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In forum: Lease Members
The New Braunfels Fly Fishers annual holdover Tournament will be held on November 4.
This is NBFF’s one fundraiser of the year and helps support not only the club’s guest speaker budget, but also provides the money necessary for NBFF to provide each participant of the GRTU Youth Camp with a gift bag that includes items such as a fly box, hemostats, nippers, flies, and other accessories necessary to help them get started in fly fishing.
NBFF members spearhead the effort each summer for the GRTU trout feeding program, which has resulted in a marked increase in the numbers as well as the improved health of the rainbow trout that GRTU stocks each season.
Data collected from the tourney is shared with GRTU to help them better determine the overall viability of trout in the Guadalupe River tailrace.
Learn more by visiting:
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Fish Schooling
GRTU trout feeding program. It was fish pellets you saw floating down stream. Twice a week, at about 8am, since last spring.
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Feeling lonely?
Ladies and Gentlemen
A Little Refresher Course
When I was drafted to be V.P. of Fisheries many years ago we had been stocking very large Trout in the river for several years. Then V.P. of Fisheries, Bill Higdon, had spoken with then river biologist Steve Magnelia and he had come away with the idea that Trout larger than 18″, would better survive when marginal conditions hit the Guadalupe in the summer. He had asked Steve Magnelia, if these larger Trout we had been stocking had higher rates of survival in higher water temperatures than smaller Trout. Steve answered that adult Trout did have higher survival rates when conditions got tough. Bill throught this was an affirmation of all the Trout, well over 18″, he had been stocking. Unfortuately Steve was talking about adult trout, and Trout become adults/sexually mature when they are 12″.
The membership was commenting that, yes they were catching giant Trout, but numbers caught during a day’s fishing were not what they had been. Then add to it the huge surge in fishermen fishing the Guadalupe River because of the very large Trout there and many harvesting these large Trout, things were not optimal. Previously we had been stocking generally Trout that were 10-14″ with a few trophies. Our strategy had swung too hard to the other end of the spectrum.
So new to V.P. of Fisheries I talked to Steve myself. That’s when I found out what the river biologist meant by “Large” trout (being 12″). I decided we needed to adjust out stocking strategy. I had some ideas and presented them to the board. The Board decided they sounded good, but we needed to find out what our membership wanted, because they were the ones paying for it with their LAP membership fees.
So we decided to send out a survey and give LAP membership a chance to pick between some alternative strategies. We explained that because they were going to pick the size of Trout we stocked they would also be picking the numbers of Trout we stocked since we buy them by the pound. The overwhelming responce called for 75% 14-18″ and 25% > 18″. Back then we were only stocking Rainbows from Crystal Lake Fisheries. We asked CLF if they could grow their Trout to meet our needs and they said yes.
Most years they have met our needs and stocking startegy. This past year they had their own problems raising Trout. They had problems with getting the feed they needed to grow their Trout out. You can thank COVID for creating this(another) problem in the supply chain. They also had a problem one year when a flood at the hatchery washed most of our 14-18″ fish down river, but that was a rare event.
During my tenure we saw expenses rise every year. So did the demand for LAP memberships. When I started the demand for membership in the 550-650 range. Every year we saw a rise in demand till it soared above 800 and decided we needed to cap membership because of limited access and easily meeting the expenses for Trout and Leases. We also saw the change in the regulations. We long wanted to protect the upper river from harvest. The new regulation: from 800 yards below the dam, to the crossing at 306/Whitewater, daily harvest of 5 Trout, BUT ALL Trout 12-18″ must be returned to the water, only 1 Trout(of the 5) could exceed 18″, all others had to be below 12″, and they must be caught using artificial flys or lures.
The last couple of years the Board has heard the request for more LAP memberships, so we added to those numbers, but still demand far out stripped the available memberships. I don’t think we will again ever be able to satisfy all the demand for all LAP memberships desired.
So here we are today. Doing our best to meet the demands of LAP membership and still providing a healthy fishery. I think Dan Cone, our new V.P. of Fisheries and the Fisheries Committee, has been doing the very best thing possible during these COVID years. One of the best things we has done (under the radar of most LAP members) is the suplemental feeding through the late spring to early fall. And without a doubt holdover has been better these last 2 seasons because of those feedings. We also have seen the constraints in the supply chain that finally resulted in not having the normal availability of almost any size or number of Trout we wanted this year. The hatcheries which grow this year’s Trout last year, have not been able to produce all those Trout for this season’s stocking. This is a national wide shortage.
