First Trip to the Brazos below Whitney

Ok so planning on making my first trip to the Brazos below Whitney and had a couple questions.

-Should I definitely rent a canoe and float it or can you wade it and be successful?
-if I don't rent a canoe, is the dam the only access?
-What do you guys like to throw down there? I'm probably gonna be primarily pursuing black bass. I've seen a few videos online and looks like a lot of woollies and closers. Does anyone ever throw bigger streamers?
-I fished the Brazos below PK a few weeks back and saw quite a few carp. Does this stretch also have a decent population of carp or no?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks,
Dain

They release water just about every afternoon and it's not advised to wade. You could possibly paddle back up against the current but when they release normally it's tough and you won't be able to do it over a long distance. Typical bass flys work and there are Striper too.

Oh ok didn't realize that they were releasing water, that kind of changes things. I'm thinking we would rent a canoe from dick's and have them shuttle us so we wouldn't have to paddle back upstream. Is there a generation schedule or a number I can call the night before to get an idea of when they're planning on running water? How much water do they typically run and what time does it usually start? Is it still fish able when they're generating?

Has the new no wading been changed to not advised to Wade? I'll be over there waiding tomorrow when they let that water out there going to get somebody killed who's not a strong pattler that wants to fish it bad enough you could very easily waded and fish and swim to shore if he had problems but then they make him get in a kayak hes not good in he's going to get caught up in drowned then they kill somebody. I sure hope they are letting us wade again

I drove down to the launch point below the dam last weekend and the signs say no wading. You can launch a boat though. I wouldn't wade at the dam now with the way they do the sudden releases. Good way to die.

The water they let out is for electric generation, and seems to start about mid-day or so when the heat is on and the AC units turn on high. If there's a phone number I've never found it, the COE is closed-mouthed about release schedules. Don't know why but if you can get anything out of them please let all of us know.

The river gauge next to Dick's Canoes gives you a lot of pertinent information about flow rates and timing. Go here: http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=FWD&gage=AQLT2

With the current release pattern you could start a canoe at the dam at daylight and fish all the way down to Dicks before the river started coming up, as long as you keep a fairly steady pace.

When it's flowing it's fast. You could fish from a canoe but it will be difficult at best and possibly dangerous if you get too focused on the fishing part. Not sure how much you can catch zipping along like that but it would be a nice canoe trip anyway. About 6 hours from the dam to Dicks with a good flow rate.

There are other access points besides the dam. TPWD has leased three areas that you can access, to find out about them go here: http://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/rivers/lease_access/

The further south you go the longer you'll have to wade before the river comes up. At Dick's the river isn't getting too high to wade until late in the afternoon and you can start wading at daylight.

Go on down to the other access points and you'll have a different schedule, maybe have to start late in the morning and can wade until dark, not sure but it's likely to be like that down there.

Best flys are woolyboogers, hellgramite imitations, and crawdad imitiations. Terrestrials can be pretty decent early and late in the day. Larger flys catch larger bass but fewer of them so it's a trade-off.

There are carp, usually in the deeper holes where you can't see them, and they are awfully hard to get to take a fly when you can see them. Then only way I've caught them is to spot a mud trail in the water, assume it's a carp actively rooting up the bottom, and to case upstream and let the streamer sink down to where the carp is feeding. Once in a blue moon that works. Mostly though you just won't see them. At least not in the area I fish.

I'll confirm that it's not a current that you'd want to try to paddle against. Best bet is to get Dick's to shuttle.

Robert's right, I've been down there when the horn went off and the wall of water is eventually going to kill somebody if they don't start releasing a schedule. No idea why they refuse.

That wall of water is weak and the fishing is only good when they start generating. I am more concerned with the fact that they're going to let some yahoo launch a kayak who has fished it multiple times before when they are generating and has done fine but has no Business whatsoever in a kayak they're going to get turned over and drowned when at normal generation levels if something bad happened they would've simply swam to shore. I don't want anything to do with that tailwater unless they are generating power that is when the fishing is at its best. Ask Ben and j-moe! And we wadded it very successfuly and safely we also caught the [censored] out of the fish. All of the Ozarks streams try to post a generation schedule including broken bow but even those are very unpredictable and unreliable so I do not have a problem with them not giving a schedule I have a problem with them eliminating wading. I have no problem launching the crappy kayak I have there to fish because I will be fishing there with the recent releases but I can assure the core I feel much safer outside of that kayak than in it It is an absolute liability that I don't really think they understand they will probably pay for at some point. Just another instance of them trying to take away public access from us in my eyes. I will Justin for my family when I'm going there to make sure they sue because if I drowned in a kayak I sure would not have if I would've been swimming. At the highest level I've ever seen when they are generating power I could swim my rods and all my gear out of there and be perfectly fine And safe. Idk really mad on this one guess I'll risk my life in the yak smh.

