Me and a friend will soon be going to the Guadalupe to try our luck with some trout. I don't know very much about trout fishing but I do know I have the right flies. Can anyone tell me anything I need to know about the Guad or any advice in general? I don't have waders so I would most likely be looking to fish with my feet on land. I just don't want to get there and drive that far just to have no clue what I'm doing or what part of the river I should be fishing. Help me out if you can...

below the dam is a good public spot (will be crowded as hell on a weekend though), other good spots are Hueco Springs (believe that is one of the public access and stocking points as well). Also the rapids upstream of the 306 bridges (2 spots) and Ponderosa Crossing are great spots.

I know you like to fly fish, but I'd pack a spinning rod and some rooster tails and powerbait to save a trip if flyfishing doesn't work out. Access is very limited without having waders...

Couldn't in good conscious tell you some good spots without that last suggestion...







[This message has been edited by aggiegolfer03 (edited 1/13/2010 9:45p).]

Drive up and down River Rd. between Sattler and New Braunfels. There are numerous place that will allow you to fish for a small entry fee.

Because much of the river is tree-lined, if you're planning to flyfish, you'd be much better off with waders. It's tough to cast effectively from the bank amid the trees.

Fish the "green" water...i.e. the deeper pools and runs. I've never had much luck fishing shallow riffles in the Guad.

As far as flies go, consider fishing a dropper rig. Tie something like a Copper John, Beadhead Wooly Bugger, or Pheasant Tail to the business end of your leader. Tie another leader of 12-14 inches (2 or 3 lb. test) to the bend of the hook then tie on a size 18-22 nymph or midge imitation.

Personally, like as mentioned above, I'd rather throw hardware such as Mepps or Roostertail spinners at them. If you're fishing the the Trophy Trout section, consider mashing down the barbs of your hooks so that you can quickly and harmlessly release your catch.

Personally, I wouldn't use Powerbait or natural bait in the Trophy Zone. Trout are notorious for swallowing natural and prepared baits which means the morality rate is extremely high upon release.

well, I did suggest the dam and Hueco Springs, and both those are in the "anything goes" 5 fish limit zone...

I've caught large trout in the areas I mentioned on bandit 100 series crankbaits and baitcasting gear though...

I ALWAYS use barbless on my bait hooks even when I fish central park or are intending on keeping the trout...

[This message has been edited by aggiegolfer03 (edited 1/13/2010 10:01p).]

Very helpful, appreciate it...

drive up to broken bow oklahoma. It is a much better trout fishery than the guad IMO. I know a ton of people like the guad and that is fine, but I just think Broken Bow is a much better place to fish.

Yeah I actually heard that from some one else. The only problem that's really far away from College Station and San Antonio. I will probably make a trip up there over Spring break or something.

+1 on the ultra light and rooster tails

I have many a nice white bass in the turbulent water just below the damn.

I have heard the horseshoe crossing at 306 is good for trout, i've only fished by the damn and by Lazy L&L though.

another benefit of throwing rooster tails is that there are multiple species that you may pull in whereas a small trout fly may only nab you trout or sunfish (not all that likely from the fast, deep rapids where the trout are though).

throwing a roostertail brings white bass, guadalupe bass, smallmouth and large sunfish (one of the unsung fish of the hill country) into play as well.

if you do flyfish though, a somewhat large streamer or crawfish fly may work wonders on the trout and bass though...

I caught all of these from the same deep run on the Guad. On a white roostertail with silver blade.

Rainbow trout


Channel cat


Redbreast sunfish


The big trout love big crawdads. When I cleaned these two to eat (5 lber on the left, a 3 on the right) their stomachs were full of jumbo crawdads. Caught them a quarter mile below the dam on nightcrawlers in October, early 90s.


[This message has been edited by SanAntoneAg (edited 1/15/2010 8:26a).]