What is going on y’all! In this blog, my dad and I went kayaking 9 miles down the Guadalupe River! We fished, caught some big ones, ate what we caught, and camped overnight on the river bank!
The date we took this trip, the biggest adventure I have ever been on, was January, 2nd, 2021. We kayaked 10 miles down the Guadalupe River, and caught and ate Trout! we even camped overnight! I love all kinds of fishing, and as you guys may know from some of my older blogs and pages, I am a HUGE fly fishermen!
My dad and I love the amazing sport, and as well as that, we love kayaking, so we decided to combine the two. We have Kayaked and fly fished before down the Guadalupe River 10 miles, and we wanted to do it again, but even CRAZIER, so we decided to go 10 miles down the lower Guadalupe River in our kayaks, while fly fishing and trying to catch a Trout to do a Catch & Cook, and camp overnight while it FROZE. Did we know it was going to get down to 27 degrees at night….. NO, so read this blog and part 2 to come along with us on the BIGGEST. ADVENTURE. EVER.
Day 1:
We woke up around 7am, and just kind of hung around and ate breakfast. By 9am, we were loading up all the survival gear, fishing equipment, cooking supplies and kayaks into the truck. We headed to the river, but before we put in at the starting point, Rio Raft Co., we ran into a little fly shop near the river. After buying a couple of flies and some new tippet, we drove to the ramp. It was a struggle lugging over 250 pounds of gear down a steep, 50 yard-concrete hill, but when everything was ready to go and neatly packed into the kayaks, we began down the lower Guadalupe.
I had never seen so many fishermen in one small stretch of water before, but that had changed. About 50 fly fishermen, some in fly boats and kayaks, others just wading, covered the first couple hundred yard of the river. The Trout seemed to be hiding from all the noise and chaos, so we quickly moved down stream. After conquering a hard-to-get-around dam, we continued towards the first set of serious rapids after taking a lunch brake. While we were eating, we noticed a large yellow Rainbow Trout, or as we like to call them; “Banana Trout” circling in the depths. of a pool. 
It would rise to the surface for an easy bug-mealy every couple minutes, but no matter how hard and how many different lures and flies we tried, he wouldn’t hit, so we loaded all the fishing gear back up, and paddled down the rapids.
Hours passed without seeing a single fish, when what I was waiting finally happened. I was kayaking in a fairly shallow pebble bottom when I saw not 1, but 2 shadows shoot under the bow of my kayak. I hollered to my dad, and we both quietly turned around and anchored our kayaks. My dad was throwing a San Juan Worm, and two Olive Pheasant Tail Midges under a strike indicator on the fly rod, while I was throwing a small Trout artificial on my break body, when a felt that heart stopping: TAP… TAP…. TUG!
I opened my bail to let him slurp in the lure for a second, and then closed the bail and cranked down as fast as I could, and when I felt resistance, I reared back. FISH ON! A short but fun fight produced a beautiful Brown Trout!
Both the size and bag limits for Trout on the lower Guadalupe River are confusing, and vary in different Trout “zones.” So after a minute we determined in the zone we were in, you can keep 1 Trout a day over 18 inches. Click HERE to see the full Texas Parks and Wildlife Fish keeping laws. We released this 11inch Trout and went back to going down some rapids, but hey, we caught a freaking TROUT!
After going through some more rapids, I spotted a couple more big Rainbow Trout. It was a good sign Trout were hanging out this far down the river. Then we got to a section that we always dread. It is about a 2 mile paddle with no rapids or current. And for some reason every time we are on this section, there is a head wind, but after a little snack of some cheddar cheese, crackers, and pork, we had the energy to power through!
We eventually came upon Lazy L&L Campgrounds, which I have made a video at on my channel before. It is not only a cool and fun place to camp at on the river, but with there nice picnic tables and ramps for kayaks and fly boats, it makes a great resting spot. They also have a little general store that is nice to come across when you are thirsty, hungry, or just want to grab some extra gear.
We took a 10 minute break, then rounded the corner to come upon Devil’s Playground, the craziest, longest, and most intense rapids we would come across on the whole trip. We built up some courage and decided to go right threw the white water. It was pretty rough, and lasted a solid 45 seconds, but we made it through without tipping or loosing any gear to the water and kept up the paddling. Only an hour or so later we found a great looking honey hole. It was deep, wide, and was right before a nice set of rapids, providing any fish some perfect conditions.
I pulled out my good old Zebco Dock Demon mini rod with a small white Rooster Tail on, and it didn’t take long. We quickly started seeing big fish in the pocket, and within 20 minutes and around 50 casts, he was on! This one put up a much better fight then the little Brown Trout, and I right away knew this was no dink. The way my rod was doubled over just confirmed I had a biggin’ on!
When it got into the shallow water, I could see the beautiful-shinning body of a BIG Rainbow Trout. More specific, my new personal best. Badly, I didn’t have my net with me, and he was easily a keeper, around 20inches, so I swung him into the shallows knowing he was going to be added to tonight’s dinner! I was able to get a hold of him, and he was even bigger then I first thought! Another great fish on the Guadalupe River!
We were pumped about the fish, but we had to round the corner before it got dark! Although I was sad to leave the spot, I was PUMPED I had caught two Trout! Then, we found our dream campsite, about a hundred yard from our spot where I caught the big keeper Rainbow! So now we could set up camp, and hike back to our fishing spot!!!!!
Thanks y’all so much for reading this blog! Make sure you read part 2 to see what happened on the rest of our adventure! And yes, there were FISH CAUGHT!!! Also check out the video we made on this adventure down below! Remember to SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button, and like the video! See you guys next time on HUDSON’S FISHING ADVENTURES!
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