My favorite freshwater quarry

[pete a]

I love an underdog and this is the Guadalupe Bass of the Texas Hill country. They don't get huge or burn your drag but are scrapers that give everything they have. They use the river current to maximize their fight. The region they are caught is mostly smallish rivers with clearish water. The fellows below were caught in the Llano River WNW of Austin, TX. Llano River system is one of the last strong holds of these little tough guys.

They are losing ground to smallmouth and spotted bass. They are cross breeding with both. TPWD (Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept.) fears their strains could be lost in another decade. The spotted & smallmouth are fine fish but I'll miss these little dudes!

These fellows (along with 15+) were caught Sat evening and Sunday morn. We used 5 & 8wt rods equiped with Bass Bug taper as cast are not far but often the buggs we throw are bulky (Guad's love a mouthful!). Most run small with these being general range of size caught. My favorite flies/bugs are noisy bright poppers and Wooley Boogers.

Like I said they aren't permit or Atlantic Salmon but a very endearing fish with an aggresive nature. Nothing better than an afternoon on the James river chasing these Hill Contry gems.

Pete A.

[littledavid123]

Pete A, thanks for sharing the photos, they are indeed a good looking bass. I wonder if they are in the Devils river far West of you?

Dave

[reidsisk]

Great post! and nice bass! fishing for bass is so much fun, even the little guys put up incredible fights!

[gatortransplant]

That second bass really shows off the awesome possibilities of pattern with the guadeloupe bucket-mouths, a real beauty!

[Diver Dan]

Wow, those are pretty little Bass. I would hope they take steps to save the little boogers.

[mcnerney]

As the others have said, great looking fish!

[riverbilly]

That's very cool to see Pete, some pure Guadalupes, beautiful fish. The Llano is a beautiful place too.

Not many places left with pure Guads, including my river the Colorado. They are all hybrids now. A study on the Blanco River found no pure fish, only hybrids.
In the mid-70s up to the early 80s the Parks and Wildlife Dept. stocked Smallmouth bass in the Hill Country rivers with no though of how it would effect the native populations of fish. The Guadalupe developed over a period of 10,000 years on the Hill Country rivers and streams, it took 40 years for them to almost hybrid away. The State seems committed to rebuild the populations with various strategies, but in places like the Colorado River with millions of hybrids, I'm not sure it can be done or undone.

BTW - for the Texas guys, Oktoberfisch - a gathering of Texas flyfishers on the South Llano River - is in about a month. I'm hoping to go to my first one, and catch a pure Guadalupe.

Thanks for the post Pete.

[pete a]

My first bass with a fly rod was a "Guad" when I was 14. We were were camping at the old "Bean's Camp" on the Guadalupe River below the dam on River Road in '69(yea yea, I'm old). This was prior to all the houses, tubes, drunks, ........... Don't remember the fellow who ran the place but if heard cussing, loud music or see alcohol he ask you to leave.

I had dad's Shakespeare Wonder Rod (loved that white rod) with a matching Shakepseare automatic reel loaded with some kind of brown level line. Tossed a Black Wooley worm in a pocket behind a boulder and whack had a fiesty "Guad" jumping and diving in the current.

Been addicted ever since.

Pete A.