ALVIN DEDEAUX · OWNER & HEAD GUIDE
A life shaped
by water.
Before All Water Guides became an award-winning Texas outfitter, there was a twelve-year-old, a library book, and a first fly rod in 1976.
TWO STORIES. ONE CURRENT.
The angler and the outfitter.
This story follows a life spent learning Texas water and the guide service built to share it. The two halves have always moved together.
PHOTO: NICK KELLEY
01
THE ANGLER
Curiosity became a calling.
In 1976, Alvin Dedeaux received his first fly rod for his twelfth birthday after discovering fly fishing in a school library book. He had never watched anyone cast a fly, so he learned by doing. He caught bass and sunfish close to home and returned to the water every chance he got.
That self-taught beginning became a life in the sport. Alvin worked at Austin Angler, guided in Chile, Argentina and Colorado, and spent ten summers on Colorado trout water. When Austin Angler closed in 2004, he committed to guiding full-time.
Texas remained the center of it all. Today, his seasons still follow the fish: largemouth and Guadalupe bass on the Colorado River in winter and spring, then redfish across the middle Texas coast in summer and fall.
For Alvin, the best fish is often somebody else’s first one.READ THE ORVIS PROFILE
02
THE OUTFITTER
Local water. A bigger vision.
Alvin launched his first fishing website in 2001 and steadily built a client base around Austin. In 2011, he founded All Water Guides around a simple idea: match every angler with the right guide, the right water and a day worth remembering.
Owned and operated by Alvin and Lenée Dedeaux, the company grew from one guide’s calendar into a team covering clear Hill Country rivers, broad Central Texas lakes and the sight-fishing flats of the middle Texas coast.
In 2025, Orvis named All Water Guides its Endorsed Outfitter/Fly Shop of the Year. The award recognized what clients had known for years: the experience is professional, personal and welcoming to beginners and experts alike.
The mission never changed: put people on fish, teach generously and care for the water that makes it possible.MEET THE TEAM
MILESTONES
From a library book to an award-winning outfitter.
The first cast
A library book sparks the obsession. Alvin receives his first fly rod at age twelve.
The first website
Alvin launches a fishing website and begins building the community that will become All Water Guides.
All in on guiding
After Austin Angler closes, Alvin turns a growing client base into a full-time career on the water.
All Water Guides
The company is founded in Austin and expands across Central Texas and the Texas coast.
LoCo Trash Bash
Alvin co-founds the annual Lower Colorado River cleanup, turning stewardship into collective action.
A landmark year
All Water Guides wins Orvis Outfitter of the Year, and Alvin receives the John Lay River Hero Award.
CARE FOR THE CURRENT
The river gives. The team gives back.
In 2018, Alvin helped co-found LoCo Trash Bash, an annual cleanup of the Lower Colorado River downstream from Austin. By June 2025, volunteers had removed more than 45 tons of trash from the river.
That work helped earn Alvin the Colorado River Alliance’s 2025 John Lay River Hero Award. For All Water Guides, conservation is not a campaign. It is part of the job.
FEATURED FILM · YETI
A Proper Occupation
Alvin, JT Van Zandt and David Mangum have been friends since the 1990s. In this film, three of the South’s most respected guides take on the flats of the Seychelles.
LISTEN · READ · WATCH
More of the story.
The Flyfish Journal
From Austin’s music scene and the Austin Angler to a life built around guiding.
READ FEATURE ↗ PODCASTTexas Parks & Wildlife Foundation
Alvin and Lenée on fishing, family and building All Water Guides together.
LISTEN ↗ PODCASTMountain & Prairie
“Living His Dream” is a long-form conversation about Alvin’s unconventional path.
LISTEN ↗
YOUR DAY ON THE WATER STARTS HERE
Come fish the story.
Choose Central Texas freshwater or the Texas coast. All skill levels are welcome, and all the gear is provided.