I am very interested in Fishing lake Austin, wondering if anyone anything about lake Austin

Pretty much a mud hole that is covered by wake boats and a-holes. TPWD destroyed the lake by releasing too many triploid grass carp devastating habitat for the awesome fishery that it once was.

You can catch fish on it but I would recommend Travis, LBJ or even Decker (Walter E Long)

+1

Yeah, it's pretty much a waste except for the drunk kids with too much money and daddy's boat.

Man, I have heard so much about lake Austin,

Blustery rainy weekday? Go fish Austin. Sunny weekend? Forget about it. My 21 foot Ranger does not take the ocean swells as well as a 3000lb wake board boat with ballast tanks. Still has fish in it . Just a timing thing.

From what I read, the property owners wanted the grass gone so it looked pretty. Hence the $ pressure to release grass carp...and then the habitat for what used to be a great big bass lake was destroyed. If they can let the carp die off I am sure it can and will rebound. Travis is right there and you don't have to worry about the kids with Daddy's boat and jet ski! For me, when fishing Travis, fish deeper than you think. Then go deeper. Then find a place 10' deeper than that. Or just stick to the creeks and points...that are deep!

Lake Austin is lined on both sides with $1M+ houses, obviously owned by people with too much money. Both the Austin City Council and LCRA are scared to death of them and the lawsuits they can start so whatever they say they want comes to pass.
Loud go fast boats, drunk idiots, churned up water, terrible food and overpriced drinks are the trademarks of Lake Austin. Welcome to Austin.

There are still fish to be caught, I still go out there periodically, but is definitely is not what it once was! I will get some minnows and let my grandson watch a bobber, and we do catch some fish.
JR

Last weekend, we had three strikes and two fish.

There are better fisheries to choose from.

Man I was going to plan a trip to lake austin. does not sound like it use to be//

TPWD has a habit of doing this, Cypress Springs used to have nice hydrilla but TPWD put grass carps in there and bye bye grass.....

Could have not have said it any better!

It's a miserable place to fish in the summer! Boat ramps suck as well!

I agree about LBJ...such an under-estimated lake for all species really. Used to live you there and miss it.

Agreed. They also did it to Purtis Creek, which as a state park, didn't have any homeowners or pleasure boaters to flash money around and get the grass carp stocked. I guess TPWD just decided they wanted to ruin the fishery so they did so. Can't think of any other reason to remove all the vegetation from what was an outstanding little bass lake.

From what I've read, it was to enable people to fish from the bank without having to cast over 20 yards of hydrilla Shortly after releasing the grass eaters, they had a water level problem and a chemical issue; devastating the vegetation. The sad attempt to grow it back in those metal vegetation pens makes me want to cry.

I logged on to ask if there were any improvements to the fishing post-grass carp, and I guess the answer is 'no'.

We went out there summer before last and had some okay fishing on top of the government-deposited brush pile right next to the 360 bridge. The powerboats weren't quite as scary as everyone who was throwing rocks off the 360 overlook. They sounded like medium-caliber bullets as they hit the water to either side.

Lake Austin was originally stocked with grass carp in reasonable numbers to control the numbers of acres of hydrilla coverage.

But the "Friends of Lake Austin" which is the HOA for the lakeside homeowners wasn't pleased with the amount and speed of hydrilla reduction. If you've ever been to L. Austin you're familiar with the size of the waterfront houses - so their HOA has plenty of clout with the City of Austin who manages the lake. FOLA pressured CoA and TP&W to add more grass carp to the lake and cared nothing about bank access or the quality of L Austin's aquatic ecosystem or fishing. All they wanted was the hydrilla all gone as fast as possible. TP&W folded to the pressure and issued the grass carp permit for an additional gross overstocking of more grass carp.

As a result all the lakes vegetation - hydrilla and native - was eaten by the grass carp within a year or so and the fishing quickly went into the crapper.

TP&W lifted the L Austin grass carp permit last year. With the permit lifted that allows for catching and removal of the grass carp. But they are very wary and hard to catch in any numbers that results in meaningful reduction of the grass carp population short of large scale netting and/or shocking.

It's likely to be a very long time if ever before the grass carp numbers are reduced enough to allow for the lake's vegetation to recover.

Are they not sterile Grass Carp? What is the life expectancy of a grass carp? Guess we just have to wait em out!

Yep - sterile grass carp. Their "average" lifespans are reported to be anywhere from 5-15 years with reports of some living 20+ years. They can eat 2-3 times their body weight daily, gain 5-10 lbs per year, and can get to 100 lbs body weight.

As usual, amy time a government agency sticks is hands in something it goes to hell in a hand basket pretty quick.

We used to fish town lake right above Austin but you couldn't use your gas motor. Great fishing but lots of syringes washed up along the bank...

Yes, they are 99.7% sterile.