Executive Summary:

We propose the following changes to Texas fishing regulations to protect and develop the Guadalupe bass fishery:

• A 10” size limit for Guadalupe bass.
• Change the size limit for largemouth bass from 14” to 12” (to reduce pressure on G.b.)
• Introduce “Fly Fishing – Catch & Release Only*” regulations on (5) select reaches of rivers holding Guadalupe bass:  San Antonio River, Guadalupe River, San Marcos River, Upper Colorado River, and upper Brazos River.

Background:

The Guadalupe Bass is a gem of a fish found only in Central Texas, chiefly in the surface waters above the Edwards Aquifer. It is a beautiful fish which, although it doesn't get very large, is pound-for-pound one of the bass family's best fighters. Perhaps it is for this reason that fly fishers and other anglers get excited about the mere prospect of hooking one.

It is ironic, then, that our state fishing regulations here in Texas offer almost no protection for this exciting fish -- no size limit and a combined 5-fish daily bag limit across all black bass (largemouth, spotted bass, smallmouth, and Guadalupe bass).

To make matters worse, the size limit for largemouth bass is a stringent 14 inches. Since the bag limit is shared across the entire bass family this stringent limit only induces anglers to pad their bag with Guadalupe bass of any size (possibly immature or breeding age fish).

While we don't expect Guadalupe bass to get as big as other members of the bass family, let's place a size limit to help optimize the average size of the Guadalupe bass we catch.

We hope you’ll stand with us and support these moderate measures modeled after regulations that have been successful in other cases throughout the country. We don’t want to stop anyone from catching Guadalupe bass, rather we want to HELP them catch more and better Guadalupe bass.

*Contrary to what one might think at first glance, a “Fly Fishing Only” regulation on a short stretch of river is not likely to reduce the Guadalupe bass opportunities of non-fly fishers. On the contrary, we believe that Guads will thrive in that segment of river and more mature fish will travel outside these protected beats to INCREASE the exciting opportunities for non-fly fishers in other segments of the same rivers. It is important that a “catch & release” regulation be paired with “fly fishing only” since fish almost never swallow a fly and therefore can be released with minimal physical injury for a greater survival rate.