Pleasant day on a pleasant river

For only the second time in my life, I was late for the launch of a fishing trip yesterday. I hate that.

I've gotten used to the sort of peculiar way time stretches and warps in my life, delivering me late to meetings and destinations.

It's a personal oddity. Or maybe some sort of rip in the fabric of relativity specific to ... oh, hell; often I'm just not very punctual.

Except for fishing, especially when I'm meeting people.

The plan was to put in at the Canyon Dam tailrace and float down to 4th Crossing on the Guadalupe River. It's that time of year -- trout time -- and TPWD is stocking every week. Trout Unlimited has been stocking the "special regulation" zone since November.

And, two weeks ago, John Erskine landed the new fly fishing state record striped bass from a pool below 4th crossing.

Reading his account, you get the feeling he earned that fish over the last decade or so.

So, despite the low water and slow flow (only about 60 cubic feet per second, or one-third of "good" flow), hopes were high. Mine were, anyway.

But by the end of the day, I'd seen just two fish: one clutched in the talons of an osprey, and another in the beak of a kingfisher.

That says something else about the day, though, doesn't it?

The osprey and the kingfisher I mean ... It was a lovely day, and despite the nearly solid residential development along about four of the first five miles of the Guadalupe below the dam, it's still a pleasant river with some surprises.

One of those surprises was the fellow who came down to the water, coffee in hand, and asked me and my cousin Ray what we were fishing for.

"Something with fins," I think I answered.

He then stood on the bank and pointed out the areas where he'd seen trout rising and another spot where a lunker smallmouth makes its home. He didn't have to do that, and it was a nice gesture.

Even the signs along the bank warning river-goers not to exit the water on private property are polite.

One thing the Guadalupe between Canyon Dam and New Braunfels is not is wild.

There's some wildness here, to be sure, but there are simply too many homes and too many raft and tube outfitters lining the banks to pretend you're in the middle nowhere.

I first visited this river as a middle-schooler, camping along its banks with my friend Steve's family. It was early spring, and we caught trout as I recall.

I've paddled a lot of Texas water since then, and I find that my preference is for places a little more remote.

But the Guadalupe is fun. It's a pretty river, mostly well-behaved so long as the dam holds, and ... well, I'll say it again: pleasant.

And since there are a few more trout-fed stripers in there, I reckon I'm going to have to return. Soon.