rainbows in the Guadalupe
spawning rainbows in the Guadalupe
Re: Guadalupe Trout
Fair enough, one more question… how’s the river flow, pretty quick? Can you easily kayak fish it drifting, or would you have to anchor? Are there any shuttle services running this time of year? Thanks
- Ron Mc
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Re: Guadalupe Trout
That's 3 questions. Yes, there are livery services. Rio's a good one, and probably the best float. I'm not one of them.
350 cfs is about the upper limit for wading. 200 cfs is prime.
All the gauges on the river are currently screwed up, with a promissory note from USGS.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/uv/? ... 0065,00060
90 cfs is slow, and what you'lll see from here to eternity except in monsoon years,
because of all the groundwater being sucked by increased population growth and increasing groundwater use.
Even if they move forward with now 20-yr-late desalination for public water supply, we'll never see "average" years like this again.
This is the same dolomite run as the first photo in this post, though upriver 100 yds, and more typical of 3rd Xing now, but we found a good late afternoon dry-fly hatch every day on the clock.
That's Bruce Young, Steve Flanagan, and me - Floyd Burkette took the photo.
350 cfs is about the upper limit for wading. 200 cfs is prime.
All the gauges on the river are currently screwed up, with a promissory note from USGS.
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/tx/nwis/uv/? ... 0065,00060
90 cfs is slow, and what you'lll see from here to eternity except in monsoon years,
because of all the groundwater being sucked by increased population growth and increasing groundwater use.
Even if they move forward with now 20-yr-late desalination for public water supply, we'll never see "average" years like this again.
This is the same dolomite run as the first photo in this post, though upriver 100 yds, and more typical of 3rd Xing now, but we found a good late afternoon dry-fly hatch every day on the clock.
That's Bruce Young, Steve Flanagan, and me - Floyd Burkette took the photo.
Re: Guadalupe Trout
Awesome, thanks for the insights, we’re looking at heading down in the next few weeks, maybe checkout grtu’s troutfest, appreciate the help, tight lines!
Re: Guadalupe Trout
Any good trout fishing in Kerrville? TPWD has released there a few times in Dec/Jan...
- Ron Mc
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Re: Guadalupe Trout
Ages ago, I fished the stocking at Louise Hays park. It was ok fishing in the pond above the dam, but some trout find their way over the dam, and when I fished the plunge pool against the bottom of the dam, and fished down the creek (upper Guad), I had a blast.
Alone, with friends, and with my daughters, I've fished many of the state put-and-take fisheries. The best of these were Blanco SP and Bandera City Park. At Bandera CP, just for the heck of it, I fished an antique silk-gut English wet-fly dropper rig, on Tonka Prince, brass DAM Effzet reel, and a silk line I refurbished. I caught a double.
I introduced my daughters to fly fishing at very young ages at Blanco SP. They would sit in my lap the night before and tie up fake corn kernels using yellow chenille. At the park, I'd chum up fish by throwing out corn. They would always get a trout before falling in, and we always ended up back in the truck with the towels and change of clothes I knew to bring along (done this before).
They also always brought home a crayfish or a turtle to set up in their aquarium. The way to fish with kids is take them to a place they don't have to fish to have fun, and can fish when they choose (usually when they get jealous of you catching fish).
Re: Guadalupe Trout
Heya Ron Mc,
Thanks for sharing those photos. More, please, as I will only be able to fish the Guad, vicariously this season.
Thanks for sharing those photos. More, please, as I will only be able to fish the Guad, vicariously this season.
- Ron Mc
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- Posts: 5682
- Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:12 pm
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Re: Guadalupe Trout
Thanks friend.
just for KK - my favorite trout photo. The rod is a prewar Heddon Folsom 1505, the reel is Young pattern 16a.
The pink line is Airflo Chalkstream Special
He came out of pocketwater that people pound over to get to the next hole - a good BWO hatch coming off the riffle.
I'm not even sure how he fit in this pocket.
I worked hard to turn him before he got to the chute of the busted weir below - he would have been gone.