Fishing Report for
The South Guadalupe River

Links

  • A Description for the South Gaudalupe
  • A map showing this fishing location

December 7, 2016 - Ed Siska

Date: December 7, 2016
Weather: 45 degrees, overcast
Water: stained, 300 cfs, no temp taken “seemed” warm
Tackle: 5wt, fished hi-low dropper rigs with prince nymphs, copper johns, midge patterns and “squirmy worms”

Mike, Clint, Ed and guest fished upstream GRTU lease sites 5 days after initial stocking. Hooked and caught a few but fishing was slow, 2 more GTRU stockings to go should improve the fishing.

January 6, 2015 - Clint Barton

Tuesday looked like the best weather for fishing on the Guadalupe this week. I was needing a good day because last week I only caught one trout all day long! I started the morning at the “Potts” lease site and managed to get 11 fish by lunch time with the largest fish hitting 20”-DEFINITELY a better day than last week. After eating lunch I moved down to the “River Bluff” lease site but by then there were already 3 teenage spin fishermen pounding the water and I only managed one more fish for the afternoon. The weather was pleasant, and that was my best day fishing so far this year.

Dec 22, 2011 - Clint Barton

I managed to go fishing on the Guad on Thursday. I fished at Action Angler and caught nothing in the morning. I finally found fish in the afternoon. It seems they still haven't really spread out since the stocking(s) and either there are very few fish or you find them stacked up together. Standing in one spot I hooked 15 trout and landed most of them (for some reason I forgot my net which made landing them more interesting) ! They ranged from 14-20” and I caught them all on streamers-wooly buggers and slump busters. Later I moved into the area the club fished on our outing and caught 3 more trout, including one really big boy. I also foul hooked and landed a sucker. In addition to the 18 hookups I misssed several strikes that I felt but didn’t set the hook. If you can find where the fish are holding you can catch a lot of them.

Dec 19, 2011 - Chris Johnson

See this outing report on the "Outings" page.

Mar 11, 2011 - Clint Barton

Last Friday I went fishing on the Guadalupe. I started below the weir at Rio Raft and went down river from there. I started about 7:30 and fished until 4:00. I hooked 20 fish including 2 suckers. I actually landed about 1/2 the trout I hooked--1 fish was 12" and the rest were between 15” and 19”. Of course the big ones got off before I got them in the net. I only saw 6 fishermen and there were no guide boats on the river all day long. It was the best day I ever had on the Guad.

Feb 25, 2011 - Clint Barton

Friday I went to Ponderosa but there were already 3 guys fishing there so I went back to “6” where you drive through the pasture. One guy was there fishing downriver towards Potts so I started fishing straight out from where you walk down in between the big rocks. I started fishing about 8:15. By 12:00 I had 6 hookups and brought 2 of them to net--one was 22” and the other was 23”! I lost another one that was about that size and the other 3 were smaller fish but they ran and jumped more than the big boys. After a bite of lunch I went down to Gardo's and quickly hooked about a 17-19” fish that jumped out of the water and spit the fly (about 1:30 pm). Nothing else bit for the next hour so I packed up and came back home. (No pictures due to a dead camera battery)

Jan 7, 2011 - Clint Barton

I couldn't make the Saturday club outing to the Guad so I went down on Friday. I managed 4 hookups and got 3 to the net. Two fish were small--looked like TPWD stockers and the other two were 17" males with really nice color.

Dec 22, 2010 - John McDonald

Fishing spot: Guadalupe, Lazy L Ranch
Date: Dec 22
Begin and end times: 3pm-5:45
Air Temperature, weather conditions: 60 and cloudy
Water temperature, water condition: clear and good flow
Flies that worked: used an egg pattern with one hook up then switch to a dry at sunset for the 19” bow in the picture.

Have not seen many trout reports on this site so figured I would start the flow. Got out of work a little early and headed to the Guad for an evening of fishing. Overall pretty slow with only a few others landing any trout. I hooked up with one, but could not land and then managed one more near the end of the day on a dry. I plan to give it another try tomorrow so will try and post if I have better luck

Feb 19, 2010 - Brooks Bouldin

I met my friend Mark Marmon at the Guadalupe late last Thursday afternoon. The next morning we headed to the Bakery Café for breakfast and then drove to Action Angler so I could meet Chris Jackson, the owner. We decided to try fishing below the bridge which divides the old Bean’s Camp. There were two other fishermen in the area and after an hour, no one had so much as a bump

Mark suggested we go to Gordo’s and saved our bacon. In a little over two hours we caught about a dozen beautiful trout. Attached are pictures of three of them. The winning combination that day was a #4 black and chartreuse Slump Buster fished deep with extra lead on the leader. Casting slightly upstream and across, I threw slack in the line and waited to start stripping until the fly was quartering downstream. Most strikes were on the swing. I’m sure the fish will be more selective when they have been in the river for a while.

