LAKE BUCHANAN — stripers, hybrids, white bass - Activity: Striped bass and white bass remain the lake's strongest fishery; the fall bite is on and guide boats are posting stringers of stripers. - Hot spots: deep river-channel structure; main-lake points; humps and channel breaks. White bass schooling — watch for diving birds to locate them. - What's working: trolling deep water over river-channel structure; topwater schooling activity increasing (cast into busting schools); live bait; jigging spoons over humps. - Conditions: water about eighty-one degrees, mostly clear; lake about one point two seven feet below pool, nearly full. Best action right after sunrise and again near sunset. - Game plan: Launch at first light, chase diving birds and busting schools with topwater, then troll the deep river channel once the sun climbs.
CANYON LAKE — stripers, hybrids, white bass - Activity: Stripers and white bass have finally made their appearance along deep-water points and bluffs; fair bite, with good topwater windows opening periodically through the day. Recent rain stirred the normally clear lake, and kayak anglers are confirming the rain got the fish moving. - Hot spots: deep-water lake points and bluffs in twenty-four to forty feet; mid-lake creek channels; secondary creek points and bluff ledges at dawn. - What's working: on the surface — Zara Spooks, Rat-L-Traps, white Curb's bucktails with plastic trailers; when the schools sound — vertical jigging a Pirk Minnow. For whites: two-inch Lit'l Fishie Shads, quarter-ounce silver or blue Pirk Minnows, Shad Raps, in-line spinners along eight-to-twelve-foot breaklines. - Conditions: water about seventy-six degrees, stained to clear from the rain. - Game plan: Be on a deep point at daylight with a Zara Spook, then drop a Pirk Minnow straight down when the school sounds — the stirred water should keep every species active.
LAKE CALAVERAS — red drum - Activity: Reds biting strong from shore and boat, day and night — multiple thirty-inch-class fish caught this week. - Hot spots: gravel and grassy shorelines; rocky shoreline and embankments; night bank-fishing spots all around the lake. - What's working: chartreuse soft plastics (Miko Lures producing doubles); lures from the shore at golden hour; night bank fishing; cast-and-retrieve over open water. - Conditions: fall conditions; bite hot across the full seven-day window. - Game plan: Fish the shoreline with chartreuse soft plastics at golden hour, then stay late — the night bite from the bank is producing the biggest fish.
LAKE TRAVIS — stripers, white bass, largemouth bass - Activity: Quiet week on the feeds — only two guide posts in the seven-day window, so this one is thin. Black bass are the bright spot (good); stripers are slow right now per the current lake report; white bass fair. - Hot spots: lake points; grass and brush edges; upstream areas running stained after rises on the Llano River. - What's working: bone-colored topwaters (6th Sense Dogma), white buzzbaits, and swimbaits around grass and brush; watermelon worms and grubs in five to fifteen feet for bass. Whites: chrome jigging spoons and minnows deep, thirty-five to forty-two feet. - Conditions: water stained, about eighty-three degrees — and the lake is roughly fifty-one feet low, so check your ramp before you tow. - Game plan: Fish the topwater bass bite at first light. If stripers are your target, temper expectations this week — they're slow.
BELTON LAKE — hybrids, white bass, catfish - Activity: Thinnest coverage of the new lakes this week, so honesty up front: no current word on the hybrid schools. One recent video showed hybrids being caught, but its caption describes March action — stale. A few shore anglers posted after recent rain raised the lake, catching sunfish and rigging for catfish. - Hot spots (general, not this-week): hybrids school the main lake; whites run the Leon River arm in spring; rocky points and bluffs lake-wide. - What's working: no fresh pattern to report. The reliable fallback is catfish — cut shad on the old river channels. - Conditions: recent rain has raised the lake; shoreline rocks that were dry are now covered. - Game plan: Prospect the main-lake points and humps with spoons or live bait for schooling hybrids, and keep a catfish rod rigged with cut shad as the backup plan.
GRANGER LAKE — white bass, crappie, catfish - Activity: Nothing on-topic from social this week — this section rides on one current web report, so treat it as moderate confidence rather than gospel. Crappie are good; white bass fair; blue catfish good. - Hot spots: shallow roadbeds early and late for whites; six to ten feet for crappie; newly flooded vegetation for blues. - What's working: chartreuse jigs and minnows in six to ten feet (crappie); slab spoons and Rat-L-Traps along shallow roadbeds at first and last light (whites); shad in the newly flooded vegetation (blue catfish); white spinnerbaits among shallow weeds (bass). - Conditions: murky water, about eighty-two degrees, roughly one and a quarter feet low. - Game plan: Crappie are the best bet — chartreuse jigs and minnows in six to ten feet. Run slab spoons over the roadbeds at dawn and dusk for whites.
LAKE LBJ — largemouth bass, white bass, striped bass - Activity: Good signal here — a current lake report plus a couple of social posts agree. Stripers are good at night; white bass fair to good at night; largemouth good; catfish very good. - Hot spots: docks, laydowns, and seawalls at daylight; under the lights after dark. - What's working: two-inch Spoiler Shads and one-inch Li'l Fishies at night for stripers and whites; watermelon jigs, whacky sticks, and pumpkin tubes around docks and laydowns at daylight for bass; nightcrawlers, liver, and dipbait for channel cats; trotlines baited with goldfish or perch for blues and yellows. - Conditions: stained water, about eighty-four degrees, essentially full pool. - Game plan: Make it a night trip — Spoiler Shads and Li'l Fishies under the lights for stripers and whites. Or hit the docks at daylight with a whacky stick.
OVERALL SUMMARY - Best bets this weekend: Calaveras red drum (hot from shore, day and night), Buchanan stripers (fall bite is on), LBJ stripers and whites after dark, and Granger crappie on jigs and minnows. - Thin ice: Belton hybrids have no current word — prospect, don't count on it. Travis stripers are slow; fish the bass topwater bite there instead. - Confidence note: where lots of anglers are posting (Buchanan, Calaveras, LBJ), the bite reports line up and you can trust them. Where it's quiet (Belton, Granger), that's the signal too — fish accordingly. - Weekend weather: Saturday and Sunday look warm and dry across the region — highs near eighty-eight degrees, only a slight chance of rain. Early mornings are the prime window everywhere.