San Gabriel Rivers

This is not a complete list of all access points or possibilities on these rivers... it's just a little on the places I know well and have fished. I will fill in more details as I can and I hope to make this THE authoritative reference for the San Gabriel Rivers.

1 183 Crossing of the South Fork. I've fished from the bridge up to the first creek you see. There are a lot of good pools where some really large fish prowl. I've seen largemouth up to 3 or 4 pounds chasing sunfish I wouldn't mind catching. Easily wadable and ultraclear. Don't miss the dinosaur tracks in the limestone just upstream of the first long pool.
2 Camp Tejas. This is a nice spot with a little campground. The upper end of Lake Georgetown begins just below the low water crossing. Upstream is shallow and wadable with occassional deep pools holding some good fish. The farther you walk the better the fishing will get. This is the spot where there's a decent white bass run in March. You can catch everything here, though, all year long.
3 I-35 Crossing of the South Fork. This is one of my favorite spots in all of Central Texas. There is easy wading of the shallow water. Most of the river bed is gravel so it doesn't get slippery except for the occassional limestone beds. The pools (usually no more than 3 foot deep) are filled with fish of all sizes. The deeper pools hold some good suprises. I've floated a kayak over a couple of largemouth that would easily pass 5 pounds and there was the largest sunfish I'd ever seen in the same place. I've walked about 3 miles up from I-35 and am amazed at just how pretty the scenery is. There are long stretches of very shallow water, but even then, there are pockets along the cut bank where some nice sunfish hole up.

Downstream there are a few good pools. After you cross under the Hwy 29 bridge you get to the upper end of a very long pool that ends at Blue Hole where there is a 10' dam. This place has always looked fabulous for bass and sunfish and catfish... but I've never done really well there. Blue hole is where TPWD stocks trout in January. Those trout do live to April. A member of my fly fishing club caught a rainbow at the Hwy 29 bridge in April '03. Blue hole and it's long pool is not easily wadable and would be much better explored in a kayak put in and taken out at Blue Hole park.

3a River RidgeTaking the Leander Highway West from I-35, turn right on to River Ridge. Take another right on River Down and you will have to watch carefully for the trail head. There is a picket fence built around a power box and a sign barring ATVs from using the trail. Follow the path down the hill and the jog left to the river.
4 I-35 Crossing of the North Fork. Access and wading here is easy. Fishing immediately under the bridge and down is great. upstream is a bit of a walk up to some good pools with good sized fish. It's pretty easy to walk up to the Country Club and there is some good fishing all along the way.
5 San Gabriel Park. The upstream end of the park is the confluence of the North and South Forks of the San Gabriel. If this section wasn't so heavily fished, it would be great. There's another 5' dam at the lower end of the park, so there's a nice long pool here. I've never fished it but I think the opposite bank is where the best fishing would be. It's an easy wade upstream to either #3 or #4.

The real story here is the river downstream from the park. There's good wading and great fishing. Once the rivers converge in San Gabriel Park in Georgetown, the river changes. It changes from the Limestone ultra clear water to a more stained and at times muddy river. The large pool under the railroad tressle (downstream from the park) holds some amazingly big fish. I once watched as a couple of guys dragged a john boat down to some droplines they put out, caught a bunch of perch, then baited the lines with them. They pulled in a 30 lb catfish off of one of em. You regularly see large carp and gar splashing noisily here and I've caught my share of nice bass. I've also caught white bass here...in the summer.

This is the starting place for a nice long float down to #6.

6 Mankin's Crossing. Hwy 29 crosses the river here on a high bridge, but there's also a low water crossing. Getting in here, you can wade or kayak upstream for some pretty good fishing. Carp are abundant here and will take a wooly bugger pretty readily. Some good black bass, catfish and a resident population of small white bass are found all year long. Downstream is shallow and rough for 1/2 mile, but then there are some good holes past that point. I've been about 2 miles upstream and almost a mile downstream. It's great fishing if it hasn't rained in the last couple of days.
7 Lake Granger. This is the spot for white bass. You can park under the Hwy 95 bridge or farther downstream (follow the county road on the North side of the river). Starting in February (and sometimes earlier) you can really do well on the white bass here. It's easy to access and there are plenty of wadable spots. It does get pretty crowded at times, but the great fishing is the balance. Using a canoe or kayak here would be great and open up a lot more water to play on. If it's rained in the past 2 days don't bother.

I made a more detailed map of the Georgetown area that will allow me to point out some of the above features in much more detail. I will be modifying it as I write up the different spots. For now, the numbers correspond to the above descriptions.