GUADALUPES ON THE NUECES – March/April 2022

IF YOU ARE A FLY FISHER, as I am, the Nueces River north of Uvalde looks so much like one of the freestone rivers of Colorado, Montana, or Idaho.

The Nueces will make you expect to see brown and rainbow trout in the bend pools. You can count the rocks on the bottom in 10 feet of water, and the pecan trees and sycamores can bear a resemblance to the cottonwoods and aspens along the Lake Fork of the Gunnison.

Instead of trout, however, perch and bass are numerous. Some of the bass are largemouths, but the best are the many pure strain Guadalupe bass.

The Guadalupes are not native to the Nueces, but they are right at home there and are fantastic quarry for the fly fisher. They will readily take a fly and sometimes are suckers for a small streamer. What more do you need?

My friend Kathy Bader, my daughter Lindy Orozco, and I were there with our fly rods looking for Guadalupes in some of my favorite spots.

We began at the big hole just downstream from the 19 Mile Bridge.

This is good water but gets a lot of fishing pressure from bait and spin fishers, so the fish can be skittish, especially under the bright skies we had that day. After an hour, we had taken a few perch and one or two small Guadalupes. It was time to move on.

The Nueces is considered a navigable river, so as long as you stay in the river, you can walk, raft, or canoe as far as you want. Until recently, you could four-wheel in the river bed, but the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has outlawed that.

As we worked farther north up the river the fishing improved, probably more from the light getting off the water than anything else. Finally, at one of my favorite pools we started to catch Guadalupe bass.

One small pool at the tail of a riffle was full of Guadalupes up to about a foot long. Lindy found them and made the most of the situation with a small white Clouser minnow.

By the time the little bass figured out that the Clouser really wasn’t edible, Lindy had landed a half-dozen. Sadly, Kathy and I were not having such luck, but that is fishing.

The Upper Nueces, from about 15 miles north of Uvalde to north of Campwood is great water. There are numerous crossings of the county roads that give access to the river and above most of these crossings are good pools.

Guadalupe bass are different from largemouth bass in that they prefer moving water. Sometimes, because of this propensity, they are called Texas brook trout.

Generally, you will catch fish from six inches to about a foot long, but there are bigger fish in the water. The largest Guadalupe I ever caught would not have missed two pounds by much.For general fly fishing a five- or six-weight nine-foot rod is just right. On calm days a three- or four-weight will give you great sport.

 

 

If you are lucky you may even stumble onto one of the rare mayfly hatches and get some great dry fly fishing. In summer a grasshopper can bring smashing strikes. 

So, if you are looking for some great fly fishing and don’t feel like driving to Colorado, give the Nueces a look. You may be pleasantly surprised.

 

—story by STEVE LaMASCUS

 

< PREV Return to CONTENTS Page NEXT >