Filtering by Tag: Bass on the fly
Guides Day Off 7-11-19
May 3, 2019 Rainy Day Fishing
Central Texas Fly Fishing Report 4-29-19
Colorado River Fishing Report 3-22-19
Colorado river 3-15-19
looking Good For 2019
2019 is off to a good start. Trout fishing on the Guadalupe River has been great. Although higher flows have made wade fishing pretty tough , float fishing has been good, and the trout really do much better with more water in the river. An additional benefit of the higher flows is a longer season. Trout fishing on the Guadalupe should be good well into the spring this year.
Bass fishing is usually slow this time of year but we have still been having some luck on the warmer days. Good flows on the San Marcos and Llano Rivers should give us some great bass fishing once things warm up a bit. The Colorado River has been high all winter, but with dropping lake levels the flows should return to normal in the coming weeks. Most of the largest Guadalupe and Largemouth bass are caught during the late winter and early spring on the Colorado River.
Higher winter flows on our local rivers mean good runs of white bass in the late winter and early spring. The Llano, Pedernales, San Gabriel, and the upper Colorado should all be good this year. White bass runs on the lower Colorado have been getting more consistent as well.
Llano River after the flood
Fall is it the Best Time of the Year?
With falling air and water temperatures, everything seems to dial down in the Fall... except for the fishing! Water levels and water clarity are great right now on the Colorado and San Marcos Rivers. Most of our warm water fish tend to sense the coming winter and begin to feed aggressively as the water temperatures drop. What and how the bass are eating has changed along with the weather and it's a lot of fun to see how different Fall fishing can be than other times of the year.
Fall is also the prime time to fly fish for redfish on the Texas coast. The progressively temperate conditions of Fall are especially beneficial for coast fishing. Decreased winds speeds and cooler water temperatures set up great opportunities to sight cast to tailing fish in shallow water. We are lucky enough to have good fly fishing on the Texas coast all year, but the next couple of months are undoubtedly the best time of the year to target redfish on the fly.
So, is Fall the best time of year to fish in Texas? The short answer would be yes! We are lucky to have fishing opportunities year round, but fall is certainly one of the better times to get out on our local waters.
The ‘not so’ dog days of summer?
Usually about this time of year we are starting to talk about Fall being right around the corner. Don’t get me wrong, Fall is my absolute favorite time of year to fish but let’s talk about the right now a bit.
So far, the fishing on the Lower Colorado has been absolutely amazing this summer-well relatively absolutely amazing I suppose. Many years ago, way before All Water Guides, summer time wasn’t so bad. Sure it was hot as hell, but the fishing kept us engaged with numbers that almost don’t seem real anymore. Then, the drought set in, and it got bad. Then, bad got worse. The drought ‘ended’ and we rumbled amongst ourselves about when will it come back around…it has to come back around…right? And slowly it did. We’ve seen the ‘old river’ through changing windows. Windows that were inconsistent, confusing and frustrating to us as guides. Privately, I wondered “what if it never recovers?”
We have had some great fishing over the last few years since the drought. But, the last piece of the puzzle has been the summer time fishing. It just hasn’t been there for us. I think we’re seeing that come to an end and we’re seeing the river coming into its own again. As a paramedic, there is a time after a patient experiences cardiac arrest when we have regained pulses where we just have to sit and watch. It’s the longest few minutes I can barely explain, and then only to those who have experienced it too. You sit and watch with your hands in your pockets to see if they can hold their own without intervention. When they do, the tone changes dramatically. I kind of feel that the summer time fishing has been those few minutes we’ve needed to see if the river can hold its own. And in these last few weeks we’ve seen a river busting with life, cool clear water and some great fishing.
As I sit and type this, we are coming off some really great time spent on the water. Some weather moved in yesterday that gave the watershed a good flushing and as always there will be a recovery time, but I’m excited and optimistic about what August and September have in store for us. The name of the game will be as it has been: start early and fish hard until the heat has sucked the life out of you.
I know football is less than a month away but from a fishing stand point I’m looking forward to seeing how this summer pans out.
See you on the water.
Winston
Trout or Bass? We Got That
January in Texas is not like most places. One day can be in the 30s and the next day can be in the 80s. The good thing for us fishermen is that we have good fishing opportunities no matter what the weather does.
Trout are stocked on the Guadalupe River through January and February. With the current good flows the trout season should continue well into March. Cold and cloudy or rainy days also offer a chance at some of the Guadalupe River Striped Bass. The current state fly rod record Striped Bass was caught in the Guadalupe River by John Erskine one of our guides.
Winter and early spring are one of the best times to catch some large bass on the Colorado River. Both largemouth and Guadalupe bass will be putting on weight in anticipation of the spawn. The current world record Guadalupe bass was caught on the fly in February of 2014 in the Colorado River. Largemouth bass over 5 pounds are a real possibility this time of year as well.
Fall is Here!
Fall has finally arrived in Central Texas. With the cooler weather come some of the best fishing of the year. Due to a very rainy year, most of our rivers are in better shape than they have been in along time.
Bass fishing has slowed down on most our local streams. The Colorado River is the exception. We are still picking up some nice bass by fishing deep and slow. The Colorado River fishes well all winter, the key is to fish during a warm period. Two or three warm days in a row is all it takes to get the bass in a feeding mood. The numbers of fish caught this time of year will not be as great as the warmer months, but the chance of catching some really large fish is better during this time of year. The current state record Guadalupe Bass was caught in February of 2014 by one of our clients.
Trout fishing in the Guadalupe River is best from now through March. Unlike the bass on the Colorado, the trout fishing can be good even on the coldest days. Texas Parks and Wildlife and Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited will be stocking the river through February. Cold water flowing from the bottom of Canyon Lake dam creates the southernmost trout fishery in the United States. Like most other tailwater fisheries, strike indicator nymphing is the most productive way to fish the Guadalupe River. Most of the fish in the Guadalupe will be between 12 to 14 inch range. Fish over 20 inches and larger are caught every year. Bundle up and get out on the water!
It’s beginning to not feel like Christmas — and we’re okay with it!
December rang in with a flurry of freezing cold weather, which should have shut down our bass fishing. But in spite of the recent cold weather, the Colorado River fishing is still going strong.
The last few days have been some of the best this fall with clients catching good numbers of quality bass—including white bass over 2 pounds, Guadalupe bass up to 3 pounds and largemouth bass to 5 pounds! The craziest catch of the week was by angler Tyler Reisig who caught a huge (40lb.) Smallmouth Buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus) that pulled the sledsled around for about 20 minutes.
The water clarity is perfect at about 3-feet and will only get clearer throughrout the winter. Even though the temps have been colder than normal, recent warm weather has the fish turned on to chasing small minnows. Sub-surface patterns like Clouser Minnows and crawfish patterns are the most productive right now. The weather looks good for the rest of this week until the next cold front hits just before Christmas.
If you are thinking about fishing the Colorado River now is the time. And don’t forget, All Water Guide’s gift certificates make the perfect stocking stuffer!
