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Home › Waters › Texas › Blanco River
River · Hays and Blanco counties in the eastern Texas Hill Country, between Wimberley, Kyle and San Marcos · Texas

Blanco River Fishing Guides

A short, spring-fed Hill Country river through Wimberley and Kyle that offers some of the most accessible Guadalupe bass wade fishing anywhere in Texas.

Pale gravel and rounded stone in the shallows of a clear float stream

Map of the Blanco River

30 numbered points: 4 campsites, 1 outfitter, 16 bridges, 4 parks and conservation areas, 4 hazards, 1 USGS gauge. Tap a marker for details. Reviewed Oct 21, 2026.

Printable version →
  • Campsite (4)
  • Outfitter / canoe rental (1)
  • Bridge crossing (16)
  • Park / conservation area (4)
  • Dam / hazard (4)
  • USGS gauge (1)
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Points are curated from OpenStreetMap and state agency sources; confirm access and hours before you go.

Print it. Bag it. Bring it.Phones die, screens crack, and most of this water has no signal. Print this map, fold it into a zip-top bag or dry bag with your license, and you have a backup your electronics can’t give you. Every marker is numbered so you can say exactly where you are.

Open the printable map
All 30 points on this map
#PointTypeLat, LonNotes
1Crabapple Road bridge
CR 104, upper Blanco		Bridge crossing30.10212, -98.51191First public crossing on the upper river. Everything above here is private ranchland with no mapped access.
2Wayne Smith Dam
Above Blanco		Dam / hazard30.09993, -98.44327Weir above town. Portage.
3Blanco City Dam Number 1
Blanco		Dam / hazard30.09287, -98.43094The upper of the dams that pool the river through Blanco State Park. Portage.
4Kendalia Road bridge
CR 102		Bridge crossing30.09263, -98.43048Crossing at the head of the park reach.
5Park Road 23 low-water crossing
PR 23, Blanco State Park		Bridge crossing30.09123, -98.42415Low-water crossing inside the park; impassable and dangerous when the river is up.
6Blanco State Park
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department		Park / conservation area30.09306, -98.42386TPWD park on both banks through town, the one reliably public stretch of the Blanco: camping, day use and the dam-pooled reach. Point placed on the park headquarters. Pole-and-line only in state-park waters.
7South US Highway 281 bridge
US 281		Bridge crossing30.09210, -98.42295
8Chandler Street bridge
Loop 163		Bridge crossing30.09642, -98.41822
9Ranch Road 165 bridge
RM 165		Bridge crossing30.09109, -98.40175
10Blanco Settlement RV Park
Private RV park below Blanco		Campsite30.09107, -98.39799
11Tejas Trail bridge
CR 405		Bridge crossing30.09009, -98.37760
12River Oaks Riverfront RV Resort
Private riverfront RV resort		Campsite30.10375, -98.33854
13Fischer Store Road bridge
CR 181		Bridge crossing30.00057, -98.20009The classic upper put-in for the Blanco's Wimberley run, and the only mapped public touch point in a 38 km stretch of private river.
14Wayside Drive bridgeBridge crossing29.96734, -98.18962
15Boy Scout Dam
Above Wimberley		Dam / hazard29.95562, -98.16918Low dam. Portage.
16Blanco River Outfitters
Wimberley		Outfitter / canoe rental29.98618, -98.11066Outfitter on the river at Wimberley. Named in OSM with no shop tag, so treat the hours and the shuttle range as worth a phone call.
17Green Acres RV Park
Private RV park, Wimberley		Campsite29.98790, -98.11015
18County Road 1492 bridge
CR 1492		Bridge crossing29.98482, -98.10944
19River Road bridge
Wimberley		Bridge crossing29.98915, -98.10571
20Wimberley RV Park
Private RV park		Campsite29.99764, -98.08932Mapped in OSM as Wimberley RV Park & Mini Storage.
21USGS 08171290 Blanco River near Kyle
Stage and discharge		USGS gauge30.00556, -97.95250The gauge this float reads off, at chainage 117 km. The Blanco is flashy and loses flow to the aquifer in dry spells - read it before driving out.
22Randall W Vetter Park
Hays County		Park / conservation area29.94201, -97.90297County park on the left bank above Five Mile Dam.
23Five Mile Dam Park
Hays County		Park / conservation area29.94219, -97.90103County park either side of Five Mile Dam, the best-known public access on the lower Blanco.
24Five Mile Dam
Hays County park reach		Dam / hazard29.94045, -97.90163Weir that pools the lower river through the county park. Portage; the pool above it is the swimming reach.
25Union Pacific Austin Subdivision bridge
Railroad crossing		Bridge crossing29.93730, -97.89556
26Post Road bridge
CR 140		Bridge crossing29.93726, -97.89532Road crossing beside the railroad bridge.
27Interstate 35 bridges
I 35 / Purple Heart Trail		Bridge crossing29.91255, -97.89822Four decks cross within about 80 m here; one marker stands for the crossing.
28Blanco Shoals Natural Area
San Marcos Greenbelt Alliance		Park / conservation area29.90582, -97.89747Greenbelt natural area on the shoals reach below Interstate 35.
29Union Pacific Lockhart Subdivision bridge
Railroad crossing		Bridge crossing29.88496, -97.90645
30Old Martindale Road bridge
CR 295		Bridge crossing29.87132, -97.91564Last mapped crossing above the San Marcos River confluence.

