Guadalupe River Fishing Report Fall 2019

It’s been an awesome Fall for fly fishing in the Texas Hill Country! Bass fishing was great for us in September and October but the way the Trout fishing has been recently, we’ve been spending a lot of time on The Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake fishing for “holdover” Trout. Holdovers are Trout that survive the Summer on The Guadalupe. They usually survive in the first few miles below the dam most years, even in bad conditions but this Summer we had great flows and the best Trout survival we’ve seen in years. The higher the flow from the dam, the further cool water will travel downriver. This year we’ve seen and received reports of Trout surviving almost 10 miles below the dam with the highest concentration being in the first 6-7 miles. We stop fishing for Trout in the late Spring or Early Summer when water temperatures begin to approach 70 degrees as to not stress them but Trout can survive water temperatures above 70 if left alone. Due to the good flows this Summer, much of the river stayed below or slightly above 70 degrees which gave us our best holdover in quite awhile. We’ve even been catching small wild Rainbows that survived from last years spawn which is a great sign. Efforts by Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited are paying off! Rainbows spawn every year on The Guadalupe but the fry don’t always survive to catchable size due to a variety of factors. We know the little Rainbows we’re catching are wild and born in the river because they are smaller than anything stocked last year and have beautiful parr markings. They are obviously not native, but that’s pretty relative as Rainbows are to native to the Pacific Basin only and not the majority of their current range. Brown Trout are native to Europe but there are plenty of wild populations in North America. Even the majority of Largemouth Bass people catch in Texas are Florida Strain and not native, came from stocked populations.

We started fishing for holdover Trout on The Guadalupe the second week of October after the first good cool front when water temps were safely below 70 degrees. At first, we kept our fishing to morning half days and avoided the warmer afternoons to reduce stress on Trout. Flows were at 110 cfs the first part of the month and we were still having some warm days. Due to declining lake levels, GBRA dropped flows to 70 cfs on October 21. The timing was good and spared the Trout as 70 cfs would have been bad news if they had done it earlier in the month or in September. Overall, the holdover Trout have been much smarter and tougher to fool in low, clear water than your average Guadalupe River fish. With the lake turning over, the river water has become a little murkier and that’s probably not a bad thing. While recently stocked fish can become very selective as well during “Trout Season” due to high fishing pressure, the holdovers have definitely not been easy. We’ve had some double digit days and other days with only a few bites but have managed to get it done on pretty much all of our trips on some very nice fish. We’ve caught holdover Browns every year since GRTU starting stocking them again back in 2016 but the numbers are up this year, another good sign. Small and medium sized nymphs have been working best for us. A few fish here and there on small streamers as well. We’ve mainly been fishing 4x tippet to reduce break offs and the fish haven’t seemed to mind.

With the low, clear water we have also been seeing a lot of huge Stripers in the 20-40lb range. Pretty much on every single trip in the same areas. There are more river monsters out there than people realize, they are just very smart and tough to fool. We actually prefer low water on The Guadalupe for Striper fishing as it gives them fewer places to hide. We caught a smaller one recently about 6-7lb but overall the bite has been slow. We’ve had some big fish follow flies back to the boat but no takers yet. We expect that to change soon once Trout stockings begin as new food in the river gets them in the mood to eat. It is no secret big Guadalupe River Stripers love to eat Trout, mainly the small bite sized TPWD stockers but we’ve seen them take a full size trophy Rainbow off our line like a shark in the ocean, pretty crazy. Conditions look great for targeting big Stripers this Winter, similar to the 2017-2018 season when we were catching them regularly.

With “Trout Season” proper just around the corner, we are looking forward to another great season on The Guadalupe! The newly stocked fish will not be near as picky as the holdovers, at least at first. Eggs, worms, standards like Zebra Midges, Hares Ears, Pheasant Tails, Prince Nymphs, Woolly Buggers, various attractor patterns and streamers will all be on the menu. The holdovers will still obviously be mixed in with the recent stockers. The difference between a holdover and recent stocker can be obvious. Mainly the color, shape and area you catch it in. In the past, only certain areas in upper part of river held holdovers but this year they survived much further down. Size isn’t always the best indicator. While many of the holdovers are big, some might believe a large stocker is a holdover but usually the recently stocked fish are darker and can have damaged fins from the hatchery. After being in The Guadalupe awhile, Rainbows usually become lighter with clean looking fins. By Spring, it can be tough to tell the difference. Hope everyone is excited as we are about another Trout Season on The Guadalupe. Going to be a great year! Good luck out there!