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Lake Whitney Fishing Report

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

The striper lake of the Brazos: granite bluffs, clear water and a two-state-quality fishery an hour from the Metroplex.

3/5
Fair. Fish the windows.A steady pattern: dawn and dusk carry the day.
Lake level
530.69 ft -2.31 vs pool
Air / High
73 / 83 F
Wind
SSE 4 mph

Sources: USGS gauge 08092500, 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.

Lake Whitney lines up a genuinely fishable day across the board. The gauge reads 530.69 ft, 2.31 ft below pool, easing 0.22 over the week. Today brings clear skies, wind SSE around 4 mph, steady pressure near 1020 hPa and a high of 83. Water sits around 74 F for the season (estimated). With the waxing gibbous, the solunar majors run 10:07 AM-12:07 PM and 10:34 PM-12:34 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.

Tomorrow: Similar at 81 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 Whitney Lk nr Whitney, TX.

Water level, last 30 days

USGS gauge 08092500. Conservation pool is 533 ft.

530.76531.64532.52pool 533530.69 ft09/2310/0310/1310/23

Right now

Latest readings

Air temp73 F
High / Low83 / 52 F
WindSSE 4-10 mph
Pressure1020.0 hPa, steady
Sky / Rain0% cloud, 0%
Sunrise / Sunset07:38 / 18:48
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 Whitney this week

The best day on Lake Whitney 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
10:07 AM-12:07 PM and 10:34 PM-12:34 AM
Minor period
4:29 AM-5:29 AM
Sun
07:38 to 18:48
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 Lake Whitney: 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.

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.

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.

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.

When to come: the Lake Whitney 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
Striped bass
Catfish (blue, channel)
Crappie
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 Whitney 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 86 F, wind to 8 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 7 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 8 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. Smallmouth: 14-inch minimum. Confirm with TPWD.

Access

Lofers Bend, McCown Valley and Lake Whitney State Park ramps; bank access at the dam and state park.

About this water

23,560 acres on the Brazos River, Hill/Bosque counties, TX. Corps of Engineers, impounded 1951.

Fishing Lake Whitney: the full guide

Brazos River striper water

Whitney pools the Brazos behind a 1951 dam into 23,000 acres of limestone bluffs and clear water, and stripers rule it: the lake holds one of the oldest striper programs in Texas, with fish pushing 30-plus pounds along the river channel and below the dam. Live shad on downlines around Bee Bluffs and the dam basin is the standard play; winter birds give the schools away.

Beyond the linesides

Smallmouth were stocked into the rocky habitat and still show around riprap and bluff ends; largemouth work the creek pockets when water is up; and the white bass run up the Brazos and Nolan River each spring. Watch the level: Whitney swings hard between flood storage and drawdown, and the bite moves with it.

Striper depth discipline

Whitney's stripers school by the calendar: spring surface melees off the islands, summer thermocline camps at 25-40 ft (live shad on downlines over the channel), fall bird-chasing across the flats. The lake's limestone clarity makes long fluorocarbon leaders non-negotiable. Between striper shifts, the bluff walls' smallmouth program quietly produces four-pounders on jerkbaits: Texas' most underrated brown-fish water.

Common questions

Are there really smallmouth in Lake Whitney?

Yes: the rocky, clear habitat suits them, and the lake held Texas smallmouth records in the past. Bluff ends and riprap are where they show.

Where do Whitney stripers go in summer?

Deep over the old river channel between the dam and Bee Bluffs: downlined shad at 25-45 ft at first light is the guide standard.

Is fishing good at Lake Whitney 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 Aquilla10 miLake Waco24 miBrazos River33 miSquaw Creek Reservoir39 miLake Granbury49 miBelton Lake50 mi

Where this page's numbers come from

River and reservoir readings
USGS 08092500 β€” Whitney Lk nr Whitney, TX
Read from the USGS Water Data API (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Latest value timestamped 2026-10-23 at 15:15 UTC.
Weather and pressure
Open-Meteo forecast model
Queried at 31.8725, -97.3731 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.