So I'm planning an overnight trip in November on the Lower Colorado between Austin and Bastrop and was wondering what flies you guys would have to have in your boxes. I'll be fishing a 6wt with my 8wt as a backup. Any other tips?

A bunch of Clousers and then some poppers.

White poppers were killing it last time I was out there. I would add in a couple of baitfish patterns like the craft fur bait fish if you want to throw something big or a brunch / lunch money for something smaller. I have caught a couple of Guads with hellgrammites in their mouths, so having a dark wooly bugger or stone fly pattern can't hurt.

With that said, location matters more than what fly pattern you're throwing, so find the deep pockets and structure close to the banks.

Just curious. If you make that run, what is it something like 30 river miles or more? Where does one stop for the "overnight" part of the trip? Check out https://allwaterguides.com/ -- and Alvin Dedeaux. He scores some great bass somewhere along that route. I think he runs a Hog Island there, and I hear he is going coastal with a poling skiff instead of the months in Colorado (heard second hand but reliable).

We're doing the Wilbarger Paddling Trail, which goes from the FM 969 bridge down to Fisherman's Park in Bastrop. It is a 14.3 mile float, with a large island called Boy Scout Island at about mile 8. Last time we did it the water was crazy high so I'm a little worried that 8 miles in one day is a lot, but we'll be getting on the water before dawn so we should be fine. The island is large, with a big rocky/sandy flat beach and an upper area with trees (we'll be hammock camping).

Thanks for the advice on location being most important, I think that's something I forget and am always convinced when I am not catching that it's the fly's fault.

I drove by Fisherman's Park in Bastrop about 10 days ago. It was up and muddy in that area. I didn't bother launching the yak. It just doesn't seem the same as it was in 2014, prior to the 2 floods. We caught a couple hundred bass between the group of us on that day.

Stealth bombers, silver flash clousers, crawfish patterns all produced fish on the fly.

Hope you catch some fish. Look forward to the report.

Last time I made this trip it was about 3 weeks out from the Halloween floods of 2015. It was disastrous, debris everywhere, dead cows in the river and on the island we camped on, water was incredibly high still and chocolate milky. Anything we get this trip should be better than that! As long as we don't get serious rain between now and then at least.

Once I got past focusing on WHAT fly and started thinking more about where and what the fly was doing my success and enjoyment increased dramatically.