Guides on the Blanco River

Claimed profiles take booking requests. Unclaimed profiles are built from public records so the river is never empty; the guide can claim or remove one any time.

Order on this page: premium and outfitter plans first (labelled Premium placement), then claimed free profiles, then unclaimed — one published price, no bidding for position. How placement works

About the Blanco River

The Blanco is a compact river with an outsized reputation. It rises in Kendall County, runs east past Blanco and Wimberley, and joins the San Marcos River below Kyle. The bed is the same hard limestone that defines the eastern Hill Country, and the river alternates between shaded cypress pools and shallow gravel runs the whole way. Spring input keeps parts of it flowing when nearby streams are dry, but the Blanco is genuinely flashy. It can go from a clear ankle-deep run to a destructive flood in hours, as it did memorably in 2015, and then settle back within days.

For anglers that flashiness is the thing to plan around rather than fear. Under normal flow this is one of the friendliest wade fisheries in Texas. Guadalupe bass hold in the current seams below every gravel bar, largemouth sit in the deeper cypress pools, and Rio Grande cichlid and redbreast sunfish are thick enough that a beginner will stay busy all morning. A three or four weight fly rod with small poppers and crayfish patterns covers almost everything. Ultralight spinning tackle works just as well and is what most local guides hand a first-timer.

The catch is access. Nearly all of the Blanco corridor is private land, and Texas law puts the streambed in public ownership while the banks around it are not. Practically, that means anglers fish from public crossings and parks and stay in the water. Blue Hole Regional Park in Wimberley and Five Mile Dam near Kyle are the two dependable public options, and guided trips often run on private leases arranged in advance. The gauge near Kyle is the flow to check before committing to a wade.

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6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

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Posting to Blanco River.

JPG, PNG or WebP, up to 12 MB. We resize it and strip the location data out of the file.

The name shown under the photo. Leave blank to stay anonymous.

Reader photo license v1.0 — the short version:

  • You grant Guided Floats, LLC a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to publish, resize and crop your photo on guidedfloats.com and in GuidedFloats’ own social posts and apps. You keep the copyright and can use the photo anywhere else.
  • You confirm that you took the photo yourself, that publishing it does not infringe anyone else’s rights, and that anyone recognisable in it (or a parent or guardian, if they are under 18) is happy for it to appear here.
  • Credit is printed beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, using the credit name you give us. Leave it blank and we use your name; write “Anonymous” for no name. Your email address is never published.
  • Withdrawing is one email to hello@guidedfloats.com naming the photo. It comes off the site within 7 days.
Read the full license

Version 1.0, dated 6 September 2026. Applies to every photograph submitted to GuidedFloats through the contact form, a species page, or the community board.

1. What you give us

By ticking the box on the form you grant Guided Floats, LLC (“GuidedFloats”, “we”) a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to store, copy, resize, crop and display your photograph on guidedfloats.com, in GuidedFloats’ own social media accounts and mobile apps, and in material that promotes the site itself, in connection with the fish, water or community feature you sent it in for. The license lasts until you withdraw it (section 4).

You keep the copyright. The license is not exclusive, so you can use the photo anywhere else and license it to anyone else. We will not sell your photo, license it on to anyone else on its own, or use it in paid advertising for a third party.

2. What you confirm

You confirm that you took the photograph yourself (or otherwise own the rights to it), that you have the right to grant this license, and that publishing the photo does not infringe anyone else’s copyright, privacy or other rights.

