How to recognise it
- Generally green, with a black, diamond-shaped pattern along the sides and rows of spots forming stripes on the belly.
- With the mouth closed, the jaw doesn't reach past the eye, as it does on a largemouth.
- No vertical bars, unlike a smallmouth bass; the markings reach lower on the body than a spotted bass's.
- A red-rimmed eye.
Habitat: where it lives
- Flowing water: streams of the northern and eastern Edwards Plateau, including the headwaters of the San Antonio and Guadalupe rivers, the Colorado above Austin, and parts of the Brazos drainage. Largemouth bass, by contrast, live in quiet water.
- In lakes without current, such as Lake Travis, it sticks to rock: rocky banks, bluff walls, ledges and points.
Habits: behavior, spawning and growth
- Matures at one year old. Spawns from as early as March through May and June, on gravel nests in shallow water, often in faster flow than largemouth use.
- Doesn't grow large: fish over 3.5 lb have been landed, and most are under a foot long.
- Its biggest threat is interbreeding with introduced smallmouth bass.
- Ambushes from shoreline structure. On hot, sunny days it goes deeper.
Where and when
- Swirling pools below current, calm backwaters off the main flow, and every run, riffle, rock, root wad and fallen tree along a shady bank.
- The bite peaks from late April into May. For surface fishing, March–June and September–October are best.
- Hill Country streams are fishable all year: their main springs run about 70°F.
Bait and lures
Lures
- Ned rig (a short soft-plastic stick on a small jighead) bounced along the bottom
- Small jigs and soft-plastic crawfish
- Drop-shot finesse worms
- Small paddle-tail swimbaits that look like threadfin shad
- Crawfish-colored crankbaits bumped along rocky banks
- Poppers and other topwaters near downed trees and lily pads
Why these baits work
- It feeds heavily on crawfish, so crawfish-colored plastics and crankbaits are the starting point.
- It's aggressive and needs no delicate presentation; a fast, "mean" lure draws explosive strikes.
- Grasshoppers and other insects falling from the bank are a summer staple, which is why hopper-style flies and poppers work.
Rod and reel setups
Grouped by lure fishing (artificial baits) and bait fishing (live or natural bait).
Lure fishing
- Rod
- Spinning rod
- Reel
- Spinning reel
- Line
- Light line for finesse baits (no pound test given by the sources)
- Hook & rig
- Drop shot: a 1/0 hook with a green pumpkin straight-tail worm above a ¼ oz weight, fished slowly. Or a Ned rig: a short stickbait on a small jighead.
Source: Torwick's Guiding Service: Catching the Guadalupe bass (fishing guide site) · Texas Monthly: How to catch Guadalupe bass
- Rod
- 7–8½ ft, 5- or 6-weight, medium-fast
- Reel
- Fly reel with a floating bass-taper line (or a short 5 ft sinking tip)
- Line
- 1X–3X leader with fluorocarbon tippet, 7–9 ft
- Hook & rig
- Snag-resistant flies, sizes 4–10, worked slowly: Clousers, Woolly Buggers, crayfish patterns, poppers, and grasshopper or cricket patterns in sizes 4–8.
Source: Fly Fisherman: Hill Country bass
Tips
- Make short, accurate casts tight to the bank: that's where it waits.
- Strikes are explosive. Don't hesitate to set the hook.
- Many anglers practice catch and release with Guadalupe bass.
Size and bag limits vary by state, species and lake. Current limits: Texas (TPWD); elsewhere, your state's fish and wildlife agency. Check before you keep a fish.
