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Home › Waters › Texas › Pecan Bayou
Bayou · Mills and Brown Counties, the lower Pecan Bayou between Lake Brownwood and its junction with the Colorado River near Mullin, in the Texas Hill Country's northern edge · Texas

Pecan Bayou Fishing Guides

A limestone-bedded Colorado River tributary below Lake Brownwood, with genuine Guadalupe bass water and a gauge near Mullin reporting both stage and flow.

Cypress trunks and knees in the shallows of a Louisiana bayou
Gauge location. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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About the Pecan Bayou

Pecan Bayou is a bayou by name only. Despite the word, this is a clear-running limestone-bedded Texas stream draining more than two thousand square miles of the Colorado basin, and it fishes like a Hill Country river rather than a coastal slough. Below Lake Brownwood the dam releases give it a more dependable baseflow than an unregulated creek of the same size would carry, and the channel alternates between bedrock riffles, gravel runs and long pools cut against limestone bluffs. Pecans and live oaks line the banks and give the water its name and, in late summer, most of its shade.

The fish worth travelling for is the Guadalupe bass, the Texas state fish and a species restricted to the Edwards Plateau and the Colorado drainage. Pecan Bayou sits inside that native range, and the same riffle-and-pool structure that holds them also holds largemouth in the slower water and a run of white bass up out of the Colorado in spring. Channel and flathead catfish work the deeper bluff pools, and Rio Grande cichlids colour up in the shallows in summer. The mix is unusual enough that a day here does not resemble a day on a reservoir an hour away.

The gauge near Mullin reports both discharge and stage, which makes this one of the more readable waters in the region. Flow is the number that matters: at moderate discharge the riffles are wadeable and a kayak floats the pools comfortably, while low flow strands a boat between holes and high flow after a Hill Country thunderstorm turns the bayou brown and dangerous within hours. Access is largely through bridge crossings and county roads, so a float between two crossings is the standard way to fish it, and most of the bank is private.

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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Posting to Pecan Bayou.

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 Pecan Bayou cfs

Now: 18.3 cfs, read 5:20 pm CDT, Sun Oct 18, 2026 (USGS 08143600, Pecan Bayou nr Mullin, TX).

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

Access

Mullin - the small Mills County town nearest the gauge, with the most direct bridge access to the lower bayou. / Goldthwaite - the county seat, the practical base for supplies, fuel and lodging on the eastern approach. / Brownwood - the larger town upstream at Lake Brownwood, where most tackle and boat services are found. / Lake Brownwood State Park - developed ramps and camping on the impoundment above the river reach. / US 84 and US 183 bridges - the main highway crossings that make a two-bridge float possible. / County road crossings - several low-water crossings between Brownwood and Mullin give wade and kayak access. / Colorado River confluence - the downstream end of the reach, reached by boat from the river rather than by road.

Seasons

Spring: the strongest season, with the white bass run coming up from the Colorado and Guadalupe bass active on the riffles as the water warms. / Summer: low and clear, best fished at dawn and dusk; wade the riffles for Guadalupe bass and work the deep bluff pools for catfish. / Fall: steady flows and cooling water bring the best sustained bass fishing of the year with far less pressure than spring. / Winter: cold and low with long quiet pools; catfish and the occasional heavy largemouth reward patience, and flow can drop very thin.

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Questions

What is the current flow on the Pecan Bayou?

As of Oct 18, 5:20 pm, the USGS gauge Pecan Bayou nr Mullin, TX reads 18 cfs. Conditions update every 15 minutes.

What species can you catch on the Pecan Bayou?

Anglers target Blue Catfish, Bluegill, Channel Catfish, Common Carp, Flathead Catfish, Freshwater Drum, Guadalupe Bass, Largemouth Bass, Longear Sunfish, Longnose Gar, Rio Grande Cichlid, White Bass on the Pecan Bayou in Texas.

Where can you access the Pecan Bayou?

Mullin - the small Mills County town nearest the gauge, with the most direct bridge access to the lower bayou. / Goldthwaite - the county seat, the practical base for supplies, fuel and lodging on the eastern approach. / Brownwood - the larger town upstream at Lake Brownwood, where most tackle and boat services are found. / Lake Brownwood State Park - developed ramps and camping on the impoundment above the river reach. / US 84 and US 183 bridges - the main highway crossings that make a two-bridge float possible. / County road crossings - several low-water crossings between Brownwood and Mulli...

When is the best time to fish the Pecan Bayou?

Spring: the strongest season, with the white bass run coming up from the Colorado and Guadalupe bass active on the riffles as the water warms. / Summer: low and clear, best fished at dawn and dusk; wade the riffles for Guadalupe bass and work the deep bluff pools for catfish. / Fall: steady flows and cooling water bring the best sustained bass fishing of the year with far less pressure than spring. / Winter: cold and low with long quiet pools; catfish and the occasional heavy largemouth reward patience, and flow can drop very thin.

Where are the fishing regulations for the Pecan Bayou?

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