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Lady Bird Lake Fishing Report

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

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.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Flow
230 cfs
Air / High
85 / 86 F
Wind
SE 8 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 08158000, 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.

Lady Bird Lake sits in the sweet spot of the season: active fish and workable weather. The release below the dam is running 230 cfs, falling. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1018 hPa and a high of 86. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM: the windows to build the day around.

The plan, species by species

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.

Tomorrow: Similar at 85 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

Live readings from Colorado River at Austin (below Longhorn Dam).

Flow, last 30 days

USGS gauge 08158000.

384670956230 cfs09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp85 F
High / Low86 / 58 F
WindSE 8-10 mph
Pressure1017.5 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:38 / 18:51
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 Lady Bird Lake this week

The best day on Lady Bird Lake this week looks like Monday Oct 26, at 5 out of 5, against 3 today.

Best day this week: Monday, Oct 26 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
10:08 AM-12:08 PM and 10:35 PM-12:35 AM
Minor period
4:30 AM-5:30 AM
Sun
07:38 to 18:51
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 9 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Lady Bird 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.

When to come: the Lady Bird 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)
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 Lady Bird Lake today, and we feature the best catch of the week.

Water log, last days

Auto-logged from live data
Thu, Oct 22

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 88 F, wind to 4 mph.

Wed, Oct 21

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 85 F, wind to 6 mph.

Tue, Oct 20

3/5 Fair. Fish the windows. A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day. Largemouth bass led the card at good. High of 84 F, wind to 5 mph.

Where roughly, what depth, what bait. Skip anything you want to keep secret.
Only used if we need to ask you about your report. No mailing list, no spam.

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. TPWD special rules for Lady Bird Lake (read 2026-10-06): largemouth 14–21-inch slot, keep fish 14 inches or less or 21 inches or more, only 1 at 21 inches or more; 5 black bass combined; only 1 common carp 33 inches or longer a day; crappie 10-inch minimum, 25 a day. Electric motors up to 5 hp only; no swimming or wading.

Access

City launch areas: Festival Beach Boat Ramp (Nash Hernandez Sr. Road), unimproved ramps at IH 35 and East Avenue, behind the Holiday Inn at IH 35 and on Stephen F. Austin Drive; shoreline access at Red Bud Isle near Tom Miller Dam and along the hike-and-bike trail.

About this water

A 468-acre City of Austin reservoir on the Colorado River (impounded 1960), Travis County, Texas.

Fishing Lady Bird Lake: the full guide

A city reservoir

TPWD lists Lady Bird Lake at 468 acres on the Colorado River in downtown Austin, impounded in 1960, with a maximum depth of 18 feet, a stable level and clear to slightly stained water. The City of Austin controls it. Zebra mussels have invaded the lake, and draining boats and gear before leaving is required by law.

Largemouth bass

TPWD describes an excellent largemouth population and says anglers commonly catch and release 20 to 30 bass a day in the 2- to 3-pound range. Most cover is along the banks: laydown logs, overhanging brush, cypress roots, bulrush and cattails, with submerged vegetation on offshore humps near Longhorn Dam and weedbeds in the upper end. The agency recommends night fishing in the clear water and sight fishing during the spring spawn. Its lake record largemouth weighed 14.05 pounds (February 5, 2025), and it stocked ShareLunker largemouth fingerlings in 2016.

Panfish, carp and catfish

The lake holds very large redear and redbreast sunfish, according to TPWD, and is a popular fishery for common carp over 30 pounds. Barton Creek, spring-fed and warm in winter, enters on the south side near mid-lake. TPWD stocked 14,787 channel catfish fingerlings in 2025.

On the water

City code bans gas motors: only boats with electric motors of 5 horsepower or less may run, and swimming or wading in the lake is illegal. Fishing from any bridge over the Colorado inside city limits is prohibited. Children under 13 must wear a life jacket.

Common questions

Are the bass really big?

They can be. TPWD's water-body record for Lady Bird Lake is a 14.05-pound largemouth caught on February 5, 2025, and the agency describes catches of 20 to 30 bass a day in the 2- to 3-pound range.

Can I use a motor?

Only an electric motor of 5 horsepower or less, under City of Austin rules. Gas-powered boats are not allowed except with the city's permission.

Can I keep a 16-inch largemouth?

No. Largemouth from 14 to 21 inches must be released; you may keep bass of 14 inches or less, plus one of 21 inches or more, within a 5-bass daily limit.

Is fishing good at Lady Bird 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 Austin7 miLake Travis23 miLake Bastrop28 miGuadalupe River38 miLake Marble Falls39 miGranger Lake40 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 08158000 β€” Colorado River at Austin (below Longhorn Dam)
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 18:50 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 30.2560, -97.7410 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.