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Lake Buchanan Fishing Report

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

The deep, clear giant of the Highland Lakes: stripers in open water, whites up the Colorado.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
1018.36 ft -1.64 vs pool
Air / High
82 / 83 F
Wind
SE 8 mph

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

Tap a marker for today's tip
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.

Lake Buchanan lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. The gauge reads 1018.36 ft, 1.64 ft below pool, easing 0.15 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SE around 8 mph, steady pressure near 1017 hPa and a high of 83. 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

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: Cooler at 78 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 (Lake Buchanan); live weather.

Water level, last 30 days

Texas Water Development Board daily estimate, 95.8% of conservation capacity on 2026-10-23. Conservation pool is 1020 ft.

1018.581019.141019.70pool 10201018.36 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp82 F
High / Low83 / 59 F
WindSE 8-11 mph
Pressure1017.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:42 / 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 Lake Buchanan this week

The best day on Lake Buchanan 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
07:42 to 18:53
Moon
Waxing Gibbous, 91% lit
Sky and wind
Partly cloudy, 13 mph
Rain chance
0%

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

Species guide

The species that matter on Lake Buchanan: 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.

When to come: the Lake Buchanan 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
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 Lake Buchanan 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 82 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 83 F, wind to 9 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 82 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

Striped bass: 18-inch minimum, 5 per day. White bass: 10-inch minimum, 25 per day. Largemouth: 14-inch minimum. Confirm with TPWD.

Access

Burnet County Park, Cedar Point, Llano County Park and marina ramps around Buchanan Dam. Canyon of the Eagles resort area serves the north end.

About this water

22,333 acres on the Colorado River, Burnet/Llano counties. LCRA storage reservoir, dam completed 1938. First of the Highland Lakes chain.

Fishing Lake Buchanan: the full guide

The top of the chain

Lake Buchanan is the first and largest of the Highland Lakes, 22,000 acres of clear Hill Country water on the Colorado River behind a mile-long 1930s dam. It fishes nothing like an East Texas grass lake: this is open, rocky, wind-swept striper water, with granite islands, gravel flats and river current in the upper end.

Stripers and whites

Buchanan holds the Hill Country's benchmark striper fishery: live shad on downlines over the river channel and humps, surface action at dawn in summer, and deep winter schools near Garrett Island and the dam. White bass run the Colorado toward Colorado Bend State Park every spring: a classic wade-and-jig fishery when the water is right.

Reading a canyon lake

Water level matters here more than anywhere: Buchanan is the storage lake of the chain and can swing many feet between wet and dry years. High water floods brush and turns on the bass; low water concentrates everything on the river channel and main-lake structure. Check the level trend on this page before you plan the trip.

Common questions

Why does Lake Buchanan's level change so much?

It is the main storage reservoir for the Highland Lakes chain: LCRA moves water downstream for supply and drought management. Wet years fill it and flood brush (great fishing); droughts can drop it 20+ feet and reshape every pattern.

Where do the white bass run in spring?

Up the Colorado River arm toward Colorado Bend State Park, typically late February through April. Wading anglers work the gravel runs with small jigs when flow and clarity line up.

Are there guides on Buchanan?

A solid fleet of striper guides works the lake year-round with live bait: the fastest way to learn the open-water game on a big, windy canyon lake.

Is fishing good at Lake Buchanan 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

Inks Lake6 miLake LBJ18 miLake Marble Falls20 miLake Travis34 miLake Austin50 miStillhouse Hollow Lake51 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

Reservoir level
Texas Water Development Board β€” Lake Buchanan
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 30.8183, -98.4227 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.
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 guide was drafted with AI assistance. Unlike our newer pages, it does not yet list the official pages its facts were checked against: that audit is under way, and anything it cannot verify will be 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.