My dad and i are going to head to rochelle's saturday and are only going to be there for the day, is the 10mile day trip they offer worth the paddle time or would we be better off paying to launch and paddling up stream?

Right now they are releasing a lot of water so it's probably very high. As of this morning it was about 5000 cfs. Normal is about 120cfs. I've done the 10 mile paddle about 9-12 times and it's a nice stretch but it gets crowded on weekends so it's hard to fish some places with all the noise.

I don't know if they have a 10 mile paddle upstream from there. I know they have a 19m paddle from the dam to their place. They shuttle you upstream and you paddle back to your vehicle.

I've never done the stretch upstream from Rochelles but I've heard there are some small rapids nearby so I don't know how easy it'll be to paddle upstream.

I have only gone from hwy 16 down 2 miles and back up to 16. It was easy, Ricardo is right about weekend traffic though. Unless I am only paddling for fun, I will never try to fish on a weekend again out there.

Here is a link to the river gauge in that area:
Brazos River Gauge

Looks like it's slowing down. It was about 6 feet above normal.

I've been there when it's 2 feet above normal and we could do 7mph without paddling. That was after waiting for it to drop 3 feet. Someone forgot to close the gate on a Saturday morning.

Some weekends you'll find a couple of groups of up to 20 canoes. I know, I am in one.

I agree with RACKnFIN. I probably won't ever fish on the weekends during the summer months. Weekend fishing at the 16 can be very frustrating with all the canoe/kayak traffic. Plus you have jet boats running up and down the river causing wakes that toss you around pretty good. Its to much of a headache. Good luck and try to have fun.

My husband and I did the 20 mile float last Friday, Saturday and Sunday and had a blast. We caught a bunch of fish and stayed ahead of the crowds until they caught up with us on Sunday morning. I'm sure glad they didn't open the gates while we were there though! We camped a little close to the water the last night!
If you are going upstream from Rochelle's the worst of the rapids are the ones right there at the bridge. You get past those and your good for about 1.5 miles before you hit any more, and they aren't much more than riffles.
If you ever decide to do the 20 mile...spend two nights so you have time to fish. It's a beautiful float. We even saw a couple of Osprey.
Have fun...enjoy!