Jan 13, 2010 - Bob Williams

At the Guadalupe yesterday. Between Brunner , Kimmel , Tscheulin (new member) and myself we caught 20 -25 ., not all this big , of course , but great fun.

Dec 31, 2009 - Mike Seery

Location: Below the Bridge at Rio Raft
Water condition: The water was still a little off-color but not too bad

I found this fella in the slot below the waterfall just before the river turns to the left at Mountain Creek. He took a size 20, beaded caddis larva, fished as a dropper under a size 16 Wolly Bugger.I stayed until lunch and caught no other fish. I didn't think it was a wasted trip.

Dec 13, 2009 - Brooks Bouldin

Georgene Richaud, Peter Dossing and I made the trip. It was primarily a learning opportunity for Georgene and Peter, neither of whom had caught a trout on a fly. Fishing was slow. Even the guide boats were not catching much. We got two beautiful bows, one about 16 inches and one about 18. Both were taken on attractor flies. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the trip.

Dec 5, 2009 - John Thompson

Fishing spot: Action Anglers on the Guadalupe River at the third water crossing
Begin and end times: Brief clinic for us newbies started a little past 9 a.m. and I believe we were on the water by 10. Didn't take a watch because I was fishing. Time means nothing on the river.
Air Temperature, weather conditions: About 25 degrees F when we started, with sunny skies and a light and variable breeze from the south (I think, I’m not that great with directions) It was cold, but it warmed up quick as the sun came over the cliffs.
Water temperature, water condition: Water temp was about 55 or 58, I think the guides said. Flow about 110, maybe. Very clear water. Easy to see the fish just sitting there, taunting me.
Flies that worked: Started with a San Juan worm, then switched to a light-colored egg pattern. Nothing biting those. Switched to a size 16 bead-head nymph, brown, and caught the fish in the picture. Needed to add quite a bit of weight to keep the fly near the bottom where the fish were holding.

It was the Action Anglers 4th Annual Fly Fishing event, perfect for us newbies. Great guides, great swag, met some great people. Couldn't have had a better time, even if I hadn't caught his nice trout. Mainly just drifted nymphs to fish we could see. The guide, Mark, who helped me land it said this fish was about 3 to 3.5 pounds. My heartrate is still elevated. This is an example of the fish that the GRTU stocks in the Guad. This one was just recently released, so just imagine what the holdovers would look like!

March 30, 2009 - Bruce wilks

Location: The Guadalupe River fishing down river from Rio Raft to Past Mushroom Rock
Water Temp: 58
Air Temp: 45-80
Wind: 10 mph gusting to 30mph
Water Quality: Off color to somewhat clear
Time Fishing: 10:30pm to 6:30pm
Fishing Partners: Jeremy and Blake

Me, Blake and Jeremy started fishing on the Guadalupe at 10:30pm until about 6:30pm... See attached pictures of some nice trout... My third trip this year on the Guadalupe. Another beautiful day on the river... Off color water again so used black and olive/brown wooly buggers with #16 and #18 Hares Ear nymphs and other assorted nymphs as the bottom fly... All three of us fought some 20" plus trout that spit the hooks, with others that broke off... Blake had one big trout on that ran upstream like a rocket, then a fast downstream run making his Ross EVO sing, then it jumped twice and spit the hook... Blake landed to hand 4 trout from 15" to 18"...

I hooked and landed a another nice 19" that jumped about 4 feet straight up in the air, did 3 good runs in fast current, but this time I had on 3X tippet...! Also Landed another nice 18" trout

Me and Blake used sinking line with 8 foot 3X leaders and 1 to 1.5 feet of 3X tippet, #10 Olive/Brown wooly buggers... Olive and black would work... We also used dropper flies using various nymphs and midges in #16 ad #18 below wooly buggers on 5wt rods...

Jeremy landed another nice 18" plus fatty...! He also lost many other trout due to hooks spit. Jeremy was using floating line dropper rigs, buggers and nymphs on 4wt rod 5X tippet...

Two nice fish were caught on dropper fly rigs off the bottom fly, which in both cases were experimental Extended Body Midge flies tied by Chris Johnson...

We saw other people catch nice fish, along with all the people I talked to caught 16" to 23" bow's...!

