Best Lures for Llano River Fish

[44mAG]

In a couple of weeks, I am going to be kayaking the Llano river somewhere around the Mason area. I have never done small river fishing like this before. I am most interested in catching the most number of fish that I can. My question is, what are the main species that I will be targeting, and what are some suggestions as to which kind of lures/rigs to use? I will be using small spinning reels most likely. Thanks in advance.

[matthews1227]

I wont be much help on lure selection BUT I did kayak a section of the Llano a couple months ago and I will tell you to make sure you are ready to walk/drag your kayak! The area we went through even had a couple places with drops over 2feet (I thought I could make one and flipped.)

I personally will not take my kayak through that stretch ever again. My poor Wilderness 115X got a bunch of beauty marks that day!

[220swift]

I'm no expert, but I would think smaller lures like a tiny torpedo, small spinner baits, and smaller worms/grubs would work well.

My lease outside of Mason is on the San Saba. I have had good luck there with 3" tube baits in natural colors like green and light brown.

[catslayer]

Road runner, 1/4 ounce

[RiverRat1]

live bait! Take a small cast net.

[walker1983]

small inline spinners
small grubs on small jig heads
small floating rapallas


...you will catch bass and bluegills

[Hunterlo70]

One of the best lures I find when fishing small rivers is the spook. If you want to save some money, you can get something similar. These works great!

http://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/h2o-xpress%E2%84%A2-model-tws-topwater-bait#repChildCatid=22358

Simple "Walk-the-dog" action and the strikes are awesome. I've caught everything from largemouth bass to stripers on these off the Brazos river. Best part is, you don't have to worry about it getting hung up on rocks since its a topwater lure. Just toss it out there, work it back and watch the water explode! Good luck man

[Gary Roberson]

You will catch quite a few bass, both large mouth and Guadalupes along with a variety of sunfish. I use lighweight spinning equipment and throw the small spinner type baits. There's a good friend of mine who guides on the Llano by the name of Leonard Wilson who lives near Mason. He's a fly fisherman but would know as much or more than anyone else that I know of. Beautiful water.
Adios,
Gary

[Grady_jones]

rapala original 3 inch weightless tubes and senkos small popper small spinerbnait small grubs

[44mAG]

Should a good ole H&H spinner work? That is always my go to for stock tank fishing.

[220swift]

Should a good ole H&H spinner work? That is always my go to for stock tank fishing.

Yes

[jerp]

My top two would be a Beetle Spin and a small Rapala or other topwater.

[Playa]

Road runner, 1/4 ounce

Should a good ole H&H spinner work? That is always my go to for stock tank fishing.

Yes and yes!

I fished a little Llano by Junction a few years back, and small spinners worked great.

What I found was wider calm spots immediately upstream from where the water narrows and quickens (rapids of you can call it that) was where I caught most of my fish. Makes sense, predator fish will hang out against submerged cover and wait for the current to bring bait fish to them.

Caught large mouth, Guadalupe and sunfish.

[TxNurse]

Second the roadrunner, but 1/8 oz. Original maribou. Guadalupe are fun to catch.

[thegrouse]

I was up there in May. The water was low and I had to drag the canoe at times. I used a small Mepps spinner and caught bass and perch.