Guadalupe Report

The beginning of the trout season on the Guadalupe has included a number of very nice days on the river. Most of the trout we are catching are podded up and there have been quite a few double hookups on the boat! Average fish size is about 17 inches and they are all strong fighters. The rains this past Friday stained the river for about a day but also brought a nice amount of new water into Canyon Lake. Fishing on Sunday was very good, with clear water conditions. There were not that many bugs on the water on Sunday and the fish did not get that active until the sun came out in the late morning. Once the sun was out the fishing stayed good throughout the day.

In the past few days on the river I have seen very good hatches of tricos, a handful of hexagenia and lots of midges. In the evenings we have seen nice hatches of caddis and even some ginger quills.

Fly Patterns that have been working well include hares’ ear nymphs, pheasant tail nymphs, prince nymphs, zebra midges, various egg patterns and San Juan Worms. I have had three trips this past week where a tan egg as an attractor and either a #18 prince nymph or pheasant tail without a bead were the rigs of choice throughout the day. On the overcast days, a bubble-back PMD emerger was very effective as well.

Warm Water Report

We are having cool fronts coming through the Hill Country about once a week and that has affected our warm water fishing. This past weekend the San Marcos received a large amount of water which stained the river and put the fish down. The Llano has also had some increase in flows in the lower sections of the river. Last week on the Llano near Junction water temperatures were in the lower to mid sixty degrees, which is still good but getting into the lower range for steady fishing. The bass are still active but the sunfish and Rio Grande Cichlids are starting to slow. At this point in the year it is good to keep an eye on the weather and pick and choose your warm water fishing days. Most of the better fishing is in the late afternoons and evenings. I have received good fishing reports on the Colorado and will be getting out later this week to confirm those reports.

Fly Patterns for this time of year are almost all streamer patterns, with the most productive patterns on the Llano being olive or black and on the Colorado white and chartreuse have been the colors of choice. We have had some nice action on poppers on the Llano in the evenings, with chartreuse or red poppers being the most effective color choices.