If any person is recognisable in the photo, you confirm that they have agreed to its being published here, and that a parent or guardian has agreed on behalf of anyone under 18. Please do not send photographs of other people’s catches, screenshots, or pictures copied from other websites or social media.

3. Credit

We print the credit name you give us beside the photo wherever it appears on the site, and record it as the photo’s creator in the page’s structured data. If you leave the credit blank we use the name you gave us on the form. Write “Anonymous” if you prefer no name at all. Your email address, phone number and the exact spot the photo was taken are never published.

4. Withdrawing the license

You can withdraw the license at any time by emailing hello@guidedfloats.com, or by using the contact form, and telling us which photo you mean. We will remove the photo from guidedfloats.com within 7 days of receiving your message and stop using it in anything new. Copies that are already outside our control — search-engine caches, social posts that have already gone out, printed material already produced — may take longer to disappear or may not be recallable, and we are not responsible for those.

5. What we may do

We choose which photos to publish and may decline any submission without giving a reason. We may crop, resize, sharpen or colour-correct a photo for display, and we may remove a photo at any time. We will not alter a photo in a way that misrepresents the fish, the water or you.

6. Your details

We keep your name, email address, the credit name, the water and date you gave us, and the network address the submission came from, with the submission record, as our evidence of this license. We hold that record for as long as the photo is published and for the retention period described in our privacy policy. Location data that your camera or phone embedded in the file is removed before the photo is published.

7. Versions

The version of this license you accepted is stored with your submission and printed with the photo. A later version does not apply to a photo you have already sent unless you agree to it.

Flow alert

Tell me when the Blanco River cfs

Now: 9.8 cfs, read 7:30 am CST, Mon Nov 2, 2026 (USGS 08171290, Blanco Rv at Halifax Rch nr Kyle, TX).

We never use this address for anything else and never share it. See the privacy policy.

Access

Blue Hole Regional Park in Wimberley - the best-known public access, with cypress pools and a swimming reach.
Five Mile Dam Park near Kyle - county park with river frontage and reliable year-round water.
Ranch Road 12 crossing at Wimberley - roadside access to the wadable gravel runs above town.
Seven A Ranch and the Wimberley low-water crossings - limited public frontage, best at moderate flow.
Halifax Ranch gauge crossing near Kyle - the reference gauge site and nearby public streambed access.
Blanco State Park in Blanco - upper-river state park with bank fishing and a stocked winter trout reach.
San Marcos confluence below Kyle - the bottom of the river and a common kayak take-out.

Seasons

Spring: strongest flows of the year, excellent wading, and Guadalupe bass on the gravel runs.
Summer: warm and low, early mornings and the deeper cypress pools hold the fish worth chasing.
Fall: flows steady after autumn rain and the river fishes cleanly with very little pressure.
Winter: clear and cold, slow warmwater fishing, but Blanco State Park carries stocked trout upstream.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Blanco River?

As of Nov 2, 7:30 am, the USGS gauge Blanco Rv at Halifax Rch nr Kyle, TX reads 10 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Blanco River?

Anglers target Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Guadalupe Bass, Largemouth Bass, Redbreast Sunfish, Rio Grande Cichlid on the Blanco River in Texas.

Are there fishing guides on the Blanco River?

GuidedFloats lists 1 guide and outfitters on the Blanco River. Claimed profiles accept booking requests; unclaimed profiles are built from public records and link to the business.

Where can you access the Blanco River?

Blue Hole Regional Park in Wimberley - the best-known public access, with cypress pools and a swimming reach. Five Mile Dam Park near Kyle - county park with river frontage and reliable year-round water. Ranch Road 12 crossing at Wimberley - roadside access to the wadable gravel runs above town. Seven A Ranch and the Wimberley low-water crossings - limited public frontage, best at moderate flow. Halifax Ranch gauge crossing near Kyle - the reference gauge site and nearby public streambed access. Blanco State Park in Blanco - upper-river state park with bank fishing and a stocked winter trout r...

When is the best time to fish the Blanco River?

Spring: strongest flows of the year, excellent wading, and Guadalupe bass on the gravel runs. Summer: warm and low, early mornings and the deeper cypress pools hold the fish worth chasing. Fall: flows steady after autumn rain and the river fishes cleanly with very little pressure. Winter: clear and cold, slow warmwater fishing, but Blanco State Park carries stocked trout upstream.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Blanco River?

Regulations change by season and section. Read the current rules on the Texas agency site: https://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing