Went two weeks ago and caught nothing, just looking for any information available, thank you.

One guide trip with LLA will gain you so much knowledge most likely keep skunks from happening IMO. I'm sure Chris will offer up some free general advice but just one charter almost always teaches you vast amounts of lake fishing patterns they have spent years learning. Just my advice.

I know that would be the ideal/ best thing to do but I would also have to money to hire a guide.

What do you spend taking your own boat...Not factoring wear & tear I would guess 25-50 gas for truck 25-75 gas possibly oil for boat,at least 25-50 for lures etc plus all things like ice etc. with one of your trips cost you prob could share a trip with somebody and eliminate a lot of headaches but again I'm sure Chris will see this and chime in plz understand I'm only trying to help you out.

Thanks Chris, and yes we do offer teaching trips on Lake Livingston. I think hiring a guide is one of the best investments a fisherman can make.

If its basic info you are looking for you might get a better response by providing a little more information. Livingston is a 90,000 acre reservoir and doesn't fish the same all over. Where were you? What method did you try? Were others around you catching fish? etc...

Right now we are catching most of our fish on 12' to 16' structure with slabs on the bottom.

daleche - I've gone with LLA many times. You will have to get on the water 50x to get to less than a tenth the knowledge that Chris & Michael have. I've fished with them on Livingston and Conroe. They also fish lakes throughout much of east Texas. They are top notch. LL is an intimidating lake due to its size. In addition water clarity knowledge is very important because Dallas just craps out all their water to us lol. Just one guide trip and if you pay close attention you can stay on a pattern and limit every time you go. Split the trip with a buddy or take any kids if you have them. They won't forget. It truly is a cost effective solution in the long run. I agree with chrisc

Also, you may want to check out below the dam. http://www.trinityra.org/ is where you can get the discharge information. Go when it is 20k or less for safety purposes. You can go when its higher, but if you are unfamiliar with fishing in current it can be very scary. There are so many fish down there right now its stupid.


Ask Michael about his bird knowledge. He is a bird watcher at heart and logs all of the species he sees.

You just made my day

daleche21, assuming the water is reasonably clear at mid lake (Chris can verify), try this method on old 190 bridges to catch white bass:


Fall 2009

About "rail fishing" for whites: You have to use the inline spinner technique for this to work. When fishing is slow, try "rail fishing". Locate a bridge and position the boat directly over one edge of it. You will be right over one rail and the other will be about 20 ft away running parallel to it. You can fish the rail 2 ways. The most productive way is to cast the inline spinner far enough to go over the opposite rail out into the deep water. Let it go to bottom then crank it back a few turns and let it go to bottom again. Crank it in some more and when the spinner gets close enough to the rail, you can feel the drag of the line coming over the rail. Keep cranking at a medium to medium fast speed so the spinner will not hook the rail. When the spinner clears the rail, you will feel a let-up on line tension (assuming a fish didn't latch on as it came over). Immediately release and let the bait drop just this side of the rail. When it hits the bottom, take up slack and crank several times as usual. If no bite, try a 2nd crank on top of bridge. You catch the most fish on the 1st crank this side of the rail. You will also catch a lot as spinner comes over top of rail and on 2nd crank after you come over rail.

The other way to rail fish is to make medium length cast down the bridge just inside the rail you are sitting over. Just work the inline spinner technique parallel to rail and on top of bridge close to the rail all the way back to boat. All the bridges (at Lake Livingston on Old 190) have in tact rails except the 1st one east of the river channel. The rails are OK on each end of it but the middle section of bridge is out.

My family and friends have been using this to catch whites since the early eighties. When fishing is really tough, you can usually catch them this way. Good luck and feel free to ask questions if I didn't explain it well enough.

Fall 2009

To a fellow who said he needed help fishing lake Livingston:

I assume you have a topo map of the lake. Locate old hwy 190. It goes all the way across the lake at mid-lake area. From west of Indian Hills point (which is on east side of lake) all the way to the west side of lake the top of the roadbed averages 12 to 14 ft deep with 20+ ft water on both sides. Whites can be any where along it but, the best fishing is on the submerged bridges and just off each end of them. There are 3 bridges east of the river channel and 4 bridges west of it. Find the roadbed a little west of Indian Hills Point then follow it west. From this point to the river channel the roadbed is in line with a large light blue building on the far west side. To find the bridges get on the roadbed shoulder (about 17 ft) and go toward the blue building keeping depth at 17 ft. When you come to a bridge the bottom will suddenly drop to 20+ feet (the creek the bridge goes over). The bridge structure is intact, so if you were on the right shoulder swing around to the left and go back and forth over the roadbed until you see the bridge. The bridges have rails on both sides 7-8 ft deep. The middle of the bridges is about 10 ft deep. Locate and set up at either end of the bridge and cast in 4 directions to find fish: down the roadbed, diagonally into the bar ditch to either side and down the middle of the bridge. Try not to let your lure land on the rails or it will likely get hung up. The whites hang out at end of bridges and within 2 to 3 ft of the rails on top of the bridge. You don't have to find them surfacing. They are down there. I fished Livingston for 25 years and now live on Cedar Creek. Went down to Livingston twice this year - once to fish with my sister who lives there and once to fish with fiend who has a place there. Fished the bridges both times. Sister and I caught 110 whites from 7:30 am to 11:30 am in early July. Friend and I caught 206 from 7:45 am to about 1:30 pm in early August. Most were 13 to 14 inches and all caught working the bridges - none on surface feeding fish. The bridge on the river channel was dynamited when lake was created but there is a 20 yard section of it on the west side of river. Also, just west of the river channel bridge the roadbed turns about 10 degrees to the left as you are moving in western direction. Two-thirds of the way across the lake going west it turns about 5 degrees back right. There is one bridge in the section of roadbed after it turns left 10 degrees. It is called Hell's Half Acre. After roadbed turns back right 5 degrees there are two more bridges.