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Inks Lake Fishing Report

Updated Fri, Oct 23, 2026 from live gauge and weather data

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.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
887.37 ft
Air / High
71 / 82 F
Wind
SSW 3 mph

Sources: Texas Water Development Board (Inks Lake), Open-Meteo, solunar calculated for these coordinates.

Satellite view
Friday
23
October 2026

Today's Fishing Report

Generated this morning from live readings: gauge, weather model, sun and moon. A fresh report is published here every morning.

3/5Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Inks Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. The gauge reads 887.37 ft, up 0.16 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSW around 3 mph, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 82. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:11 AM-12:11 PM and 10:38 PM-12:38 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

Striped bassExcellent

Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

Largemouth bassGood

The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Catfish (blue, channel)Good

Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

CrappieFair

Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

White bassFair

Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Tomorrow: Similar at 79 F. The solunar majors shift about 50 minutes later.Next report: Sat, Oct 24, 6:30 AMHow this report is made β†’

Before you go

Texas requires a fishing licence from age 17, from $30.00 for residents. What a Texas licence costs and where to buy it β†’

Chasing largemouth bass here? Check the size and bag limits with TPWD before you keep anything. The season dates for Texas, read off the agency, are on the Texas seasons page.

Water and weather

Daily lake level from the Texas Water Development Board (Inks Lake); live weather.

Water level, last 30 days

Texas Water Development Board daily estimate, 96.3% of conservation capacity on 2026-10-23.

886.96887.16887.37887.37 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp71 F
High / Low82 / 58 F
WindSSW 3-10 mph
Pressure1019.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:41 / 18:53
MoonWaxing Gibbous, 91%
Water temp (seasonal)~74 F est.

Bite planner

Hour-by-hour bite forecast for today. Tap a bar to see why.

5 AM8 AM11 AM2 PM5 PM8 PMsunrisesunsetPRIMEPRIME

Which day to fish Inks Lake this week

The best day on Inks Lake this week looks like Sunday Oct 25, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Sunday, Oct 25 β€” excellent at 5/5, falling pressure, usually the best window of a week.

Today, Oct 23 β€” Fair

A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Solunar majors
10:11 AM-12:11 PM and 10:38 PM-12:38 AM
Minor period
4:33 AM-5:33 AM
Sun
07:41 to 18:53
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 11 mph
Rain chance
0%

Forecast-based scores, less reliable further out: how the score is built.

Species guide

The species that matter on Inks Lake: seasons, structure and how to fish each one. Today's ratings live in the report above.

Largemouth bass illustration

Largemouth bass

Best: the spring pre-spawn and the fall feed

A warm-water sunfish of lakes, reservoirs, ponds and slow river backwaters that holds tight to cover: weeds, logs, rock ledges and docks. In Texas, TPWD surveys rank it "by far" the freshwater fish anglers most want to catch. The main feeding season after the spawn: work moving baits along weed edges, points and wood, and follow up with a soft plastic where a fish swirls.

Crappie illustration

Crappie

Best: the spring spawn; summer around docks, brush and the thermocline

Two slab-sided panfish, the white crappie and the black crappie, that gather around submerged timber, brush piles, docks and bridge pilings in lakes, reservoirs and slow river backwaters. Texas Parks and Wildlife counts crappie as the state's most popular panfish. Early in this band crappie are spawning in protected coves; afterward they move to docks, brush piles and standing timber near deeper water.

Catfish (blue, channel) illustration

Catfish (blue, channel)

Year-round, best at dusk and after dark

Three big catfish share most of the country's rivers and reservoirs: the channel catfish, the most widespread; the blue catfish, the largest; and the flathead, which hunts live fish. All feed mostly on or near the bottom. Spawning season from late May into summer: Iowa DNR suggests drifting bait under a float along riprap and snags where males guard nests in cavities.

White bass illustration

White bass

Best: the spring run up the tributaries, then summer surface schools

A silvery temperate bass of rivers and large reservoirs, also called sand bass, that schools in open water after shad and runs up tributaries to spawn in early spring. Summer and early fall schooling season over open water; follow the shad, and try live bait on the bottom at night.

Striped bass illustration

Striped bass

Best: spring and fall inland; on the coast, during the seasonal migrations

The largest of the temperate basses, a sea-run fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts that now also lives in reservoirs across much of the country after hatchery stocking. Inland, it follows schools of shad and herring through open water. Use electronics to find shad schools in open water, and watch for birds working over bait.

When to come: the Inks Lake calendar

Activity by species and month, and how the water warms through the year. Tap any cell.

Species activity by month

1 = slow, 5 = peak. Current month highlighted.

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D
Largemouth bass
Crappie
Catfish (blue, channel)
White bass
Striped bass
SlowPeak

Water temperature through the year

Typical surface temperature for this water type; today is around 74 F (estimated, not a reading).

5060708090JanMarMayJulSepNovOct, ~74 F now

Angler reports

Real reports from real anglers, reviewed before publishing. The water log below tracks each day automatically.

