Fishing Canyon Lake and the Guadalupe below the dam, and where to eat after
An hour north of downtown, Canyon Lake is rated Excellent for stripers and catfish, and the river below its dam is the only water in Texas cold enough to hold rainbow trout all year, with free public access at the dam. A guest guide from Smells Like Fish, ending at the three New Braunfels tables on the road home.
Forty-seven miles north of downtown, the Guadalupe River comes out from under Canyon Dam cold enough to hold rainbow trout through a Texas August, which makes it the only river in the state managed as trout water all year. Above the dam, Canyon Lake is 8,308 acres that Texas Parks and Wildlife rates Excellent for striped and white bass and for catfish. The Corps of Engineers park at the dam is free and open year-round. This is the fishing half of a day out here. The eating half is at the end, in New Braunfels and Gruene, on the road home.
I write the guides on Smells Like Fish, a bait and tackle site, and I am a guest here. Top of San Antonio asked for the water. They supplied the tables.
The day, in order
Leave downtown in the dark and take I-35 to FM 306. Be at Guadalupe Park below the dam by first light: in winter that is the trout, stocked weekly from early December through late January, and the rest of the year it is the cold-water stretch where the fish that survived are still holding. Fish the morning, then drive back down River Road, 20 minutes of cypress and low-water crossings, to New Braunfels for lunch. If you want an afternoon, the Corps keeps free fishing docks on the lake at Potters Creek Park and Cranes Mill Park, and Canyon Lake’s stripers and white bass school on the main-lake points and humps in summer and early fall, per TPWD. Dinner is in Gruene, on the river, before the drive home.
What is in the water
Rainbow trout are the reason this river is famous. TPWD stocked 18,471 of them into the tailrace last winter over ten dates from December 5 to February 26, and its December release put the season total near 20,000 with Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited adding larger fish on top. The rules change by stretch: from 800 yards below the dam to the FM 306 bridge, any trout you keep must come on an artificial lure and fit a 12 to 18 inch slot, five a day, one over 18. From FM 306 to the second River Road crossing it is artificial only, 18-inch minimum, one fish. Below that, including the free winter access at Camp Huaco Springs on River Road (December 5 through March 7), it is five fish with no minimum and bait is fine.
Stripers, white bass, and catfish are the lake. TPWD says the stripers and whites show “schooling activity around main-lake points and humps” in summer and early fall, taken by trolling spinners or vertically jigging white bucktail jigs, and that the catfish, rated Excellent, are most consistent in the upper third of the lake on stink bait and live bait. Largemouth are best spring, fall, and winter on buzzbaits and crankbaits along the rocky shorelines and flooded timber.
The redfish you did not expect: 17 miles south of downtown, Calaveras and Braunig lakes, the CPS Energy cooling lakes, are rated Excellent for red drum by TPWD, which says Braunig gives up “many fish in excess of 20 pounds harvested annually.” Three a day at a 20-inch minimum, $10 to get in, and in winter they crowd the warm-water discharge. That is a different day, and it is on the Smells Like Fish guide linked below.
Where to fish from shore
- Guadalupe Park, below Canyon Dam, 47 miles: free, year-round, ADA pier near the outlet, artificial lures only in this stretch, 12 to 18 inch slot.
- Camp Huaco Springs, River Road, 35 miles: free to anglers December 5 through March 7, dawn to dusk, half a mile of bank, wading and kayaks, five trout with no minimum.
- Potters Creek Park and Cranes Mill Park, Canyon Lake: free Corps fishing docks; shoreline fishing allowed except off the dam, ramps, courtesy docks, and swim beaches.
- Guadalupe River State Park, 40 miles: four miles of river, loaner rods, 1,500 trout last January, $7 entry, no licence needed from shore.
- Southside Lions Park, 7 miles: the city pond, stocked with catfish in summer and 4,744 rainbow trout last winter, free, five-fish limit.
- Calaveras Lake Park, 17 miles: redfish, hybrids, and catfish, fishing pier, $10 adults.
Licences, fees, and the rule that saves San Antonio families money
Anyone 17 or older needs a Texas licence, and the Corps says so for Canyon Lake. The one-day all-water licence is $11 for a resident and $16 for a nonresident, needs no endorsement, and is sold online through the Texas License Connection with a $5 fee or at about 1,700 stores. An annual resident freshwater package is $30. The rule that saves money is the state-park exemption: TPWD says “a fishing license and endorsement are not required if fishing on state park property,” which covers Guadalupe River State Park and Choke Canyon. From a park pier it is pole-and-line only, two poles per person, and the bag limits still apply. Under 17 fishes free everywhere. Guadalupe Park at the dam is free but is not a state park, so the licence applies there.
The gear side
Which spinner is legal in the artificial-only zones and which bait is not, how to read the dam release before you wade, which liver rig for the Calaveras hybrids, which spoon for a 20-pound freshwater redfish: that is my beat, and it does not belong on a restaurant site. The full San Antonio fishing guide on Smells Like Fish has the map of all 11 spots with drive times from downtown, the live Guadalupe River flow at Sattler and New Braunfels, every park fee, the licence links, the ramp table, the trout zones, the Calaveras and Braunig limits, and the tackle list.
Where to eat after
River Road runs from the tailrace straight into New Braunfels, and Gruene sits on the Guadalupe a mile before town. These three are on the Top of San Antonio New Braunfels list. The scores are theirs, not mine.
Sources. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Canyon Lake, Calaveras, and Braunig water pages, Guadalupe River fishing regulations and trout program page, news release of December 1, 2025 on the Camp Huaco Springs public access lease, the 2025-26 rainbow trout stocking schedule, Guadalupe River State Park page, fishing licences and packages, and free fishing opportunities; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Canyon Lake fishing page. Drive distances computed on OpenStreetMap roads from downtown San Antonio.
Ray Dodson writes for Smells Like Fish. Ray is the pen name of that site's research desk: every recommendation is built from documented angler consensus, state fish and wildlife guidance, and published testing, with sources named in every article. This piece was written for Top of San Antonio.