As supply chains are restored I think you will a return to the availbility of almost any size or number of Trout we desire. The Board has also been talking about another survey of LAP members sometime this spring. The question about the sizes we want to stock can be addressed again, as will be other concerns. I think we all want some large Trout swimming around in the river that provide the thrill when hooking and landing these monsters. The question remains how many we want to stock? And of course we want to let the hatcheries know what sizes we want well ahead of time so they will be ready next season.
The GRTU Board, the V.P. of Fisheries, and the Fisheries Committee, will continue to do the very best we can to establish the best Trout Fishery we can and satisfy the desires of the LAP Membership. It is not easy. It takes 1000s of man hours to make it happen and still some years things are just out of our hands. But we will continue to try and improve the fishery. Eventually we will get back to river enhancement projects which should provide long term results, push for more restrictive regulations, and continue to promote catch and release of these sportsfish.
Jimbo
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Results
And coffee beans, although not durable, look a lot like trout chow.
Alex, JC, Trey — really great review and reminders of tactics and technics to use on any trout stream!
I think that the quick change in trout activity on the Guad ,both on and off, is greater than other tail water fisheries , based on my experiences. So could it be due to two things that are unique to the Guad; (1) extreme pressure,even greater than the infamous Frying Pan, and (2) hatchery fish that do not carryover to acquire feeding behavior more typical of native/ wild or resident trout ? Maybe they do feed in short bursts just as trained at the Crystal Lake hatchery , just asking?
In forum: Lease MembersTopic: Tres Emergers On the Guad ?
I’ve watched a lot of trout feeding on emergers below the surface on the Guad and on Crabapple Creek. In the Fall 2021 issue of “TROUT”, Dave Whitlock describes his favorite way to catch big trout – a triple caddis emerger rig which he describes in more detail at http://davewhitlock.com//www/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/FFMS-150028-WHITLOCK.pdf I’d be interested to know how this approach might work on the Guad after the fish acclimate from the hatchery diet to what lives in the Guad.
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: What’s going on with GRTU?
No matter what we do, we are pretty much maxed out considering the number of leases and number of parking spots they make available right now. We need more access spots and parking spots before we increase the maximum number memberships available. We have gone from about 550 memberships just 6 or 7 years ago to almost 900 all toll, and we’ve lost a few sites. We’ve heard from many members saying there are already too many memberships sold. It’s between a rock and a hard place no matter what we do.
So until things change,… my recommendations,… be like Jimbo. Get up at the crack of dawn on Oct 1 and sign up in the first minute it’s open. I’ve had no special treatment all these years of signing up and I’ve been a continuous member since the 80’s.
I wish we could just solve all these problems by leasing every site we’ve ever had, but some have been sold private, or bridges were burned because of violations. This is not as easy as just calling every outfitter and getting them to sign on, many don’t want any part of anything which is not pay per day at their office. V.P. of Fisheries is “NOT” an easy job. Dan Cone is carrying on in a fine tradition, doing a great job, and we are Lucky to have him! He’s even added to aspects like Trout feeding during late spring through fall. Soon we will have a better Brown Trout (genetics) and in stream river restoration.
Jimbo
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: I’ve Been Humbled
Ouch. It’s been a hard fish. And that hurts to get skunked when paying a guide.
I fished last Thursday 4th and Friday 5th and had to work for every single fish. I tried just about every one of my go to flies and ended up with 12 in the net including a palomino on Thursday, and 5 in the net before I had to leave for home at 10am on Friday. The fly of choice was an olive fdybrdjug. I saw lots of trout sitting in slow water not feeding.
Moon phases can have an impact, and the fish are also getting smarter. They’ve been seeing the same old eggs, worms, zebra midges, and typical flies that worked when they would eat anything earlier in the season.
In forum: For SaleIn reply to: MORE Locally Hand Tied Euro Flies
New box of Euro Flies up for grabs. Sorry for slow or a no response to everybody that messaged me before, I received multiple orders and have been trying to keep up.
This box is very similar to the first box. These particular flies have proven themselves over and over this year for myself.
Perfect for tight line nymphing, Czech nymphing, euro nymphing, ECT. All flies tied with 2.8mm and 3.3mm tungsten beads on size 14 and 16 Firehole Sticks 551 hooks (mop flies have 4mm beads). Each fly has extra lead added to get them down faster into the trout feeding zone. All thread at bead heads are secured with uv resin or head cement.
6 tungsten surveyors, 6 Rainbow warriors, 6 custom frenchies with pink uv ice dub and red thread hot spot, 6 thread frenchies, 6 sexy walts, 4 mop flies, 6 purple bead head frenchie with peacock abdomen.
Only $3 a fly with a free fly box!
Free priority shipping in the United States!
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Trout feeders?
I don’t think there has been a post detailing GRTU’s feeding program, there have been references to it in posts on other subjects. Use this link https://members.grtu.org/forums/search/feeding+trout/ and scroll down to post #9981.
