Fly Fishing Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake
Posted by Mary Sallman on Mon, Nov 21, 2011
Fly Fishing Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake
Did you know that fly fishing below the Canyon Lake Dam on the Guadalupe River is one of the best places to fly fish in the US?
Listed in America's 100 Best Trout Streams, the Guadalupe River in Texas is the southernmost Trout fishery in the United States. It is a tailwater fishery, emerging from the bottom of Canyon Lake, sheltering a very cold water layer due to the lake’s depth which gives Rainbow and Brown Trout a chance to live through the harsh Texas summers.
In fact, the Guadalupe River is the feature story in the Nov/Dec issue of Southwest Fly Fishing in the article by Lefty Ray Chapa, Trout between the Tubes.
Want to learn more about Fly Fishing below the Canyon Dam?
There is a wealth of websites, maps, tour guides and outfitters to help you get started and make your fly fishing expedition a great experience.
Who stocks the Guadalupe River and when?
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department stocks rainbow trout in more than 100 locations across Texas each winter from December through early March. For the section of the Guadalupe River below the Canyon Dam, a total of 18,351 trout will be released at the Canyon Tailrace location from early December of 2011 through January 2012.
Specific dates are: December 4, 11, 17, 23 and January 7, 14, 21 and 28. The dates are subject to change, so the TPWD recommends that you contact the hatchery to confirm release dates. For the Canyon Tailrace location, call the A.E. Wood Fish Hatchery at 512/353-0572 for last minute updates. Hatchery-reared trout are usually 9 to 12 inches long and most are caught within a few weeks after being stocked. In spring and summer, most Texas waters are too warm to provide suitable habitat for rainbow trout.
New to Fly Fishing?
If you are new to fly fishing, checkout the whitepaper published by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department written by Marcos J. De Jesus entitled, Winter Trout Stocking Program Angling Tips. (Click here for the complete document.) The whitepaper contains a wealth of information ranging from describing common tackle, baits and lures used to graphically showing simple knot tying techniques. From the whitepaper,
Tips when Trout Fishing Stocked Waters
- Arrive early to stock sites on stocking days.
- Maintain a safe and courteous distance from fellow anglers.
- Have an array of baits or lures available.
- When harvesting trout, have ice available to keep catch fresh.
GRTU, Guadalupe River Chapter of Trout Unlimited, also stocks trout in the Guadalupe River. Trout Unlimited is a non-profit, conservation organization whose mission is to conserve, protect, and restore North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds for the benefit of future generations. They will stock the Guadalupe River with two classes of trout, some 14 to 16” and some over 18”. It will increase the number of trout, and the number of catch and release trout in the trophy zone area, which they hope will keep the catchable numbers higher throughout the season. Information about GRTU, can be found easily through the GuadalupeFly.com Snapshot page, http://www.guadalupefly.com/snapshot.html.
For information about free tools, maps, links to guides and more . . .
