# Guadalupe River White Bass



## flyfishingmike (Nov 26, 2010)

The Guadalupe River is the "Gem of the Hill Country", when it has water in it.

The past five years have been stingy with rain in the Guadalupe River watershed. The springs are trickling, and the river is low. 

In normal years, the white bass make their spring run all the way to Highway 281, in Spring Branch. It was possible to put in up river and float and paddle back to Rebecca Creek boat ramp. One year, we brought along a propane stove and had a shore lunch of white bass, potato salad, and cake for desert. 

Many times, I have spent the night camping on a gravel bar, and fishing by the light of the moon. We were camped out on one occasion when a raccoon tugged at the sock of my fishing partner, while he was sleeping in the open, next to a dwindling campfire.

Valentine's Day is the beginning of white bass season, according to some of the Old Timers. So Friday, Jim, Tom, and I paddled up the river in search of the feisty whites. Launching at Rebecca Creek ramp was a bit tedious. The ramp is closed to power boats, and the creek is so low you end up sloshing through the muddy water, tugging your kayak behind you for about 200 yards.

We paddled up the river for about two and a half miles, until the river ran out, and there was only a shallow current trickling through the sand and gravel. The day was beautiful, the weather was perfect, the wildlife was prolific, but the white bass were mostly absent. At one point, in a bend in the river, twelve wild turkeys ran down the bank to the edge of the water, and heaved themselves into the air. The flew rather awkwardly over Tom and Jim, and landing in a flurry on the other side, gobbling all the way.

Between the three of us, we caught five white bass, one striper, one crappie, and about ten black bass anywhere from six to sixteen inches.

It was another awesome river adventure.

Let's go fishing


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