Texas fishes like a country of its own: grass giants in the east (Rayburn, Fork, Toledo Bend), striper factories on the Red River, catfish capitals, and the clear canyon lakes of the Hill Country. No closed season, year-round bites, and more water than a lifetime covers. These are the flagship reservoirs we track daily.
Reports current for Friday, October 23
Every one of the 76 Texas waters we cover has a live read this morning. 11 are scoring 4 out of 5 or better and 9 are slow. Water runs 47 F to 78 F. Pressure is holding steady on most of them, so the day comes down to water temperature and wind. Wind touches 19 mph on the roughest of them.
Best right now: Lake Alan Henry 4/5, Lake Conroe 4/5, Lake Livingston 4/5
Live verdicts from this morning's reports.
Lake Conroe: a 20,118-acre San Jacinto River Authority reservoir north of Houston, under a 16-inch largemouth minimum, where TPWD rates bass, catfish, hybrids and bluegill excellent.
Sam Rayburn Reservoir: a 114,500-acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Angelina River in East Texas, where TPWD rates the largemouth, crappie and catfish fishing excellent year-round.
A 27,264-acre Sabine River Authority reservoir near Quitman where TPWD manages largemouth bass under a 16-to-24-inch slot and stocks hundreds of thousands of fingerlings a year.
Lake Palestine: a 25,560-acre Neches River reservoir southwest of Tyler that TPWD rates excellent for catfish and for white and hybrid striped bass.
Toledo Bend: the Sabine River Authority's 65-mile reservoir on the Texas-Louisiana line, with hydrilla, timber and a TPWD-managed bass fishery.
Lake Livingston: a 90,000-acre Trinity River reservoir that TPWD rates for white bass and blue catfish.
Lake Tawakoni: a 37,879-acre Sabine River reservoir east of Dallas, beside West Tawakoni, which the Texas Legislature named the Official Catfish Capital of Texas in 2001.
The deep, clear giant of the Highland Lakes: stripers in open water, whites up the Colorado.
The striper lake of the Brazos: granite bluffs, clear water and a two-state-quality fishery an hour from the Metroplex.
Richland-Chambers Reservoir: 41,356 acres southeast of Corsicana where TPWD rates catfish, crappie and white and hybrid striped bass excellent.
Amistad Reservoir: 64,900 acres of rocky border water near Del Rio, where largemouth bass are the most popular fish.
The deep-south border lake that grows double-digit bass in brushy, fertile Rio Grande water.
Possum Kingdom Lake: a clear, rock-lined Brazos River reservoir west of Fort Worth, stocked with striped bass by TPWD in most years.
The workingman's saltwater capital: jetties, piers, surf and bay within an hour of four million Texans.
Port Aransas: the town on Mustang Island at the Aransas Pass ship channel, with Gulf, jetty and bay fishing for red drum, spotted seatrout and flounder.
Corpus Christi: Gulf surf on North Padre Island and, on the bay side, the hypersaline Laguna Madre of Padre Island National Seashore.
The art-town flats: protected bays, whooping cranes and classic wade fishing for trout and reds.
Choke Canyon Reservoir: a 25,670-acre Frio River lake west of Three Rivers, rated excellent by TPWD for largemouth, catfish and alligator gar, and far below full pool in fall 2026.
Lake Travis: the deep Highland Lakes reservoir on the Colorado River above Austin, with largemouth and Guadalupe bass, spring white bass runs and a small striper fishery.
Ray Roberts Lake: a 25,600-acre Corps reservoir north of Denton with about 2,000 acres of standing timber and a 15.18-pound lake-record bass.
Cedar Creek Reservoir: 32,623 acres west of Athens where TPWD rates catfish and white and hybrid striped bass excellent and hybrids are stocked every year.
Lake LBJ: the constant-level Highland Lake on the Colorado River at Marble Falls and Kingsland, where TPWD calls the white crappie the best in the chain.
Lake Somerville: an 11,456-acre Corps lake on Yegua Creek between Houston and Austin, known to TPWD for its spring white bass run and stocked hybrid striped bass.
Lavon Lake: a 21,400-acre Corps reservoir northeast of Dallas that TPWD notes for crappie, catfish and white bass.
Lewisville Lake: a 29,592-acre Corps of Engineers reservoir on the Elm Fork of the Trinity where TPWD rates catfish, crappie and white bass excellent.
