The 5 mile section of Llano River between the FM2768 low water crossing at Castell and the CO103 low water crossing is an amazing run. In normal to high flows it’s a great place to get in some easy paddling if you are a kayaker or canoeist. But what really got our attention was the great fly fishing in this section.
As such, we decided to make a special Texas River Bum “mini-guide” specifically for fly fisherman that covers this stretch. We don’t plan to have it ready until the water warms in spring but we needed some preliminary research.
We had been told that you can legally wade downstream the entire distance in normal flows so the plan was for me to wade and rock hop my way down river to verify this. (I did confirm that it’s possible but it would be a long way to do that and still have much time to fish) Jaz would take Zach in the kayak and do a photo recon while paddling the 50cfs flow.
Upstream of the town of Llano, the river is usually gin clear and today was no exception. Had I been fly fishing, it would have been all sight casting. The fish we saw really had no place that we couldn’t see them.
Even in the big, deep pools it was no problem to see down 30 to 40 feet and watch huge catfish cruise slowly in the depths. Of more interest were the bass holding up under the trees near the shore that Jaz could see as she paddled by.
But between those deep pools she glided so effortlessly across were about 5 rock gardens that she had to drag the kayak through. Even then, they were some pretty easy drags.
I was most excited about finding quite a few areas with deep water and strong currents for Guadalupe and Smallmouth Bass fishing.
So I waded, Jaz paddles and while Zach rode in the boat he took every opportunity at stops to run around and play in the water. Eventually he tired himself out and deiced to stay in the boat for a nap.
Jaz and I both are excited about getting back out here in the spring (or maybe a few warm winter days), to do more “research” for our fly fishing mini-guide. In the meantime, we will offer this little video to give you a taste of what it looks like on this part of the Llano River.
Your video was majestic. You captured the beauty and charm of this Hill Country gem. Loved the music.
Here is a Guadalupe Bass caught in this area of the Llano river.
Very nice, I’m sad to say I paddled through all of the fishiest looking areas that day. Breaks my heart to see what I was passing up. Thanks for sharing though, confirms our suspicions about it being a possible Guad/Smallie hole