Lake Livingston Fishing Guides and Conditions, Texas

About the Lake Livingston

Livingston is a catfish lake that happens to hold other species. The Trinity River Authority dammed the Trinity in 1969 to supply Houston, and the result is a large, shallow, fertile reservoir with an enormous shad forage base and a blue catfish population that grows very large on it. Guided trips here are overwhelmingly catfish trips, and the standard method is drifting cut shad across open flats rather than anchoring on structure, which makes it an unusually easy fishery for beginners to be successful in.

The white bass run is the other reason people come. In late winter the fish move up the Trinity arm to spawn and stack in the river above the lake, and that fishing is accessible from small boats and in places from the bank, which matters on a lake where most of the good water otherwise requires a rig that can handle open water.

Because Livingston is shallow and wide, wind is a bigger factor here than on most Texas reservoirs. A steady south wind builds a genuinely dangerous chop across the lower end, and the right answer on those days is to fish the protected creek arms or stay up on the river rather than to push out and hope.

The gauge below reports pool elevation and stored volume. Livingston is held close to a constant level most of the year because it is a supply reservoir with a comparatively small flood pool, so what the number usually tells you is whether the Trinity is running high after rain upstream. A rising, muddy lake pushes catfish to the edges of the colour line and will shut the white bass down for several days.

Access

Lake Livingston State Park: ramps, piers and bank access on the east shore.
Wolf Creek Park: Trinity River Authority park with ramps on the west side.
Cape Royale and Pine Islands: mid-lake access to the deeper water.
Trinity River arm above the lake: the winter and spring white bass run.
Highway 190 bridge area: open-water flats and standard drift-fishing water.
Ramps near the dam at Goodrich: access to the lower end and deepest water.
Note: this is big open water and it gets rough fast in wind.

Seasons

Winter: the most reliable stretch for the biggest blue catfish, and the start of the white bass push.
Spring: white bass in the Trinity arm, then a shallow bass and catfish bite as the lake warms.
Summer: drifting shad over open flats, early starts, afternoon thunderstorms.
Fall: cooling water brings catfish and white bass back to the mid-depths and the creek mouths.