Doug
In forum: Lease MembersTopic: Recent River Report
Hi all,
My family (wife Natacha & sons Andre and Brian) drove over to the Guad from Houston this past Sunday. We spent 3 nights in a rented house located between Potts and Ponderosa. It was our 1st Guad fishing trip of the season.
Sunday night: we all fished an hour or so near the house. My son Andre caught a couple of nice bows… We also caught a few Sunfish.
Monday AM: We hiked upstream to fish the runs above Potts.. As expected it was a bit crowed with most of the good runs occupied (Note: everyone was pretty friendly). The river at and above the island was also busy. The bite was slow!! Short but hard rain sent wife and Brian back to shelter. Andre and persisted and I managed to catch one nice bow and lost another.. Given the conditions (with sore arms) we decided to have a long lunch and relax.
Monday Evening; Andre and I fished Ponderosa area for a couple of hours til dark. There was one other fly fisher at the bridge and a couple of guide rafts working through. We ended hooking 4 but only landing one. The first 3 hook-ups were very soft.. like the trout was just on the line with no observed take… then a long distance releases.. The 4th hook-up was a strong take and Andre landed a very nice Rainbow.
Tuesday: it was another slow day. Lots of trout swimming but hard to get a take.. Fishing the deeper slots we caught a few rainbows and a bass. Pretty good numbers of fish were feeding on the surface. Andre tried various dry fly combos and managed to catch several sunfish but no trout. 6 guide boats passed generally reporting a tough bite. A couple of the guides worked the visible trout in our area for a lengthy time but could not fool them. Time to relax back at the house.
For an hour or so in evening we had the whole crew out.. Brian landed a nice Rainbow and Natacha lost a good one. We caught more Sunnies.
Wednesday AM (Brownie day).. Pretty good on and off hard rain and the need to check out limited our fishing.. too Bad! We fished near the house.. Managed to fool four trout… All Browns.. They wouldn’t hit the dead drifted flies but we managed to get take by casting and adding a little twitch to the sinking flies. That little extra motion seemed to stimulate aggressive takes.
All in all a fun trip.. fishing was great but the catching was challenging. We had enough action to make it enjoyable. Great to be on the water!! As far as flies: we used everything.. trout were caught on Woolybuggers, Mopflys, and various small Beadheads/midges. First time we used the Mopfly… man that is easy to tie and catches fish..
Big thanks to the GRTU for all the hard work.
Dave K.
In forum: For Sale
Custom Euro Nymphing Flies with a free silicone fly box tied in right here in Texas. Perfect for tight line nymphing, Czech nymphing, euro nymphing, ECT. All flies tied with 2.8mm and 3.3mm tungsten beads on size 14 and 16 Firehole Sticks hooks. Each fly has extra lead added to get them down faster into the trout feeding zone. All thread at bead heads are secured with uv resin or head cement.
Pictures of each individual fly are actual flies that will be in that box. 6 tungsten surveyors, 6 Rainbow warriors, 6 custom frenchies, 6 thread frenchies, 6 sexy walts, 4 mop flies, 3 purple rains, 3 red darts.
If you ever wanted to try euro nymphing, or you just need to reload, this is the perfect set up! These are locally hand tied flies, not cheap flies from India or Korea or China that will unravel on your first cast.
Only $3 a fly with a free fly box!
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In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Flashback to days gone by
My first real day fishing since before the first Rainbow Trout stocking was Friday. Started at #5 at 8:30 and was the 5th vehicle parking there. I geared up and and saw many anglers and boats between the weir and Rio. I hustled downstream to the drop at Barking Dog pool. Two anglers were there and we talked and fished together, but no fish were caught while I was there. They left after a while for S Turn and worked some oft overlooked spots, but caught zero nymph fishing. So I followed downstream too. Mountain creek pool had about a half dozen anglers fishing, a drift boat and several kayaks. There were about 4 anglers covering the Lower Slot. I was looking into the water between BDP and there. I decided these fish were neutral and decided to change tactics and start throwing streamers. I tied on a wooly bugger and soft hackle trailer and started throwing that around. That’s when Kevin came upstream and gave him a holler. I asked how he done and he said he had been there since dawn and already caught about 10 fish. I asked what he had hooked them on and he said mostly a red and white spoon. Kevin carries a flyrod and a light spinning rod. He was talking about a classic very small Daredevil spoon he uses. That told me what I suspected. The guys that were all nymph fishing below us were in casting class. Kevin and I stayed up there and chasing the passing pods of fish. My first one was a dandy, a hen which I thought was about 3 1/2lbs and Kevin thought closer to 4. We both worked these fish and caught many while those below us watched. I got to double digits in the next couple of hours. During this time it went from blue bird to overcast which I really think helped the bite. The major was also in the late morning, which didn’t hurt a bit.