March 29, 2009 - Bruce Wilks

Location: The Guadalupe River fishing down river from Rio Raft to Mushroom Rock
Water Temp: 58
Air Temp: 73
Wind: 5 mph gusting to 25mph
Water Quality: Off color to somewhat clear
Time Fishing: 10:30pm to 6:00pm
Fishing Partners: Jeremy and Lindy

Me, Lindy and Jeremy started fishing on the Guadalupe at 10:30pm until about 6:00pm... See attached pictures of some nice trout... It was great to be back on the Guadalupe my second trip this year. Beautiful day on the river... Off color water again so used black and olive/brown wooly buggers with #16 and #18 Hares Ear nymphs as the bottom fly... Also used Beaded Red San Juan worms as the bottom fly... I fought a couple of trout but one football shaped 20" plus jumped about 3 feet in the air and broke my 5X tippet, another spit the hook after a couple of good runs that looked like a 19"plus trout... I had lots of missed strikes, but did not land a trout. I did site cast, hook and land a 15" red-horse sucker...

Sometimes trout are good at sending us back to school...!!!

Lindy landed a 18" rainbow, which was her first on a fly rod...! Lindy missed and broke off at least 7 other trout... Jeremy landed a nice 19" fatty... I lost at least 7 fish. Lindy used sinking line with 8 foot leaders and 1 to 1.5 feet of floracarbon tippet, #10 Olive/Brown wooly buggers... Olive and black would work... Jeremy and me were using floating line dropper rigs on 4wt and 5wt rods 5X tippet... I saw other people catch nice fish, along with all the people I talked to caught 15" to 22" bow's...! Blood worms with egg pattern on dropper rig was also working for some people...

March 22, 2009 - Bruce Wilks

Location: The Guadalupe River fishing down river from Rio Raft to Mushroom Rock
Water Temp: 56
Air Temp: 79
Wind: 10 mph gusting to 35mph
Water Quality: Off color to clear
Time Fishing: 12:30pm to 5:30pm
Fishing Partners:Greg, Blake, and Lindy and Bryan

Greg Welander and I started fishing on the Guadalupe at 12:30pm until about 5:30pm… See attached pictures of our nice trout… It was great to be back on the Guad after a year of not fishing it… Beautiful day and the spring break tubers were gone, but they left us with off color water…. I landed a 19” and a 17” rainbow (both measured with a tape and Greg as my witness)… Greg landed a nice 18” fatty… I lost at least 7 fish and Greg about the same, No small fish… Water was off color due to a week of tubing spring breakers…. We used sinking line with 8 foot leaders and 1 to 1.5 feet of floracarbon tippet, #10 dark brown wooly buggers… Olive and black would work… I saw other fish caught and all the people I talked to caught 15” to 22” bow’s…! Red san Juan worms and blood worms with egg pattern on dropper rig was also working for some people… Greg and I watched a young teenage boy hook a nice at least 20” rainbow in about a foot of fast riffle at the first pool just below the weir…

March 2, 2009 - Chris Johnson

Begin and end times: 7:00am-7:00pm
Air temperature, weather conditions: Morning was 29 degrees warming to the mid 60's. Winds were calm in the morning and gusty in the afternoon.
Water temperature, water condition: Water temps ranged from lower to upper 50's depending on location and time of day. Water was clear down river and slightly off color in the upper stretches.
Flies that worked: Nymphs, Midges, and Attractors all in sizes 18-22

I went down to the lower Guadalupe with GRTU rep Mark Dillow and we had a fantastic time on the river! We got on the river at sunrise and had to de-ice our waders and shoes thanks to the below freezing temps. However, the fishing was on fire! We landed 25+ rainbows (and 2 redhorse suckers) and hooked up at least 50 times! It was a very steady day and fish were caught at every location we stopped at! The majority of our fish topped 16in with many topping 18in and two big 20+in fish. Traffic on the river was minimal and in most cases we had the river completely to ourselves! All of the fish were caught on dropper rigs fished as various depths.

January 22, 2009 - Clint Barton

On Thursday, January 22, Brooks Boulding, Kent Conner, Ken Kahanek, and I fished the Guadalupe. Kent caught his first trout on the Guad, a 12" on an olive slump buster, Ken caught two in the 16-18" range, Brooks caught 5, and I caught 8 fish. My problem was 7 of my fish were red horse suckers, but I finally landed a 16" rainbow--all on size 18-22 midges. Around sundown there was a small hatch going on for about 15 minutes and I missed 4 strikes on a dry fly. All in all we had a good day.

December 11, 2008 - Clint Barton

Today my son and I fished on the Guadalupe. It was 33 degrees when we got there, but it warmed up nicely during the day. We started out at a lease site below mushroom rock and finally found fish at the first pool up river from mushroom rock. We caught 6 trout ranging from 14" to 18" and hooked but lost several more. After lunch we moved down river a few miles to another lease site. We found a lot of trout all together in one area and managed to catch 5 more all in the 15-18" range. Once again, we hooked and lost several more. It looks like they are moving around in the river since being released but they still seem to be staying together. We almost never saw individual trout--if we saw one we saw several. One fish was caught on an olive wooly bugger and the others were all caught on John Barr's Slumpbuster pattern. The weather was beautiful and the fishing was great!