Thanks for the information everyone. Glad I checked here before driving down. Think I might stay home this weekend. Too many unknowns with the generation schedule to justify a 4 hour drive and I'm not that experienced of a paddler anyway.

If you rent a canoe/kayak from Dicks and get launched early in the morning you will have a great float down river back to Dicks. You'll encounter some excellent fishing along the way and the scenery is outstanding. At any of the access points TPWD has arranged for you would have great fishing as well. When you're down river the water rises much more slowly than at the dam. I've been in the river hundreds of times when the water started coming up and always had tons of time to get out, typically an hour at least.

Stay away if you want, but you'll be missing out on one of the greatest fly fishing places in the whole state.

Just my two cents.

Robert is a striper/hybrid hunter. Generation is good for those fish. Canoeing or yakking downstream for black bass and sunnies is different. You can get ahead of the Generation and stay there all day down to Dick's.

Both of the guys above know what they are talking about. If you want stripers and white bass, stay home. If you want black bass and sunfish (with maybe a carp or cat thrown in), come on down.

Or just sit tight and come to Colorado with me

Yea golfer Jeff is right just don't sleep in they generate about the same time every day so just don't over sleep. Once away from the dam the rise slowes way down and like stated you have plenty of time to get down and there are some big bass in there!

Ok you guys talked me into. Didn't hurt that the backup plan was an hour further drive and 80% chance of rain. Looks like the other accesses are far enough downstream that we should be able to get quite a bit of fishing in before the water would hit us. Only question is, Nature Center South or Nature Center North access?

So the trip ended up being kind of a bust. Got up at 4 and was on the road by 4:30. Planned on hitting up the Nature Center South access per the TPWD website. Got there and the directions took me to somebody's private property. Needless to say the landowner wasn't happy and tried to block us in with his golfcart as we were turning around to leave. Had to scramble to come up with a plan B. Decided to head to Dick's canoe rental. Was able to fish there but it was 10 o'clock by this time now and it was pretty clear we weren't the first people to fish this spot today as there were two kayaks upstream of us that had been hitting the shoreline we were fishing pretty hard. Only managed one largemouth that went about a pound. All in all not my best trip but definitely better than working.

Man sorry to hear that yeah I don't know why it takes you to that property I know exactly which one you're talking about. At least it wasn't a skunk and like you say beats work. Sounds like it was an adventure at that

I've been trying to pin down the time it takes for the water to travel from the dam once released to Dick's and I finally had a chance to check yesterday. At 10am the horn sounded and they began releasing water at the dam. That evening I checked the chart for Dick's gage (http://water.weather.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=FWD&gage=AQLT2) and the lowest point was 1pm with the rise beginning at 1:15pm. So, according to that its about 3-3.25 hrs for the water to show up at the gage.

Maybe this will help others plan when the weather is consistent.

I'd say the best approach to the Brazos below Lake Whitney now is to make the commitment to float the 8 miles down from the dam to Dick's Outpost. That way whatever the release or level you can fish the river accordingly going down stream. If it is low then wade fish, but keep the boat close by and ready for that rush of water when generation begins. The further downstream you are the less quickly the rise occurs and it can go unnoticed if you are in one of the wide sections of the river. I've done the float a few times over the years and we really hit the river hard at first but by the time we are halfway down we start paddling more and fishing less.. usually we take about 6 to 8 hours to do the 8 miles float/fish/paddle. I have yet to float down to Dick's under high water but have paddled back up against that rising current.. not fun but with the right yak and a strong paddler it is do-able..

It is doable to paddle back, but is definitely a beating. Saw a dad having to tow his two young kids back up, that looked absolutely miserable against the release. Unless you just fish right there at the dam, definitely plan on doing the 8 miles and taking out at Dick's.