Lake Limestone: a 12,553-acre Navasota River reservoir where TPWD says anglers find little competition, especially on weekdays.
Granger Lake: a 4,009-acre Corps reservoir on the San Gabriel River where TPWD calls crappie the most popular sport fish.
The Brazos ribbon lake: stripers below Possum Kingdom, sandies everywhere, docks for days.
Lake Athens: a 1,799-acre East Texas lake under a 14-21-inch largemouth slot, known for 3- to 8-pound bass and big sunfish.
Belton Lake: a 12,385-acre Corps reservoir on the Leon River with steep, rocky shores, where TPWD has stocked hybrid striped bass since 1977 and smallmouth since 1978.
Lake Waco: an 8,465-acre Corps reservoir inside the city, raised seven feet in 2003, with crappie, catfish and stocked hybrid stripers.
Lake O' the Pines: a Corps reservoir on Big Cypress Creek where TPWD lists chain pickerel alongside bass, crappie and catfish.
Lake Bridgeport: an 11,954-acre West Fork Trinity reservoir with largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, and white bass, hybrids and crappie that TPWD rates excellent.
Calaveras Lake: CPS Energy's power-plant cooling reservoir near San Antonio, where TPWD stocks red drum every year.
Lake Brownwood: a 6,490-acre reservoir on Pecan Bayou and Jim Ned Creek where TPWD rates white bass fishing excellent.
Five miles of fishing pier disguised as a road: the world's longest man-made fishing structure, pointing straight into Galveston Bay.
South Padre Island: the southern end of the Lower Laguna Madre at Brazos Santiago Pass, where TPWD biologists say snook, gray snapper and pompano add to the seatrout and red drum.
The border pass where Texas and Louisiana trade water: jetties, ship channel and marsh drains funneling everything between Sabine Lake and the Gulf.
Benbrook Lake: a 3,635-acre Corps reservoir on the Clear Fork of the Trinity southwest of Fort Worth, stocked with hybrid striped bass and low in October 2026.
Eagle Mountain Lake: a 1932 Tarrant Regional Water District reservoir on the West Fork Trinity that produced a 16-pound ShareLunker in 2022.
A 21,671-acre City of Dallas reservoir on the East Fork of the Trinity, where hybrid striped bass and blue catfish are now the most abundant sportfish, TPWD says.
Braunig Lake: a CPS Energy cooling reservoir southeast of San Antonio where stocked red drum draw most of the fishing.
Lake Tyler and Lake Tyler East: twin city reservoirs southeast of Tyler, joined by a canal and known for consistent largemouth bass.
The ShareLunker capital: West Texas' big-bass phenomenon, where 13-pounders make Tuesday news and forward sonar changed everything.
The Panhandle's canyon oasis: a Canadian River lake back from the dead, with walleye, smallmouth and sailing-club wind.
Lake Bastrop: a 906-acre LCRA power-plant cooling reservoir near Bastrop, where warmer water keeps bass active in winter and a 14-21-inch slot applies.
Lake Bob Sandlin: a 9,004-acre Big Cypress Creek reservoir near Mount Pleasant, stocked with Lone Star bass and blue catfish.
Bois d'Arc Lake: a 16,641-acre North Texas water-supply lake, impounded in 2021, with a 16-inch maximum length limit on largemouth bass.
Guadalupe River below Canyon Dam: a TPWD winter trout stocking site with special trout zones, in the home range of the Guadalupe bass.
Lake Houston: an 11,854-acre San Jacinto River reservoir northeast of Houston where TPWD calls blue catfish the dominant sport fish.
Lake Austin: the constant-level Colorado River reservoir between Lake Travis and downtown Austin, managed by statewide rules and stocked with Lone Star bass.
Grapevine Lake: a Corps of Engineers reservoir on Denton Creek north of Grapevine, with a special black bass rule and shoreline parks run by three cities and the Corps.
Joe Pool Lake: a 6,469-acre Corps lake in the southern Metroplex with timber left standing in its upper arms and a slot limit on largemouth.
The Colorado River's mouth at Matagorda: East Matagorda Bay, Matagorda Bay and the Gulf jetty within reach.
The trophy trout mother church: hypersaline water, ancient serpulid rocks and the biggest speckled trout in Texas swimming among them.