March 17, 2008 - Clint Barton

I caught a small largemouth bass, this 1 1/2 pound smallmouth bass, this trout and a smaller trout. The worst part is I lost 7 more before I could get them to the net! A good day on the Guad!



January 28, 2008 - Clint Barton

Brooks Boulding, Bob Brooks, and I fished today on the Guadalupe River. The weather started out cloudy and misty but by the time we hit the water the drizzle stopped and it just stayed cloudy. It warmed up nicely and the weather was ideal for fishing. In all we caught 4 trout, 3 suckers, and 1 bluegill.

January 10, 2008 - Brooks Bouldin

Kent Conner and I fished the Guadalupe River on the TU leases. We had a delightful day and hooked up with 10 or so nice fish from 15 to 17 inches dead drifting # 16 Crackleback nymphs near the bottom and stripping woolly buggers. The river was running at about 185 cfs and was slightly off color. We visited with several other fly fishers we met on the river, and they were having good fishing, as well. Kent let me cast the 3 wt. Sage rod he won at the Christmas Dinner and I can report that now, more than ever, I wish I had won it.

December 5, 2007 - Clint Barton

Brooks and I fished the Guadalupe today. We saw several LARGE trout jumping out of the water and "porpoising" but only managed to catch one nice trout (Brooks) and a small smallmouth bass (my trophy catch). The day was warm and bright and no one was catching much. Actually one good thing about the day being warm--I stepped off into a "hole" and found myself fighting to keep water from flooding in my waders! I did take in enough to get my shirt and pants wet and had my left foot sloshing in my waders. It's never a bad day when your on the water!

February 16, 2007 - Clint Barton

Today my son and I went fishing at Guadalupe Landing on the Guad. The water was cold, but the day was sunny. I caught one rainbow on a prince nymph and my son caught two on an olive beadhead wooly bugger. We both hooked a couple that we practiced long range release on. We only saw a couple more fishermen in the water but we did see them catching fish. Even though my toes were numb from the cold water it was a beautiful day to be on the water.

January 27, 2007 - Randy Johnson

This was the January outing for the club, with Mike Ives, Paul Lampack, Nancy O’meara, Bruce Wilks, Clint Barton, and Randy Johnson participating

We tried everything, nothing worked. Clint and I fished upstream about a mile and then down to the weir below the fourth crossing, and nothing. Clint found out later that the TPWD had two guys in kayaks doing a creel survey on Saturday, and no one they talked to caught even one fish (including four guides and their clients). Guess the fish found out the SGFF was coming, and left town!!! We all had a good time, however. Maybe next time.

Begin and end times 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Air temperature, weather conditions 55-70 Degrees, Partly Cloudy
Water temperature, water conditions 57 Degrees, clear to slightly cloudy
Flies that worked None whatsoever

November 4, 2006 - Bruce Wilks

Trout Season Started On Guadalupe This Weekend...

I caught 24 on Sunday and one of my fly fishing buddies caught 34. All the trout I caught were above 12", with 14 fish that ranged from 13" to 17"! These fish were fat and healthy and all put up a big fight on my 4wt...! The 17" trout had to be landed on the reel...

A good pay access is Rio Raft... The website for Rio Raft is http://www.rioraft.com.

Recommended equipment and flies, a 4 or 5 weight rod is great. I used my new 4wt ADG with floating line. Regular weight forward floating line will work good... Weighted woolly buggers (sizes 6-12) and nymphs (sizes 12-20) with bead heads. You might try using a 12" to 18" inch dropper with the two types of nymphs or nymph under a bugger. I used egg patterns and black zebra midges on dropper rigs under strike indicators. Copper Johns are a good choice as well... If you want to try something that worked good, then tie on some very small white with flash wings at just behind the hook eye on back of the # 18 to # 20 black zebra midge. I got this fly advise from a well known guide who I meet on the river who's client was fishing be side me and catching 3 to 1 of my trout, then I asked them to show me their fly and what I saw was a # 18 Zebra midge with little white/flash wings... I caught 10 of my fish on a single rigged bead head # 10 olive bugger with a small split shot about 18" from the fly. You need to get the fly down on the bottom, and if possible, in the ruts and deeper pools in the river bottom. Water temperature was about 55-58 degrees, so waders are a requirement. They don't need to be heavy insulated ones, breathable waders are good, but wear some thermal under wear and felt bottom wading boots are a must.

All in all it was a great day on the Guadalupe river...

Please practice "Catch and Release" so we all have a chance to catch these rainbows.