Upper Guadalupe Trip Report

Saturday morning I woke up early and drove west to the upper Guadalupe to do some exploring. I went past Hunt on Hwy 39 up the Southfork of the river. I didn't have a particular crossing picked out. I just drove and drove till I came upon one that looked good. I brought my new float tube that I am really enjoying. I stopped at Millers 1st Crossing, there was a fare amount of no parking signs, so I parked past them and walked. The river also had a fence going across it with posted signs on both sides. I firmly believe they can't legally keep you out of a navigable water when entered entirely on the bridge easement. Anyway, I felt well within my rights as a Texas citizen. I went downstream into a section that is damned. The water at the top of the lake was crystal clear and FULL of fish. It's really good to know that so close to the headwater springs that a healthy population of fish made it through the drought.

I started with my 5 wt. and had pretty much constant action from large Redear and Bluegill. There were no other species of sunfish, but there avg size was much larger than I'm used to. Most went over 7", many even going over 10". Almost every single fish I caught was sightcasted and the hook set from visually seeing the take. It was a blast. I couldn't get any bass to take the largest flies that I could throw with the 5wt, so I went back the truck and got my 8wt. Threw some larger flies and was finally able to land some bass. Again all were sightcasted.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/nOIUioK.jpg?1[/img]



Ended the day with 4 bass all around 15" and to many bluegill and redear to count.

Sounds like a great trip, congrats!!!!

Thanks for the report and pic

Next Weekend

After last weekends trip I had the itch to get back out there ASAP. Woke up early Sunday morning to thunderstorms. Decided to reverse my planned day and go in the afternoon. This time I went up the North Fork. Made it to a crossing around 4:00PM with a summer camp upsteam. Put my float tube in and went downstream.

Tied up some Gulley Worm Flies this week for the first time and had success. I caught quite a few mostly small sunfish on small popper with a prince nymph dropper, and around 10 bass, one of which was a good one. All the bass came on the Gulley Worm.

Nice trip. Man that looks like fun. Thanks for taking us along.

Kirk

Nice post. Thanks for sharing.