Texas

Texas is not a state most anglers associate with fly fishing, but the Guadalupe River below Canyon Lake dam in the Hill Country northwest of San Antonio is the southernmost trout stream in the continental United States and one of the most consistently productive tailwaters in the South. Cold dam releases maintain water temperatures below 68°F year-round in a state where summer air temperatures regularly exceed 100°F, creating an improbable trout fishery in the cedar-studded limestone hills above New Braunfels.

The Guadalupe River Trout Unlimited chapter is one of the most active in the country and has worked for decades with Texas Parks and Wildlife to stock and manage the river as a put-and-take trout fishery during the winter season (November through March) and as a warmwater largemouth bass and Guadalupe bass fishery during the summer. The Guadalupe bass — Texas's state fish and found nowhere else on earth — is an ideal fly rod quarry that fights with the aggression of a smallmouth and takes poppers and streamers with enthusiasm on summer mornings.

Beyond the Guadalupe, Texas offers saltwater fly fishing along the Gulf Coast that rivals any in the country. The Laguna Madre along the Lower Texas Coast and South Padre Island host large populations of redfish, speckled trout, and tarpon that provide world-class shallow-water saltwater fly fishing just over the state line from some of the most unusual trout water in America.