No angler reports yet this weekBe the first: your report helps every angler who checks Inks Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 83 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

4/5 Good. Solid day ahead. Stable-to-falling pressure and workable wind line things up. Largemouth bass led the card at excellent. High of 81 F, wind to 6 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
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Before you go

License

Texas requires a valid fishing license for adults. Buy online from the state agency; one-day options exist for visitors.

Regulations

Texas fishing license, except from the shore or a pier inside Inks Lake State Park. TPWD manages all species here under statewide regulations; LCRA enforces special rules for bowfishing. Zebra mussels are present, so draining your boat, livewells and bait buckets is required by law.

Access

Inks Lake State Park, 9 miles west of Burnet on Park Road 4: two-lane concrete ramp, piers and shoreline (entrance fee; open all year). TPWD lists no other public ramp on the lake.

About this water

An LCRA hydroelectric lake on the Colorado River below Buchanan Dam, Burnet and Llano counties, Texas: 798 acres at full pool (LCRA), completed in 1938.

Fishing Inks Lake: the full guide

A pass-through Highland Lake

Inks Dam, completed by LCRA in 1938, holds Inks Lake on the Colorado River in Burnet and Llano counties, just downstream of Buchanan Dam. LCRA gives the lake 798 acres at its full elevation of 887.7 feet; TPWD's lake page lists 831 acres, a maximum depth of 60 feet and about 1 foot of fluctuation a year. LCRA calls Inks a pass-through lake: it is run within a small range, but it can rise in floods and is sometimes lowered for shoreline work, as it was by about 8 feet in October and November 2025. LCRA says it does not plan to lower any pass-through lake in 2026.

What TPWD finds here

TPWD lists largemouth bass, white bass, crappie, catfish and sunfish as the main species. Its biologists describe under-rated largemouth and Guadalupe bass populations, white bass caught regularly, a low-density white crappie population, and channel and flathead catfish throughout. There is no significant aquatic vegetation; the cover is rock piles, ledges, chunk-rock banks, private docks (many on the west side) and the brush piles and gravel beds TPWD placed near fishing piers. White bass begin gathering in the upper end of the lake in February ahead of the spawn. TPWD's stocking record includes ShareLunker largemouth fingerlings in 2024 and striped bass fingerlings in 2021 and 2023.

Inks Lake State Park

The state park borders about a third of the eastern shoreline, according to TPWD. It has a two-lane concrete ramp, two fishing piers (one of them lighted), fish-cleaning stations, nearly 200 campsites and 22 cabins, and rents kayaks, canoes and paddleboards. Devil's Waterhole, a swimming and hiking area inside the park, has waterfalls upstream when Valley Spring Creek is running. In a Texas state park you can fish from the shore or a pier without a fishing license.

Common questions

Do I need a fishing license at Inks Lake?

Not from the shore or a fishing pier inside Inks Lake State Park, according to TPWD. Fishing from a boat or outside the park requires a Texas fishing license.

Does Inks Lake stay at a constant level?

Nearly. TPWD puts its normal fluctuation at about a foot a year, but LCRA says none of the Highland Lakes is a constant-level lake. It lowered Inks by about 8 feet in the fall of 2025 and plans no pass-through lowering in 2026.

Where are the white bass in late winter?

TPWD says they start to gather in the upper end of the reservoir in February, and that minnows fished for them often catch crappie as well.

Is fishing good at Inks Lake right now?

Check the daily report at the top of this page: it is regenerated every morning from live data. Today's read: Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.

Nearby waters

Lake Buchanan6 miLake LBJ12 miLake Marble Falls13 miLake Travis28 miLake Austin44 miLady Bird Lake50 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Reservoir level
Texas Water Development Board β€” Inks Lake
Water Data for Texas, daily average elevation estimated by the TWDB from operator data (for this lake, the Lower Colorado River Authority). A daily figure, not a live reading.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 30.7310, -98.3848 in this water's own timezone. A model, not an observation.
Moon and solunar windows
Calculated on this site
Astronomical calculation from these coordinates and the date, not a third-party feed. How much weight it deserves.
Pages checked
The facts in the written guide were checked against these pages, from the agencies and operators that manage the water, on October 6, 2026. Anything we could not verify was taken out.
The written guide on this page
Pablo Ruiz Quintero
How this page was made. The daily report is computed by our scoring engine from live readings; nobody types it. The written text was drafted with AI assistance from the official pages listed above, and its facts were checked against those pages by automated verification on October 6, 2026; anything that could not be verified was taken out. Pablo Ruiz Quintero sets every guideline, the data-verification system and the minimum standards a page must meet to be published, reviews page structure and approves what goes live; the responsibility is his, and the AI carries out the work. We work this way because it is how one person can keep every page current with named sources. Errors are published in the verification log; the full policy is in the editorial policy.

Readings refresh on a 30-minute window. The full method, with every figure and its source, is on how our reports are made. Something wrong here? Tell us and it goes in the log with the date.