I left after noon, stopped at Action Angler looking for more soft hackles, ate some lunch, and then fired up my computer trying to finish off a real estate deal I’ve been working on. In the afternoon I went to Pott’s, it was covered up by guide boats and anglers, and then jumped to Kanz hoping for some more bites, but it wasn’t very good at all and I packed up and went home.
So my conclusions for the day were: these fish are still in hatchery mode. They bite early and really should late too(but not this day), they are still podded up, you can get a strike out of a pod of fish because of their competitive instincts, cloud cover helps, as does fishing during the major, and when they are full it’s essentially done for the day. This is all typical of early days after stocking. I do think the low water is hindering getting out of this pattern and them spreading out and getting into a pattern where they are relying on feeding on the naturals available in the river.
Jimbo
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Home owner feeding fish…
Well, I know this thread is pretty old but I came across it after my first “JDL” experience this weekend and I figured that it might be worth sharing, for a funny story and an interesting perspective. My brother, his fiancé and I all got on the river at 306 early Sunday morning and I gave them a quick lay of the land and then high-tailed it up to the “JDL” spot as I fished it pretty heavily earlier this year after moving to New Braunfels in March; and I was anxious to get back there as the couple times that I’ve been back this fall there were always other anglers in it. I immediately saw a monster 28″ rainbow cruising the pool and started casting to it, changing flies a couple times and after about 30-45 minutes I noticed the homeowner down by the water feeding – I assumed – the ducks, based on the ruckus. Next thing I know, there are tons of fish pellets floating down the river and the trout I had been targeting was doing wide figure 8’s with it’s mouth open at the top of the water (I even tried to cast directly into it’s mouth, with no success). It must have ate half a pound of food. Naturally, I figured that hole was done for a good long while so I moved on upstream and found a healthy number of rainbows holding and netted my very first brown on the Guad! But that’s not the interesting part…
My brother, following me upstream came to the same hole probably 15-20 minutes after me and saw the same monster trout, still cruising and cast a glo bug egg about 8′ ahead of it, hooked it, and landed it! So while I might have been quick to blame the homeowner for my failure to land anything in that pool, it turns out that my lack of success landed squarely on my own shoulders. So, I guess the moral of this story is don’t count that pool out just because he threw some food in there (and maybe try an egg pattern).
And one last thought before I go: that brown trout that I caught was absolutely gorgeous – vibrant colors and fins in excellent condition. I’d love to believe that it was a holdover, but that seems entirely too coincidental considering that they were stocked two days before. So, to everyone that coordinated and volunteered on the brown trout stocking: Nice work!
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: A tale of two types of fishing
JC,
That’s really disheartening. And, I don’t mean the lawless fishermen, I mean you using an indie. I had greater expectations of you. The next thing you know you’ll be using a pegged egg.
Jimbo is right. I’ve caught my share of juveniles in the upper river. I get a warm feeling knowing that we have trout that have known no other home than the Guad.
Finally, I found your previous post interesting for many reason, among which is your success using one nymph. As we’ve talked about, Pat Weiss typically uses one nymph and in one of his PSU videos, George Daniel says that unless fish are feeding mid column, he prefers fishing with just one nymph. Last time I was out, I ended up fishing just my pink beaded Walts and did quite well with it. Were you using one nymph this last outing?
Alex
In forum: Lease MembersIn reply to: Home owner feeding fish…
Rhino, next time you are there and John is in the yard, why don’t you go over and introduce yourself to him. If he starts feeding the fish, go over and just watch and strike up a conversation then. You will see some really nice fish you wouldn’t have suspected were even in the pool. Maybe you’ll even see the Browns that live there and are so elusive. Remember we are primarily a conservation organization that supports this special Trout Fishery. On the other hand there are lots of other sites you can fish too. Why don’t you try exploring the river, you just might find another spot you like even better.
First of all it is legal to feed the fish. We have observed and found that feeding the Trout does in fact help with their overall health and ability to survive marginal conditions. John has been feeding the fish in the river in front of his property for at least 5 years or more, this is not something new for him. We found that the trout did much better getting through the summer to the following season in the river next to his property and downstream. So GRTU started our own program this past summer feeding the Trout several times a week throughout the tuber season at several upstream LAP sites. And guess what, we had good holdover and fatter fish showing up at these sites this past fall. It might have also helped the wild fish get to a catchable size in those areas. So if you are there and he starts feeding the fish, just move upstream. That’s the easiest thing to do. There will be fish up in those runs. Or move downstream to the River Rose area and you will find fish which are feeding normally.
Jimbo
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