Port Mansfield: a Willacy County Navigation District harbor on the Lower Laguna Madre with two public ramps and a channel nine miles to the Gulf.
Fayette County Reservoir: a 2,400-acre LCRA power-plant cooling lake east of La Grange that TPWD calls first and foremost a largemouth bass lake.
Lake Nasworthy: San Angelo's 1,380-acre city lake, held near a constant level by releases from Twin Buttes Reservoir.
Fort Phantom Hill: a 4,213-acre City of Abilene reservoir on Elm Creek where TPWD rates blue catfish, hybrid stripers and white crappie the steadiest bites.
Lake Alan Henry: a City of Lubbock reservoir in a Brazos canyon, with a 15-pound lake-record largemouth and a mercury advisory on its fish.
Fort Worth's original: the 1914 city lake still schools sandies, cats and comeback bass under the Jacksboro Highway's history.
The Hill County sleeper: Aquilla's stained timber grows heavyweight largemouth for the few who work its snaggy truth.
Bardwell Lake: a Corps of Engineers reservoir on Waxahachie Creek near Ennis, stocked with hybrid striped bass and managed under statewide rules.
East Texas' postcard pocket: Cypress Springs' clear coves and manicured shores hide bass quality behind the lake-house calm.
A Texas–Louisiana border estuary at the mouths of the Sabine and Neches rivers, open to anglers licensed in either state.
A small pass-through lake on the Colorado River between Buchanan and LBJ, with clear water, rocky banks and a state park along its east shore.
The Brazos near Glen Rose: a warmwater river under Texas statewide limits, where the public may fish and camp on the bed of a navigable stream.
The clear one at Killeen’s door: Stillhouse hides hybrid schools, big smallmouth genes and hydrilla flats under a modest profile.
An 8,308-acre Corps reservoir on the Guadalupe with stocked striped bass, white bass and catfish, and a winter trout tailrace below the dam.
Medina Lake: a deep Hill Country reservoir whose level rises and falls with drought, and whose ramps and fishing follow it.
An 18,994-acre Corps reservoir on the Sulphur River southwest of Texarkana, where TPWD rates white bass and crappie as the popular catches.
Comanche Creek Reservoir, formerly Squaw Creek: a clear, deep power-plant lake near Glen Rose where TPWD rates the channel catfish exceptional and bass fishing best in winter.
Nacogdoches Lake on Loco Bayou: a hydrilla-and-lotus bass lake where only largemouth of 16 inches or less may be kept.
Lake Marble Falls: the smallest lake in LCRA's Highland Lakes chain, a narrow pass-through reservoir at the town of Marble Falls.
Lady Bird Lake: Austin's 468-acre Colorado River reservoir, with a 14–21-inch protected slot on largemouth bass, a 14-pound lake record, and only paddles or small electric motors on the water.
An East Texas river followed by two Big Thicket National Preserve units from Town Bluff Dam to the saltwater barrier at Beaumont.
Species activity across the state's covered waters. Peak of the year: March.
1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.
Seasonal surface curve for this state's dominant water type (estimated).
Texas fishing splits into four worlds. East Texas is grass-reservoir country: Rayburn, Fork, Toledo Bend and Palestine grow giant largemouth in fertile, stained water. North Texas runs on hybrids, sand bass and the striper factory of Texoma. The Hill Country's Highland Lakes (Buchanan down to Austin) offer clear canyon water and white bass runs. And the coast, from Sabine to the Laguna Madre, is its own universe of trout and redfish. One license with a freshwater or saltwater endorsement covers the side you fish, and nothing ever closes: February giants and August catfish are both Texas traditions.
The bass calendar peaks February-May (pre-spawn through post-spawn) and again in October, when the lakes empty of traffic and the shad migrate. Hybrid and white bass fishing carries the summer mornings; catfishing never stops; and on the coast the calendar flips, with the best sight-fishing in winter's clear, low tides and bull redfish schooling every fall at the passes.
February through May is prime on the bass lakes (pre-spawn through post-spawn), October is the underrated month everywhere, and the catfish and hybrid bites carry the summer. There is no closed season.
No: dams, riprap, bridges and state park piers give real bank access on every water we cover, and the tailraces (Livingston, Texoma) are famous bank fisheries.