About GRTU
Trout Unlimited is a
non-profit, conservation organization whose mission is to conserve, protect, and restore
North America's trout and salmon fisheries and their watersheds for the benefit of future generations.
The Guadalupe River, located in Central Texas near New Braunfels
between Austin and San Antonio is the southernmost freshwater trout fishery in the United States.
With 4000 members throughout Texas, the Guadalupe River Chapter is the largest local chapter of TU.
Canyon Lake was created by the Army Corps of Engineers to control the seasonal flooding that occurs on the Guadalupe River. It was impounded in 1964, creating a lake covering 8,240 surface acres and 125 feet deep at the pool level of 909 feet above mean sea level.
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) determined that the cold water discharges from the dam would displace the native warm water species naturally occurring in the river. Being the stewards of the public resources, they worked to develop a plan for the introduction of cold water species to utilize this new habitat.
About the same time, a small group of Texans, who enjoyed Trout fishing, came to the same conclusion. It was about 1968 and this group; Dick Finta, James Keeton, Bob Newman, Chad Oliver, Bill Pabst, Bill Parvin, Glenn Richardson, Lt. Col Paul and Hazel Schubauer, Jim Vynalek, and Bill West, who founded the Guadalupe Chapter of Trout Unlimited (GRTU). They enlisted the help of their friends at Lone Star Brewery and began stocking Rainbow Trout in the tailrace of Canyon Lake, creating the southernmost Trout fishery in the United States.
TPWD began experimenting with different species of Trout to determine which would be the most suitable and cost effective for their stocking program. They tried Rainbow, Brown, and Cutthroat Trout. Deciding that Rainbow Trout best suited their purposes, they further tried different subspecies to find the best for stocking in the Guadalupe River.
During the early years, not many anglers were aware of what was taking place on the Guadalupe below Canyon Dam. The GRTU grew slowly, and the chapter was relatively small. TPWD began stocking Rainbows in other sites across the state of Texas, and more and more anglers became interested in fishing for Rainbows. As interest grew, so did their program in response, creating more interest and more stockings.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's, new technologies created lighter and more durable flyrods. With superior flylines, it made flyfishing easier and more versatile than ever. In the 1980's, there was an explosion in interest of flyfishing. The GRTU experienced a tremendous growth in membership. Today, the GRTU is the largest Trout Unlimited Chapter in the world with over 4,000 active members in 2004.
At first, TPWD believed that the fishery it was creating with the stocking of Trout would be a " Put and Take" fishery with little chance of the Trout surviving the brutally hot Texas summers. But as they continued their surveys of the emerging Trout fishery on the Guadalupe, they determined that if certain flows were maintained, Trout could survive to the following year.
As the GRTU membership grew, so did our ability to enhance our river's potential. The Chapter had it's own stocking program, in addition to and with the blessing of TPWD and it's stockings.
Unfortunately the cycles of flood and drought in Texas limited the potential of the Trout fishery below Canyon Dam. Although the Guadalupe and Blanco River Authority (GBRA) had agreed in principle to sustained flows out of Canyon Lake, the flows guaranteed were too small to sustain the Trout during the critical summer months. The outflows from the dam were as little as 25cfs.
GRTU decided to take some action. With donations from chapter members, we established a legal defense fund and retained legal counsel. We filled with the Texas Natural resource Conservation Committee to force GBRA to release sustained summer flows that would insure the survival of the Trout through the heat of the summer. We were granted Petitioner status and after several years of negotiations, we arrived at an agreement with GBRA for trout protective flows that will sustain the trout fishery in over 10 miles of river.
Now more than ever, the future looks bright for the Trout of the Guadalupe River. These flows also have the additional benefit that all popular traditional river activities are also enhanced by these increased summertime flows.
In addition to our stockings of Trout in the Guadalupe, The GRTU also supports many local community projects like; the Water Orientation River District (WORD) and it's annual river clean up, Project Kidfish; to introduce children to flyfishing, and National Projects like; the Coldwater Conservation Fund and the Western Water's Project, just to name a few.
The Guadalupe River Chapter of Trout Unlimited invites you to join our Chapter. We have General Meetings 3 times a year on the fourth Saturday of October, January, and April where there are activities, featured presentation, drawings and lunch. Most of our members are anglers who enjoy flyfishing for trout, and we encourage all anglers to practice catch and release fishing for our valuable resources. At our meetings we discuss our plans for the future of the Guadalupe River with the membership. We invite authors, experts, and guides to speak at our meetings about flyfishing techniques and destinations around the world. They sometimes give on the stream demonstrations to illustrate and educate to those interested. We have raffles, door prizes, lunches, and the fellowship of like minded fishing enthusiasts which make the meetings entertaining, informative, and fun. So come to one of general meetings and see for yourself what our chapter is all about. Check out our web site at: GRTU and review our past newsletters for more details.
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